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...