Sitting On My Porch Part Seventeen

I love Leonard Pitts. He summed it up best.

Since Hurricane Katrina I have been a very pessimistic person. I don’t carry myself that way. It’s an internal thing. I have been detached mentally. It's the reason I spend more time alone than I ever thought I would. I figure I must be insane because as detached as I feel I continue to stay engaged. In spite of that I have to say that the sight of a man who looks like me win the presidency feels pretty good. Even the bitter racists couldn't spoil it. I think it’s fascinating because so many things happened that I didn’t think Americans had in them. The question now is just how deep this new feeling goes.

Is anyone ready now to get on board with me and say that Oprah Winfrey was the unsung most valuable player in this whole scenario? I said it back in February. When a brother is trying to get a job in a certain environment, the easiest way for that to happen is for someone who’s already there validates him. Oprah already had the status in America that Obama needed to be to win. It's the ultimate reaching back to pull up another one. These are the kinds of things that have to be replicated on a small level.

The fact that William Jefferson could possibly be headed back to Washington is the reality check that things haven’t changed locally. Here’s a guy that didn’t feel the need to debate the issues or really campaign at all. He rode the uninformed black vote to victory. The black community of New Orleans is now the Jefferson family and their well connected cronies’ chick on the side. They get what they want from us and all they have to do is show up every now and then to tell us something sweet. That applies to all the bishops, prophets, elders or whatever they call themselves that stood up there with him at that press conference yet you don’t hear a peep out of them when we have teenage girls carrying guns to school to protect themselves from a savage beat down or having to wear a bulletproof vest to attend a high school football game.

I have bad vibes about this city master plan decision. Everyone keeps saying the citizens will have input. It will be interesting to see what citizens they are talking about. Everyone knows there is a neighborhood pecking order. I’m begging someone in the city to please promote the day and times of these meetings at least two weeks before they happen. I think something this important deserves a few dollars in advertising.

Technology has been very good to me. Between the Internet and my career it has really enhanced my life. The negative about technology is useless communication. The worst form of this next to spam e-mail is chain text messages. You know when you are sitting at work and your phone starts making noise. You stop working to look at it and it's yet another joke, or something inspirational you are supposed to send to 10 people. I hate those. Well, this week has broken the record for chain text messages about the election. This goes out to everyone who reads this blog and has my cell number. I know you guys are inspired and excited but the next time I get the same text message ten times from ten different people about Barack or Michelle Obama I am going to send out a group message cussing everybody. Stop jamming up the information highway and do some work.

In my last post I said I decided to no longer read my local newspaper website. That did not apply to Big Red Cotton. Stay strong over there. I know those comments got a little rough.