This New Years Eve be careful.

This post is for the men who read the field's blog (especially you single ones). I am going to play dear Abby for just a minute and hip you to some things that you should know during this time of year.


OK, here is the deal; if you are in a relationship with a female, or if you are married to someone you want to stay married to, you might want to consider the following: Make sure that you are with your significant other when that clock strikes 12:01 AM this New Year. Not 12:05, not 12:10, but 12:01 AM. There is no time of year more important to a woman in terms of having you there with her than New Years Eve, and no time on the clock will be as important as 12:01 AM on January 1st. Not Valentines Day, not Christmas, not even her own birthday. New Years Eve; get it? Christmas is for family, so she won't mind you being away from her with your family, because more than likely she wants to be with hers as well. Valentines? Forget about it, you can always send her flowers. And believe it or not, birthdays are not going to be such a big deal to your significant other either. Birthdays remind her that she is getting older, and after thirty that's not a good thing for any of us.



All you "players" (you know who you are) out there please pay attention, because the field is trying to save you some grief. Back in the day when the field was still single, he lived in a central time zone area, and had a significant other on the East Coast. This was perfect, because the field could call his East Coast par amour at 11:01 central time, spend about a half an hour on the phone and then hook up with his central time zone love interest in time for 12:01 AM her time. The next year my long distance East Coast love interest insisted that we spend New Years Eve together or else. Of course the field couldn't' deliver, and, well, the rest as they say is history. Now fellows I would not recommend you trying this at home. Honesty is always the best policy. And just in case Mrs. Field is reading this post, as Bernie Mac says; this stuff happened "a long long time ago". But I tell this story to make a point. You players out there like to play games during the holiday seasons, but this time of year is different. This time of year timing is important, because this holiday is all about time. The passing of it, and the welcoming of the future and what it has to offer.


I can't explain why New Years Eve is so important to a woman, but believe me, it is. Maybe it's what it represents. The start of something new, and the celebration of things to come. Women are far more optimistic than men, and I think that might have something to do with it. We think the new year will bring more of the same, while the women among us see great possibilities and potential. This might be why they want us there to share this particular moment with them, because of what it represents.


So fellows, if you care about the one you are with, be there for New Years Eve. If you don't care about the one you are with, there is an easy way to end it. Just find yourself somewhere else when that clock strikes 12:01, and I guarantee you that it will be your last New Years Eve together.


Now go on and make your reservations.

MY PICKS FOR THE PEOPLE WHO DID THE MOST TO FUCK UP THE REPUBLIC IN 2007.

George Bush- Duh! We could have had him on this list every year since 2001.

Dick Cheney- See the previous post.

The Republican candidates for president- All male, all white, and all scary as fuck.

Mass murderers- Colleges, churches, malls; nowhere was safe from these sick mother fuckers.

Erik Prince-as CEO of Blackwater, this bible toting fascist has his own private army. God help us. Oh wait, god will only help him. We are truly fucked!

The U.S. congress- These assholes have an approval rating in the low twenties. Why? Because they allowed the frat boy to have his way; and, because they are as slimy and as sleazy as ever.

Larry Craig, Bob Allen,Richard Curtis,Donald Fleischman, and Glenn Murphy, Jr.-All these phony ass republicans have a sexual secret to hide, but openly act as if gays are trying to destroy the republic. You hypocritical dick heads can all kiss my black ass......correct that; you might enjoy it too much.

Britney Spears and her newly knocked up sister-Enough already!

Don Imus- "Nappy headed hoes"? But not to worry, he has shown his love for black people by putting two token house Negroes on his show.

Michael Medved- He doesn't think slavery was that bad. Hey, he is speaking for 30% of the folks here in A-merry-ca, so get used to it.

Rupert Murdoch- His FAKE NEWS empire just keeps growing, and A-merry-cans just keep tuning in.

Television political and social pundits-Out of touch, and out of things to say. You all should just shut up and stop stealing money from the networks.

Alberto Gonzales-This lying little twit set the justice department back 50 years.

Mitt Romney- All lies and all smiles. This phony with the Colgate smile deserves a special place away from the other re-puke-lican candidates for president because he is the most dangerous. Yes, even more dangerous than Rudy.

O.J. Simpson-After you killed those two people and got away with it, you should have gotten as far away from A-merry-ca as possible. But somehow you were still under the illusion that white folks loved your house Negro ass. Well they got you now, and trust me, they won't miss twice.

Television news producers-For giving us wall to wall news about missing white women, and failing to tell us about all the others.

Reed Walters- District Attorney LaSalle Parrish, Louisiana. For your handling of the Jena Six case. Nuff said!

David Patraeus-Because of your use of the frat boy's talking points we are still mired in this fucked up war. The "Move On" people were right.

Nancy Pelosi-If she spent as much time doing her job as she does on her fucking clothes and makeup we might get somewhere in congress.

And every single House Negro that I featured on my side bar in 2007.

Let's impeach his ass!

Here comes another cut and paste job. (Hey, I am on vacation)

This article penned by some members of the Judiciary Committee is serious, and it should not be ignored.

Did I mention that I agree with it 100%?

"The allegations that he abused power are credible.

[U.S. Reps. Robert Wexler (D., Fla.), Luis Gutierrez (D., Ill.) and Tammy Baldwin (D., Wis.)
are members of the Judiciary Committee]

Last month, the House of Representatives voted to send a resolution of impeachment of Vice President Cheney to the Judiciary Committee. As members of the House Judiciary Committee, we strongly believe these important hearings should begin.

The issues at hand are too serious to ignore, including credible allegations of abuse of power that, if proven, may well constitute high crimes and misdemeanors under the Constitution. The allegations against Cheney relate to his deceptive actions leading up to the Iraq war, the revelation of the identity of a covert agent for political retaliation, and the illegal wiretapping of American citizens.

Now that former White House press secretary Scott McClellan has indicated that the vice president and his staff purposely gave him false information about the outing of Valerie Plame Wilson as a covert agent to report to the American people, it is even more important for Congress to investigate what may have been an intentional obstruction of justice. Congress should call McClellan to testify about what he described as being asked to "unknowingly [pass] along false information." In addition, recent revelations have shown that the administration, including the vice president, may have again manipulated and exaggerated evidence about weapons of mass destruction - this time about Iran's nuclear capabilities.

Some of us were in Congress during the impeachment hearings of President Bill Clinton. We spent a year and a half listening to testimony about Clinton's personal relations. This must not be the model for impeachment inquiries. A Democratic Congress can show that it takes its constitutional authority seriously and hold a sober investigation, which will stand in stark contrast to the kangaroo court convened by Republicans for Clinton. In fact, the worst legacy of the Clinton impeachment - where the GOP pursued trumped-up and insignificant allegations - would be if it discourages future Congresses from examining credible and significant allegations of a constitutional nature when they arise.

The charges against Cheney are not personal. They go to the core of the actions of this administration, and deserve consideration in a way the Clinton scandal never did. The American people understand this, and a majority supports hearings, according to a Nov. 13 poll by the American Research Group. In fact, 70 percent of voters say the vice president has abused his powers, and 43 percent say he should be removed from office right now. The American people understand the magnitude of what has been done and what is at stake if we fail to act. It is time for Congress to catch up.

Some people argue that the Judiciary Committee cannot proceed with impeachment hearings because it would distract Congress from passing important legislative initiatives. We disagree. First, hearings need not tie up Congress for a year and shut down the nation. Second, hearings will not prevent Congress from completing its other business. These hearings involve the possible impeachment of the vice president - not of our commander in chief - and the resulting impact on the nation's business and attention would be significantly less than the Clinton presidential impeachment hearings. Also, even though President Bush has thwarted moderate Democratic policies that are supported by a vast majority of Americans - including children's health care, stem-cell research, and bringing our troops home from Iraq - the Democratic Congress has already managed to deliver a minimum-wage increase, an energy bill to address the climate crisis and bring us closer to energy independence, assistance for college tuition, and other legislative successes. We can continue to deliver on more of our agenda in the coming year while simultaneously fulfilling our constitutional duty by investigating and publicly revealing whether Cheney has committed high crimes and misdemeanors.

Holding hearings would put the evidence on the table, and the evidence - not politics - should determine the outcome. Even if the hearings do not lead to removal from office, putting these grievous abuses on the record is important for the sake of history. For an administration that has consistently skirted the Constitution and asserted that it is above the law, it is imperative for Congress to make clear that we do not accept this dangerous precedent. Our Founding Fathers provided Congress the power of impeachment for just this reason, and we must now at least consider using it. "

So what the fuck are we waiting for? Let's do this.

Check out Wexler's site and get involved.

This is going to be my final

post concerning my black re-puke-lican friend's challenge. (See, I am still calling him a friend)


I was over in his house when I noticed a comment that was worth duplicating, as it sums up this entire debate in a very lucid way. (BTW, for a real treat check out the comments left in cobbland by "before the mayflower", and "the cocoa goddess")


So Ana, great post, and thanks for leaving it so that I can do a cut and paste job while I try to enjoy my vacation.


"Cobb, Why are you so defensive? The question that begs to be answered here is:Why have the Republicans alienated and ignored the African American community? Action speaks louder than words.Do you really believed that African Americans have abandoned the Republican party because they are foolish? Instead of being angry with Black folks for calling things as they are, why don't you and your fellow Republicans identify and mount serious' agendas to create policies that would attract and include Black people. This rambling here smacks as an agenda to perpetuate the status quo and to defend Massa's interests. Hey, and to the individual who claimed that Caribbeans, Black Central and South Americans are Conservative Republicans, that is a vile lie.We are too proud, intelligent and sophisticated and we are very much aware that our conservatism is not equal to the selfish, foolish,ignorant,narcissistic, and racist pseudo Conservatism of White Americans. "


Now to be honest, I could have used any one of the great posts left here on this subject, which should tell cobb and his peeps all they need to know about the level of discourse on this and similar sites.


Hopefully, the next time cobb starts throwing around challenges, he will take some time to consider the people he is challenging. C0bb I might be shadow boxing, but no offense, I am not preparing for a fight with you. There are much more formidable opponents to be worried about.

If you think I am "shadowboxing" step into the ring.

Here I am trying to enjoy my holiday season with family and friends. And then, for some reason, (lord only knows why) I log on the Internet to see what's jumping off on the web.


This of course is when I see this: An open attack and challenge to the field from one of my black re-puke-lican friends.

Poor cobb, he loves and embraces the conservative movement, but the feelings aren't mutual. He and those of his ilk have chosen sides, and they can't turn back now. They are stuck with the conservative movement for better or for worse. Unfortunately for cobb and his friends, when it comes to black folks,it has been for the worse. He just can't admit to himself that there are nefarious forces in his party working to keep us out, and who would use the race- card and other wedge issues to stay in power.

No wonder the black conservative is always so angry and so shrill. He has declared his allegiance and he can't go back now. So instead, he tries to create illusions and straw- man arguments to justify his erroneous and misguided beliefs. He refuses to face the reality of Nixon and his Southern Strategy; Ronald Reagan, and his Philadelphia Mississippi, moment. George Bush, 41 and his Willie Horton moment. The racist original puppet master, Lee Atwater .(may his miserable soul rot in hell) The new school racist, puppet master, Karl Rove. The racist speaker of the house, Newt Gingrich. The racist "commander the thief", George Bush, 43, who made sure that his "Southern strategy" of embracing Bob Jones was fully in place when he ran. And of course, we can fast forward to the current crop of re-puke-lican candidates for the highest office in the land. They have even expanded their "Southern Strategy" farther south. (Think Mexico, and their Paul Revere style cries that the brown people are coming) Yes cobb, there are plenty of those and more where they came from. But time doesn't permit me to get into it here as much as I would like, because I still have to enjoy my vacation.

Sorry cobb, your straw man argument about a bunch of irrelevant conservative bloggers who are high on a phony ass food chain is just ludicrous. -As if they would actually come out on their blogs and endorse a perceived racist strategy by their party- They would never openly admit to such a strategy. And you and I both know that. Do you think it's an accident that everyone associates the "Southern Strategy" with your party?

At the end of the day cobb, I feel sorry for you. You attack my site and the people that post here by calling them a bunch of "synchophants" (that's a big word, maybe woozie can interpret it for me). Yet we have nothing but love for you, because even though you don't, we still consider you one of us. Don't blame me or the people who come to the fields because you cannot juxtapose your political beliefs with the racist history and the political reality of the party you embrace. That's not their fault. You should be working within your party to try and change it, you should be using your considerable writing talents to enlighten them and make them understand your race and your people. You should not be making excuses for them and attack the people of your race for not embracing them. "Shadowboxing"? If you think I am shadowboxing always feel free to step into the ring with me. And as for being a "blight to the spirit of the blogosphere"; my question to you would be what spirit? Over here our spirits are fine, because in spite of the victimology tag, we know where we stand politically and socially in A-mery-ca. Unlike you, our conscience is free.

Anyway cobb, I hope I could help to enlighten you , and that I answered some of the questions in your challenge. Hopefully this will better help you to understand what us black folks think of your party, and why we feel--and more importantly vote-- the way that we do.


BTW, you can send the $20 you owe me to the Boys and Girls Club of Los Angeles. I don't need the money.

Have a irie holiday mon!

I am heading out of town for the holiday season. But I will have my lap top and my blackberry so I will be posting and commenting whenever I can. (You know me, I always have something to say)

So anyway, I want to wish everyone reading this a happy holiday season.

I know I wasn't very nice last year, but this year I vowed to be more in tune with the holiday spirit......

So big up to all of you and your families. Enjoy them while they are here.

Peace.

I want to thank my man over at "good rasta man" for having this image on his site so that I can lift it.

It depends on what your definition of "saw" is.

You gotta love Slick Romney, not only does the guy have a mug for central casting, but apparently he has the acting skills to fit right into Hollywood as well.

Did you catch the latest from the Mitt Romney Phony Tour? I did. I saw Mitt tell Tim Russert that his civil rights cred is in tact because he saw his dad march with Dr. King. And then, like any great actor, he cried right on cue.

Of course there is one little problem; Mitt's daddy, George, never actually marched with Dr. King, so there is no way that Mitt could have seen what he claimed to have seen. There has to be something seriously pathological about a man who can go on national television and tell such an obvious lie. I mean Bubba was good, but I think this guy is better. At least Bubba was trying to save his marriage. (What man in his right mid would want Hillary mad at him?)

"If you look at the literature, if you look at the dictionary, the term 'saw' includes being aware of in the sense I've described,... it's a figure of speech and very familiar, and it's very common. And I saw my dad march with Martin Luther King. I did not see it with my own eyes, but I saw him in the sense of being aware of his participation in that great effort." Huh?

Poor Mitt, he is trying his best to spin this one. He claims that when he says he "saw" his dad march with King, he meant it in a figurative and not a literal way. He says that his daddy told him that he had marched with King when he was growing up . (My god man have you no shame?) Mitt, you said you "saw" your daddy march with King. I mean how can you spin that shit? When I say that I sat through a sound check with Bob Marley, I literally mean that I sat through a sound check with Bob Marley. I don't mean that I sat through a sound check listening to Bob Marley. I meant that I was actually sitting with Bob Marley at that sound check. You don't forget shit like that, just like you wouldn't forget watching your dad march with Dr. King.

Now this makes me wonder about Mitt's little story about pulling to the side of the road and crying when he heard that his church was going to start treating blacks as equals. In fact, it makes me wonder about a lot of things Mitt has said and done. Mitt strikes me as the kind of guy who would say that his daddy owned slaves if he thought that's what A-merry-cans wanted to hear.

But such is the life of a politician; always being slick, always prevaricating, and always saying what they think people want to hear. We have come to expect this, it's just that Mitt seems so much better at it than all the others.

***I want to thank rikyrah for commenting in the fields and bringing this story to the forefront of my consciousness****

"Bust a move"!

So last night I was at my seventh, or was it eight ( I lost count) Christmas party of the season. This was one of those shindigs thrown by one of the bigger law firms in town. It was at the Bellevue Hotel and there had to be over 500 people in attendance.

Anyway, I was having a decent time inspite of the crowd. I was making my rounds, swiping the finger foods from the trays, and sipping some cocktails. By the time the DJ started playing the standard party songs, I found myself in the company of some older melanin challenged attorneys. I recognized a classic Kool & The Gang joint , and I think I shook my head ever so slightly. This is when, of course, I got the "why aren't you "busting a move"? query ( Honest to god she said "bust a move"). I preceded to tell her that I couldn't dance. And the truth of the matter is, if it's not reggae or a slow jam, you will never see the field on the dance floor. I just have never been able to "bust a move". I tend to do all my dancing horizontally if you get my drift. Still, I enjoy watching a good dancer or dancers as much as the next person, I just can't "bust a move" unless there is a reggae beat. I can't even do that electric slide, which is a group dance if I ever saw one. "Field slide your ass right back to the sidelines, you are confusing us."

"Come on field, time to head out to the dance floor". I truthfully told her again that I could not, but she wasn't having it. "Come on I know you can dance." She almost came out and said; Your people are all dancers, but she didn't. Still, I could see the disappointment in her eyes. How could a black man not dance to some funky ass Kool & The Gang? I was doing some thinking too; "Why would your racist ass just assume that I can dance because I am black." But I didn't, I just excused myself and went to the next group.

Sometimes it pays to just punt.

Killing fields!

More crime news from my city which is fast becoming known more for its murders than its cheese steaks.

The following report is from my hometown paper, The Philadelphia Inquirer:

"Police have issued a warrant for a 29-year-old woman, charging her with killing her mother inside her Cobbs Creek home yesterday morning, and then setting fire to the residence to cover up the crime.

Police said Jahina Damon arrived at her mother's home in the 6000 block of Cobbs Creek Parkway before dawn and shot her 53-year-old mother, Lolita Lee, and fired at two other people in the house. They were not hit.

Police were called to the Cobbs Creek home after reports of gunfire at about 5:10 a.m. Arriving officers, however, found heavy smoke coming out of the first floor and notified the Fire Department. The blaze was brought under control at 5:33 a.m.
Lee's body was found in the kitchen, police said. She had been shot at least once in the chest. Firefighters say her body was burned beyond recognition.

Police said one of the people who had been in the home when Damon arrived was a woman who drove herself to Delaware County Memorial Hospital to seek treatment for serious burns.
She was transported to Crozer-Chester Medical Center, where she was listed in critical condition. The other person in the house during the attack, a man described as the victim's boyfriend, was not injured. Their names were not released.

Police said Damon, whose last known address was the home where her mother lived, has a history of mental illness and has been committed in the past. Police did not talk about a motive for the killing."

So this 29 year old shoots her mother and burns her body to try and cover up the crime. Who the fuck does that? I mean you kill your own mother, and then you torch her corpse? And before you start with me about her alleged mental issues; save it. She wasn't that crazy, she tried to cover up her crime.

Folks, it's getting ugly here, and I guarantee you that it will get worse before it gets better.

Trust me on this one, I am someone who is used to living in a place with lots of murders and savagery. But that's in a Third World country, where poverty is rampant, and politics is literally a blood sport. Aren't we supposed to be in A-mery-ca where we can purse happiness, and not resort to killing our own family members or causing their deaths?

I guess just being in A-merry-ca can't save some of us from poverty and hopelessness. I know, I see it every day. But unlike in some Third World country, we live in a society where the government just approved another seventy billion dollars to fund a useless war, and homes are selling for forty million dollars.

So we really have to ask ourselves; what's our excuse? I have a possible answer. Could it be that in the course of pursuing happiness we forgot the things that truly made us happy in the first place?

Just a thought.

These republicans aren't helping the republic.

I was looking for some interesting reading on the web when I found the following article from David Neiwert. Now he is telling us what most of us already know, but he still makes some very interesting points. Especially when he writes about my friends in the re-puke-lican party.

"Recently the New York Times carried a report on the "noose incidents" that have been occurring with rising frequency around the country, inspired seemingly by the protests over the "Jena 6" case.The report came complete with a graphic showing where the incidents have occurred.

Remarkably, it isn't just happening in the South: the incidents are also being reported in places like Minneapolis; Cicero, Ill.; Pittsburgh; Philadelphia; Newark; Baltimore; and New London, Conn. Equally striking was the analysis from Mark Potok, the SPLC's Intelligence Project director, who wrote: These incidents are worrying, but even more so is the social reality they reflect. The level of hate crimes in the United States is astoundingly high - more than 190,000 incidents per year, according to a 2005 Department of Justice study. And the number of hate groups, according to the annual count by the Southern Poverty Law Center, has shot up 40 percent in recent years, from 602 groups in 2000 to 844 in 2006. It seems that the September rally in Jena - much as it was seen by many civil rights activists as the beginning of a new social movement - signaled not a renewed march toward racial and social justice, but a surprisingly broad and deep white backlash against the gains of black America.Indeed, as Digby observes, "The racist beast is clamoring to be set free." The old once again is new: there's a "new racism" that pretends to be daring new thinking, dashing the molds of political correctness, but really is just the same old shit recycled. And it's not even relegated strictly to the right: Witness, for the most recent example, William Saletan's sally into the rancid fields of eugenics. That this is happening is acutely clear for African Americans, historically the chief victims of racist hate in America, as the noose episodes suggest. But it's also becoming true on a broader scale as well, with a rising tide of openly espoused ethnic bigotry manifesting itself in myriad ways, particularly on the immigration front, where Latinos are increasingly targeted by rhetoric emanating from the very highest levels of Republican leadership that manifests itself in a tide of hate crimes; and in the "war on terror," which has provided for an opening for a variety of right-wing figures to spew hateful anti-Muslim rhetoric, with similarly predictable consequences. One kind of hate feeds another; one open expression of bigotry without significant consequence only provides permission for many more to follow, and the inherent violence of such talk inevitably gives permission for people to act it out. Thus this shifting social tide has, just as predictably, brought the broader result of a significant increase in bias crimes of all kinds across the country.And the breadth of the tide also tells us that this is not really about blacks or Latinos or Muslims specifically, but is about the people who fear and despise them: white people.

It's about defending white privilege.And there has been one primary driver for this gravitational shift: generically, the conservative movement, and specifically, its wholly owned subsidiary, the Republican Party.You can hear the push to defend "white culture" from nearly every sector of the right, from Bill O'Reilly: But do you understand what the New York Times wants, and the far-left want? They want to break down the white, Christian, male power structure, which you're a part, and so am I, and they want to bring in millions of foreign nationals to basically break down the structure that we have. In that regard, Pat Buchanan is right.Patrick Buchanan: I think America may exist, but I'll tell you this: I do believe we're going to lose the American Southwest. I think it is almost inevitable. If we do not put a fence on that border ... you're going to have 100 million Hispanics in the country, most of them new immigrants from Mexico, which believes that belongs to them. What's going to happen to us, Sean, in my judgment, is what is happening right now: We are Balkanizing. We are dividing and separating from one another politically, morally -- on issues like abortion or Terri Schiavo -- racially and ethnically, when you get Jena and then you get Don Imus, and all of these things ripping us apart. All the things that used to pull us together and hold us together no longer do.Michael Savage: But basically, if you're talking about a day like today, Martin Luther King Junior Day, and you're gonna understand what civil rights has become, the con it's become in this country. It's a whole industry; it's a racket. It's a racket that is used to exploit primarily heterosexual, Christian, white males' birthright and steal from them what is their birthright and give it to people who didn't qualify for it.This is nothing new, of course.

The defense of white privilege has been a cornerstone of the GOP's electoral appeal ever since the its ardent adoption of the Southern Strategy, dating back to Goldwater and Nixon and continiuing through the Reagan and Bush years. Even Republican strategists acknowledge this to be the case.Joseph Aistrup, in his book The Southern Strategy Revisited: Republican Top-Down Advancement in the South -- a text written primarily to influence GOP politicos -- observes the following: When a GOP presidential candidate's campaign strategy emphasizes racially conservative appeals, he identifies not only himself but his party as the one that protects white interests.

The identification of the GOP, instead of the Southern Democrats, as the protector of white interests, combined with the large infusion of blacks into the Southern Democratic parties, opens the door for Southern whites to abandon their historic ties to the Democrats.It's critical to understand, however, that the Southern Strategy wasn't geared simply toward winning votes in the South -- it also is aimed at white suburbs and rural areas where the defense of white society remains a significant cultural issue. Its reach ran well beyond the South.One way of seeing this clearly is by examining the history of "sundown towns". As James Loewen details (excruciatingly) in his study Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism, there are literally thousands of towns across America -- relatively few of them in the South -- who for much of the 20th century forbade minorities, blacks especially, from living within their communities. Many of them placed signs at the town limits warning "Whites Only After Dark" or "Nigger, Don't Let the Sun Set on You Here" -- that all nonwhites were to be out of town by sundown. In many cases, especially suburbs, no signs were visible, but all-white covenants provided the same effect.Most of the "sundown towns" and "sundown suburbs" that Loewen documents were in the Northeast, the Midwest and West -- the same places where we're seeing "noose incidents," as well as attempts to pass laws aimed at driving out Latinos.These same "sundown towns" have, unsurprisingly, a history of following racial election appeals, including broad support for George Wallace in 1968, and Republican presidential candidates in the ensuing years, all of whom made use of the Southern Strategy's core appeal to white racial interests. As Loewen notes: As a result of such leadership, Republicans have carried most sundown towns since 1968, sometimes achieving startling unaninimity. ... So the "southern strategy" turned out to be a "southern and sundown town strategy," especially in sundown suburbs. Macomb County, for example, the next county north of Detroit, voted overwhelmingly for Wallace in the 1972 Democratic primary. Wooed by Nixon, many of these voters then became "Reagan Democrats" and now are plain Republicans. The biggest single reason, according to housing attorney Alexander Polikoff, was anxiety about "blacks trapped in ghettos trying to penetrate white neighborhoods." [pp.372-373]Take a look at where the nooses are appearing, where the anti-Latino and anti-Muslim hate crimes are occurring. If you look through the incidents, it's clear that many of them are occurring in precincts that, historically, were all-white by design. It's part of the continuing defense of that status quo in those communities that engenders so much of the nation's current racial divide -- with bias crimes, as always the on-the-ground manifestation.

I know that Democrats have been tempted to try to tap into this tide to their short-term electoral advantage; witness Rahm Emanuel and Co.'s attempts to advance an immigration plan that's absurdly enforcement-heavy and reform-light.Before they take that step, they need to stop and think about the consequences. Not just the electoral calculus, considering what it would cost Democrats in terms of the votes of blacks, Latinos, and Muslims who are flocking to them now because of the GOP's increasingly inchoate bigotry, but the real-life results. They need to think about those nooses, and where they come from, and simply do what is right."

And people wonder why I will vote for the dumb-ocratic candidate no matter who it is.

Can we at least keep our children safe?

Sometime last year Djuan Boyd was shot by an unknown assailant. Given Djuan's line of work that was to be expected. According to police reports Djuan Boyd has an extensive criminal record, and he actually served time for a drug arrest in 2004. As the story goes, Djuan became paranoid and started packing a cannon everywhere he went.


Fast forward to 2007, and the tragic death of Mr. Boyd's four year old son in his Grandmother's Southwest Philly home. Sadly, Mr. Boyd chose to play cards with his friends, while his four year old son, Dyshon, was left unattended. Mr. Boyd had a loaded 9 mm Glock in his coat pocket and casually hung it in an upstairs bedroom. Left unattended, little Dyshon found the gun, and, well, you can imagine what happened next. The poor kid shot himself in the throat and later died at Children's Hospital.


To add insult to injury, or I should say death. Mr. Boyd chose to throw the gun out the window and hide the magazine. (it's still missing) Fortunately the authorities found the gun and charged Mr. Boyd with involuntary manslaughter and some lessor charges.



This is the kind of environment we are creating for our children. This is the world we are giving them to live in. I have said this before, but it's worth repeating: If people are going to be just sperm donors and not real parents, what's the point in having children in the first place? If you can play cards and party with your friends while you know you have a loaded Glock and a four year old in your house, you might as well pull the trigger yourself.


Reading this story and the one about Alexis Goggins, almost brought tears to my eyes. And believe me, given the shit that I have seen, and continue to see on a daily basis, that's not easy to do.



"Nahairah Jaamar, little Dyshon's cousin, had this to say about Mr. Boyd: " [he was] a great father" to Dyshon. "Everywhere you saw Dyshon, his father wasn't far behind.
He gave Dyshon the world."



Sorry Nahairah, he took his world from him way too soon.

Some advice from the field.

"Bill Shaheen, husband of ex-Gov. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, a national co-chair of the Clinton campaign, volunteered to The Washington Post his concern at what might happen to Barack Obama, were he to be nominated.

The Republicans are not going to give up without a fight, and one of the things they're certainly going to jump on is drug use," said Shaheen. And, as Obama has admitted in his autobiography to using drugs, this will "open the door" to further probing. "

These quotes are coming from the Xenophobe in chief, Pat Buchanan, from his recent article in Town Hall (yes Francis, I am talking about Obama again. I am actually going for the trifecta with this one), and there is more:

"Well, it's sure going to be harder to overcome, now that Bill Shaheen has suggested young Barack might have been a drug-dealer on the South Side of Chicago, and now that the press has been alerted as to precisely what questions should be put to him -- before Iowa.
Having planted this poisonous weed, Shaheen dutifully resigned. Then Mark Penn, Hillary's top adviser, went on "Hardball" to assure us his campaign would not stoop so low as to raise the issue. Said Penn, "I think we have made clear that ... the issue related to cocaine use is not something that the campaign was in any way raising."

By introducing cocaine, Penn alerted the press that, if Obama did deal drugs, we are not talking airplane glue or mushrooms. This little episode validates Robert Novak's report a month ago, when, relying on a Clinton source among other Democrats, Novak wrote:"

Now these are re-puke-licans quoting bad things that dumb-0crats said about Obama.

I know politics is a blood sport, but if I were the Clintons I would be careful. I caught clips of Bill's interview on Charlie Rose, and he was kind of tough on the half and half man. Bill, since you view yourself as being in the know with us black folks, you should know that black people are very protective of their own, and so you just can't go slamming Obama and not expect there to be consequences. My advise to you would be to chill on the Obama bashing, and focus on the re-puke-licans. Tell Hillary and her people to do the same. Just spend all your money wisely and stay in your lane. Don't go firing up black folks by jumping all over Barack, because come general election time if Hillary is the chosen one from the dumb-ocrat-ic side, she is going to need every black vote she can get. She just can't win states like Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio without the "nappy headed" vote.

But hey, this is just one blogger in Philly who calls himself the field Negro putting in his two cents worth. Hillary has guys who she pays thousands and thousands of dollars to tell her what to do. So she will be fine.....right?

I Am Barack

I caught my homey Will Smith's new flick today, and as a movie, I must say, it was average. ---Although I loved all the Bob Marley references and the soundtrack--

Will needed a hit, and I think he has one with this movie. (77 million this weekend).

But something deeper is going on here, and I am on to those pagans out in Hollywood.

First of all they are trying to get us to vote for Obama for president by putting out this movie now with all its subliminal messages and hidden meanings.

Think about it; black man (who looks a lot like Obama by the way) is one of the few people left on earth and it's up to him to save mankind and future generations from extinction. So not only does he have to concoct an antidote for a deadly virus that's infected humankind, but he has to fight off a bunch of freaky mindless humans in the process. (Think republicans on steroids) He does all this by throwing in a little Rastafarian philosophy of peace and love along the way. He waxes poetic about Bob Marley, and his vision of solving the world's problems such as racism through song and music. (Think other "Magic Negroes" like Oprah)

If all this sounds eerily like Obama's campaign for president, I don't think it was by accident. I am telling you the Hollywood crowd has it in for Hillary. Think about it. Obama, like Will in this movie, preaches optimism and hope for the future. But instead of music he wants to use political speeches and catchy campaign slogans. In the movie Will has to find a cure for a virus that has destroyed most of humanity. Obama has to find a cure for the virus that's effecting the A-merry-can psyche. It's called eight years of George Bush. The movie is so anti republican that Will Smith's character actually declares at one point in the movie that "there is no god". That line was a shot from Hollywood at the Huckabee crowd as well as the other holy roller republican candidates. (But who is complaining?) And the producers of the movie were smart, because in order to keep white folks attention Will Smith's best friend and companion throughout the flick happened to be a dog. (I hope that's not a shot at Barack's wife). That is, of course, until he went to that kennel in the sky...whoops, I said enough about the movie itself, I don't want to ruin it for you.

So sorry Hillary and Bill, the better this flick does at the box office the worse it will be for you. Because the more A-merry-ca watches this little subliminal number, the more a bunch of them will go into the voting booth next November and see Will Smith and not Barack Obama.

If that happens, the words "I Am Legend" will take on a whole different meaning.

President Obama?

A-merry-ca might prove me wrong after all, it seems that one of her leading political parties might actually nominate a black man to represent it in a general election for the presidency of these divided states. If that happens it will be historic, but if he goes on to become president, the field might go into a cardiac arrest.

I actually have a bet with a friend that if Obama is elected president, the day after his inauguration, I will streak at least two blocks down Broad Street. So now that my little Broad Street run is looking more and more like it could happen I am starting to get a little worried. I know my buddy will be holding me to it, and there will be no escaping the consequences of opening my big mouth. Besides, aren't inaugurations in January? It's cold in Philly in January. How will my "Johnson" survive sprinting two city blocks in the freezing cold?


So anyway, now that Obama is surging and the bull's eye is on his back and not Hilary's, I can't wait to see what happens from here. I know the Clintons, and they don't like to lose political battles. The re-puke-licans act like they want to run against Hilary, but I don't believe that for a minute. I actually think that they want to run against Oprah's boy. (Just look at the latest poll from their media arm. This is a trick to get Hilary supporters to relax. Look at what the real polls are saying, and you will see what I am talking about) One thing I will say about the re-puke-licans though, is that they know their A-merry-can voter, and they play hardball when it comes to staying in power. They know that the "average" A-merry-can isn't ready to pull the switch for a black man, even if it's half of one. A woman? Maybe. But a black man? To quote my man Borat, "Not"!

Now don't get me wrong, if Obama were to run for president as a dumb-ocrat, he would win some blue states. ---I give him California,New York, Illinois,Massachusetts, and some other Yankee states. But that's it. Don't for a minute think he would get any states to go blue south of the Mason Dixon line. It just ain't happening. Dead people and babies would be voting against him. I thought Vicksburg Mississippi only had 27,000 people how did they get 40,000 votes for Romney? And let's not even talk about that other thing....all I can say is thank god the man has secret service protection already.

You know what, the more I think about it, the more I think I will be able to keep my clothes on this January and stay out of jail on an indecent exposure charge. But we will see. After all, the re-puke-licans might fool around and elect a guy that thinks all Aids patients should be quarantined, and all wives should submit to their husbands. If they elect that guy, I will have to start doing about 1,000 crunches a day.

Because let's face it, if my naked mug is going to show up on the news somewhere, I might as well have a six pack to show off.

There goes the neighborhood.

Here in the city of "Brotherly Love" also known as Killadelphia, the police are asking the public to help identify vandals who sprayed-painted the walls and carpets of a house in the Port Richmond section of town. It seems these folks painted "KKK" on a living room wall, and they also pretended they were Picasso and wrote; "Keep it white", and "all n___S should be hung" as well.

Now trust me, Port Richmond ain't the main line, but the way some of these poor white folks act, you would think it was. But I learned long ago that poor people can be some of the most racist. If they live in a $60,000 home, they are constantly worried about n...well black people moving in next door. If someone lives in a $600,000 home, h/she ain't worried about just anybody moving in next door. Because guess what; he is thinking if you can afford it, welcome to the neighborhood.

Thankfully the woman who is supposed to move into the property inspected it and didn't find any damages other than the graffiti. Unfortunately, however, she did encounter some white men who made racially charged remarks while she visited the same house.

"That's a disgrace" says Helen Murawski who has been in the neighborhood for years. We should all get along together."

Well, just as long as they stay in their neighborhood, right Helen?

No asterisk needed*

Now that the Mitchell Report is finally out about steroid use in baseball, we will finally get to see what a bunch of hypocrites A-merry-can sports writers are. Remember how every one and their mama vilified Barry Bonds, and when they weren't doing that they were making fun of him? And remember how only Dick Cheney was less popular last summer as Bonds went after baseball's most hallowed record?

They said it was because he cheated; he didn't play by the rules like everyone else; he had an unfair advantage. Well now that we know that a bunch of other people were cheating too, including A-merry-ca's baseball darling, "The Rocket", I wonder if we will hear the same outcry from here on out?

Of course we won't. All we will hear and read about is a bunch of sports writers bemoaning the fact that this report had to come out in the first place. They will make all kinds of excuses for their darlings like Roger Clemens who got caught, but you won't hear about or read anyone saying that maybe, just maybe, Barry Bonds was doing what everyone else was; including all star pitchers. Hey, I am from Philly, and you would have a hard time convincing me that damn near everyone on that 1993 Philies team wasn't juiced up. But instead A-merry-ca picked on Bonds. Why? Because he was the surly non smiling, angry black man, that's why. If he could only have laughed and smiled like Sammy.

So they next few days should be fun. I will enjoy watching these guys moon walk away from this one like Michael Jackson before all the nose jobs. And here is one field Negro who hopes there is no asterisk beside all those Barry Bonds records. Because given all that was going on around him; those records were broken fair and square.

Flip the script.

"December 1, 2007 -- "If you're going to shoot me, shoot me," a Long Island teen said moments before he was slain in showdown over an Internet rape hoax, jurors were told yesterday.

Daniel Cicciaro Jr., 17, shrugged off the danger when John White, 53, raised a .32-caliber handgun to his head outside White's home, according to one of the four teens who joined Cicciaro to confront White's son in the racially charged clash.

In a Riverhead courtroom, Cicciaro's pal Joseph Serrano, 18, testified that White warned, "If you don't get out of here, I'm going to shoot you."
"You're not going to shoot me," Cicciaro replied, according to Serrano. "If you're going to shoot me, shoot me."

Serrano testified that Cicciaro had slapped White's gun away from his forehead.
But White raised the gun a second time and shot Cicciaro in the face, Serrano said.
His testimony rebuts White's claim that he had fired accidentally.

White, a black man, has said he feared the group of white youths was a "lynch mob" coming after him and his son, whom they had accused of making rape threats.
Cicciaro had become incensed earlier that night, on Aug. 9, 2006, when another teen, Jennifer Martin, told him at a party that White's son, Aaron, had used an online chat room to threaten to rape her.

Those threats were later revealed to have been the result of a hoax set up by a friend of Aaron White's on a MySpace Web page.
Serrano said Cicciaro told him that when he called Aaron, the black youth challenged Cicciaro to fight him at the Whites' home in Miller Place.
Cicciaro rounded up friends to go, but Serrano went in a separate car to prevent a fight, Serrano testified.

He conceded that he grabbed a baseball bat but said he never took it out of his car.
Earlier yesterday, jurors heard a 911 call in which another teen, Alex Delgado, screamed, "Yo, my friend just got shot!"
The jury also heard a 911 tape of what went on inside a car as the wounded Cicciaro was rushed to a hospital.

Serrano was heard vowing revenge, using a racial epithet.
"F- - -ing n- - - - -. I'll get him for you, Dano," he said.
Serrano broke down by the time the tape was finished playing. "I was soaked head to toe in blood," he recalled. "

OK Field, so now the script has been flipped, now it's a black man accused of shooting a white interloper on his property to death.

Now what Mr. "Racialist"?

Hmmm, let's see now; these young men were on Mr. Whites property, and they were making racial threats and threatening to do terrible things to his wife and son. Still, not sure if he should have shot the teen to death. But then.... given what I heard on the tape, I might have shot the little mother fucker too.

I know one thing, he (Mr. White) is being charged with manslaughter, and he is sitting in a court room now fighting for his freedom. The last time I checked, Joe the immigrant killer is still free.

Exit stage left please.

It's 12:12 AM. I just finished doing some real work to keep the roof over my head, I am heading to bed, and before I turn off my computer, I lurk over to get some "Nat Turner's Revenge" in me. Of course this is when I see this.

Chris why did you have to remind me of this shit? Now I am going to have to post about Andrew Young's ignorant ass. And please folks before you start with the e-mails and nasty comments about what a great civil rights icon Andy Young is and blah blah blah, spare me, I really don't give a fuck at this point. The operative word here is was. I know the brother marched with King, and for that he will always get my respect. But at some point you have to say: Andy, enough already, get the fuck off the national stage, and go retire and enjoy the rest of your life somewhere. If you are not smart enough to avoid making dumb ass comments and doing stupid shit like being a spokes person for S-cam Walton, just don't do shit.

People get mad at me when I talk about the old guard of the civil rights movement being obsolete, but this is why. While I love people like John Lewis who really got their asses kicked back in day, and even some of my own mentors (may their souls rest in peace) like Dr. Jessie Stone, and E.E. Cleveland, it's time for most (not all) of these people to hang it up. I am even going to surprise some people and say that Rev. Inc. is still cool with me. I honestly don't mind when they do shit to piss off whitey, because I still find that they are willing to do some things that makes the status quo uncomfortable. But for the most part these old vanguards from the past civil rights era are out of touch and far too often focus on the wrong shit.

If I go to one more of these fucking Urban League or NAACP balls at one of these white owned hotels; with all their fucking black tie and phony ass pretentious people, all trying to out do each other, I hope somebody slaps me right on top of my bald ass head. I have had it up to the top of my shine with the likes of Andy Young and all the usual suspects in race inc. You know who the fuck you are.

So thanks Chris for posting that little article and pissing me off tonight. I think I can go to bed now. Oh, Mrs. Field says fuck you for making her life miserable once again.

Joe the hero!

"CALLER: He's going out the window right in and out of. I've got to go, buddy. I'm sorry but he's coming out the window. 911 Operator: Don't go out the door. Mr. Horn? CALLER: They just stole something. I'm going out the door. I ain't going to let them get away with this. They stole something. They got a bag of cash. I'm doing it. 911 Operator: Mr. Horn, do not go out of the house. CALLER: This ain't right, buddy. 911 Operator: You are going to go outside the house if you go out the house with a gun. Stay in the house. CALLER: They're getting away. 911 Operator: That's all right. Property's not worth killing someone over, okay? CALLER: Damn it. 911 Operator: Don't go out the house, don't be shooting nobody. I know you're frustrated but don't do it. CALLER: They got a bag of loot. 911 Operator: Okay. How big is the bag? They are carrying by hand -- they are walking out? Which way are they going? CALLER: I can't -- I'm going outside. I'll find out. 911 Operator: I don't want you going outside, Mr. Horn. CALLER: Well, here it goes, buddy. You hear the shotgun clicking and I'm going. 911 Operator: Don't go outside. CALLER: Don't move, you're dead. (Gunfire)"

That was the 911 transcript from my man Joe Horn's Clint Eastwood moment when he took the lives of two human beings by shooting them in the back. Now Joe is a fucking hero to some of his peeps in Houston (t)exas. "Joe may I have your autograph?"

I know I know, in (t)exas you can use deadly force to defend your neighbor's property. (Although I think the statute is meant for night time incidents only) But when I heard that tape I was convinced that old Joe was going to kill one of those "niggers" he saw burglarizing his neighbors home no matter what. Of course old Joe's attorney said he acted in self defense. Seems when old Joe ran out on his lawn shot gun in hand, one of the burglars turned towards him when he said, "don't move". Yep, that was his cue to let those brown mother fuckers have it. I think Joe felt his life was in danger.

Now I have been watching this case for awhile now, and I can't wait to see if the Harris County grand jury comes back with a criminal indictment against the "nigger" shooter. Hmmm, we are, after all, talking about (t)exas. In fact, I bet ole Joe is a hero to most of his neighbors. Hey, we just can't have these illegals running around breaking into people's homes now can we? "Don't mess with (t)exas." The wages of burglary is death! I even hear that a Houston plain clothes police officer who heard and was answering the 911 call, witnessed the shooting. His ass was lucky he wasn't black, or he would have been shot too. "Mr.. Horn put down that gun, I am a police officer. Yeah right nigger, bang!" But seriously, what the fuck is wrong with these people in (t)exas? Now there are dueling protest and the community has been torn along racial lines because of this bullshit. My question is why? The man shot two people who were robbing another person's house in broad daylight in the back!

Remember that old joke? Where the old southern law man comes upon the body of a black man hanging in a tree with a shotgun blast to the back of his head? And he spits out his chewing tobacco and says: "Damnm, worse case of suicide I done ever seen." That story reminds me of old Joe and his attorney when they say he acted in self defense. If you believe Joe that old Sheriff's assessment of seeing that black man in the tree wasn't so far fetched, and you probably didn't think that joke was funny. If you don't believe Joe, you are probably laughing your ass off.

What's so funny?

I saw an interesting article on the NPR web site where the author had this to say:

" Race is a subject that Americans often approach with trepidation, because of the potential minefield of misunderstandings or hurt feelings. Nearly two generations after the end of legally sanctioned segregation in America, talking about race remains a thorny issue."But in the world of stand-up comedy, the subject of race is not so much a minefield, but rather a goldmine, an endless source of great material," says All Things Considered host Michele Norris. "That's because comedy provides a comfort zone to discuss uncomfortable topics -- a place where audiences can laugh at themselves and look past pain to acknowledge unvarnished truth."

So I was thinking, why is that? Why do we have to be telling jokes to talk about the serious issue of race with one another? I mean I love Dave Chappelle, and sometimes I even like Chris Rock; but it seems the reason most A-merry-cans love them is because they make the uncomfortable issue of racism funny. Racism shouldn't be funny, and we shouldn't have to be laughing to talk about that or any other shit. Some folks take offense because I spell A-merry-ca the way I do. Well guess what; until people in this fucking country realize that every thing isn't fun and games, I will keep spelling it that way. I mean I want to pursue happiness as much as the next guy, but it seems that's all we ever do in this bitch.

We pursue happiness while teenagers are acting out their shoot em up video game fantasies on real fucking people. We pursue happiness while the people we elect to lead us are lying to us about shit like torture and going to war. We keep laughing while an entire generation of young black men are slaughtering each other, while we just keep pumping more guns out there for them to get their hands on. Each one lighter, more powerful, and capable of shooting more bullets than the ones before. We keep laughing while the leadership of an entire political party has been infiltrated by a bunch of Neo Cons ,who are hell bent on making this country into a theocracy. All this while we laugh at Chris Rock's fucking jokes.

Yep, life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And if the happiness doesn't seem to be coming fast enough, we will always have our comedians to help the pursuit go just a little easier.

A Sporting Dilemma.

Sometimes real life won't let you forget the stuff you debate on the Internet.

Last night I caught the Pretty Boy Floyd Ricky Hatton championship fight, and I found myself cheering for my man Pretty Boy to win. Of course that wasn't hard, he is one of my favorite fighters, who I think is right up there with Sugar Ray Leonard as an all time great in his weight division (now watch all the e-mails and nasty comments I get from the folks in Maryland) and I always go for the classic boxer over the brawler. But then I got to thinking: If you follow the "Border Negro's" logic, shouldn't I have been cheering for Hatton? After all, I was born in Jamaica pre-independence so that would make me a British subject no? Shouldn't I then be supporting the Englishman over the A-merry-can? And what about the Black Brits on the other side of the pond? Who were they cheering for? The black man who shared their race, or their fellow country man?

This is one of those age old questions that sports often forces us to confront. When two different sides or individuals are competing, who is your gut telling you to cheer for? When it's your hometown sports team it's usually pretty easy and cut and dry. You are cheering for your hometown team regardless of their racial makeup, or that of the other team. But sometimes it gets a little murky especially where individual sports are concerned. Would the "Border Negro" cheer for a white A-merry-can boxer over a black one from England? I suspect that the "Border Negro" would. But then I must ask myself: Would I cheer for a white Jamaican over an African A-merry-can in a similar event?

I bet most white A-merry-cans, if they are honest, will tell you that they were cheering for Hatton last night. If they are honest. Well, I take that back. I don't think Irish Americans were cheering for him. I have learned this since living here in Philly, and since going to enough Irish bars with the picture of the Queen at the bottom of the urinals. That if it's one thing an Irishman hates is an Englishman, or anything having to do with those damn Brits. It's why the Philadelphia Flyers with their predominantly orange uniforms will never get the Irish support in this town that the Eagles with their green unis get. But I seriously digress. Italians tell me all the time that if it's an Italian athlete in the ring it's a wrap. They are cheering for him no matter what country he is from. It's why Arturo Gatti 's fights were always so popular in this area. Forget Ali, or Joe Louis; to the Italian A-merry-can, Rocky Marciano was the greatest ever. Forget Mays, Ruth, and Mantle; to the Italian A-merry-can, Joe Dimaggio was the greatest baseball player ever. Just ask one and see the answer you get.

But that's cool, that's ethnic and racial pride, and I have no problem with that. If you are white and you want to cheer for the white fighter, cheer on. But what about the "Border Negro", who does he cheer for? The fighter or athlete that represents his country, or the one that represents his race? I am going to confess; when the Jamaican track team or the "Reggae Boyz" compete I damn near always cheer for them. I take that back. I always cheer for them. But that's easy, the Jamaican teams always share my racial identity as well as a birth place. But what would be the case if those teams had all white players and they were competing against teams with black players from A-merry-ca? Who would I cheer for then? Then I would have to say in all honesty that I would probably find myself cheering for the A-merry-can team. The team that shares my racial heritage. But should the "Border Negro" ask himself the same question, I am not so sure his answer would be the same.

I had a friend in high school who was from a little town in Jamaica with a very large German population. All the people from this town looked white, but considered themselves Jamaican. My high school was also a boarding school, and we had kids from all over the world whose parents were more than likely Jamaican but who had migrated to other countries and sent their kids back to Jamaica to go to school. There were many African A-merry-can kids who were born and raised in places like New York, but were on the rock to attend school. Franz Neuman, (his real name because I have no idea where he is now. I think he is in Canada somewhere) my German Jamaican running buddy would always be into some kind of shit or another. He was somewhat of a bad ass, and was always getting into shit with people. So after my debate with the Border Negroes yesterday I found myself thinking about Franz. What if Franz was in a serious ass fight with one of his African A-merry-can born classmates and was getting his ass kicked? Would I jump in and get his back? Well yeah, with Franz that's easy, he was my friend, so maybe I would have. But what if he wasn't my friend? This would be the classic dilemma wouldn't it? White Jamaican getting his ass kicked by black A-merry-can, do I step in then?

I challenged the "Border Negroes", so I must also challenge myself. Honestly, I think I would let him get his ass kicked, but then, I don't know. It might also depend on whether the A-merry-can kicking his ass was a "Border Negro" or not.

I am going to go ahead share something with you.

I get a manicure at least twice a month. Mrs. Field turned me on to manicures right after we got married and I have been getting them ever since. ( Hey it costs me $10 plus tips and I could blow that money on far lessor things) I find that it's a necessary part of my profession because I am always signing my name and my hands are always in plain view.

So anyway, today I am in my little manicure shop and my Vietnamese manicurist is doing her thing (Another hard working immigrant). "Mr field how you do?" I am enjoying the fruits of her labor when in walks this brotha that looks like he plays offensive tackle for the Eagles or some shit. He sits down and I figure he is waiting on his girl or wife to get done. The place is pretty full and from the looks of the people in the shop, his significant other could be any one of the people getting their nails and their feet done in the joint.

I look over at the brotha and he is looking back at me. Dude actually looks like he is staring, so I stare right back. Dude is actually smirking a little, and I sense that the mother fucker is making fun of me. So it's at this point that I give him the fuzzy eye ball; but then, of course, he gives it right back. Now I am starting to wonder if this shit is worth fighting this big mother fucker over. And worse, the dude might be packing a cannon under his jacket. This is, after all, Philly. I can see the headlines now: "MAN SHOT TO DEATH OVER MANICURE".

Now I am not sure where you all live, but here in Philly it's not that unusual for us men to get manicures. Although I must admit that when I started getting em about eight years ago it wasn't as popular. But now the shit really is no big deal at all. Yet this dude keeps looking at me like this shit is funny. "Mother fucker don't let the fact that I am getting a manicure fool you, I will mix it up with your big ass and bruise up these knuckles.

"Are you ready sir'? Dude gets up and heads to a manicure station that just opened up. Dude looks at me as he passes, and I feel like a fucking idiot. Then the guy sits down, takes one last look at me, and slowly shakes his head. I get up, pay the house, tip my girl, and roll. I can't even look back because I am too embarrassed.

I swear sometimes I am way too sensitive.

Border Negroes.

Some comments from my last post is the inspiration for my post tonight.

It seems that a couple of the people commenting took offense, to me, a Jamaican, calling out A-merry-ca on certain issues dealing with the war on drugs; and suggested that if I don't love this country I should leave it. They seemed to be saying that my own country is so fucked up that I should be concentrating my efforts there and that I should leave A-merry-ca alone.

These individuals, who I will call "Border Negroes", because of their Buchananesque love of A-merry-ca and their obvious passion for wanting to protect their borders from outward forces, basically called me out for living in A-merry-ca instead of going back to my own country.

The basic premise of this argument is so ignorant that it's really not worth addressing. I thought of commenting again to the folks making these arguments, but they caught such a verbal smack down from some of the regulars in the fields that I actually felt sorry for them. But still, these folks should understand that human beings regardless of where they are from, should be free to live anywhere they damn well please. And, they should be able to talk about it and agitate for better conditions, if the conditions that they are living under are in any way fucked up. As should the many A-merry-cans living in other countries, including Jamaica.

But there is something going on here on a deeper level which I wish to address. I have gotten into this argument with some of my African A-merry-can friends before. This false belief that they are somehow viewed as real A-merry-cans by others in the majority population just because they were born here, and that they can somehow divorce themselves from their people in the larger world community. This, of course, is bullshit! They can't. But I always get this undercurrent of contempt from some African A-merry-cans for black and brown foreigners in general, and Jamaicans in particular. Often it is based on an erroneous belief that Jamaicans that come to this country are somehow taking something away from the born A-merry-can. Something that should be theirs by birthright. As if the folks in the majority population are going to just give them shit.

To be fair, some of the resentment might be justified. Especially when it comes to older West Indians with their British colonial indoctrination (Jamaica gained independence in 1962), and their willingness to believe the majority population's lies about their A-merry-can brothers and sisters. I caught hell from my aunts when they realized Mrs. Field was A-merry-can. "Wat bway, yu couldn't fine a nice Jamacain gurl fi marry?" So they are victims of that cycle of ignorance themselves, just like the black folks who think that black and brown people who come here from other countries are their enemies. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Tell that shit to the hard working immigrants of color in places like New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and Toronto. People who are working hard, paying taxes, and contributing to the general welfare of their neighborhoods and their communities.

It's these "Border Negroes" that get pissed off at our brown brothers from south of the border when they come here to find work. "But field they are taking the jobs that black people want, they are diluting our voting power, drying up our resources for things like proper health care etc. Of course that's all bull shit. Talking points trotted out by the closed border crowd to scare the rest of the country so that they can push their own racist political agenda. These poor hard working people are not taking jobs from anybody. Because guess what? No one else will take the jobs that they are doing. So spare me that bullshit fear mongering line. And when they work hard and get a check, these people usually send their money home to their families to help build up the economy in their own country. That's a win win for everybody.

Yes I was born in Jamaica, and I am damn proud of it. But I could just as well have been born in New Orleans, Memphis, Atlanta, New York, Miami, or Detroit. It doesn't matter to me. All being born in Jamaica means is that my ancestors got off the boat a little sooner than yours did.

I love every thing my A-merry-can brothers and sisters gave me. I love Coltrane and Jazz, Muddy and the blues, and Charles Alston and his art. I am glad for King, Malcolm, Baldwin, the grace of Ashe, the courage of Ali, the Harlem Renaissance, Lark Voorhies, and I could go on and on. But I hope you are glad for Marcus Garvey, Bob Marley, Jerk food, Red Stripe Beer, reggae music, Claude McKay, The Harder They Come, the best collie weed this side of Northern Mexico, and all the other cultural contributions that Jamaicans ( just like my A-merry-can brothers and sisters) have made to their race.

If you are not glad for those things, and if you still view yourself as the quintessential Border Negro....how do I say this? Fuck you!

Legalize It!

I remember back in the early eighties while I in college I would go home to Jamaica every chance I got. Seems I was always home sick back then. What was amazing to me was to see how some of the kids who I grew up with were living in freshly built mansions, complete with tennis courts and three car garages. These kids didn't have a pot to piss in when I left, but now they were blowing up. Of course I knew how they made their money. They made it the old fashion way, selling drugs. Ganga was our biggest export from Jamaica in the seventies and eighties, and there are many Jamaicans who will tell you that it kept our economy afloat. I will never forget the stories of planes taking off and landing all through the night on rural country roads after people would dash out of the hills to construct makeshift runways with home made lanterns. They would load those marijuana planes quicker than a NASCAR pit crew and off they would go.

Of course all that marijuana and all those drugs were coming to A-merry-ca. This country had a huge so called drug problem then, and nothing has changed since. Reagan and Bush (41) were in power during those years, and in spite of their so called "war on drugs ", and Nancy Reagan's anorexic ass crying "just say no", their war was doomed to failure. "Oh field you just want them to legalize marijuana so that your Jamaican ass can smoke it." Well that's half right. I do want it to be legalized, but I don't smoke it......well I did once but I didn't inhale......well maybe I did inhale, but that was a long time ago......and I did have some ganga soup once...enough of my personal life. This post isn't about the field's past indiscretions.

A drug dealer once asked me if I ever saw drugs offered at a discount or if I ever saw drugs being advertised? Of course not, because drug dealers don't have to offer discounts and they don't have to advertise; it's called supply and demand. That is what drives drug sales, and that is why some young knuckle head on a corner will risk serious jail time or death to sell rock cocaine to suburban kids for long dollars.

When the DEA working with Colombian police killed Pablo Escobar in 1993 on a Medellin roof top, they thought they had reached the tipping point of the war on drugs. But boy were they wrong. According to Rolling Stone magazine, the drug policy under Reagan and Bush was largely conducted in a "fog of ignorance". Bill Bennett's dumb ass spent 12 billion on the drug war and used Naval submarines, torpedoes, and F16's all for nothing. Congress panicked and passed tough laws to give poor crack cocaine users longer prison sentences than the wealthy powder snorting Wall Street users. As a result, an entire generation of poor black people have spent their lives behind bars, and have returned to society with no skills, no jobs, and no hope for a productive existence.

Again, according to Rolling Stone Magazine, If Richard Nixon had just listened back then to all those reports of a generation of soldiers coming home from Vietnam stoned with drug habits, things might have turned out differently. Nixon actually appointed a panel who considered decriminalizing marijuana and buying up the worlds opium supply to prevent it from being converted to heroin. But no, in typical rethuglican fashion, Nixon caved to the law and order crowd and A-merry-ca's fear of the hippies and those Negroes in the urban areas. What we have as a result is an out of touch and and fool hardy drug policy in this country which is getting worse every day.

I am not surprised to hear of the RAND Study that says that military efforts and imprisoning addicts is the least effective way to fight the scourge of drugs. They said that top decrease drug use the only thing that works is treatment. How about that? Good old fashioned treatment.

I bet treatment would curb A-merry-can's appetite and thus their demand for drugs. And then my friends down in Jamaica would have to cut back on their lavish spending habits. But unfortunately for the folks at the DEA, my friends are still laughing all the way to the bank. Or should I say the money launderers.