ass-a-nation

I would like to profess to all of the beautiful and gorgeous distinctions of women of African descent in American and world wide in the Diaspora, that on behalf of all the REAL brothers up in this camp we love, lust, respect, appreciate and desire you. In particular, although we may have individual penchants for thighs, legs and other attributes that sound like they belong in a three-piece chicken snack and that the aforementioned sounds yummy, and there is nothing more appealing than a sedulous smile on a sister, I must admit that of all the features our sisters have, none can be more distinguishing than the posterior, the gluteus maximus, and the ass.

As a black man, there is no other talked about or desired visual stimulation one can have next to a full spread Thanksgiving and/or Christmas dinner than to have the privilege to walk behind, or catch in ones peripheral vision a sister with a little junk in her trunk. Even women seem to know this about us fellas seeing that almost every sister I know has a picture with the classic and ubiquitous booty sticking out pose (see several on this blog entry).

My boy Smoove and I were talking about this yesterday. He commented “a brother gone always go wild over a phat ass ass. I mean, if he had the choice between a beautiful woman that was lacking, and a not so attractive woman that was like [HE USED HIS HANDS TO DESCRIBE], the brother gone go with the fat ass ass.”

So ladies don’t be mad at me or my folk, but we have a fascination with posterior ethics and today, I just wanted to be proud to proclaim that I love this particular portion of the female physiology and proclaim that from now on today be recognized as Ass-a-nation day.

stacks on deck

This is a rare two post day for me. They say a pic is worth a thousand words so you make the call. Got this from one of my Folks.

mexicos national debt maybe
cashed welfare checks


they say crime doesnt pay

Keeping It Real Stupid

I think it is about time we started to seriously evaluate our behavior, maybe even, what we say. The latter will be hard for me since I consider myself a writer, but I do try to control the unnecessary use of suggestion that may serve no beneficial purpose to anyone.

It seems as if our culture, that which we claim to be ours is lost in space. I will provide two examples of this. In a concert recently up South - in Massachusetts, one Clifford Harris was briefly upset. His performance was at Bentley College's for their Spring Day 2007. The college is a business school that offers graduate and undergraduate degrees. From what ahs been reported, some one tossed a water balloon at the Atlanta hip-hop mogul and he went ballistic, even to the point of offering 50,000 for the head of the perpetrator.

Although some would say that folk is only keeping it real, I would like to arguer that he is not and that on real he is keeping is “Real Stupid”. First, a water balloon, I bet if he came on stage throwing them at the audience, he would not think anything about it. More importantly, you offer that much money as if you are ordering a hit, for a person to be killed over a water balloon may suggest that you got other issues at hand. Not to mention, it is suggested that snitching is bad, yet you are offering to buy information to do harm to someone.

Please someone should tell Mr. Clifford Harris that it is suggestions such as his that make people think it is ok to offer money to hurt people over minor acts, or even to commit violence over something petty such as throwing a water balloon. It is not. A real man would have laughed it off. That is what is wrong with our folks today, besides it is not like one was protecting his family.

historical malfeasance

I am not much of a movie go-er and I do not look at movies that much even at the cut. This past week however, I got a free bootleg copy of 300. They say it is supposed to be a story about the battle of Thermopylae and King Leonidas. It is also supposed to be about 300 Spartans called Hoplites. These were supposed to be elite troops of which they all had sons back home. The logic was men fighting with sons would fight harder.

From a historical perspective, I noticed that Hollywood somewhat took liberty with the actual battle. I mean the Spartans eventually ran from the battle and were killed by Persian archers and Leonidas, it was written, was or beheaded on Xerxes' orders.

What I know about the battle comes from Herodotus. Although he suggested it was about 5 million Persians involved in the battle, other historian’s state that the number was closer to about a quarter million. I do respect Herodotus but at the time of the battle, which is documented to have occurred in 480 BCE (before Christian Europe), Herodotus was about 4 years old.


Then there was the fact that the movie led folks to think that the Spartans' did wear much armor, which was a blatant historical untruth since it was likely what protected them in comparison to what the Persians wore. Then there is the observation that the director or whoever made it seem as if the Spartans were fighting for freedom, liberty and democracy when that could not have been farther from the truth. Sparta was not a free society and was really closer in character to a monarchical dictatorship; with the majority of its population being helots - a service class of individuals owned by the state and perceived to be property of the state property who were slaves and were denied Spartan citizenship.

The movie was cool to look at and the killing and graphic sex and violence was entertaining as well. However, it reminded me why, as an individual fan of history, I try not to go to see such stuff. It makes me believe that folks will take this as being factual, as actual historical occurrences. Just like the Movie Mississippi Burning – it had black folks thinking the FBI and J.Edgar Hoover was on our side and wanted to help African Americans in the deep south – poppy cock.

Reverse Trick (I Mean )Criminology

I just found out or at least figured that I have concluded how the criminal justice system works. On the surface, it is supposed to represent liberty and justice for all and guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and all that jazz, but the overt reality is that it does neither.

Around the country, there have been a slew of cases, especially here in Georgia where men wrongly convicted of crimes were released after serving many years in prison.

Robert Clark was released from prison after being locked up since 1981 for a rape that DNA proved that he did not commit. In addition, DNA was used to find the real assailant that matched the DNA that was collected from the rape victim as well as two other rapes that were committed later. He was convicted and sentenced to life plus 20 years after a woman identified him as the man who carjacked and raped her at gunpoint from outside an Atlanta Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant. He was the fifth in Georgia to be freed through post-conviction DNA testing. Then there is Willie O. "Pete" Williams, who, was convicted of the 1985 rape of a woman in an apartment complex parking lot. The woman identified Williams as her attacker after which, he spent nearly half his life in a South Georgia prison before DNA evidence was also used to find the real criminal. Add to this, Calvin Johnson Jr., who was released from a Georgia prison 16 years after he was sentenced to life for a rape he did not commit.

Juxtapose this with what happened to James Fowler, a former Alabama State trooper who just recently surrendered for a killing he allegedly committed in 1965. It occurred during a civil rights protest in Marion in which Fowler shot and killed Jimmie Lee Jackson (pictured above). This killing lead to the Selma – to – Montgomery voting rights march. This means that Mr. Fowler was allowed to run around free for 42 years without penalty.

So how does it work? Well if you happen to be of African descent in America, you are thrown in prison on GP and will likely spend 15 to 30 years in prison for a crime one may have not been guilty of committing. If you are white, you are allowed to walk free for decades, even when there is substantial evidence to convict you. This means that fairness and equal protection under the law is not applicable to African Americans until after they serve time for crimes they don commit or worse, that people who commit crimes on them are not subjugated to the same penalty as afforded by the law.

For example in 2003, Billy Ray Johnson a “mentally challenged” 44 year-old was tricked in going to a party in Linden, Texas, beaten unconscious and left in a puddle of blood to die on the side of the road. The individuals (white) who committed this crime were given suspended sentences by the judged and only served 30 and 60-day terms in jail – not prison. Johnson on the other hand suffered permanent brain damage.

All I am saying is brother’s watch out. We still live in a time where the word of a single person or white woman for lack of a better example, can land you in prison even without evidence or if the person wears glasses. And if you are the victim of a crime, and your attackers are a member of the privileged historical order of American culture, they you may suffer without seeing the perpetrator brought to justice. Like I said, it is not criminology, it is more like tricknology.

Apology Not Accepted: Directors of syphilis study should face penalty

Yo, we all know that this is the 10th anniversary of the Apology For the Study Done in Tuskegee as acknowledged by then President Clinton. Here is something I wrote back then that was featured as an op-ed in a News paper called Creative Loafing, May 31, 1997 Vol. 26, No. 2


President Clinton has openly apologized for the federal government’s involvement in the U.S. Public Health Syphilis study, the so-called Tuskegee Experiment – which was not designed, developed or put in place by the residents of Tuskegee or the encompassing Macon County, Ala. The syphilis study, which started in 1932, continued after penicillin was observed to be an effective treatment for the disease. During the study, penicillin was withheld and subjects were treated with mercury and arsenic.

I have strong concerns regarding the meaning and sincerity of the president’s apology. The study began more than 60 years ago and ended about 25 years ago. Since Clinton was not born when the study began, nor was he responsible for its implementation, it’s hard for me to accept his gesture as being more than political grandstanding.

If he is sincere about this apology, then it would be reasonable for him to prosecute all directors and leaders of the fullest extent of the law. I say this based on historical precedents that were implemented with respect to standards of research involving human subjects. The most well known of such standards came about as a consequence of the Nuremberg tribunal after World War II. Human “guinea pigs” were experimented upon with destructive materials in the same manner that the U.S. Public Health Services, Communicable Disease Center, now the Centers for Disease Control and prevention, experimented on African descendents in Macon County.

At the German military hospital In Neuengamme, experiments were carried out on individuals diagnosed with tuberculosis. Remedies used treatment were far more brutal than the biological progression of the disease itself. During autopsies, parts of the body were sent back to selected laboratories in Germany for study. This same practice was replicated in the syphilis study- the only differences being that parts were sent to Atlanta.

What happened in Macon County is no different from what occurred in Buchewnwald, the main center of German experimentation for spotted fever (carried out by the SS Hygiene Institute in Berlin). The spinal taps that were used on the men no different from the spinal tap procedure employed by Nazi scientist in Ravensbruck. Prosecution of former German scientist of human subject research violations is ongoing today. The question is, why are we willing to absolve directors of the syphilis study when we were not willing to absolve those German war criminals?

The people running the syphilis study allowed men infected with syphilis to return to their homes, knowing that there was a chance for the disease. More horrifying was the denial of medical treatment. Denying approximately 400 African descendants living in Macon County, Ala, treatment when it was available is unthinkable.

Pundits estimate that only 28 men died from the study. However, since subjects were allowed to return to their homes, to their wives, lovers and girlfriends, the possibility exists that others may have died from complications from contracting the virus. I cannot buy the suggestion that these researchers were well intended. If their intentions were just and honorable, then why was there a need to learn more about the disease for which ample data regarding the etiological outcome was documented? Not to mention the length of time it took for the federal government to officially acknowledge that the study even existed. What benefit will the president’s apology have on bringing closure to the federal government’s role in providing safe health care for individuals of African descent.?

No, Mr. President, we don’t want to accept your apology, if you do not intend to apply the same standard of justice that has been applicable to scientist condemned under the Nuremberg tribunal. Bringing the guilty to justice will go a lot farther than any empty repentance. This is the only respectful was for the government to absolve itself from its involvement in unethical and fatal research with human subjects.

The only settlement awarded to victims was $37, 500 for each living syphilitic and $15, 000 for living heirs. In total, $10 million was provided for $6,000 victims. This means that recipients about $1,666 apiece-a figure insignificant when compared to the Ronald Goldman settlement. If those responsible for the syphilis study are not tried and convicted, it will only mean that Africans in America are of no value in the eyes of the federal government, when compared to a Ron Goldman or a victim of Auschwitz.


Creative Loafing May 31, 1997 Vol. 26, No. 2

The Dirty Dozen

This month folks in these United States of America, namely historian and pundits will celebrate the 400th anniversary of the settlement of Jamestown. Historians have often misrepresented Jamestown as some type of quest for Democracy while at the same time acknowledging the exploitation of Africans and the indigenous folks who were already home trained and living on these shores that welcomed, what would become their enemy with opened arms.

I am thinking of this as I wait to give a talk on health disparities. It is strange when you think about it, that many of the problems and issues our community have with disease and limited economic empowerment started here and that I am asked to remember this even in celebration

Jamestown lead Shakespeare to pen his play the Tempest in 1611, which as one of the main characters was Calibain, who was described as a swarthy and fearsome and evil aboriginal.

I wonder what would have happened if the newcomers, the settlers, the colonizers, the Europeans had actually succumbed to the insects and diseases they had never witnessed before. I wonder what would have happened if this lazy group of trespassers had never learned to dig wells (from the inhabitants) and drank river water as opposed to learn to dig wells for spring water and succumbed to more disease and pestilence?

I just wanted to say for the record, I will not be celebrating anything related to the settlement of Jamestown for I am not a descendant of Jamestown, for it was only 12 years, a dozen years after its establishment that the first lot of 20 Africans from present day Angola landed at the colony.

Truth be told the current roots of family instability, economic inheritance and land accumulation all began with Jamestown. Maybe that is why it will always leave a sordid taste in my mouth, and I wish to spit on its inheritance with my word, deed and venom - for all we got from this act was the The Virginia House of Burgesses which only enacted laws establishing and perpetuating the institution of slavery.

outside the box

On the days I do not have to take my son to school in the morning, I take a short cut off of Sylvan Road on 85-North so I won’t have to be caught up in the traffic heading towards and through downtown Atlanta. This past Monday I took this route. Passing the same old sights, I approached Sylvan Middle School. At the light, I saw a bevy of four boys. I suspected they were all heading to school. Fresh haircuts, White Tee’s and Air force ones, they were all laughing, walking, and smiling. I noticed that of the four boys, only one had books in his hand.

While at the light, I turned out my window and asked, “Yawl on yawl way to school?”

“Several of the boys responded “yea.”

“Come here little daddy, no not you, the one with the books in his hand.” He came over and said, “Yes sir?” I gave him five dollars and said. “I like that, always keep your books with you, I mean you take them too and from school-don't you? You be doing your home work all the time don’t you?”

“Yes sir.”

“Well good.” All of this happened within 30 seconds. One of the other boys asked if I would give him five dollars too. I said naw folk; you don’t have any books in your hand.” I drove off.

This was Monday. Today I am taking the same short cut. I see the same boys. They all waved at me as if they were trying to flag me down. Again, I stopped at the light. This time they all had their books with them. They even held them up to me with a smile. I called them over to the car and gave each of the four five dollars. Now I am broke, and I have no lunch money, but I feel richer than a motherfucker and I am still smiling as I pen this essay. We all can make a difference, guess we gotta try sometimes and just think outside the box.

The magic Negro needs to pimp slap the fat white Saltine

I guess it is hard times for a radio pimp, especially the far right-wingers, the ultraconservatives and the neo-cons of the grand old party (GOP). If you have not heard it, the drug addict, prescription pain killing consuming, narco himself – Rush Limbaugh has done it again. Seems that this recovering addict needs to enhance his listening audience and will do what ever it takes to bring additional bigots to his audience. I guess that is why he released that song about Barack Obama called "Barack the 'Magic Negro.'

Now, it is nothing major if you ask me, but it seems that after the Imus situation, any talk-radio pundit would crack a forty, smoke some kill, and squash all commentary that borders on racist bigotry. I guess for Limbaugh referring to Barrack Obama and Halle Berry "Halfricans", or even slipping and calling Obama “Obama bin Laddin”, makes him feel better than the next man or may even serve as his belief that the white race is supreme and will rise again. Some folks take it that the term was used to describe the aforementioned as being less or half African American given their light complexion. I on the other hand belive it is a indication of him thing that we as a people are still three-fifths of a white person in America.

I was proud that Obama laughed at Mr. Limbaugh when he went on his show and brought up the song. It was as if he wanted him to get mad. Like I said, I was proud, but I would have been happier if he had just pimped slapped jones and loosened a few teeth.