And on the seventh day they had soul food

Stop your weeping

A finely crafted asswhuppin judiciously applied

Say you love me

Open sez me

Me and the devil

See dem a come

Folding up like a Wal-mart lawn chair

Do not seek the treasure!

They're Trying To Wash Us Away

Why racism is good

Were it not for the unspoken and intangible presence of racism (the proverbial fart in the wind as it were) in the daily lives of black people in this country most of them would have long since severed their ties to blackness. Hell, even with racism running rampant, the "upscale communities" are over run with latte drinking, buppy, proper talking, oreo, negri looking down with pity on the the masses of ignent, under dressed, miseducated, under resourced, inappropriate po folk like a bunch Haitian boat people.

Well, ich bin ein Haitian.

Racism is the glue that holds the diaspora together. If black folk could ensure that racism wouldn't affect them personally how many black folk would be willing to accept racism as a fact of life just like black folk are willing to accept poverty as a fact of life as long as it doesn't affect them personally.

OK let's pause a second and let that one sink in a bit.



If black folk had put half the effort that was put into driving racism underground we might be a looking at poverty's last hurrah.

Instead of running from each other the world should embrace the diversity of what it means to be black or brown or yellow or colored. Maybe if the ones who get to cash in their lottery tickets didn't make a bee line for the Mercedes dealership and start wearing overpriced crap with unpronounceable brand names made in third world sweat shops that stole jobs from the very people trying to buy this crap maybe the ones who don't have a lottery ticket wouldn't try to emulate an impossible and unnecessary standard. It should be possible in this country to be from the hood and still hold your head high. Everyone from the hood doesn't cheat, steal, plunder and create general anarchy. James and Florida Evans taught us that on Good Times.

Point of personal privilege.
People who haven't eaten in a week are not looting they are trying to survive. I thought we resolved this issue during hurricane Katrina. But the media seems to have forgotten this little jewel.
We now return you to our feature presentation.

All the black folk who have "arrived" ought to wear their blackness proudly and quit trying to emit the "I am not one of them" vibe in order to obtain the approval of barely post teen sales clerks and snooty waitstaff. Once a month the "movin on up" crowd should don their best "look like I just stole something" attire and roll out to the mall incognegro ©. And while you are there act real suspicious so you draw attention. Then when the entire security team is all over your ass like stank on shit, walk up to the register with your purchases and slam your gold card down on the counter like a trump card in a bid whist tournament. (Alternatively, you could adhere your gold card to your forehead in anticipation of your transaction.)

Why do this you may ask? Simple, fighting racism by making it harder to practice overt racism will surely diminish racism. Sure it starts out as keeping an eye on those poorly dressed suspiciously behaving black people. Then it morphs into keeping an eye on those suspiciously behaving black people. Eventually it always becomes just keeping an eye on those black people.

It is not OK to judge a book by it's cover. Ultimately, that is the substance of racism. If it is impossible to delude themselves into thinking they can tell the "good ones" from the "bad ones" simply by looking at them maybe sales clerks will begin to evaluate everyone on the sole criterion that clerks should use to determine the good from the bad. To wit, will that be cash check or charge. Ultimately, this might also end up preserving the dignity of some honest hood dweller that ends up at the wrong mall. Security needs to think twice before body checking some honest brother whose only crime was that he "looked suspicious".

In the post segregation upwardly mobile America that we have become, racism is the only thing that black folks still have in common. Hell, sisters can even get their hair done with confidence at the mall now so those semi monthly trips to the hood are no longer required.

Racism is the only thing that reminds folks who have ascended the wall to throw the rope back down so somebody else can climb up. There is plenty of room up there for everyone isn't there?

We got love for yall but yall don't love us.

Don't hate on us we fabulous.

Happy Birthday Dr. King

Happy Birthday Doc

Just wanted to holla at you today on your actual birthday before all the madness gets started on your holiday (you know how we do). Although we seem to be getting better we still seem to be struggling with how to celebrate your holiday on Monday. We still ain't figured out whether to barbecue or go shopping.

But I guess this thing in Haiti will give folks plenty of projects to take on if they choose to get involved by giving a day of service. You know I feel like if you hadn't been, you know, assassinated in the prime of your life, you would have led the movement across international borders. I'm guessing after the US you probably would have addressed South Africa first but I'm thinking Haiti would surely have been pretty high on the list of issues to take on. Well maybe we can use this latest tragedy in Haiti to try to bring a little social justice to the island of Hispaniola. It would be a crime to simply put the Haitian society back where it was before the earthquake. Maybe this is an opportunity to make the world a better place by building a better Haiti.

That's about it from here. I am still doing what I can everyday (well, most days) to make sure your sacrifices were not in vain.

Peace, Love and Blessings,

Your disciple in word, deed and spirit, jacked UP.

I miss you

Teddy Pendergrass has died.

I choose to remember Teddy as a young man when he was a member and lead singer of Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes. This was one of the smoothest groups in the history of the art. You young'uns need to pay attention and watch how these brothers stalked the mic.

RIP Teddy Bear

Why doesn't the NAACP do something

Just because the Cisco Kid is on the wrong side of the border Rio Grande shouldn't change anything. I mean technically, he is colored. And the outlaws do have him pinned down at the fort. Not really sure about whether or not they rode the sunset or if he eats salted peanuts out the can but he sure as hell came in blasting drinking port and the horse definitely was made of steel.

That is all

But I was cool

I really try to embed only content that does not seem likely to become embroiled in some sort of copyright conflict.

I can see both sides of the issue. Copyright holders want to be sure they are properly compensated for the use of their content. Many Youtube posters are simply trying to share and enjoy the artistic endeavors of their favorite artists and figure after 30 or 40 years nobody is going to pay for this stuff anymore (at least not pay enough to cover the legal bills) so chill out.

Here is my nonlawyerly take on the matter. If I legitimately own a copy of the material I should be able to use it for my own personal enjoyment. If I happen to choose to enjoy my properly licensed content by posting it on my blog which is also for my own personal enjoyment then what's the problem. Just because other people can access my blog and enjoy that content should have no impact. What is the difference between that and playing a CD on my car stereo loud enough for others to hear outside my vehicle. As long as I am not selling copies out of my trunk (or from my blog) so what.

And if the major record companies want to sic their lawyers on all the idiots who roll up next to me at the stop light bangin' like a bag of tin cans playing loud inane crap then maybe I might start to see their point.

Until then, everybody needs to just be cool.

Here come the changes

I try to tell these young cats

It's hard out here for a pimp

Maybe we crazy

Humans are predisposed to suffer from the illusion of control. We tend to think that we are in control of our fate. But to be an inhabitant of earth is to be a passenger on a puny planet in a undistinguished solar system circling a dim star in an overwrought galaxy hurtling through space at an inconceivable speed to an unknown destination.

Do you still feel in control?[edit]

We think of ourselves as the center of the universe. But our existence here may be purely accidental and is the relative equivalent of being so insignificant that you would have to multiply the entire substance of earth an exponential number of times to rise to the level of a pimple on a gnat's ass in a swarm of noseeums circling a 40 watt porch light in a run down neighborhood. To think otherwise is to imply that God only exists as long as humans exist to believe in God's existence.

Why are we here?

Why are the rules as they are?

How certain are you that you really exist? Can you prove it? What if you are somewhere asleep now dreaming about a dream you imagined? Or perhaps the crazy people are really the sane ones and all the rest of us merely class A nut jobs who have simply managed to overtake the asylum?

What makes it real for you? And does it even matter if it is real?

Do you really drive your automobile; are you in control of it or is it in control of you? Perhaps the whole thing is just a conspiracy between delusion and coincidence?

Is the gravity that binds us all to the earth truly a force of nature or nothing more than a really bad case of group think? Would we all float away if we all simply stopped believing?

Are you always alone, even in the midst of a crowd and yet you find the silence of your solitude deafening?

When the laces to our sneakers become hopelessly irretrievably knotted is it better to cut out the knot or to find the patience to methodically retrace the path that led to the knot.

We cannot command the winds and the waves of the sea to do our bidding. But we can build a vessel and hone our skills to harness the power of the winds and the sea to our desired ends. Regardless of your station, when you realize that we all are but pawns in a grand scheme that was set in place long before we figured out where our asses were you have taken the first step. (Do you even remember when you first realized you had an ass?)

The system is specifically designed so as not to be fixed. In short, it is a fool's errand to solve the world's ills. And so we are all little gerbils running furiously on our little wheels going nowhere fast, but making really good time.

Where do you sign up?