An Open Letter to Number Seven

Dear Michael Vick,

Before we get to what the subject of this letter is let me start by saying that since you have been a professional player I have never once wanted you to win a game. I don't like you as a player or the team you play for. See, I am a Saints fan and the thought of you with the ball in your hands scares me. I can just see you running right pass Fred Thomas. That's why you need to hear what I am about to say from a person who is not a fan. I am sure you have male groupies and Falcon fans who are probably kissing your ass all day and making you think everything is ok. Things are not ok Mike. I am sure you know the history of black coaches and quarterbacks in the NFL. For years billionaire owners and there millionaire coaches have always been reluctant to let brothers play quarterback on the professional level. The reason is that since football was invented the quarterback has been the premier position in the sport. Quarterbacks reflect leadership. They are the face of the franchise. There was actually a time when people thought a black man lacked the intelligence to play quarterback. Some people probably still think that way. Your status in the league from a marketing standpoint is the evolution. People actually pay just to see you play quarterback. Except for here in New Orleans there are #7 jerseys everywhere. The Falcons gave you, a brother, 100 million dollars to represent their team. I hate the Falcons but that’s a really big deal. Cats like James Harris, Doug Williams, Warren Moon, Vince Evans, and Randall Cunningham paved the way for you to have the kind of exposure you have. That's why for the benefit and legacy of every black quarterback, your ignorant ass cannot have anything to do with dog fighting.
Mike, the media is waiting to take your ass down. ESPN ran that story on Outside the Lines and they have been talking about it all day on the radio. I know young brothers sometimes don't expand their way of thinking beyond the five block radius of the hood they grew up in. I'm from the South too so I know that there are cats out here that treat those damn pit bulls better than they treat their own children. I understand where you got it from but it doesn't matter Mike. You are no longer a regular black dude from Newport News, Virginia. You are getting paid 100 million dollars to play quarterback in the NFL. You might want to keep it real and do all the stuff you would be doing had you not made it to the NFL but you can't. Damn the pit bulls! Get a cocker spaniel and sit your ass down. A man in your position cannot do three things and keep your public image. You can't mess with kids. You can't do anything to violate a white woman (ask Kobe) and you can't get PETA and the animal rights groups on your ass. If you think I am lying about the animal rights stuff go ask P. Diddy. Have you seen him on TV with a fur on lately?
I am going to end this letter Mike with the big picture. The mainstream media is looking for one of you young black role models to take down in order to reverse the influence you have on suburban kids. They tried it with Kobe but he was innocent. The tried it with Allen Iverson but that turned out to be some crazy family business. None of the other targets were big enough. You would be the perfect person, with the perfect profile and the perfect crime to outrage the mainstream. Do us all a favor and come out with a press conference apologizing. You might even want to pay everyone involved with those dogs to take the fall like Puffy and Ray Lewis did. If you don't, I am afraid that nobody will be foolish enough to come to your defense except Jesse Jackson and I am not sure if that will help or hurt you

Get it together Mike. You owe it to all the brothers who paved the way for you to be in that spot. Plus, I don't want any excuses when he head to the Georgia Dome next season and release Reggie Bush on that ass!


Yours Truly,
Cliff
Saints Fan but a concerned black man.

I would like to take this time to say Rest In Peace to New Orleans own Marquise Hill of the New England Patriots who drowned in Lake Ponchatrain Memorial Day weekend. I would like to send some love to the other 6 people who were killed this weekend in the city and anywhere else in the country and all the ones before them.

There is nothing sadder than when young solders leave this world much earlier than they should have.

No Summer Vacation

I have this strange fascination with the Lockup documentaries on MSNBC. I have watched every single episode of this series from all parts of the country and I haven’t seen a good jail yet. My favorite is The Pit in Alabama. Why anyone would want to do another crime after being there is beyond me. There are a few other things I have yet to see. I haven’t seen any prisoners looking happy to be there. I haven’t seen anyone bragging about the food. I haven’t seen any co-ed cellmates. That last one alone is reason enough not to go. I never got the whole going to jail thing. I remember when my boys first started going in their teens. All they came home with was less conscience and an addiction to honeybuns. They would tell me these stories and I kept waiting for the fun part but it never came. A few of my boys with a little more perspective than the others would just come out and tell me “Cliff, don’t you ever get anywhere near that mother@$%&^!” They didn’t have to tell me because I hadn’t planned on it unless I was framed by the FBI. Did I mention there are no co-ed cellmates? History in America makes black people look at incarceration differently then other people but I would like to inform everybody that it’s not 1965. We are not talking about a bunch of political prisoners like Angela Davis and the Panthers. Some of these brothers are serious criminals and usually have done something to another black person. I also don’t hear too many of them saying they are innocent or how they were just protecting their family or trying to feed them. Maybe MSNBC doesn’t show those brothers. Maybe they find the worst cases in order to sensationalize their story to make people watch. Maybe the criminal justice system of America has spent so many years using brothers as a way to keep the billion dollar industry of housing criminals functioning which has led to so many of them being unable to maintain a normal life outside of prison walls and when they do get out the same mentality carries over to the streets leading to disrespect for the community and lack of compassion for human life. All of that is true. However, just because something is true doesn’t mean you have to buy into it at your own peril. If you really want to get back at the man for treating you like an animal, act more humane to your brother, get out and try your best not to go back in.

I am losing more and more of my street cred with every passing blog.

Just To Get That Gold

I know a place where the faces are so cold.
I drive all night just to get that gold.

I hate reality TV shows that are put together (Real World, Survivor) or have some kind of contest, except for Dancing With The stars (Laila, holla at me!). Shows like that are not real because they put those people together knowing something stupid will happen. What I am into is shows that give you an insight on things that go on in everyday life. Discovery Channel is the greatest network on television for this reason alone. The best show on the network and on television period is The Deadliest Catch. This show goes on board of these crabbing boats in the Bering Sea while they fish for King Crab. The reason I love this show is simple, these guys have the biggest balls in all of America. They go through ice, storms, big waves crashing into the boat and they just keep going. I don't think I would get out there in those conditions and risk my life without a guarantee of catching anything. People actually die while the show is being filmed. Not only that, these guys stay up two and three days straight with little or no breaks pulling crab pots. They are working their ass off on nothing but quick snacks and gallons of coffee. Through all of that you hardly hear anyone really complaining. It's the kind of thing that you watch and think about last week when you cursed life itself after having to stay thirty minutes late at work. It makes you realize just how much of a freaking slacker you are. If you don’t watch it for the fisherman, watch it for the cameramen who have to be the most dedicated professionals to stand out there on the deck of that boat and catch it all on film.

Drama and Stupidity

My generation has a habit of generalizing everything. Maybe it’s the lack of quality education. I don’t know if that’s the reason or not but we describe life situations with one word phrases. There’s hate, beef, shine, games and a few others. I will discuss all of these in due time but today we will discuss my favorite. Let’s talk about drama. If you just browse the internet on any African American website you will see the word drama over and over. It will appear particularly in anything written by women under 40. You might see this sentence a lot “I am tired of all the drama and games.“ In the dictionary, one of the definitions of drama is A situation or succession of events in real life having the dramatic progression or emotional effect characteristic of a play.
In the hood drama means anything that is not part of a regular life situation that might cause the other person stress. A good example would be someone who has a jealous girlfriend. This would be considered drama in hood terms. The problem we have is that we can’t distinguish drama from someone just being stupid. If you look at the first part of the definition it says a “situation or succession of events.” Everybody has that from time to time. We all have drama and it’s usually a mistake or something we couldn’t control of see ahead of time. Your kid being ill is drama. Being stuck on a roof surrounded by water in 100 degree weather is drama. Having an argument with your boss is drama. Most of the other stuff we describe as drama is just stupidity. Since I love my people so much and believe in helping everyone, I am now going to teach everyone the difference. Please feel free to print this out and give it to anyone that you feel needs to read this. It may change someone’s life.

Example One

If you meet a woman that got married or had a child for a guy that happens to be a junkie, alcoholic, maniac that drives pass her house every 30 minutes to make sure she is still there and not seeing anybody……That’s Drama.

If you meet a woman that has four kids and all of their dads are like that?……Stupidity!

Example Two

If you know a guy who is not speaking to his mom right now because of a money dispute……That’s Drama

If you know a guy who’s mama is in hiding because he wants to bust a cap since she owes him money for smoking up all the weed……..Stupidity!

Example Three

Every now and then you meet someone you really like. You want to build something with them but this person hasn’t turned the corner on adulthood yet. You might have a conversation about life and the only thing this person can tell you is how they are going to sign with Jay Z at Def Jam or be the next Beyonce. They might sit around all day and not go to work or school because they are still trying to find themselves. This is very common among young people. Your frustration waiting around for them to get going…….That’s Drama

If the person going through all of this is over 30 years old?…………..Stupidity and run like hell!


I hope this blog helps just one person understand the difference.

Rolling Over

Democrats are players. I was not a political science major but I have been following politics since I was ten years old. Usually when you win an election one or two things have happened. Your base is very inspired by you or your opponent has done such a shitty job that there was no way you could lose. All these things were true in 2006 when the Democrats took back the Senate and the House. Americans were so fed up with George Bush and the war that they put Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats back in office thinking the cavalry was coming to put an end to the whole thing. They all took office and talked allot of trash. I thought it was funny that besides firing Donald Rumsfeld, George Bush really didn’t change a thing. Now I understand why. He knew these punk ass Democrats were going to end up folding under the pressure to actually do something and give him the money he wanted. That’s exactly what they did. They gave him the money with an exit date, a vague time line, or anything else. Basically, the base of their party just got played. Now, you have given George some confidence and that’s a dangerous thing. He and Cheney might bomb Venezuela tomorrow.
You know what the cool thing is about being a Republican? No matter how foolish, ignorant or dangerous your views are, if you wait long enough someone in leadership will come out and validate your opinion. If a few million voters think that aliens are the cause for homosexuality, some Republican senator will eventually come along and try to pass a bill to ban all alien contact and fund new satellites to monitor for XP 1200 space modulators. Democrats on the other hand spend day after day complaining about everything the Republicans have messed up. Then they turn around and go along with the same shit and confuse their base. Sooner or later they will have to win based on something they have done instead of something the other guys have done wrong. This is why Mitt Romney will be the first Mormon president in U.S. history. He will beat Hillary Clinton after she can’t justify how her party promised to get the troops home and they are still there playing referee.

That’s why I am an independent.

Worst Playoffs Ever

I would like to thank the San Antonio Spurs for getting rid of Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Playoffs. I was really getting tired of hearing how a guy who has never won a championship is the greatest player of all time. He’s not even the best player on that team. That would be Shawn Marion. Now, I can pull for Utah because I don't like the Spurs either. This has been the worst playoffs I have seen since I started watching basketball. After Golden State got eliminated it was over. There is too much goodwill going on around the league. Before game six of the Bulls and Pistons series, the players were still hugging and smiling with one another. Isaiah and Magic were damn near best friends and by game four they weren't even speaking to one another when they played in the finals. The NBA drafts these brothers from the neighborhood then they try to de-negro everybody and turn them into robots so the millionaires in the front row don't feel threatened. Now the playoffs look just like a regular season game in December. What's up with all these so-called superstars not taking over games when it matters? At least Steve Nash did go down with a fight. I guess if you have millions of guaranteed money it doesn't matter if you win or not. This is why David Stern has to rig the off season so the Lakers can get better and Kobe can at least make the conference finals every year.

Back in the Game

First of all I want to apologize to anyone that may have been offended by my vulgar language in my last blog. Secondly I want to say to anyone that read it and took the words personally that I meant every word. The vacation is over and I feel much better. I guess this will last until the end of May. I learned a few things from taking a week off.

• I don’t put enough emphasis on sleep during the week.
  
• My personal life is very boring and I need new friends.
  
• The Covenant for Black America is a great read.
  
• Gas is too high to drive without a worthy destination.
  
• If every reality T.V. show makes Laila Ali a contestant I am watching.
  

Now, I am back to the grind. Judging by the dozen voicemails on my phone that I ignored it should be a very hectic week. I guess that’s what I have to do until I win this Powerball. My only regret over the last week is not taking the chance to post a blog about Jerry Falwell (If you were one of his followers you should be happy he’s passed away. He’s going right to the cloud next to the creator.)

I would like to thank my director for letting me take a week off without any warning.

I am also sending a shot out to E.J. who might need to take him a mental break too.

Congratulations to my ex-road dog Christy and her husband on their new baby. It’s about damn time.

Hey Laila, if you happen to read this and want to come to New Orleans to help rebuild something, I am willing to learn the waltz and already know how to do the Josephine Johnny and the Bus Stop. Let me know a few days ahead of time so I can make sure I shine my good shoes.

Running on Empty

Black people have a problem when it comes to being satisfied. I like to call it the Shine Theory. It’s the whole idea that we have to just keep going and going until we drop with the idea that we have to do more and more until someone kisses our ass and validates everything. That's why we get burned out so early in life. I have that same need but I don’t know why. Two weeks ago I was at a Human Services Data Conference. My director gave a speech about the challenges we have faced in our work since Katrina. During his presentation, there was an entire paragraph about my perseverance and dedication to my job despite of all the personal obstacles I faced. More than one hundred strangers that I had never met gave me a full minute of applause. For the first time since January of 2006 when I started driving back and forth from Jackson Mississippi to New Orleans someone finally gave me some damn credit. That was a great feeling. Once I left the conference and got in my car, I felt the fatigue and stress all over again.

I’m a man and a father. I want to be responsible. I’m trying to make sure my family is okay but I am out of gas. I need a damn break. It’s been hard to take anything longer than a day off because I am literally single handily running my program for the organization. I am the staff. I have this habit of taking on more burden than I should. I think that somehow that reflects on me and my name. The same premise applies to my work and personal life. What usually happens is that I end up working really hard and putting out lots of effort only to end up with the same old bullshit circumstances. My credit is still fucked up. My savings are still low and my air conditioning is still broken in my car. What am I getting out of expending all this energy? The only thing I am getting out of it is a potential stroke and a drinking problem. This is a theme that is not talked about enough. Black men don't really express just how many things they make concessions for in life that never get recognized. My daddy always told me that a man is going to do things in his life for people that no one is going to acknowledge. That just comes with the job. It's just like at the end of Good Times when the Evans got out of the project and the show went off without anyone of them ungrateful bastards mentioning how James used to work 5 jobs at one time to feed the family.

When I start thinking about it more, I realize that I deserve a break. I don’t believe in bragging on myself but I am one hell of a man. Since Mother's Day is Sunday, I am going to give my mama her props for treating me as such since I was born. I’m just saying that if you get all the men you know together and tell them that one day they will wake up with all of their personal possessions gone and their family basically homeless. Then, you will get no help from anybody. You will have to drive 400 miles a week to work, sleep on an air mattress for a year and live out a suitcase after 30 years of being comfortable. You will have to deal with nearly all of your family and friends being gone, never being able to have a funeral for your grandmother and try to find an overpriced place to live at the same time. Then when you get back to the city, you will be surrounded by a bunch of selfish motherfuckers that act like they don’t care or understand what all of your effort means to where they are now. Tell them they have to go through all of that without smoking crack, missing a day of work, or killing a nigga and we’ll see how many of them can get a 60 second ovation from their professional peers. I know I am not the only one, but that won’t be a long list of motherfuckers either. The Lord knows I am a man that is highly flawed. I am also passionate, loyal, dedicated and held mine down through everything just like Jon said did during his speech. That's why after talking with him today I am going to take me a leave of absence. I think I have earned that much. This is as real as it ever gets for me.

I think I’ll go help Drew Brees build some houses or get on the next Lil Wayne mix tape with my Lower Nine dedication Freestyle I have been working on. I might even go on a one man family crabbing trip. Whatever I do I can assure you that it won’t be stressful. Just remember that if you have problems in the next ten days and you need to talk to someone, Cliff is not available.

This is as real as I can keep it.

We will now return to our regular blogging schedule.......................

How Real Gangsters Do It

George Tenet was director of the CIA leading up to the Iraq War. He’s the guy that signed off on all the intelligence evidence against Iraq that Bush and Cheney were making speeches about. He’s the man that helped Colin Powell set up that presentation to the United Nations. He gave us the “slam dunk evidence”. Our president gave him the Medal of Freedom for his work. Once the war started, all the slam dunk evidence slowly started to come up short. There was no uranium, no weapons of mass destruction, and no links to Sadaam and Al Queda. George Tenet basically helped the president and his band of thugs trick the public into going to war that we didn’t need to fight. Kids are still dying there today trying to play referee to a civil war. After all of that, guess what happened to Mr. Tenet? He got to write a book and admit that all the evidence and presentations were bullshit. He’s been on national TV everyday to promote it and is making enough money to put his great, great grandchildren through college. Only in America can you damage thousands of lives during your public service then step down and make millions talking about it. The least he could do is donate half to the families of the troops. No one in this administration will ever get punished for any of this bullshit. This is just like the Godfather.

Open Letter For Our Money

Dear Foreign Nations,

I was real busy last week. In between my hard work I took the time to pick up the paper one day and I saw that you guys had offered 854 million dollars in aid for Katrina victims. The well run government of the United States turned down most of it and has only used 40 million of the aid they did accept. Since no one in my local government seems to be pissed off enough about this. I am taking the time to write this letter and ask that the other 814 million be sent directly to me. I promise if you send me this money I will make sure that everyone from Biloxi to Kenner that is still trying to get things in order will get some help. I also promise that the only selfish thing I will do with any of it is get my air conditioning fixed in my car since it will be extremely difficult to ride all the way to Waveland, Mississippi without my A/C working. There won't be any politicians involved with my spending decisions because they all seem to have other motives for how things get done. In the event of another disaster, please do not ask anyone in Washington if you can help. Just show up to the place of the disaster and start doing stuff. The current administration is so busy trying to look tough since they messed up that Iraq thing that they won't take help from anybody that won't kiss their ass. Once you read this letter, please send me an email to weneedmoney@RoadHomeisajoke.com. I will be happy to help you with any questions you may have. The only one I won't be able to answer is how a program designed to helped the citizens of the state could be running out of money when hardly anyone has actually gotten checks. I'm not smart enough to answer that one.

Thank you for time.

Clifton Harris
Disgruntled Louisiana Resident and Non Disaster Aid Receiver

Too Busy For Blogging.....

Sometimes professional people have meetings, conferences and trainings to attend. Other times you just get lazy and don’t feel like typing. That will explain my absence from posting to this blog. For the rest of the week I will either be extremely busy, trying not to fall asleep during a presentation, or watching the NFL draft. I won’t even mention the NBA playoffs. This post will have to cover everything. There are five things I learned the last week and a half.

1. Punk ass cowards always want to hurt people and then kill themselves like that dude at Virginia Tech. If you were that pissed you should have stayed alive and faced the work.
2. I love my sisters but it’s very unprofessional to come to a business meeting with some dude’s teeth marks on your neck.
3. Dirk Nowitzki is the most overrated basketball player in the NBA. He is going to single handedly get my homeboy Avery Johnson fired.
4. Never assume that someone will conduct themselves like you do just because you have the same DNA.
5. The “No Snitching” feature on 60 Minutes was a allot worse and more harmful to the future of black people than anything said by Don Imus.

On April 28 there is a march across the Industrial Canal to the Lower Ninth Ward in order to “Reclaim our Land”. I’m all for protest but the people already have the land. We need the damn money. The funniest thing I have heard in a long time is the Road Home commercials on the radio. Apparently, they found the only black dude in the city of New Orleans to actually receive his check. I won’t even mention the commercials about the school system.

Speaking of the New Orleans school system….In August it will be two years since Katrina. If the state hasn’t broken ground on at least one new school facility in the city, I think it will be ok to take up arms and declare ourselves and independent state. We can hold the Superdome hostage for ransom. How in the held are we 600 teachers short when we fired thousands of teachers without a thought? That tells me that they had no plans on any of these kids coming back.

I think the turning point for the city will come when the white people of the city admit out loud that they are having to suffer because they made the choice to live in the parish associated with all these black people. We can fight for things as one New Orleans after that. As the days go by and the money sits in Washington and Baton Rouge, I think it’s time to start asking the question that if the 17th St. Canal broke on the other side would things be taking this long. Lakeview isn’t that far away from the St. Bernard Project. If things were going slow to frustrate that Seventh Ward community from coming back then you would have to wait to. I think white people inside the city take some of those racism claims too personal. You can’t deny the facts no matter what color you are. The Superdome is damn near brand new inside and it was top priority. I passed Barbara Jordan Elementary School yesterday and they just started taking the damage furniture out this week.

Someone in OPEC or Exxon/Mobil has the direct line to a higher power. How else could you explain that at the exact time the weather gets so hot that you have to run the air conditioner in your car gas goes up about seventy five cents a gallon. No human can guess at this so accurately without help.

I have some good news. If three more houses are torn down in certain spots, I will be able to sit on my car in my driveway and actually look right into Club 7140. I will be able to check out the club scene without getting dressed. It will be just like living across the street from the barroom like I did in high school.

I would like to officially start the movement to boycott the Disney corporation. Every weekend they run hundreds of commercials full of kids and their parents have a blast at one of their theme parks. Everybody looks so happy but they never show the next six months with mom and dad are getting second jobs because it took two hundred dollars just to buy a weeks worth of hamburgers and fries. You try explaining to a three year old that it will take years of saving the nickels and pennies she finds in your car before she can get to Disney World with that method. It’s time to set some traps for Mickey’s ass.

Props to the Jazz and Heritage Festival for giving Ed Bradley a tradition New Orleans Jazz Funeral.

Peace to the Virginia Tech students that are going back to class.

Number 42

Sixty years ago today Jackie Robinson took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers against the Boston Reds. He was the first African American to play in a major league game. I don't know if enough young people understand what baseball meant to America in 1947. Baseball was more than a game in 1947. In many ways it was the symbol of America. It took a hell of a man to be willing to make the mental sacrifice necessary to break that color line. Try going to work everyday and suffer abuse knowing that for the good of an entire race of people you can't retaliate and let's see how long you last. For the laws and structure of the country at the time and the significance placed on baseball by white America, Jackie Robinson playing that game 60 years ago has to be one of the top three moments in African American history. If you don't know anything about the man or this story, please go find a book and read. The one I read when I was ten was only 30 pages long so you don’t need much time to read about it. It might help put things in perspective the next time your supervisor asks you to stay an hour late and you want to go to his office and keep it real.

In order to balance out my appareant discuss with certain hip hop artist, I present a video of one of my favorite songs ever. Not Yet Free by The Coup. This was one of the first songs I downloaded after Katrina.

Segregating Our Respect

First of all let me say that I am a 32 year old black man who has Five Minutes of Funk by Whodini as his ring tone. I love hip hop. I still follow it like I did in my teens and I have not given up on the dream of making a mix tape one day after I get my flow right. I’m even listening to some right now as I write this. I would never speak on issues with the race and place the blame solely on the culture. That’s backwards to say anyway. Hip hop has always been built on the premise that the music reflects the world around it and not vice versa so how could it be the reason for what the community has become? I said all of that to take the focus off the fact that the following quote just happens to be from a rapper. I'm not picking on him or his music but he said it. It is what it is. The following quote comes from brother Snoop Dogg.

"[Rappers] are not talking about no collegiate basketball girls who have made it to the next level in education and sports. We're talking about ho's that's in the 'hood that ain't doing sh--, that's trying to get a n---a for his money. These are two separate things. First of all, we ain't no old-ass white men that sit up on MSNBC."

The question we need to ask is this……

Who's ready to protest on behalf of the " ho's that's in the 'hood that ain't doing sh--, that's trying to get a n---a for his money." ? Aren’t they not our sisters and worthy of the same outrage we gave that shock jock? How are they separate things? Who has been trained to detect the difference between a black woman and a "ho" by the naked eye? In regular clothes walking down the street, the Rutgers basketball team looks just like " ho's that's in the 'hood that ain't doing sh--, that's trying to get a n---a for his money" and every other black woman of their age group. I know there not and you might know that but does some white dude in Wyoming know that or some kids in Japan if we are promoting that? Is it ok to disrespect all black women that still live in the hood unless they go to college? If we are going to be valid in the statement that the aggression towards Imus was a part of a bigger movement then we have to start boycotting Snoop Dogg, his label and his sponsors tomorrow right? If not, all we did was take the easy victory over a weakened opponent. That’s just a quick adrenaline rush with no real effect on us as a people. I was having a conversation with a person I respect about this and she made a statement that maybe we probably aren’t fighting for the kind of sisters Snoop was talking about because if they were worth fighting for, they'd be fighting for themselves at least a little bit. What if they don’t know how to fight? Slaves were not in a position to fight but they had Frederick Douglass and other free blacks and abolitionists to help explain their plight. Black people in the south were segregated and under the thumb of Jim Crow. They didn't know how to fight but intelligent men and women of color stepped up when they didn’t have to and put their lives on the line for their behalf. Maybe if we fought for " ho's that's in the 'hood that ain't doing sh--, that's trying to get a n---a for his money." , they might not be “ho’s” anymore and people won’t think of disrespecting them or anyone that looks like them in public without any recourse no matter what they look like. If we eliminate all the "ho's" then there is no confusion. If someone reads this and thinks I am wrong please send me the instructions on how to look at two black women of the same age, style of dress and way of speaking and know which one's dignity is worth fighting for and which one isn’t. I’ve been living with black women my whole life and never knew it was ok to disrespect any of them.
Our generation is missing that sense of collective responsibility to one another. We lie to one another in our small circles about how the world sees us because the few of us have our act together. The truth of the matter is that at some point an intelligent black woman went somewhere without her business clothes on and a person in that place with no intimate knowledge of her culture other than the media looked at her and grouped her in with these girls walking around with Snoop on this leash. That's just how America works for us. Just to be fair, I don't go through my entire day without slipping here or there in regards to some of these issues but I also haven't made millions and traveled the world promoting my "culture" to the masses. There should be a double standard for anyone that has became wealthy from promoting the most destructive part of our community. If you don't want to be under the microscope, have Chuck D write your next album or stay home, get a real job and let someone else be the face of young black America.

No Evidence

This message is for Betty Friedan from North Carolina and everyone else who sent me about 50 emails and comments after I wrote about waiting for the evidence to come out in the Duke Lacrosse thing. Well, it turns out there was no evidence. I don't think I actually accused them of being guilty. If I did I am sorry for that. Please understand that when things like this happen and black people hear about it, our history in this country makes us react a certain way. I don't believe two wrongs make a right so since they are innocent I hope they can get everything in order. I would just like to add that this kind of thing goes on everyday in America and the accused are far less capable of defending themselves then these guys. I hope in the long run this case will lead to a review of that.

One Request for Dr. Blakely

I have no problems with how Dr. Blakely depicts our fair city. I actually agree with him for the most part. I only have one request.

Dr. Blakely, New Orleans’s belatedly appointed Hurricane Katrina recovery chief, refers to the city’s racial factions as “a bit like the Shiites and Sunnis,”

I would like to be referred to as something other than the people we are fighting in Iraq. It's bad enough I was a refugee in my own damn country after the storm. Now I am Saddam's cousin. Actually, my neighborhood is being protected by the National Guard so it's kind of accurate.

Before We Go Knocking On Our Neighbor's Door

A few sisters read my blog about Don Imus and thought I was defending him some kind of way. I wasn't doing that at all. I am not saying he should be forgiven for anything he said but I think the two week suspension he got is as far as this is going to go. I’m glad he is meeting with the sisters from Rutgers. They appear to be the only level headed people in this whole thing and they are the real victims. There was a interesting tone on the radio today. White people are getting tired of throwing their people to the wolves for stuff we do and say all the time. I understand how they feel because I am tired of looking like a hypocrite when there is outrage about something like this. I just hope that in all of our disgust and outrage towards his statements, we are prepared to answer the following questions.

1. Did our own behavior towards those words being used by us to describe us affect how
comfortable he was in saying it?

2. Are we outraged because he used the word "ho" or is it because these particular girls just happened not to be “hoes“ as defined by the black community? We all know black people separate certain groups of our community as acceptable for ridicule. What if Imus was talking about a visit to the strip club?

3. How much would be able to change if the same energy put forward against him was put towards some of our own self destructive actions? I am certain that those girls and almost everyone else in our generation has a song or two on the IPOD that is not the most respectful piece of work.

All I am trying to say is that it's hard for me to jump on this bandwagon when Snoop Dogg makes public appearances everyday with a pimp by his side as his “spiritual advisor”. It's just my opinion, but we get really mad at white people for doing and saying things that we have taught them is cool to do and say. We let these modern day minstrel show brothers get rich and famous from selling that image to the masses and then want to attack all the people they sell it to. What will get solved in our community if he gets fired? One of the most popular shows in television featured a sister who got drunk and took a crap on the stairs. People loved this show so much that it's already spawned two spin-offs. R. Kelly took a leak on a young sister like she was a hoe and hasn't apologized to anybody black including the girl. As a matter of fact, one of his bigger albums came after he pissed on her AND FILMED IT! Isn't that worse than Imus? How many young sisters are dancing to an R Kelly song compared to watching Imus in the morning? It's funny how black people can absorb negative and disrespectful things as long as the person disrespecting them looks like they do. Oh well, at least when he gets fired I can used that sense of justice to feel better about myself when the “Make it Rain” video comes on again. The intelligent Nubian queens dancing in those bikinis are fine.

My Racist Radar is Low

Every night at 2AM my television is set to turn to MSNBC for Hardball. That means that in the morning I wake up to the Don Imus Show. Apparently I was still sleeping went they went crazy and called the Rutgers Women's Basketball team "nappy headed hoes". He needs to apologize for that statement. I guess my racism radar needs some tuning because I watch this show every morning and never get offended. Even the running skit about Ray Nagin doesn't really bother me. Does the racist part come on before 6:45 Central time? Maybe I am turning into Armstrong Williams. Somebody must have put something in my drink when I wasn't looking. Forget that, I'm the blackest and the proudest dude I know and if anyone accuses me of being otherwise I will fight to the death. It's just that simple shit doesn't affect me when young brothers are laying in the street everyday. I guess eventually all the protest will get him kicked off the air or have his show so watered down with ass kissing it becomes unbearable to watch. We are headed to day when no one in the public eye will be able to mention anything about race, sexual orientation, age, gender, or anything else. Richard Pryor's career wouldn't have lasted five minutes in this current climate.

Away Sickness

I had the pleasure of traveling to Memphis to visit my parents and watch my sister get married. It had been a long time since I left the metro area and the few days away was much needed. Out of selfishness I had been campaigning to my parents about coming back home. I keep making up these ideas in my own head about how miserable it must to be in Memphis so far away from home. I was worried that they would have trouble adjusting to a new place that they didn’t have any plans on ever moving to before the storm. The only thing close to a major city between New Orleans and Memphis is Jackson, Mississippi. Right after the storm I stayed in Clinton, Mississippi which is a suburb right outside of Jackson. I loved it. My parents live in a clean, quiet neighborhood in a big ass house on the outskirts of Memphis. There are stores, entertainment and resources all within 10 minutes of their house. There’s no national guard, no abandoned buildings everywhere, and they don’t have to ride 30 miles just to buy clothes. As I went through Jackson and Memphis I noticed that there were signs of development all over the place. Just going up I-55 you could tell that major things were taking place. Once I got off of the Twin Span and got into the city limits of New Orleans, all I saw was swamp, an abandoned amusement park, and a bunch of people trying to make it with what they have even though some sons a bitches in Baton Rouge are holding billions of dollars in aid that could get our shit back on track. How can I ask my family to give up that quality of life in Tennessee and go back to the Lower Ninth Ward now? I am not sure I will be able to sell that move in a few years if things here keep going the way they are. Maybe all the stuff I keep reading about that is being planned will actually start being done and I will have a positive report. Me and my family have this thing backwards. Instead of me worrying and trying to sell them on coming home, they should be worrying and trying to sell me on the idea of moving where they are. I can say this with certainty, life is definitely harder on all of us returning refugees than it is on the folks that haven’t come back. We are all just to confused and emotional about our city to admit that and leave again or stay away for good. I don’t know if I will ever leave without nature’s help again but I sure do miss those months of comfort when I was away from this bullshit everyday. I could deal with the all the flooded homes and missing activities. I just can’t deal with the stupid ass leadership and ignorant ass citizens that act like everything is ok. Oh well, at least we got the lakefront before dark(when it‘s not blocked off), the ability to buy liquor 24 hours a day and the choice of two strip clubs if you have some extra money. I guess that has to substitute for good schools, convenience and safety for awhile.

I have gotten so little out of loving a place so much.