Friday, August 24, 2007
This caption was printed in last Friday’s edition of the local paper here, The Florida-Times Union, and has generated enough controversy that the local chapter of the NAACP has gotten involved.
With that being said, let’s think about this for awhile, especially those who live in or around the Jacksonville area. That caption is tasteless and very misleading, to say the least. The editor explained that this caption’s intent was to draw attention to the “no-snitch” policy that is perpetuated by hip-hop and that is alive and well in Jacksonville. For those of you who don’t know, the crime in Jacksonville is a huge problem. It’s exceeded the rates of all of the major cities in Florida, including Miami.
But let’s dig a little deeper. Why exactly are the citizens in Jacksonville’s Black community upset by this caption when it truthfully depicts street policy that even the most non-gangster person knows and understand? And what prompted the President of the local chapter of the NAACP to contact the paper?
Gotcha! You thought I was going to say opportunity, or publicity didn’t you? Well, no. I thought about this long and hard and then it dawned on me. It’s the same issue as we see with those who try to solve a problem that they are not familiar with, the broad perception that the Black community is a monolith. So they see this as basic “stereotyping”, but it’s not. Think I’m reaching here? Read what was said by the President of the NAACP.
"There was very little sensitivity used," Rumlin said about the cartoon.
Rumlin says describing the girls as "hoes" went beyond good taste in the
editorial.
"When you use it in that type of setting, you are talking
about my wife, you are talking about my daughter."
Huh? There goes that broad generalization of Black America again. No, this caption, as tasteless as it is, speaks directly to those who live a culture of hip-hop.
So what now? The NAACP has “called the Times-Union to complain and set up a meeting with the paper’s management”. I can hardly wait for the outcome. I’m interested to know what is expected to come of this meeting. Maybe a pledge from The Florida Times-Union to help inner city youth. Maybe a donation to the NAACP itself. I don’t know, but that seems to be the way when ever civil rights groups have meeting with opposing parties.
What I think should happen? The NAACP should go back to “collecting donations and fighting racial discrimination”. And concerned citizens who read The Florida Times-Union should contact them with their opinions concerning the caption. The Florida-Times Union should make an effort to fully analyze certain items that are known to be sensitive issues in the public. And make more of an effort to have a staff that is as diverse as the community that it serves, from Black to White to Hispanic to Indian.
Oh and yes, I contacted them. Not with a complaint or a threat, but with my own opinion.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
I've read, listened to and debated many a topic brought on by Mr. Martin. And while I've always found his work interesting, I've never really agreed with him. But finally, he did it. He brought about a topic that pushed politics out of the way and attacked an ongoing theme head on - God, Sex and Greed.
On Monday (8/20/2007), CNN aired Roland Martin's titled God, Sex and Greed (the preface to a three-part series, God's Warriors), a live talk episode about America's obsession with materials and self gratification. Though this topic is very common (yet relevant), it rendered me speechless because finally there was panel discussion that actually made an attempt at balance. Appearing on air with Roland to discuss religion and America were Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, Author Irshad Manji, and Dr. Almohler, representing the Judaism, Islam and Christianity respectfully. In addition to these, appeared Author Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, Hedge fund manager Timothy Sikes and adult film star Savanna Samson.
Together, these individuals touched practically every aspect of American Culture, from almost every point of view as it relates to God, sex and greed.
I will admit that I wasn't impressed with the representation of greed in the young Timothy Sikes, who explained that he took $12,000 from his Bar Mitzvah money and turned it into $2 million (I see that as genius). But still, good job Roland.
Though I'm not a huge fan of CNN, I did find this episode intriguing as it forces the onlooker to think. Whether liberal, conservative or anywhere in between I believe this series to be helpful in reaffirming beliefs and opening the eyes of Americans no matter the faith.
The remaining episodes of God's Warriors are:
Muslm Warriors, Wednesday, Aug. 22, 9PM ET
Christian Warriors, Thursday, Aug. 23, 9PM ET
Monday, August 20, 2007
Is it time for consumption taxes?
Jim is a very skilled yardman. He’s highly praised because of his ability to judge a client’s lawn and determine the best practices to apply, practices he learned from his father. James, is a very skilled yardman as well, however, in addition to having this skill, he also completed course work at a local community college where he learned to not only use his equipment, but also repair it. Enter John. He comes along, and has the same skill set as the previous two; however he has completely course work where he learned business and management skills.
Mr. Smith has recently started his very own lawn service and has acquired so much clientele that he can no longer handle all the work alone. So he hires all three of the men: Jim at $6.50 and hour, James at $16.00 and hour and John at an astounding $26.00 and hour.
Can you see where I’m going here? Although, this is an overly simplified scenario, and grossly inaccurate as far as the pay is concerned, let’s use it to demonstrate where the flaw(s) lies in our current tax system, and in society altogether.
Now, let’s also assume that the individuals have a steady works schedule that results in Jim grossing around $15,000 per year, James grossing around $32,000 per year, and John grossing around $78,000 per year.
For years we’ve heard people speak of their tax refunds as if they are receiving a gift from the government. As if that is the reward for paying your taxes and paying them on time. Well, I have news. It is not an award or reward, it’s your money! While, lower income families are taxed less, the top tax payers, those around John’s pay range and up, pay more than 90% of the taxes in this country, and right now it looks as though they will be paying all of them pretty soon, with platforms floating around that promises to increase taxes and continue to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit. (I love it...“credit”) This move could shift the tax burden to almost 99% belonging to the top payers, with lower income families haven’t almost no tax liability, since their paid taxes and the extra credit will be refunded to them.
Your skill set directly influence your financial status in this country. If you have a marketable skill, you can demand a market pay for that skill, if not, you are left to haggle with your employer. But in the meantime, we owe it to ourselves to live within our means. However, we do live out side our means. That actually seems to be the American way, so maybe; just maybe, a consumption tax could level the playing field and place tax liability in its proper place.
If Jim’s income is not enough to sustain his way of life, the federal government should not forcefully take more money from John. Jim should live within his means, and strive to increase his skill set.
Oh, and if you think you’re voluntarily paying your taxes and the IRS is not taking it from you, try this. Next year, throw out your w-2’s and don’t file and see what happens.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Allah And Elohim It wouldn’t be long before I chimed in on the ongoing terrorist debate and war. However, let’s look at it from a more practical standpoint to start. While this post is sure to cause some controversy, I will happily accept it and ask that any one who reads it post an opinion, I’m always eager to hear and learn from others.
Posted on Neal Boortz’s news site is an entry that is titled “LET’S ALL REFER TO GOD AS ALLAH”. After I read it, I started thinking about that title and what it implies. There seems to have developed a tight coupling of violence, submission, and torture with the word “Allah”, and a tight coupling of American culture and freedom with “God”. While I make no case for the radical Islamic extremist, I do stand to make a case for those who are persecuted for their beliefs and culture by those who not only have no knowledge, but also have no desire to gain knowledge about those they persecute.
Disclaimer - This is not directed at Neal Boortz, I love his show. He seems to be a fierce seeker of knowledge. The title alone sparked my thought, his article is of a completely different context.
But, It will behoove the most anti-Islamic figures to find out that the word, itself literally translates to the same meaning as the term “Elohim” – “The One God”. Sound familiar? It’s true. While Allah is and Arabic word and Elohim is a Hebrew word, they both translate to what we all know to be “God”, the one and only. As a matter of fact, most Arabic speaking people (of all faiths) use the word Allah for God. Of course the translations of the Qur’an are subject to the same possible fallacies that the Bible of subject thus given rise to different, radical sects like Al-Qaida and domestic sects like the KKK. But as we fight this war on terror, let us not lose focus on who it is we are targeting.
With the mass confusion that is spreading about concerning religion and religious movements it may help to understand our enemy as much as possible. And the road to understanding that enemy, is much the same as understanding any enemy…study him and really learn what moves him so that we can align are actions accordingly instead of blindly following and risk the lives of the innocent. Remember, we are all in search of.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Have you ever met someone and instantly decided they were friendship material or thought they were made to be hated, only to find out later that you were wrong in your assumption? How’s this for a lesson in humility, and stop me if you’ve heard similar stories.
When I was in my junior year (maybe it was my first senior year) in college, I had a job working the front desk in one of the dorms, a co-ed dorm. One day my coworker, a young lady of strong recourse, and I were busying ourselves with the daunting task closing down while containing the pre-weekend excitement that had been building up for the past six hours, when entered a young lady who obviously woke up on the wrong side of the bed. How rude she was! Demanding this and snapping about that. Not to be outdone, my coworker accepted the confrontation with open arms as I sat thoroughly entertained - finally, something to add excitement to this otherwise boring job.
About midway through the exchange, the suddenly exhausted patron of the devil stops and burst into tears. My coworker won. Not so, you see it turned out, that the young lady was called out of class with discomforting news concerning her mother, and in a confused panic, came into our building to use the telephone, it was the closest.
Needless to say, that experience changed my coworker’s life. And it also changed mine, how silly I must have looked enjoying such a brutal exchange. Thank the stars for maturity.
Things are rarely what they seem. Many people’s thoughts and action are relative to their life experiences and what happens to them. Unless we take time to assess a situation entirely, we can and will often find ourselves in similar situations. A friend of man once said that he thought that the one, most important thing that separates humankind from animals is our ability to pause before reacting to stimuli. So before judging and reacting, try to pause and assess situation, you may be surprised.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Election 2008 
The buzz right now is around Senator Barack Obama and former First Lady (and Senator) Hillary Clinton. I must say, as of right now, I’m preparing myself to witness history in the making come November 2008, though I'm not impressed by either right now.
Why this topic, well, lets see… I had the opportunity to visit the place where I grew up this past weekend. Yes, Civil Rights, Alabama. Some how, November 2008 became a topic of conversation, go figure. The more we talked the more it dawned on me that many people have only the slightest idea about what happens in the election process, let alone the true functions of the government – state and federal - and as a result only go to the polls for the “big ones”. To most this is common knowledge, and may very well feel insulted that I post this in such a general fashion; however I believe it to be still helpful, if even only as a refresher:
So, for now, let’s deal with The Presidency since it’s the next “big one”.
2008 Presidential Candidates Web Sites- Democratic Party
Senator Joe Biden
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
Senator Chris Dodd
John Edwards
Al Gore
Mike Gravel
Dennis Kucinich
Senator Barack Obama
Gov. Bill Richardson
2008 Presidential Candidates Web Sites- Republican Party
Senator Sam Brownback
Rudolph Giuliani
Gov. Mike Huckabee
Representative Duncan Hunter
Senator John McCain
Ron Paul
Tom Tancredo
Mitt Romney
Tommy Thompson
Fred Thompson
Please, feel free to add any more useful information, links or corrections.
The Presidential Election
1. At least 35 years old
2. A natural born citizen of the United States
3. A resident of the United States for 14 years
II. Primary Election: The election in which a political party selects its nominee for the general election
III. Types of primary Elections:
1. Closed: only registered members of a party may participate.
2. Open: only registered voters may participate, regardless of party affiliation.
3. Run-off: the top two candidates from a primary where the ballot is unrestricted to one party advance to the general election.
IV. Other ways to select a candidate.
1. Caucuses: a general meeting of a political party’s supporters where a candidate is selected.
2. Conventions: generally held at the end of the primaries and caucuses, where the candidate chooses a running-mate, however, it has been known to choose the candidate here.
V. The General Election
Candidates go on the “campaign trail” to win the support of voters. Voters vote for the candidate of their choice.
VI. The Electoral College:
Currently the votes that are cast in November for the President are actually used to elect “Electors” from the voters’ state. These Electors cast the official vote for the offices of President and Vice President. Each state has allocated as many electors as it has Representatives and Senators in the U.S. Congress, thus given the most populous states more electors.
Next: The Federal Government.
Friday, August 10, 2007
No, this is not a reinterpretation of Earl Nightingale’s The Strangest Secret. Rather, it’s an attempt to bridge the gap between motivational rhetoric and real life application.
Let me set the stage. I grew up in Civil Rights, Alabama. Every February we, like much of the nation, relearned how Martin Luther King, Jr. marched for the rights of Southern Blacks, how Malcolm X rallied the troops in the north and how Ms. Rosa Parks jumpstarted the now famous Montgomery Bus Boycott. There were a few other topics that got their month’s worth of attention, and I do mean “a few”, but these were the picks of the litter.
While these glorious moments and figures in history provide us with a sense of overcoming, they really do little for practical motivation, not when every year we’re reminded that “America hates you” and “America owes you”.
This very thought has spread through many communities like cancer breeding laziness and contempt in those who haven’t been able to venture outside and witness, first hand, the successes that exist. Many of my friends who fell by the wayside did so simply because in their minds, it was not worth it to even try because they believed, really believed, that the system is set up against them.
I imagine that I could have developed the same thought process, but many times, while my friends were on the street enjoying each other’s company, I was sent away to summer camp. Or I was involuntarily enrolled in the free art program offered in another neighborhood’s community center. Often times, I was even given assignments to complete during the summer vacation!!! Imagine that, an 11 year old kid, in the house during the summer reading encyclopedias because he has to have his assignment completed before mom returns from work.
What I didn’t notice then was that being left in an art class in a neighborhood of “unfamiliars” forced me to build confidence in myself. Going to summer camp allowed me to interact with people whose lives were completely different from mine, which often led to us learning different things from one another. Completing those senseless assignments in the summer time taught me to do research for myself, to have the facts. Not to mention the sheer amount knowledge, very useful knowledge I gained. I’m addicted to it now, I must admit.
Now, let’s fast forward. In 2005, one of the friends described above finally hit “bottom” and decided that college was his last resort. To my surprise, I got a phone call from him saying, “I can’t believe school is so easy. [All these different people] are in here studying just like me, and some of them ask me to explain things. Imagine if I thought like this back then…” Yes, he not only received his degree, but graduated magna cum laude.
"Cogito, ergo sum"
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Rev. Al Sharpton organized several rallies across the country on Tuesday (August 7) in a call for public divestment of the music industry until the "n-word" and lyrics degrading women are removed from hip-hop lyrics.
While I’m no fan of today's "hip-hop" and agree that its current state does little to improve or motivate the communities in which it thrives, I'm not so sure the actions taken by a select few are warranted or even justified.
I'm not here to demean Al Sharpton by any means, but let's face it; the rallies, the marches, the sit-ins and the pleadings must stop. At some point Americans, specifically Black Americans who achieve “leader” statuses must get to the root of the issues that they so feverishly argue and stop hacking away at the branches.
In the wake of the Don Imus debacle, there was a panel of Black women assembled to respond to the alleged denigration of their kind within their own community.
"ALLEGED"????
Yes, you read it correctly, alleged. No where on that panel were any young, Black females who aspire to appear in rap videos. No where on that panel were any young Black females who prefer the company of "street pharmacists" or thugs. However, there is a nation of such young Black women right here in our own communities. Young women who refer to themselves in such denigrating fashions!
Is New York City's $3 billion “hip hop” industry to blame for this? I say not. Understand something here. The language, the slang, the subculture that is now this media giant has existed in urban communities for decades. It is not up to the industry to "grow us up". As the old saying goes, it starts at home.
These young women and men are growing up in a world completely desensitized. Young men are left to learn how to be a man from other men who were never taught or shown. Many of these young women do not know how they should be treated because they have never seen their mothers being loved and adored by a man. And the cycle continues.
And in all fairness let me add that its not all of the men and women from the poor, split family environment that succumb to this treatment. Many of us went on to become responsible adults despite the environment in which we grew up in and the things we witnessed.
So I say this to the Black Leaders: Continue your rallies, marches, sit-ins and pleadings, just do it at your local high schools. Do it in your local neighborhoods. And while you are doing it, make sure you're ready to roll up your sleeves and commit to creating something positive in said neighborhood. Be prepared to talk some truth to the young men and women who are drawn to the allure of what "hip-hop" has grown to symbolize. Be a real world example so that they can see that what is now doesn’t always have to be.
Labels: Dig a little deeper.
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