"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.

Man F*%*s With Dogs, Dogs Kill Man

It was bound to happen, all this coverage of Michael Vick's dog issues, and all those pictures of those poor innocent dogs being tortured, was sure to piss off their boys in dog land.

Now it seems that some of the dogs have taken revenge on one of us, a human. Like what did we expect, they were just going to let that shit go? Yep, seems a few of these dogs mauled a care taker at my twins L.A. home. Ain't that a bitch? (Can I say that when I am talking about dogs, or will they be offended?) Anyway, I wonder where all the PETA people will be now? I wonder if there will be outrage that these dogs sent this poor care taker to his maker? And, of course, the poor guy as it turns out was a brother. Hey, those dogs aren't stupid, they were having Vick flashbacks and shit.

Lord I hope Ving didn't do anything criminally negligent and his mug won't be plastered all over the news. "Field, was that you on the cover of the Daily News in that mug shot? Damn it sure looked like you. Naw man that was Ving Rhames, his dogs killed his care taker. Too much Michael Vick coverage in the dog house I guess."

I wonder if they will put the dogs to sleep? Or if Ving will fight to keep them alive? Ving is, after all, a brother. And you know how we are with our pets. Hell, Ving's dogs might have been just hungry for all we know. " Mr. Rhames did you know that these dogs have not eaten in five days? No officer I didn't know that, I was away on a movie shoot."

But seriously, I don't mean to make fun of this, a man lost his life, and that's tragic. But it does bring this whole animal versus human thing in perspective doesn't it? I hope this will help everyone remember that at the end of the day, we are talking about animals here, and sometimes animals will act like....well animals.

Ving, I got your back, if they lock you up a brother can double for you and split your fees.

I might even do it for free if you can get a brother Lark's number.

BREAKING NEWS

I know you thought about it too. When you saw that BREAKING NEWS sign in big bold red letter on CNN, and that image of that bridge, you can't tell me you weren't thinking; "oh oh the terrorist have struck." If you were, you weren't alone. I know I was, only to find out that the real terrorist was some incompetent engineer from back in the day.

So this is what our lives have come to. At least for some of us. Unfortunately, many of us live with terrorist every day. Terrorist that shoot up our neighborhoods indiscriminately. Terrorist that sell drugs to our children. Terrorist that would just as soon kidnap our child, or firebomb our home if they thought we were reporting their crimes to the authorities. Those terrorist.

CNN, ABC, FOX, and all the other news outlets could be running BREAKING NEWS banners every f*****g day about the shit that goes on in the hood. But don't take my word for it, just google crime in any major city in America, you will see.

A friend of mine from law school represents a funeral home in Baton Rouge Louisiana. This week he was here for a Black Morticians Convention with his client. ( I can't make this shit up, yes there is a black morticians convention, and yes they were meeting in "Killadelphia". How appropriate was that shit?) So I am chilling with a group of these cats over drinks, and I am hearing war stories you wouldn't believe. (This was my week for funeral homes, I better check up on my will). From the guy who buried Coretta Scott King, to the guy whose daddy used to run moonshine out of his hearse when his county was dry. One dude (I think he was from Detroit) was averaging six funerals a week for over three months, and another guy was telling us about the drug dealer in L.A. who insisted on a low rider (complete with hydraulics) for his casket. But to a man, (and I think one woman) they all agreed that the killings were out of control. That the victims and the mourners were getting younger and younger, and that, as a race, we were going to self destruct any f*****g day now.

So this war on terror that the Bushites keep scaring us with needs to be refocused. When we are spending billions and billions of dollars to make Iraqis safe and rebuild their country, and ignoring our own people and the infrastructure in ours; there is something fundamentally wrong. This shit has got to change, or the terrorism is going to spread, and I am sure we will see the BREAKING NEWS banners then now won't we. " Suburban mom shot to death in cross fire while visiting the Liberty Bell." Yep, I bet that would get some attention.

We all saw the images of the poor people in the heartland. To lose a bridge in the middle of rush hour was tragic, no doubt. And I feel for them because of what has transpired. But the tragic shit that goes on in cities like Philly is day to day, and it's like the drip drip of a Chinese water torture. But no one is really looking at it, and no one really cares. Because it's not a bridge in the middle of the heartland it's not their America, so no war on the terrorist terrorizing those people needs to be declared.

Sad isn't it? Unless of course you are a funeral home director.

Quotes of the day!

"I know that I would not engage in a cover-up. I know that no one in the White House suggested such a thing to me. I know that the gentlemen sitting next to me are men of enormous integrity and would not participate in something like that." ~~~Donald H. Rumsfeld~~~


I know that I would never touch Lark Voorhies; even if she jumped into my bed naked, and begged me to make mad passionate Mandingo love to her. ~~~Field Negro~~

I will let you decide whose statement is more credible.

Conspiracy Theory

I am not a big conspiracy person. I think, for instance, that man really did land on the moon, that Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK all by his lonesome, and that all the Jews who worked in the Twin Towers were not given a secret phone call not to report to work that day.

Having said that; I have been reading some shit lately that have been really unnerving me. And it has to do with our military and the people fighting the war for us in Iraq. One of the stories I picked up thanks to some other bloggers in the AfroSphere, had to do with how the government is lowering the standards to recruit people into the armed forces; and how more and more white supremacist gang members for instance are signing up. Then, as it turns out, recruiting for African Americans in the Army is dropping big time. Memo to all brothers in Iraq, watch your back! You ain't Pat Tillman, and you see where he ended up.

And speaking of Pat Tillman; I read about how he might have been really killed in Afghanistan, and how the Army might have covered it up. Frankly, that scares the shit out of me. I mean if Pat Tillman, a genuine American hero by all accounts, can be a victim of fratricide, all because he allegedly was against the war in Iraq; then who isn't in danger? I mean all bets are off in this bitch and that scares me.

And let's not forget about our friends at Blackwater-the name alone sends chills up my spine-You know Blackwater don't you? Dick Cheney's private little freaking Army down in Virginia. Which I swear if Congress gets out of line he is going to turn them loose on Washington. They call themselves a "professional, military,law enforcement security company", but that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. They have been known to do all kinds of shady shit in Iraq, and they are growing. Right now they are the most powerful mercenary army in the world, and if I was the leader of a country like say, Cuba; I would be very worried right about now. Why? Because the folks at Blackwater could overthrow your Third World ass quicker that you can say, cigar. Jeremy Scahill, in a brilliant You Tube piece (don't ask me to link it, just google Jeremy Scahill) calls Blackwater a shadow army, and he is right.

So what if these guys-Blackwater -decided, for instance, that a certain segment of the population (Yes woozie here it comes) were to get out of line? What if all of a sudden, they decided there were too many Michael Vicks, too many out of control inner city gangs, and Barry Bonds just can't be allowed to break that record? Couldn't they just declare Martial Law on all black folks? They could call all the Blackwater boys home from Iraq to control all the blacks here. Hey, have you seen the racial makeup of Blackwater? So don't go laughing just yet. The shit could happen I promise you.

This is why I get so worried when I see my peeps acting up, cause I know that there is always that other army ready and waiting to put our asses in check. I can hear Dick Cheney now to the Blackwater CEO: "Hey there buddy this is Dick. Yeah, it's time to put operation "Colored Control" in place. Yeah, we just can't let this go on any longer. We are losing our country to these people. Besides, we don't even need them for sports anymore. The Japanese are getting really good at Baseball, and the Eastern European players are getting better than they are at basketball." OK that may be a bit far fetched, especially for a guy who doesn't believe in conspiracies that much, but hey, you never know. As a matter of fact,I think they have already kidnapped poor Colin Powell. And has anyone seen Condi lately?

What do you see?

OK I have got to know what you all think about this picture.

Are we talking about racism, or just a dumb and clueless advertising executive again?

This picture could be like one of those psychological tests. You know the one where they show you a jumbled picture which could show a different image depending on what you want to see.

Personally, I see a bunch of field Negroes bowing down to "Charlie". I see that the black male is good for athletics and playing sports, and the white male is holding the office thing down.

But you might see something different. You might see young, strong, and agile black men. Ready to perform at an optimum level in the office environment, just like the software product that Intel is trying to push.

I wonder what the f**k the creator of this ad. saw?

Thanks Dani over at Truth Seekers for sending me this picture.

Thoughts from a Philly funeral home director.

I caught this story in my hometown paper, The Philadelphia Inquirer:

Her name is Charlene E. Wilson-Duffoney, and she is an African American funeral home director here in Philly. Sadly, few people are in a better position to see the effects of violence on our young people out here than she is.

Anyway, here are a few quotes from Ms. Wilson-Doffoney which I think are noteworthy:

"At the service for a teenage boy,someone decided to play a rap song calling for avenging the dead. The teenagers stood up as if it were the national anthem." She went on. "Mothers stood and swayed." She said that she, along with the clergy, and the school district officials present, were "all shocked at what they saw."

She also says that she remembers a funeral "where gunmen opened fire outside the church. People hid under pews." She said.

"And she has a friend whose son was shot, and to this day won't tell his mother who shot him." She said that "'she finds that unbelievable.'"

"She says that 'some deaths get to her more than others'. One friend was murdered in the 1990s at a bar. He had told her that he knew he would be shot to death one day. It was eerie when he wound up in her funeral home , having died just that way. "

"'He died on his birthday' she recalled, a tear running down her face. She buried him."

Mothers stood and swayed for a rap song avenging the dead? WTF?

Another Alleged Rape On Campus

I have been trying to find out more about this story before I posted on it. But I can't get anything other than what everyone else already knows, so I will give you my thoughts.

Unfortunately, It seems there was another alleged rape on another upper crust American college campus. This time the alleged rape occurred at Villanova University -or as I like to call it; Vanilla-Nova-which is located on the "main line" section of my hometown of Philadelphia. Now for those of you familiar with Philly, you will know that the main line is Philadelphia's equivalent to Beverly Hills, or West Palm Beach, if you get my drift.

As the story goes, three randy freshman football players did indeed have sex with a college coed in one of the dorms, while they should have been learning their play books and getting ready for the rigors of college life. (What the hell is wrong with these kids? Rape or no rape, could you keep your dicks in your pants until you have played one home game at least?) Now here is what bothers me about the whole story: After an internal college investigation all three men were booted off campus and their football scholarships rescinded. Coach Andy Talley, who has been at Nova since 1985, says he spoke to all three of the players and got their side of the story. I for one am really curious to know what that story was. And, I hear the Radnor police won't be pressing criminal charges because the victim in question does not want to press charges. And frankly, without the victim's cooperation in these cases you have zilch. So why isn't the victim pressing charges?

Now let me say for the record; that if these young men did rape this young lady, she should press charges, and they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for their alleged criminal behavior. See, I am consistent, I felt that way about the Duke case too. Oh, did I say the Duke case? Well so far the only similarity this case has to that one is that they both occurred on a college campus of the privileged, and multiple athletes are being accused of rape. I wish I could tell you about some of the racial similarities, but every one is clamming up on this one. I mean everybody. The local press, the University, the families involved, everybody. Even my contact in the prosecutor's office out there isn't saying anything about these individuals. So what does that tell you? It tells me that they don't want bloggers like the damn field Negro making a racial issue of this. After all, it was just an unfortunate incident with some college students right?

Boy I sure hate to speculate....but....hey, we will wait to see what happens. Somehow I doubt the victim involved here will press charges, and somehow I doubt the players involved will make an issue of it, because they are not being charged criminally. They will pack up, go home, and hope for another chance somewhere else. And the alleged victim will chalk it up to a bad experience, go on with her life, and just hope it all goes away. Kind of like those Dukies wish that stripper had done in their case.

Let's hope that this is the last of me blogging about this, although somehow I am feeling like Arnold in the Terminator when he said: "I'll be back."

Cats & Dogs

What a week for cats and dogs folks. The dog tales haven't been so good to listen to, but the cat tales; now that's a different story.

I say that because of this particular cat tale that caught my interest. It seems there is a little feline in Rhode Island named Oscar, who, how should I say this; has a knack for smelling out the Grim Reaper.

I must confess that when I first heard this story I was a bit sceptical. But as the day went on, I found out that it was a serious news story and the shit was all true.

Seems Oscar, who lives in a nursing home, curls up with the home's patients during their final hours. And get this, old Oscar is so accurate with his predictions, that the staff at the hospital will call the victims...ah the patients... ah curleees...well the chosen ones family to inform them that their loved one has only a few hours to live. All because Oscar came calling, or should I say curling. Don't laugh, Oscar has been accurate in 25 cases already. "This is not a cat that's friendly to people" says some hot shot Doctor who is studying Oscar's behavior and has written about it in the very respectable New England Journal of Medicine. The staff noticed Oscar making his own rounds. "He would sniff and observe patients, then sit beside people who would wind up dying in a few hours" Can you imagine? "Ohh look at the cute little kiddie cat. No Grandma DON'T!"

But seriously, before you go thinking that these poor old people have to live in some form of tortured dread just watching Oscar every night, they don't. Apparently, the patients Oscar curls up to are usually so sick that they don't even notice that he is there. Still, it has got to be a little spooky to be working and living in The Steer House Nursing and Rehab Center with old Oscar around. "Good morning everybody. Oh shit here comes Oscar, I gotta go!"

Can you imagine if we let old Oscar loose on the streets of Philly? The poor feline would go crazy just trying to figure out where to go next for crying out loud. But hey, maybe we can put him in the White House? I kid I kid.

What if

The boys, both 13, and their parents say their actions were inappropriate, but not criminal, behavior. If convicted, the boys face the possibility of jail time. The judge in the case has barred the boys from returning to school.

Cory Mashburn and Ryan Cornelison, both 13, were arrested in February after they were caught in the halls of Patton Middle School, in McMinnville, Ore., slapping girls on the rear end. Mashburn told ABC News in a phone interview that this was a common way of saying hello practiced by lots of kids at the school, akin to a secret handshake.The boys spent five days in a juvenile detention facility and were charged with several counts of felony sex abuse for what they and their parents said was merely inappropriate but not criminal behavior.The local district attorney has since backed off -- the felony charges have been dropped and the district attorney said probation would be an appropriate punishment. The Mashburns' lawyer said prosecutors offered Cory a plea bargain that would not require him to register as a sex offender, which the family plans to reject.But the boys, if convicted at an Aug. 20 trial, still face the possibility of some jail time or registering for life as sex offenders.The boys' families and lawyers said even sentencing them to probation would turn admittedly inappropriate but not uncommon juvenile rowdiness into a crime. If they are convicted of any of the misdemeanor charges against them, they would have to register as sex offenders.

"It's devastating," said Mark Lawrence, Cory Mashburn's lawyer. "To be a registered sex offender is to be designated as the most loathed in our society. These are young boys with bright futures, and the brightness of those futures would be over."Cory Mashburn said he and Ryan Cornelison slapped each others' and other kids' bottoms every Friday. "Lots of kids at school do that," he said.Cory and Ryan were brought to the principal's office Feb. 22, where they were questioned by school officials and a police officer. They were arrested that day and taken in handcuffs to a juvenile detention facility.Court papers said the boys touched the buttocks of several girls, some of whom said this made them uncomfortable. The papers also said Cory touched a girl's breasts. But police reports filed with the court said other students, both boys and girls, slapped each other on the bottom."It's like a handshake we do," one girl said, according to the police report.The boys were initially charged with five counts of felony sexual abuse. At a court hearing, two of the girls recanted, saying they never felt threatened or inappropriately touched by the boys. The judge released the boys but barred them from returning to school and required that they be under constant adult supervision.District Attorney Bradley Berry has since dismissed the felony counts. The boys face 10 misdemeanor charges of harassment and sexual abuse. They face a maximum of up to one year in a juvenile jail on each count, though Berry said there was no way the boys would ever serve that much time."An appropriate sentence would be probation," he said. "These are minor misdemeanor charges that reflect repeated contact against multiple victims. We never intended for them to get a long time in detention.""We're not seeking major penalties," he said. "We're seeking change in conduct."'We Just Want This to Be Over' Tracie Mashburn, Cory's mother, said they will not accept plea and plan to fight the charges.The arrests, critics said, reflect a trend toward criminalizing adolescent sexual behavior. Between 1998 and 2002, juvenile arrests for sex offenses other than rape or prostitution rose 9 percent -- the only kind of juvenile arrests that rose during that time, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics."More and more, they are criminalizing normal adolescent or preadolescent behavior," said Chuck Aron, co-chairman of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers juvenile justice committee.Even probation, the Mashburns and their attorney said, would be too severe a punishment.Julie McFarlane, a supervising attorney at the Juvenile Rights Project in Portland, Ore., said, "Probation for a sex offense is very difficult thing, and there's a pretty high failure rate." Failing to meet the terms of probation could mean the boys would be sent to jail.Depending on the terms of probation, it's likely that the boys would not be allowed to have sexual contact with anyone or any contact with younger children, McFarlane said. For Cory Mashburn, that would mean he couldn't be left alone with his younger siblings.

"It's been awful," said Cory's mother. "We just want this to all be over. But it will never go away. We'll always remember it."Berry, the district attorney, said the victims -- the girls who were touched -- were being overlooked. "What's been lost in this whole thing are the victims, who have been pressured enormously by these boys' friends," he said.Cory, who said he now realizes what he did was inappropriate, spends his days playing video games and basketball. He said he's scared. "I could go to jail. I could be registered as a sex offender," he said. "I think it's all crazy."

~~~Credits to Chris Raguskey, ABC News~~

Alright so you read that story with me, and I know what you are thinking: "Field, you know damn good and well that if these were little black boys you would be all over it." You would be screaming Jena 6 all over again, and bemoaning the state of out of control prosecutors.

Well guess what; you would probably be right. When a white co-worker, familiar with my blog, e-mailed me this story today, that's exactly what he was saying. I fired off a response to him about getting over it and welcome to our world, something to that effect and went on with my day. But now.... I don't know. I mean am I a hypocrite for not calling out an out of control prosecutor just because the individuals being unjustly accused are white? It's just one of those soul searching moments I guess. I asked myself tonight; what if these kids were black, would I, along with the Afrosphere and Afrospear, be taking up the cause like we did the Jena 6? I don't know, would I? I would like to think it wouldn't make a difference. I mean injustice is injustice no matter who it is against, Right?

But then again, the more I think about it, the more I realize that these kids don't need me to advocate for them. They have an entire race of people. People like the ones who came out for the Duke lacrosse players, and like my colleague who e-mailed me the story. They have the power of the press: Talk radio, FOX NEWS, opinion pieces, guest commentators, CNN, the nightly news on every major network, and on and on. Folks like the Jena 6, and Genarlow Wilson, only have a few outlets: Black bloggers, a benevolent white T.V. producer, or one of the camera loving Reverends. So you will excuse me if I want to tell those stories over say the story of these poor boys up in Oregon.

"But come on field what if they were black; wouldn't you be all over the story even more than you are now?" OK let me answer that for you; yes I would!

Short take

Staying with the T.V. Land theme, I am writing to praise and not be cynical about American pop culture this time.

In my humble opinion, the Start Trek T.V. series was groundbreaking. Here was a space ship with a crew that included an African American (Uhura), an Asian (Dr. McCoy), and an alien. (Take that Lou Dobbs) Now that bad boy would have been diverse if it was made in 2007 let alone 1966.

Yeah I know those Trekkies can be kind of nutty; but you know what, they can afford to be, because in Star Trek, they chose a pretty good product to embrace.

Besides, that damn Uhura was kind of hot!