June 30, 2005
Ignore The Messenger, Listen To The Message
The Good Reverend Pays A Visit
Rev. Jackson's message is to stay in school, stay off drugs, and get involved in civil service. Rev. Jackson was introduced by Key Club president, Kendra Chapman-Small. As he spoke to the student body, he emphasized society's continual confusion about teenagers' role in the community. "...we can't quite find a place for you," said Rev. Jackson.
In addition, he asked the student body as whole several questions about drug use, suicide, and firearms. Rev. Jackson lead students who wished to pray in prayer.
Choices and consequences were illuminated in Rev. Jackson's motivational speech, attempting to deter students from habits with harmful consequences.
"Life is full of choices and consequences," said Rev. Jackson.
Jesse Jackson likes to say that we don’t lower the basketball hoop to nine-and-a-half feet for our students and we shouldn’t lower the academic hoop either.
Sharpton recalled running into a couple of young gangsta rappers at a Los Angeles nightspot a few months ago. He said they approached him and commended him for his work.
The young rappers then went on to say they were making a statement, too.
"We just full of rage," Sharpton quoted them as saying. "We're angry."
The young rappers railed against societal injustice against black men and how their music was their response.
Sharpton said he stopped them and asked whether they got paid for their rapping.
Of course, they said, telling how twice a year they go to the office of their record labels to pick up their royalty checks.
"When you go twice a year to your record company and you go up to the vice president of accounting's office and you see his secretary to get your royalty check, do you call her a bitch?"
When the gansta rappers said they didn't, Sharpton said he responded, "Then you're not as angry as you thought you were."
Sharpton said he told the rappers, "You should not get paid to disrespect yourself and your mother and your wife and your girlfriend and your sister and your daughter."
Too Much Common Sense
OK, now THIS has been what I've been trying to get at with the "Black liberal" vs. "Black libera" madness. This is true for especially the last quote.
Joseph C. Phillips nails it!
And it is not just those on the left who are guilty. There is an old saying that when you point one finger at others, you point three fingers at yourself. Those of us on the right have engaged in our share of outrageous rhetoric. I have not cut off my Democratic friends, but I cannot claim innocence. The fact that I am now mourning the loss of a cherished friend has convinced me that we must turn down the fire. Political passions run deep but what do we accomplish by raising the temperature so high that we are unable to speak to one another, no longer able to recognize each other’s humanity?
...
What is clear is that none of us has a monopoly on morality, patriotism or good ideas. It also becomes increasingly clear that our republic and the citizens therein suffer when the exchange of ideas is sacrificed in favor of overblown political rhetoric.
Bill Cosby, What's Not Being Addressed
Bill Cosby might be embroiled in a doping-and-groping scandal, but that's not going to stop him from talking morals.
In an interview with ABC's Nightline airing Wednesday and previewed on Good Morning America, Cosby's first TV sit-down since being sued for sexual assault, the entertainer says that any mistakes he may have made in his personal life will not keep him from urging African-American to take more personal responsibility. Such comments provoked a firestorm of controversy last year.
I find it interesting that some want to ignore the messenger, in this situation, and focus on the message. That doesn't get said from some of those people about Jesse Jackson or Lewis Farrakhan.
But that's not the point of this entry. The point of this entry is to mention, again, what I've mentioned before:
Chances are, the people who need to hear "Cosby's message" and to take it to heart, are not the people going to hear him speak or take it to heart if they do.
Here is something for you to consider: Blacks formally and informally adopt children of family, and friends, at a rate that is higher than white people. As has been the case in my family, it could be because of a tragic circumstance that leaves the children without parents, or it could be a temporary situation while the parent gets their living situation in order, or it could be a situation where the parent is in jail or on drugs or living a criminal lifestyle.
In the cases where the parent is living a criminal lifestyle or is on drugs, what would they care about what Cosby has to say? My suspicion is that they could not care less.
From what I have witnessed and/or heard and/or been a part of, are people close to the situation trying to encourage those lacking appropriate parenting skills to do a better job.
From what I have witnessed and/or heard and/or been a part of, are people close to the situation taking over the parenting role.
I want you to think about what it takes to handle a situation where you tell someone that they aren't parenting correctly AND get it to be heard, thought upon, and the behavior changed.
Do YOU think Cosby's tactics will work?
Or, if you have seen the situations I have, you already know that it will probably take a long period of time before things change for the better. (That could be the parent changing how they handle their duties, or the parent getting help to help themselves, or the parent giving the parenting duties to someone who could do a better job).
In that context, think about what I mentioned earlier: Blacks formally and informally adopt children of family, and friends, at a rate that is higher than white people.
What Are You Doing There?
Shut your pie hole, you're lucky you got out.
From the mouths of folks who had no business being where they were...as if this matters any...didn't keep the US from gettin' kushy with my man Menachim...terror-schmerror...all depends on who ya kill...
June 29, 2005
On Upside and Matters of Flight
Last night, I had one eye on the 2005 NBA draft and another on a frosted mug of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (!!!!) Between sips and dips, I heard the announcers refer to "upside" and potential as desirable traits in players at this stage of their careers. This approach has presented some questions which I would like to share with the group...
At this stage, should productivity trump potential?? Or is the shadow cast by the likes of Garnett, Bryant and McGrady too long for GMs to change partners mid-dance?
Have GMs already changed partners since many college players were selected ahead of high schoolers and the core body of international players?
What areas of work/play serve as sufficient proxies for prior performance? In other words, is playing in the ACC a sufficient litmus test for judging serviceable to great players - or not given the careers of Chris Washburn, Chris Corchiani, Rodney Monroe (Fire and Ice, if ya remember) (NC STATE), Len Bias, Adrian Branch, Herman Veal (Maryland) and the slew of busters from DUKE? Or is proximity to UNC sufficient to warrant a look?
Are there still players who don't have the long, lean super athletic body-type that get their game off in the league? Can a round fella still rock the rafters by playing the game below the rim ala Moses Malone??
Do elite players who dominate above-the-rim perform better than those who dominate below-the-rim? Which players are able to do both? Is this distinction worth making? For example, Magic and Bird were below the rim dominators. Shaq is arguably a below-the-rim dominant player because of his use of lower-body strength to impose his will and establish position...contrast with the likes of Jordan, Wilkins, Ben Wallace, etc. If there is no difference, where are the below-the-rim guys on draft boards and in the stat columns?
How will any of this be impacted by the 19 year-old age limit?
Will Had a Lot More to Say
And some of it relates to "acting black," but what I dug most was the whole worship thing - and there's a lot to that which we may wish to revisit at another time...
June 28, 2005
Repeat Loop
Funk wit dis!
- "Mothership Connection" -- Parliment
- "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucka)" -- Parliment
- "I Don't Believe You Wanna Get Up" -- G.A.P. Band
- "Mary Jane" -- Rick James
- "Candy" -- Cameo
- "Talkin' Out the Side of Your Neck" -- Cameo
- "It's the R" -- Rakim
- "Gold" -- Prince
- "777-9311" -- The Time
- "Fffun" -- Con Funk Shun
- "Chase Me" -- Con Funk Shun
- "Hanging on a String" -- Loose Ends
- "Stay a Little While, Child" -- Loose Ends
- "Get the Funk Outta My Face" -- Brothers Johnson
- "Strawberry Letter 23" -- Brothers Johnson
- "Dooh Wah Ditty" -- Zapp
- "Slide" -- Slave
- "Just A Touch of Love" -- Slave
Jada and Will Delivered a Pimp Smack
Paraphrasing...
"Lastly. If you can't sing or perform your song in a church, then don't come up here thanking God!"
June 27, 2005
Feeling A Bit Salty, II
OK, so if people constantly criticize the actions of the U.S. in Iraq, and never show the positive side of what is going on, then they are said to hate America.
Soooooo....
If people constantly criticize Blacks in the U.S., and never show the positive things that are going on, can they be said to hate Blacks?
Historical Greats
All I have to say is, any historian who thinks that Reagan is the greatest American in history, is not a historian.
How can Reagan be greater than the "fathers of the U.S." who fought the British and then set up the country in the first place?
How can Reagan be greater than the president who got the country through the civil war?
How can Reagan be greater than the president who gave the order to drop the first atomic bomb?
Some Politics May Be Etched in the Genes
On the basis of a new study, a team of political scientists is arguing that people's gut-level reaction to issues like the death penalty, taxes and abortion is strongly influenced by genetic inheritance. The new research builds on a series of studies that indicate that people's general approach to social issues - more conservative or more progressive - is influenced by genes.
Smarta Encarta
The Encarta website is taking advantage of the OPENSOURCE CLIMATE created in recent years (30+). This link constitutes an invitation to REWRITE - for a huge audience the massunderstandings of our time and our history. This could be interesting.
June 26, 2005
Vision Circle Podcast #2
The second part of our podcast on the Fryer-Torelli article can be found here.
$$$ - It's a Hit
don't give me that do goody good bullshit...,
The inadequacies of Tool Theory can be overcome, and the phenomena that it fails to explain can be integrated, by asserting that money also acts as a Drug. That is, we conclude that money derives some of its incentive power from providing the illusion of fulfilment of certain instincts.
Money as tool, money as drug: The biological psychology of a strong incentive
C-O-N-spiracy...
This letter was written to a dismayed friend in Detroit, downtrodden about the demise of his defense-oriented squad. At the hint of a conspiracy theory, I "penned" the following:
I can't say that I agree with you. The Spurs and Pistons are two sides of the same coin. Popovich suckled at Larry Brown's hoop tit. He was Brown's assistant in San Antonio. Neither team plays a glamorous offensive game...neither team has more than one household name - arguably Duncan is the only household name on either roster - and most households know precious little about him to identify. I do not think the idea that the league tends not to favor defensive teams is an argument against the Pistons. The Spurs are too similar stylistically for this to be a differentiating factor. I think they lost because they fell apart at the end of Game 5 and at the end of Game 7. Moreover, since the LAST THREE CHAMPIONS (Spurs 2x, Pistons 1x) have played the EXACT SAME STYLE, there is little that can be said about the power of officials to ensconce another style of play at the top of the ladder. Simply, defense wins championships and offense packs the seats. This did not propel Phoenix to the finals against Miami. If ever there was a year for a conspiracy, it was this year - and it certainly would NOT have involved the SPURS winning another championship - it would have involved a white MVP (Steve Nash) leading his team into the Finals against the NUMBER 1 seller of jerseys in the league (D. Wade) - injuries be damned. If the refs wanted a championship series of Phoenix and Miami, it would not have been impossible to do. That's where the money was for the league - TV money, gambling money, advertising money...there was no added financial benefit in getting a Spurs - Pistons final. In fact, that was the least attractive matchup of any of the four possibilities.
In addition, I would argue that in the 80's the league really did emphasize teams more than individuals...The Celtics and Lakers games were always about more than 1 matchup - it was always more than Bird vs. Magic - it was Worthy vs. McHale...it was Parrish vs. Kareem. Granted the Bird-Magic matchup was primary, but it was also part of a whole - and it was never separated from the history of Russell and Chamberlain. Moreover, the Celtic - Laker clash was as much as RACE as it was about individual stars...collectively, what the Celtics and Lakers represented was much "greater" than what any one player represented. Arguably, Bird had more pressure on him because he was the lone white ranger capable of winning an entire series - and he was only able to beat the Lakers ONE time.
I would argue that the league's fascination (and subsequent embrace) with the single great player paralleled Jordan's career. In fact, Jordan played SEVEN years before winning a title. In his early days, he watched Magic, Bird and Isiah earn multiple titles.
Jordan's championship career ushered in the end of great rivalries between teams in the NBA Finals. The Bulls won 6 times against 5 different teams (Lakers, Blazers, Suns, Sonics, Jazz(2)). The Bulls never had a rival in the Finals. The Jazz were hardly a rival to the Bulls. Moreover, at the of Jordan's emergence, the only other team that could enter a discussion of "great" was Olajuwon's Rockets - and the Bulls never played them. Barkley didn't play on great teams, but he was a great player. I know how you feel about Ewing - and you know how I feel about his surrounding cast.
So, the era that preceded Jordan's rise was full of great teams - Isiah had Dumars, Dantley, Aguirre, VJ, Rodman, etc. Magic had Cooper, Scott, Worthy, Wilkes, Nixon, AC Green ("Don't call me anymore...with feet like Ben Vereen..."), McAdoo, Jabbar. Bird had McHale, Parrish, DJ, Ainge, Walton, Wedman, etc. Even in 1983, Dr. J needed Moses to get over the top. Cheeks and Andrew Toney and Bobby and Caldwell Jones were indispensable parts of those great teams. The continuity of these teams - five to ten years runs at the top of the standings was a reflection of more than just great individual play.
You could argue that one of the reasons, aside from the passage of time, that players like Dominique Wilkins, Chris Mullin, Walter Davis and others are not as highly regarded now is because they played in an era of great teams and were locked out of the Finals showcase. It has yet to be seen if today's players like Garnett, Nowitzki, Stoudemire, McGrady and others will retain a legacy of greatness without winning a ring. Even with all of today's emphasis on individual players, DUNCAN AND SHAQ have won 6 OF 7 TITLES since Jordan's last dance with the trophy. Last year's Pistons have been the only interlopers. That speaks volumes to the nature of the league...the league has never given San Antonio props as a great team - the Lakers were sexy, but the Spurs have kicked just as much as lately.
One final note...the Pistons are not likely to make it back to the Finals and win unless they can secure a top notch coach. As such, they would become the first non-multiple season champion since the 1982-1983 Sixers. Every team since that year won at least twice with a fairly common core of players. And each team had a DOMINANT #1 scorer and a strong #2 scorer - and usually a damn good #3 scorer. Boston (Bird, Parrish, McHale, DJ), LA (Kareem, McAdoo, Nixon, Wilkes, Worthy, Magic, Scott), Detroit (Isiah, Dumars, Aguirre, VJ, Buddha), Chicago (Jordan, Pippen), Houston (Olajuwon, Cassell, Drexler, Horry, Maxwell, Smith), Chicago, San Antonio (Duncan, Robinson, Elliott, Ginobli), LA (Shaq, Kobe). I don't think the League has changed as much as you do. I think Jordan came along at a time when his unique talents combined with Pippen's (and the fading stars of players like Magic, Bird and Zeke) to dominate a barren landscape and REQUIRE the league to shift emphasis from what it no longer had (great teams) to what it had (great individual talents - Barkley, Wilkins, Ewing, Drexler, Reggie Miller, Karl Malone, Shawn Kemp, Roy Tarpley, Derek Coleman, Kevin Johnson - forget about your assessments of the talent of these respective folks - they carried their cities for a few years, but did not play on great teams.) I look at the Jordan years as an aberration from the norm...Duncan and Shaq restored the NBA to its traditional mode of operation - the pattern established by George Mikan and Bill Russell.
What I found most interesting about the Miami - Detroit series and the SA - DET series is that last year's Laker team had more talent than this year's version of the Spurs and Heat - but that Laker team did not play together. They did not move the ball. They did not play defense. They did not run the floor as a team. They did not dig in to get stops. They did nothing. Had that team played with the same spirit of collaboration it took to beat the Blazers and Kings in prior years, I doubt the Pistons would have had such an easy time with them. That both series this year went to 7 games with considerably less talent on the floor suggests to me that the Lakers lost that championship in the locker room - and not on the court...I don't mean to take anything away from the Pistons, but simply, teams win the Finals, not individuals.
Finally, bruh, I don't see a conspiracy in the crowning of the Spurs. I see a challenge to the Pistons to define a new legacy for teams in the league using a different model of play than that which has dominated the league since the last era of single season champions...1977-1979...Portland, Washington, Seattle. Bill Walton/Mo Lucas, Elvin Hayes/Dandridge, Jack Sikma/Gus/DJ. It's been a while...the next year 1979-1980 was Magic's rookie season and that has been it for the single season champs save for Moses' free agent stint with the Sixers (a team which beat the Lakers minus James Worthy (broken leg) and Bob McAdoo and Norm Nixon - big deal) in 82'-'83 (lost in the first round to the Nets the next year) and last years' Pistons. Two teams in nearly 30 years.
And, this Piston team is further differentiated from that Sixer team because that team had so many elite scorers - Malone, Erving, Toney, etc.) Actually, when looked at from this perspective, Larry Brown and that team did a TREMENDOUS job in winning. Surely there have been moments when the refs merited criticism - but this is not in the top 10 for me.
Dopamine Addicting Hegemony
Cobb's piece here on marketing;
set off a cognitive avalanche;
Compulsive gambling, attendance at sporting events, vulnerability to telephone scams and exuberant investing in the stock market may not seem to have much in common. But neuroscientists now have uncovered a common thread.Such behaviors, they say, rely on brain circuits that evolved to help animals assess rewards important to their survival, like food and sex. Researchers have found that those same circuits are used by the human brain to assess social rewards as diverse as investment income and surprise home runs at the bottom of the ninth inning.
And, in a finding that astonishes many people, they found that the brain systems that detect and evaluate such rewards generally operate outside of conscious awareness. In navigating the world and deciding what is rewarding, humans are closer to zombies than sentient beings much of the time.
The findings, which are gaining wide adherence among neuroscientists, challenge the notion that people always make conscious choices about what they want and how to obtain it. In fact, the neuroscientists say, much of what happens in the brain goes on outside of conscious awareness.
“The idea has been around since Freud,” said Dr. Gregory Berns, a psychiatrist at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. “Psychologists have studied unconscious processing of information in terms of subliminal effects, memory and learning,” he said, “and they have started to map out what parts of the brain are involved in such processing. But only now are they learning how these different circuits interact”.
"My hunch is that most decisions are made subconsciously, with many subtle gradations of awareness," Dr. Berns said. "For example, I'm vaguely aware of how I got to work this morning. But consciousness seems reserved for more important things."
Dr. P. Read Montague, a neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, says the idea that people can get themselves to work on automatic pilot raises two questions: How does the brain know what it must pay conscious attention to? And how did evolution create a brain that could make such distinctions?
The answer emerging from experiments on animals and people is that the brain has evolved to shape itself, starting in infancy, according to what it encounters in the external world.
As Dr. Montague explained it, “Much of the world is predictable: buildings usually stay in one place, gravity makes objects fall, light falling at an oblique angle makes long shadows and so forth. As children grow, their brains build internal models of everything they encounter, gradually learning to identify objects and to predict how they move through space and time.”
As new information flows into it from the outside world, the brain automatically compares it to what it already knows. If things match up - as when people drive to work every day along the same route - events, objects and the passage of time may not reach conscious awareness.
But if there is a surprise - a car suddenly runs a red light --- the mismatch between what is expected and what is happening --- instantly shifts the brain into a new state. A brain circuit involved in decision making is activated, again out of conscious awareness. Drawing on past experience held in memory banks, a decision is made: hit the brake, swerve the wheel or keep going. Only a second or so later, after hands and feet have initiated the chosen action, does the sense of having made a conscious decision arise.
Dr. Montague estimates that 90 percent of what people do every day is carried out by this kind of automatic, unconscious system that evolved to help creatures survive. Animals use these circuits to know what to attend to, what to ignore and what is worth learning about. People use them for the same purposes which, as a result of their bigger brains and culture, include listening to music, eating chocolate, assessing beauty, gambling, investing in stocks and experimenting with drugs - all topics that have been studied this past year with brain imaging machines that directly measure the activity of human brain circuits.
The two circuits that have been studied most extensively involve how animals and people assess rewards. Both involve a chemical called dopamine. The first circuit, which is in a middle region of the brain, helps animals and people instantly assess rewards or lack of rewards.
The circuit was described in greater detail several years ago by Dr. Wolfram Schultz, a neuroscientist at Cambridge University in England, who tracked dopamine production in a monkey's midbrain and experimented with various types of rewards, usually squirts of apple juice that the animal liked.
Dr. Schultz found that when the monkey got more juice than it expected, dopamine neurons fired vigorously. When the monkey got an amount of juice that it expected to get, based on previous squirts, dopamine neurons did nothing. And when the monkey expected to get juice but got none, the dopamine neurons decreased their firing rate, as if to signal a lack of reward.
Scientists believe that this midbrain dopamine system is constantly making predictions about what to expect in terms of rewards. Learning takes place only when something unexpected happens and dopamine firing rates increase or decrease. When nothing unexpected happens, as when the same amount of delicious apple juice keeps coming, the dopamine system is quiet.
“In animals,” Dr. Montague said, “These midbrain dopamine signals are sent directly to brain areas that initiate movements and behavior. These brain areas figure out how to get more apple juice or sit back and do nothing. In humans, though, the dopamine signal is also sent to a higher brain region called the frontal cortex for more elaborate processing.”
Dr. Jonathan Cohen, a neuroscientist at Princeton, studies a part of the frontal cortex called the anterior cingulate, located in back of the forehead. “This part of the brain has several functions,” Dr. Cohen said, “including the task of detecting errors and conflict in the flow of information being processed automatically.”
Brain imaging experiments are beginning to show that when a person gets an unexpected reward - the equivalent of a huge shot of delicious apple juice - more dopamine reaches the anterior cingulate. When a person expects a reward and does not get it, less dopamine reaches the region. And when a person expects a reward and gets it, the anterior cingulate is silent.
“When people expect a reward and do not receive it, their brains need a way to register the fact that something is amiss, in order to recalibrate expectations for future events,” Dr. Cohen said. “As in monkeys, human dopamine neurons project to areas that plan and control movements,” he said. “Fluctuating levels of dopamine make people get up and do things, outside their conscious awareness.”
The number of things people do to increase their dopamine firing rates is unlimited, neuroscientists are discovering. Several studies were published last year looking at monetary rewards and dopamine. “Money may be abstract but to the brain it looks like cocaine, food, sex or anything a person expects is rewarding,” said Dr. Hans Breiter, a neuroscientist at Harvard. “People crave it.”
“Some people seem to be born with vulnerable dopamine systems that get hijacked by social rewards. The same neural circuitry involved in the highs and lows of abusing drugs is activated by winning or losing money, anticipating a good meal or seeking beautiful faces to look at,” Dr. Breiter said.
They Keep Gambling
For example, scientists now know that dopamine circuits are activated by cocaine. “People become addicted when their reward circuits have been hijacked by the drug,” Dr. Montague said.
“Winning in gambling can also hijack the dopamine system,” Dr. Berns said. “Many people visit a casino, lose money , and are not tempted to go back. But compulsive gamblers seem to have vulnerable dopamine systems,” he said. “The first time they win, they get a huge dopamine rush that gets embedded in their memory. Then they keep gambling, and the occasional dopamine rush of winning overrides their conscious knowledge that they will lose in the long run.”
Other experiments show that reward circuits are activated when young men look at photos of beautiful women, and that these same circuits are defective in women with eating disorders like bulimia. Bulimics say they are addicted to vomiting because it gives them a warm, positive feeling. In most people, music activates neural systems of reward and emotion. Older people with age-related impairments to the frontal cortex often do poorly on gambling tasks and, several experiments show they are more prone to believe misleading advertising.
Neuroscientists say that part of the mass appeal of live sporting events is their inherent unpredictability. When a baseball player with two outs at the bottom of the ninth inning hits a home run to win the game, thousands of spectators simultaneously experience a huge surge of dopamine. People keep coming back, as if addicted to the euphoria of experiencing unexpected rewards.
“One of the most promising areas for looking at unconscious reward circuits in human behavior concerns the stock market,” Dr. Montague said. “Economists do not study people, they study collective neural systems in people who form mass expectations. For example, when the Federal Reserve unexpectedly lowered interest rates twice last year, the market went up,” he said. “When it lowered interest rates on other occasions and investors knew the move was coming, markets did not respond.”
“Economists and neuroscientists use the same mathematical equations for modeling market behavior and dopamine behavior,” Dr. Montague said. “Neuroscience may provide an entirely new set of constructs for understanding economic decision making.”
Mind and Culture
· Patients with schizophrenia, a disease characterized by hallucinations and disorganized thinking, recover sooner and function better in poor countries with strong extended family ties than in the United States, two long-running studies by the World Health Organization have shown.Full Monty· People of Mexican descent born in the United States have twice the risk of disorders such as depression and anxiety, and four times the risk of drug abuse, compared with recent immigrants from Mexico. This finding is part of a growing body of literature that indicates that the newly arrived are more resilient to mental disorders, and that assimilation is associated with higher rates of psychiatric diagnoses.
· Black and Hispanic patients are more than three times as likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia as white patients -- even though studies indicate that the rate of the disorder is the same in all groups.
· White women in the United States are three times as likely to commit suicide as black and Hispanic women -- a difference that experts attribute in part to the relative strengths of different social networks.
You Own No Property, II
Some thoughts on the fact that local governments can now, in the open, take your land for private use:
- People really don't own property in the U.S. anyway. If you did, there would be no way a government can take your property for failing to pay the real estate tax on it.
- White America, meet urban renewal.
- If you think public corruption is bad NOW, you ain't seen nuttin' yet.
Limitations of Buy Black Campaigns
I had a thought this morning, after spending much of yesterday on 125th Street in the Mecca (HARLEM, USA) about the limitations of "Buy Black" campaigns in the US. The thoughts were brought on by an argument I had with a colleague years ago upon his return from Korea. He was of the opinion that Koreans were more entrepreneurial and more culturally grounded - and as evidence he submitted the emergence of South Korea as an industrial/technological nation of some consequence.
That South Korea serves a role similar to Israel and Iran - under Reza Pahlevi, seemed not to matter. US subsidies financed substantial development on the southern end of peninsula to ensure it's stability as a counterweight against China and North Korea. And the story of Korean grocers in New York and Los Angeles is hardly the story here.
The levels of education, literacy, and numeracy in the Korean population exceed that of most nations - East or West. It's not clear, however, that this is a function of indigenous drive - or a function of external support - or a considerable measure of both.
Korea has been able to build large scale economic and development projects through the use of government-subsidized funds to prominent, wealthy families who provide leadership, consolidation and networks for expansion in particular industries. The emergence of Samsung, far from being attributable to the beauty and simplicity of the flip phone is also a function of these subsidies.
Which brings me back to 125th Street. It seems that Buy Black campaigns are much like "Get out the Vote" campaigns. The voter registration campaigns DO NOT deal with the issues and interests of the black community, generally speaking, except to say that voting is important. Voting, in an of itself, however, is largely meaningless. Bill Gates, for example, does not have to cast another vote in his life to have considerable political influence. So, these voting campaigns are non-specific, decontextualized exercises in reaffirming the status quo. That notwithstanding, there is some value here.
With respect to "Buy Black" campaigns, shoppers are enjoined to buy from black merchants - regardless of their financial structure, business model, degree of customer service, aesthetics, quality of product, etc. And, irrespective of what is known as "the white man's ice is colder" syndrome, Black shoppers have been asked to do the impossible. It would be entirely irrational to make consumer decisions outside of these obvious considerations. Still, what amounts to a black boycott of black business has been crippling.
David Horowitz' article deriding the call for reparations for slavery states that the GNP for American Blacks would rank this collective as the 10th largest nation in the world - but we know that dollars in the Black community are not recirculated and that Black WEALTH is roughly 10% of white Americans. So, there are significant limitations to this 10th place finish among nations.
To the point, my thought was that Buy Black campaigns should be organized around providing Black firms possessing viable business models, structures, products with an infusion of capital to strengthen their ability to compete internationally...the result of this infusion would lead to consolidation in the industry and increased competition - ostensibly increased market share and incentives to innovate, hire talent and diversify operations...Successful Black firms in industries with higher barriers to entry and exit would be the primary candidates for this kind of support...in addition, firms whose business model imposed a high cost to costumers for changing vendors (ie. Microsoft and its corporate clients; NetFlix and personalized customer service) would be another class of firms worthy of considerable support.
certainly there is still enough $$ to help "mom and pop" operations, but Mom and Pop don't hire...they may have to retire. They may have to choose a business based on what is needed - versus what they want to do. If an infusion of capital could lead to the development of national franchises and improved standardization of services, some enterprises could begin to reap tremendous benefits for Black folk. It's not enough to buy based on phenotype - but I believe many of our community based businesses could be international leaders with the right support.
More on this later. It's always about the HOW??
June 24, 2005
Gangsta Verisimilitude
I would like to pose and discuss a question related to a couple of media creations that I am intimately familiar with. The first is the FX dramatic series 'The Shield' and the second is the top selling videogame 'Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'.
The basic question is how real are the portrayals of actual black gang life and what does it mean. I'm prepared to beat this one to death. In light of a little piece I read the other day on the crime of PG County, (a damn fine piece of reality blogging, btw) I'm interested to know how our ways and means of communicating that ugly part of American reality has improved since the days of Rodney King.
I would, for the sake of provocation, suggest that the narrative of gangsta rap is about to be superceded in both accuracy and artistic merit by a new verisimilitude in the best of these new media.
June 23, 2005
Reparations
Reparations for Jim Crow makes much more sense than does reparations for slavery.
The same holds true for Tusla riot victims and Rosewood victims.
My mother is still alive. Her social security "income" is based on her salary, which was retarded most of her working life because of Jim Crow, segregation and legal discrimination. In turn, money is coming out of my pocket because it is my honor to help my mother out.
That's generational affects of discrimination and Jim Crow.
Customer Service
I believe in customer service.
On weekend, my future wife and I went to New York to see a play. We decided to eat dinner in the theatre district and then walk to the play. I chose to go to a French restaurant that turned out to be a 4 star establishment. The food was great and the service was even better. I paid the most I had ever paid for dinner that evening. Including the tip, I paid $175, and I didn't mind at all.
Fast forward to today. Today I got a teenager fired.
I went to McDonald's to get a side salad. I avoid the drive thru window, but I took the chance and went to the window.
When I order the side salad, I was asked which dressing I would like to have. I asked for the choices. At this time, "the voice" gave me the options in a rapid fire manner. I didn't understand the choices and asked again.
"The choices are the same as before, they are..."
I was livid. I told him that he was rude and canceled the order. He apologized. I then told him I was coming inside to tell his manager, which I did. He was fired.
I'm glad that he was fired. I don't care if I pay $0.99 for something or $175, I want good service.
Think about this for a moment.
We want cable "so bad" that we are willing to accept a "4 hour window" to get the cable installed or repaired.
We are willing to accept an appliance repairman or a plumber giving a "4 hour window" for them to take our money to fix something for us.
We are willing to go through all sorts of inconvenient to get a contractor to work on our homes. Have you gone through that hell?
I wanted to get a full bathroom put into the basement and to have the laundry room/storage room in my basement to be fixed up. I contacted 6 contractors. One came at the time he said he would, walked through the details, took good notes, presented options, presented his bonding, insurance, references, and pictures, and said he would call back in 2 weeks to give an estimate. When I called him back in 3 weeks, he acted as if HE was being inconvenienced.
Another contractor had trouble returning my calls, came late for the inspection, was rude, and gave a telephone estimate promising he would follow through with a detailed estimate. It never came, but he did call later wondering when I wanted him to start work.
The contractor I chose was on time, provided all of the information as the first contractor I mentioned, provided a written estimate on the spot and followed up with a letter giving more details and a thank you note. His company was the most expensive and they got the job.
You Own No Property
In a split decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that local governments can take your property under the guise of public good, and then give/sell the stolen property to a private interest.
Before, when the government did it, it had to sneak to do it. Now they have "the right" to do it in the open.
Let's see...
A developer lines the pockets of select politicians and then asks the local government to consider a block of property for "improvement." Those politicians who are on the take have received donations from the developer, then push through an "urban renewal plan" that benefits the "public good". They then grab your property, pay you "fair cost" which is less than what you could get if you sold it on your own, and then "sell it" to the developer for a little more than the government paid. The developer then makes a killing "renewing" the property.
So one of the best ways to ensure security for your heirs, is now gone.
This really stinks.
More later...
Alternate History
The nation as we know it would not actually BE a nation if it had not been for the action of enslaved and freed Africans during the Civil War. The Fourteenth Amendment besides giving citizenship to black men and women, actually created the "national citizen." Before the passage of the 14th, one was a United States citizen through being a citizen of a given state. Afterwards? The nation came first and foremost.
But few have considered the Corwin Amendment. I've begun to think about an alternate timeline beginning with the passage of the Corwin Amendment.
June 22, 2005
Mental Health
OK, after a meeting I decided I need a mental health break, so I went out for lunch. Since I was in a mall, I decided to check out Batman Begins. This is the best in the series, both in the actor to play Batman, and in the story. I give this a rating of 9 out of 10.
On the way home, I turned into a talk show and the hour's guest was Gregory Kane.
The host and Kane were deriding something called "Ethnic Math". Now, I have no idea what it is, what is behind it, or if it works or not. But what I do know is that it set me off.
I called in, got through the call screener and was placed in the top of the queue.
I asked Kane why is it that he doesn't spend more time show casing that Blacks aren't total screw ups. Why is it that "Black conservatives", who claim that "Black liberals" only show that Blacks are pathetic people looking for a government hand out, don't show things like The Algebra Project, or Black Professional Men, or 100 Black Men, etc.
I asked Kane, directly, why he doesn't write MORE about them? He replied that he has written about Ted Coates, to which I responded that I asked why he didn't write MORE about such groups.
He was someone lost for words at that point. And I admit at being a bit animated in my speaking. The host thanked me and disconnected me.
When they returned, Kane wasn't saying anything but the host was saying, essentially, that bad news always gets reported and its bad news that makes for good talk show topics.
Make of it what you will. Too bad I'm not a gamer. I'd put on GTA or some such thing and go off.
June 21, 2005
Vision Circle Podcast pt. 1 (Acting White)
A few of us through the web have been thinking about podcasting some of our conversations. To an extent this is part of a larger brand building exercise. It's also an attempt to put voices to our writings. And it's part of a much larger effort to build networks of trust, and to build a new grassroots media initiative. let us know what you think. there's more to come.
Black Voices
My latest column for Black Voices looks at Tavis Smiley's Black Empowerment Summit a few months later.
Lock Him Up For Life, Or Else
Charges Against Teen Upgraded After Dog He Allegedly Raped Dies
SPARTANBURG, SOUTH CAROLINA (FOX Carolina News) - A Campobello teen is accused of raping one neighbor's dog and another neighbor's two little girls. Now the dog has died and charges against the teen have been upgraded.
After receiving word that the dog died possibly because of the rape. Fox Carolina called the Solicitor's office to see if now new charges would be filed against the teen. An hour later Solicitor Trey Gowdy called to say that the charges will be upgraded to the "most serious animal cruelty charges they have on the books."
June 20, 2005
Sudan
From Nat Hentoff
I partially understand why President Bush, clearly a man of decent instincts, is no longer publicly, passionately condemning the Khartoum government. Sudan's intelligence agents have been providing the CIA with valuable information on terrorists in Muslim countries.
Moreover, they have actually gone after Al Qaeda suspects and turned them over to us.
This alliance with mass murderers and rapists is the very definition of realpolitik, but at what price? Not only with regard to the world's definition of the United States, but also to our definition of ourselves? As Leonard Rubenstein of Physicians for Human Rights asks: "How many people will have to die before we do enough in Darfur?"
Salih Booker, executive director of the Washington-based Africa Action, says: "The President of the U.S. has recognized that genocide is occurring, but apparently there are more pressing matters requiring his attention. We must ask, what could possibly be more pressing than genocide? Unless there is an immediate international intervention in Darfur, up to a million people may be dead by the end of this year."
Black Professional Men
Mission
What is Black Professional Men, Inc.?
Black Professional Men, Inc. (BPM) is a nonprofit organization based in Baltimore, Maryland and established in 1991 to address the social, economic and political awareness needs of the African-American community, especially those of the African-American male.
Why do we exist?
Statistics on our community weigh heavily on the negative side. Whereas, the positive images go unnoticed or are given a small portion on the last page of the newspaper.
According to reports, African-Americans have $400 billion in purchasing power.
However, that $400 billion purchasing power leaves the African-American community; thereby, creating economic empowerment for other communities.
There are many laws and legislation enacted that directly affect the African-American community. However, many African Americans are not involved in the political process.
An awareness of social, economic, and political issues empower the African-American community. Through our efforts, these issues are addressed.
If you are interested in membership then contact or join us at one of our monthly meetings which is held the second Wednesday of every month at 6 p.m. at the Boy Scouts Headquarters, 701 Wyman Park Drive, Baltimore, Maryland 21211. You may use MapQuest.com to locate our monthly meetings. Navigate to either "Online Maps" or "Driving Directions" and key in 701 Wyman Park Drive, Baltimore, MD as your destination.
Robbin' Hood
It seems that anywhere one looks, there are countless stories of educators taking from the till. Rich and poor school districts alike are undermined by these thieves. Whether you're poor in DC or paid on Long Island, some teacher/administrator/ is pimping the public for all he/she can get.
It's too easy to "demonize" the students. It's not as if they're blind. They are surrounded by moral decay - and wonder why they should follow rules that are not obeyed by the very people who would be their "educators."
The Way they Do My Life
As Father's Day fades away, NYC readers were greeted with news of opulence, greed and envy. It seems that big bucks are the order of the day. I won't rush to judgment with an opinion on this in either direction - but $250k is alot of cheese. It will be interesting to see how this is handled in the judicial system. Mr. Combs may decide that the legal fees are not worth the pursuit of his definition of "justice."
June 19, 2005
Father's Day
I remember the first time I heard "Song for My Father" by Horace Silver. I couldn't have been more than five years old. My grandfather played it, and other old school classics, religiously. We never got a chance to talk about its meaning to him. Could've just been another song. But today reminds me how important fathers are. Not in crass Singltetonian sociological sense. I know plenty of men who grew to be fine men and fine fathers without having fathers around themselves. But in the sense of...well, again, pictures say it best. Dad, Mr. Mason, Bill, Chris, Steve, Mark, Marlin, Doom, Joseph, Sam, Darius, Stan, Jeff, Ernie, Chuck, Dan, Orrin, Louis, Robert, Ben, Kurmell, LaRoi, Rob G., Caurn, Will, Reg, Frank, RayShawn, Curt, Bird, Mike O., Todd, Tyron, Sel, Rudy, Harwood, Mike Minta, Ralph, Bowen, Craig, Ed, M.A.N., and those I missed, Happy Father's Day. I don't as a general rule celebrate it...but I'm warming up to the idea.
Negrorage
Riddle me this, what is the meaning of “black” (the adjective) in your theory of interpersonal communication?
The same as the orthodox meaning of "church". Black is a communion of persons participating in the emergent interpersonal properties arising from our unique protective and developmental psychological adaptation and social configuration in America.
Nietzsche would've understood black; Out of life's school of war: What does not destroy me, makes me stronger.
Nulan,Are you so obsessed with "data", "facts", and "information" that you have turned a deaf ear to what is coming out of the mouths of the Black folk?
Spence asked for data to corroborate your position brah. What data there is, doesn't strongly support your contention(s).
Leaving that minor point aside, my interest is strictly applied and empirical. You see, I eschew economic sophistry in favor of direct engagement with energy and infrastructure, ideology in favor of psychology, and direct interpersonal engagement with black people in favor of abstract argumentation about the nature of the same.
In my 42 years of unrepentant blackness, the only time I've ever heard the accusation that I'm "acting white", was from the mouth of the elderly white woman who ran the pre-school program I attended in Wichita Kansas. This woman told me I was excessively assertive. She went on to say that I acted like a little white boy..., my mother had a life-changing conversation with this woman.
In a discussion of culture there are no "facts", there are only "interpretations". Are you a business major or an engineer or something? Is that why you seemingly love numbers so much? It is obvious that each one of us is convinced of their own claim and are therefore disdainful of proof.
I'm conversant with science and technology. My abiding interests lie elsewhere, however. IMOHO, all useful discussion must be rooted in practical experience of the thing discussed. As Nietzsche asserted in Die Götzen-Dämmerung
One chooses logical argument only when one has no other means. One knows that one arouses mistrust with it, that it is not very persuasive. Nothing is easier to nullify than a logical argument: the tedium of long speeches proves this. It is a kind of self-defense for those who no longer have other weapons.
"NR has no data. Look through the awesome expanse of verbiage he has produced and you will quickly see an immense and ultimately hollow exercise in verbal logic. By allowing symbols and symbol manipulation to completely stand-in for data and for the meaning of experiences of black interpersonal communion -and conflating the former with the latter two...., NR has gotten himself lost and egoically invested in the exercise."
Wow. Your ad hominem critique and brilliant psychoanalysis of me notwithstanding, I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed.
Did I lie?
"Data" does not give meaning to culture. For the most part, culture is largely symbolic anyhow.
NR, once again I believe you've overthought the problem. We are a group of persons participating in..., got it? Nothing symbolic about that.
When Smith and Carlos put on the black gloves in the '68 Olympics.... was it "data" that compelled them to do so?
Black enthused those brothers in that moment. [en-thumos "god filled"]
I'm sure they were in the back after the race doing some hellafied number crunching when they decided, "You know what? According to these figures we need to go out here and put our fists in the air with these black gloves on." I suppose that you would say here, that statistically speaking, a cultural symbol of Black Power needed to be represented at the Olympics at that particular time in '68. Culturally speaking, "data" and "facts" do not provide us with an objective meaning. Its the distinction between "facts" and "values". Two people can look at the same "data" but then have wildly different conclusions with regards to the "meaning" or "value" of those "facts". In order to give "meaning" to any "fact" you have to subjectively apply "value" to the "fact". One person looks at the U.S. Black prison "data" and makes one conclusion (racist system, etc...) while another person looks at the same "data" and makes another (Blacks are more criminal, etc...).
You've wandered off into hyperbole brah..., bring it back down to earth.
I assume you follow Temple3 in believing that "blackness is about the multiplicity of ways of being". Now, in your esteemed opinion, is there an order of rank among these sundry ways of being in such a way that we could objectively say that one way of being was superior to the others?
Did I answer this to your satisfaction at the outset of this post?
Apparently you seem to think so, since you "have equated high black culture with orthodox Christianity". And I assume that you hold "high" culture in opposition to "low" culture.
It's a question of mass and density. I'd consider 1957 an historical inflection point in the mass and density of black community. This is, however, an admittedly sentimental notion.
The "highest" Black culture is the Black culture in which "acting White" doesn't exist. (You'll say, "Where is the 'data' which proves that acting White exists in the aggregate?" --even though countless people have heard it said countless times in their neighborhood.) The "highest" Black culture is the Black culture in which moral judgments are not made across phenotypical lines. Egoic investments aside, your obsession with "data" blinds you to what is coming out of the mouths of the Black folk.
NR, it's not a part of my experience. The gravity of my blackness may have immunized me against the possibility of ever hearing such a thing. Hang in there brother, my objective is to demonstrate to you that there is a simple, literal alternative to the abstracted constructions of blackness you've interrogated here-to-date.
June 18, 2005
The Scoop on Ben Wallace
ESPN's Scoop Jackson recently cobbled together a few words about the engine that drives the Pistons...
LKS, you are right...Wiley is missed...there are a number of places Scoop could have with this, but does not bring it home because...
he argues that Wallace makes white America comfortable in ways that Iverson never could, but says that his look (ostensibly the same as Iverson's) is what America and the NBA are afraid of...I don't think so (more below). I don't know that black folks aren't offended by white people wearing afros. The fact that white folks haven't caught a beat down in the Palace doesn't mean they won't catch a beat down in Greek Town or rolling out of The Joe. The Palace is a LOOONG way from the D. Still, Wallace's popularity does tug at the mythical American work ethic...
but, here again, how does Scoop J reference African labor in America without mentioning slavery explicitly. Jackson writes, "America, also, is a country built by black folk. From the cotton woven into the shirts we wear down to the concrete laid on the roads we travel, this country in large part was built on the backs of people like the ancestors who gave birth to Ben Wallace." The issue is not labor, but uncompensated labor, state-sponsored terrorism, and institutionalized practices to preclude capital formation or land tenure by Africans. Perhaps this was simply a stylistic choice by Scoop. Maybe. Nonetheless, this topic presents an opportunity to link Michigan's own John Conyers calling for reparations? 'Cause there's more to this than meets the eye. After all, it is the salary of athletes and entertainers that stands as one of white America's loudest, albeit weakest, counters to Conyers' appeal.
From a political standpoint, Big Ben is the strong, silent type. Contrast him with a guy like Mahmoud Abdur-Rouf (birth name Chris Jackson). He rose to national prominence for refusing to stand or face the flag during the national anthem. Since being white listed from the league, his house was firebombed and he has had no opportunity to restore himself to the NBA. He was absolutely the BEST scoring guard the NCAA has seen in decades...Prior to his embrace of Islam (fasting for Ramadan), and evolving Tourrette's Syndrome, he was an unbelievable on-court talent. He had "in the gym" range on the jumper (good out to 30+ feet), the quickest release in the game, a sick handle, and he was a good on the ball defender. So, his legacy is significantly different than that of Iverson or any other player still in the league.
His article got me to thinking about cats who are persona non grata in the NBA. Aside from Mahmoud Abdur Rouf, I came up with Craig Hodges (also Muslim), Kermit Washington (KO of Rudy T - back in the day...and I will say that had Rudy T grown up in any hood - he would know better than to run up behind someone engaged in a fight, regardless of his intentions...ya just don't do it...hell, I knew that in 2nd grade), Kareem Abdul Jabbar...and that's about it...the rest of the outsiders linked to drugs (usually given an infinite number of rehab shots). It's interesting that this league with so many Africans in its employ has taken such a neo-Bull Connor approach to these four men. Rick Barry is a fifth outsider worthy of mention. It seems the story on him is that his ego precluded folks from wanting to work with him...
Wallace doesn't really make white folks comfortable in a way that Iverson never could. Rodman makes white folks comfortable in a way that Iverson never could. From wearing a dress to kicking black cameramen in the balls to the creative hair coloring, Rodman epitomized the Black man posing the smallest threat to white folks. Ben Wallace is hardly that. Ben Wallace could well be "the spook who sat by the door." And, so, insecure, absurd white folks can wear Afro wigs and root and cheer, but beyond the confines of the hoop and the hardwood, Wallace is his own man - with his own mind.
The media would have us believe that anyone wearing tattoos and cornrows is a thug - and yet, the two hardest working men in the league (Wallace and Iverson) have embraced this look. Iverson is as popular in Philadelphia as Wallace is in Detroit. Iverson may not be popular with certain members of the media, but he is certainly a draw across the league. Until D'Wade's emergence in Miami, Iverson's jersey was a top-seller. Hard work is it's own reward and only small minds really believe America is really afraid of tattoos and cornrows. After all, in how many arenas of public/private/incarcerated life do tattoos and cornrows hold sway? It is limited by any measure. All of this notwithstanding, Big Ben is attractive to national and regional firms: EA Sports NBA 2K5, Ford...and more sure to follow - if he wants that - which is a question.
Is it the symbol or the substance? After all, tattoos and cornrows (or even a wedding dress)won't get your house firebombed and it won't get you banned from the league.
June 17, 2005
A Thought
Let's say I have a child in public school.
Let's say that my child brings home copies of pages to read from a book every night. Let's also say that the teacher makes those copies instead of sending home a book with each child because the school "doesn't have enough money to buy books for every child in the class."
Why should a parent of that child in the school care about the following quote from Walter Williams?
"if money were the answer, Washington public schools would be the best in the nation -- if not the world. Per student expenditures are $10,500 a year, second highest in the nation. With a student-teacher ration of 15.8, they have smaller-than-average class sizes. What is the result? In only one of the city's 19 high schools do as many as 50 percent of its students test as proficient in reading, and at no school are 50 percent of the students proficient in math. At nine high schools, only 5 percent or fewer of its students test proficient in reading; and in 11 high schools, only 5 percent or less are proficient in math."
If the parent is not in D.C., is it most likely that the parent will only care his child doesn't have a book because the school lacks money?
Lifting Up By Tearing Down
Today I was in a meeting when my mind wondered and then an interesting thought came to me.
I keep harping on the fact that public "Black conservative" commentators, present mostly negative about the Black community and hardly ever anything positive.
In doing so, there is always the tearing down of "Black leaders" and it seems to go hand in hand with the effort to "build themselves" up.
From the bits and pieces I saw of Tavis Smiley's "Black Summit", it appeared to be more of an affirmation of what can be done. From what I saw of Jesse Lee Peterson's summit on CSPAN, it was nothing but a full frontal attack on "Black leadership". In fact, one Black conservative noted the "attack mode".
Just recently I attended a “Black Conservative” forum in Washington, D.C.. I was expecting or really hoping for inspiration, some direction and good networking opportunities. As I sat, watched & listened I was disappointed as I saw “Brothers” that I highly respect slump to what I considered to be pitiful mediocrity. It would be one thing if this were a unique instance, but on a regular basis now I am seeing black conservatives become something that I do not find particularly attractive. And I know that if I am struggling with it, those outside the fold are finding it even harder to want to join us.I believe that it might be a case of abused child syndrome. You have a child raised in a home where one or both parents are alcoholics, and abusive. The child grows up swearing it will never grow up to be like that, then fast forward 20-30 years and they have become exactly what they hated. Black conservatives appear to be headed in that direction.
[Side note 1: Alvin Williams didn't show up for the event. This caused Jesse Lee Peterson to call the man many names, none of which dealt with being a child of God.
Side note 2: I have an "internet history" with the commentator that I referenced and it is not pretty. In the past I've found him to be intellectually dishonest. He was a member of the "Black conservative" email list that I was on. ]
Cobb, who I have much respect for, has stated that he attacks the NAACP because they "suck the air out of the room".
I disagree. They provide nothing to public discourse. For example, they provide no new information on vouchers and they sway no opinions on the matter. They don't suck up the air. They are inert.
But my wandering mind brought to light something of which I have a strong dislike: Building yourself up by tearing down someone or something else.
Then, temple3 stated something that I have been mulling over for some time now. If "Black conservatives" have not been able to sway more people in their direction, maybe it is because they "tear down" others to "raise themselves up".
I've noticed that liberals get the "feeling thing" and "utopian thing" going, even if the logic behind their ideas quickly breaks down. But, they are going for something affirmative. Of course, this breaks down lately as many have seemed to lose their damned minds. But I think the generalization holds somewhat.
Maybe on that last part I'm wrong, but if I am, I'm not far off. You see, it's the same thing J.C. Watts said when he was in office about Republicans attitudes towards Blacks. He said, paraphrasing, that Republicans tell Blacks what they are against, but what are Republicans FOR?
See, a positive affirmation. Yeah, that's what's missing.
Inviso
As soon as you try to catch blackness and set it within predefined borders...it moves. But I'm repeating myself...
Brand Black
An FDA Advisory Panel has approved their assertion..,
both contrary to known genetic fact, and baseline ethical understanding..,
that blackness is substantially more than shared cultural identity - and they're intent on telling you what you think. Cause it's an equally well-established fact that if you repeat a lie often enough and for long enough, it becomes a truth in consensus reality...,
Ways of Being
One love peoples.
Simply, Blackness is not a singular way of being, but it is a way of being because it is a metaphor for identity; and identity is lived (dynamically, and in relationship to other identities) - and not a literal expression of culture. We should really move beyond these discussions of whether or not blackness or "authentic blackness" or "blacker than thou blackness" is monolithic or even subject to the dictates of any one of us. We arrived from a multiplicity of places...we arrived speaking a multiplicity of languages and embracing a multiplicity of beliefs.
For me, the primary legacy of slavery was that Africans lost the power to provide security. In the absence of security, we have been unable to stabilize our institutions, build wealth or reinforce culture through indigenous ownership of media (newspapers, television, film, radio, etc.). Hence, there is not a single industry that is dominated by blacks, nor are there sufficient wealthy individuals to begin to institutionalize the cultural practices espoused by the likes of Cosby. Wealthy folks like Cosby do not provide enough jobs to black folks to modify behavior in the manner of a Henry Ford or a John D. (pimpin' hoes like John Dewey).
In the absence of internal coercion or external pressures (read pre-1965 Jim Crow stuff), folks splinter and seek individual benefit or go for self, as it were. Those actions and the resulting diversity are not necessarily expressions of blackness, but I believe those are VALID expressions of ways of being black - precisely because being black is about context - identity is about context. The question of authenticity or validity or right or wrong seems misplaced - because what are we to do? It seems the choices are to become a self-conscious agent in your life or to proceed along a continuum of pre-selected options that may or may not serve you, that may or may not connect you to other black folks, that may or may not connect you to white folks, that may or may not compel you to live abroad, etc. That is the life we all lead - some choose a Cartesian approach to life that puts it all in play as a question...that is atypical - regardless of "racial identity." And so, this self-selected group of blog heads appears to have found one another through a somewhat Cartesian approach.
I read through the NR piece about a thing to be vs. a way of being and I can't get there. I understand the concept...but blackness is about the multiplicity of ways of being...and besides, I believe you are what you say you are. If you say you're black, then you are - regardless of "how you act" because we've got it all in the collective...and if you say you aren't, then you aren't regardless of your actions and your phenotype...because if you don't vibe with someone, that is the end of the ballgame...if you do vibe, then it's all good. I don't vibe with Sowell and negro apologists because I think they're hired guns with small brains, but I like my man Stanley Crouch - not word for word, but I don't like my daddy word for word - and I don't have to.
I would define blackness as the manner in which people create(present-future), use(past-present-future), and reinforce(past-present) or reject(past-present-future) shared elements of a collective identity, embraced in whole or in part by members of the African diaspora and continent. This manner of creating, using, reinforcing and rejecting is a way of being that is manifest in millions of different ways - but there are many appreciable "singularities."
A final share: I went upstairs in my office building to grab a bite to eat. I starting talking to one of the brothers working in the cafeteria and the conversation got around to Magic Shave. He starts talking about how his father kept a butter knife in the bathroom - and of course, I knew what he was talking about because my father keeps a butter knife in the bathroom, as do I. This is one item of shared identity between black men that would never be a topic of shared conversation across "racial" groups. It is unique - but obviously not all black men shave their heads...not all black men have a runway atop the dome...that does not marginalize my experience or make it any less real - just as my cousins proficiency in physics, calculus and writing should not marginalize him - it will only do so