The head birther comes clean. Sort of.

       In a way, trump's press conference and statement that the president was born in America was even more offensive than his ridiculous birther campaign to say that he wasn't.

He was forced to do so after letting his true colors show to the Washington Post , which left his handlers scrambling to play clean up.  

What he did not do was apologize, and he had the audacity to blame his years of race baiting and dog whistle messages ---sent to his David Duke like friends--- on his general election opponent.

He carried it on for years, and he tweeted about it, and he talked about it to anyone who would listen or read. So now, sadly, this disgusting episode in American life--- which was a sordid attempt to delegitimize the first African American president in the history of this country--- falls squarely in the lap of  Herr trump. 

Today, with the rest of the country looking on, he was forced to pivot, and to declare to all the world that the president was in fact born in this country.  He crusaded for seven years as the leader of the birther movement, and he took two minutes to tell us to just let it go, and in doing so, told another big lie.

Watching that spectacle that was supposed to be a press conference (just trump promoting his new hotel) you got to see trump's arrogance on full display. 

He did not have the decency to apologize to the president for being the leader of this reprehensible and racist movement over the years, and he quickly got through his proof of life type delivery as if his handlers were holding a gun to his head. 

To black folks this entire birther sham  was personal. I say shame on him. And shame on every  American who supports him as well. 

*Pic from mediamatters.org.

  

A friend indeed.

           Now that America (not to mention people in his own party) is learning more about Donald trump and his true feelings  about people of other races, I believe that the following article might be somewhat relevant.

"Donald Trump needed validation.

At a rally Friday, Trump was discussing racial violence at his events and the perception that nonwhite people are against him, when he singled out a black man in the crowd.

“Look at my African American over here,” Trump said, pointing. “Look at him. Are you the greatest?”

The gesture — reminiscent of Trump eating a Cinco de Mayo taco bowl at Trump Tower and tweeting “I love Hispanics!” — was as respectful as if he had just instructed the crowd to “look at my Irish setter over here.” And it was as clumsy as if he had tried to validate his pro-Israel position by saying, “Look at my Jew over here,” or to neutralize his general intolerance by saying, “Say hello to my lesbian,” or, “Take a gander at my Chinese American.”

It turns out Trump’s African American, Gregory Cheadle, says he’s not a Trump supporter. He said he wasn’t offended by Trump taking possession of him, telling NPR it would have been worse if Trump followed “my African American” by saying, “What’s up, dawg?” or the N-word.

Small consolation.

A confluence of three factors has caused a sudden and sharp change in Trump’s fortunes. The media scrutiny has increased significantly since he secured the nomination, and journalists, rather than chasing his outrage du jour, are digging in to report more on Trump University, Trump’s stiffing of charities, his lies and his racism. Hillary Clinton has, finally, made the shift to attacking Trump vigorously over his instability. And Republicans are, belatedly, discovering that their presidential candidate wasn’t putting on a show during the GOP primaries: He’s an actual racist.

You know you’re in trouble when you’re being lectured on sensitivity by Newt Gingrich. The former House speaker, a frequent Trump defender, emailed The Post’s Dan Balz to say that Trump’s claim that a federal judge had a conflict of interest because the Indiana-born jurist is “Mexican” was “completely unacceptable.” (He softened his criticism of Trump on Monday.)

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) concurred that Trump’s attack on the judge and his claim that a Muslim on the bench also couldn’t judge him fairly was “absolutely unacceptable.” After an initial effort to rally around the nominee, Republicans are trying, awkwardly, to keep their distance. Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Bob Corker (R-Tenn), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, complained to George Stephanopoulos when asked a question about the border wall with Mexico: “I thought this interview was going to be more about the foreign-policy arena.” The host reminded Corker that the relationship with Mexico is foreign policy.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, just one day after endorsing Trump, said on a radio show that Trump’s remarks about the Hispanic judge were “out of left field.”

Sorry, Mr. Speaker, but that’s nonsense. The things Trump is doing now — disparaging the “Mexican” judge, disqualifying Muslim judges, calling somebody claiming Native American blood “Pocahontas” and singling out “my African American” — is very much in line with what he has been doing for the past year, and before.

More than six months ago, I began a column by proposing, “Let’s not mince words: Donald Trump is a bigot and a racist.” His bigotry went back decades, to the Central Park jogger case, and came to include: his leadership of the “birther” movement suggesting President Obama was a foreign-born Muslim, his vulgar expressions for women, his talk of Mexico sending rapists into America, his call for mass deportation, his spats with Latino news outlets, his mocking Asian accent, his tacit acceptance of the claim that Muslims are a “problem” in America, his agreement that American Muslims should be forced to register themselves, his call to ban Muslim immigration, his false claim about American Muslims celebrating 9/11, his tweeting of statistics from white supremacists, his condoning of violence against black demonstrators and his mocking of a journalist with a physical disability." [More]

Donald trump just gave a teleprompter driven speech that was obviously written for him to calm the waters with republican leaders, and to convince them that he is not insane.

It might or might not have worked, but the delivery needs some work. A scripted trump takes some getting used to. I love the part where he urged Bernie's supporters to come over to the dark side. Good luck with that.

Anyway,  there is one group in America that Donald can always count on, and he just has to hope that there is enough of them to swing the election for him in November.

"Today on his radio show, former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke took some time to defend Donald Trump, who is in the middle of quite the kerfuffle over his now-defunct “Trump University.” Not only is he being sued for fraud, but he’s been saying racist things about the judge overseeing the case.Duke doesn’t think any of this is fair. He thinks it’s all the work of Jews in the media." [Source]

Yes, the same media that has been so friendly to him over the past few months.

Mr. trump  better be hoping and praying that nothing has changed. 

The Donald's America.

    I just watched  a video of yet another African American man being shot to death by someone who is supposed to be in a position of authority. This is becoming an all too familiar theme in our country. I bet you wouldn't have to tell the officer who executed Laquan McDonald that white lives matter.

Anyway, he is being charged with first degree murder, so it seems that we are making some progress, although it took over a year for us to be able to view the video tape. (TY Craig Futterman)

 This is the climate in which Donald Trump (and his handlers) have chosen to turn up his racist rhetoric and  let his minions loose on all those who disagree with him. So while some folks in the majority population continue to worry about Syrian refugees committing acts of terror, I will worry about the men and women who are sworn to protect us----- men and women who wear uniforms and bulletproof vests, catching a sudden case of "color arousal" at the wrong time.

Speaking of the aforementioned Mr. Trump, here is another cut and paste worthy article about his antics of late:

"We’re now on day two of the latest media controversy to engulf Donald Trump, namely his insistence that he personally saw footage that featured “thousands” of American Muslims in New Jersey celebrating the destruction of the World Trade Center on 9/11. For a time, Dr. Ben Carson even backed up Trump’s delusion by claiming that he had also seen the footage, a claim that was subsequently retracted by his campaign. For two days now, the media has been parsing Trump’s claim, which he now supports with an unsourced paragraph in an old Washington Post article that describes “law enforcement authorities” questioning people who were “allegedly seen celebrating the attacks and holding tailgate-style parties on rooftops.”

The controversy is obviously a big deal to the media, and even has some predicting that this could be the thing that finally puts a dent in Trump’s poll numbers. On Tuesday’s Morning Joe, Mika Brzezinski predicted that this could really hurt Trump:

'This is what could really hurt Trump. I mean if — he’s got to be smart and strong and correct, and if he’s not correct, when push comes to shove people will coalesce around a different candidate.'

This is hilarious on so many levels, starting with the notion that being “correct” means anything to Republican voters, who lap up GOP candidates’ weird fantasies like kittens with a saucer of milk. In this case, though, the media is blinding itself to the fact that Trump’s claim has more then enough truthiness to give him the cover he needs.

That old WaPo report, it has to be said, is pure bullshit. The reporters who wrote it have since said that they were unable to verify the allegation, but no one has questioned them on where it came from in the first place. Based on the lack of attribution, the only possibilities are that it was from some law enforcement source who insisted on deep background attribution (not likely given the broad nature of the claim), or it was from residents and/or local political figures who claimed knowledge of the incidents.

 

In any case, in the weeks following the attacks, literally everyone I ran into in New Jersey had a story about how they had personally seen the FBI or the cops raid their local convenience store/gas station/other business that happened to be owned by brown people, and that they knew for a fact the people scooped up in the raid had been plotting against America. People were scared shitless, and talking out of their asses.

For some reason, though, none of the coverage of Trump’s remarks has included the footage that Trump was probably talking about, footage that every American either saw or heard about that day and was deeply traumatized by. While still reeling from the tragedy, Fox News viewers got to see this footage of Palestinians allegedly celebrating the attacks:

Appearing when it did, this footage gave many Americans a distorted view of Muslim reaction to the attacks, which was, in fact, widespread condemnation. It is perhaps out of concern for this sort of distorted impression that media outlets are now reluctant to replay that footage, but it bears direct relevance to the political price Trump will pay for his current campaign of lies. To the Americans who matter to Trump, the resentful Republican base and low-information independents, Trump’s conflation of this footage with that unsourced WaPo report will be seen as a forgivable transgression at worst, and at best, something that feels true.

What I find even more bizarre about this current controversy is the immense gulf between coverage of Trump’s bogus 9/11 memories and the balls-out anti-black racism he displayed almost simultaneously. There may or may not have been people celebrating the fall of the Twin Towers on 9/11, but the racist tweet Trump sent out this weekend was definitively a lie, definitively racist, and yet became a one-day footnote to the 9/11 story.

 

Some have correctly expressed concern that Trump’s 9/11 story could lead to violence against Muslims, but his supporters’ anti-black sentiments have already led to violence against at least one black man. Tweeting that black people are doing all of the murdering would seem to be at least as problematic, and orders of magnitude more racist, yet it has been treated as a sideline. Only Bill O’Reilly has managed to press Trump about it, and even then, it was only to warn him that it might give people an excuse to falsely believe that racism is even a thing.

To her credit, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow became one of the very few media figures who has even been willing to use the word “racist” to describe Trump’s tweet on Monday night’s show, but even that was a small part of an 18-minute segment on the 9/11 story. The rest of the media is apparently allergic to calling Trump’s tweet “racist” and a “lie” in equal measure, instead often referring to the completely fabricated statistics from a made-up source “questionable.” No, people, “slugging percentage” and “QB rating” are questionable statistics, these are lies.

As outrageous as Trump’s lies are, I find the media’s treatment of them even more of an outrage, because Trump has no duty to serve the public. Apparently, the media doesn’t think it does, either, or at least not that segment of the public." [Article]


*Pic from chicagotribune.com taken by Zbigniew Bzdak



  

You have to start somewhere.

I saw Mr. Morton on the Edmund Pettus Bridge today, and it felt so strange to see a republican candidate for President of these divided states, campaigning in cotton picking country out in rural West Alabama. Talk about surreal. But there was Mr. Morton, praising the marchers on the bridge and giving an honest to god olive branch to my peeps.

Now I must give it to Mr. Morton's people, I think it's a brilliant political strategy to reach out to African Americans while he has the republican nomination already locked up. Let's face it, none of the folks who vote for Mr. Morton are going to vote for Hillary or the "O" man in the general, so his base is in tact. The best thing that Mr. Morton can do now is to hold down the voter turnout among the dumbocratic base. If Hillary wins, for instance, can you imagine the angst it will create among black folks? Many of you will stay home, and some of you will even cross over and vote for Mr. Morton. So why not reach out to your fickle asses now? Just to let you know that it's cool to go to the dark side, and vote for the republican candidate. It's smart, and it just might work. Mr. Morton has been around more black folks lately than Jerry Springer, and it might not translate into more votes for him, but it sure could translate into black folks staying home if Hillary were to win the dumbocratic nomination.

Now let me put this out there right now; and I know that this is going to piss off a bunch of you Obamaholics, because I have heard quite a few of you say that you will never vote for Hillary. But if she (Hillary) happens to beat the "O" man, I am voting for her ass, period. I am not ready to join that rethugliklan tent just yet. I have some serious issues with claustrophobia and somehow I don't think that tent is as big as they say it is.

"Oh but field Hillary is too divisive, we need someone that can bring the country together" My answer to that would be why? Why the fuck would I want to come together with my political enemies? See, it's like this, I came from a place where we shot at our political enemies, so excuse me if I am not feeling the whole Kumbaya thing. I don't want to reach across the isle like the "O" man, because I happen to be a creature of my convictions. And what I believe ain't what those red state folks believe; no matter what they tell you, and no matter how many civil rights sites Mr. Morton visits. My interests are different than their interests, and just because we have to share a country together doesn't mean we have to agree on shit. For instance, I believe in a woman's right to choose, yet I am against the death penalty. I believe that two people of the same sex should have the right to marry each other, and adopt as many kids as they would like. I believe in implementing some serious gun control measures in urban areas, and I believe that felons should be given the right to vote after they serve their time to society. I believe that health care should be free to every citizen..scratch that, every human being-- citizen or not-- who happens to live in these divided states of A-merry-ca. And speaking of citizens, I believe that illegal immigrants who are here now should be allowed to stay if they can proof that they have a full time job. I believe that billionaires like Warren Buffet should pay the same amount of taxes percentage wise as Joe Sixpack. I believe that the minimum wage should be raised to $8 an hour, and I believe that there should be a cap on certain CEO compensation packets. I believe that the environment is seriously fucked up and we should do something about it. I believe that we should spend as much money in education as we do on defense. And I believe that we should get the fuck out of Iraq yesterday. But I seriously digress.

So yes folks, if Hillary wins the nomination, I will be voting for her in spite of what goes down in these primaries, and in spite of how much Mr. Morton is trying to schmooze my peeps. Sorry, after the last "compassionate conservative" who occupied the White House, excuse me if I am not buying what Mr. Morton is selling. I have seen their kind of compassion before, and if you don't mind I will take my chances with one of the dumbocrats again this year.

So thanks for the nice gesture Mr. Morton, I am glad you have a sense of history, and that you acknowledged the civil rights struggle, and field Negroes like John Lewis. Your party has come a long way from when that fake ass cowboy from California took his sorry ass to Philadelphia Mississippi to piss on us. But unfortunately for you I have a long memory, and it will take more than a trip to Selma to make me forget all that shit, or to make me rethink my stance on any of my positions. Especially since I know that you disagree with damn near everyone of them.

"I am aware the African American vote has been very small in favor of the Republican Party. I am aware of the challenges, and I am aware of the fact that there will be many people who will not vote for me, but I'm going to be the president of all the people."

Sorry Mr. Morton, but I am one of those people who won't be voting for you, but nice try.

"Yo Field; you be slippin dog!"

This is what a co-worker and (I think) a fellow field Negro told me this morning as I headed into my courtroom plantation. "You gettin 'sof' on that web site of yours dog. I am not feeling the passion like I used to. If I want to read about love and all that current events sh** I will go to one of them other web sites, or the evening news or some shit." Dude is more preaching than talking to me at this point. And since he is one of a handful of people at my 9-5 who know that I blog as the "field Negro" I am a little irritated at fam cause he is kind of putting my shit on blast. " Come on Field you gots to start bringing the noise again Dog, or I am going to drop you from my must read list." "Yeah I hear you; hey, I am just in a slump that's all." "You lucky your shit is usually on point, so I am going to cut you some slack this time, but don't let your shit get 'sof' on me again dog." I am walking away and I hear dude laughing in the background, and I can't even look back at his ass.

Now as much as I hate to admit it, the guy has a point. I don't know if it's Bush fatigue, blogger burnout, or what. But lately I haven't been feeling any passion for writing how I really feel about shit. I know that I have been really fed up with my fellow bloggers out here as well. People who are supposed to be crashing the gates, but who are acting more like gatekeepers. Especially bloggers of color who I expect so much more from. ( I am including myself in this group). Like dude said; we "have gotten sof". I know I am probably suffering from a form of blogger burnout, but what's up with everyone else? Are we all flaming out at the same time? I know African American Pundit posted about this and our apathy towards Katrina a few days back. And my first instinct was to say; who the f**k is he to tell me what I should and shouldn't blogging about, and he doesn't know how many times I have blogged about Katrina? But he might have actually had a point. For him it was Katrina. But there are other grassroots issues out here as well which effect us and which we need to be addressing. Black on black crime, and the shit in Darfur comes quickly to my mind; but there are so many other issues out here which have an effect on black folks.

So yes I am slipping, just like all the other bloggers out here who are blessed with writing skills and access to the world wide web. I think we have been letting the news cycle control our thought process and not staying true to what we should be doing. I know I have.


I am going to try and post again tomorrow, and I just hope that come Monday morning fam won't be calling me out.

Some things I believe.

I got an e-mail from someone in the majority population who wanted to know what I believe about certain things. He caught me a little off guard, and I had to think about it a little bit.

Anyway, after getting my thoughts together, I came up with a few things. So Mr. e-mailer, I hope you are reading my blog, because here are my answers:

I believe that there is something or someone more powerful out there than all of us; I just don't know what or who it is yet.

I don't believe that any organized religion can anymore get you into heaven (if there is such a place) than wishing on a star.

I believe that some of the people that claim to be religious leaders will occupy a very hot part of hell (if there is such a place)

I believe that two consenting adults should have the right to do what they want in the privacy of their own homes as long as they do not hurt anybody else.

I believe that a woman should have the right to do whatever she wants to do with her body.

I believe that if men could have babies there would be drive through abortion clinics.

I believe that at least 30% of the white folks in this country wish that black people would just go away.

I believe that some of the most racist people in America go to church every Sunday morning.

I believe that 30% of white folks in this country really get it, and really do wish we were all equal.

I believe that of that 30%, only 3% of them have real power.

I believe that if Katrina had hit Seattle and not New Orleans George Bush would have been on the ground the next day.

I believe that allot of white (and black people) in America place less of a value on a black life than they do on a white one.

I believe that the death penalty is wrong, and isn't a deterrent to crime.

I believe that the biggest "drug dealers" in America have names like Merck, Smith Kline, and Johnson & Johnson; and not Biggy, Ice, and Slick.

I believe that people don't care about the rising murder rates in America's cities, because it's young black men killing each other.

I believe that global warming is a man made phenomenon.

I believe that there are lots and lots of people getting rich because of the war in Iraq.

I believe that Americans are too preoccupied with sex, and not preoccupied enough with stopping violence.

I believe that there are still African Americans in America who wish they weren't black.

I believe that 90% of black conservatives don't believe the shit they say on a daily basis.

I believe that Malcolm and Martin wanted the same things for black people.

I believe that black people should put their race before their nationality.

I believe that suicide bombers are some brave ass mother f*****s; even though they believe some twisted shit. If you don't believe me, tell me how many people you know that would be willing to strap a bomb around their waste and blow themselves to smithereens because of some sick belief system?

I believe that the FOX NEWS CHANNEL is one of the most dangerous and racist corporations in America.

I believe that Dick Cheney always wears Victoria's Secret lingerie under his suits. (I really do)

I believe that with age comes wisdom.

I believe that the entire AfroSpear(Sphere) movement through cyber-activism will be a real force in this country one day.

I believe that I am closer to finding Lark Voorhies, and when I do find her, unfortunately, that will be the end of this blog.

Keep em coming!

It's a beautiful day here in "Killadelphia", (I love the Easy Coast in May) it's over the hump day, and there wasn't even a homicide in my fair city last night. So for awhile today, the field was feeling pretty good.

Then I get home, check my e-mail, and besides the fact that there was nothing from Lark, one of my trailer park fans sends me this. Now I don't know if it's because I am one of the few "angry black men" out here on the www talking shit every day. Or maybe it's the fact that I tend to call America on her bull shit whenever I see it, but I sure have allot of fans in the trailer parks-if you know what I mean.

Anyway, from time to time these fans send me e-mails and correspondence to let me know exactly how they feel about my black ass; not to mention the people who agree with my positions. But make no mistake folks, there are lots of web sites like the one I am linking here, and lots of people with some serious issues when it comes to race in America. Now some people might say that about me, but I have issues because of these other ignoramuses that I have to share this great country with. "But field they only send you nasty e-mails and treat you that way because you are a racist" No, I don't think so, in this case that chicken came before my egg. I am no racist, (I don't have that type of power. Now if I were in my native country of Jamaica f*****g with some white folks, then I could be considered a racist) but I will call a racist on his bull shit to the quickness. And trust me, there is plenty of calling to be done out here.

So since I know that they love reading my site, I would like to encourage my trailer park friends, and my friends with their sheets in the attic, to keep sending me e-mails and the hate mail. Frankly, it's nice to know that I am not wrong about you, and that you are going as strong as ever. I love being able to say: "I told you so".

In the end, this was a tough post for me, because I really struggled with whether to link this site (or sites) and send them traffic. But I think it's the right thing to do, because I like keeping it 100% with people who come to the fields, and it's important that you know what you are dealing with out here. So think of it as a little PSA from the field. My little way of keeping you informed and aware, in the home of the brave and the land of the free ;)

He Is Christian Like That! (This E-Mail Moved Me)

OK just when I was thinking there is no hope for the world, I get the following e-mail from a gentleman in the majority population who stumbled into the fields. I asked him if it was cool to publish it, and he gave me his OK. Below is my man's e-mail exactly as it came to the field:


Brian Herling wrote:> While looking for hate-mail on Cheney (actually, looking for a record of>what happened between the Cheney clan and Wolf Blitzer), I found your blog.>I read the top article on Biden and Obama, and I have to sadly agree with>you.>>I'm white, but lived in inner-city Atlanta for a couple years, trying to>make a difference (both in other people's lives and my own). I am still>sifting through the wreckage of my life during that time -- finding the>destruction and the jewels left behind by living out of my element.>>One of the things I've noticed is that my racism is still alive, even after>a few years of concerted efforts to destroy it. I see it in the little>things, but it is those little things that hint at a deeper truth. It is a>truth America has been steadfastly resisting for over 450 years.>>We, as whites, are a deeply racist lot. We were during the time of slavery,>and we are still racist today. Many of my friends and family will reject>that statement, but in response to that I have one reply:>>Are there any chronic diseases (of the body, mind, or soul) that can be>allowed to fester for 400 years that can be healed quickly, painlessly, and>without any special attention?>>I know of none, and do not think such a thing possible. I believe the wound>of racism and slavery has closed over, but it has not truly healed. The>evidence of this is overwhelming: Biden and many other whites making>oblivious comments; differences in color producing marked differences in>pay; the inherent belief that black history is one of ignorance and petty>tribalism. All point not to the inequality of races, but to the inability >of>whites to look beyond skin color and the refusal of whites to look back at>history farther then 30 years to find the source of "black angst.">>I have seen it in my own life many, many times. I will give only one>example, because it alone serves to condemn me (the others would only>convict me further).>>While in Atlanta, I worked under the city-directorship of a wise, godly>black man. I respected him, but I did not respect him with the level of>respect he deserved (and earned). I guess the easiest way to say it is that>I submitted to him, but there were times when I did not capitulate. With >any>other race in authority over me, I have always submitted fully. With him, I>resisted that tendency to surrender utterly. It was not fear, but that was>the problem. With all other authority figures, I had a healthy dose of>respect/fear. With my city director, I did not have that same level of>respect/fear. I saw him as intelligent, but I did not see him as my Head.>>Years later, that same lack of honor caused me to realize how racist I was.>I called him up to talk to him, and heard that he had been promoted from>being a city director to the head of the organization he worked for. He had>not been promoted because of silly reasons, but strictly because of his>vision, heart, and love of other people. He was, quite literally, the right>person for the job.>>This meant that he had to move, and when he told me he was no longer a city>director, I thought that he had left the organization. It never crossed my>mind that he could be the director of Mission Year. I quickly rearranged my>thinking when I realized he was now the leader of a national organization,>but that first faulty assumption told me all I needed to know. It was the>death knell ring in my soul.>>I guess, in some way, this letter to you is a letter of apology to him. It>is a confession aimed at the soul of racism writhing like a parasite inside>my heart. It is still there. I have seen it in my conversations with other>blacks, and I both loath it and feel utterly helpless to remove it.>>My city director taught me that the only known cure for racism was active,>honest friendships. I think he's right. I hope we can engage in those>friendships as a nation, or at least through dialog from the heart. In the>end, we need to see each others' hearts.>>I've got to go, but from one world-weary traveler to another:>>Peace>>In particular ('cause I'm Christian like that):>>God's peace>

Brian's thoughts reminds me of another article I saw in the Philadelphia Inquirer from a white journalist recently. You know what, the field is becoming more and more encouraged every day. Maybe there is hope for us after all. Thanks for your honesty Brian, you are a Christian, and yet, you struggle with your racism. At the end of the day, a little honesty is all the field is asking for. I think that goes a long way in healing some of the wounds that tears us apart. I know I struggle with lots of things myself, and at the end of the day, I think that is what this blog is all about; sharing my struggles with other people with similar struggles and life experiences.

The journey goes on, and we all are on it.

I'm out.

Barack's "Cultural Learning Of America"

Barack Obama's new book is titled the "Audacity of Hope", and you have got to respect a guy who at only 44 years old is the only African American in that exclusive club of 100 known as the United States Senate. And who has declared himself ready to run and be elected to the most powerful position on earth. That's a man who dares to hope, and who obviously worked hard to get where he is and live out his dream. Now I have never lived in Illinois, and I am not familiar with Illinois politics, so until Obama burst on the national scene in his run for the U.S. Senate, I knew nothing about the man or his politics. What little I know about him now I like. Because, after all, he did and still does, oppose the use of force in Iraq. And I know that he has to be pretty smart, because he edited the Harvard Law Review which is no easy feat.

But this is not so much about Obama and his politics; no, it's more about America and hers. First, if I were advising Obama, I would strongly advise him to understand the political reality he faces, and not to get drunk off the rock star treatment certain segments of white America have been showering on him. In other words, as my man Chuck D used to say: "don't believe the hype". I know all about the sold out tour in New Hampshire, and all the favorable press he has been getting; with Oprah, of all people, leading the charge. But he better be careful, because this is still America. And trust me, as I heard one journalist say: "America ain't ready to play 'jungle fever' with it's Presidency". Colin thought about it for a minute, but where is he now? He aint running for President that's for sure. Colin knew the polls weren't a true reflection of how white Americans felt.

I am no big fan of Juan Williams, but he made a very good point when asked on the Fake News Network if Obama had a better chance than Hillary to be elected President. His answer was an honest one, which impressed me. He told the moderator, Chris Wallace, that Hillary had a better chance because America is more ready for a white female being its leader than an African American. Another member of the discussion panel, Brit Hume, quickly jumped in and said that Obama has a chance of winning because he is black. That the only reason he is getting this star treatment is because he is a black man, and if he were white he would be just another Senator running for President. Folks, it's exactly because most white men in this country think like Mr. Hume that Obama won't win. Brit, here is a news flash for you: of course the guy is different, his mother is white and his father is African-not African American, but African- for crying out loud! I think that makes him a little different than most Americans. So his story is an unusual one. But Brit, typical of the white male anger always brewing under the surface, chooses not to see it that way. No, he prefers to compare Obama to another white male, as if there can ever be a fair comparison between the two races at this point in our history.

But this is what Obama will face, and in Brit Hume's case it was subtle, but as his campaign heats up, the subtleties will leave, and true feelings will start to come out. Its already started on the FAKE NEWS NETWORK, and it will only get worse. Now I know Obama might be looking at things like the one recent Newsweek poll which said that 93% of white Americans would support a black President. Well Barack, I have one name for you: Tom Bradley. Yes folks, in the 1982 Governor's race in California, whites told pollsters they were voting for Bradley, but when they got in the voting booth, they couldn't do it. Happened to Doug Wilder in Virginia too. He thought he had a double digit lead going into election day but in the end he barely won. Why, because again, white folks just couldn't pull the trigger. And that was for Governor, not President.

Then of course, there is the other no slavery in his background issue which liberal and conservative whites have been putting out there. Apparently this makes him attractive to whites because they have no guilt when dealing with him, so as a result, he transcends race. Huh? That has got to be the most disingenuous and most intellectually lazy argument of all. And I have heard many whites make this point as if it has some merit. It has none. For the record, Obama's fathers ancestors might not have been enslaved in America, but trust me, I am guessing that as an African, his ancestors and his country were effected by the slave trade just like any descendant of slaves who were born in America. And Obama, by living in America, suffered and continues to suffer from the same stigma from slavery that all other black people in this country suffer from. This attempt to separate him from other black people whose ancestors can trace their roots to the North American slave trade is ludicrous, and it's something I hope that the good Senator does not fall for.

Barack, a little word to the wise from the field: It's good to be a unifier and try to transcend the racial issues that divides us. But don't get it twisted and lose sight of the realities in modern day America, cause we ain't there yet. You still have lots of unifying to do.

But still, I respect you, and I would never discourage a person of color for aspiring to hold the highest office in the land. Hey, even if you lose, you might bolster voter registration among minorities and young people, and that's always a good thing.

So good luck Barack, as you continue your tour of America, and your quest for the White House. I think you will find your experience very interesting, and you will learn so much along the way about your fellow Americans. When you do start learning some ugly truths though, don't say I didn't try to warn you.

Truancy In My Village

I am afraid that many of my people won't like this post that I am about to drop, but it has to be said. Now first, let me say this right off the top, in the spirit of true disclosure: I don't have children, so I can't imagine how hard it must be to raise a child; especially in this day and age with all the negative influences and distractions all around them. But-you knew there was a but coming right-a recent incident in my hometown-Philadelphia- really pissed me off, and made me realize just how a sleep at the wheel some of us black folks are when it comes to this parenting thing.

Folks, it's like this: Here in Philly, we have had damn near 400 murders this year. Most of the crimes have been committed by young African American males, and most of the victims have been young African American males as well. Our Mayor, and all of our city officials, have been pulling their collective hairs out trying to come up with solutions and answers for this wave of violence and bloodshed that has been sweeping our city.

One solution they came up with was to try and cut back on the truancy in our public school system. And why not? In any given year at least 44% of our districts 180,000 public school kids are truant. (8 absences or more) Yes, you heard right, I said 44% or 80,000. And on any given day, and average of 32,000 kids are absent from school. According to a study by Ruth Curran Neild of Johns Hopkins University, 8,000 kids will drop out this year, and another 5,000 will miss so much school, that they might as well be considered dropouts. Now folks, that's a damn shame, and we all know it. And frankly, given the fact that a vast majority of these children look like me, it's particularly troubling to the field.

So our Mayor, in collaboration with the School Board, sent out letters to about 6,000 parents, stating something to the effect that: "Your child has had eight (8) unexcused absences during the 2005-2006 school year". (The operative word hear being YOUR child)Te letter goes on to say that parents must attend the meeting or face possible fines or jail time. So what do you think happened? Yep, only about half of the parents showed up at Temple University's basketball arena for this meeting. Now call me crazy, but if I get a letter from my child's school or worse, the city, telling me that little Jamal has missed 44% of his classes, and my black ass will be fined or face possible jail time; what do you think the field is going to do? Well, after jumping all over little Jamal's little black ass, I am going to be front and center at that meeting. "Mr. Mayor, I am Jamal's father, and I would personally like to pledge, that if little Jamal is not in school more than 44% of the time next school year, it will be because he is either dead or in jail".

Folks, this is not rocket science, there is a direct correlation between an education and where you end up in life. It's that simple: Drop out of high school with no skills, and you get no job, or if you get one, you get one that pays minimum wage. And who wants to work for minimum wage? Not little Jamal. He can't buy "tims", or put Dayton rims ("throw some "D"'s on that bitch") on that new "whip" with minimum wage pay. Hell, he can't get a new "whip" with minimum wage pay. So what's left for little Jamal to do but sling. Yeah he could make a real nice living doing that. But he has to be careful, because more than likely he will end up in jail or dead, like some of the almost 400 who were inside the chalk lines on these mean streets of killadelphia so far this year. Or, he could get some girl or girls pregnant, but then, no job, so how is he going to support his child? Well, there is always the state. After all, that's how his mother made it, and he really didn't know his real father. See what happens? We are back to that same old vicious cycle that just won't go away. Think about it, just days after the Mayor's meeting, it was business as usual, because our little villagers were missing school again.

So make no mistake, schooling is important, but you could never tell that to the almost 3,000 parents who blew off the meeting with the Mayor. Poor Mayor Street, there he was quoting that old African proverb, you know the one, the one Queen Hillary used for her book: "It takes a village to raise a child". No Mr. Mayor, it takes a parent to raise a child. The village, and the resources that the village has can only help with the process. The village produced the infrastructure of the school, the books, the teachers, and the tools to support little Jamal getting an education. The village can't wake Jamal up and make sure he goes to f*****g school! That's Mr. and Mrs. Jamal's job. And if there is no Mr. Jamal, oh well, that's Mommy Jamal's job. Oh field, stop being so tough, Mommy Jamal works two jobs, and she has three other children, and she is not getting any support from their fathers, and the old man she has now is cheating on her, and he abuses drugs, and.....yeah OK, well I have two words for Mommy Jamal: Birth Control. Yep, that will take care of all those problems in the future. And since little Jamal is already here-yeah that sp..ahem,ahem, horse already left the barn- can we just make sure little Jamal gets a shot? Would it be too much to ask that you go to a f*****g meeting? I don't know, even if you don't care what happens to little Jamal in school, maybe so that you won't get fined, or worse, arrested.

Now the village is hiring more truancy officers, from 100-500, and the Philadelphia Family Court is also working some special projects and hiring more people to help tackle the problem.-They heard 8,820 cases in truancy court so far this year alone. But somehow I don't think this will be enough. Because until parents in the homes start caring what happens to their children, the school board and the city will be caught in that vicious cycle with these dysfunctional families.

"We are here to send a clear message to the children and parents of this city, truancy will not be tolerated"

I hear you Mr. Mayor, I just wish more parents could have been there to hear you as well.