M.J. is a flake. I don't know if the man is a pedophile, but he is a flake.
But, even a flake is innocent until proven guilty.
I'm not for the protection of child molesters, but what the prosecutors in Cali have been doing MUST BE SPOKEN OUT AGAINST IF ANYONE CARES ABOUT THE RULE OF LAW.
They are leaking information, maybe truthful maybe not, to the media to pollute the jury pool. It keeps coming and coming. One wave, followed by another, followed by another.
It's foul. It's wrong. The judge should dismiss the charges because he has already warned them and they still keep doing it.
mo' later. mo' code to sling, mo' life to live.
I haven't talked about spirituality much here. I think Craig has that subject on lock. Easily. But besides that while I consider myself a Believer, I am definitely NOT a modern Christian. I believe that faith is a crock and easily used by people who have the breath of the Spirit...but absolutely NOTHING more. Whenever I read the New Testament, what I see is Jesus consistently rolling his eyes at the idiocy of his discipiles.
And don't get me started on Paul.
But yet and still I recognize the strength and power of people to use the Spirit in wondrous ways. To say that the power of prayer has been understudied is an understatement. My father, also a critic, sent this to me.
What is there to not like about today's voting by Iraqis?
Anyone who says different is suspect.
They are columnists, and their biases are out in the open. But, this shady:
What do Bill Kristol, Charles Krauthammer, George W. Bush and the words "conflict of interest" have in common? Everything. Kristol and Krauthammer helped write Bush's inaugural speech. Then they repeatedly applauded his words from their prominent media perches, all the while failing to disclose the connection.
People should start fessing up or others should start dropping the dime.
Armstrong Williams has lost media outlets. What about the others?
Armstrong Williams needs to disclose the names of other people who he knows also accepts money. Or, he needs to say that he will give those people X days to disclose themselves or he will do it.
Publicly, this will give the public an idea of what is going on with media pundits, whether they are partisans, idealists, or hired guns.
This is smelling on two levels. The first, it seems as though Armstrong Williams is being treated more harshly than others. Second, I wonder more how much this really goes on.
I'm on a 3 single spaced pages a day writing kick now. It's a marathon, not a sprint...but I've started running and it feels good. But while trying to recall when folks in Miami rioted in response to police brutality (it was around 83 if I recall but I don't know for sure), I pulled this up. Deals with the "riots" that occurred during the election conflict of 2000.
There is a nice picture of some of the protestors, with identifiers. From the article:
Some of those pictured have gone on to other things, including stints at the White House. For example, Matt Schlapp, No. 6, a former House aide and then a Bush campaign aide, has risen to be White House political director. Garry Malphrus, No. 2 in the photo, a former staff director of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on criminal justice, is now deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. And Rory Cooper, No. 3, who was at the National Republican Congressional Committee, later worked at the White House Homeland Security Council and was seen last week working for the Presidential Inaugural Committee.
The loopey Democrats in the state House and Senate of Maryland, decided to take advantage of a special session on medical malpractice lawsuit reform to create a bill that taxes the health care providers in the state, 4% for the services provided.
Republican Gov. Erhlich, rightly, vetoed the bill, saying it does nothing to address malpractice lawsuits, and it would wind up being passed on to the customers of the health care providers.
The loopey state Democrats decided to override the veto.
Guess what? The health care providers have applied to the state insurance commission to raise their rates enough to cover the 4% tax. And now the state Democrats are mad.
Well... DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Common sense should have told the fols that the businesses would pass the cost along!
There's a fascinating potential in this. Blackmediawatch.com however is DOA. One of these days somebody is going to do some nice aggregation of dead blogs, rescuing potentially useful contributors who starved in the blogosphere on their own.
What a beautifully caustic thing that could have been.
Over at Cobb, I've gotten into a thread about when whitefolks should or should not shutup when it comes to blackfolks politics.
I think one thing that distinguishes black politics from white is that with black politics there is always some extra-governmental organization involved with oversight and brainstorming. Thus the people are generally more concerned with the practical aspects of where the benefits hit the street.
So there's always going to be a demand for your physical presence when it comes to credibility in black politics. It is always assumed that if you are not doing the grass roots thing, showing up in person, then you're not serious about uplift. Just having an opinion, whether it's correct or not, is not sufficient because the assumption is that if the System worked then there would be no need for black politics at all.
'White' people are assumed to be part of the System. They are not on the ground where the [black] people's needs are met. So people who present ideas in the abstract and then defer to systems of oversight which are not physically present in the 'hood, lose all their credibility. Whitefolks and other outsiders default to the powers that be. When dealing with this attitude of black politics, the last thing people want to hear is that there is some bureacracy somewhere whose job it is to take care of the matters up for discussion. Again, the presumption is that blackfolks' political aspirations are not represented in that bureacracy, because if it were the System would work. But the System is, for all intents and purposes, evil and the representation of institutional racism.
I think it's interesting that these assumptions of black politics put blacks who climb the ladder in government in the peculiar position of having two masters. Somehow, they are expected to report their activities back to the Struggle. If they don't, they become agents of the System, never to be trusted.
This is the same issue that Cosby has, which he may or may not have overcome. The test remains the same. Where physically are you, and if the answer is not in the bottom three tiers of my five-way African American demographic (hill, 'burb, 'hood, ghetto, projects), then you don't have credibility in black politics today.
This is not a good thing, but I don't think that it's necessarily bad. Rather, I am trying to see it as a structural distinction in democratic political organization born of the unique circumstances of African Americans.
I was cruising LaShawn's site and found her inveighing against thoughtcrime. It makes sense, but I think there are two important thigs she's overlooking in actual hate crimes. Motive & Method.
As I said in my Boohabian Hate Crime Standard.
To win a hate crime prosecution, the prosecution has to show a clear expression of group hatred through the felony. It is not a "hate crime" merely because the perpetrator hates people of that group. The crime has to be intended to communicate that hatred of the group to the victim. The idea that police search for hidden hate motivations is antithetical to the notion of hate crime. Hate crime statutes don't enhance your punishment merely for thinking bad thoughts. They enhance your punishment for committing your crime in a manner that creates added psychological injury to the victim and society.
In other words, hate crime is terrorism. It is a crime done not simply out of animus against the victim, but against a group. Committing a hate crime means, or should mean if prosecutors have their heads on straight, that it is a crime designed to intimidate people who were not around. You don't spraypaint 'Nigger' on somebody's sidewalk just to intimidate the residents of one house, but everyone in the neighborhood. You don't car bomb a police station to get back at the cops who arrested you, but to intimidate everyone who depends on the police.
We ask juries all the time to assess the motive of the suspect. Its the entire difference between first and second degree murder. What did the suspect intend to accomplish with this crime. That's the difference. A Hate Crime Standard should mean nothing more nor less than this, was it a terroristic crime. Was it designed to intimidate, or to 'send a message'? If so, then I think rational people will understand and have even less tolerance for that kind of criminal, and their acts.
Meant to say something pithy about MLK Day. One of the few things left at the University of Michigan that bears my mark is the MLK Day Celebration. One of the best of its kind in North America as far as I know. A few hundred black students (myself included) and a number of progressive white students fought to get Michigan to recognize King's birthday.
I think, given the political context, that this is a pretty decent example of what many non-blacks think about MLK Day. Please copy and forward to friends if you feel so inclined.
OK, so if I'm reading things correctly, all Black people who were running for the chairmanship of the DNC have pulled out.
That means they couldn't get wide support and I have to ask why.
Ron Brown's daughter wrote that there were racists in the Democratic Party that did not want Brown to win the DNC chair. The foolishness stopped when Bill Bradley called it what it was, racism, and then backed Brown. Meanwhile, Clinton stood on the sidelines and didn't do a thing.
So, are we seeing racism within the Democratic party raise its head again? Or, are we seeing the Clintons demonstrating their strength in the party? Or, are we seeing other elements in the party vying for control?
I think, again, that Black Democratic voters are getting pimp smacked by the Democratic party, but I could be wrong.
This year's new Democratic Party poster-boy has to be Barack Obama. Whereas a lot of people are up in stitches about red-blue state divides--and hell, to an extent I am one of them--Obama is part of a new breed. One that focuses on Purple.
I liked Obama. Thought that one of his strongest characteristics was his ability to draw both rural and urban voters. (Having Keyes as your opponent doesn't hurt though.)
But I was mildly surprised when I found out it was Boxer that stood up for voters in Ohio.
Michael Dorsey offers this tidbit:
Where was the new great black hope? The newest member of the upper echelons of the talented-tenth? That face that is on this week's Newsweek. I heard not a word from his camp. Stone cold silence. Although a good friend of mine who is a cousin of the great Senator from Illinois, did report to me about a swank party the night prior to the crucial vote. But then, perhaps I should give Obama the benefit of the doubt. He wasn't hungover (!); while he will become the "junior" Senator and has to play it cool, and thus could not make any comments on Ohio--maybe (?).But then again Obama's silence is as loud as Kerry's--reportedly "on vacation".
The key here are the folkways.
"The Folkways of the Senate" is one of the most interesting pieces I read about Congress during grad school. (“The Folkways of the Senate” – Donald R. Matthews (From U.S. Senators and Their World, ch. 5, pp. 92-117, University of North Carolina Press, 1960)
Matthews argues that the Senate is basically the most exclusive fraternity on the face of the planet. It runs and operates on a series of very powerful norms. These norms exist outside of the rules and regulations of the institution on the one hand, and the bodies of the given Senators holding down the fort at any one time. In fact, I'd argue that these norms actually regulate behavior more than ANY of the rules regarding filibusters for example.
What Obama is dealing with now are these norms. Norms that require a junior senator to keep his mouth shut rather than speak out. Norms that require a senator to actually get a legislative record before he goes showboating.
Asking "where was Obama" I think is the wrong question. What we should be asking are two other questions instead:
1. What's so special about Barbara Boxer? Why did she step up to the plate when no one else would? Why does she continue to do so?
2. What type of extra-institutional pressures can regular citizens use to give Obama, Kerry, Clinton, Levin, etc. the space they need to do the right thing?
On a semi-regular basis, you read news accounts of foolishness like this.
MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (AP) -- A student whose vacation plans were spoiled has sued to end summer homework in Wisconsin, claiming it creates an unfair workload and unnecessary stress.Peer Larson, 17, had lined up a dream camp counselor job last June, but honors pre-calculus homework turned his summer into a headache.
"It didn't completely ruin my summer, but it did give me a lot of undue stress both at home and at work," the high school junior said Thursday. "I just didn't have the energy or the time for it."
We read much about so called "Black anti-intellectualism", despite the fact that there are enough studies that cast doubt on the wide spread nature of it, but when we read nonsense like this, "white anti-intellectualism" is not at play.
More and more I hear on a first hand basis, or read, about parents who are pressuing teachers and/or the school administration to change their kid's grades because of possible long term harm to the kid's chances of getting into a "better" institution of higher education.
I hear, or read, about parents complaining about "too much" homework being given to students.
But that's not white anti-intellectualism.
This is trouble...as well as a tremendous opportunity. Someone said that education is the new civil rights battle. Stanley Crouch comes to mind, but I'm pretty sure that if he said it, he cribbed it from someone else. Whatever the case I am in full agreement. Both of my parents graduated from the Detroit Public School system. Most of the Detroiters I went to Michigan with also graduated from that system (the vast majority from only two schools--Cass and Renaissance--but still). I support public schools. Even as my children are being homeschooled. But I don't forsee a solution that does not involve a significant degree of private initiative.
There's a domain name purchased for 2 years.
It's called blackselfhelp.info.
I hope that for at least 2 years, it will house information about Black self help groups across the country.
You can help set it off by submitting information about Black self help groups to submitinfo at the domain name given.
Your help is appreciated.
I've referenced the name Faye Anderson a few times in discussions concerning the Republican party and Blacks.
I was fortunate to receive an email from her stating that she's now blogging at http://andersonatlarge.typepad.com.
She is a former vice chairwoman of the Black Republican New Majority Council.
Check her out.
Ok. One of my friends told me that the following happened at his law school:
*A group of white students organized a ghetto party in which they were told to dress like "niggas" and thugs.
*A law school teacher told students that in dealing with her fear of public speaking she just thought about the scenario that scared her the most. She imagined three large black men in front of her. This in a class on public speaking.
What my friend wants me to do is conduct some type of workshop in order to teach blacks and whites how to deal with this issue.
I don't have a problem conducting the workshop from a professional standpoint. I do have some expertise here.
But this doesn't really fit the old school approach.
What I mean here is simple. I've referred to Albert Murray before. When talking to Henry Louis Gates (I think the interview is in Thirteen Ways to View a Black Man) Murray (who is approaching 80 and grew up in the deep south) told him that whenever he was accosted by whites, he wouldn't whine or protest...he'd just plot with his boys to take care of the offenders. That was it.
Of course it wasn't that easy then, and I think he's blowing smoke up Gates' ass.
But there is something to be said for that particular approach.
What would that approach look like here?
My last piece for Africana.com was published yesterday. It is an extension of some thought pieces I wrote here about the Algebra Project of Robert Moses. I wrote an earlier version of it that didn't read all that well, but then I added the Cosby Smackdown component and everything made much more sense. I will be moving to Black Voices very soon, depending on final negotiations about what my new column will look like. As an aside all of the other columnists are making the move, and in Jimi Izrael's case he's actually going weekly.
As an aside I haven't posted much lately because I've been travelling, doing this book thing, and ruminating. A lot of work to do. Not a lot of time to do it in.
So Lester sparked a slow burn on the subject of the Detroit mayoral race a week or so ago that caught fire on the other side of the world. Speaking of techmobiles, on an exploding thread over at P6, a particularly sage brother with the alias PTCruiser served up some substantive food for political thought that spoke volumes to the issue raised by Tootsie;
"The generic and historical approach toward addressing these issues in poor black urban communities has been to aim toward creating a critical building and infrastructure mass that would, provided the constituent elements were appropriately aligned, produce housing, job and commercial activities. Clearing a block or several blocks of land in the hope of luring one or two or more major retailers in the hope that these stores would attract shoppers into the area and that this in turn would persuade smaller retailers to open shops etc. The unemployed or underemployed resident of the community are expected to go to work in these new retail outlets.
These activities often begin with a great deal of fanfare and excitement. Politicians come out and cut ribbons, ministers offer the accustomed benedictions and leaders of uplift organizations are quick to tell the press that all of this hubbub represents a new day for the community. By and large, however very little of what is promised comes to pass. Developers promise more than can be delivered; major retailers grow leery either because of the economy or the project no longer quite fits into the company's strategic plans; lenders grow nervous. Within the community the agreed upon project is generally seen as an opportunity for every hustler, grifter and bourgeois nationalist to make a buck and woe to anyone who looks as though they intend to stand in their way. In short, to update an old line, even Stevie Wonder can see that this approach has not worked very well at all.
I believe there is a far simpler and more manageable approach to this process that can deliver affordable housing, provide real jobs and training to the residents and will result in the development of commercial activity in the community. This plan will not work in every city because it requires a unique set of circumstances that is not common to every city.
Let's use a city, for example, like Detroit, Michigan. Detroit has an enormous number of abandoned residential properties. The current mayor would like to see these properties seized by the city and turned over to developers to build market rate housing. The president of the city council, on the other hand, shares the mayor's enthusiam for seizing these properties but would prefer to see more housing built for poorer residents. This disagreement between two major political players (and, by implication, their supporters and others) virtually, if not absolutely, ensures that the city will spend more time debating about this and other related questions than in building housing or creating jobs in these neighborhoods.
Here is what Detroit should do:
1. Take 15 to 30 of the properties it has seized to date and build modular housing on these sites. Modular housing manufacturers have developed their products to such an advanced state that in many instances you cannot tell the difference between modular and stick built housing. Modular is less expensive than stick built and will last just as long. Buying 15 to 30 houses at one time from a manufacturer will significantly reduce the costs of these homes. (The costs of these homes can be reduced even more by using low income housing tax credits that can be sold to investors through various syndicates. The tax credit investors provide equity in the project while getting a tax write-off for the life of the credits, which is usually ten years. There are some additional requirements if this process is used but it is still doable.)
2. Recruit and train neigborhood residents to do the necessary construction and fitting work required to build these houses. Secure the involvement of the local building trades unions by brokering a deal with them in which the city (or a developer that the city hires) agrees to hire a certain number of journeymen if the union agrees to take these neighborhood residents into their unions as apprentices. The traditonal practice of having 6 to 8 journeymen for each apprentice is impractical here and will not work. One of the underlying principles here is to provide these apprentices with the type of training that wil give them both vertical skills - moving up the ladder to higher paying positions - and horizontal skills - the ability to take their skills and union cards and certificates and move to another region or state if circumstances require it. Members of the Laborers' Union, for example, can receive training and certificates in abestos and hazardous materials removal.
3. Create a non-profit organization or find an existing non-profit housing organization or a "for-real church" that will assume responsibility for identifying and training a pool of prospective homebuyers. These homebuyers could also include some of the apprentices. Pre-qualify these potential buyers by using Michigan's housing finance agency. The idea here is to purchase all 15 to 30 homes at one time from the developer. This will result in even more additional savings to the homebuyers because any developer who understands the game would be more than happy to sell 15 to 30 homes at a time rather than one at a time. The discount to the buyers would probably be somewhere between 10 to 15 percent if not a little more. Don't forget that this discount is also additional equity that accrues to the benefit of the homebuyer. This additional equity can be pooled by the homebuyers and used to fund a community center, childcare facility or an improvement district that can be utilized to assist in attracting small retailers, e.g., drycleaners, coffee shop, drug store etc. into the community
There are a lot of other details that I haven't listed here but I think what I have presented represents a practical and eminently doable departure from the past. The important thing is that it is not capital intensive and does not require an investment of millions of dollars from the city. In fact, if the city found a developer with a large enough balance sheet and a modicum of vision then the developer would assume the risks provided the developer is allowed to call the shots. In the end, the city would, among other things, have succeeded in putting properties back onto the tax rolls, reduced blight, created real jobs, revitalized a neighborhood and laid the groundwork for creating a middle class resurgence within the city. Detroit could replicate this process throughout its most run down, crime ridden communities."
Other than mental masturbation, what was my trip down memory lane all about?
Let's try multiple viewpoints from the same situation shall we?
In the grade school years, I noted actions taken by my family and teachers to help me in my education. I also noted hurdles faced during that time. I tend to like to point out the "positives" of things but I'm also a realist, so I feel compelled to point out the "challenges" of things.
Critics says that Black students don't take advanced classes in grade school and the numbers back them up. However, you can't take what isn't available.
Is it "liberal" to point out that I faced "acting white" charges, not in general, but only from a few who weren't doing well? Is it "liberal" to point out my "advanced" high school had the challenging classes but the "general" high schools didn't? Is it liberal to point out when Jesse Jackson said something right?
Is it "conservative" to point out the family intervention on my behalf? Is it "conservative" to point out the teacher intervention on my behalf?
In the college years, I noted who went to college, who didn't, and who didn't stay. I pointed out things that happened during my four year stay at the college I attended.
Is it liberal to point out that some people dropped out of college because of money or because of disinterest? Is it liberal to point out, because of this background knowledge, more information than just "drop out rate" is needed to determine if affirmative action is the reason why students drop out?
Is it liberal or conservative to point out what I had to go through just to take regular classes my first semester? Is it liberal or conservative to point out that I was the only Black person to graduate with a computer science degree? Is it liberal or conservative to note that whites and Blacks dropped out?
Is it liberal or conservative to note the differences in fighting "the war on drugs"?
Is it liberal or conservative to point out problems with the Honor System?
Is it liberal or conservative to point out that a school that graduates Black students at about the same rate as white students is targeted by Linda Chavez as being discriminatory to white students?
Is it liberal or conservative to point out that, despite the problems, I got through in "normal" time?
In the running the street years, I pointed out actions by citizens and inaction by the police. Is that conservative or liberal?
Is it liberal or conservative to point out that the general images of welfare don't always match the reality? Is it liberal or conservative to point out that there are Black students who do want to do well in school? Is it liberal or conservative to point out "Black civil rights groups" as well as other groups who helped tutor kids?
In the parent years, is it liberal or conservative to point out actions taken for the benefit of my child? Is it liberal or conservative to point out that as a parent, I tried to do what was best for my child? Is it liberal or conservative to point out that other parents made sacrifices for their children?
Is it liberal or conservative to point out a high performing majority Black high school, sending most of the kids to higher education, still being short on books and getting cuts in funding?
Or, is it just plain silly and stupid to assign a political label to a person because they may argue "one way" on a topic?
I said before and I'll keep saying, Blacks can't afford to get caught up in this "conservative" vs. "liberal" nonsense.
It's crap.
Both sides stink. Both sides are too damned self absorbed.
Again, a pox on both camps.
LaShawn told me to check out Casey's blog entry Dirty Attacks., so I did.
Having said that: I took a second look at the nasty attacks on Malkin and Margaret Cho, and the response from someone named EBrown.
EBrown, who seems to be the editor or a regular poster on a site called Vision Circle, had a callous, ignorant and "everyone does it, deal with it" type of response:
Actually, it wasn't callous. Nor was it ignorant when what I wrote is true. But I continue...
It is pretty clear from Malkin's column that she is writing that she expects the attacks to get worse, in light of the controversy with Armstrong Williams. As she wrote in her column
If it gets worse, who is to really say it gets worse because of Armstrong Williams' error?
Malkin writes about immigration issues. If she writes something supporting the House GOP's desire to tighten immigration and she recieves hate mail about it, is it her stance on the issue of immigration that generates hate mail? Suppose they mention Armstrong Williams in it. Is it her stance on immigration the issue or is it Armstrong Williams?
Malkin writes about affirmative action. If she writes something on the Mich. situation and she gets hate mail that mentions Armstrong Williams, is it her stance on affirmative action or is it Armstrong Williams?
My point? She's going to get hateful mail, no matter what she does. If she gets more hateful mail, it could be because of the topic she chose to go after, it could be because of sexism, or it could be because of racism, ORRRRRR...... it could be because Mrs. Malkin is getting a wider distribution which would likely cause more hate mail to be sent to her.
What does Armstrong Williams' errors have to do with anything? What does Armstrong Williams have to do with more hate mail being generated?
It comes with the territory when you write on hot button issues of the day.
Casey continues:
He mentioned those Washington Post columnists receiving e-mail that "wasn't pretty." I did something EBrown didn't do. I actually looked up what the Post columnists have written about their hate mail. I'm not the least bit surprised that columnists and journalists get crank, angry, and hate mail.
I added the emphasis to point something out.
Earth to Casey! THAT WAS MY POINT DUDE!!!!!!. I'm also not surprised that they get crank, angry, and hate mail.
Next, I didn't "look up" the columnists columns, I have read them over time.
Casey continues:
But those Posts columnists haven't presented in print anything nearly as dirty as the e-mail Malkin has received. And even if people called them knucklehead and other names, they haven't presented ANYTHING that has been of the nasty sexual nature aimed at Malkin.
Here, what is presented by Casey is a straw man.
1. I never said they presented hate mail, be it voice, e, or postal that equals or exceeds what Malkin presented. I wrote What they presented wasn't pretty. And it wasn't.
2. If they had something equal to, or worse than, those presented by Malkin, I would suspect that the editors would not allow those comments to make it into print media. Malkin presesnted excerpts on the internet. There are no "decency" rules that she has to live by.
Casey continues:
It is pretty clear from Malkin's column that she is writing that she expects the attacks to get worse, in light of the controversy with Armstrong Williams.
I've addressed this already. I find the argument specious.
Casey wrote:
Again, attention, EBrown. She wrote: "Over the past few months."
Malkin ended her blog entry by writing this:
You think it's going to get any better now?
I'm sorry, but that's putting some blame on Williams' action. Again, suppose the hate mail gets worse? Is it because of what she wrote, wider distribution, or the combination of the two?
Casey continues:
EBrown goes on to write: "She's whining. She's playing victocrat/victim/victimology."
Yep. I sure did.
Casey continues:
At this point I will speculate that EBrown is attempting to give Malkin, as the saying goes, "some of her own medicine."
Nope.
Casey continues:
Conservatives are constantly trying to catch liberals being racist and liberals are constantly trying to catch (minority) conservatives complaining about being discriminated against.
At last he write something to which I can agree and to which I find wasteful of time. But like I've written numerous times, I want consistancy.
Casey continues:
Unfortunately, there are people like EBrown with the poor reasoning skills he has just demonstrated who have trouble distinguishing among degrees.
Sorry, but Casey set up a straw man and is now arguing the straw man. In fact, I'll say Casey's reasoning is suspect when he argues something I never stated.
Casey continues:
In this case, Malkin is saying, look at what these idiots have been writing to me, and EBrown attempts to lump her in with anyone making up or exaggerating stories about racism.
I never mentioned racism. In fact, I included Richard Cohen so that no one would think I was just pointing out Black commentators. Cohen has written that he has received nasty mail based on some positions he's taken against Israel's actions. He has referenced being called a "self-hating Jew."
Casey continues:
Upon being challenged by one of his readers, EBrown somewhat revised his comments, saying:
"The comments are foul. But she's not the only one. So what if Armstrong Williams' actions cause a spike in commentary directed towards her?
Others deal with it."
Ummm....
Casey can't read.
Here's the full blog entry.
Here's what you need to see from it.
The email is foul, but still...
That was the original blog entry. So, in other words, I didn't restate anything. I wrote it was foul from the start.
Now, if you read the full entry, you will note that I put the blog entry up on January 12, 2005 11:10 PM.
The comment entry to which Casey refers was on January 14, 2005 10:11 PM. All comments on that blog entry start on January 14.
So, now, who has to apologize?
Gee... I feel like I'm back on USENET. ;-)
My kid was born and life did a major flip.
I had a chance to work a few years in Spain and turned it down because I didn't want to miss her growing up. Same for a chance to work in England for 3 years. The same for a chance to lead a team of Indian software programmers, in India, before the software outsourcing really became an issue.
But I'm skipping ahead.
She was born. Within a few days, I set up to have money taken out of my paycheck to purchase U.S. Savings Bonds. From my upbringing, that was the smart thing to do.
Years later, I learned about mutual funds from a co-worker. After doing my homework, I decided to invest money for college into a mutual fund. The company even had a plan that would keep the funds in a small-cap, large-cap blend until I stated and then would start to transfer the money into a money market account.
SWEET!!!!!!!
[ As an aside, later, a family member who I looked up to, mentioned mutual funds in passing. "Mutual funds! Can't beat 'em! Been doing it for awhile now!"
He told me, then! Not before... Anyway...]
I told my friends with children the things I was doing to save money. Hopefully, hey are doing what they can. I know in one case, they didn't. But the parents can be trifling.
When it was time for her to attend school, she went to a private school. After 2 years, she was placed into another private school. She had a well earned reputation for talking too much. But a teacher suggested that she be put on Ritalin and that was enough.
She couldn't handle the class, in general, and she wanted more than just one kid put on that crap.
My daughter stayed in the second school through the 8th grade. During that time, I meet many Black parents, some single, who made sacrifices to send their children there. Some parents had no problem affording the school. One set of parents won private voucher money and was able to send both of their kids to the private school.
Before, they wanted to send both kids to school, but even with the father working 2 jobs, they couldn't afford to send both kids, so instead of making the hard choice, neither kid went to private school.
They did poorly in school and got into a lot of fights. Within 4 weeks at the private school, the daughters grades went up and the behavior improved. By the end of he first quarter, the boys behavior improved and his grades shot up. That's why I support vouchers.
Then came high school. We visited many private high schools, but my daughter wanted to attend a "academic magnet" public school. The school had 90% of its graduates continuing their education. Of the 90%, 95% attended 4 year accredited schools or military academies. This is a school that has a graduation rate of 97.5% for Black students. The attendance rate for Black students is 94%. The dropout rate is 0.9% for Black students.
I let her talk me into it, but I believe it was a mistake. She got a decent education. She took AP and IB courses. She encouraged other students and they encouraged her.
But the first day of school, she told me that I should show up to support the school because they wanted to cut the school budget and give the money to other schools. Why? Because the school performed well on the state assessment tests. She also didn't have an English book her first year because there were not enough books to go around.
The second year, on the first day of school she told me that the students are being asked to bring reams of copy paper to school because the school doesn't have enough. She also didn't have enough English books.
The third year, on the first day of school, again, not enough English books. The class size was increased. Plus there is talk of the school losing more money.
The fourth year, we battled the school board because they wanted the academic magnet schools to retain students who had not performed well in school. When that happened, the students were "sent back" to their zoned school.
We went to the school board meeting where the zone school representatives made speeches saying that the money for kids "sent back" does not come with them, so there is a strain on resources. The representatives of the academic magnet schools said it is unfair to keep failing students in the schools when the zone schools could do a better job educating them and getting them back on the track to graduate.
Then, the students who were "sent back" came up to speak. Wouldn't you know it, each student said they did well in middle school, went to the magnet schools and didn't do well because they didn't do the work required to do well.
My daughter was told that to get a C, you had to do about 2 hours of work a night. To get a B, you had to do about 3 hours of work a night. To get an A, you had to do about 4 hours of work a night.
She graduated with a 91.5 average. But her mother and I had to place our foot up her butt one quarter a year to keep her in line.
The U.S. savings bond money was used to purchase a very nice laptop. She has a partial scholarship at a HBCU. The money saved comes in handy.
She has friends who are in the military because they needed to get out of the city and they had no desire to go to college. She has friends in the military to "get money to go to college." She has friends in 4 year schools. She has friends in junior colleges.
I've asked and she's never been accused of acting white. She has been told that she's boug-hetto. (Bougie and ghetto).
She is still a work in progress.
My wife and I go out of our way to visit this bookstore. The store just outside of Baltimore will not do well if they don't advertise on Black radio. The mall they are going in is, for the most part, for hoppers.
Finding a Warm Welcome Prince George's Karibu Caters to African American ReadersBy Krissah Williams
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 17, 2005; Page E01One recent afternoon Simba Sana chatted on the phone with his payroll consultant. As co-owner and founder of the Prince George's County-based bookstore chain Karibu, Sana is responsible for ensuring that the company's 40 employees at its five locations are paid on time -- but he'd forgotten a cashier's last name.
"Oh, let me call and get her slave name," he said into his cell phone, using the term that militant civil rights leader Malcolm X coined for the European surname borne by blacks whose ancestors were enslaved.
From such back-office discussions to the African American themes of the literature displayed in its front windows, Karibu is a far different enterprise from the giant chain stores that dominate the book-selling business. Its clear focus on a specialized market -- African American readers -- may be the key to its survival as an independent bookseller, publishing industry experts say.
This is starting to smell more and more like Tavis isn't being upfront.
Tavis Smiley's NPR Show Is History, but the Talk Lives On
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 17, 2005; Page C01
When Tavis Smiley walked away from his National Public Radio show last month, he did not go quietly.
In a series of interviews, he cast aspersions on his former employer, telling Time: "It is ironic that a Republican president has an administration that is more inclusive and more diverse than a so-called liberal-media-elite network."
But NPR executives say Smiley simply would not negotiate after an agent delivered his demands. "We tried to meet, we tried to talk by phone," says Washington lawyer Robert Barnett, who represented NPR. "We were woefully unsuccessful. . . . I have been doing this 30 years, and I have never had an experience like this. I was disappointed because I wanted to make a deal, and more important my client wanted to make a deal."
Says Smiley: "What NPR is apparently upset about is not that I would not negotiate, but that I wouldn't acquiesce. I do not do my best work in chains and shackles. For black kids and brown kids yet unborn, I felt I had to say no. They were being disrespectful."
Finally, I have to find out if my daughter went to this one:
Funk and Go-Go's Energizer Pep Cats
By Sean Daly
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 17, 2005; Page C01
Pity the poor young suckers in the skin-on-skin crowd who tried to keep pace with Chuck Brown and George Clinton at the 9:30 club Friday. On their own, the Godfather of Go-Go and the Master of Funk can unleash enough booty-bumping grooves to bring the heartiest of party pros to their wobbly knees. But put these legends together on a historic double bill and, well, that's just wicked.
And exhausting.
"Running the street" is what my family calls it when single men are living the single life. It's also what they call it when men are up to no good.
The area where I hung out, we called it "The Way". "The Way" came from "around the way". So, instead of "The Hood", we had "The Way". The group I hung out with was called "The Fellahs". That came about because we were walking up a friend's steps when his mother said, "Here come the fellahs!"
The "inhabitants" later took down the boards and went back in. Some time later, an old woman who lived across the street from that house, was raped by people in that house. The woman hurt no one, was nice to every one, and seemed to have no enemies around The Way.
As word spread, a teenage girl came forward and said she had been raped in that house before.
People around The Way had complained about that house before, but the police and the city did nothing about it until after the rapes. They tore down the house.
They bragged a lot and claimed they were hard core. Then the Jamaicans came and told them that they would sell the dope provided by the Jamaicans, or they would be killed.
They sold the Jamaican dope. So much for being hard.
One of The Fellahs confronted them about it and said that he hoped they all got killed because they destroyed the neighborhood.
The tutors were women from 100 Black Women, men from Concerned Black men, people from the D.C. Urban League, people from the D.C. NAACP, and others.
Another family rented another house. They also received section 8 vouchers. They sat outside on the summer evenings, being very loud and rude. The home owners association put up signs saying sitting outside was not allowed. I lived in a town home community where the town homes shared a common entrance walkway. The chairs tended to be in the common entrance walkway. They got thrown out of the home. The signs came down. They were Black.
People tried to get the home owners association to restrict home owners from accepting section 8 vouchers. The language used by proponents was racially tinged.
I was asked what the most pressing issues were for Detroit given the upcoming mayoral election. The sparks have already begun to fly in that race. I expect it to get a lot worse. Mayoral campaigns are traditionally viewed as contact sports in the city. If you're from D.C., NYC, Philly (not Chicago so much, Daley has it on lock), San Fran, or L.A., you know what I'm talking about.
Booker T. Washington ain't a friend of mine. People jock him for the Tuskegee model, but here's the skinny. Besides the fact that it wasn't his model, whites worked with him to make absolutely sure there was no way that black tradesmen trained by Tuskegee wouldn't compete with whites. And there really isn't any excuse for selling black political rights short.
But a city like Detroit is 80% black. With a large need for tradesmen to rebuild the city.
In some critical ways Booker T. was a day late and a dollar short. But now would be the perfect time to rebuild the Detroit education system to train a new generation of pipefitters, carpenters, and electricians.
And this brings us back to Cosby.
Bill made his smackdown stop at Detroit the other day. Rochelle Riley gives us the normal spiel. "Cosby came and gave us the word, now we have to pick up the ball." This evangelical model (speaker comes, gives the word, changes psyches, people go out, spread the word, change psyches, the world changes) has no politics of importance. No substantive organizing model. We've been here before.
For some reason I'm reminded of Dennis Archer's speech at the Million Man March. Archer, then mayor of Detroit, is far from a nationalist. But Detroit had one of the largest contingents there and he felt he had to represent. What did he have to say? About as much as any of the rest of the speakers...but I remember him talking about trash pickup in the city. "We've got to take more responsibility in cities like Detroit," he said "what does that mean? If the trash isn't picked up in your neighborhood....PICK IT UP YOURSELF!!!"
The crowd resounded.
And here I was thinking...damn. We pay TAXES. You're telling us that if our taxes aren't giving us services, rather than fight for more resources, fight for increased service delivery, we should....just do what we're paying someone else to do?
Maybe wearing a black and green bandana on our heads while we're doing it would make it more radical.
Allow me to ramble for a bit.
Now I'm about to enter college.
Some of my friends went into the service, either enlisted or military acadamies. Some went directly into the work force. Most of them had no desire to go to college because, for them, it wasn't a good fit. Some went to college and dropped out because they realized it wasn't there thing. Some dropped out because of funding. In fact, one friend dropped out because it came down to him or his sister going to college, and he decided to give her the shot.
Now...
It's now my 3rd day of my first year in college when I get the list of classes I'm supposed to take. I compare my classes to other engineering students when I see that I'm taking pre-101 level classes. I go to my advisor to find out why I have such an easy load when I find out that because I'm from Baltimore, whose students have not done well historically at the school, I'm in a "transition program." Simply put, I'm in a program to ease my way into the college life.
If I had attended any public school in Maryland, I would have qualified to go in at the sophomore level. If I would have attended RIT or Virginia Tech, I would have qualified to go in at the sophomore level.
And now, this school wants me to go in at a "pre-college" level. My SAT score exceeded the average score by more than 100 points. My senior year of high school was, essentially, a freshman level of college work except for English. In fact, some students in the A course, took an English class on Saturdays for their entire junior year, so that they could graduate a year early!
After discussing things with my advisor, I was told that the only way out was to get the approval of the transition program head. She told me I had to do exceptionally well on a placement test that all transition students had to take.
I was paired with a Black room mate. I was one of the very few Black students who was paired with a Black room mate. It turned out that he was also a transition program student. I told him about the situation and he said I should just go with the program. But I wasn't about to spend an additional year at that school if I didn't have to do so. I was paying for my schooling and I worried about my funds.
He studied hard for the test. I didn't study. We took the test. I finished the test in under 1 hour. I was the first one to finish. The proctor, who was the transition program head, asked me how I did. I told her I got every question right. She laughed and said we'll see. I was wrong. I got a 98 out of 100. I was let out of the program and scrambled through the ADD/DROP process to get a full load.
At the end of my first year of college, I chose to major in computer science, as did many other students. By many, my guess was that it was greater than 30 students, with a fair number being Black students. By the end of the first semester of my second year, about half of the computer science majors switched majors. By the end of the second year, most had switched majors. That means, most white students and most Black students.
I recall one major computer science project in the 2nd semester of my second year. One woman cried because she couldn't get it right. One man kept cursing and banging on the table. Another man just looked, stood up, flicked off the computer terminal, smiled, said he quit, and walked out of the computer lab.
I was an engineer. I was an athlete. I graduated in four years. I was the only Black person to graduate with a computer science degree from the engineering school that year.
My first full weekend at the school, I found out which frats were known for having drug parties. All frats had keg parties so that was no big deal. By the end of the first year, I found out that the police raided the Black "townie" area on a regular basis for drug raids. Meanwhile, one particular white frat was known for marijuana, mushrooms, and speed. But it wasn't raided until the year after I left. It took 4 years, and federal funding, for them to go after college kids. In the end, some college kids did time, one who was well known and later had a pro football career, and a national frat lost a frat house with the frat being kicked off of campus.
There was a house on campus that housed the Black student union. Near that house was a college bus stop. "We" knew it as the BBS -- Black bus stop. One day, someone decided to spray paint "NIGGER" on the sidewalk of the BBS.
The school has an honor code system. Black students were being disproportionately charged with honor code violations and many believed that racism played a part. A Black professor stated that Black students should sit as far apart from each other as possible when taking tests. They should not look at each other during tests or look at someone else's direction during tests. Years later, one student was thrown out of school for an honor code violation. His parents sued the school over lack of due process. They won in court but by the time the case was one, the student had attended another school and graduated. He was vindicated and the school's honor system took a hit.
The school responded by re-evaluating the honor system and how it functions. The student run re-evaluation, one where white students dominated the process, suggested changes which made the system MORE unfair. For example, they suggested that those accused not be given the chance for defense! The school ignored the recommendations, and made other changes.
Close to 10 years after I graduated, I attended a cookout where I met the mother of a student at the school. She told me she was trying to keep her son in the school, even though he didn't like the school. She, like I, am Black. I then listed the reasons why he didn't like the school and she shook her head in agreement. Things had not changed.
Four years ago, I was in the process of selling my previous house. The realtor, who was Black, had a daughter at the same school. In talking, she said that the daughter liked the school, but there were issues that bothered her. I gave the reasons and the realtor said I was correct. It was the same list that I gave previously.
About 5 years after I graduated, the school complained about high schools not properly preparing students for college work. They decided that the high school of students who needed to take remedial courses, would pay the cost of the student's remedial classes. About 2 years later, the school said the cost of remedial classes were too high. They were no longer going to offer the classes. It would be up to junior colleges to fill the gap.
The school graduates Black students at a similar rate as white students. It also has the highest graduation rate of Black students in the country.
Yet, Linda Chavez says that the affirmative action program at the school is unfair because white students, more qualified than the Black students, are not let into the school.
See the mixed bag here?
My mother had a friend who was a grade school teacher. After talking with her friend, my mother and father brought me a blackboard, magnetic letters, and instruction books concerning reading, writing, and simple math. On the first day of school, I was placed into the class of students who were already reading and writing.
This was a private school. My mother was a nurse at a public hospital, my father was a policeman. Gasp! Government workers!
At the start of the second grade, because of a family situation change, I was now in a public school in Baltimore. I was considered "smart", most likely because I was ahead of my peers.
At another school, in the 5th grade, some people said I was "acting white." But I recognized, even as a kid, that the people saying it were the FEW who were not doing well in school, so I ignored it. With very little effort, my grades were fine.
In the 7th grade in junior high school, I was placed into the "fast track" section. It was in the 7th grade that I discovered girls were nice in a different way. ;-) By the 8th grade, I was still in the "fast track," still getting good grades, and still doing so with very little effort.
We played spades at lunch, tried to flurt with the girls, and took life for what it was. One day, I noticed Tank and Billy talking about going to Poly. I owe Tank and Billy a big thank you because they said I was "too stupid" to get into Poly. Well, I got in. We all applied for Poly's "advanced college prep" course. We all got in.
In high school, we were in the "higher section" of the A course 9th grade, which meant we had a high probablity of leaving the A course. I faced a Spanish teacher who, really, just chose me to make an example of. I faced a self-professed redneck pig farmer who threw me out of class for responding "yeah". I faced a counselor who insisted that I wasn't capable of doing the work and should "fall" to the B course, which was the college prep track. Billy and Tank dropped, but I refused.
We were already behind when we entered Poly. Some had already had alegbra and geometry in jr. high. We had "pre-algebra."
To get up to speed, which took 1 1/2 years, my mother enlisted the aid of family members who were engineers. There was also the help of the counselor, who hated the "pig farmer" because he didn't like her son, who was Jewish. There was the help of 2 Black teachers, one in math the other in history. Mrs. Wade, the history teacher, had her son, a Naval Acadamy attendee, tutor me.
I caught up and, in my senior year, was taking advanced calculus, electrical engineering, and thermodynamics.
I took the SAT test. After the test, I noticed some people leaving the test shaking their heads, literally, in dispair. It turned out that I knew some of them from elementary or jr. high school.
One girl who I knew from jr. high was crying. She kept saying she was never taught most of the things on the math test, nor were the words on the verbal portion familiar to her. She was just getting into a harder form of algebra. She was just taking geometry. Meanwhile, I had had algebra and geometry in the 9th grade. I knew she was smart. She just was not educated as well as I was at that point. We had taken the PSAT. Before that, we were given practice PSAT and SAT tests. We. Were. Prepared.
Tank, Billy, and I all attended a major four year college. I don't know what happened to the girl who was crying.
Again, Tank and Billy, THANK YOU. My grades were good in jr. high school. I was in the "fast track". When my mother checked with other parents concerning what their public school children were doing, I was doing well. But Tank and Billy teased me to going to an engineering and science high school. At that time, I had no such desire to go that route. Your teasing made a difference.
During this time, I happened to attend a speech given by Jesse Jackson, Sr. It was during this time when he was famous for his "Keep hope alive!" speeches. During this speech, he told us to stay in school. He told us to do the best that we could do. He told us to study. He told us to stay away from drugs. He told us to not give into crime. He told us to stay away from drug users and dealers. He told us to not be sexually active until we are married. He should have took his own advice on that one. Well, he should have only been with his wife.
Next, the college years.
Many times, the "Black left" presents an image of Black America that is one of poverty and near hopelessness that cannot be overcome unless outside intervention is made.
Many times, the "Black right" presents an image of Black America that is one of poverty, laziness, and mired in self-induced hopelessness. A Black America that is incapable of thinking unless one of the appointed "leaders" tells Black America what to think.
That's what I get from much of the commentary by the elite "Black left" and "Black right" media figures.
"Both sides" are full of it. "Both sides" are negative. Both sides, for the most part, push negativity, in my opinion.
It's my strongly held belief that the "Black left" dwells too much on the plight of Blacks who are not achieving instead of also highlighting those Blacks who are achieving.
It's my strongly held belief that the "Black right" dwells too much on the plight of Blacks who are not achieving, instead of also highlighting those Blacks who are achieving.
The only difference between the two is how they go about their hyper-criticism. And, frankly, it's to the testimate of Black America that Blacks, as a whole, aren't more mind scrambled.
I had the opportunity to be a part of a "Black conservative" email list for a time. There were conflicts among the "Black conservatives" that took me by surprise because at the time because all I read from "Black conservatives" seemed to indicate a "Black conservative unified front."
All "individual thought" but thinking as a unified group. But, that wasn't group think...
But on that email list, I read Black conservatives calling some other Black conservatives "sell out" or "Black CON-servatives".
From that point on, you couldn't tell me nuthin' about the so-called "Black left" vs. "Black right" debate. From that point on, I've been convinced that it's all a bunch of useless nonsense that Blacks shouldn't be taking a part in.
Seeing that debate solidified the idea that I had in my mind at the time: the view of the Black community, be it from the outside or the inside, was too simplistic and all of the noise from the "elite" members kept it that way. And the Black community as a whole should be ashamed because no one is calling "both camps" out on their foolishness.
This is a prologue. I intend to give insight to what I have seen in my now four decades of life. I hope that I'm capable of showing the mixed bag to which life in the Black community is. I'll touch on:
If I do my job well enough, you should be able to see that the "Black left" and the "Black right" media elite are selling a bunch of goods.
P.S.
One last thing, the major driver behind this series is the inability of people to take questioning of ideas (dogma?) without assigning a political label to it.
I challenge global warming support, anti-capitalistism comments, ultra-Black nationalism, the "definition of Blackness", the Black support of Democrats, the Black support of Bill Clinton, etc, and I get called a conservative.
I challenge the dogma that the support of Democrats is not based on Republican action/inaction, the idea of "victimology" in Black America, that Blacks are some how anti-American, that Blacks are sheep of "Black leaders", etc, and I get called a liberal.
Can't a person intellectually embrace both? Seems like many people don't think so.
It's my strongly held belief that the "Black left" dwells too much on the plight of Blacks who are not achieving instead of also highlighting those Blacks who are achieving.
It's my strongly held belief that the "Black right" dwells too much on the plight of Blacks who are not achieving, instead of also highlighting those Blacks who are achieving.
The only difference between the two is how they go about their hyper-critism. And, frankly, it's to the testamate of Black America that Blacks, as a whole, aren't more mind scrambled.
Please take the time to see the request I sent to the NAACP and the request I sent to Project 21.
So, besides the mental masturbation, what is this entry about? Read the title.
I'm requesting that you send to me any information about Black self help organizations that you know about.
I'm buying a domain that will be used to house this information.
Your help is appreciated.
Today was a very fertile one for discussion. My colleagues at Lucy Florence engaged in a wide-ranging discussion about Jews, Israel, China, Tanzania and Ujamaa. I'll simply excerpt one salient point I'd like to establish.
As my man mentioned, it was like pulling teeth to get Negroes to wear afros ('naturals') in the 60s and 70s. He said that black beauty shops hated the black consciousness movement. They figured that could never make money if blackfolks weren't going to get conked any longer. He recalled the turning point, when even James Brown cut off his permed hair. A great deal of energy was spent in changing blackfolks orientation to themselves.
I agree strongly, but I also think a bit too much energy was spent without revising that vision. In particular as black activists left the streets to start integrating and turing the tide at universities, they spent too much on a Marxist vision. This is the reason so many blackfolks are unsatisfied with 'black leadership'.
To my way of seeing the progress of black intellectual progress we went from the streets, to starting black student unions on predominantly white and recently integrated college campuses. We went from there to getting black professors, to black studies classes, to interdisciplinary programs to majors. The effect of efforts of blackfolks in the American universities is a decicive and extarodinary accomplishment that cannot be underestimated. It continues to this day.
Now my man, an older black gent, has still got Jews on the brain. He says that Jews are powerful because they are educated. So I tell him that the problem is that we have all these black PhDs and educators but they're all still tripping off Marx and colonialism. We have misspent our educational capital. If the Jews have gone to be doctors and lawyers or whatever it is they've done that's so great, it's not because they are smarter. We have our PhDs too, they just thought making money wasn't important. So whose fault is that?
So here's what I'm doing. I am laying a wide series of 'problems' with African America at the foot of economics, which for some reason we decided not to study. I certainly know more black engineers, scientists and programmers than I do economists. Try as I might, I have not been able to sustain a decent dialog disabusing Ujamaa as much as I would like to. My breakdown is Ujamaa, Black Capitalism, Blackface Capitalism and Invisiblack Capitalism, but what do I know?
Is it any wonder that there are so few influential economists in the pantheon of African American intellectuals? Whom do we have? Very few and all of them far from the left orthodox, with the exception of Manning Marable. Sowell, Walter Williams, Glenn Loury. Are blackfolks afraid of studying economics? Is there a truth out there that we seek to avoid? Hmmm.
Present company excepted, maybe our problem is that we have too many Political Science professors, too many American Studies professors, too many Social Scientists, EdDs etcetera?
The consequence of this is quite understandable. The man with the hammer sees all problems as nails. The educator, of which we've had generations, see the problem of young black men today in terms of the failure of the educational system. Today I'm contrarian, and I say the failure is ours as well. We have failed to use it completely and overburdened a few narrow paths. That needs to change.
As I periodically do, but not as often as I had, I visited Ofari's today. The occasion was a discussion about the Black Agenda. For those of you visting Vision Circle for the first time, due to my shameless promotion at said event, I offer a special welcome you, especially the young Urban Leaguers.
The purpose of Vision Circle is to have a progressive and thoughtful discussion about the reality, prospects and possibilities for black culture, politics and economics. We talk about issues of the day to keep ourselves informed and abreast. That there is a Vision Circle saves us from the excuse that we 'never get to hear an intelligent black opinion' about x, y or z. Our contributors are serious, real, and do their homework, and we are fortunate to have them provoke and guide us about issues facing black America and America at large.
My aim for Vision Circle as the founder and bankroller of this collaborative enterprise is to maintain, for as long as possible, a real connection between thoughtful people such that wisdom never gets lost or drowned out in the static and noise of... all that static and noise out there. To that end I hope to attract a robust audience as well as talented contributors.
As I mentioned this morning, there is the distinct possibility of our bringing on board a distinguished intellect out of Kansas City whose thinking is likely to have a great deal of influence in the years to come. I really didn't check with my partners about dropping his name, but I'll take the blame for that.
In any case, welcome. We never run out of time, and the mic is always in your hand. So speak up.
Can someone tell me who has the right numbers concerning the health of social security? By this I mean, when will money coming in under run money going out? How are they basing the projections of money coming in? How can they guess, accurately, the state of the economy 10, 20, 30+ years when they can't accurately guess the state of the economy next year? In fact, the government routinely adjusts economic numbers for the recent past.
They can project the life expectancy of people years in advance. Life insurance companies do it as a matter of survival. But they are constantly adjusting the numbers. How can politicians, today, work off of tables that will be adjusted next year, the year after that, the year after that, and so on?
Those supporting social security reform, do so based on nonsense numbers. Those opposing social security reform, do so based on nonsense numbers.
GIGO is the rule.
Good night.
I want to assert something a bit provocative which has to do with the standards by which we judge black progress in this country. I just read the following over at Black Voices:
In 2005, it remains a fact that 25 to 33 percent of black Americans are still mired in poverty, yet roughly 60 percent are middle-class (with 10 percent in the elite). It’s questionable, however, if the black middle class, which has historically been the leadership class, can socially and economically reproduce itself without programs such as affirmative action and minority set-asides, which have aided them in procuring the wealth that they have so far.
By the way, I don't believe it's questionable whether or not the black middle class can replicate itself without affirmative action. You show me where black churches are closing down and going broke and I'll show you where the black middle class is having a hard time. But a whole lot of black churches will have to go belly up before blacks stop buying automobiles and shopping at Sears.
Terms
Relative Poverty:
This means basically below the American standard of poverty. You are poor in America if you can't pay your light bill.
Absolute Poverty:
This means below the 'world' standard of poverty. This is a tricky thing, but I would think it means you don't have lights to turn on.
Indigence:
This means you basically can't take care of yourself. Think of people who end up in the poorhouse, jail, or a mental facility.
I'm essentially saying that because of a certain level of material prosperity which is built into the American system and infrastructure, there is a kind moral tug which minority politics lacks. Nothing makes this more clear than the level of destitution in various dimensions of the people of the Third World and emerging nations. Not all of minority politics has this problem. Clearly there is a unique politics of (scandal aside) the Armstrong Williams of the world, and I would go so far as to grant Franz Fanon some props on his identification of such. But Fanon, like other Marxists had no idea the world could support so many rich and bourgie people without falling apart. Too bad they didn't live long enough to see and recant. But I think there is something of a moral sketchiness in the politics of charity, as it were. Playing minority politics in America often evokes Marxist criticism of capital which I don't think carries any moral weight.
I want to make clear the distinction between Marxist & socialist economic postures for the redistribution of wealth, and cultural nationalist appeals & ethnic chauvinism. The former are mostly uncalled for and unfit for our society whereas the latter can go a long way in making up for the gap in absolute power between haves and have nots. Or to put it in my own lingua franca, it makes sense for blackfolks to make jokes about Suzy Ski Bunny not 'keeping it real' until they have enough money to afford skis. But it doesn't make sense for blackfolks to boycott Aspen, Colorado and demand that the money be used for free school lunches. OK it's not the best example. My point is that in order for this pluralist society to function properly across multiple classes, individuals and groups will have to have the liberty to express divergent values which compensate for a lack of economic parity. I believe that the lack of economic parity will be permanent, and that so long as more vital statistics are relatively close then radicalization will remain uncalled for.
I do not believe, for example, that those born in Relative Poverty in this nation are doomed to suffer a significant deficit in life expectancy. There are certainly a wide number of functions which affect real differences: we all know that access to health care varies depending on where one lives. But if the cost of 'selling out to the Man' and taking a low rent job in a high rent neighborhood gains one the benefit of 4 more years of life expectancy, isn't that worth the shame of selling out? I've said it many times, and it bears repeating. If it's so easy to be a sell-out, shouldn't that tell you something about our liberty? In Rwanda, you can't be a sell-out and get away from the death squads. You have to run to Tanzania for that. In Haiti, you can't be a sell-out and get better health care. There is none to be had.
It brings me to one last question in closing. What are the very tough barriers separating a 'permanent underclass' from the broad American middle? I would say English literacy is the key. And yet there are broad enclaves where that is not a problem, and that's been the case in immigrant New York a century ago as well as immigrant Florida and California today.
Today's black middle class does very well, thank you. Its politics ought to reflect that. The very tenuous nature of our alliances with immigrant populations are a clue. So where is the thrust, and if we are economically mainstream, why are our politics of empowerment not mainstream? I think it is the mistake between the relative and absolutes in the politics of emergence.
Every so often, Colbert I. King presents what has arrived in his email/mail box. Courtland Milloy used to do it more but hasn't done it in awhile. Richard Cohen mentions it every once in awhile.
What they presented wasn't pretty.
So, Michelle Malkin gets hate mail. What's the big deal?
Really.
What makes her special?
Putting this off on Armstrong Williams is low.
Real low.
She's whining. She's playing victocrat/victim/victimology.
The email is foul, but still...
Hat tip to LaShawn and Baldilocks.
At last, an honest mayor!
D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams cited the "urgent need" to collect revenue in his recent request to continue the city's automated traffic-enforcement program, which added four new cameras yesterday, despite previous assurances that use of the technology is driven by concerns for safety, not profits. "There is an urgent need for the approval of this contract to ensure the continued processing of District tickets and the collection of District revenues," Mr. Williams wrote in a Dec. 16 letter to D.C. Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp. In the letter, Mr. Williams was seeking support for the District's $14.6 million contract with ACS State and Local Solutions, which the council later approved. ACS, a private company, handles fines for the city's automated traffic-enforcement program.
Wonderful...
One of the biggest city mayoral races will pit Detroit's Kwame Kilpatrick (the "hip-hop mayor" and the inspiration for Chris Rock's movie) against a host of candidates. One of the biggest front-runners is Freman Hendrix. Hendrix had a press conference today in which he listed his goals.
There are some class-oriented distinctions between the two candidates. Kilpatrick is young, dark-skinned, and the son of former black nationalist organizers (his mother is Rep. Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick, and his father is a former County official). Hendrix by contrast is older, light-skinned, and part of Detroit's upper-class black professional set--if for no other reason than his affiliation with the past mayor Dennis Archer Sr.
Take a gander at black political campaigns in a nutshell. I like Kilpatrick. My father helped him out with his campaign and grew up with his parents. When I was at the inaugural three years ago and saw him up at the African American History Museum with Biz Markie singing The Vapors, I thought "this was MY mayor."
But now?
I expect this race to pivot around a set of cultural markers. It wouldn't be hard for the debate to turn substantive, but I don't expect it. Techmobiles.
Yay.
Does the cancelation of CNN's Crossfire and CNN's annoucement that they want to focus more on news mean that Jon Stewart had a point?
I don't really care much about the situation with Armstrong Williams. In my view, the man has shown himself to be an idiot. You don't take money for what you are going to shill for, for free, unless you state you got paid.
I have other points to raise:
Unless, the line of "individualism" is just a line.
LaShawn Barber writes a strong piece on the matter.
We have mistakenly acted as though terrorism was a thing or a group against which one can fight. But terrorism is merely a tactic that can be used by anyone. Ancient Britons used it against the Romans, the Zionists against the British, the Algerians against the French, the French against the Nazis, the Chechens against the Russians, the Basques against the Spaniards, and so on. It is the traditional “weapon of the weak,” who resort to it when all else fails.
William R. Polk pens a devastating assessment of the current administration's dunderheaded misadventures in Iraq in the current edition of the American Conservative. With avoidable mismanagement of this magnitude, one is compelled to wonder whether the overall geopolitical objective was strategic control of the oil or intentional degradation of the U.S.?
The historical reasons that prompted the modernizing process in Western Europe and North America are not necessarily structural components of modernity. Surely, Enlightenment values such as instrumental rationality, liberty, rights consciousness, due process of law, privacy and individualism are all universalizable modern values. However, as the Confucian example suggests, "Asian values" such as sympathy, distributive justice, duty-consciousness, ritual, public-spiritedness and group orientation are also universalizable modern values. Just as the former ought to be incorporated into East Asian modernity, the latter may turn out to be a critical and timely reference for the American way of life.
Competition CAN sometimes be inimical to the collective good.
But Commerce usurps Guardianship every single time.
Talk about your big education sellout......,
Armstrong Williams ought to be ashamed of himself.
Washington Post story inside;
Administration Paid Commentator
Education Dept. Used Williams to Promote 'No Child' Law
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 8, 2005;
The Education Department paid commentator Armstrong Williams $241,000 to help promote President Bush's No Child Left Behind law on the air, an arrangement that Williams acknowledged yesterday involved "bad judgment" on his part.
In taking the money, funneled through the Ketchum Inc. public relations firm, Williams produced and aired a commercial on his syndicated television and radio shows featuring Education Secretary Roderick R. Paige, touted Bush's education policy, and urged other programs to interview Paige. He did not disclose the contract when talking about the law during cable television appearances or writing about it in his newspaper column.
Congressional Democrats immediately accused the administration of trying to bribe journalists. Williams's newspaper syndicate, Tribune Media Services, yesterday canceled his column. And one television network dropped his program pending an investigation.
Williams, one of the most prominent black conservatives in the media, said he understands "why some people think it's unethical." Asked if people would be justified in thinking he sold his opinions to the government for cash, he said: "It's fair for someone to make that assessment."
The Education Department contract, first reported yesterday by USA Today, increased criticism of the administration's aggressive approach to news management. The department already has paid Ketchum $700,000 to rate journalists on how positively or negatively they report on No Child Left Behind, and to produce a video release on the law that was used by some television stations as if it were real news. Other government agencies -- including the Census Bureau and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- also have distributed such prepackaged videos, a practice that congressional auditors have described as illegal in some cases.
The Williams incident follows a series of other media embarrassments in the past 18 months involving such high-profile outlets as the New York Times, USA Today and CBS News that have further eroded the credibility of the news business.
Rep. George Miller (Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House education committee, said the Williams contract "is propaganda, it's unethical, it's dangerous and it's illegal" and called it "worthy of Pravda." Committee Chairman John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) agreed to join Miller in requesting an inspector general's investigation, a spokesman said.
Miller cited two Government Accountability Office opinions that the administration violated federal law with video news releases. In May, the GAO criticized the Department of Health and Human Services for using the technique to promote Medicare's new prescription drug benefit. This week, it criticized the Office of National Drug Control Policy for distributing similar reports with a contractor posing as a journalist, including a "suggested live intro" for anchors to read.
Miller, joined by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other Democrats, asked Bush in a letter to put an end to "covert propaganda."
In a separate letter, Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and Sens. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) asked the president to recover the money paid to Williams. "We believe that the act of bribing journalists to bias their news in favor of government policies undermines the integrity of our democracy," they wrote.
The Education Department defended the contract, which Paige knew about in advance, as a minority outreach effort through Williams's syndicated program, "The Right Side."
"Our contract was for advertising," said department spokesman John Gibbons. "Our intent was to reach out to minority audiences. Armstrong went out and talked about it -- we didn't have anything to do with that."
But the contract also required Williams to "utilize his long term working relationship" with black producers to "encourage" them to "periodically address the No Child Left Behind Act."
"Our objective was to put out basic information to audiences. . . . We certainly had no intention to do it in an underhanded way," Gibbons added. He said the department stopped putting out video news releases after the first GAO report and has no other contract involving payments to journalists. Ketchum executives declined to comment.
Alex Jones, director of Harvard's Shorenstein media center, said he is "disgusted" by what he called "the worst kind of fakery and flackery" on Williams's part. "It's propaganda masquerading as news, paid by government, truly a recipe from hell," he said. "It would make any thinking person hearing any pundit speak want to say, 'Okay, how much did they pay you to say that?' " Jones said the contract also shows that "the Bush administration neither understands nor respects the idea of an independent media."
Williams, a onetime aide to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is the founder and chief executive of the Graham Williams Group, a public relations firm on Capitol Hill, and, according to his Web site, a "multi-media wonder." He frequently discusses politics on CNN and other networks and on his own radio show. "The Right Side," owned and hosted by Williams, is carried by the Lynchburg, Va.-based Liberty Channel, which is affiliated with Jerry Falwell; Sky Angel satellite network, a Christian organization; and Sinclair Broadcast Group.
His other show, "On Point" -- on which Williams interviewed Paige last year, as well as Vice President Cheney, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice -- is carried by TV One, a Silver Spring-based network aimed at African Americans. Williams said he had disclosed his contract to TV One, but chief executive Johnathon Rodgers said the network knew nothing about it and has taken the show off the air while it investigates.
"As a former journalist, I'm bothered by things like this -- people being in the pay of various political groups and pressing their messages without a declaration," Rodgers said.
As a longtime supporter of No Child Left Behind, Williams said, he was receptive in the summer of 2003 when Education Department and Ketchum officials approached him about buying an ad on "The Right Side" to promote the law. Although he "agonized" over the first of two six-month contracts, he said, the law "is something I believe in."
Williams said he aired the spot twice on each "Right Side" broadcast and disclosed the contract on that show. He said he successfully urged another black television personality, Steve Harvey, to twice interview Paige.
Williams has written several newspaper columns defending administration education policy. Last January, he wrote that the No Child Left Behind law "has provided more funds to poor children than any other education bill in this country's history." In May, he wrote that the law "holds entire schools accountable."
Chicago-based Tribune Media Services dropped Williams's column yesterday, saying he had violated his contract. "Accepting compensation in any form from an entity that serves as a subject of his weekly newspaper columns creates, at the very least, the appearance of a conflict of interest," prompting readers to ask whether his opinions "have been purchased by a third party," a company statement said.
In October, Williams praised the law on CNN. He "didn't disclose to us that he was a paid spokesman, and we believe he should have," said CNN spokesman Matthew Furman. "We will obviously take that into serious consideration before booking Armstrong in the future."
Williams said he will not accept such government contracts again.
Spokesmen for other federal agencies acknowledged yesterday that they also have distributed prepackaged video news releases. Last March, the Census Bureau sent out a video release to trumpet Women's History Month. "Women are breaking the gender barrier in one field after another," contractor Karen Ryan, who produced and narrated the videos, said, citing a Census Bureau analysis. The story included comments by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-N.Y.) and ended with the sign-off: "I'm Karen Ryan reporting."
Census officials said yesterday that they no longer distribute tapes that could be broadcast as complete news stories.
As recently as October, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shipped a video package on the flu vaccine that mimics a real news report. Spokesman Tom Skinner said he expects broadcasters to use the information as components of their own stories.
Staff writer Ceci Connolly contributed to this report.
In fact, what the pundits call “black paranoia” is really what the Black Consensus looks like from inside the bubble of white American racism. Metaphors are dangerous, but bubbles are usually delicate and fragile things. An immense weight of lies and denial are already pressing down on the bubble of white racism and the load is about to get heavier. While African Americans and the rest of humanity outside the bubble are always hoping, praying and working for its collapse, we know not to count on it any time soon. And we know that even paranoiacs have some real enemies.
A superb think piece courtesy Bruce Dixon of The Black Commentator. All the links to the original story and mountain of evidence available in all its infernal glory thanks to BC. Savory seasonings to accompany and accentuate today's banquet of Alberto "Torturegate" Gonzalez having his day in the Senate.
I've been thinking about the powers and limits of democracy and what kind of cultural soup the crackers of democratic processes need to float in.
What I've said about China is that it needs to decentralize its power and allow for local, but not regional elections. In that way it can decouple itself from totalitarianism and give the people election circuses if not bread.
I am coming to see 'democracy' as something secondary to liberty, and that liberty (freedom under the law) is something a bit more precious. While we may not be delivering 'democracy' to Iraq, we are certainly laying the groundwork for relative liberty.
So let us discuss what it is that the average Joe America is actually involved in when we speak of democracy. Where is the recourse? How responsive is the ship of state? What would we settle for if we couldn't vote? How fungible is the voting class and the class of people that get voted into office? What is the state of the defense of liberty in the law and systems of justice which exist independent of a voting public and/or parliament? How important is a free press, and what influence does the general public have on its inquiries?
Also what are the prospects for growing a democracy, and how dependent on individualism is liberty itself? How thick is ethnicity and what is the modernist aspect of secularism that takes people away from it? Does secularism facilitate liberty/democracy?
Catching my drift?
I. AM. SHOCKED.
Republicans Reverse Course on Ethics Rules. (Reg. required)
By Mike Allen Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, January 4, 2005; Page A01House Republican leaders last night abandoned proposals to loosen rules governing members' ethical conduct, as they yielded to pressure from rank and file lawmakers concerned that the party was sending the wrong message.
The proposals in question would have made it more difficult for lawmakes to discipline a colleague for unethical behavior and would have allowed Majority Leader Tom DeLay to keep his post in the event he is indicted by a Texas grand jury that is looking into his campaign finance practices.
The sudden reversal came amid growing indications of dissension within the GOP. Just before House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert's office announced that the controversial measures were being dropped, the outgoing chairman of the House ethics committee issued an unusual statement denouncing the leadership's plan.
Rep. Joel Hefley (Colo.), who appears on the verge of being forced out as chairman after his committee voted three times last year to admonish DeLay, issued a statement criticizing the proposed rules changes as highly partisan and not in the best interests of the House
"Ethics reform must be bipartisan and this package is not bipartisan," Hefley said after sending his Republican colleagues a letter outlining his objections.
I guess the lesson of Newt Gingrich killing Democrat House members over the check bouncing wasn't forgotten.
OK, this one made me shout at my television:
Bush, Clinton to Lead Tsunami Fund Raising By JENNIFER LOVENWASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush enlisted two former presidents for an ambitious private fund-raising drive for victims of the deadly tsunami on Monday, asking Americans to open their wallets to help the millions left homeless, hungry and injured.
"The devastation in the region defies comprehension," Bush said as he announced the campaign to be led by his father and Bill Clinton. "I ask every American to contribute as they are able to do so."
...
Under the new fund-raising drive, to be coordinated by the White House's USA Freedom Corps, an office that encourages volunteering, Clinton and the first President Bush will solicit donations by doing media interviews and traveling the country. They also will tap into their own networks of contacts to try to pry donations from corporations, foundations and the wealthy, said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
What the hell???????
Why is this needed? The American people are stepping up to the plate. For example, donations to Catholic Charities is pouring in at a great rate. I heard that Amazon users, ALONE, have donated more money than some countries.
So why is this necessary?
Is it part of George W. Bush's larger goal of using public money to fund religious programs that address problems in the society? By "encouraging private donations", the idea of getting government out of that business is made stronger. But, it's not necessary! He's getting the government involved in private donations.
Is it part of his larger goal of setting up his brother, Jeb, to make a strong run for president?
He has tapped Jeb Bush to go overseas to "head" relief efforts. Why does he have to go over there? Sure, Florida suffered with hurricanes, but Florida and the U.S. government STILL haven't gotten things straightened out yet.
Why else would Jeb Bush write a Washington Post editorial concerning education in Florida?
This makes no sense otherwise. There is no need for the federal government to be involved in coordinating private efforts. This is another waste of money, like the Department of Homeland Security is a waste of money.
Lately, I've been hearing more people refer to criminals in high crime areas as terrorists. I've been hearing more people refer to drug dealers who apply fear to the neighborhoods where they do their criminal activities as terrorists. I've been hearing people say that the dealers using intimidation is nothing more than terrorism.
I am not a wordsmith and I am guilty of loose use of the American version of English, but the use of terrorism and terrorist, as I have given it, is an abuse of the language that should not be allowed to stand.
I understand the seriousness of crime in some areas. I helped board up a dwelling that was being used as a drug den. A police officer saw what we were doing, parked his car, and watched. Later, the people who wanted to get into the dwelling undid our work and continued to do what they did. The only reason why we boarded up the dwelling is because complaints to the city about the problem resulted in nothing. About 2 years later, a 70-80 something year old woman was dragged into that dwelling and raped. The woman was kind to everyone in the neighborhood. One teenage girl heard what happened and told the police that some people in that dwelling had raped her as well. The city then tore down the building.
If the authorities did their jobs, from policing, to applying correct terms to those convicted, to keeping them locked up when they have committed violent crimes, more people would be willing to speak up and help out the authorities.
We don't need to call criminals terrorists. We need to call them criminals and deal with them as such.
Know how I know? We've already got stories about white candidates visiting black churches and not having rhythm. (Subscription probably required.)
Check this quote out if you don't feel like going through the subscription thing.
Nowhere is Mr. Bloomberg's awkward connection to nonwhite voters more evident than on his visits to the city's black churches, where he almost always sits placidly, hands folded on his lap, as everyone around him leaps and sways to gospel music.Yesterday, sitting in the front pew at Allen, Mr. Bloomberg, once again, was the last one on his feet clapping to the beat. But politically, at least, he seemed to find his rhythm with Mr. Flake's endorsement."
Yep. What a way to start the new year.
A while back I mentioned reviewing Cornel West's new book DEMOCRACY MATTERS. It hit the Washington Post on the 30th. Happy New Year.