Sitting On My Porch Part Eighty Four

I am finally feeling like I am back to normal after Isaac. When you have a storm that disrupts things it takes a week or two to get things back in order. Sometimes it takes months or years to get back to normal. Thank goodness I am not in that position this time around but some people are.  Unless something happens and we get more protection I think it’s time for everyone in this part of the world to accept the fact that every hurricane season we can potentially have a city or neighborhood that is devastated by water. We just have to do our best to recover as well as we can and keep going.

On a light note….I learned two things about life during the days when the power was off. The first thing I learned was that as violent as New Orleans can be now it would be even worse if we had to go a month without traffic lights. It wouldn’t be the usual suspects in conflict either.  Four way stop intersections bring the bad side out of people. There would be middle age women in all out brawls on Claiborne Avenue and Martin Luther King Blvd.

The second thing I learned is that I am willing to bet there weren’t a lot of babies born in April before there was air conditioning in South Louisiana. April is nine months after August and if you are in a house with no air in August it is too hot to want to touch anybody. When I was a little kid it seemed like all old people had a mean look on their face. That was leftover misery from sleeping in the heat.

My attempt to live healthier and lose a few pounds is going pretty well. I think I turned the corner when I stopped eating my second dinner plate after 10:00 PM. I don’t know if it is noticeable yet but I can feel it. I have a new incentive to keep going. I have three new Ralph Lauren Polos from Macys in New York. The only problem is that they are a size too small. In the past few years I have donated clothes to charity with the tags still on them because I was never able to lose enough weight to wear them. I like donating things. There are a few shirts and a few pair of pants that I don’t wear that will be donated soon. You must understand that the New Orleans hood kid in me will not allow me to give away those Polos without wearing them. Twenty pounds is going to make them look real nice on me.

I haven’t had much to say about the presidential election yet. I started paying less attention after Herman Cain dropped out of the race. That guy was entertaining. Now things are going like I thought they would between President Obama and Mitt Romney. The president is on cruise control right now. He’s just trying to get through each day without offending anyone or starting any trouble. I’m not sure what Romney is doing. I look at some of the things he’s tried this week dealing with Libya and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s decided he doesn’t want to deal with this mess in America and is making himself fall behind on purpose. If he was I wouldn’t blame him. No one should want the job of president right now.

Maybe the Republicans have figured out that in a lot of states President Obama is the best thing that ever happened to their agenda on the state level and told Mitt to take a dive. The paranoia and hate for the president is so strong in some parts that people will vote against their own interest like the people in Alabama when they voted for that immigration bill and almost killed their farming industry. You have to be really dedicated to the Republican agenda to put your state’s farmers out of business. It’s been a golden time for the conservative agenda on the state level since Obama took office. They should have a secret super pac that runs ads against Romney in swing states. There’s no need to run them in any of these red states like the one I live in. No one is going to change their mind.

Besides the poor and elderly, the people I feel sorry for most of all since President Obama has been in office is all the commandos who went to the mountains and trained for the day Obama came to take their guns and freedom. They could have been at football games and hanging in strip clubs all this time. Instead they have been hiding away fighting wolverines and looking at dudes in camouflage for nothing.

Me and my coworker was at lunch today laughing and reminiscing about old times. I told him that I noticed that the period of life that I seem to speak most fondly about was the time when I didn’t have any responsibility and didn’t grow and expand as a person. When you are younger you have a lot of carefree fun but you can’t do that forever. Then you get older and start trying to create a life for yourself but the weight of trying to move forward can make it seem like the days when you were drinking with your friends at 9:00 AM and hanging out with girls you barely knew was the good old days. That’s not true. It’s the mental and physical fatigue that makes it feel that way. Sometimes when it feels too heavy you need to dig deep and push through it.

Black and Gold Week 1: Outlook on the Season

My friend Shawn has an advantage when debating the Saints with me because he predicted the 2009 Super Bowl appearance three months before training camp started. I’m usually not the type to shy away from proving I’m right but ever since then I have to give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to what’s going to happen with the team. It’s going to be harder this year because we have a disagreement when it comes to the impact of Sean Payton being suspended. He thinks the leadership on the team and organization won’t affect the season. He thinks the Saints are going 13-3. I disagree with that. Before I get to my prediction for the season and tomorrow’s game with the Redskins, here’s what I think about the upcoming season.

I guess you can’t talk about the season without addressing the bounty situation. It’s either going to galvanize the team or eventually tear it apart because the biggest thing to come out of the entire situation is that the coach is suspended for the season. No one really knows what will happen when a crucial situation comes up during the game and Sean Payton isn’t there to make the decision. In my opinion, the lost of the coach is worth at least two games in the lost column.

There was no way the bounty situation couldn’t affect this season. It didn’t have to be as crazy as it is now if the commissioner would have just given everyone 2-4 games and moved on. He decided to be heavy handed because he has no one to answer to and now we have a mess. The media really did a bad job at investigating this story. They ran with whatever the commissioner said and at one point were mentioning lawsuits and criminal charges against Saints players. Now the suspensions have been overturned and the NFL will come back with lighter suspensions they think the players will except without having to go to court and produce evidence. Something tells me Jonathan Vilma isn’t accepting any suspension so Bountyate will be going on all year.

Last year the New Orleans Saints beat the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants so bad that by the end of the game they were trying not to score. 2011 was the first year that I actually felt like we were the best team in the conference and didn’t make the Super Bowl. That is why losing to the 49ers hurt so much. We gave that game way. The defense had two chances to make a play and stop Vernon Davis and they couldn't do it. I'm still shaking my head about it.

I’m having a hard time figuring out what happens this year. There haven’t been many changes to the roster. The biggest additions are Curtis Lofton and Steve Spagnuolo. The biggest losses are Robert Meacham, the coach, and Carl Nicks. We may have Will Smith and Vilma for a whole season but no one knows. The way I see it the season comes down to a few players. If Malcolm Jenkins, Roman Harper, Courtney Roby, and Joe Morgan play okay then there’s no reason why the Saints can’t win the division. The team played so basic during the preseason and the third preseason game against Houston so wild and crazy that you can’t get a good indicator of where things are.

I think the Saints have the talent to win twelve games. I am going to subtract three games due to Sean Payton’s suspension and say they will end the season at 9-7. Of course I’m going to find a reason for them to win every game this year and hope they go 16-0. On one hand this is probably the most motivated team and fan base in the league. Everybody is looking to stick it to Roger Goodell and show him that his suspensions couldn’t keep us from playing for the championship in our home stadium. On the other hand, this is an unprecedented situation and until a few games go by you don’t know how the coaching situation is going to work out. Then there’s always that problem with covering tight ends. That would concern me even if Coach Payton was there. I’m going to stick with my 9-7 prediction and we’ll see how things go tomorrow.

The Saints open against the Washington Redskins featuring Robert Griffin III. RGIII’s parents grew up in New Orleans and a lot of his family still lives here. That means I want him to have a Hall of Fame career. I just don’t want it to start tomorrow. I don’t know if the Saints defense is ready to make any offense look too bad so I will give them three touchdowns and say the final score is Saints 34- Redskins 21.

While I was writing this and watching college football Devin Walker from Tulane University was hurt on a tackle. He fractured his spine and stopped breathing for a few seconds. He’s in the hospital in stable condition. I love football and admire the players.  I never want to see anyone get hurt especially with a potentially life changing injury. I wish Devon Walker a full recovery.

Unfortunate Similarities

First of all I want to let everyone know that I am okay. 

If Isaac hadn’t decided to make his slow journey through the state of Louisiana I would have been at Commander’s Palace with my employees today. I had plans to wear my Saints tie and everything. I would have taken a few minutes of silence for my grandmother and the other victims of Katrina like I always do on today and moved on as best I could. 

I don’t know what is about hurricanes in South Louisiana and August 29^th. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to take that day off of the calendar around here. It was seven years ago on this day that might life literally changed forever. It’s the reason I left for higher ground for this storm. Thanks to my employer I have a room in Baton Rouge. I know the storm passed here too but there are no levees to worry about and that’s enough for me to feel safe.

 I have a problem dealing with any storm that I know is going to have a surge that may affect levees. I would go so far as to admit that I am a bit afraid of storms like that. I don’t think I ever actually used those words before but it’s true. I don’t feel uncomfortable saying it. It’s valid. Losing someone you love in that situation makes it difficult to accept that the new levee system is going to stop it from happening again. It looks impressive but it’s not battle tested and I didn’t want to take the change. I’m not mad at anyone for staying but I understand the rationale of anyone who left. 

My home and my city took a beating from Hurricane Isaac but survived. Unfortunately my friends and neighbors in a few surrounding areas didn’t make out so well. To the people of Plaquemines Parish and Laplace I understand what you are going through. The thing to remember is that you still have your lives and all the homes can be replaced. I hardly ever think about material things I lost in Katrina anymore. It’s the people that I can’t get over.  If you still have one another you are doing okay because there’s nothing more important than what we have in each other.

Watching the Saints and Isaac on Saturday Night

It was a beautiful day outside. I resisted the temptation to do any yard work but I need to cut the grass tomorrow just in case Isaac gets a little too close. I spent most of the day resting and recovering from the third week of the school year cycle. For those of you are not aware of what the cycle is I will share.

First, you get up really early in the morning. Second, you have to move quickly and get out of the house at a certain time because school starts way earlier than it needs to. After that you go to work and try do as much as you can because school lets out at a crazy time. On the way home you keep thinking how great it would be if the school that was a few blocks away from the house was still open and offering a quality education because that would be so much easier. Then you remember that you are not supposed to complain because the kids have “choices”. Choices are great unless you choose wrong. In that case your child is screwed.

I’m keeping my eye on Hurricane Isaac. He can’t seem to make up his mind exactly where he wants to go. I was hoping that since it was so unorganized the mountains in Cuba would break it up but it survived and is heading into the Gulf. Earlier today New Orleans was out of the cone of uncertainty but the computer models keep pushing it this way. By tomorrow morning we might be in the center of the cone. It reminds me of another storm whose name I won’t mention. It changed course three times before heading this way. I know people want to think that we knew weeks in advance she was coming and decided to sit here and chill but it wasn’t like that. Anyway, I hope Isaac doesn’t change close too much because he’s supposed to make land Tuesday so there’s not much time to do much. You can’t really relax until they hit land somewhere. Hopefully wherever it hits there are no people in the way.

I’ve been watching the first half of the Saints and Texans game while I was writing this.  My new activity this season is trying to figure out what section Sean Payton is sitting in and what kind of disguise he’s wearing.  It’s going to be a crazy season. I will have my official preview next week after I am sure Isaac has passed us by. 

I  hate this time of year.

Get Well Tyrann

Sports are clearly based on performance and physical talent. No one gets drafted or plays a long time because they are a good person. It's also unrealistic because you can't tell your son to be Lebron James unless he's 6'8 250 lbs and can run and job like a gazelle mixed with a ballerina. You have to be born that way. Those abilities are the reason why they make a lot of money and things are made easy for them. I have no problem with that.

Tyrann Mathieu was a bit different. He wasn’t really supposed to be a star on the level that he became. I was really into the Honey Badger thing and every time he made a play it made me smile. It had a lot to do with my New Orleans bias towards young black men achieving things. It was cool to hear his deep New Orleans accent on ESPN and you could tell he wasn't trying to disguise it like some people do. It was cool to see him as a Heisman finalist. The only other time I even watched the Heisman program was when Marshall Faulk was a finalist.

In a sport based on size and speed the Mathieu seemed to overcome any deficiencies he had in those areas with tenacity and a spirit that made it seem like he wanted it more than every other kid out there. He was an example of a guy who actually earned his status in the spotlight. He made last season really fun.

The Honey Badger won’t be playing football this year. He has some issues that I hope he resolves even if he never steps on a field ever again. I read today that he is going to stay at John Lucas’ treatment facility until he feels better and then worry about football. I think this is a good decision because the last thing he needed was going to a smaller school and having all that attention without getting some help.

There are things in life more important than football. I hope someone close to him to him that there are things in life bigger than sports. I hope they let him know that he’s so young that whatever he’s going through now can be overcome if he applies himself with the same energy he plays football with. I would rather see the entire football season cancelled than for Tyrann Mathieu not to recover from his addictions. There’s nothing that depresses me more about my city than young people with wasted talent. We’ve had enough of those stories so I want the young man to come out this stronger than before.

Eight Years Deep : The Blog Birthday Post

This blog is now 8 years old. A lot of blogs have come and gone during that time. I can’t think of too many sites I used to like 8 years ago that is still around and if they are they are not the same.  Other than the 50 different template designs I have chosen over the years I think I’ve been pretty consistent.  I tried a few website word counters to see just how many words I have written on this page. I didn’t come up with a good total but I am guessing there are thousands of words that featuring my thoughts, struggles, comedy, pain, tragedy, pride, and all the other aspects that make life what it is. Some of it was real good. A few of them were real wack. I'm sure there's a few things I shouldn't have posted. Hopefully someone got some entertainment or enlightenment from it. 

Besides getting to know some cool people and opening doors to do things like a segment on CNN, the one thing I have gotten from doing this is a higher respect for people who write professionally.  It’s one thing for a person to keep a journal or a notepad at their house to scribble their thoughts in from time to time. That’s private and personal. If things went south for me or I said something I shouldn’t have on this blog I could always hit the delete button and get rid of the words or the entire blog altogether if I needed it.  It’s a whole other level to express how you feel about something, entertain people with it, take their criticism, then shake that off and do it all over again. This is especially true in the Twitter age where I see writers take a beating from the public and yet they keep putting things out there.  I have admiration for everyone who does that even the ones I don’t agree with.

I was going to let the Crib retire but I can’t do it until I sit on my porch 100 times and this Saints season is over. The Post Bounty-gate season will be too interesting not to have something to say about it. In honor of my eight year anniversary I want to give everyone eight things to use for blogging and life.

1.    Never react to the first version of a news story when you see it on the Internet. The rush to be first to break a story means that some of the details may be missing at the beginning. Wait at least 24 hours when all the facts are there.

2.    Never assume you have reached an age where the things people do should make sense. Stupidity doesn’t have an age limit.

3.    Unless you have enough resources to live and support your family, never say anything that will cause you to lose your job unless talking about certain things is your job. That’s not selling out. That’s being realistic.

4.    You may be the only person around that feels strongly about something the way you do and that has to be okay.

5.    Putting your favorite Internet model’s name in multiple blog post hoping one day she would be vain enough and Google herself, scroll through the results, see your page, then send you an email so you could become friends doesn’t work.  If Buffie sends me an email later we’ll just take this one out.

6.    You never know who is watching, reading, or listening to what you say and do. Make sure those things reflect who you are and what you stand for as much as possible.

7.    You can never place a high enough value on having good friends and having a good reputation.

8.    As much as you try to fight time I can’t. You can’t go back in time and you can’t stop it from going forward. All you can do is make the best of what’s going on right now and try to make the future better.

Sitting On My Porch Part Eighty Three

Either I am getting really busy, really lazy or I don't like blogging as much as I used to. It's probably a combination of all three plus the constant barrage or random opinions about everything on the internet that overload my senses to the point where I don't want to give my own opinion as much anymore. Social networking and the internet is the 1st Amendment on cocaine, Red Bull and steroids at the same time. I’m not being hypocritical because I am on the same drug especially during football season. I have been making an effort lately to tune out a lot of things and it's working against my blog. There are stories going on in the world that I know absolutely nothing about.

I don't know what's going on with Chick Fil A, the Jackson family, or even Saints training camp (although this will be changing soon). My agenda is getting prepared for the beginning of the school year (which starts way too soon), trying to conquer my eating and drinking bad habits (tougher than I thought it would be), and watching the Olympics. 

The Olympics are a time to marvel at incredible athletic talent and the awesomeness of female volleyball players. The thing that makes the Olympics cool is that there are so many events where the contestant’s entire life has been built around this one competition. When you watch the Dream Team play basketball you know those guys are going to have many more chances to achieve success in their sport year after year. When you are checking out the synchronize swimmers there's a pretty good chance those folks won't be on national TV and going for a gold medal again. It makes their stories more fascinating.

I've never paid as much attention to women's gymnastics as I have this time. I never really noticed how much pressure those girls feel. I don't know if they are enjoying the experience or just want it to be over. Either way they can't help but cry. I don't know that I could sit there and watch if my daughter was performing. I may have to stand in the hallway or somewhere I could get away quickly if things went wrong. They definitely wouldn't part a microphone on me to get my reaction. It's bad enough everything is being shown on tape delay. People would have to see my reactions to the event at 2AM on Comedy Central because of all the language directed at the judges.

NBC has 75 networks showing Olympic coverage and not one of them dedicated to women's volleyball. They show soccer games from countries I never heard of on MSNBC but you have to search around for the volleyball games and hope you get lucky.

I feel like whatever number of medals China ends up with America should get credit for at least ten of them. With all the things we buy made in China from Wal Mart alone is probably more than enough to sponsor the swimming team’s training program. 

The highlight over the last two weeks for me other than meeting my new nephew for the first time had to be going to Washington D.C. and getting a chance to advocate on behalf of the homeless in New Orleans. I appreciate UNITY of Greater New Orleans for giving me the opportunity to represent the city and the great people who work with the homeless every day. It was a great experience and I learned a lot. The biggest thing I learned about myself is that I will never make it as a politician or working in the political field because I don't know how to tone down enough of my own personality to fit into the system. I did the best I could considering the circumstances but that's not something I could do every day without going crazy.

The day before the visit to Capitol Hill everyone was giving a list of things to do when meeting with the representatives. The first thing on the list was to thank him or her for something they have done in your district. I couldn't really think of anything going on in my district that was exciting me so much I needed to be giving anyone thanks and I was hoping I didn't have to pretend that I was satisfied. I don't want to be coached on how to behave and what to say. I want to be me. I've had a few other recent experiences where someone took my words and changed them up to sound more presentable to a certain audience. I don't like that and won't be getting involved with anything that expects me to do that again.

I've always felt like it was a bad idea to go out of our way to praise someone in public service if the evidence wasn't there they were doing things the way you wanted it to be done. You know what happens when you take that approach? The person in office has no fear of losing their position so they play the same old game and nothing really changes. This is especially true in the black community where politicians have been running on the same platform for 30 years and we just follow along until things slowly broke down. Now we don't control our own schools, can't seem to elect anyone that doesn't get indicted, won't stop shooting at one another and some of our people are so uneducated they probably don't know who the mayor is. What are we doing thanking anyone for anything at this moment?

I didn’t mention who we visited on Capitol Hill for two reasons. The first is that everyone from around the country had the same instructions so kissing up to leadership wasn’t just a New Orleans thing. The second reason is that most of the time when you a political out by name there’s always a supporter of theirs who will let you know about the money they brought to your area for something or some bill they supported. That’s cool with me. My response is why are we so easily satisfied?

If anyone has an extra lemon Hubiq’s Pie laying around the house please let me know if I can get it so it holds me over until they rebuild.

Sitting on My Porch Part Eighty Two

I’m not ready to talk football yet but I am glad Drew Brees got his contract signed. I still don’t think this season is going to be that good because the coach is suspended but we’ll at least have a punchers chance. I knew Drew wasn’t going to give the Saints a discount because he owes it to the other players at his position to keep the market rate going up. Peyton Manning set the scale for Drew’s contract and he just set the scale for Aaron Rodgers. With teams giving out this kind of money to quarterbacks there’s no way they are going to let anyone hit them hard enough for injury. Whatever the record is for roughing the passer penalties the 2012 season will shatter it.

I’m going out of town for a few days. Despite the humidity, random thunderstorms and the chance of getting shot on a public bus I don’t really like leaving the city. I guess it’s always good to get away for a few days and see something different. I was going to mention in this paragraph how the site of a shrimper selling fresh shrimp out of his truck in Gentilly today was heartwarming but I don’t want to sound like a BP commercial. I hope the hotel I’m staying in has Cartoon Network. If not I am going to miss the premier of Black Dynamite Sunday night. 

I went to a healthcare forum sponsored by the National Council of Negro Women on Wednesday night. There was a lot of talk about the healthcare act. I learned a lot about it that I really didn’t know before. It actually made me feel more positive about it. There were other people in the audience that had the same question I did. How come know one seems to know about all these good things? The media spent so much time quoting politicians and so little time explaining the bill that I can’t be mad if a lot of Americans are not as informed as they should be.

Some people are upset with Mitt Romney about using the NAACP to gain favor with his base. I am sure he went there to be booed as loudly as possible. Later that night he made a speech in Montana and used a quote about people wanting “free stuff” that he used before in speaking about other groups.  This allowed him and his supporters to pull out old quotes and dismiss the racial intentions of what he said while triggering racial tension at the same time. It was a shrewd political move. Very few things are out of bonds when you are running for office these days so I am not upset with Mitt Romney. I’m upset with the crowd at the NAACP. Have they been paying attention to the last four years? What did they think he was there to do? The best way to respond to his words about the healthcare bill was to not do or say anything at all. They should have just sat there like a bunch of zombies and left the used car salesman to come up with a way to save face.

Life can be challenging as you navigate it. At the end of the day everyone is just a combination of good and bad choices. In most cases death has a way of taking the edge of off the bad choices we’ve made. A lot of people who did things that weren’t so good get a break when they die. Death shakes humans to the core so much that I think we talk ourselves into making people’s actions not as bad as they actually were. I’ve been trying to think if there’s anyone who’s had their legacy changed from one extreme to the other like Joe Paterno. At this time a year ago Joe Paterno was considered a symbol of integrity and good values. In all the years of following college football I never heard anyone say anything negative about him at all. Now he’s passed away, a report funded by his own college said he protected a child molester for years and people are removing his name from buildings that were dedicated to him. It’s unbelievable. It’s the kind of thing that makes you question everybody.

It's risky for society to build people up sometimes. No human is above doing something wrong and we probably shouldn't hold anyone to that standard. At the same time I don't think we want to get to the point where we have no hope in people at all. If no one has help in society then the world just becomes one big ghetto and no one wants to live like that.

 

Sitting On My Porch Part Eighty One

There’s a lady that cleans up the office building I work in. She’s one of the nicest and most positive people in the world. I hear people complaining all day about their jobs and this lady always has a smile on her face no matter how messy people left things behind for her. I’m guilty of that sometimes. One day I had all kind of small things on the carpet and I wanted it vacuumed. I also had an extra three bags of trash because I was cleaning up my office. I left a note on the door asking for someone to vacuum the floor and just in case the person reading the note would be pissed off I apologized for the extra trash. Not only did she vacuum the room but she left me a note that says “Have a Blessed Day”. I kept the note on my desk to remind me to stay positive. Unfortunately I have never asked her name but I hope she enjoyed her holiday.

This summer has been about me trying to get myself back together physically and mentally. I’ve been trying to clear my mind and not think so much. I want to relax as much as possible before the school year starts again and the routine grind comes back.That’s why I haven’t been posting much. I feel like sometimes I let things that I have little or no control over bother me to the point where it affects my quality of life. Sometimes you have to get away from those things and chill out. Plus when you have been maintaining a blog for eight years in a world where nothing really changes you always feel like you are repeating yourself.

 On the physical side I’m trying to get into better shape since I went to my 20 year high school reunion and everyone looked like they were the same size they were back then except for me. I was already trying to motivate myself to live a little healthier. There’s nothing like looking like the pregnant dude in the reunion pictures to finally push you to a commitment.

I have to make an appointment for a physical soon. I will use the health care that I and my employer pay for. We are exercising our freedom to be overcharged every year for those policies so I may as well get something out of it. I had forgotten all about the health care bill until the Supreme Court and Chief Justice Roberts brought it back to the forefront.  Democrats took a victory lap while Republicans felt like they were betrayed by Justice Roberts. Everybody needs to relax. He still helped the Citizens United decision go forward and that was the real killer to the voice of the people. I know we live in a time where you have to agree with everything your political side thinks and no one is allowed to have their own opinion anymore but this one decision does not make Justice Roberts a traitor. He’s not going to try and restart ACORN or anything.

I was trying to think of an example in every day life that would compare to Mitt Romney campaigning against a plan that he thought was good enough for all of his constituents in his previous leadership role and now that he wants a bigger job he has to basically attack his own creation. The whole situation is baffling to me.

The one thing we never really address through all of the conversations about health care is that we wouldn’t need a health care bill if insurance and health care itself wasn’t so high. There is no phase of health care in this country that is affordable without some kind of help. Regardless of your politics or background, if you or someone in your family gets sick for a significant amount of time you are going to have problems paying those bills. The reason we need a rule about preexisting conditions isn’t because those people wanted to be taken care of by the government. It’s because insurance companies knew eventually they would probably have to pay for something related to the condition so they were actually turning down people who wanted to give them money. If you are trying to do the responsible thing and buy insurance and no one will give it to you then what are you supposed to do? That’s why I was hoping for a public plan in the bill to keep insurance companies from going up every year.

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The New Orleans tourism commercials are really corny. The only thing worst than those are the BP commercials where their representatives talk about what their doing for the Gulf Coast like they didn’t cause the problem in the first place.

Every day I check the news for a Drew Brees contract signing or a Jay Electronica album release date. As of today I haven’t gotten either one.

I also try to avoid BountyGate talk everyday. It’s the story that won’t go away. With the exception of the Katrina season and sitting in the Superdome watching Mike Ditka coach, this is the worst Saints story I’ve had to deal with.

Every now and then a song comes out and I think it’s a really stupid song but I can’t stop listening to it. I get mad at myself for playing it so much. Cashin Out is one of those songs. I need to get this song out of my head.

Paying Respect To The Every Day Dad

Today is Father’s Day. It’s the one day of the year where dads can expect to be pampered and praised without feeling uncomfortable about it. Usually dads don’t worry about all that stuff because they are too busy trying to do all the things that make a good father. It’s a never ending job that you never feel is over no matter how old you are your children are. I’ve never told my dad this but since we’ve been living in other cities after Hurricane Katrina there are certain things I don’t call him about anymore. It’s not because I don’t want to. It’s because I have so much faith in my daddy being there for me that I think he would get in his car and drive from Memphis just to help me if I sounded  like I really needed it. I have to save the man from his own instinct.

While he’s a hero to me and my family my dad is a regular guy to the rest of the world. He can’t sing. He can’t act. He only has one degree. He’s never had much money. In the black community guys like that don’t get much press. There are so many brothers that get up everyday and grind through their daily routine and no one ever recognizes they are there. Those men and the people around them have been trained to not expect anyone to make a big deal out of what they do. We do what we have to do anyway and we should continue to but I think our approach to how we present things sends a mixed message to the kids in our community.

We want our young men to stop being violent and live their lives in the right way but at the same time the men close enough to do something about their actions get hardly no acknowledgement. Our wish is for men  whose plates are already full to accept responsibility for the kids who don’t have fathers in their lives and turn them around. At the same time our music and media do nothing but highlight the kind of behavior and mentality  that leads to the problem. Thug life is big business. On the other end of the spectrum you have the intellectual crowd that are so smart and talented that they don’t know how to interact with regular people anymore so they say a lot of impressive things but the majority of it never gets down to the level where the problem is. If things are going to change it’s going to be the bus drivers, maintenance men, construction workers, security guards, and all the blue collar men who live on the blocks our sons are fighting on. Today is the day to give those guys a much deserved pat on the back.

When We Lie To Mask The Fear

Lately I have found that there are certain things I just can’ find the energy to talk about. I was going to let what happened Tuesday slowly fade to the background of my memory. I changed my mind over the last couple of days because I have never had so many people start a conversation about an incident the way they did after Tuesday. Maybe what I have to say will be good for some people to help cope with how they are feeling.

When you live where I live with the things we are facing right now you have to find ways to cope. One of these coping mechanisms is lying to yourself. Self brainwashing is very effective in this type of environment. One of the main lies I have been able to talk myself into believing is that I am so experienced at living in this city that I can avoid almost every violent situation.  I’m so good at this that usually when I see things on the news happening to other people you can always find something they did that I would never do. That’s how you validate the mind state.  This is one of the main reasons why I am never scared living here. I go through my daily routine with crime being the farthest thing from my mind.

Every now and then something happens to wipe that sense of security all the way out of your mind and you have to start over. Tuesday three men opened fire in a busy intersection towards a kid’s birthday party. Five year old Brianna Allen and 33 year old Shawana Pierce were killed. Ms. Pierce had three sons. Since this tragedy happened I have not only been scared but actually pretty shaken as well. 

It always shakes me when the babies are killed because that’s just a sad event and demoralizing to the community. To me that’s the ultimate failure when we can’t protect them. The baby’s dead shook me but the killing of Ms. Pierce scared me. In the morning during the school year I brought babies to the same school she brought her babies to. Maybe it was the fact that when Mr. Johnson, the principal at KIPP Central City Primary school asked for a moment of silence for her at the end of the year program Wednesday said her name my 8 year old daughter told me the names of her sons and her nephew she went to school with and gave me a confused look like she didn’t understand what happened and I was thinking of ways to explain it. 
I drive the same direction Shawana Pierce was driving day after day. If it wasn’t the end of the school year I probably would have been in the same area she was in around the same time. As good as I think I am at watching for danger I wouldn’t have been able to react to the gunfire she was caught in. It seemed like there was nothing she could have done to avoid that at the time and that’s the part that has everyone messed up mentally.

It gives you that hopeless and helpless feeling because you don’t what to do to stop it from happening. I already know the mentality we are dealing with. I also know the culture it thrives in. We've been through this before. This was another event that led to a discussion with children about violence and we already discussed not wanting to deal with that.

Do you move away? Do you hope the mayor comes up with a task force to go door to door and determine who gets to stay in the city and who has to leave? Do you change your kid’s school and isolate them from the same neighborhoods you grew up in because it’s just too dangerous to have that connection to your hood anymore? There may be a few people who follow through on these things. Most of us will do what we always do. We’ll talk about the thugs and the people who raised them. Then we’ll find comfort in one another knowing that we are not part of the problem. Then the brainwashing starts all over again. If there isn’t a tragic story like Tuesday we’ll all fool ourselves into normalcy soon.pretty soon it will be football season and we'll really be distracted. We just need to talk our way through the summer and things will seem alright.

The tire on my truck has a slow leak in the front tire. I filled it with air and went out about 11:00 PM to see if it was still inflated so I could drive it to work in the morning. As I stepped outside around 11:20 and looked to the left and the right to see what was going on I thought to myself “Why am I tripping like this? This is a working neighborhood and nothing crazy ever happens on this block. I’m safe as long as I’m home.” The sooner you start the brainwashing process the easier it works.

Another Victim of Irresponsible Internet Behavior

We are living in a fascinating and confusing time. I’ve written about internet comments before. It’s one of my five favorite posts ever. I continue to be amazed at how many people end up in hot water because they just can’t control typing whatever is on their mind and posting it for the masses.

 Americans believe in free speech. The founding fathers believed in it so much it was covered in the first amendment to the constitution. As much as some of the things people say that get on my nerves, I’m still glad we can say or write what we want and not face a firing squad. At the same time as free speech is protected Americans also believe in the right to be quiet. We believe in it so much that the Fifth Amendment says you even if you are arrested for a crime you doesn’t have to say anything. You could be a serial killer and don’t have to tell how many people you killed or where the bodies are. Both the right to remain silent and the freedom to say what you want are a true test of free society because sometimes they clash with situations going on in the world.

Social networking has taken the clash between these two things to an entirely new level. I don’t think in the history of the world has so many people said things willingly to cause themselves problems. Mr. Mark Traina was a school psychologist for 20 years in Jefferson Parish. Part of his job was evaluating kids to see if they needed to be referred to alternative schools. He's had a few issues for making comments on NOLA.com and Twitter. One of his tweets mentioned how black thugs needed to be put down like animals because that’s what they are. When interviewed on the news he said he wasn’t racist. He’s just fed up with crime.

First of all Mr. Traina is an educated man. I’m assuming that because he’s been a school psychologist for 20 years. I’m sure he could have come up with a better way to express his frustration with crime. He has to understand how comments like the ones he made look in relation to the job he has. He’s evaluating troubled kids and many of them look like the same thugs he wants to put down like animals. If I was a veterinarian and posted all over the internet about how I couldn’t wait to kick dogs in the face, and any dog that wasn’t pure bred should be put to sleep would you send your pet to me? Even if I was qualified and claim to love animals, how could you ever feel comfortable leaving your pet in my care? You wouldn’t and now that his opinions on “black thugs” are public no parent is going to take his evaluation without question especially if their kid fits the description. His own words put his effectiveness in question.

Personally, I have no problem with Mr. Traina no longer having his job because of what he said but what I don’t understand is why he just didn’t share his opinions with his friends and family and keep it off of the internet? I guess people being exposed for their views by their own choice is a good thing but the logical side of me just can't make sense of it. The truth of the matter is that he’s not the only person who thinks the way he does. It’s just that most of those people are not sharing with the world, hiding their identity or not working for the school system evaluating troubled kids. The amount of people who are willing to put their careers in jeopardy to make comments never ceases to amaze me (Maybe it's all the random folks online too scared to use their real name and with nothing to lose cheering them on but that's a topic for another post. If you lose your job because someone name CajundudeXXX kept cosigning every ridiculous thing you said online and you just had to keep satisfying their lust for ignorance then you deserve to be unemployed.) We have freedom of speech but that doesn’t mean that there are no repercussions at all.

I’m definitely not always a happy guy. I get frustrated with a lot of people both public and private.  I have opinions about a lot of things but I try not to present them in a way to offend anyone. The reason is pretty simple. Babies need food and clothing. I like going to the store with my debit card and buying stuff. Unless there was something that would change the course of my community or make me so much money that I didn’t have to work it’s not worth it. Maybe that means I don’t have enough courage but at least I still have my career which is more than Mark Traina can say. He may not have a job anymore but he probably picked up some new Twitter followers. I hope that makes him feel good about the situation.

The Calling In Sick of Politics

Today was a long work day but I struggled and made it through. I didn’t really sleep at all last night. When I woke up this morning I thought long and hard about calling in to work but I didn’t. In my entire adult life I have only called into work without a good reason once. That was to go to a Saints game in 1996 so even my manager understood. I believe when you make a commitment to a job you stick to it. That’s why I fought through my day today and why it makes no sense to me that my city council person is not going to work right now.

I often wonder what makes political leaders take certain stands when they do. Out of all the things that have taken place in the city, could Councilwoman Hedge-Morrell and Councilman Johnson really be holding up city business because of the way we elect at-large council members? That should be something that can be worked out without a protest. They also voiced concerns over Councilwoman’s Head’s replacement for her District B seat. They feel he’s unqualified. My opinion is who cares who’s the councilperson is District B. If the people of that district are okay with an unqualified person to replace their former representative so be it. I’m concerned with having nice things in the area where I live.

 I believe in the phrase “to the victor go the spoils”. Ms. Head won her new at-large fair and square. Let her name who she wants to her old seat just like every other person has done. If they didn’t want her to have that much power they should have ran against her or helped her opponent Cynthia Willard-Lewis. None of that happened so just let it go and deal with it.

The other theory as to why they are holding out on going back is they are doing the mayor’s bidding so he can appoint his own foot soldier to the council. If that’s true then I have to ask what’s in it for Districts D and E if that happens. Are we getting extra police patrols? Will some of the projects that haven’t been completed in our area move up the list? Are we getting the second Costco store? What about a hospital? ….Wal Mart?......Anything? If all they are doing is helping the mayor gain more influence so he can turn over entire neighborhoods to the Hospitality Zone and spur development in other areas then they could have went back to work already. The least they can do is get something out of it for their districts so they won’t look like the pawns they are appearing to be right now

This is my third day of a week’s vacation and I am ready to go back to work. Being a tourist in your own city is overrated. I’ve seen all of this stuff hundreds of times already. Plus all my friends that I would hang out with are working. I guess I shouldn’t complain about that. At least they all have jobs. I’ve been taking this time to sleep late, clean up my yard and spend some time away from the constant download of people’s opinion on the information highway. I'm making a conscious effort not to pay attention to things from time to time.

I’m pretty sure that makes me an irresponsible adult.  I think a big problem is people aren’t paying enough attention to issues that are happening in their community.  That’s why we have so many people who either sound ignorant and clueless when they speak. Lucky for us we have platforms like Twitter and Facebook that allow them to showcase their ignorance to the rest of the world. I don’t want to sound like a hypocrite and pretend like I am not dialed into the grid but it’s different with some people. Some people just have a bold confidence to make the craziest statements ever. It gets to be a bit much sometimes.

The blogging struggle continues….

Rest in Peace Rest in Peace to Adam “MCA” Yauch

My Thoughts on the New Orleans Hospitality Zone

The city of New Orleans is preparing to have a hospitality zone to generate money for the tourist industry. The particulars are already broken down by LunaNola on the NOLAFemmes blog so I don’t have to do it. I am not anti tourism. I realize that a lot of people in this city including my closest friend depend on visitors to fuel their livelihood and I respect that. I don’t want people to stop visiting the city. I just don’t know why we have to create all the extra layers of government and taxes to feed the tourism industry. It seems to me the industry has been doing okay without a special tax zone.

Do we need the extra money for the Superbowl? New Orleans was hosting Superbowls before they had a Superdome. I think people know what they are going to see when they visit here. A lot of the money is set aside for advertising. Maybe advertising does make a difference in the number of visitors to the city and if it does there should be a hospitality zone in Baton Rouge and other areas around the state because New Orleans is barely seeing any of the money from tourism anyway.

I read this article in the Times Picayune last week about the amount of money the city gains from all the big tourism events. It included how much the city actually received from being the host.

“For the first three months of 2012, when the city played host to numerous headline-making events, Chief Financial Officer Norman Foster said, the city's revenue from hotel-motel taxes was up more than 30 percent from the same period in 2011. But that increase amounted to only $800,000, barely a drop in the bucket of the city's almost $500 million operating budget.”

“In fact, visitors paid far more than that in hotel taxes, a hefty 13 percent of their bills. But the city's share of that is only 1 percent. The other 12 percent goes to the state, the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, the Superdome Commission, the Orleans Parish School Board, the New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau and others.”

The state and the tourism industry are already getting most of the money from the visitors we have now. Why do we need to section off entire portions of the city if the city itself won’t be seeing any increase in revenue? We are losing out on the current money and the potential extra money.

The other thing about this idea is that it creates yet another appointed board with control over public money. We have so many boards now that I have lost track. I don’t know who has control over which decisions anymore. Its bad enough we got about a dozen deputy mayors. You have to go through two consultants, three boards, and four deputy mayors before you can determine if the person you actually voted for is doing their job.  Now we are about to add the Hospitality Zone Board to the mix. That means when citizens want to write and complain about the extra ten dollars they spent in taxes on a steak at Ruth’s Chris downtown they’ll have to email twenty different people. In my opinion this is too much for the average person to keep up with and maybe that’s part of the plan.

Draft Day and We are Still Hostages of the Bounty Scandal

Tonight is the first round of the NFL draft. The Saints didn’t have a pick tonight before the bounty stuff started happening so it wasn’t going to be as exciting but I am thinking about not watching any of it. I already know that anytime my team name comes up there will be something negative attached to it.

I have accepted that the team was doing something it wasn’t supposed to. The coach is suspended for a year and I think that will cost the team a chance to play at home in the Superbowl. What Gregg Williams and the defense were doing was unnecessary and stupid. Even if it was just a motivational thing and they never really intended on hurting anyone they should have stopped it once the league told them too. Plus they broke one of the rules of doing something against the rules. You never let too many people in on what you are doing. Gregg Williams was making crazy speeches with all kinds of people in the room. As far as sports scandals go this is by far the dumbest one I have seen in my lifetime.

What is aggravating me is why it is taking so long to announce all of the punishments so we as fans can move on and start getting ready for our handicapped season.  The commissioner said he had 50,000 pages worth of documents in the investigation. There should have been more than enough information to suspend everyone involved and move on. At this rate we’ll have to listen to this over and over until minicamp starts. Why would the league continue to string this along and torture the fans if they already know what they are going to do? I have two theories.

The first one is that although no one has denied there was some kind of pay for performance system in place, there’s no actual video evidence that the players did anything on the field that warrants the suspensions that the commissioner has in mind. I think he’s been trying to get the players association to sign off on a heavy handed punishment like he gave to Sean Payton and they won’t do it without proof. Every news report has played the same two or three plays over and over.  They haven’t said if anyone got any money for those plays or not. It could be that they can’t prove anyone did so it’s hard to suspend a guy for half of the season for one hard hit that wasn’t even flagged on the field.

My other more irrational theory is that the commissioner is taking this long so the media can unleash an all out assault on Sean Payton and the organization. Until the bounty story started I had no idea just how much so many people in the media hated Sean Payton. No one is enjoying his suspension more than the guys that cover the team. A few days ago the reporter from Outside the Lines that broke the Loomis wiretapping story was on ESPN radio talking about it and he kept mentioning how Payton used to call and yell at reporters. I thought that was strange because Payton wasn’t the coach when the wiretapping supposedly happened. I think these last few weeks have been the media’s time to get back at the coach for being a jerk and the commissioner is letting it happen to take Sean Payton down a notch.

From a fan’s perspective, the longer this goes on the more I feel like the league is picking on the team and it makes me want to get back at them by running up the score on everyone we play and making it to the Superbowl anyway. I want to have another parade and let Sean Payton be the grand marshal leading the way holding the trophy.

In real life situations hate and bitterness can eat you alive. It’s debilitating. I wouldn’t recommend it. In sports it actually makes things more interesting. Years of bitterness and hate are what 2009 so sweet. The bitterness building towards the league is going to make 2012 a fun season because the team has nothing to lose after the bounty punishment. I just wish the commissioner makes his final ruling and get it over with it so we can get on with the task of building our villain dynasty. I can’t wait until September 9, 2012 when the Saints play their first home game of the season in which Sean Payton goes to the game in disguise, sits in the terrace and sends messages to the team using a coding system from the light shining off his Superbowl ring.  I know that won’t happen but I am sure a reporter will be up there looking for the next big Saints scandal.

Another Frustrating Voting Experience

Stacy Head is now the new Councilwoman at large in New Orleans after beating Cynthia Willard Lewis last night by 281 votes. Yesterday was the first time I ever walked in the voting booth and still hadn't made up my mind who to vote for. I almost stayed home. This election was really not an course changing event for the city. Both of the candidates have spent forever on the council already and if they had any ideas to really benefit everybody we would know about them. The only thing we would have gained with Cynthia Willard Lewis winning is more unnecessarily angry white residents and a lot more entertainment at council meetings.

I was surprised it was as close as it was. It’s hard to figure out if Councilwoman Head’s attitude rubs enough people the wrong way that more people went out and voted for Cynthia Willard Lewis. I was listening to her concession speech last night and even she seemed surprised to be so close. The next few years will be interesting because it’s possible that after living through a haze for a few years after Katrina the black community may be starting to pay attention to what’s going on around them. I think it’s been sparked by Chief Serpas, the NOPD, and the fact that there seems to be a lot of development going on downtown and none where we live. Of course, I could be wrong and the next election’s turnout will be 10%. That wouldn’t surprise me.

I remember when I first started voting and how excited I used to be. Now when I go it feels like a chore that I am required to do instead of something that’s going to bring about any change. I’m caught in a strange place because when I vote I think about all the vulnerable people in my community who have no power and worry that in the interest of a few could be shipped to the middle of the bayou to live while their neighborhoods become part of a devastation and poverty tour that tourists can pay 39.95 to visit. On the other hand, the same people that I worry about so much don’t vote or pay attention themselves. One day I’m going to crossover to the middle class frame of mind and worry about things like dog parks and how the city’s taxi cabs look. I’m not there yet and won’t be any time soon so I’ll continue to be frustrated until I see evidence that I shouldn't be.

Happy Easter

It’s Easter Sunday. I’m not the most religious guy in the world by far but I respect the holiday’s meaning. The best part about Easter growing up is that it was the first warm weather holiday. In New Orleans that means it’s time to sit outside with your family and have a good time. I remember getting up early to get dress and wait for my grandpa to come and pick me up to go get ice from the old ice house in the French Quarter. I was always fascinated that whenever I went somewhere with him everyone knew him by name. I didn’t know why we had to get up so early just for ice. I’m thinking it had to be because they might run out if we went to late. We didn’t need it that early because everyone had to go to church first before any festivities started.

Everybody would get Easter clothes for church and then a short set to change into afterwards. On Saturday night before we would dye eggs and my mama would make the greatest Easter baskets. I got an Easter basket every year of my life until that barge destroyed the levee (allegedly by me) and flooded the Lower Ninth Ward. I know we are not supposed to be thinking about these things anymore. We have to try and maintain tradition as much as we can so we need to dye eggs and take the kids to church. Every now and then there should be a story about the good old days in the neighborhood on Easter Sunday.

Sitting On My Porch Part Eighty

After a few weeks of little rest and hard work I intended on sleeping all day on Good Friday. I’ve been fatigued and wanted to recharge the batteries. Evidence of my fatigue is the fact that this is my third attempt at finishing this blog post since last weekend. Some of the things I wrote in the first two versions aren’t relevant anymore so I am starting from scratch. Even though I wanted to rest today I ended up doing roof repairs thanks to the monsoon we had Wednesday and took a ride through the city where they had to be at least 100 fish fries going on.

We have moved into the Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and New Black Panther Party phase of the Trayvon Martin case. That means that there are all kinds of foolish things being said about the case. Things have gotten way off course from the actual subject. I learned from 9/11 and Katrina that there is no topic that can’t be exploited or taking out of context in this country anymore. This story is no different.

I have to admit that I am a bit surprised at how many people are defending George Zimmerman despite everything that comes out. It just goes to show how everyone is so dedicated to a certain position that they will ignore obvious things. An unarmed kid was killed after an incident in which he was followed by a man that was told not to pursue. I feel like even if you believe in the right to carry arms or Stand Your Ground laws we could at least agree all of this wouldn’t be going on today if he just would have waited for the police to arrive. We can’t even come to that consensus. We also wouldn’t be following this story if the police in Sanford Florida just arrested Zimmerman when they had a chance.

The other thing that bugs me is the people who keep asking where the outrage from the black community is when one of our own has killed someone. I get even more aggravated when someone black agrees with them. People who do this make it seem like we are sitting at home giving one another high fives when the next story of violent crime come across the newswire. The question is what does some other guy’s crime has to do with George Zimmerman killing Trayvon Martin and not even being arrested to stand trial? If we are going to use the crimes of other people to validate everything we do then why are we even bothering sending our kids to school or getting up to go to work. We might as well just all go to the penitentiary right now. You don’t have to choose one thing over the other. None of those arguments are valid anyway unless there’s a bunch of young black guys calling 911 to announce they are about to go confront someone and none of them are being arrested.

After all of the rallies and protests George Zimmerman still hasn’t been arrested........

If I could go one year of my life without hearing, seeing or experiencing something that I thought had racist intent it would be the greatest year of my life. Whenever I hear white people trying to show that they are just as victimized as racism as black people are I think we have done a poor job of explaining what racism is and how it affects us. I don’t care what you hear on television or from a radio talk show host; we don’t like racism and really don’t want to deal with it. Stop trying to turn this into a discrimination contest.

The Saints bounty story keeps getting worst. Now we have a filmmaker taking advantage of Steve Gleason to get access to the defensive meeting room and taping Gregg Williams talking about hurting other players. I am not condoning anything Gregg Williams said. I love football on all levels and the worst thing you can see is a kid laying on the field hurt. However, I can’t believe Sean Pamphilon took advantage of Steve Gleason and pulled him into the bounty story when he didn’t have anything to do with it. He wasn’t there to expose bounties in the NFL. He was there to document Steve Gleason’s journey for his son.

I would like to give these thoughts to public school parents on the education reform being passed in the state of Louisiana right now.

1. If you think the governor and his Republican friends got that concerned about the education of your kids all of a sudden you are DELUSIONAL.
2. If you think teachers’ tenure had something to do with your kid not getting all the resources needed to provide them with a quality education you are DELUSIONAL.
3. If you think that these private schools whose tuition is designed to keep your poor kids away from the paying customer’s children are going to suddenly open their arms and treat your kids equally just because the state is giving them public money to turn a profit you are DELUSIONAL.

I'm going to have more to say about this later.

The Next Step After Justice for Trayvon

We live in a complicated world. Because it’s so complicated incidents can get lumped together under common issues when they don’t have to be. Sometimes no one is wrong in how they look at something but because we are trying to handle everything together it causes debate where there shouldn’t be any. With that in mind I just want to say that the crusade to bring Trayvon Martin’s killer to justice is a valid cause. There’s no gray area to me.

Even if there was a group of kids committing crimes in that neighborhood it wouldn’t matter because Trayvon Martin wasn’t one of them. As a matter of fact even if he was he still shouldn’t have died that night. That’s why we have law enforcement and a justice system. I know there are times when someone feels threatened or their life is in danger and they must take action but that’s not what happened here. There’s not one shred of evidence to suggest there’s even a doubt that this young man was killed for no other reason than being profiled by a man who was dying to be a vigilante. That is totally unacceptable because I don’t have time to be wondering what someone is looking at when they see me in their neighborhood. I don’t want to be visiting a friend and end up in the morgue because I decided to wear jeans and a hoodie that day.

That’s the reason why I’m 100% behind George Zimmerman being arrested and prosecuted. It’s personal to me because I was Trayvon at a point in my life. I’ve been followed in stores. I’ve been pulled over by law enforcement just to ask me where I was going. I’ve been stopped with my friends while we were just walking up the street. The part that makes it difficult is that even after I made good grades, went to school, and got a job I was still profiled the same way. Any of us could have been Trayvon. That’s why it upsets me so much.

I’m upset but I don’t have blinders on. I see what’s going on in my community and I know that black men have a serious problem with criminal activity and how we treat one another. I don’t think there is no way to justify what George Zimmerman did but it’s frustrating to know that some young men give his supporters the evidence to validate his crime. I know there are a lot of kids running for help and it’s not from anyone that looks like Zimmerman. They are running from young men that look just like them. That problem is our Achilles Heel because it gives people who hate us reasons to question our humanity.

That’s why I am hoping that once the initial goal of justice being served in Trayvon’s case we take that same energy, turn it inward and figure out how to save his peers from the cemetery and the penitentiary. I know it’s been difficult for us to deal with our own issues but if we can’t find the energy now after a situation like this I don’t know when the time will come. A young man is dead because of his appearance and I can’t think of a better way to honor his memory by doing all we can to make sure that many of his peers live as long and productive lives as possible.

There’s been a lot of talk about race lately. If brothers really want to strike fear in the hearts of real racists they need to see us showing each other love and respect. They need see us taking care of our kids and respecting our women. They need to see us as we educate ourselves and improve our community. I have no doubt we could do this if we just stay focused. After you march for Trayvon Martin, put those hoodies back on and let’s try to save these kids.