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

Hometown Poetry

I got this poem from my homeboy Brandon's site. I don't know the author but I am sure he wouldn 't mind speading it around. The name is called "If you from the N.O. ...... Then you must know". This is for all of my hometown folks.

Second lines and penny candy
Project block parties and St. Mark's dances
Corner stores and corner whores
Ducking out the back door
To skip chores
And G-Nikes and street fights
And street lights would keep night
From beating us home
Home grown on neck bones and collard greens
Cat fish, fried chicken, and red beans
With rice, it was nice
But at what price
My rights?
My lights?
My life?
Now I'm trife cuz a hurricane took away my property
One stormy Monday
I remember
Fat Tuesday and Super Sunday
Fu! neral processions on Burgundy
Fish plates from Broadmore
Po-boys on Chef Menteur
Making groceries at Schwegman's store
And calling out your ward
Like, "five, four"
I remember
Opened flood doors
Were way more than what they bargained for like
Swollen doors and mold up from the floors
Inflated bodies
Too many casualties
And all they wanted was a little more money
But it's too many dying
Too many crying
And not enough lying
I remember
The Joy and Eastlake
Motor bikes on the Lake
Talent shows at St. Mary's
High school sororities and fraternitie! s
And Gregory D!
Davy D, Lonnie and Mannie
Rob Fresh and Raj Smooth
Big Cheese krushin' groove
DJ, DJ Money Fresh, Wop
And Jubilee, Dynamite Dave Soul, Captain Charles
And ya boy, Wyld Weezy!
Club Big Easy and Prime Time
Rumors, Nexus, Velocity and The Bottom Line, on Monday
Whispers on Thursday
And House of Blues every Sunday
I remember
Riverboat Hallelujah and Bonaparte Place
Dooky Chase and fat shoe laces
Monogram name plates and apple rings
These are more than just a few of my favorite things
More than just a fading memory
Cuz see, when I say "Stop. Pause."
If you ain't from where I'm from
; Not even Anthony Hamilton can sing you a clue
So I'mma "make it do what it do" and tell you
Nobody knows what it means
To miss New Orleans like I do
Cuz this is more than just a city
Where my house sits
It's, my heart beat
And even the pot holes in the streets are sweet
And just like "You can't beat Wagner's Meat"
You can't take the N.O.
From the soul of me
See, I'm a Downtown soldier
Little bit of a hard head
From being 7th ward bred
And ALOT of that nine
In my spine
So, I don't mind dyin'
But, "aint no love
In the heart of city"
With no culture
And no people
This is gospel
I'm saying a mouthful
But my heart is empty
Cuz, I remember
July and November
Frankie Beverly, Southern and Grambling State University
Black people in unity
Dressed to impress
And putting all kinds of money
Back into the community
Cuz ain't nothing greasy
About this Big Easy but the chicken
See, we family
We got NanNans, Parans
And play cousins
School kids on corners playing dozens
And "nigga knockin"
And only when the gumbo pot thickens
Do you know your Grandma done put her foot in it
Yes, I remember
The joy and the pain
The sunshine and the rain
And no hurricane will take the main vein fro! m the artery of this country
So please, save the babies!
Raise the levee
My heart's so heavy
But my pen stay steady
So, I'mma "get it ready
Get it ready
Get it ready, ready"
So we can all come home
Cuz, I remember the Dome
And the Convention Center
The French Quarter and the FEMA water
And I don't want my daughter or son, to be
To only have that image of my city
I want them to create their own memories
So that they may grow
Grateful to be from the N.O.
And quick to let anyone know
From the Square in the Congo
To the Indian battles outside of Joe's
We are a speci! al kind of people
Born under the Cajun moon Lullabies sung to voo doo blues toons
Sons of Moses
Daughters of Oshun
From the Beignet to the Etoufee
Flora's and the Hardrock Cafe
Fridays at True Brew
the Square on Sunday
And the jockamo fe fi na ne
Come soon, come soon that day

Cuz, I remember
HOW BOUT U???

Black Jesus?

TV Land had another Good Times marathon on this weekend. Someone at that station really likes that show because they have one once a month. Since it’s not football season and weekends at home are boring this time of year I watched a few episodes. One of the episodes I caught was the day JJ painted black Jesus and Michael put him up on the wall. The entire Evans family had some good things happen and gave all the credit to a picture of Ned the Wino. Everybody loved it except for Florida who couldn’t accept the black man as God even after Michael showed it to her in the bible. Now, I love this episode but I never really thought about it the same way I did Sunday. The things that happen to the Evans that day were just random things but they were willing to give all the glory to black Jesus because he looked like them. Now you can pick up a bible and read about Jesus and determine what color he is but visual images are powerful. My grandmother had a huge picture of The Last Supper hanging in her living room and there was no feet the color of brass and hair of lamb’s wool anywhere. It was just a bunch of white men. The basic reasoning and the essence of white supremacy for people who believe in that idea is that they are superior because God’s son looks like them so they must be the closest to Him. That makes everyone else inferior. That is the whole idea in a nutshell. That’s why so many racist ideas have been validated by people who claim to be religious. It‘s the idea that helped Adolph Hitler make all the Germans go crazy. When the Africans came over on the slave ships the first thing they did was take whatever religion you had and make you worship the image of the blue eyed white man. Pretty soon, the slaves subconsciously believed they were inferior and it made them submissive. You can say what you want about the Nation of Islam. Everyone has their opinion but those brothers are empowered by the fact that they believe they are the original man and the closest to God. Listen, this is just an observation. This blog is not intended to give my opinion on religion. I believe in God and probably think about it more than the average person. I don’t want anybody sending me a page full of scriptures thinking I don‘t believe. If you read this correctly you should understand. If you don’t then it only shows your closed mindedness as far as I am concerned. I hope there is someone willing to answer the question I am about to ask. I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer. The question is this. Would black people in this country be more empowered and more progressive if we had created our own form of Christianity or other religion as opposed to adopting the one we were conditioned to worship?

Outlook and Circumstance

I have two young ladies straight out of college that work in my office. This is their first full time job in life. I have been working full time since I was 18 years old. A few times a week a discussion will come up about some place or something in the world that I would like to see. This morning it was Italy. I have never been able to pay for that trip. Their ass has always already been there twice. They also seem to have friends from here that are now living on every continent and none of them are in the military. How many people from the hood have friends just hanging out in Rome watching TV? Genetically, there is not a difference in people when it comes to thinking. The difference lies in backgrounds and influence. I am 31 years old and have never been out of the country. The brothers and sisters I know that have been able to travel never go further than the Bahamas or Mexico and they had to work ten years and get a payment plan for that three day cruise. These other folks get trips to Europe as graduation presents in high school. One of the girls here is Jewish. Her brother is going to Israel for a few weeks just to "hang out" and he doesn't have a job. I have never been able to go to the Ivory Coast for a month just to kick it. When you are a kid growing up in the hood, your view of the world is boxed in. Your mine revolves around the 10-block radius that you claim. If there was a kid in my class that had been to California or Chicago, he was a worldly man by our standards. Our circumstances box us in mentally and it continues for our whole life. That's what the armed forces recruiters sell kids in the hood on. "Join the Army and see all the places you will never have the urge or ability to see for yourself." Sure, there are people who move to other cities when they get older but usually they end up in another community like the one they are from just with allot more money involved and they stay there the rest of their lives. Their kids don't travel either because the parents have to work two jobs to come up with that house and car payment. I wish my parents could have sent me to Italy or Japan for my graduation present. Who knows, I may not have returned. I am sure they would have liked to sent me if they knew I really wanted to go. I guess they were focused on buying other things for me like food, clothing and shelter. Traveling is the example for today but there are many areas of life where the same theory holds true. How many kids in the hood get to see an opera, mountain climbing, sailing or scuba diving? Your outlook is heavily influenced by your circumstances.

Being Real From A Cliff Perspective

My name is Clifton. Sometimes, I am very indecisive. I like to drink allot and eat lots of red meat. I often make plans that I really don't want to keep and end up canceling on people. I go to work everyday but I procrastinate to the last minute. I never balance my checkbook. I tend to be very emotional and sentimental about allot of things. I have a strange fascination with hoochie mamas and exotic dancers but I really don't have the nerve to talk to them. I could go on and on about myself but I won't. I have dozens of good qualities to go with this stuff but that’s not the point. The point is that everything in this paragraph is real and honest.

As I get older the one thing that totally aggravates me is people who talk a good holy and moral game towards other people and are really more screwed up than everybody. We all know somebody like this. There's always that one guy who wants to quote to you his favorite passage from the bible whenever you do or say something he doesn't approve of but he has a 200 DVD porn collection on his dresser or that girl who keeps the gospel station on in her car but can't keep her clothes on for anybody. I don't pass judgment on people. We are all human. Things happen to you sometimes and it makes you question and wonder about why it did. I am not inside anyone else's head to know what's going on so I can't tell them not be hurt, angry, bitter or depressed. I may not have the same feelings but I can't tell you it's wrong to have them.

Every now and then I will post a blog and get a comment in my email full of all these reasons why I am not supposed to feel or think a certain way. Some of these people have blogs too. I go to their page and it's full of all kinds of nasty ass poems, naked pictures, and some of the most incoherent and childish thoughts I have ever seen. Just this morning I was checking out something from a person that I read all the time and someone made some comments about the person. I went to the page of the person who made the comment and the first thing I see is a story about his balls? See, it's people like that who usually are not stable and confused. They spend so much time trying to be what they think people will feel is righteous and telling everyone else how to feel that they haven’t' taken a fair assessment of who they are. We all have a little contradiction in us just from living in this frustrating world. There are things you see that are the total opposite of everything you were raised to believe. Then you get older and go out into the world full of positive outlook. Sometimes you end up in a situation that you never pictured yourself being involved in. That’s doesn’t make you a bad person. It just makes you human. This message is for all the folks that sit around and throw stones in their glass houses. Stop acting like you got it all figured out because you don't. It's pointless to tell someone how he or she should feel about his or her own life when yours isn't straight. Plus, you guys are missing all of the fun of finding people just as messed up as you and having a good time.

Clifton

Verbal Gumbo 6

First things first…

I don’t care what comments, inspiration words or scriptures you send me. I deal in the this world. There is no such thing as a good place, a good way, or a good time for someone you love to die. This is not to say that I don’t know they are in a better place. I am just saying that when they are gone, you always think about what would happen if you had one more day or one more year with them. Anybody who says they can totally accept the ones closest to them going away has never lost anybody or is just lying and being phony.

Now on to other stuff…..

I have nothing but love for all the rescuers from the Coast Guard who flew all day and night picking people off of rooftops around the city. They deserve accolade they receive. However, since I have been back here and talking to the people I know now that there are stories of regular everyday citizens (black and white) that swam, built raffs, and used their private boats to rescue their fellow man here in the city. If you talk to people they will tell you that people were out there saving people days before George Bush and FEMA got their shit together and sent the heroes from the Coast Guard. When is someone on any level going to take the time and recognize these men. You know, when my dad and my cousin were pulled from the attic at my parent’s home, it was by a white man from St. Bernard parish in his own boat. Lets give the local heroes some props.

What in the hell would make a black dude wear a Katrina shirt like he went to Freaknik or something? Wearing a New Orleans shirt is fine. I want a few of them myself. Wearing a Katrina shirt is like wearing a picture of the dude that shot you on your chest. Don’t give the bitch that kind of glory.

It’s only Wednesday but two things have made me ecstatically happy already. The first was running into my long time homie Ryan at the gas station. If you have been reading this blog you know he’s the brother that got stabbed in the back in the middle of the court while we were walking. I was happy to see a friendly face here. Everyone else I run into are thugs from my childhood that want get some money for me. I guess it’s the thought that counts.

The second thing that made me happy was seeing a woman that broke my heart walking up an abandon street with a crackhead. Words cannot describe how satisfying this was to me.

Kobe Bryant and Lebron James both losing the MVP to Steve Nash is racism by the media.

I am on not saying this to be funny. Barry Bonds needs some police protection as he gets closer to Babe Ruth. There are three sports figures that white people don't play around with; Larry Bird, Vince Lombardi, and Babe Ruth. If you want to be on their level you better have your act together. If I was Barry I would have the FOI out there with me in the batter's box.

The top three issues of the New Orleans mayor’s race are housing, housing, and housing. There is no reason why I have been here working since the end of January and can’t find a house under 1200.00.

I don’t want to sound like an ass, but why would anyone want to go see the movie about Flight 93 on 9/11. First, who wants to relive that shit all over again. I wouldn’t go to a Katrina movie with a free ticket. The second thing is there were no survivors so we don’t know who really did what. There were heroes on that plane and no one doubts that. No one should make money from their sacrifice unless they are going to donate ALL of the funds to the families of the victims.


Rest in Peace to my aunt Iola “Nanny” Butler. Bye Nanny. Say hello to grandpa for me.

Every now and then the culture of the black community spills over into popular culture and something stupid happens. The perfect example of this is the show "Yo Momma" that comes on MTV. I wanted to watch this show first so I was certain of what was going on. On this show, grown people stand in front of one another and talk about each others mama? I don't know where the producers of this show come from. Where I come from all mama jokes stopped after the age of 10. Any outright disprespect of a brother's mama after that age was serious grounds for an ass whipping and possibly a bullet depending on what your mama's situation was. I don't know where they found these people.