UnbeWeavable

I know I will catch some heat with that title, but...ok.

I am not gonna lie, I have a hard time determining whether a sister is sporting a weave or not unless its really cheap. Women on the other hand can spot a weave in a hot second.

Personally, I could care less whether a sista chooses to rock a weave or not. It's her head you know. But I came up on this article, which takes the analysis of the weave and the black woman to a whole nutha level. "By wearing weaves and wigs, black women can become the type of woman society doesn't otherwise expect them to be. But do these counter-identities lead to empowerment or self-loathing?" Sounds deep....ya think? Read the article. http://www.alternet.org/story/48280/

Rush Limbaugh's fat azz has been playing what I consider a racist song. It depicts Al Sharpton hating on Barack Obama. It's called "Barack the Magic Negro". Yeah...

Good luck with finals to all of ya'll at Mem-Law, and UTK-Law. Knock dem ishes out!!

LOC

Naw, I aint referring to being LOC'ed out...Cali slang for being out of control (clean version) . It's actually refers to LeMoyne-Owen College, the local HBCU in Memphis.......Uh....Historically Black College and University., http://www.tnstate.edu/library/digital/lemoyne.htm

LeMoyne over the past few years has gone through some serious financial difficulties. I would say mostly due to poor fiscal management. Nonetheless, there is serious concerns that one of the oldest institutions in the state may be forced to close its doors and or lose it accreditation.

LeMoyne graduates have contributed greatly to this City. I am not gonna do a roll call of its graduates, but I would say that quite a many graduates have done fine work with Memphis City Schools, as LeMoyne has produced many educators.

All that to say, that tomorrow,(Saturday), there will be a Town hall meeting on Campus to discuss the future of LOC. For more info call 901.435.1526

Caught an excellent program on P.B.S. the other night. Bill Moyers Journal: Buying the War. It pointed out how the mainstream basically co-signed on the war and how it failed to do its homework as it relates to the rationale of going to war with Iraq. Look it up and see when it will air again. In the meanwhile here is a clip. Oh, you can read this as well, good piece written by Frank Rich of the NY Times, http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042907E.shtml

So I am opening my mail today, BAR breakdown.............talking bout having a foot in the door. All I could do was smile and give thanks to God. That close?? Yep.

So I get in the car after peeping my scores and what's playing. Talk about reading my mind.......excuse the explicit lyrics...

Wendy v. 3-6

A few posts ago while discussing Imus I wondered if perhaps the powers that be would direct their frustrations towards the world of Hip Hop. I may have even signed on to the idea of bringing heat to those rappers who drop the n-bomb or bishes or hizzoes in every other verse. As I marinated over it though, I was more of the opinion that instead of going after the rappers, why not go after the suits that are really making the money off of these acts.

Wendy Thomas, a local columnist in the Commercial Appeal has decided to kick up some dust over 3-6 Mafia, a homegrown Memphis group, (hell you know who they be) performing in the Beale Street Music Fest as a part of Memphis in May. She wants the group to be barred from performing. Here, you read her column. http://http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/local_columnists/article/0,2845,MCA_25341_5498161,00.html

So........I am trying to articulate a reason to disagree with her and her efforts to have the group removed from MIM. If I do, then I totally contradict my previous post. I felt the wind from her jab with, "While the band plays on, decent people offer weak rationalizations about how we don't buy this music, we won't let our children listen to it, but as for scrounging up the courage to take a public, if lonely, stance, we're not interested. We don't care, not enough, not yet."

Hmm....Why is that? While I agree that there needs to be a push to hold such artists responsible for their content, I still wanna bump them when I feel like being in that state of mind, and I still wanna watch'em live when they perform. Or maybe I wanna pick and choose which artist takes heat and who doesn't? Allow the groups I bump to do their thing while trashing those artists I can't stand. That's quite hypocritical on my part if I must say so.

I could just argue she's just hating on 3-6, she's had beef since their Grammy. Naw, she admits, while acknowledging their filthy lyrics, MIM stands to make money by booking the group. The group will get paid for performing, yes, but MIM ultimately is getting paid.

So as much as I hate to agree with Ms. Thomas, I must admit, she is correct. But that doesn't mean I am co-signing on her revolution at this very moment. Damn that, we can start the revolution after the Music-fest? See, I wanna find that middle ground. Let's get all politically correct after MIM, why we wanna ruin that weekend for erybody else?

Go on and say it, Damn Shame aint it?

Oh yea, last week I wrote about the college students that died in Virginia and the on-going military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here's an article forwarded to me, thanks Naj, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070423/ap_on_re_mi_ea/afghanistan_flag_complaint

Revoke, Revise, Realize

So bottom line is this, its back to the study hall for me. My head is bloody but unbowed. It was hard slowly scrolling down the list of names, observing classmates names as I made it down to the letter S (for Spike) and not seeing it there. You know, I kind of prepared myself just in case, but to actually not see my name there, kind of stung. I did one of those look backs to make sure I didn't somehow skip it. But it wasn't there. So I marinated on the reality of it all for a moment. Tic Tic Tic.

So there it was. Obviously you did not put enough effort and time into it cause you came up short. Looks like you are going to have to put even more time and effort into it....No doubt.

It's all kind of like having a play drawn up for you in the time out. Down by two with second left on the clock. Whistle blows, and everyone executes the play, the ball makes into my hands, and with a hand in my face I take the would be winning shot.....it looks good leaving my hand, the release felt perfect........and as the clock expires the ball hits the front of the rim and bounces off of the backboard and down onto the floor. I came up short. Doesn't mean the play wont be drawn up again, doesn't mean I'm not gonna take another shot again.

So its back to the gym, excuse me, library. Gots to put in more work to be more prepared for my next opportunity. Aint ish I ever pursued come easy and I aint ever quit anything I put my mind to. God willing in July it goes down.

Malcolm X once said, ""Anytime you see someone more successful than you are, they are doing something you aren't." Yo, I feel you.

Did I?

As some of you know I sat for the Tennessee BAR exam in February. I've had the last two months to over-analyze, over-evaluate, under-evaluate, and dream about those two days of exams. Well Tomorrow the results will be posted and I will know the bizness.

How does it feel?

Let's see. Imagine that in junior high school, you made up you mind that you wanted to make a difference in your community. You wanted to give back, and help those less fortunate. You decide that being an attorney would give you the best opportunity to reach those goals. You move forward in to high school, and then undergrad while still holding strong to what it is you are seeking. So then you go to law school and you survive that experience. And now here you are, still clinging to that goal that you formed so early in life. You are one night (actually hours) away from knowing whether tomorrow that dream becomes reality, or whether it will be a dream deferred for six more months. It's in God's hands now, just as it has been since that first day I envisioned it.

Yep.......that's how it feels.....

Wondering Aloud

Is it because those young American soldiers dying in Iraq are so far away that it is not as sad as those who were killed in Virginia? Is it because the Bush Posse has made it illegal to take photographs of the flag draped coffins that fly in to the states every day? Is it because their deaths often go unmentioned or in a small blurb in our newspapers? Is it because the war is so distant from most people (unless you have a loved one serving there) that we forget there are young people dying in Iraq? Or is the fact that those in the military signed their own death certificates when they enlisted and those kids in the classrooms were simply pursuing their education? Minute by minute coverage of the students who were killed, who they were, what their major was, what their future plans were? Not to minimize their deaths, but what about those kids in Iraq? Don't they deserve the same? I was just wondering? Each death is tragic in my mind. Don't they count too?

You may view the faces of those who have died this month in Iraq. http://projects.washingtonpost.com/fallen/

Ruts and Mo

I was chillaxin over the weekend,suffering from flipitis as usual when I hit TV-One, (the other black channel). What I saw made a brotha rise up from his comfortable position to get a good look at what was going on. Kunta Kinte was catching an azz whippin. He had just been captured after running away from massa's plantation. So dude is on his azz, what's yo name boy? Kunta.... Whippow!! More lashes.....I say what's yo name boy?...............Kunta.......I'm like damn right that's yo name.........Whipppow!!........What's yo name boy........Don't say it Kunta don't say it dog........Naw don't say it man, yo name Kunta my n@@@a...dont say........My name Toby.......Aw hell naw.......DAMN Kunta.......they done broke you man.

Click here to see what I was thinking.... http://www.ifilm.com/video/2795968

Like I need to be watching Roots. After watching my boy Kunta get broke, I felt obliged to go on an watch the rest of the series. I don't think I had ever watched all of Roots before. I was too young when it came out and as a teen I was like I don't wanna watch that ish.....have me getting kicked out of school for having a Root's Lapse and smacking a classmate out of sheer reflects. I do recall a comedian saying when Roots debuted, a lot of white dudes came home with black eyes from catching beatdowns from their fellow black classmates who watched a weeks worth of Rootd.

But you know, Roots was in all seriousness kind of deep. It was a lil painful at times. And one's mind can't help but imagine what it was like to live in those times as a black person. It's unimaginable. The breaking up of families was one thing I dwelled on. Half of us round here prolly kinfolk. Sons and daughters sold off to other plantations, never seeing their parents or siblings again. There were no cellies or two ways to keep in touch. Once you were gone, you were gone.

The sistas being used as massa's playboy bunnies, and not a damn thing a husband or son could do. Kunta's African sweet-heart told him I aint running away, I am trying to survive. Who knows how accurate Roots was in terms of the mentality of those slaves who'd rather remain on the plantation instead of running away. It wasn't like they had Mapquest or anything to get them to the north. My cousin could not get me to walk from our parked car, to a small lake in a thick wooded area in Mississippi cause I was scared I would run into a snake. Yo and that was in the day time. So I can't imagine another slave trying to talk me into running away at night, without flashlights and a few granola bars. Aint that a shame?

Some of the things those folks in Roots suffered from, we still suffering from. Let me start off with the black folk helping track down runaways or swinging the whip. What's up with that? Am I not my brother's keeper? I would have at least, misled the MAN. Have them all on the wrong trail. Kind of reminds me of some folk I.......let me stop.

The break up of the family is still pervasive in the black community, except now, its voluntary. Massa aint gotta sell us anymore, we bouncing on our own. I will say though that, the system was kind of set up like that. If you wanted to receive welfare back in the day, the father could not be living in the home with the mother. I don't know the particular rules today, but I would say that that rule alone back in the 70's and 80's broke homes up. Today though, folk's just having kids and doing their own thing. There are no excuses per se, well, besides I wasn't trying to get her pregnant, I like her but I wasn't trying to marry her. Am I lying? Thank-you.

The massas who really believed we were animals, incapable of doing human things, like reading, writing, loving. Having those beliefs while at the same time calling themselves good Christians. But funny how, we learned to cook for them, bear and even rear their children for them, etc.

The generations of black folk before me, during those times until the beginning of the civil rights struggle, were strong people. No doubt. They endured so much. That is a history we will never be able to appreciate because many of those at that time, could not or did not leave diaries or memoirs. There are some stories, http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/unchained_memories/ ,but those that do exist are only a drop in the bucket. It's truly unimaginable. My generation could never have endured such adversity. It is through these people that many of us now enjoy the lives that we have now. Some of us don't even have the fight in us to effect change, we're too.....THE FOLLOWING LINES HAVE BEEN REMOVED CAUSE SOME OF YOU KNOW WHERE HE WAS GOING WITH THIS.

So where was I? Roots....

TV-One kicks BET's butt.

I planned to discuss the Mickey Wright case, but, after marinating on it I just didn't know what angle I wanted to attack it from. Click here for Wright story, http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/local/article/0,2845,MCA_25340_5467545,00.html You know bottom line is, the court did not have to accept the plea. As a part of the plea, the Murderer told how Mr. Wright was killed. After killing Mr. Wright, he burned his body, dismembered it and then placed parts of his body in several cars that were later crushed. If that shocked the conscience of the court, then the court did not have to accept the plea deal and could force a trial. The District Attorney says the case was falling apart, not much evidence to convict on first degree murder. Let me just say this, I have seens quite a few cases where they have prosecuted young black boys with less evidence. I am gonna leave it at that. Here is the DA's position, http://www.wmcstations.com/Global/story.asp?S=6375544

The local community was pretty outraged over this case. Some say a white man can kill a black man and get away with just a slap on the wrist. Folk were all outside 201 Poplar protesting, "No Justice, No Peace". Negroes please. Why we "Negroes" wanna get mad when white folk do something horrible to us, we wanna go change the world and ish. But, every day, we "young blacks" are gunning each other down in the streets over nonsense. Where is the outrage there? Where is the marching? Where are the two dollar preacha's giving press conferences? Can we stop our youth from killing one another? Seriously, lets get mad about that ish....

Imus got fired, he got what was coming. But the music industry making a killing, "Snoop, Jigga, Jim Jones" calling women ishes and oes and using the N-BOMB. You know. When will we be fed up with their ish? In their defense, they are not calling anyone in particular a ish or a hoe. They are just telling stories. But some folk getting a little too comfortable these days, I laughed a few days back when I heard a lil young white kid, call his white friend a jigga in the mall. Yet I would have been trying to smack the white off of him if it was directed towards me. Will there be a push to stop these artists from using these words, or is it ok, cause they one of us?

Virginia Tech massacre It's sad watching this unfold. Gun Control is dead. The NRA is just too powerful. It appears the gunman used a regular handgun (9mm) and not an automatic weapon. Either way, his act was an act of terror. Those people never knew what was coming. May the many victims (31) rest in peace, and may God help the families through these difficult times. Amen...

Imus Being an Anus

Damn, did I just use that word? Shame on me. But shame on Imus, an MSNBC morning host running off at the mouth describing Rutgers University Women's Basketball Team. He has issued an apology, but, come on, it flowed way too easy from his lips. Should we really care, considering how we too like to describe each other like this? Do you?

There's no doubt that I hate FOX Propaganda, (oops Fox News). I though it was interesting watching Geraldo and Bill O'Reilly go at it on the issue of drunk driving and immigration. Geraldo should have smacked dat ho@

I'll be back later to discuss the Mickey Wright case.

American What?

Can't say I watch American Idol per se........

I like to at least see if any black folk still in the competition, you know...

But I understand there is a kid on the show that can't really sing, but is still hanging in each week. I hear folk talking bad bout dude. (I mean that's what I had heard.)... But why are folk hating on dude, even if he can't sing. Give the people what they want. You know..aint this the same country that elected Bush punk azz twice!!

Sports Legends

A moment of silence for Dr. Martin Luther King............It was on this day that he was slain while in Memphis.

Coach Eddie Robinson the famed Grambling State University Football Coach passed on today at the age of 88. When you think of the SWAC, or Black College Football, his name should first pop to your mind. Coach Robinson guided a many young black men, not only on the field but in life as well. He groomed Doug Williams, the Super Bowl MVP Quarterback that took all the of supposed glory from John Elway (the media was all on John's jock), when he served the Denver Broncos. He coached Grambling for 57 years and complied a career record of 408-165-1. That's absolutely sick, 57 years on the same job. That I dare say will never happen in sports today. Heck, he is the only reason I coach Grambling State on College Game Day for the PS II. (Yea, I still have the PS II, aint been upgraded yet.)

Press release from his family, "Our love and admiration for Eddie were unyielding, as was Eddie’s for his immediate family and his extended Grambling family. Eddie was the consummate husband, father, teacher, leader, role model, and, most of all, the greatest of Americans. Words cannot express the loneliness that I will feel without my beloved Eddie. However, I realize, and the immediate family realizes, the greatness that Eddie contributed to our society. He will forever fill our hearts, minds, and souls "

Here's good read on him, http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=lapchick_richard&id=2825428

On a different note, I gotta give props to Coach Pat Summit and her Tennessee Lady Vols Basketball Team. They won it all. Those girl are straight ballers.....I think that's coaches seventh NCAA title. Not too shabby.....

What's this I see? Ok.....I have to congratulate Ashley Shields. Ashley is I think one of the most dominant high school basketball players in the Memphis City Schools. She was highly recruited about four years back and actually signed a letter of intent with the University of Memphis. Unfortunately, she could never get her grades right and ended up dropping out. The last two years, she has been playing at Southwest Community College here in Memphis. Playing is an understatement, more like dominating her opponents. She scored 65 points about two weeks ago in the recent tournament.I am not gonna lie, if she and I played a game of pickup, she would give me a little competition, I mean, I would have to earn a win, but I would win.......I would.........for real.........Anyway, she was drafted by the Houston Comets of the WNBA, the eight selection overall. Eight out of 39 girls is no doubt quite impressive. It's almost equivalent to being drafted out of High School. To know her background, and where she has come from, and the adversities she has faced, it's a blessing for her. I am truly proud of her, and take back every bad thing I said about her when she was abusing my lil sister and her Central teammates on the floor when she was at Melrose. Let me be yo agent...! For more, http://www.wnba.com/draft2007/prospect_ashley_shields.html

Re-Up

It's been a minute. So much going on, so little time to allow my brain an opportunity to flow.

Got an opportunity to get to Atlanta and see some old faces. Good to see that everyone is still moving forward, getting closer to reaching their goals.

I dunno, I feel like I am in standby mode, like a plane waiting for clearance to take off. It's somewhat of an uncomfortable position. Cause you just don't know, I could be so close to the finish line, or I could come up short.

I wanted to also take a moment to acknowledge the passing of COGIC's Leader, Bishop G.E. Patterson, 1939 - 2007. He did a many great things in Memphis and throught the country. He inspired many, and his leadership will be missed. I am curious as to whether there will be a power struggle within COGIC with him gone.

Got a chance to attend the festivities surrounding Major League Baseball's Civil Rights Game. I got a chance to chat with Dr. Charles Ogletree of Harvard, and Theodore Shaw, Director of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Both gentlemen were very cordial and encouraging as it relates to my future plans. Oh....they both indicated they'd love to come speak at U-M Law......

Got to see one of my favorite groups, the GAP Band. Charlie Wilson minus some of the original members. They were still bumping nonetheless. I swear that dude thinks he is 26 or something, he old enough to be my grandfather.

Big up's to MK making all that happen.

But with the good, there is always something a little bitter. Spike Zee and Spike Lee were scheduled to meet up on Saturday, however due to a previous commitment, I missed my opportunity. My boy GN1 filled in for me. I hear he and Spike are going to work on making School Daze into a musical.

During the symposium, it was argued that Major League Baseball needs to reach out to black youth and encourage them to play baseball. As of Spring training this year there were only 70 or so Black baseball players, clearly down from the 80's and early 90's. Dave Winfield a former baller, argued that baseball is no reaching out to Latino's and player from the Caribbean as well as Asian players and not to black youth. I don't think I agree with that argument. I don't see the Latino community asking the NBA to reach out to their youth, nor do I see the Asian community getting on the NFL. Black youth today are pretty much choosing between the NBA and the NFL. Hip hop has pretty much adopted the NBA, (as the NBA fights that image), and Football is what it is. We see those players in videos and hip hop commercials, when was the last time I saw a black baseball player in anything? Hmmm...... In Cali, we were able to play all three sports year round. In the south, it seems kids gravitate more towards basketball and football. Baseball can be a little boring if you crave constant excitement. If black kids want to play baseball, they will. Baseball unlike football and basketball, are allowed to draft right out of high school. Kids can make a buck or two immediately out of high school with baseball unlike the other sports that require some college experience. It's all about the money though, black folk aint making Major League Baseball any money, so why should baseball spend its money on reaching out to the black community? So till then, buy your kid a bat, a glove and a ball, and see where it takes him.