What I meant was.....

"Rather than engage in divisive ballot initiatives, we must have a dialogue and cooperation and mutual efforts together to provide every child in America to fulfill their expectations,"

That was Mr. Morton back in 1998 speaking out against an Arizona resolution to end affirmative action. Ahhh what a difference a decade makes. Today I read this little piece about the always salty one:

"..McCain, speaking on ABC's "This Week," said he backs a proposed ballot initiative in his home state of Arizona that would prohibit affirmative action policies by state and local governments."

Okay Mr. Morton, if you want to follow Ward Coonerly down that road, that's on you. But the flip flopping to get elected is troubling. I thought you said that the "O" man is the flip flopper? Don't tell me that you too will lie and parse words just to get elected. I guess you are no different than the "O" man then huh Senator? And to think I thought republicans were above such things.

But let's see how many people notice your latest pancake toss and comment on it. I bet not much, you talk about the press being in love with his "O" ness, but Senator, I gotta say; you get more passes thrown your way than a Vegas stripper.

Oh, and another thing: can you get a cohesive message and stick to it? All you did all week was attack and swipe at his "O" ness. You are starting to come off like a bitter and miserable old man. Well, you are a bitter and miserable old man, and senile to boot (yes that microphone is upside down in the picture that goes along with this post ), and you are making people start to notice that about you. Meanwhile, his "O" ness is back in all his sartorial splendor (Did you see that suit today?), trying to look presidential and saying all the right things.

"I am a strong supporter of affirmative action when properly structured so there it is not a quota, but it is acknowledging and taking into account some of the hardships and difficulties that communities of color may have experienced, continue to experience, and it also speaks to the value of diversity in all walks of American life,..."

Nice! Mr. Morton, you should be taking notes.

Ward's world! Ward's world!

I recently saw the following article featuring an interview with one of my favorite "slave catchers", Ward Connerly. Good ole Ward is determined to end affirmative action, because in Ward's world we just don't need it anymore. A-merry-ca is so beyond that.

Here is my man Ward sharing some of his thoughts with the Arizona Republic:

"Republic: Are we at a time in our nation when the playing field is level, providing equal opportunity to all? Or is there still racism working against certain individuals of certain ethnic groups?

Connerly: I don't think that we're at that ideal place where there is absolute equality. I'm not sure that we ever will be. I don't think that it should be the standard by which we decide whether the government should treat people as equals, however. . . . But I look around my country and I see that ... a multiracial male (Barack Obama) stands a very, very good chance of being the next president of the United States. To me, that says a lot about the country.

If we're willing to turn over the red box to someone, and we're willing to disregard their gender or where their ancestors came from or the color of their skin, that says to me we're probably willing to admit them into college without worrying about the color of their skin and we're probably willing to hire them without worrying about the color of their skin.

So, while we're not at the point where everything is now level - it's certainly not level for someone who is low-income Black, or from Mexico who doesn't speak good English and living in the low-income section of south central Los Angeles or Phoenix or wherever, it's not level for them - I think, for the most part, it's an economic problem.

And we need to do more dealing with this widening gap between the haves and have-nots. I'd like to see us do more, and ironically - maybe not ironically - the demise of race preferences in California has done more to benefit low-income people of different backgrounds than race preference ever did because now the university, through its comprehensive review system, is giving special attention to those who are faced with social-economic problems. Social-economic affirmative action, I support.

Republic: Are you concerned perhaps about some of the success of the initiatives is attributable to some of the voters who are racist or acting out in backlash for what they feel as being victims of reverse discrimination, whether real or imagined?

Connerly: Yeah, they are there, but I think that clearly they are in the minority. They're there. I'm always concerned about that, and I certainly want nothing to do with them.
The opposition has its monsters, also, who are saying, "Let's get even. It's our time. It's our turn. Let's get even." The way I reconcile that is, a broken clock is right twice a day. And if there are those who have foul motives but happen to agree with me but for the wrong reasons, they're still agreeing with the principle.

I have more confidence in the majority and the will of the majority than I do fear of that very small minority who are saying they support this because they want to retard the progress of people of color. I certainly don't run away from my belief because other people share that belief but for the wrong reasons. When you start looking at the motives of other people, you reach a point where you drive yourself crazy. . . . I once said to someone, "If the KKK supports this language, then God bless them." And then that became the headline: "Connerly says God bless the Klan."

What I was saying is I want everyone to believe in the idea that everyone should be treated equally. (If) you vote for this initiative, you're saying that you believe in it.

Republic: Have we reached racial advancements and milestones in this nation partly because of affirmative action? Would we be where we are today without affirmative action?

Connerly: I think I could make a strong case that we'd be further. I think that on the front end, affirmative action - race-based affirmative action - changed the culture in a way that would not have happened at that point without some sort of affirmative action. Lyndon Johnson's version of affirmative action, which came after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed, was sort of like taking a swimming pool that is filled with algae and throwing in a big dose of chlorine to get the algae out of there. You couldn't do it by introducing a speckling of chlorine in that pool, you've got to throw in a heavy dosage to get that algae out of there. That's what race-based affirmative action did originally.

But you don't keep throwing in the same dosage every month. If you do, then you don't want to go in that water. We've reached a point where we've gotten the algae out, now just leave it alone. Maybe put in a little here and there, maybe. . . . So I think that affirmative action has built in a certain dependency on the part of a segment of Black America that is a disease worse than the cure that we set out to achieve. If we had not gone with race-based affirmative action but had focused instead on getting rid of discrimination, I think that we would not have to unring the bell, if you will, of some of these other problems.

Republic: Is there the perception of someone of color or a female who is successful - say, a top manager of a company - that he or she is solely the beneficiary of affirmative action and thereby diminishing any efforts and achievement?

Connerly: Absolutely. In any area of public policy there is a point of diminishing returns. You especially see this in this area here. Affirmative action starts out to remove the barriers of discrimination, something that logically and obviously ought to have happened. . . . But then, there are some people - Black people, Latinos, women, quote, minorities - who do excel. They rise to the top.

But the paradigm that exists, that women and minorities are targeted for equal opportunity, that very paradigm begins to imperil their progress because they're marginalized by the perception that they are the products of affirmative action. . . .

The very system that is designed to provide equality becomes its own crippler because it marginalizes people. . . . The worst thing that they do, those people who say they are a proud product of affirmative action, is that they perpetuate that mind-set that if it were not for affirmative action, they would not be there. That's the point of diminishing returns that we've reached in this whole area. We marginalize and we retard the progress of those who do it on the natural. We reached this point of diminishing returns probably about 15 years ago.

More here:

Okay Ward obviously has some issues. But I do believe that affirmative action as it is used in schools, for instance, should not just consider the race of an individual, but their economic background and other factors as well. For instance, given certain criterias,a poor white applicant from Appalachia being raised in a single family home, should probably get preference over a black applicant from a wealthy family with both parents at home. So we shouldn't do away with affirmative action, we should expand it. Contrary to what Ward believes, A-merry-ca just isn't at that color blind state yet. We still have a glass ceiling in this country when it comes to the business world for women and minorities, and 3 in 10 Americans still have a racial bias towards blacks.

Those are the facts Ward, and doing away with affirmative action won't change them, it will only make them worse.

THE MAKING OF A SELL OUT

"I'm curious...do you even remember when you first sold out?"

~~Rudy Baylor (Matt Damon) in "The Rainmaker"~~~

I always wanted to look some Negroes in the eye and ask them that exact same question.

I mean when does a person come to the realization that he has to put himself and his own selfish needs above the his family, his race, and his community? Does he (or she) just wake up one morning and say; fuck it, I am tired of being one of these Negroes, there has to be a better way? And then what? Do you start a blog? Do you start calling conservative radio and television stations and declare; that I, a black person, hereby renounces my black card? Lord knows I have seen lots of that lately.

I know that it all seems rather simplistic, and the process has to be a lot more complex than that. Maybe a diss by a person of color that they loved once. Maybe a diss by someone in the majority because they were black. Maybe a hatred of their own family because of some fucked up shit that happened in their childhood. Hey, I am no shrink, I am just a black man trying to figure all this shit out. But something had to happen somewhere along the line to these folks.

With some people it's easy to figure out. William Jefferson's sorry ass was just greedy, so he sold out for a refrigerator full of money. Clarence Thomas was never the brightest guy to begin with, and "Charlie"-- not his peeps-- gave him a chance. For that, he will be forever grateful, so he sold out to "Charlie" for whatever "Charlie wants.

But what about people like Walter Williams, Ward Connerly, Larry Elder and their ilk? Clearly they are not the way they are because they think it will benefit black folks. So what is it? Is it for the fame? The money? Do they realize that if they weren't over on the dark side they wouldn't be getting any shine? Was it calculated because they knew that there are far less of us on the dark side, and once they went over A-merry-ca would embrace them? Hey, maybe all the above is true, and maybe none of it is true at all. Maybe these individuals all belong to some secret society to undermine black folks: "Sell Outs & Bones" But it's not only popular conservative pundits. What about all the local democratic politicians and so called leaders, people who sold their offices, churches, and the over all public trust to the highest bidder? What motivated them to sell out?

"I'm curious...do you even remember when you first sold out?

Since I will probably never be able to ask you to your face, If one of my sell out friends lurking would be kind enough to answer that question for me, I sure would appreciate it.

THE COONIES: LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

"Cooning is a verb derived from the word coon. A coon was/is a person of African decent whose sole purpose was/is to entertain white people. These 'coons' started out as wearing black face, characterized by having big eyes and painting big red lips on their face. These people would tap dance, play instruments and sing. Modern day coons are blacks who play stereotypical roles and black entertainers that promote ignorance.Cooning is someone is acting like a 'coon'."

~~Urban Dictionary~~

Folks, I am seriously retiring the "Coonies". I hate to do it, but I already have my daily Field Negroes and Lawn Jockey alerts. So, as a result, I don't think we need the Coonies anymore. The house Negroes among us have more than enough awards among themselves to go around. Hell, Clarence could build a shelf in his home to store all of his hardware.

But before I officially hang up the Coonies; I am moved to recognize some life long coons; black folks among us who have taken cooning to whole other level. So, in their honor, I have decided to present the Lifetime Coonie Achievement Awards. This award is for the coons who have become a part of cooning lore.

But please, once again it is important to keep in mind -- with all due respect to the Urban Dictionary-- that cooning is not always singing, jigging, and making a fool of one's self. (See Eddie Griffin) There can be intellectual coons as well. Coons who might as well be jigging and singing, because the shit they prattle about on a regular is a joke. Sadly, it promotes just as much ignorance, albeit in a different way. (See Thomas Sowell)

So, without further adieu, I present my Lifetime Coonie Award winners:

1. CLARENCE THOMAS: The good justice recently wrote a book, which once again, put him on the national stage. Frankly, I have said everything that I am going to say about the affirmative action poster boy. So Clarence, make room on your shelf for one more Coonie.

2. WARD CONNERLY: Speaking of affirmative action. This brother has made it his mission in life to do away with programs that create an equal playing field for all A-merry-cans. He is from Cali, and I suspect that he has been in the California sun just tad bit too long. Like my favorite uncle, he hates his own peeps, and.....well... let's just say that they have other things in common.

3. LASHAWN BARBER: This one is personal to me, because Ms. Thing banned me awhile ago from her site, which is what made me get my own blog. I suppose I should thank her, but she is still a major coon.

4. THE TOM JOYNER MORNING CREW: This one hurts, because they actually do some good things. But honestly; what the fuck is so funny?

5. SAMMY DAVIS: Sorry Sammy, that whole rat pack shit was kind of cool and all that, but you were always the happy black guy. A posthumous Coonie for you.

6. FIFTY CENT: That shit you do is not hip hop, and it's not gangsta rap; it's cooning plain and simple. But it made you lots and lots of money, because A-merry-ca loves her coons.

7. BOBBY MCFERRIN: Sometimes one simple act can get you coon immortality. "Don't worry be happy"? Negro please!

8. GEORGE FOREMAN: Your grill might be all that, but I am sick and tired of that big goofy smile. Smoking Joe should have knocked your ass out in Kingston back in 1972.

9. JIMMIE J.J. WALKER: J.J., I know your family had some hard times in the projects, and they needed a little comic relief. But, damn it man, everything wasn't DYNOMITE!

10. NIGER INNIS: Like father like son. Who can forget what this coon said when CNN mistakenly called him "Nigger" Innis"? "Oh I though you guys thought I was a rapper or something.." Now that's classic coon behavior.

HONORABLE MENTION:

Jesse Lee Peterson: You are not popular enough just yet to be a major coon, but you have all the other coon credentials.

Snoop Dog: OK, true confessions, the only reason you are not up there with "fiddy" is because I like your flow. But all that glorification of the pimp culture is definitely coon behavior.

Jason Whitlock: Jason, you don't quite have the body of work yet, but you are getting there.

D.L. Hughley: It's a fine line between Richard Pryor and Eddie Griffin. Guess which side you are on?

Robin Quivers: All those years as Stern's side kick, putting up with his sexism,racism, and over all ignorance, makes you a major coon.

Angela McGlowan: Bamboozled huh? You are a big time coon, but one book doesn't qualify for major coon achievement status.

Tony Clayton: Long before Jena this infamous Louisiana DA was putting brothers away for notches in his belt. And, yes, he is black.

"Jungle Fever", or just a slight temperature?

Looks like I am going to revisit this issue (interracial relationships) sooner than I thought.

What spurred me to thinking about this was an article I saw yesterday which I featured on my sidebar here. That, and a trip I took to the King Of Prussia Mall yesterday. The King Of Prussia Mall is, I think, the second largest in the country, so it was a perfect lab for my little experiment; especially on a busy Saturday afternoon in August.

Now of all the couples I saw yesterday- I am going to guess that I saw maybe nine or ten interracial ones; and none of them seemed to be black women with white men. Everyone of the interracial couples I saw seemed to be a white woman with a black man. ( I keep saying "seemed to be" because you just never know anymore)

So what does that tell you? Well it tells me that (and I know it was a very small sampling) black men with white women still far out number the alternative. So, in a way, the fact that according to the census bureau there are now 117,000 black woman white men couples in America, as opposed to 95,000 in 2000, (how do they keep track of this shit?) I guess that means we are making progress. Or could that just simply mean that the black female is changing her criteria for dating? According to the article I feature here, I think it means both. What the author seems to be saying; is that black woman can finally acknowledge that there are some f****d up pathologies with black men, and that their-black men's numbers, are too few based on a series of unfortunate social phenomenon. And if they can openly say this, isn't that progress? I don't know, is it?

Let me say for the record, that I don't now, nor have I ever had a problem with interracial relationships. To take that position would go against my libertarian streak. However, personally, I have never dated outside of my race. (I take that back; I did date a Chinese and a Syrian on two separate occasions; both of who were Jamaicans born and raised. I am not sure where that stacks up) I just always found sisters more attractive, and with very few exceptions, found that we have so much more in common. But I have never gotten on brothers and sisters who do, because relationships are something that's personal to the individual. Why pretend you are someone you are not just do date someone in your own race when you are going to be miserable in the long run? It's why I suspect that people like Clarence Thomas, Ward Coonerly, and Angela McGlowan, have all married outside of their race. They are much more comfortable with people who think like they do and who they perceive to be beautiful. Now do I agree with these people? HELL NO! But it's not because they are married to white people; no, it's because they hate themselves, and could not marry anyone but a white person.

I am guessing that most of the sisters who are now finding themselves in interracial relationships are not like the people I just mentioned. At least I hope they are not. I am guessing they have just run out of options, and they are just not finding good brothers out here. So, they look for just any good man period, be he white, purple, or whatever; who shares some things in common with them, and who will at least make them happy. You can't blame them for that; everyone wants to be happy. And if our brothers are in jail, killing each other in record numbers, or if girlfriend gets a job in Boise Idaho, just what would we expect girlfriend to do? Keep running to the store to buy triple A batteries for the rest of her life?

Now the article also mentioned some web sites; and at the risk at starting an e-fight with this issue all over again, I must say that I take umbrage with some of them. Dating outside of your race to make yourself happy is one thing. But dating outside of your race, and trashing brothers (or sisters) on your way to the other side is quite another. I have been in the company of some ignorant ass brothers who proudly declare; that they would never go back to dating sisters, because....well, fill in the blank. Now that's some ignorant shit. Just like the sisters on their web sites who slam brothers for whatever reason. Usually it's because some Ike had done her Tina wrong at one point in her life. So they cheer like hell because Whitney left Bobby; not because Bobby introduced her to the crack pipe, but because Bobby is... well.... a brother. Now that's some ignorant self hating shit for your ass. The irony is, that these types of people always seem to end up being miserable no matter what the race of their partner is. Real live cases of shit attracting flies if you get where I am coming from.

I have a white colleague, a very successful attorney here in Philly, who will only date sisters. And he does alright. Trust me, I have seen the dime pieces by his side as proof. But he does it for purely superficial reasons. He finds black women much more attractive that white ones, so for his own selfish reasons, he prefers to get his freak on with only sisters. Call me a hypocrite, but if a black man takes this exact position about white women it pisses me off. Why? I don't know maybe it's because unlike the sister, he has so much more choices. So to right off a sister because you find white women more attractive smacks of self hatred to me. It doesn't bother me when my white colleague displays those traits because his race and what it brings him will not make that an issue. But for a black man in this country, self hatred is a luxury you can ill afford, so if you find it manifesting itself in any way you should check yourself.

I am going to revisit this issue again, because I think it's important, and because there are so many other facets of this -such as the children of interracial relationships that I didn't touch on. I am heading back to the Mall now, but I promise you, I am just going to shop this time.

The Rise Of The Patio Negroes

Folks, I hope you don't mind if I introduce a couple of new words into our lexicon. I have been trying to come up with a way to describe some of these new crop of Negroes that have been popping up all around us lately, and until recently I could not put a finger on them. But all that has changed now that I can put a name to the faces.

Readers of this blog know about my frustration with the Obama phenomenon and my inability to blog about him, or take a strong position one way or the other about his candidacy. No matter how much I tried I could not find the passion to either endorse or disavow the brother. But now, thanks to a good nights sleep, and a eureka moment while sitting in court today, it hit me. Now I think I know what makes it so hard for me to size up brothers like Obama.

Now don't get me wrong, I like Obama. From what I know about him he seems like a decent guy and I hope he goes all the way to the White House. (Although I am pretty sure I have a better chance of going all the way with Lark Voorhies than that ever happening) So it's all good between the field and half and half man. Trust me, this is not a bash Obama post, but it is about the type of Negro he appears to be.

So let's look at these words I have coined for the Obama types shall we: I call them patio Negroes. They are not quite in the house, but they sure as hell ain't out here in the fields with us. So this makes them patio Negroes in my book, half way between the fields and the house. Wisely moving between both worlds and doing what it takes to fit in when they have to. Juan Williams is a patio Negro. I can't stand the guy for being on the FAKE NEWS NETWORK, but when he slams one of those assholes over there and calls them on their bullshit and I am forced to say: way to go Juan, you tell those mother f*****s. Oprah Winfrey, I guess, could be considered a patio Negro, for the same reasons that Juan is. Some days you want to hug her and say; Oprah is out here in the fields with us, and on other days you find yourself saying; that damn Oprah is in the house serving pancakes to Missy. Tiger Woods is a patio Negro. You will be cheering like hell for him to beat all those old white men this weekend at Augusta, but.....there is the white wife, the passionate obsession for being viewed as a color neutral icon, and all that white love. Condi was a patio Negro until recently. Now she is nice and comfy in the house.

For the record, patio Negroes can go either way. That's' one of the differences between a patio, house, or a field negro. A patio Negro can choose to become either a field Negro or a house Negro. A good example of this would be Harold Ford; who went from the patio right into the big house. Or, for the other side of the equation, look no farther than Bill Cosby; who left the patio and said f**k it, I am going to the fields.

Back in the day when Malcolm gave his speech it was so much easier. It was really black or white then. Either you were in the house or you were in the fields. If Malcolm had to make that speech today he would have to add yet another type of negro to the mix, and we would have had to incorporate this Negro into the debate, and change Malcolm's speech. But that patio Negro couldn't make up his mind if he loved or hated his master. When he saw master's house burning, he was torn between running to fetch some water or just watching it burn. When you told the patio Negro; let's run away from here, he would say: Can you give me a day or two to think about it, I am not sure if running away from Massa is the way to go.

But it's all good, the field won't rip the patio Negroes, at least there is hope for them. They can still come to the fields and see the light. House Negroes, like Clarence Thomas and Ward Connerly, on the other hand,will never come to the fields. Because to them, the house is theirs as well as their Master's, and they will be damned if they give that up.

Some notable patio Negroes:

1. Magic Johnson
2. Will Smith
3. Tom Joyner
4. Tavis Smiley
5. Colin Powell
6. Tyra Banks
7. Bob Johnson
8. Serena Williams
9. Lovie Smith/Tony Dungie
10. Beyonce Knowles

Some random toughts before I go:

I was wondering; is there a bigger prevaricator out here than Mitt Romney?
And how much do you think I would have to pay to get and Ambassadorship to Jamaica?
Seems one of the frat boy's friends just got a "recess appointment" by our sneaky ass President. This, after the guy dropped $50,000 to fund the "Swift Boat" smear campaign.
So if it took $50,000 to get the Belgium gig, do you think I could get Jamaica for say $10,000?