How Big Is Your Jail?

There’s going to be a new jailhouse in New Orleans. We can’t seem to agree on how big it should be. The deputy mayor Mr. Kopplin led a group that determined the size of the jail should be 1438 beds. Sheriff Marlon Gusman says he needs 3200 beds. I think Mayor Landrieu is leaning more to Sheriff Gusman’s side on this one and things the jail should be bigger as well. If I were a betting man I would put my money on a number closer to the 3200 because we are going for the bigger and better theme these days. Right now there’s blocks of property being torn down in the middle of the city for a new hospital and that’s just for the parking space. Why wouldn’t we build the biggest jail possible? Plus, we like locking people up in New Orleans. If it’s a real good Mardi Gras season we can get at least 2500 tourists in there with no problem.

If I had a vote I would want the jail to be about 500 beds and maybe another 200 to hold people until they went to court after being arrested. All we need room for is people who commit violent crimes, sexual assaults and anything against children. Maybe if we had a jail that small people would get serious about coming up with strategies to change the circumstances that lead to so many people being arrested in the first place. Besides, there’s a bunch of inmates in parish prison now and crime keeps happening. When I see a number like 3200 beds I think about 3000 black men being locked up. New Orleans court isn’t the most diverse place in the world when it comes to defendants. There’s got to be a better way to spend that money on new programs that will do more to help those guys be productive citizens and make the city safer instead of giving them a new jail cell and more space to waste the prime of their lives away. I know we are spending money that was allocated specifically for a prison but there has to be a way to do something different and creative with that space.

I’m sure everyone involved knows that already. There’s just the small issue of having so much money to spend on a facility. The planners have to get their cut. The consultants are going to want some of that. Then there’s the construction company and contractors who need to stick their hands in. I’m sure I’ll be seeing construction crews full of illegal immigrants and out of state license plates thinking to myself how funny it is that we are building a jail for the city of New Orleans and it’s future occupants didn’t even get a chance to make some money building it. When I think about some of the things that have went on in the redevelopment of this city the 3200 bed plan might actually be conservative. I should be happy the new prison complex doesn’t stretch all the way to Hollygrove.

There's No Replacement For Daddy

Tonight I am heading downtown to check out Monday Night RAW. I’m going with my cousin, my nephew, and my little brother from the mentoring program. It should be a lot of fun. My first experience as a mentor has gone pretty well. My only issue has been trying to remember what a mentor is supposed to do. The kid is only ten years old and it’s hard for me to just talk with him about things without fussing and telling him what he should do. According to what the mentor training says our job is to just help them work through issues and not take the place of a guardian. I guess that’s for the best but it still feels strange to me because Big Cliff was my friend and he helped me work through a lot of things but at 10 years old he was still the boss of me and didn’t hesitate to shake the life out of my body if I was tripping.

My little brother could be on the verge of having that kind of relationship with his dad. He just got released from prison about a week ago. I’m not sure how a mentor comes into play when your own father is around. My dad would have taken it as an insult if I would have been in a mentoring program but he was there every day. Maybe this brother won’t mind since he has a lot of things to do to get his own life together. Only time will tell. Once I was informed that he would be released I already told myself that if he steps up and decides that he is ready to be a full time presence in the kid’s life I will call and check on him occasionally but get out of the way. I’m not sure if that’s what I should do but that’s what my instinct tells me.

The close it came to his dad getting released the better his attitude and behavior got in school. It’s too early in the day for black father bashing but there’s one thing I am sure of and that’s that all these kids want their own father involved. I don’t care if they are 5, 15 or 25 years old; when it all comes down to it you can’t beat the power of having a relationship with your dad. For most of his life my little brother never had that chance and now he does. I really hope things work out and I can lend my time for another young brother that didn’t get the opportunity to have that reconnection. If it doesn’t work out then he can always call me. I’m looking forward to the day I call to check up on him and all he does is ramble on and on about all the cool stuff he and his dad did together. That will be a great conversation and we can add having awesome dads to the list of things we have in common like our love of professional wrestling and being good looking black men from New Orleans.

Repost: Neighborhood Wish List

I'm not getting lazy when it comes to blogging. It's just that a lot of issues have been going on so long that I have spoken about them before. This morning on the front page of the Times Picayune was a story about how despite having 71,000 residents living out here New Orleans East and having a pretty good median income compared to the rest of the city we have no retail and amenities of a neighborhood with middle class people. When I read it this morning I felt the need to say something about it. That's when I realized that I already had so I went back and found this post from July 2008. I went back and read it and despite a few references to some officials no longer in the positions they were in at the time everything I said still holds form. Hopefully I won't be re- posting this again in 2012. If I have to post this again two years from now I won't be so nice about it especially with all these feel good development stories going on.

I have never been one to get excited by stories in the paper and magazines about up and coming developments in my community. I believe it when I see it. Actually, I believe it when I see people coming in and out of the building. With that in mind I want to discuss my current area of the city. I live right along the border of New Orleans East and Gentilly. There are thousands of people living out here and most of us are middle and working class people. Any given day you can ride around this area and see work being done on houses everywhere. I would argue that besides the affluent non flooded neighborhoods, there is probably more working people in New Orleans East and Gentilly than any other neighborhoods in New Orleans. So why is it when I want to buy a non bootleg CD I have to spend gas and time just to go to the store? I know we are supposed to be all in this recovery together but its obvious no one in control of the money wanted us to move back out here. This may seem petty to most people but by the time I get to a place with a really good cup of coffee to sip on the way to work I am already in the building.

This is not about the obvious things like a hospital or new schools. This is also not intended to disrespect and minimize all the stores like Winn Dixie, Home Depot and Sears that are open already, the small businesses opening up around the area or the Asian and Middle Eastern grocers who were here months before anybody else. What I am trying to say is that I want some of the things that are on the Westbank, Metairie, Slidell or Uptown. I think the folks around me make enough money to warrant some of these things. Here is my list. If you want to add to it or tell me about something being built please let me know. Keep in mind we had some of this stuff before the storm. I know we won’t get all of this. I will settle for five and would actually be shocked if we get one anytime soon.

Wal Mart

Best Buy

P J’s Coffee ( I would be in here every morning. They would probably stop charging me after awhile.)

Any Big and Tall Men’s Store

Buffalo Wild Wings

PetSmart

Fox and Hound

Borders Books (because I have a discount card)

A movie theatre (with proper security)

A cigar shop

Martins Wine Cellar

24 hour fitness center with a basketball court

Chuck E Cheese

Cell phone stores from all the major carriers.

Applebee’s, Outback, N.O. Hamburger and Seafood, Bennigans, anything?

Another original restaurant like Sassafras will be ok in place of the names above.

Dillards

Burlington Coat Factory

Kroger’s( I know we don’t have these in New Orleans but they have the best steaks and beer selection for a grocery chain )

Golden Corral

About three of those 5 min oil change spots.

A really good hibachi restaurant

I think five from this list is fair. We definitely have the space. I have a great idea. How about we tear down that destroyed Six Flags park that is an eyesore and never going to open again. We can take half of that space and give some of these companies free rent. I should send this to Ann Duplessis and hope her lack of a pay raise hasn't affected her ability to open emails.

A Bit of Justice For Henry

The verdict came in for the Henry Glover trial yesterday evening. Three officers were found guilty for killing Mr. Glover, burning his body, and trying to cover it up. Two other officers were acquitted and get to go home to their families. Yesterday when the verdicts were being announced there were a lot of people who were pissed at the fact that David Warren who pulled the trigger and Greg McRae who burned the body weren’t convicted of first degree murder. Warren was convicted of manslaughter and McRae was convicted of civil rights violation for burning Mr. Glover’s body. Personally, I will take these results as a victory for justice because the truth is that there isn’t a good track record of officers being brought to justice for killing black people. I honestly expected all of the defendants to be going home with their families after the verdict.

I didn’t expect any convictions in this case. I was ready for a hung jury. This is not like the Danziger case where there is almost no gray area in what happened. The Henry Glover story in our world was a bit fuzzier. Henry Glover was a “would be looter” like our local newspaper called him a few weeks ago when the trial started. It was Katrina and people were under a lot of stress. The reason of Officer McRae says he burned his body was because he was tired and stressed from seeing all of the things he did during the time. I fully expected that jury to get behind closed doors and have at least four of them to think to themselves that it was totally understandable how these officers did what they did. Besides, it’s not like they kicked in the door of a man’s home or shot up a family like the Danziger cops did. Henry Glover was a looter and a lot of people in this area agree that looters should be treated like animals.

When I think about like that the verdicts yesterday are disappointing but don’t seem like a travesty at all. The officer that killed Oscar Grant in Oakland was on film and wasn’t convicted of murder so a manslaughter conviction in this case under the circumstances is a win for justice. Maybe I have the bar set too low when it comes to the justice system and my community but we have to start somewhere if things are going to change. As I have said before, just because there's a crime problem in our community doesn't mean that anyone gets to compromise our rights and dignity because of it. This is especially true if the same people responsible for helping end the crime problem are the ones who are going to compromise my rights. How are we supposed to know who to trust under those circumstances?

We still don’t know what the sentences are yet but at least Henry Glover’s family has it on public record that wrong was done to him. Hopefully during the sentencing phase the system doesn’t pull a fast one and have these men spend less time in jail than people do in Orleans Parish for traffic tickets. If they do we’ll be right back to square one. No matter how this case and the others on the horizon turn out we still have a long way to go. I just hope it happens during my lifetime.

Are The Hornets Leaving?

The New Orleans Hornets have become the first team purchased by the NBA. That’s embarrassing. According their financial statements the team is bleeding money. I had a feeling this day was coming. I knew George Shinn wasn’t going to make it. I just figured by now someone would have stepped up to buy the team and move them another city. I think the recession saved the Hornets in New Orleans. I would love for the Hornets to stay here. I know Gary Chouest has to be disappointed after trying to buy the team for a year. Nobody spends that much time on something if they don’t really want to do it. I hope someone or a group of people step up and put the money together to make that happen.

At the time the Hornets moved here I had Saints season tickets. I knew there was no way I could afford both and when it comes down to the choice I will always choose football. If I had the money I would both even though I wouldn’t make half of the games because of my lifestyle. I think that might be some of the reasons the Hornets have trouble with attendance except for big games. People drive from all over the Gulf Coast for Saints games and that’s only 9-10 times a season. The Hornets have to sell tickets because we don’t have the corporate sponsorship around here to guarantee enough money where our arena can be empty like the other places I see and still be profitable. There’s no way they can survive without a strong season ticket base. It will be interesting to see what happens. Chris Paul and his teammates are doing so many good things for the inner city youth. It would be ashamed to lose that at this point.

I realize as a market we have to ultimately take responsibility if the team isn’t successful but I think the NBA needs to take some too. I’m addicted to sports and will watch a sport I like on any level. I love NBA basketball but when the Hornets moved here I never got totally into them as my hometown team because the NBA and the NBA media never really acted like they wanted the team to be here. Maybe they saw some of the issues the team has now on the horizon and were too worried to be enthusiastic but I have always expected the team to be gone at any minute. I could have probably purchased a few more tickets and got more into the team on a consistent basis but I never thought that made sense when I thought the league was trying to figure out a way to get them out of here. If the ownership thing gets worked out I will try to do better. I hope it's not too late.

Timing is Everything in Politics

This post is not about any part affiliation or whether or not I agree with any policies or decisions that have been made so far. This is about the actual art and skill of being a good politician. I’m also not trying to compare being a mayor to being the president. Those are two different things by far and the POTUS has a much tougher job than any mayor in any city. I’m just trying to show you that in politics timing means everything.

Since Mayor Landrieu took office he’s been doing a lot of things in small amount of time. He got things done during the budget process that Ray Nagin would have been ran out of town for even suggesting the last few years of his term. He’s taking on the sanitation contracts that some black people in the city treat like the symbol of Civil Rights. He’s also gotten taxes increased and council members that voted No if Nagin asked no matter how dire the situation was. We don’t know how things are going to work out but I can give him credit for knowing when to strike when the iron is hot.

The city has so many issues that eventually things about to start getting rough and when that day comes people will retreat back to their comfort zones. When that happens it’s going to be hard to get anything major done because then you’re worried about votes and campaigning. If you want to play hardball with the black owned sanitation companies and raise property taxes on everyone including the rich then you have to do it when the majority of people were so disenchanted by your predecessor that they are willing to give your plans the benefit of the doubt. That’s how you use political capital. You use it before you lose it.

That brings me to President Obama and his style. I know he had an economic collapse and the auto industry to deal with when he first got in office but it just seems like if he was going to make major changes the best time to take a shot at it was the first six months of his presidency. I know he passed the health care bill and know one else was able to do that but it just seems like it took so much time and effort to get done and there was so much compromise involved that it drained all the political capitol he had to get it passed. His party controlled the House and the Senate.

With all the chips he cashed in to pass that bill he could have gotten the Bush tax cuts handled, closed Gitmo, and probably got a green jobs bill passed before his conservative opponents regrouped and the Tea Party movement had a chance to establish itself and gain all that momentum. Now I can’t see any of these things happening because his opposition has no fear of disagreeing with him. I think President Obama didn’t make use of President Bush’s incompetence the way Mayor Landrieu is making use of Ray Nagin’s. Of course, I’m just assuming the president wanted to make a lot of changes in the first place. If the current direction was part of the game plan and he didn’t really want to do all the stuff he said during the campaign then I’m misinformed and I owe him and his staff an apology.

It's December Already

It’s December already. I don’t know where this year went. It seems like only yesterday I was firing up the grill to get ready for the Superbowl and now I am hanging up Christmas lights. There’s a saying that time flies fast when you are having fun. I don’t know if I had that much fun but I guess it wasn’t so bad. I guess if I was really having fun it would be 2012 already. With a month left in the year I really don’t know what to make of it. It seems like we have the same amount of issues to work on. I can’t say anything this year changed so drastically that 2011 gets me that excited. I thought we were turning the corner on the violence thing and the last month has shown me that things are the same as they have been. I think we can say that about a lot of things. It just doesn’t feel like December. Maybe it’s because I put up decorations in shorts and a wife beater yesterday. I have always found it hard to get in the holiday spirit when you are running the air conditioning.

Right now I am relaxing after eating a breakfast fit for a king. I had four eggs, CDM coffee and a leftover Popeye’s biscuit to pick up the leftover egg yokes. I can feel the jealousy through the screen. I’m getting ready to watch the Saints play a underachieving Cincinnati Bengal team who will probably be looking at this game like their last chance to make a statement. We’ll see how we do with the cold weather. That’s all I am saying about that though because I haven’t made a Saints post since the winning streak started. I don’t want to jinx anything. I’m not talking about the Saints until the streak is over which hopefully means that you won’t hear about them until February.

Maybe after the game I’ll go to the store and see how I can contribute to the economy by spending money on Christmas gifts and other stuff I don’t really need. They just showed one of those dumb Lexus commercials where the people say corny things and somehow managed to buy a Lexus for their spouse without anyone asking how much the damn note was going to be. The people in these commercials must be in those brackets that need their tax cuts extended so they can give everyone a job. They can’t be doing too badly if they are buying Lexus for Christmas like it’s no big deal.

Anyway, the game is about to start and I need to put on my lucky shirt.

Some Things Should Never Make Sense

I have a friend on Facebook that I went to high school with who recently lost someone close to her to violence in the metro area. She’s been really upset and trying to come to grips with it. She’s not the only one suffering from the same circumstances but I have been watching her go through the process of trying to accept what happened. Wednesday she posted a message saying she was trying to make sense of his murder and why he’s gone. I am not that good at saying things to people in grief. I’m sure what I wanted to tell her may have been misunderstood. My advice to her and everyone else was going to be not to try to make sense of it because it shouldn’t make sense. In my mind some things don’t make any sense and admitting that is the only way to change it.

We have the issue whenever a murder or act of violence on the street happens that we have to come up with some reasonable explanation of why these things keep taking place. I think that’s why the violent culture became so entrenched in the community. There was just too much investment and energy needed to admit that kind of failure and we didn’t have enough leaders willing to put in the work to change course. I was in my teens when it really got bad. I have many friends that aren’t here anymore and it still bothers me. Back then it was usually just the drug dealers or someone associated with them who got killed so when a shooting happened we just charged it to the game. After all these years of losing young men I’m thinking that if maybe we treated the first wave of killings like it was the plague here to destroy us all we may not be in the predicament we are now. Just maybe there would be many more fathers and sons here. Maybe we would have found a way to work around the obstacles that put us in the situation to be around this violence instead of finding as many reasons to validate it and not stopping it. I don’t know for sure if things would be different now but I wish we would have tried that approach.

The need for things to make sense no matter how wrong is not just limited to the inner city. We see it everyday all over the world. There are people who ignore obvious things right in front of their faces because they have to validate the beliefs in their head. You can’t spend years telling yourself that something is happening for a particular reason and then just let that go. The human brain is too stubborn for that. If you think black on black crime is caused because of slavery when they split up the families of because the government let drugs flow into the community then you’ll never get to the point mentally that you need to be to fix it. I happen to think that the reasons people give are true but I never let that dominate my mind where I find validation in any violence. At the end of the day it’s genocide. That’s the bottom line and we all have to see it that way if we want to stop it.

The black on black violence in America is just one example of what I’m talking about. People all over have the same problem. We see it everyday in many different areas. I think the violence will end and some of the problems around the world will change when more and more people can look at something and say to themselves that this situation makes absolutely no sense at all and try to change it instead of trying to validate why things are the way they are. We can’t bring our family and friends back but we can stop people from joining them by just admitting that there is no excuse for any of this foolishness. We have to get to the point where murders hurts all so bad we can’t focus on anything but stopping them.

Sitting On My Porch Part Fifty Nine

I haven’t posted anything since I got back to New Orleans from my Thanksgiving trip because I have been trying to figure how the WikiLeaks story happened. I just don’t understand how we live in a world where you can barely get back into your personal email unless you remember every single thing you said when you established the account but some private in the Army could log into a computer and send government secrets to someone. At the end of the day this seems like an epic government failure. If the information being released is that dangerous then it should self destruct like Mission Impossible. I have different opinions on the release of information like this. I’m all for transparency and open government. If our country is doing things to compromise the rights of other Americans then I am against that. However, if things need to be done to stop some crazy leader in a foreign country from firing a bomb over here while we are sleeping I don’t think everyone needs to know all the details. As long as we are not killing innocent people are allowing someone to bring drugs into the inner city like the Iran Contra scandal then I can deal with it. I don't know if my opinion is right or not. The world makes it difficult to settle one way of looking at this stuff.

By the way, I don’t blame the other Arab nations for being worried about Iran and Ahmadinejad. We have a few cats like this in the hood. He’s like the DMX of the Arab world. As long as he’s around anything can jump off so you never feel comfortable.

I drove to Memphis last week and that was unfortunate because I didn’t get a chance to experience the new TSA security procedures. I bought new underwear and everything to walk through the scanner. Personally, I don’t think enough attention is being paid to the security folks that have to perform the scans and pat downs. Every day they go to work and feel on strangers’ body just to feed their family and you know they are underpaid for what they are doing. I’m not homophobic by any means but if I had to select folks to pat down lets just say there would be some profiling going on. There would be a lot of potential female terrorists on my shift. Bin Laden is watching all of this from the flat screen television in his cave and killing himself with laughter.

Here are three thoughts from my holiday road trip:

1. My dad has lost so much weight that I’m going to lose 20 lbs just because.

2. We went to Neelys BBQ and it wasn’t all that.

3. My parents have regular retail jobs in the city. If the neighborhood they live in now was in New Orleans people would think they made six figure salaries to live there. I don’t think any of my family is making much more money than they did when they lived in New Orleans before Katrina but they all live in nicer areas now in other places. Working class people live here because they want to and not because it’s the most convenient and comfortable. Don’t get me wrong. There are some rough areas of Memphis but at least there are some areas you can live pretty well without having to make six figures. New Orleans is still working on that.

I think there may some readers of this blog that may not get my Ahmadnijead/DMX comparison. I received a comment on my last post that included the statement.

“I, too, am thankful that i discovered your blog. It's great to read grounded commentary, even if I don't always get your musical tastes. It's a white senior citizen thing.”

I don’t do well with responding to comments but I want to tell the white senior citizen that left this comment that I thank him for reading and not to sweat the music because my dad is a black almost senior citizen and he doesn’t get my musical taste either so I’m cool with it. The next time my dad visits you can come over and I can put on some of this Talib Kweli and drive both of you crazy. It’s actually quite poetic if you listen real close.

I'm Thankful

Tomorrow I will be headed up to Memphis to see my parents, brothers sisters and my new niece. I'm looking forward to it. A lot of times I have a bad habit of refusing to let myself be excited about things or look forward to events that make other people feel good like the holiday season. As a matter of fact, I was being a smart ass earlier today and told one of my friends that my favorite day of the holiday season was January 2 when everything is over. I didn't really mean that. It's just that I get drained from the daily routine and it's hard to switch out of that focus on what I need to do. I'm working on that.

The truth of the matter is that I have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. If I was one of those people that could detach from everything going on in my city, state and country I would consider this one of the best years ever. Since I am not that kind of guy I won't do that but I won't act like it's all doom and gloom either because that wouldn't be honest. I was just sitting here having a pre-road trip cocktail and decided to write down just a few things I am thankful for. I came up with this list that contains no food or alcohol products.

I am thankful for......

Family

Friends

Fatherhood - If it wasn't for this I would probably be jumping off a table in a barroom somewhere with no hope for tomorrow.

The Volunteer and Information Agency and it's employees

Unity of Greater New Orleans

KIPP Central City Primary School

Good health

Superbowl 44

Hartley's Field Goal

Tracy Porter's two interceptions - If I am ever on life support play this clip and if I don't at least crack a smile go ahead and pull the plug. I'm already talking to my grandparents.

No hurricane evacuations in 2010

Howling in the Wires (Thank you Sam and Mark)

The Ashley Morris Award (Thanks Rising Tide People)

CNN Newsroom with Don Lemon (Thanks Karen Gadbois)

The opportunity to help others.

The Volunteers of America Mentor Program

My mentee/little brother Christian and my other little sidekick Savion

All the people from different walks of life around my city that believe in me

See, 2010 hasn't been so bad. I hope everyone has a great day Thursday and I hope the Saints whip that fugazi football team from Dallas. I hope me watching the game in Memphis instead of my usual spot doesn't break the winning streak. It doesn't matter either way because I'm going see the St. Claude Street gang our our new addition. That's even more special than Reggie Bush's three touchdowns his first game back. I have my priorities straight. We'll talk next week.

P.S.

I'm also very thankful and excited about Jay Electronica signing with Jay Z's Roc Nation. 2011 will be the year the image of the New Orleans MC's changes for the better.

Boil That Water Baby!

It’s about 6:30 PM and the city of New Orleans is under boil water advisory. Last night the main water plant lost power and the pressure was low. Now we have to boil water before we drink it or brush our teeth. I didn’t know about the advisory this morning and had already made my coffee. I think I will be okay. I’m going to have a few shots of straight whiskey tonight to kill any bacteria that may have gotten through the coffee filter. I boiled some water to brush my teeth and it took about 30 minutes to cool down before I could gargle. Monday morning there’s going to be a whole bunch of people calling in sick because they don’t feel right after drinking water. The funny part is going to be when most of those people don’t even live in an area under the advisory. Hell, if I get a hangover after the celebrating the Saints victory tomorrow I might try it too.

All jokes aside, this kind of thing scares me a little. The first thing you do when you get out of bed is go to the bathroom and brush your teeth. I almost feel like something that could affect that many people should warrant the police going through the streets with loud speakers telling everyone to boil the water first. I don’t keep my cell phone next to me all night and if the TV is on cable I won’t catch the news. We may have to do a better job at communicating things like this to the people.

The only good thing about this is that I get a chance to post a Parliament song. The Eastbank of New Orleans is doing the Aqua Boogie tonight at its boiling point.

Going Through The Process Again

On Monday I was disappointed in my community because of the horrible way we handled the death of a human being. On Tuesday sadness was added to that when a three year old buy shot himself with his mom’s boyfriend’s gun. When I heard the story my first impulse was to turn on the computer and write a few lines about the situation but I came to the realization that I have explained that kind of thing so many different times that’s it is getting more difficult to come up with a new way to arrange the words.

I have been running into that a lot more lately. Either it’s the same thing happening over and over or some issues seem to take forever to resolve. I think that’s why I am posting less and less as time goes on. I believe to be a good blogger or writer you have to stay tuned into the world unless you want to write something dark and disturbed. I guess you don’t need to be paying attention to anyone for that. However, to exchange ideas and opinions with people you have to aware of what’s going on. That requires watching the news, or reading the paper and sometimes going even deeper into a story to find out more information then what’s on the surface. When you do that the stuff you find is usually more depressing than the initial story. That gets to be too much.

For most of 2010 I was thinking about closing down The Crib. I was going to turn the lights off, put up some plywood and lock it up. I was just going to keep cutting the grass because you know New Orleans has a blight problem. It seems like every time I get to the point of deciding something happens. The first time I decided to do it the Saints made the Superbowl and I ended up on CNN. The next time I made up my mind I ended up in a book. Then I got an award. It fits my life pattern that the time I decide to stop I end up with more people following me. I usually discuss the ins and outs of blogging with Afromamba. I have mentioned retiring a few times and I think she is on the verge of threatening me with bodily harm if I do it again. I’m not doing it.

I never thought New Orleans would be the microcosm of America’s issues. We always had the crime and poverty thing covered but after Katrina we have just about everything covered. We have crime, poverty, racism, class warfare, urban renewal, gentrification, taxes, budget issues, charter schools, school reform, the environment, and corruption. If City Hall installs some of those body scanners (By the way, I know the people that work airport security are trying to provide for their families and all but are they paying them enough to look at random nakedness and grab people's body all day? They have to hate the new security more than anyone.)

We have everything you need to keep a blog going for years to come provided the lack of net neutrality doesn’t mean I won’t have to pay 100.00 a month just to get to the blogger.com in order to post it and kids won’t keep dying to depress the hell out of me.

This morning I drove to work listening to kids call up one of the local morning shows to talk about the murder of Messy Mya. He was a popular YouTube personality with some folks in our city and in the bounce music community. I have seen his clips a few times but I wouldn’t call myself a fan. Nevertheless, I couldn’t get his murder out of my head last night. I think it was because someone shot in at a public event in front of all kinds of people and no one said anything. Then someone had the nerve to take a picture of his murdered body and sent it out to Twitter and Facebook. This was something so horrible that I thought about ending my accounts on both websites. We have reached a new low. I just couldn’t believe we have gotten so savage that anyone could stand around and actually take pictures of the body. I’ve lived in New Orleans through the worst possible times of drugs and crime and we never took life and death for granted enough to hang around and snap pictures of it. How did all those people sleep last night after being so close to that scene? Just thinking about the coldness of it all bothered me and I didn’t know the brother.

If all the folks out there dancing around with him loved this kid so much they would tell the police who took him away like that and let justice take care of it. Hopefully that happens today. If not it’s going to make a sad situation even sadder. We can keep this kind of violence up but the city is changing. The people in position to make decisions didn’t come up with the same traditions we did. They are trying to move the city forward and if you are not going to act right then they can eliminate that stuff and not lose any sleep over it because to most people it would be the right thing to do for the benefit of the city.

Pretty soon there won’t be any block parties, second lines or anything else. Everything outside of the French Quarter is going to shut down early. The neighborhood groups will run down to City Hall screaming racism only to look like a bunch of jackasses to the rest of the world when the media pushes out the crime statistics and stories like this kid getting shot in the face in front of a crowd and no one saying anything. When that day comes don’t look for me to help out the cause. I’ll be sitting on my sofa saying I told you so. We continue to be our own worst enemy.

Sitting On My Porch Part Fifty Eight : Just Thinking

I think I want to wish my dad and my late grandfather a happy Veterans Day.

I think we do a lot of kissing up to military people but once their service is over and they take off the uniform we don’t do nearly enough to make their lives easier.

I think days like Veterans Day which honors people who served like my family and friends makes me want to punch anyone in the face who implies that somehow black people from New Orleans aren’t real Americans.

I think I wish I had more pictures left of my family in their military uniforms but flood water hates photo albums.

I think that I am coming to terms with the fact that as long as I live I will never fully understand women, the tax code, and black on black violence.

I think that this story is far more depressing to me than anything else in the news.

I think one of the hardest things for young black men and boys is to soak in negative images of themselves every day and then somehow believe that none of those images apply to them. Most of these images are disguised as cool and attached to pretty girls. This is a difficult thing to do even with a good family supporting you.

I think that if the slaves used music to communicate and get through their struggle and if music inspired people during the civil rights era, just maybe the constant barrage of misogyny and violence in today's music may not be causing problems directly but it sure ain't helping the situation.

I think one of the hardest things to do in the world is to invest time in someone else’s child.

I think the thing about myself I am having trouble restoring is my youthful exuberance for the little things in life like using my grill or having a few drinks at a bar with strangers. I’m far more happier sitting at home alone than I should be.

I think I was going to let my hair grow out after years of being bald but my co-workers made a joke about me coming to work looking like George Jefferson so I scrapped the idea. I think I am not old enough yet to tolerate an afro with shiny spots in it.

I think that George Bush should be embarrassed for saying Kanye West’s statement was the low point of his presidency. I’m not saying that it shouldn’t have upset him but I can think of at least five things lower than that.

I think Kanye shouldn’t have apologized because he only said out loud what everyone was feeling at the time. Besides, the president told me Iraq had weapons of mass destruction to start a war and he never apologized for that being false so he shouldn’t be complaining about anything anyone else said.

I think some of the same people criticizing people that voting for Cedric Richmond because of President Obama voted for Senator Vitter for the exact same reason.

I think I have no problem saying that I want Barack Obama to be a great president because of the historical significance and his skin color. I would have felt the same way if he was a Republican.

I think with that being said, he and his administration are failing because they act like they forgot that a lot of people voted for John McCain and many of those folks are passionate about their views. It’s like they thought everyone was going to join hands and let them do whatever they wanted. They were not prepared to deal with opposing views. President Obama needs to find the Democrats’ version of Karl Rove if that person exists.

I think that right now in the city of New Orleans you can’t have a debate about contracts or the city budget along racial lines because any resolution will hurt someone black. If we keep the sanitation contracts the way they are now then their happy but some programs and infrastructure things that need to get done around the city won’t and that affects black people too. Take race care out of that discussion because no one depends on government programs more than black people in this city do. It’s a rough situation but I don’t see any way around paying less for trash pickup.

I think if I could get a guarantee that the next 20 hurricane seasons would turn out like this year’s not only would I accept 20 straight losing seasons by the Saints but Wade Phillips could be our coach and Brett Favre could be the first ever QB to play until his 60’s in black and gold.

I think the Saints are going 6-1 after their off week and will end up with a first round bye. I feel good about our chances of getting back to the Superbowl but I am scared of Michael Vick and the Eagles.

I think this blog post is long enough and I need to end this foolishness.

Before I go I want to dedicate this song to Big Cliff because it’s the song that’s playing in the background on his first night serving guard duty in Vietnam. I won’t give you the details because it’s a father and son story I want to keep to myself but I am sure glad he came home safely. His service to the country could have denied me the chance to carry on the Harris legacy. What we don’t have in money we make up for in character and personality. Hopefully one day we get can some big money to see how it all works together.

An Open Letter To Dwayne Carter

Dear Lil Wayne,

You are about to be released from prison any minute now. I’m glad you made it through safely. I’m writing this letter to you to ask a favor. I’m a fan of yours. Sometimes your songs don’t really make a lot of sense to me but you always manage to release a few a square older dude like me can get into. I’ve figured out that your charisma is so much that you can get away with not being that deep. People are going to like what you do because of your personality. That’s a gift that not many kids that come from where we do get to display to the world. You should feel blessed. You should know that I am still upset about those little girls being on stage during the BET Awards while you were singing that horrible song but I forgive you for making Drake so popular I can’t turn on the radio without hearing his annoying voice. Let’s get to my favor.

I have no right to tell you how to act or what to do. I’ve already read about the big party plans after your release. You have the money to do it so have a good time. This is America and I don’t believe anyone is obligated to be involved in anyone else’s life if they don’t want to be. I am not expecting you to come out of jail, head to New Orleans and rescue the kids of Hollygrove. It wouldn’t be fair to demand that from you when there people who live here that are not involved. If you want to buy another five cars when you get out or find another spot on your body to tattoo then you should do it. If that’s your agenda then have a good time.

What I would like you to do is not to make jail sound like summer camp or some cool place to be. It would be nice if you really make it seem like you are sorry for doing anything that led to you spending a day in there. Even if you don’t mean it you should say it. There are a lot of kids that look up to you. While I know there’s a bunch of rappers that portray that street thug lifestyle, there aren’t many who carry your weight. In fact most of those other rappers are just copying off what you are doing anyway. The kids on the streets are living out the lyrics but at the end of the day there isn’t a director stopping the camera so they can head back to their mansions like you. They are going to prison without any protective custody. Even worse they are going to the cemetery. I know your music didn’t cause this and I am certain that just you alone couldn’t stop it but you don’t have to add extra fuel to the fire. It's already burning out of control and we are having trouble stopping it.

Wayne, when you hit the streets, please talk as negatively about prison as possible. Please just do this one thing for the people. Make it sound so horrible that maybe some kid might think twice about ending up there. Don’t worry about your street cred because you haven’t lived a street life for a long time. Plus you have enough charisma and talent to not have to be a slave to ignorance. If you don’t have anything bad to say about being locked up it then don’t speak at all. I don’t think this is too much to ask.

Sincerely,

Clifton

I'm Voting Today and I Am Not Excited About It

I will be so glad when this midterm election is over. I have never seen so many people geared up for something that will do absolutely nothing to change the country. I was going to vote earlier this morning but realized I didn’t know who I wanted to vote for yet so I changed my mind and will go later. I’m not excited about this at all. We already know what’s going to happen anyway. There’s been a poll taken every 15 minutes and the experts have it figured out so well that John Boehner is already writing his acceptance speech when he becomes speaker of the house. Today is just a formality in an election cycle that never ends. Tomorrow everyone will just move on to the presidency and keep campaigning.

I get much more excited about local elections than the national stuff because I feel like those folks have more of an effect on my day to day life. You can have one crazy mayor with a lot of power and cripple a city for decades. The federal government doesn’t really work like that. There are so many people involved in what goes on that unless 60 districts are going to send the same kind of person you did to the Senate there won’t be any real radical changes.

Take the current president for instance. I would vote for that guy 20 times over because of what he represents to me but once he got in office he had to play the game. I knew he was in trouble when he hired Rahm Emmanuel who never met a campaign contribution he didn’t like. My personal opinion about President Obama up to this point is that he has tried to do as much as he could for the average everyday American without pissing off Corporate America more than he’s had to. We got some tax cuts in the stimulus and a few new programs but he didn’t go hard at those insurance companies in the health care bill or kick Wall Street’s ass during financial reform the way I would have liked him to. I’ve accepted that because I know to get re-elected you need money and you can’t piss off every affluent person and expect to win.

Then you have the Tea Party. They might have been something new and different until they forgot about what was supposed to be their core message of limited government and went crazy. They let the mainstream Republican Party attach themselves to their anger and now they are just part of the two party system like everyone else. Sure, they got rid of a few old senators but when you look around the people speaking for the conservative agenda or the same old people who have been for a long time. The saddest thing about that is after two years of yelling, screaming, and rallies all we got out of it was the debate whether to extend the Bush tax cuts or let them expire. We have almost torn the country apart for an idea that’s been in effect for 9 years already. Our main focus on change is something we don't even have to change.

There you have it. Two years of drama to end up with a debate over decade long tax cuts that already didn’t stop the economy from collapsing. I hope Republicans enjoy their victories tonight. I’m watching a movie.

The Same Thing For Every Child

I woke up this morning with sore shoulders from swinging hammers and shoveling dirt all day at KIPP Central City Primary school. It was a great day despite the fact that we worked much harder than I thought we were going to. It was good to see a lot of parents that we haven’t seen before out there building benches and laying sod. Nothing brings a school together like getting your clothes dirty. We had more dads out there too and that always makes me better about things. I think more people show up each time because of the staff led by the principal Mr. Johnson. You don’t mind leaving your kids with that guy. New Orleans is lucky to have him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s the main reason Chris Paul of the Hornets chose that school as the pilot for his Afterschool Zone.

People should know that the class of 2021 was the inaugural kindergarten class at KIPP Central City and at the time no one had any idea what was going to happen. We basically sent our children into a situation that could have gone either way. I mention this because I love my charter school but I don’t like the way the charter school situation is being handled as a whole. As a matter of fact, as time goes by I am not for or against charters, local control or choices for parents. I’m for a quality education for all the children of New Orleans and the easiest way to make sure that happens.

As a parent I love my school of choice. I don’t want anyone to stick their noses in and change anything just for the sake of changing it. If it’s not broke then don’t fix it. Now I know my school is a charter school and since I love it then that should be in favor of charter schools. I’m in favor of what’s going on over there but why does it have to be restricted to just schools under the banner of that charter or any other charter if what they are doing is working. After five years since the schools were taken over, we should be at a point now where we are ready to streamline this thing and implement the processes that have show success across the board. That means to me that the city should be able to run its own schools and that nothing going on at KIPP should be in danger. Instead of going in there and changing what the successful schools are doing the other schools should be learning from them. That sounds like what would be happening if it was truly all about educating every child.

Thursday I read a newspaper article that said that almost 20 new groups have applied for a charter to run schools in New Orleans. When I see that I’m thinking the powers that be are still experimenting and playing games with the kids’ future. If we already have programs that are successful then either let them have all the charters or apply parts of what they do to every school and give the city control provided they wouldn’t go into schools and start removing people just to bring their friends back on a post Katrina revenge mission.

When I see all these new potential charters it makes me wonder about what happens to those kids if things don’t work out. I think we have a good idea of what’s working so lets just do those things. I keep hearing the word “choices” everywhere when the discussion of public schools in New Orleans comes up. As a parent and concerned city I don’t care about choices. I care about educating everybody enough to have a good life and stay out of poverty. That shouldn’t have anything to do with choices. I want everyone to have the same feeling about their school that I do and until we take the guessing game out of that then the system is still failing.

Some of our children are are in great schools in the city but we can't isolate them from everybody else that's not.

Sitting On My Porch Part Fifty Seven

My Saints hangover is gone. I have finally accepted that we lost to the Cleveland Browns. That was a bitter pill to swallow. Next week there will be no pre-game Saints post. I probably won’t have time to write it anyway with Halloween and birthday parties going on. We’ll just see what happens against Pittsburgh and deal with the second half of the season. I will say this; when you are trying to right the ship on offense the Steelers isn’t exactly the team you want to see.

I hope the chain gang man that was hit on the sideline is doing better and that Courtney Roby is not feeling too bad by running him over.

My Saints hangover ended and my city budget hangover started. After listening to those hearing two days in a row I feel dizzy. I knew everyone was going to be hesitant to accept this budget because of the property tax hike. I have been telling everyone for years that we didn’t have enough money to do anything. Marc Morial knew it. Ray Nagin knew it too. Mayor Landrieu knows it and that’s why he presented a plan with the tax increase. We’ll see how it goes once everything is approved. Something tells me that we will be in the same fiscal shape we are in now next year. If that’s what everyone wants them fine. But there should be no complaining.

Next week I have to vote for my new congress person. If I vote for Joseph Cao it will be because I was impressed enough with him personally to ignore anything that has came out since the campaign started. I have been pleasantly surprised with his performance. The downside is that his party has made it perfectly clear that they are not trying to spend any money on anything that my community would need. We just can’t afford that at this time so I might have to vote with the standard New Orleans black candidate in Cedric Richmond. He’s impressive, he’s smart, he looks like a leader and we’ll probably see him every six months. This is the kind of situation that makes the obligation I feel to vote something I wish I didn’t have.

Sometimes I think about it and I would love to be conservative. I would love to be so conservative that I would volunteer to hold a Tea Party rally in my back yard. I would love that because it would mean that I, and my neighbors, and the folks in the hood I grew up in and all of my other people in New Orleans and around America were educated and functioning at level that would allow them so sustain themselves without help. If that really was the case you could get rid of all the assistance programs in the budget. That would be a far better way of living than hustling from check to check and calling around looking for rent and utility subsidies. That’s not where we are right now and I don’t want to see hundreds of people sleeping in boxes before we figure out how to get there. I don’t really care about Republicans or Democrats. I care about struggling parents and their children. I sound like the Rent Is Too Damn High dude. One could make the argument that the current setup makes us dependent so we will never be as self-sufficient as we could be. I might agree with some of that but cold turkey isn’t the way to go.

With all the traveling he’s doing the governor should buy everyone a souvenir t-shirt that reads “My governor went away for a campaign fundraiser in another state while we had a budget crisis and all I got was this dumb t-shirt”. I used to love those things when my grandparents came back from Las Vegas.

I’m not trying to put anyone’s business out in the street but I have heard a few stories. I won’t get into any details. All I will say is that if BP takes a second look at some of these claims it’s going to be one of the most embarrassing things to hit the area since the guy took his FEMA check to the strip club or this brother right here. I hope the things I have been hearing aren’t true.

Since I have been spending time with these kids lately and throwing the football around, I am finally realizing just how much I let my body go as an adult. When I was their age I could go outside at 8AM and run until 8PM. Now if I start running at 8AM I am going to be ready to go back to sleep at 8:45. It’s just been too much steak, too much drinking, and too much watching sports instead of playing. These boys are bringing back my youthful spirit and I am starting to do better.

I’m feeling so inspired that earlier I bought a six pack of Bohemia beers from Mexico and no matter how awesome they taste when they are really cold, I am only going to drink three. …..during the first half of the Lakers game…..the other three are for the post game show.

I’m taking baby steps to recapture my youth.

Maybe if I listen to some music from my youth I will get inspired and workout. It probably won't happen tonight but this song goes good with my beer.

Confusion...

I don't know what's going to happen anymore. I'm going to drink a beer and watch the championship DVD from last year to snap out of the daze.

Week 7: Cleveland, Coaching And Other Stuff

Since my weekly Saints post are the only time I really blog about sports I have a few lagniappe items I want to talk about.

I was going to tell you about how I didn’t like the NFL fining and potentially suspending players for violent hits. I changed my mind because I watched the story on the young man from Rutgers that is paralyzed after his injury last week and it made me sad. Somebody really could die playing football for our entertainment. You’ll never get all of the violence out because everyone is just moving too fast and there are too big. However, I guess they could try and eliminate some of the danger if they can. I hope Eric LaGrand gets well soon.

Texas Ranger fans can make that official thank you to New Orleans any day now for spreading some of our local sports mojo over to Ron Washington who managed them to their first World Series. Avery Johnson is the coach of the New Jersey Nets in the NBA. A Nets-Lakers final seems reasonable to me.

LSU is somehow 7-0 despite being involved with some of the craziest games in college football history. As I write this they are Auburn and possibly the future Heisman winner Cam Newton. There is no way a man is supposed to be that big AND that athletic at the same time. It should be a fun game to watch as long as LSU quarterbacks don’t give it away. Louisiana should consider making Les Miles president of all state colleges. With the recent budget cuts you need someone with that kind of luck.

Back to the Saints…..

Chris Ivory made me look like I didn’t know what I was talking about last week and I couldn’t be happier. It’s not like the running game had given much too optimistic about and it was only one week so I stand by what I said. The offense will still be working through things until Reggie and Pierre get back. Something tells me that Pierre Thomas is a lot more injured than it appeared when he ran off the field against Atlanta. I’m not sure when he’s coming back but if we can hold on for these next few weeks while everyone gets back in form no one is going to look forward to playing us the second half of the season. I’m not sure what’s going to happen against Pittsburgh next week because we are still getting things in order but I smell about a six or seven game winning streak coming on.

The group I need to apologize to is the best coaching staff in the league lead by Sean Payton. I can honestly say that the last few years I have watched players get better week by week because of this staff. If you look at the Saints roster it’s a lot of mid round picks and undrafted free agents that have worked with to become better and be a great team. I always figured if we were going to be a championship team that’s the way it had to be because our market size. As long as we have this staff we will always be competitive because they can turn kids like Chris Ivory into good players.

It’s hard to say what’s going to happen Sunday against Cleveland. Colt McCoy is making his second start. Peyton Hillis is on one of my fantasy teams so I know he’s having a good year. James Harrison almost destroyed their other playmakers last week. There’s no telling what shape they are in. I don’t think Cleveland has anyone to take advantage of our injuries in the secondary. I won’t disrespect them because they have been playing games pretty close before last week. I saw we give Scott Fujita a standing ovation for being part of the dream team then send him back to Ohio with a lost.

Saints 27 Browns 14