It’s pretty simple folks… If you don’t like the president or the country that much, Canada is to the North, Mexico to the South. If you can afford it, there are other nations not connected to the mainland. Hit the road Jack… and don’t cha come back no more no more no more no more!
Last night, when CNN officially called the election, announcing that Barack Obama had won a second term, I immediately burst into tears. I don’t mean I got a little teary-eyed, or that my throat closed in a little with the emotion.
Literally, truly, I was bawling tears of joy.
My reaction surprised me. Not the happiness- I knew I’d be thrilled if my President was re-elected- but my deep and utterly overwhelming emotional response caught me off guard.
I’ve always supported Obama, ever since I’ve known who he was. Like me, Obama is bi-racial, has a background in the United Church of Christ, and was raised by his white mother. We’re kindred spirits, it seems. When Barack Obama was elected President four years ago, it had a deep impact on me. I thought, “Now, when I tell my two beautiful Black-Women-in-Training that they can be anything they want to be when they grow up, I can finally mean it.”
What I only recently realized is how afraid I was. I was hearing- whether I wanted to or not- constant banshee cries from the Tea Party and racist right-wing America about how horrible Obama is; I listened to co-workers, friends and in some cases even family railing against him, calling him a nigger socialist, aradical Christian, a terrorist Muslim, anti-American (hell- they didn’t even believe he is an American) and anything else derogatory they could come up with. I watched the members of the Republican Party dole out more hatred and disrespect on their President’s head (he wasn’t just my President, after all) that it broke my heart, and I started to hurt.
For the first time in my life, my leader- my representative- was someone I truly related to on multiple levels. My love and respect was deep and unerring- and people hated him because he is black. When they realized they couldn’t get away with saying that out loud, they flipped the script and began to lie, accusing Barack Obama of horrible things, and none of it was true. I listened to elected officials tell the entire world that their number one priority was to make sure Obama was a one-term President- not dealing with failing banks, a corrupt Wall Street, rising unemployment, a healthcare crisis, ending the wars or bringing our troops home- but removing the Negro from office.
I began to feel afraid. I started to believe that maybe it was all a fluke. Maybe it wasn’t a sign of progress after all, that we’d managed to elect him. Maybe it was merely a case of the perfect storm- a crazy set of circumstances. Perhaps the nation simply refused to take its chances on another G.W. Bush, instead choosing- fleetingly- to vote a monkey into office out of desperation, so long as he name wasn’t Bush.
I didn’t think we could do it again. It was so sad, listening to Mitt Romney try to campaign “for the people” of America. If he wasn’t outright offending half of the nation, he was changing his mind, flip-flopping, and pandering to those who understood his fears better than anyone- White America. I knew the only reason the GOP could run an absolute parody of a politician like Mitt Romney and still have a close election was because of racism.
Pure and simple.
I really believed the hate mongers had it this time.
I thought they’d won.
When it dawned on me- slowly, after I realized Obama had taken Ohio on election night- that they hadn’t won at all, I was overcome. Hate and bigotry did not win last night. Yet again, Americans chose Barack Obama.
It was not a fluke.
We did it on purpose.
Congratulations, Mr. President. Yes. We. Did.
Born in Richmond, VA in March of 1993, Brittany Renee Williams had a difficult start. Her mother, Rose Marie Thompson, was diagnosed with AIDS while pregnant with Brittany, and passed the virus to her unborn baby girl.
Burdened with an illness that has no cure, both mother and daughter struggled; little Brittany bounced from foster home to foster home as Thomson tried, unsuccessfully, to get her life together.
The first time the name Whitney Houston came across my eyes was in 1980. We had a Chaka Khan album titled “Naughty.” There were several songs that I loved on that album and the most popular one was the first released single “Clouds.”
When I looked at the credits to check out the background singers there was Whitney Houston’s name listed along with Cissy Houston, Chaka, Mark Stevens, and Charlotte Crossley. If you listen to the jam now you can hear Whitney’s voice clearly. At that time she was 17 years old and I certainly didn’t know that she would rise to be the star that she became. What I did remember was how powerful they sounded belting out those backgrounds and how Whitney apparently took after Cissy with that voice.
Like everyone else my next lesson came five years later when she released her first LP. Produced by Kashif, she put out one of the best freshman packages ever, and easily still what I feel was her best work. Remember these:
You Give Good Love
Thinking About You
Saving All My Love For You
How Will I Know
All At Once
Hold Me w/Teddy Pendergrass
The Greatest Love of All
THAT’S RIGHT! ALL ON ONE ALBUM!
Naturally that timeless piece of work shot Whitney straight to the moon with fame and instant success. Aretha Franklin is the Queen of Soul. From 1985-1995 Whitney Houston became the Queen of Pop. She did a lot of music, starred in movies and became a type of America’s sweetheart. I graduated high school in 1985 so to a degree I came of age on Whitney’s music. She had that glamorous image because not only could she sing with thunder she could wear the hell out of an elegant evening dress. She had flawless skin, the perfect smile and seemed to carry herself like a woman of great power. And yet she still managed to give off this sense that she wasn’t untouchable. Of course we figure out later through a series of happenings starting with her relationship and marriage to bad boy Bobby Brown, that she was a rather down to earth diva.
Hell it all made sense when you think about it. That’s why she was so comfortable to like and identify with to begin with. Turns out Whitney was an around the way girl.
I’m not going to front. After that first album I wasn’t as enamored with Whitney’s career. I questioned her selection of music all the time. I can understand doing The Bodyguard stuff and evening the I Wanna Dance With Somebody pop songs. It was easy for her to get rich by making these easy hook sing-along cuts. Understandable.
I also enjoyed the stuff from Waiting To Exhale.
I felt also her voice was so unique, stunning and electrifying that she could have done other forms of music too. I could see Whitney Houston Jazz, Whitney Houston gospel, (I know she did some gospel on The Preacher’s Wife) and the original R&B soul stuff she came out the box with. When I had this discussion with friends, they always went to the money aspect of it as an explanation. “That’s Whitney. She has to cross over to obtain the most success.”
I disagreed with this vehemently. As far as I was concerned Whitney’s first set of hits mentioned above were not crossover hits. They were bona-fide R&B and the fact of the matter is, the music was so well done, the voice was so bold commanding attention, praise and respect that White people went to it. In other words, some artist don’t have to cross over. For the special ones the masses cross over to them!
If that were not the case then people like Ray Charles wouldn’t have recorded country music. Ray was a musical icon. Whitney’s voice demanded that you listen. And even if one didn’t enjoy a certain genre’ initially, hearing Whitney sing different genre’s would do nothing more than educate people on what they didn’t know before.
So as far as I’m concerned, Whitney Houston had a voice made of platinum that could make the birds follow her and she made a ton of money in her career. But I don’t think we the lovers of music at it’s artistic core with all of it’s imaginative glory got all that we could have.
Losing Whitney hit so many of us in the gut. There were many who loved most all of her music. I’m still awed by what I witnessed over 25 years ago when she dropped her first. I’ll continue to miss that Whitney; that one we seemed to have lost long ago.
Still I am grateful that I witnessed and lived to hear her sing. She was the voice straight outta heaven. And as long as I live, I will think of and remember that.
Happy to share a birthday with the likes of Sidney Poitier, Nancy Wilson and Gloria Vanderbilt…..
I didn’t know Chris Henry, but I really feel horrible about his death. I pray something good comes from it.
In this Aug. 2009 photo, Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chris Henry is pictured at Bengals training camp at Georgetown College in Georgetown, Ky. with his girlfriend Loleini Tonga and their three children. Police say Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chris Henry suffered serious injuries Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2009 after falling out of the back of a pickup truck during a domestic dispute with his fiancee Tonga.
(AP Photo/Dayton Daily News, Barry D. Scheffel) MANDATORY CREDIT
Saw the movie Inglorious Bastards recently and one of the first people I had to tell the movie about was my son Christian. You see Christian is a huge Pulp Fiction fan. I mean he’s probably watches it twice a week. Funny thing is he was watching the movie when I called him to report on this one. Imagine that! These were the points I had to make to my main man.
1) Definitely on the same level as Pulp but probably better!
2) Definitely the BEST Tarantino movie since Pulp.
3) The performances of Brad Pitt and Christopher Waltz definitely rival that of Travolta and Jackson! Pitt was great, but Waltz should win an Oscar he was so ‘off the hook!’
My boy wasn’t hearing any of this nonsense. Immediately he went to defend ‘his baby’ and accused me of outright blasphemy.
“Daddy, no way! Come on!! NO! It’s not!
I just told the lil cat to see the movie and bet back at me. I’m not the only one holding this opinion ya dig! I added this caveat,
” At the very least you will say, ‘its just as good as but the movies are different.’ But call me when you see the movie and give me my apology son. I’ll wait.”
” No daddy, I will see the movie, but you will be apologizing.”
Well finally, my man saw the movie on Wednesday. He called me on yesterday.
Boy did he hate to have to admit it.
“Yea daddy, it was definitely great. I’ll have to wait a few days to think about whether its better.”
When I brought up the acting comparisons, that really hurt him to admit.
“Your right.”
“It’s all good my boy, we’ll chat it up in detail more later. I got to get back to work.”
For Christian this is personal. But he’ll get over it. I was the one who got him hip to Pulp. So he should have listened to me!
On another note:
If you happen to be a Tarantino fan, for my money movies like Bastards and Pulp are pinnacle for the true sophistication of art at its best when it comes to script writing, character development and direction.
Movies like Kill Bill and Roadhouse are OK for smash and slash. But for theatre and suspense… Speaking of suspense I don’t know if I know a director that can stretch a scene out with the patience that Tarantino can as he illustrated with Bastards. The opening scene alone must have aged me by 7 years.
Inglorious Bastards is an instant classic! I will definitely own it when it comes out on DVD. And I’m thinking I’m going to have to see it again!
As far as which is better? Well I know they are two differnet movies and they both stand apart on their own. But I’m gonna talk Bastards on the strenght of Waltz’s performance alone. I consider it growth for Tarantino. Hopefully I won’t have to wait another 15 years to get another classic from him.
You know sometimes my life is so busy, (well most of the time) I have quite a few things that I would like to burn on that I don’t get the chance to. Most of the time it’s because I am a writer. Instead of wanting to give a quick headline with a photo, I’m more inclined to giving a more detailed take on something. If I don’t have time to write in detail, usually I just let it go even if I really wanted to delve in. Well so many things are piling up I just decided to do an overall quick hit thing with topics that have caught my eye. I’m sure I will miss some things that I thought blog worthy, but let’s just see how much I can eeek out.
CELEBRATING A LANDMARK DJ
Let me give a shout out to my man Casey Kasem who founded America’s Top 40 over syndicated radio some decades ago. He recently retired and it made me think of my Top 40 memories with Casey.
The program used to come on my local radion station ‘WRBR’ in South Bend, Indiana when I lived there on Saturday mornings. I hate to date myself but I remember Casey playing, “Love Will Keep Us Together” by The Captain and Tennille. What I got into the most was the personality of the host (Casey) and how he would wove stories about the artist or people like me who loved the music and how it effected us. This was told most illustrated with his Long Distance Dedication portion of the program. This is where Casey would read someones letter about some couple who were in love, had hundreds if not thousands of miles between them, and no matter what the problem was, if Casey would play a particular song that would make it alright. When Casey got through reading the letter, you almost wanted to cry sometimes. One of the songs that got a lot of Long Distance Dedication play was Samantha Sang’s Emotion.
This one hit wonder was released during the hey day of “The Bee Gees.” The brothers wrote, produced and sang back up on the song and as a result it sounded just like one of their own. The song is still a classic if you ask me. That thing was number 1 for a while! Anyway, like many Americans I looked forward to Casey Kasem’s voice on my radio every weekend. It was just as much of a ritual for me as going to school or church. He was a great DJ.
Enjoy the remaing years!
STANDING UP FOR W!
I never thought I would see the day that I had to get the back of George W Bush. But I am a principled man. My beefs with Bush were never unwarranted nor unjust. I only need two words to sum it up; Iraq and Katrina. That being said I find his bumbling vice president to be even more hideous in his back stabbing of the president. Dick Cheney has a memoir coming out. I mean just step back for a moment and take that in. “Dick Cheney has a memoir coming out.” I mean what kind of shit is that? This gansgter of secrecy and deceit is writing a freaking book? Oh yea I’m sure it’s going to be forthcoming, right? Right! And I saw Osama Bin Laden at McDonald’s trying out the new Angus Burger. Get a load of what this guy let fly out of his mouth recently concerning the president, his boss. According to a story on the washingtonpost.com,
“In the second term, he felt Bush was moving away from him,” said a participant in the recent gathering, describing Cheney’s reply. “He said Bush was shackled by the public reaction and the criticism he took. Bush was more malleable to that. The implication was that Bush had gone soft on him, or rather Bush had hardened against Cheney’s advice. He’d showed an independence that Cheney didn’t see coming. It was clear that Cheney’s doctrine was cast-iron strength at all times — never apologize, never explain — and Bush moved toward the conciliatory.”
What is really scary in this statement, “He’d showed an independence that Cheney didn’t see coming.” This confirms what many of us knew from the beginning. Cheney was running the White House. Bush was a miserable follower who allowed himself to be strong-armed into Cheney’s Mussolini like policies that put the nation at risk. Later in his second term, Bush manned up some and did some things differently. Perhaps he reflected or whatever. It ain’t like Bush was going run again. No since in trying to win public points. Perhaps it was just that, reflection.
Regardless Cheney in addition to being one of the most significant GANGSTERS of American crime history in that he made so much money on American misery ala Iraq and Katrina within his company Haliburton, tortured many around the world, lied and pontificated from on high a panic that some American still believe in. If that were not enough in the words of boxing promoter Don King he is also “a practitioner of rat-finkism! He throws W under the bus! A man who put him on in the first place. I honestly don’t think I have ever witnessed a more arrogant self obsessed narcissistic person in my life! And to think, the Republican Party is wondering why it has to resort to disrupting town hall meetings to try to find a voice in America. It’s ridiculous.
WHY DOES AMERICA CARE WHAT SARAH PALIN SAYS?
Speaking of “death panel lady” herself; why is she still on the news? Think about it. Before John McCain picked her to be his running mate, how many people outside of Alaska knew who she was? Once she got on the campaign trail, what did she do or say of significance? Since she lost the campaign, what has she said or done of significance? I’m talking about stuff that would make her relevant and worth listening to within a leadership perspective since she wants to be a national player. Even the job she had she quit! I don’t think I am oversimplifying at all here. Is the party so poor now with choices and ideas, that the standard is Sara Palin? I would think hard core conservatives would think she was some Affirmative Action case at best. Every time she opens her mouth its a disaster in that either she says something stupid or you don’t understand what the hell she just said. If Michelle Obama talked like her, she and the president would be the laughing stock of the nation. For me, it goes back to racism. For all the stuff white folks say about excellence, qualifications or the lack thereof when it comes to black folks, Sara Palin is the ultimate trump card when it comes to what these same racist whites are willing to accept.
Speaking of racism – that’s all I can think of when it comes to many of the reactions I see regarding Michael Vick. Let me explain. Vick’s transgressions have been well chronicled. So there is no need to break them down further. But this is a nation that talks out of both sides of their mouth.
How many times do people say, “Do the crime, do the time?” – Vick did the crime and the time.
How many times do you hear people acknowledge that we live in forgiving nation of second chances? – And yet so many believe Vick should not play in the NFL.
When someone says he deserves a second chance. I’ve heard many say “I’m not saying he can’t have a job. I just don’t think it should be in the NFL. What does it say to the kids?” .. and all that dumb stuff. What they are really saying is, “That nigger shouldn’t make millions in the NFL while I struggle to make my mortgage.” So they want the man to be punished the rest of his life or live a life free of getting paid to do something that the average Joe can’t do. That’s just good ole fashioned haterism!
Then I see these people on TV with their signs. “Hide Your Beagle, Vick’s An Eagle.” I laughed at it myself. Cause obviously they thought it was funny! I saw one lady with a sign who posed for the camera while smiling. Is this a joke to her? Obviously it ain’t that serious except that Michael Vick when he was on top was a dark skinned black man who made a ton of money and carried himself with a lot of swagger. Some whites in America hated that. I live in a town where our defensive end killed a woman in a drunk driving incident, then drove drunk again. He’s black as well, but he’s low key, humble, and is on his way to a hall of fame career. These fans in Philly are hypocrites. They pick and choose. I used to hear it said all the time, “It’s not about the crime, it’s about those who stand accused of the crime.” Yea we are a forgiving nation alright. Just depends on who needs the forgiving.
The same folks who want Vick, a convicted felon to get a regular job have no problem with a convicted Rush Limbaugh making over 100 million a year to spout hate on the radio.
And best of all.. this is a Christian nation right? These same people who preach the bible and can forgive David for impregnating the wife of one of his top soldiers Uriah and then killing him to try to cover it up and can’t forgive a man for his own sins against animals. Uhhhh Ok… Amen.
And what is up with Eagles owner Jeffery Lurie. I can understand the man being an animal lover. I share that same love as I had dogs as pets most of my childhood life. I can understand him not wanting to be burned by Vick off the field. But he obviously thinks he can help him on the field or else he wouldn’t have signed him. But the statement he made, “I needed to see a lot of self-hatred in order to approve this.”
Say again? You want the man to be repentant of his criminal actions or to hate himself? Do you hate yourself for your sins Jeffrey? Whatever. If Michael Vick scores touchdowns and helps the Eagles get deep into the playoffs this year or next, Philly fan will be riding Vicks d*%#.
That’s all I got for now… be back later with takes on Pitino and LeBron.
Wow! This is some kind of story. I knew that many athletes lose a lot of their loot on silly things. But I had no idea it was at this rate.
I think that many athletes are so focused on their careers, that they allow others to do their decision making for them.
I am reminded of how Earvin “Magic” Johnson got into business years ago. He knew nothing about business but knew he wanted to be as successful if not more successful as he was during his NBA playing days.
Instead of being a knucklehead trying to play ball with the big boys of the business world, he humbled himself and sought being mentored by more than a few very successful businessmen who had a track record. He specifically made it clear that he didn’t want to be the front man for anyone. He wanted to learn how they made decisions so that he could make his own when the time came.
The proof is the pudding.
Magic waited till his playing days were pretty much over before he really got heavily involved in the business world so he could do his due diligence. One can read Oscar De La Hoya’s book where he talks in great detail of how he’s worked with the best to be mentored into the business world. It’s sad to hear how so many other athletes in 2009 still waste their wealth and do not learn from these examples.
The truth that they don’t get is that they have to work even harder in the business world than they did on their athletic gifts. This is mostly because they are not familiar with how the game of business is played nor their ever changing rules of engagement.
Oprah said it best. “Sign your own checks.” But hell you’ll still sign anything someone else tells you if you don’t know any better.
I understand how most are confused and frustrated with the learning curve. But as the saying goes, “if you think education cost, try ignorance.”
“I’ll kill all y’all.”
Imagine looking at the man whose DNA you carry standing in your home, telling you those chilling words, as he wields a shotgun. The frightening image is a scary thought. But according to former Major League Baseball star Darryl Strawberry, it was an actual scene, one that begins his book, “Straw: Finding My Way.” I vividly remember the towering home runs hit by the former star, who played for four big league teams, including the New York Mets and Yankees — and of course, the many times he was in the news for failing drug tests, beating wives, getting cancer twice, going to prison. He was a man fighting enormous demons.
Yet as I read the book, there is one consistent theme that runs throughout and that sheds a spotlight on a figure that continues to plague neighborhoods all across the country: the missing-in-action father. Strawberry makes a point repeatedly in “Straw” that he does not blame his dad for the trials and tribulations in his life; he says all decisions he made willingly. But he does speak to the issue of having a father who, by Strawberry’s account, while technically in the house, was a raging drunk who spent his paycheck doing what he wanted, showing no love and affection towards his children, viciously beating Strawberry and his brother, all while telling them that they would be nothing in life.
“I grew up in an inner city, South Central Los Angeles. When you grow up in the inner cities, most young men don’t have a father figure around. Most mothers are raising the kids,” he told me in an interview. He later said, “I loved playing baseball; I loved playing basketball; excelling and achieving my goals was my own personal goals, but inside, I just never loved myself. I can remember the times when I excelled in baseball and I [would] do extremely well and the cheers and the glitter and everything that came along with it, but you know what, Roland? When I went home at night, here was I again, me myself, [asking] ‘Who am I?’
The cynical in our world undoubtedly will say, “Who cares about a drugged-out, washed-up ballplayer?” But the mental damage that Strawberry says wreaked havoc on him as a child cannot be discounted, and it’s something that millions of young children, especially boys, are growing up with every day. This isn’t a tale of the stereotypical black athlete who grows up with the black father not in the home, leading to the cycle of violence and lack of family unity we see all around the country. Strawberry’s dad was there.
But, according to the former ballplayer, he was a horrible father. And right now, there are also young white boys in suburban and rural America who have dads in the home, physically, yet they have mentally and emotionally checked out. And the same for Hispanics and Asians. It has gotten to the point that a mother is considered essential in a family, but a father is optional, expendable, and increasingly irrelevant.
I remember watching an OnStar commercial. And as the company touted the features, it showed a father driving his child around, and when the kid starts to cry, the dad freaks out and has to quickly call the mom to calm the baby down. I’m watching that and saying, “Man, it’s your child, too! So calm it!” Then there is the commercial — I don’t even remember what they were pitching — of two or three kids in the kitchen making a mess after spilling the cereal. The hapless and hopeless dad looks at them and says, “Where is your mom?” Every time that commercial comes on I scream at the TV, “Where is your mom? Where are your parenting skills, you ingrate!”
See, I take seriously the importance of fathers — men — in the lives of children. My wife and I don’t have children of our own, but we are raising four of my nieces because they were struggling at home. They need to see a husband and a wife caring for them, but also instilling the right values in their lives. I am convinced that our city streets have turned into killing fields because dads have abdicated their responsibility in the raising of their children.
Yes, mom is vital. But there is something different about dad speaking, lecturing, cajoling, disciplining, embracing, loving and caring. Our schools are filled with children losing their minds, and teachers unable to control them. When that happens, it’s typically mom, grandma or an aunt coming to the school to deal with the problem. Ask a teacher or principal today and they will say they rarely see dads.
My mom has gotten ticked at times because I often talk more about my father than her on TV or radio. It’s not that I don’t love or appreciate her. But I do it because it is rare to hear men, especially black men, speaking affirmatively about their fathers. I know what it means to have a dad raising and caring for you, and not seeing his child in a drive-by style, or just sending a check. Dads must be present and accounted for, playing a vital role in their children’s life.
That’s why I appreciated it when President Obama spoke about the issue of fatherhood on the campaign trail. We all know the story of his father leaving when he was 2 years old. And yes, he was able to be successful. But for every Obama, there are numerous boys who aren’t able to hold it together.
I’ve called on pastors nationwide to stop the stream of momma, grandmother, aunts and female cousins coming to the altar for baby dedications with no man in sight. That pastor should say, “Until I personally meet with the father, I will not dedicate this child.” Somebody has to hold that man accountable for his actions. It’s time that men hold their “boys” accountable.
Actor Hill Harper had a friend who once said that he hadn’t seen his child in some time, but he found time to play basketball with Harper. Hill said, “Unless you call your child now, we can’t play ball.” See, Hill had to force him to accept his responsibilities. The failure of manhood in America — fatherhood — has reached epidemic proportions. And unless our religious and cultural institutions say enough is enough, we are going to see another generation of children growing up with dad absent and unaccounted for. It’s time for men to man up, so children can grow up with an equal amount of love and affection from both parents.
