"Big Ben vs. Kobe? Does Race Matter?"

I follow Dr. Boyce Watkin's column pretty regularly so I was glad to see he touched on this topic. This essentially touches on whether or not the media treats athletes, that may have had similiar allegations, differently based on the color of the their skin. I could certaintly write an article on this myself, but I'm glad Dr. Watkins took the liberty to do it. There is no doubt in my mind that the media (particularly ESPN)picks and chooses who they want to cover more, and more times than not, their (negative) media coverage centers on the cases of black athletes. When the accusations of rape first came out against Kobe, a nation that formely labeled him "the next Jordan" was quick to push him under the bus, despite the fact that "all men are innocent until proven guilty." When the accusations came out against Ben Roethlisberger, it took ESPN about two days to mention it, and when they did and it was a small news bit and hardly ever discussed again. They didn't mention the fact that this might ruin his reputation (maybe because they have the power to do so by increasing their coverage on him, because, ESPN really is the ONLY option for sports coverage nowadays). I'm convinced that ESPN and other media outlets wanted to protect Ben Roethlisberger. The evidence of that may be that many of you don't know that much about the case OR the fact that you know a brunt of your information about it because you read it online, or were informed of it on twitter (like myself). Well, enough of my rambling, here is what Dr. Watkin's had to say:

In a civil lawsuit, Andrea McNulty accuses "Big Ben" of engaging in some disturbing activities. She claims that Ben forced himself on her sexually when she went into his hotel room to check on a broken television set. All of this allegedly took place in Vegas and of course Ben is denying it. I am not sure if he did it or not, since I've never wanted to know much about Ben Roethlisberger's sex life.

Ben's situation is similar to the disturbing allegations made against NBA star Kobe Bryant in the summer of 2003. Kobe's case was not much different from Ben's, in which Kobe was also accused of doing some pretty unacceptable things.

Both cases have their shaky points. For Kobe, there was the evidence that the alleged victim spent a lot of "quality time" (sexually) with other men during the same week she was allegedly raped by Mr. Bryant. This doesn't mean that she couldn't have been raped, but it certainly hurt her case in the eyes of the American public. In Ben's situation, the woman waited nearly a year to file a civil suit against him. Not a criminal suit; a civil one. Whether she was raped or not, she has decided that she definitely wants to get paid.

Again, wanting to get paid doesn't imply that you can't be raped, but similar to Kobe's accuser, Andrea McNulty's request for cash has weakened her case in the eyes of those trying to sort out the facts. Fortunately, the public doesn't decide rape cases, since there is enough bias in favor of high profile athletes. Simultaneously, there are many people in the world wishing to take advantage of athletes, as false rape charges are all too common.

What is also interesting about these two seemingly similar situations, is that while Kobe's case was all over the news for several days in a row, the world has heard barely a peep about the case of Ben Roethlisberger. Sure, I've seen it mentioned in the news here and there, but there hasn't been the sort of brain-drain hyperanalysis which took place during the Kobe Bryant fiasco or in the case of Michael Vick. Why would that be?

Read the rest HERE.

Shuck N' Jive

As sad as it is, I have to agree with this spoof. In my humble opinion, label executives have successfully convinced rappers that it is ok to exploit themselves and black culture for a quick buck. A majority of commercial rap really is a modern day minstrel show (word to Little Brother) from the images the rappers represent to the music they make. I mean seriously, in Chicago, they're playing a song called "Do the Chicken Wing" (see below) on the radio. It's not just rappers though, even professional athletes are partaking in the cooning (again, see below). Affion Crockett captures this image perfectly, as usual...

Henry Louis Gates Discussion on Larry King

Larry King gathers up Michael Eric Dyson, Judge Joe Brown, Larry Elder and Ben Stein to discuss the recent controversy involving Gates and the Cambridge police department. Sometimes I find it hard to believe that Larry Elder was the same dude that was the judge on one of my favorite shows (Moral Court). I NEVER agree with him when I hear him giving his opinion on things of this magnitude. I tend to agree more with Dyson and Joe Brown on this matter, as I believe I have been racially profiled as well several times by police officers, both black and white.

In this situation, I think both parties overreacted a tad, so in that instance I also agree with Ben Stein. Because, the officer was shown proof of Gate's residency, so at that point, the issue should have been concluded. However, I don't believe Gates should brought up race as an issue (at the moment). In those instances where I felt profiled, I did not bring that up in the heat of the moment, because I felt it would only make the situation worse, and besides, the officer is the one with the gun. BUT, the officer did resist giving Gates his badge number, and citizens have a right to ask for that. Overall, I don't think the officer was racist, nor do I believe what he did was ignited by racism. I think it may have been a case where Gates, a world renown professor knew he didn't do anything wrong so he may have talked back in a way that the officer didn't agree with (aka, he spoke his mind, or maybe the officer felt he was speaking down to him, being he is a Harvard professor). Thus, the officer felt compelled to hold his ground, and he may have let his pride get in the way of things. Obama called the two gentlemen to the White House to discuss this matter and I think that was a good to settle the controversy (on a personal level), because issues like this happen everyday and more times than not, the officer does seem to be a white male who is acting off of racist impulses. In my opinion, it is essential that officers understand where blacks are coming from on this issue and it's also important for blacks to comply with officers, unless of course they become blatantly ignorant or violent. You have to earn respect in this world, and it seems that neither party had respect for the other in this situation...

While the officer in the Gates case may have not been racist, another officer on his team certainly is. I'm sorry, he's not racist, what he DID/SAID was racist. I'll never forget that JSmooth vlog. SMH @ this fool below...

Rhymfest Protest For Jobs at City Hall

I like Rhymefest's music, but what I respect even more about him is the fact that he doesn't just rap about political issues, he goes out and does things about them. Without a platinum or gold album and not nearly as much money as other Chicago rappers (like Kanye), 'Fest still does all he can to help the people from his community. Here he is protesting at Chicago's City Hall in an attempt to bring jobs to the area of 83rd and Chatham.

It's Been A Long Time...

I've had a habit of not updating this blog as much as I had originally planned. I can contribute that to two things: Twitter and laziness. Twitter being the new way most internet savvy people communicate and laziness being attributed to the fact that I've been working all summer and don't feel like doing much of anything when I get home.

The fact is, I made this blog as a way to stay on top of and communicate about current issues in society regarding social injustices and political matters, along with hip-hop critiques and other miscellenous issues (as you can see below). Issues that people like myself may be interested in but may not have the time to browse the net to find on a regular basis. I want to inform people on things that I am passionate about from my point of view, so that it may encourage them to think in a way they have never thought. And vice versa, the comment area is so you all can enlighten me as well. Essentially, my blog is influenced by the same format as Davey D's website. But of course, it's extremely different because it is a blog, so it's a lot more random.

Certainly there hasn't been any shortage of news, in fact, in my city (Chicago) there have been senseless (gun-related) murders on a daily basis, something that really urks me. And of course, you have Henry Louis Gate's incident, in addition to various other racial matters (like the Texas incident). I just need to make an effort to expand my 140 character updates on twitter to full fledged post like this on my blog. It can and will certainly accomplish a lot more in my opinion.

I plan on updating a lot more, but life really has been busy. Just graduated with a bachelor's degree a few months ago and I'm preparing for grad school as well. Along with that, this summer has been an interesting one regarding my car which is now dead (as of Saturday, July 25th). I've had to take it in for more repairs than I care to mention and it also got broken into while I was at work one time. So, I guess it's time for me to move on and get a new vehicle. I don't have much time to have pity for myself on that issue anymore, as I have no time for excuses, life is too short and I'm going to enjoy it and move forward. I hope all is well with everyone who has taken the time to ever read my blog. More post coming soon. I need to eventually post some of my own music as well, something I've never done (or really mentioned on here) for some apparent reason...

Sour Patch Kids...Will They Ever Get a Bailout!?

Those who are familiar with the title "Sour Patch Kids" might recognize it because of the candy. However, fans of freshmen emcee Asher Roth might recognize it as the song off of Roth's debut LP Asleep in the Bread Aisle. The song addresses many social issues affecting society today, particularly poverty. Well, my good friend DJ Daddy Mack, who was inspired by Roth's song, as well as the current recession, took it upon himself to address this very issue and I thought I'd share it with you all. Read an excerpt below and if you're interested click the below link to read the entire article/document.

A little awhile ago, the American government has given bailouts to failing companies on Wall Street and in Detroit. Bailouts are loans given by the government. Taxpayers fund them. The most interesting part about these bailouts is that some of the companies that were given a bailout are still failing. People are still getting laid off while the same people who let the companies fail are getting rewarded. The point of the bailouts was to prevent things such as laid offs. But, these bailouts are not working the way people thought they would. Despite that, other industries still ask the government for a bailout. People talk about these other industries and how they are in need, but poor people are the ones who need a bailout the most.

Throughout history, poor people have been put on the back of the bus. There were barely any major movements in support of them being led by major figures. The sixties were notable for these movements. The number of Americans in poverty went from 22.2% in 1960 to 12.1% in 1969. One of these major movements was led by President Lyndon Baines Johnson. When he ran for President, he promised a “Great Society.”

Read it in it's entirety [HERE]

In The Trenches

Wow, I haven't updated in a while! The past month or so I've been in the trenches as I like to say. This is my last semester at the University of Illinois and I graduate in 4 days. Basically, I've been bombarded with paper after paper, presentation after presenation and exam after exam. When this semester concludes, I would have written a 20 page journal article, a 23 page paper (roughly), four 6-7 page papers, and a bunch of short papers ranging from 1-3 pages. In case you were wondering, I'll be getting my degree in History (with a minor in African American studies) with intentions to become a high school teacher and free lance writer. I was going completely out of my mind for a while because these assignments were stressing me out, but I'm almost at the finish line and it feels good.

However, it wasn't just school work that was stressing me. Let's see, along with those tedious assignments, I've also been maintaining a long distance relationship, and coughing up money to repair my busted car. Oh, and did I mention that my digital camera also broke and laptop started acted weird so I almost lost all of my class assignments and music. In addition, my ability to record songs has been limited because of that. That was probably good though, since I wasn't able to get sidetracked by rapping, but sometimes I have so much on my mind that I need to get it off my chest. Alright, well, I'm just about finished with my 20 page paper (that will probably end up 23 pages like stated earlier) but I'm going to get some shut eye and finish that in the morning. PEACE!