BORED!

I am Bored....

Bored with Work
Bored with My promotion
Bored with Being smart
Bored with New Orleans
Bored with The Internet
Bored with Fussing about the current state of my city
Bored with Iraq
Bored with Katrina
Bored with Rebuilding
Bored with Politics
Bored with TV
Bored with Sports
Bored with Reading
Bored with Drinking
Bored with Over eating
Bored with Exercise
Bored with Talking
Bored with Listening
Bored with Friends
Bored with Looking at all the immigrants work while those young cats sit on the playground in front of my crib smoking blunts.
Bored with Trying to figure out who buys their weed.
Bored with Being strong.
Bored with My car
Bored with Singing along with the same old songs
Bored with Looking at debris
Bored with Hip Hop
Bored with Waiting for everybody to come home
Bored with Reminiscing
Bored with This blog
Bored with Everything

Excited about nothing

Chillin With Da Troops

Five brothers got murdered Saturday and now we have the troops…

Was this really neccesary?

Who’s got the “I Am Not A Thug” signs for everybody’s car.

Nothing like men in military suits running around to make you feel good about coming home.

Gotta love New Orleans!!!

You know this kind of thing could happen in any city so why does the national and the useless local media act like we are the only place in the country with street thugs?

Can we just get one story about working people who chose to come home despite all the negativity?

I must not be paying attention because besides one or two areas of the city I haven’t seen anything going on at the pre-Katrina level.

I hate to sound cold but two of the victims mother was at the press conference with the mayor and city council and she didn’t really sound all that surprised that someone hurt her babies.

What were they doing out at 3AM riding around anyway?

Shouldn’t she know where they were? I would still be punished right now for staying out that late at 16.

Are we gonna punish parents if their children get caught breaking the new curfew?

Council Thomas wants to know why we don’t march on the thugs……We can’t march on the thugs because you can’t march against something you helped create.

I’m no genius. I may not even be smart at all but I think I know why black people have become so passive when it comes to murder. My reasoning is that hustling and drug selling is not a fad in our neighborhoods. It’s a career. For most young men that come from where I do, we make the choice around the age of 15 if we are going to take the long hard road to education and hard work or the shortcut and get our hustle on. Over the last 20 years we have create this unwritten law that there are two factions in the community and one of them settles disputes by their own “code”. Sometimes that code cost lives. Until we admit that we don’t care because we don’t consider ourselves to be a part of that then nothing will change.

I think I should be doing more to reach out to some of these young brothers. I have been talking about it for years but haven’t done a damn thing. I know this much, it’s hard to tell some young cat that my way is the right way to go when he is 18 years old and his car rims cost more than everything I own put together.

A Day in the Park

One morning a few months ago I had big trouble trying to raise myself out of bed. My stomach simply had taken over all of my body functions. That’s when I knew it was time to get up and work out. I have been going to the park to walk, jog a little, and clear my mind. I never liked jogging because I just don’t see the purpose. You run in a circle and nothing happens. No ones chasing you. There is no race going on. You are just running for nothing. I would much rather play basketball but since I have to much pride to admit to the other guys that I am about to pass out, I stay at the park and walk so if I get tired I can pretend my shoes are untied and sit down. Then, I can start running for a few yards when another person come around and make it look like I am on my seventh or eight lap.
Everyday the same characters are there. The old people are always out there scaring everybody because they look like they will have a stroke any minute. You have the power walker that always looks like she is going to whip somebody’s ass by how forceful she walks. You have the really big girl who you are scared is going to pass out any minute. She is the only one there that helps my self esteem. There is the thick sister that looks fat but is actually in so much shape that she runs circles around everybody and all the brothers out there with women get in trouble looking at her. Then there is Shaka. He is built like we probably all were before we got off the ships and discovered pork. He’s the one that doesn’t even sweat and really doesn’t need to be out there running, He’s just showing off (ever notice how women can look at a man and no one realizes it but when a guy sees a woman he like he has to turn all the way around and be so obvious? And we wonder why we get in trouble).
You know those cartoon when someone needs to make a decision and the angel shows up on one shoulder with the demon on the other? That’s what happens to me at the park. During the drive and the first 30 minutes the angel talks to me.

Angel: “Cliff this is great. I can feel your abs coming back just thinking about the three miles we are going to walk today. It is the commitment to do things like this that will ensure you are around for a long time. After we leave here, we are going to 50 pushups, 50 sit ups and eat a nice salad with lemon juice. YOU ARE A STUD!! Lets get back down to our high school weight.”

That’s what I feel when I get out and start moving. Somewhere around the middle of the second lap. The demon shows up to holla at me.

Demon: “What the hell is wrong with you Cliff? We are out here having pains in our side all because you tried to get out of bed one morning and rolled back in. It’s an air mattress for goodness sake. You would have got out of a real bed. Besides, your pot belly is part of your persona. You are the cute chubby dude. Getting fit will just turn you into some regular old dude. I thought the 12 beer a day diet was working out fine. Let’s go find a Burger King and get that Double Whopper.”

When you let yourself go, it's a bitch trying to get it back.

Goodbye to the Jects!

All do respect to people from New Orleans that lived in public housing. My mama grew up in the St. Bernard Project so I don't look down on you. If you thought the government was going to let you back in there you were dreaming. It took them 7 days to come and get you out of floodwater. What made you think they were going to be in a hurry to take care of you when it's dry. I am not the type of guy that believes it is a right to live in the project. I also don't believe that you should have to sleep in a tent when there could be some available housing. There are some homeowners that would pay rent for a second floor apartment in the project right now just to get down here. If you wanted to really clean this up for the people, you should have done it years ago before all those babies had the chance to get shot up in the driveway over ten dollar rocks. Some people will leave in tents while the business community and parts of uptown pop open champagne to celebrate. I noticed the article said that Ray Nagin urged the government to not move so quickly to restore public housing even though he is aware of the need for housing with his "chocolate" citizens. The funny part is that these are the people that got on buses all over America and drove down here to put his ass back in office. Sometimes you get what you ask for. You know these black politicians in New Orleans have run the city for the past 30 years. They messed up HANO, the school board, the police department, city hall and almost every other area of city government. Now they want to have this attitude that its all the poor people's fault that things are the way they are. In reality it is because we keep voting for the fools based on the color of their skin. Thats why I voted for Mitch Landrieu and not Ray Nagin. If your brother keeps wrecking your car when he drives it, why would you keep giving him the keys.

P.S....
Somebody come and get these flooded vehicles and boats off of the streets!

More FEMA B.S.

There are two reasons why I shouldn't have taken this story about the FEMA money personal. The first reason is that I didn't get anything from them. The second reason is that I didn't get anything from them. The reason I am taking it personal is because we all know what's coming next. They are going to start arresting some poor brothers and sisters and parade them around like the worst human beings on the planet for buying some rims or getting their hair did. Let me break down what happened with this story about the FEMA money being misused. See, what happened was the government was looking so bad for leaving all those people stuck for days that they were giving out money to everyone with a claim number. Now, some of these people didn't really lose anything so they didn't need to buy clothes and necessities. No one told them what they couldn't spend it on so they had fun. Trust me, there was no one who took the full hit of the storm that bought Saints season tickets. No one should have used the debit card to pay for vacations or Gucci Bags and stuff. As far as the people that took some of that money to relax a little, I think being stranded for seven hot ass days in New Orleans without ice water was worth at least one table dance and a shot of Crown. That might have been the one trip that kept somebody from shooting five people. The real situation is that the government built a levee that was so poorly designed that we were doomed to be in the situation of needing their help anyway. We deserved more than what we got. I could easily make the case that everyone should have gotten 50,000 for pain and suffering and it wouldn't bother me one bit. Nothing pisses me off more than the media or someone in government making the assumption that we were trying to get over on the tax payers of America by spending a few funky ass dollars in place of all our possessions and the safety of our love ones. I know a whole bunch of people from this area of all races and I don't remember talking to a happy one during the whole ordeal. It's not our fault they didn't check all the addresses. That explains why all the people who really needed some help had to stand on one leg and bark like a dog to get some. All the funds went to fake people. It's stories like this that make people not understand truly what the hell happened to everybody. Their might actually be people who think we were excited about standing in a six hour line for a 300.00 Red Cross check like a damn bum. When you control the media, you control how people think. Stories like this makes us all look like a bunch of no good jackasses.

I got a proposition for the government since they are so concerned with 2300.00. I can personally guarantee that everyone from New Orleans will give you 2300.00 each if you can do the following things. First, give us back all the time of the lives that were taken. Then replace all of our pictures, trophies, keepsakes and family heirlooms. Then, rebuild all the houses our families worked hard to pay for and put all of our friends back where they were so we can be together again. After all of that, remove all the pain, confusion, depression, homesickness, money problems, grief, aggravation, anger and post traumatic stress. If you can get that done, then I will be happy to be the first one in line with a check for 2300.00 that I didn't even receive. If you can't do that, then do just like allot of us had to do. Take it as a lost, suck it up and try to move on. That 1.4 billion dollars ain't nothing compared to what we have been through.

One More Time So You Can Leave Me Alone

I have been writing this blog since 2004 and I have never gotten comments weeks after I wrote something like I have for the Duke case blog. I am going to say this one last time. I never said they were guilty. What I did say was that it wasn't fair that the media has already tried and acquitted the defendants before they even have a hearing. I still don't see why that DA would go through all this without some kind of belief in the accuser. Now, if she lied then she was wrong but she deserves the benefit of the doubt no matter how clean cut the accused appear to be. Plus, you guys act like they have been locked up for years like Geronimo Pratt. They are still at home chillin with their Duke degrees. It's just like I would tell a young brother that gets picked up during a drug sweep when he is just standing on the corner, if you didn't want to get caught up in that mess then you shouldn't have been there. If they weren't so busy trying to live out their jungle fantasies then this never would have happened. Now, stop sending me email. Personally, I have a life to rebuild here in New Orleans and I don't spend time thinking about this case. She shouldn't have been there dancing and they shouldn't have had her in their house.

Being Self Conscious

I spilled some coffee on my shirt yesterday morning and my whole day was ruined. I kept looking down messing with the stain. I was in the restroom for about an hour trying to get the stain out of my shirt. Now, I have a big white spot from where I scrubbed too hard in the same spot. My entire day is ruined because my shirt has a stain issue. That leads me to the topic of this blog. I have never been comfortable in public when I think I don't look right. There have been times when I have went back home in the morning just to change a shirt that made my belly look too big. They must look good in the mirror before I walk out of the door. I iron every night and I still believe in creased pants. I shave my head every other day and I give myself facials. I want to grow one of those big rough, nappy beards like a reggae singer but I just can't deal with seeing myself in the mirror not groomed so I always end up shaving or at least trimming up the face. I don't want to say that I am vain. Some of my friends and a few of my ex's might say so. I would say that I care about how I present myself when I am outside the crib. When you are out in public you are representing you, your parents, your kids and everyone else. I can't speak for everyone else, but my mama took the rollers out of her hair just to walk down the block and I don't want anyone to see me looking all trifling and associate that with her. It's a respect thing.

Now, I ride around the city during the evening and there are times when I drive up on some young brothers and sisters and they all look like they just don't care. The guys have their pants hanging down by their knees. Their afros are not picked or shaped and they all smell just like blunt smoke. It always fascinates me that they don't seem to be bothered by that. I am even more fascinated by the fact that these same cats have girlfriends and get other girl's numbers too. This might be a generational thing but when I was coming up, you had to look decent. I can't even imagine stepping to a sister without a fresh fade and an even lining. You couldn’t even get her name if your sneakers weren’t clean. Words don't even describe some of the things I see the sisters wearing. Let's just say that every style wasn't meant for every body type no matter what size it comes in. Maybe people are just expressing themselves. Maybe I don't understand the latest styles and trends. Maybe, when it comes to fashion and how to dress I am stuck in 1992 when a brother could still wear slacks and not be square. Shouldn’t there be times when we all want to look good? What makes a brother show up to his sister’s wedding wearing or his grandmother’s funeral wearing a Fat Albert Fubu denim outfit? And don’t say that he can’t afford it because ghetto fashions cost more money than a pair of slacks from J.C Penny. You can’t get a job on an interview with a mini skirt and a tattoo on your neck, anywhere but the neck. Even on the plantation the folks got clean on a Sunday and danced a little bit. Even if you have an far out style that expresses who you are it should be neat right?

The question is........

Am I being too self-conscious or are some of my people not self-conscious enough?

Stereotypes vs. Valid Fear

I know not everyone that reads this is from New Orleans. My office is located uptown next to Audubon Park. Let's just say that if New Orleans is Chocolate City like Mayor Nagin said, I work in the milky section that is added to the chocolate. There are not too many brothers cruising around up here and hanging out. I am a dark, bald, stocky man so I tend to walk with a menacing stroll from my car to the office door. I shave everyday but I tend to let my goatee hair stay kind of nappy. All the years of listening to Tupac and Ice Cube have me kind of conscious of looking like a crossover so I dress more urban than I probably should in an office setting like this one. Our office dress code is very loose so since many of my co workers dress like hippies I dress like I am going hangout. The agency I work for shares office space with several private doctors and almost all of their patients and staff are middle aged white people and mostly female. As a matter of fact, everyone here is middle aged and white accept for a handful of people. Now I don't have a problem with this because the ones that know me respect me. Here's my issue. Everyday I park in the same area. We have to share the parking area with the employees and patients. Every single day some white person checks their car alarm or waits to get out of their car until I drive off or go to the office door. Some of these ladies see me every day and they still do the same thing even after I speak to them. I have to say that as a young black man that considers himself to be their equal that really pisses me off. I especially hate the moments when a few people are standing in the lobby holding a conversation and they all stop to watch me when I walk through. Do not judge me on how I look and dress.

Here is the sad part......

There are times during the week when I do the exact same thing to some young brother that walks too close to my car.

As a matter of fact, I could make the case that I probably should have more fear of a black man doing something to me than these uptown white folks do and have many young black people my age agree with me. That's a sad but true commentary about our community at this time.
.

It's messed up that the line between the stereotypes and reality has been blurred that bad.

Corps takes blame for New Orleans flooding - Yahoo! News

Corps takes blame for New Orleans flooding - Yahoo! News

I respect the fact that the Corps of Engineers would admit to the fact it was their designs and construction that led to the levees failing during Katrina.

I also hope they won't be upset at the amount of money the class action law suit will end up costing them. I am not the type of guy that believes in frivolous lawsuits. However, considering the fact I lost all my possessions, my grandma and my dog, I think I deserve at least enough money to put my kids and their kids through college.

Birthday Perspective

In 10 days I will be 32 years old. Normally I would be planning the extravaganza and giving everyone a birthday present list. I am just not feeling that this year. I can honestly say that the last year of that has been quite different than the first 31. It's the start of hurricane season. I am still sleeping on an air mattress and I still don't officially have housing yet (no keys = no house). So why make too big of a deal about a birthday? Of course, I will still celebrate in some form or fashion. My approach to it this year is a feeling of renewal. About the second or third night after Katrina, I was sleeping all alone on the floor of a dark room in Mississippi. I didn't know where most of my family and friends were and I didn't know what was going to happen in the future for me. I went to sleep for about two weeks straight feeling that this was the beginning of a lifetime of pain for me and my people. I was going to sleep and waiting to not wake up. Each morning I did, saw the sunlight and I knew that one of these days I wouldn't be stressing about all of this foolishness following the storm. It damn sure hasn't been easy. Actually, it's been down right f@#ked up many days. The world is tough to navigate through when you are dealing with stupid ass people and are forced to make choices about your life and going back to what you had before is not an option. That's how you get to a point where it's hard to be excited about anything. I can't have what I want. If it were up to me, I would be in my yard June 11 lighting up the grill, sipping on some Crown and smoking a big cigar with my love ones. Instead, I will most likely be watching TV at an apartment in Clinton Mississippi with my family and still trying to make sense out of the fact my grandmother won't be around to give me my birthday licks on the arm because a damn levee broke. Then, somewhere along the day my parents will call, then some of my friends, then the baby will probably bring me a piece of paper or something as a present and tell me happy birthday and try to sing. Then maybe Tara will make me a cake that doesn't have any chocolate and my sisters and brothers will call too. Then I will remember the reasons why I am celebrating in the first place. Life is just a contest between your circumstances and your attitude. If your attitude stays bad because of the cards you were dealt then you are cheating living out of what it could be. However, if you take all the bullshit and aggravation, suck it up and still find a way to get a laugh and a good time out of it then you are cheating dying because living in this dumb ass world without a way to smile is just like being dead and there is no need to be here if you are going to do that all the time. Like my daddy always tells me, you have to find a way to enjoy it.

Ten People I Want to Have a Conversation With

1. Cornell West
2. Chuck D
3. Lauryn Hill
4. Condeleeza Rice
5. Colin Powell
6. Stevie Wonder
7. Bill Clinton
8. Jill Scott
9. Dave Chapelle
10. Angela Davis

Five people I wouldn't mind fighting

1. Paul Wall
2. Nick Cannon
3. Dick Cheney
4. Sean Hannity
5. The Corp of Engineers Levee Designer

Five Favorite Singers - Female

1. Aretha Franklin
2. Anita Baker
3. Mary J. Blige
4. Gladys Knight
5. Pre Crack Whitney Houston

Five Singers I Don't Like - Female

1. Beyonce(not how she looks, just how she sings lol)
2. Ashanti
3. Post crack Whitney Houston
4. Kelis
5. Nivea(not how she looks, just how she sings)

Five Favortie Singers - Male

1. Donny Hathaway
2. Marvin Gaye
3. Luther Vandross
4. Stevie Wonder
5. Billy Joel

Five Singers I Don't Like

1. Jamie Foxx....that's right I said it.
2. Marques Houston
3. Jaheim
4. Johnny Gill..because he tried to replace the king of R&B Bobby Brown
5. Kirk Franklin..because people go to the music store looking for him and I haven't heard him sing a note.

Five Favorite Movies

1. Godfather II
2. Shawshank Redemption
3. The Good The Bad and The Ugly
4. Smokey and the Bandit
5. Tombstone

I know what you are thinking. There are no black movies on this list.

Congressman Jefferson Needs To Step Down

The recovery of New Orleans is going to have allot to do with the public's willingness to invest money into our city. We are going to need as much private and public money as possible to get things back together. The one thing we can't afford at this point is any scandal or anyone related to an investigation of wrong doing even if it has nothing to do with the city directly. That's why Congressman William Jefferson needs to step down immediately. Unless he has been a victim of a large scale setup, there is no time for him to be defiant right now and try to fight this thing. It only takes away from the big issue which is his entire area was devestated by flood. How can he focus on getting what we need if he is fighting to keep hisself out of jail? We can't afford to have that image right now.

Nagin Wins

Ray Nagin is the mayor again. I didn't expect for that to happen. Appearently more black people felt compelled to get out and vote for him this time and put him back in there. I won't say who I voted for. I will say that I am not 100% confident that Mayor Nagin has my community's best interest at heart all the time. I don't think he is a sellout or anything like that. I think he is a business man and he sees facts and figures instead of the wishes of the people. If he is nothing else he is battle tested. Either way he is the the man for the next four years that will be responsible for the recovery of my city. It's time to move on and rebuild so I won't complain. Whatever happened in the past is gone and will be easier to deal with if he gets everything moving on the right track. It's not all on Ray. Some of it has to fall on the people who come back here to try and make this place we call home work for our benefit. We are all gonna have to do our share. I'm gonna get behind Clarence and lets make this thing work. All we need now is some sparing by God when it comes to hurricanes and about 20 billion dollars from the federal government to fix all the things that thier raggedy ass levee design broke.

Thoughts From a Bad Work Day

This blog is dedicated to Tracee Ellis Ross……………just because I felt like looking up her picture.

I spent way too much time on that Duke Lacrosse thing yesterday. The truth is that other than the time it gets on the news I don't even follow it that closely. Judging from the comments I got, I think we might have a Rodney King verdict type of riot on our hands if one of them gets convicted.

What in the hell can 6000 troops to do when someone crosses the border
illegally besides shooting them? I hope know one gets hurt. Who knows, they
may end up shooting some of those crazy ass Minutemen. Somewhere on a reservation or at a casino some Native Americans are thinking they should have done the same thing to the Quakers back in the day.

One day a week trash collection in New Orleans is to rats what a free lap dance sign is to men. They are coming from all over by the dozen.

I would be lying if I said that the start of hurricane season doesn't
scare the shit out of me.

The only time I get pissed at national shows that talk about New
Orleans is when they act like any other city would have been able to rebound from massive flooding and being out of business for a month without any problems. It almost makes me wish something happens to another entire city just for the satisfaction of watching their asses
struggle............no casualties of course.

You are not supposed to wish that a bad thing would happen. I need some therapy.

If being stuck in 10 ft of flooding together for a week without food and water can't stop young brothers from killing one another then nothing
will.

Remember when you could listen to black radio and they actually played more than ten songs. It’s funny when they say “up next by request we have Mariah Carey’s new song” and it just went off 10 minutes before.

What are these rappers doing messing with Oprah when she can shut everything down? I like Ludacris but I don’t think you want to start that battle. She ain’t no T.I. She got enough money to buy the record company and fire his ass.

With all the angry negro talk I read on blogs everyday, how long before the government starts monitoring our entries for hints of revolution? They might already be doing it……………I didn’t mean that guys.

Public Service Announcement from my roommate Ced: If your stomach sticks out further than your breast you are not supposed to wear a skin tight shirt. I have nothing to add to that.

I learned a valuable lesson today: It is never good to tell your middle
Aged caucasion co workers that your day is going so bad that you are ready to get yours the "the ski mask way like Biggie". Trust me, they won't get the reference or the joke.

Final Thought: After the last few weeks of watching the New Orleans elections take shape, I have come to the conclusion that black people don't vote simply because none of the candidates inspire them. I have an idea to get us out to the poll. Under all the names of the candidates, there needs to be a special button labeled "None of these Mother F#$@ers". Turnout for everybody would increase by 75%.

My response to the Duke comments

First of all, thanks for reading.

I never expected to get these kind of comments. I wanted to post them both unedited to make sure the comments had their fair play. Listen, I know you guys hate this DA and I know the DNA evidence came back without a positive ID. The question I have is that why would a man put his entire reputation on the line and stage a bogus trial that the majority of Americans think is a waste of time if he honestly didn't think the girl had a credible story or some good evidence. Black people are not that hard to please when it comes to votes. Just the fact that he even investigated the allegations was good enough to get our votes. For the case to go this far there has to be something that none of us know about except for the attornies and the grand jury. To the young lady that sent me the entire rap sheet of the accuser, I havMy e to ask when did you have to be a wholesome girl to be a stripper? And what does all of that have to do with what took place at Duke? How do we know this much about this lady's background anyway? I have never seen a woman that has been a potential victim of rape get this much of her life put out there. You said those boys live's were destroyed. Their lives are not destroyed because there are millions of people like you that already have decided they are innocent no matter what happens so they will have more oppurtunities now than they ever had. See, you guys have proved the whole point of what I said in the original post. You saw those kids and heard about her past and they are innocent with no questions asked. We all know that they won't be convicted. I never said that they would. I did say that with or without penetration or a struggle something happened in that house. I have been to lots of stripper parties in my day. Women dissappear into other rooms with guys all the time. Plus, if they are all teammates and friends, who's gonna really say anything about what happened and break the code? Nobody was going to speak up until someone actually got indicted. Whatever happened in there will never full be fully explained because she has already been labeled a lying ass slut just trying to hurt these good American boys. When she does speak the court of public opinion already thinks its bullshit. Even if you have problems with her story, shouldn't that be up to the judge or jury to decide? Maybe you guys have all been played by a bunch of really smart kids and attornies that know how to manipulate the media. I will not budge from my original point that if this the three black kids from Howard accused of doing something innappropriate to a white woman from Duke, there would have been media lynch mobs all over and it wouldn't have mattered what she did before the night of the party. If the situation was reversed and the lacrosse team were black, I would be saying that they needed to be prosecuted just like these guys are. But, its not three black dudes, it's three white ones and those girls didn't invite themselves to that party. The funny thing is that most black people around the country didn't know anything about this story. I didn't know anything about it until I started hearing all these people on the radio tearing down this girl when none of them were inside that house. Next time these privilaged kids need to contact their families political friends and get this swept under the rug ahead of time like the other high society kids do.

Clifton

Duke, Rape and Justice

This week a third member of the Duke lacrosse team was indicted on rape charges from stemming from the black stripper party these guys had at their house. The young man who will not get his named typed on this blog, proceeded to hold a press conference screaming innocence at the top of his lungs. He actually said that all three of the accused were innocent. Here is the line where the justice system changes for black people. We all know that if this was three brothers from North Carolina A&T that allegedly raped a white dancer from Duke, they would be on TV everyday in orange jumpsuits, shackled and no haircuts. The media would find every bad story about them and their dads and uncles and great grandfathers to the point that the majority of Americans would want them tarred and feathered. There also wouldn’t be all the stories about her past like there is in this case either. I listen to talk radio at my desk during the day and all I heard was how hard it’s going to be to convict these guys because of how they carry themselves and have so much credibility that she doesn't. What does carrying yourself well have to do with getting drunk at a party and taking liberties with a dancer? It has nothing to do with it. Neither does the fact that they didn’t find DNA. If these guys are smart enough to go to Duke just maybe they are smart enough to cover things up. Like I said before, maybe they didn’t penetrate her but they did something to her some kind of way. We know it and they know it but they will not spend one day in jail for this because that’s how the system works. It is easy for people to believe that they didn’t do anything because of their background. It’s also easy for the mainstream to think a black man has done something. Perfect example, Kobe Bryant had a press conference after he was indicted. The charges were dropped against him (something that would have never happen if they thought they really could convict him for violating a white woman). Yet, the majority of Americans still hate him. There are lots of brothers that deserve to be in jail for things they have done. I am not the brother who apologizes for black crime because it usually means a black victim. There are also lots of white people that deserve the same amount of jail time but don’t always get it. The problem is that most black people see it like this and most white people don’t. It’s the kind of thing that might make black people stand up and cheer when Johnny Cochran helped a guilty OJ Simpson beat the system (although Johnny thought he was innocent or at least I hope he did). We cheered because we knew there would be allot of days like this when the black victim becomes the defendant against a class system that has more power than her violation could ever overcome. That’s been going on since we got off the slave ships and it probably always will.



Clifton

To All My Mamas

I would like to take this time to wish all of the mamas everywhere a really happy and wonderful Mother’s Day. I especially want to give props to all the black mothers out there. The single parents, the big mamas and the ones that hold their families down through all the drama and still find a way to make us feel like kings and queens. I have been a lucky man during my lifetime. Besides my own mama who is totally dedicated to the happiness and well being of all her children, I have been lucky enough to have other women in my life that treated me like a son. It’s these women’s influence that has made me the man I am today. Where ever I go and whatever I do, I am always conscious of these ladies. I try my best to make sure that my actions make them proud even if they are not here to see it. I would like to acknowledge the following people.

To Tara: You always think I don’t acknowledge you. You are a great mother and lately have been forced to deal with everything on your own and not once did you complain. I will always love you for that.

To my mother Bernadine Harris: You are the greatest person I know hands down. There will never be another person that thinks I am as great as you do.

To my Grandmothers
Mildred Harris: I haven’t seen you since the storm and you have lost so much. I will never forget the times you told me how much you were proud of me for the man I am now.

Geraldine Louvier: Every single day I shed tears at least one time in your memory. I miss you so much and it causes me physical pain when I realize you are not coming back. I am still eating my spinach J

To my godmother Geraldine Baker: I will be there whenever you need me. I know sometimes I act like you are bothering me but as long as I am here you are not alone.

To my Aunties
Iola Butler: Rest in Peace to the woman who never raised her voice at me…..closest thing to a third grandmother

Anna Thomas : My favorite aunt and the one most like me

Auntie Nell: You helped me do all the things that kids in my neighborhood couldn’t do and I never had to ask. Thank you

Ozella Honore: Rest in Peace. I hope you were there to meet grandpa when he got there to keep him out of trouble.

Shirley Kelly: I am sorry I never came see you in that home. That’s one of my biggest regrets

To all of my play mamas

Mrs. Inez Washington
Ms. Lilly for watching my baby and treating her like your own
My high school counselor Ms. Martin
My cousin Darrolyn Fields
My cousin April Harris
Ms. Mary Williams
Ms. Maude Young
Ms. Claire Williams
Mrs. Patricia Roby
Mrs. Sandra Hartford

If you look into the lives of great men, there is usually a woman or women somewhere close making sure they stay on the right path.

Happy Mother’s Day

Clifton

The State of the N.O.

It’s been a minute since I wrote strictly about New Orleans and the recovery (or lack of). Since the mayor’s race is coming up, this is a good time to get some things off of my chest.

• If Ray Nagin loses this election it will be because lots of black people voted for Landrieu. If that happens, he only has himself to blame and all he has to do is look under the bridge at those flooded cars as a symbol of nothing being done. Like I always say, the average man does not know what’s going on behind close doors. They can only judge things by what they see. The more people that come back to the city, the more frustration grows because everything is limited and no one can give you any information about what’s going on.
• I am glad the city closed the landfill near the Asian community. I have nothing but respect for the Asian community in this city. If it wasn’t for them and the Arab storeowners, there would be nowhere to shop downtown after 7PM. Plus, they are spending their own money to open these stores.
• I am foolish, desperate, or optimistic about bringing my family back to New Orleans East right now. The apartment complexes that are opening are acting like they are running an ocean side resort with all these qualifications. I know you can’t let anybody in but damn.
• I am confused. Every night there are stories on the news about all this crime and turf battles that are starting again. Where are these people staying? I know folks with two jobs waiting for them and can’t find a place to live. How did the thugs get back here so easily? Who are they selling to? Shouldn’t they be easier to catch now since everybody else is working or stuck in their trailers all day? What are the police doing?
• It’s stressful living here right now. The least the city could do is open up the lake at night so a man can go sit and drink a beer near the water and reminisce about his old life. Is it too much to ask to turn the lights on Lakeshore drive and have the grass cut? If anybody is wondering if there is manpower to take care of the lake, there are people cutting grass every day on St. Charles Ave. They even water the flowers near the streetcar line that is not even running right now.
• It is becoming clear eight months after the storm that the working/middle class people of New Orleans are the ones with the biggest headaches in the aftermath. Lots of them have moved to new cities but still have houses they were paying for here. They can’t live in them and they can’t get the money back that they put into them. We don’t have enough money to live uptown in the really good neighborhoods so we are forced to find housing in neighborhoods we worked to move away from and now we will be walking hand and hand with the criminal element. There are allot of programs that are trying to help the homeless, and the impoverished find and maintain housing here. That’s needed and I am glad that they do. However, the future of this city will be determined by how many middle class people stick it out through the bullshit. It’s too bad a large amount of those folks and their families lived in New Orleans East where practically nothing is being done in my opinion.

We must never forget all the people who never made it out of the water.

Long lives the Lower Ninth Ward

Clifton