A recent report in The Washington Post has revealed that the Obama administration is seeking to make it easier for the FBI to collect information on the personal Internet activities of American citizens without the requirement of a search warrant.
The change, if implemented, would give the executive branch and the FBI increased powers by forcing companies to provide upon request, the records of any individual’s Internet activity without being required to obtain a court order.
According to the Post, the Obama administration will be able to provide information to the FBI if they feel it is important and pertinent to a "terrorism or intelligence investigation." Merely by inserting the words "electronic communication transactional records" to a list of materials that current laws state that the FBI may request without the approval of a judge. This includes personal user Internet web browser activity and the addresses to which an individual sends e-mail. More important is that the request would be secretly obtained and withheld from the individual user.
Unknown to many is that according to government sources, many Internet and e-mail services already provide the government with such data. During his campaign, Obama ran on many issues, including enhancing individual civil liberties. However, this effort may lead to an erosion of individual rights and privacy. In 2007, a published report by the Inspector General’s office revealed that the FBI might have incurred many violations in requesting such data — including the solicitation of information without having an approved investigation to justify the request.
Warrantless surveillance programs are unconstitutional, yet the current administration, following where former President George W. Bush left off, argues that such information is the same or equal to telephone toll billing records, which the FBI can obtain without court authorization. This means that finding out who a person sends an e-mail to or a Facebook friend request is the same as a telephone call.
It would seem as a constitutional law scholar, Obama would understand that the First Amendment protects the personal association information of a citizen.
The question is how this might impact future government legislation. On March 4, 2010, the “Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010” was introduced by John McCain. This bill, if passed, would eliminate several constitutional protections allowing government to arbitrarily pick up Americans on mere suspicion — with no probable cause. Not to mention, in May of this year, the president gave a speech in which he asked Congress to pass legislation to give the president, power to detain any person in the U.S. that the government deems a “combatant” or likely to engage in a violent act in the future.
How far does the government plan to go invade the private lives of its citizens under the guise of national security? We will have to wait and see, for it seems to reflect what Huxley predicted would happen in a A recent report in The Washington Post has revealed that the Obama administration is seeking to make it easier for the FBI to collect information on the personal Internet activities of American citizens without the requirement of a search warrant.
The change, if implemented, would give the executive branch and the FBI increased powers by forcing companies to provide upon request, the records of any individual’s Internet activity without being required to obtain a court order.
According to the Post, the Obama administration will be able to provide information to the FBI if they feel it is important and pertinent to a "terrorism or intelligence investigation." Merely by inserting the words "electronic communication transactional records" to a list of materials that current laws state that the FBI may request without the approval of a judge. This includes personal user Internet web browser activity and the addresses to which an individual sends e-mail. More important is that the request would be secretly obtained and withheld from the individual user.
Unknown to many is that according to government sources, many Internet and e-mail services already provide the government with such data. During his campaign, Obama ran on many issues, including enhancing individual civil liberties. However, this effort may lead to an erosion of individual rights and privacy. In 2007, a published report by the Inspector General’s office revealed that the FBI might have incurred many violations in requesting such data — including the solicitation of information without having an approved investigation to justify the request.
Warrantless surveillance programs are unconstitutional, yet the current administration, following where former President George W. Bush left off, argues that such information is the same or equal to telephone toll billing records, which the FBI can obtain without court authorization. This means that finding out who a person sends an e-mail to or a Facebook friend request is the same as a telephone call.
It would seem as a constitutional law scholar, Obama would understand that the First Amendment protects the personal association information of a citizen.
The question is how this might impact future government legislation. On March 4, 2010, the “Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010” was introduced by John McCain. This bill, if passed, would eliminate several constitutional protections allowing government to arbitrarily pick up Americans on mere suspicion — with no probable cause. Not to mention, in May of this year, the president gave a speech in which he asked Congress to pass legislation to give the president, power to detain any person in the U.S. that the government deems a “combatant” or likely to engage in a violent act in the future.
How far does the government plan to go invade the private lives of its citizens under the guise of national security? We will have to wait and see, for it seems to reflect what Huxley predicted would happen in a totalitarian society in his book Brave New World. society in his book Brave New World.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
12 things I would do to improve the economy
As of the end of June, 14 million Americans were out of work. Of that number, nearly seven million people have been unemployed for more than a year. This is a topic of particular importance to me because I lost my business during this economic downturn and have not secured full-time employment. Since then, I have been studying the economic policies of current and past administrations as well as the history of the 1930s, the Great Depression and the economic crisis of 1873.
In each case, problems arose on Wall Street, credit generally was tight and many financial institutions went belly up. I should explain that my armchair economic view is a function of the Austrian economic school of thought as opposed to Keynesian. And even though what I am suggesting may not repair our economic situation completely, it’s a step toward developing a comprehensive plan.
1. Revisit the impact of North American Free Trade Agreement and other policies that work directly against U.S. economic interests, particularly in reference to the middle and lower class populations.
2. The Obama administration needs to get more aggressive and block the Bush economic policies that the new Republican guard desires to reintroduce — like tax cuts for the wealthy.
3. Develop standards for Wall Street and financial institutions that target greed instead of capitalism. There is a difference between the two, but our policy approach does not acknowledge it.
4. Require that all complex financial instruments such as derivatives be kept on an institution’s books. Mandate that basic accounting procedures be followed so that the true value of the investment is reported. We do not need any more Enrons.
5. Focus on developing economic initiatives that compete directly with new emerging economies while reducing fossil fuel consumption.
6. Move away from a service economy and invest more in education and research. One of the problems is that we do not create or invent things of value the rest of the world needs or desires.
7. Cut oil subsidies entirely. Oil companies are making billions of dollars off taxpayers. If we want to stimulate energy production, take the money and put 10 percent of it into solar and wind power that we can engineer, and build these technologies here in America.
8. Legalize and tax prostitution and marijuana along with selected other drugs. Decriminalize small amounts of others.
9. Audit the Federal Reserve and examine its continued relevance, as well as cut subsidies to industries that aren’t efficient enough to stay afloat without government money.
10. Eliminate the federal corporate income tax and all foreign aid. Limit individual taxation to money spent on goods and services. This would be a fair tax (everyone taxed at the same rate) mixed with a consumption tax.
11. Eliminate the FCC (which is a total waste of money) and the Department of Education. States should run education, not the feds.
12. Bring our troops home. They can defend our borders and there’s no telling how much money we will save.
In each case, problems arose on Wall Street, credit generally was tight and many financial institutions went belly up. I should explain that my armchair economic view is a function of the Austrian economic school of thought as opposed to Keynesian. And even though what I am suggesting may not repair our economic situation completely, it’s a step toward developing a comprehensive plan.
1. Revisit the impact of North American Free Trade Agreement and other policies that work directly against U.S. economic interests, particularly in reference to the middle and lower class populations.
2. The Obama administration needs to get more aggressive and block the Bush economic policies that the new Republican guard desires to reintroduce — like tax cuts for the wealthy.
3. Develop standards for Wall Street and financial institutions that target greed instead of capitalism. There is a difference between the two, but our policy approach does not acknowledge it.
4. Require that all complex financial instruments such as derivatives be kept on an institution’s books. Mandate that basic accounting procedures be followed so that the true value of the investment is reported. We do not need any more Enrons.
5. Focus on developing economic initiatives that compete directly with new emerging economies while reducing fossil fuel consumption.
6. Move away from a service economy and invest more in education and research. One of the problems is that we do not create or invent things of value the rest of the world needs or desires.
7. Cut oil subsidies entirely. Oil companies are making billions of dollars off taxpayers. If we want to stimulate energy production, take the money and put 10 percent of it into solar and wind power that we can engineer, and build these technologies here in America.
8. Legalize and tax prostitution and marijuana along with selected other drugs. Decriminalize small amounts of others.
9. Audit the Federal Reserve and examine its continued relevance, as well as cut subsidies to industries that aren’t efficient enough to stay afloat without government money.
10. Eliminate the federal corporate income tax and all foreign aid. Limit individual taxation to money spent on goods and services. This would be a fair tax (everyone taxed at the same rate) mixed with a consumption tax.
11. Eliminate the FCC (which is a total waste of money) and the Department of Education. States should run education, not the feds.
12. Bring our troops home. They can defend our borders and there’s no telling how much money we will save.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Do Black Women Support Adultery?
We know that men, in particular married men have a problem in our community, not all but some. I like to call this the keeping it in your pants syndrome. Yes I am speaking about adultery, when a man or woman sleeps with a married person and they know they are married. I do not claim to be the moral zeitgeist, but I have recognized that nowadays, just as many women are guilt of the pleasures of the flesh as are men, so my query to you is, do black women promote adulteress behavior more so in this current generation than generations past?
I ask this based on two recent observations, I could make it three if i decided to include the debauchery proffered by a one Superhead, but I won't. Albeit I feel that her influences on young women is foul seeing that it supports scandal and leg opening for fortune and fame.
The two examples I am referring too are Alicia Keyes and Former 'American Idol' Winner Fantasia Barrino. I would expect that any woman who was married and found out that another woman was being intimate with her husband would be mad, and mad at any woman who slept with a married man. I would also expect that, although it takes two to tango, that women would equally find that both the man and woman involved to be disrespectful, despicable and sordid.
However, what I noticed regarding Alicia Keys, and her affair with Music Producer Swizz Beats, was that many made excuses and even applauded her actions as acceptable behavior under the guise of the man and his wife were separated. Like separation is the same as a divorce or that maybe even she was the cause for the separation.
Now I do not know how women will respond to the allegations that Fantasia Barrino made sex tapes with a married man, but I wonder if celebrity gives such behavior a pass by some. I never heard Alicia Keyes being called a home-wrecker as i suspect many common folk would be labeled. But it is obvious that the wife off Antwuan Cook, Paula Cook thinks otherwise.
It seems that in the age of strip clubs, groupies and fame, women now, more than ever are willing to do whatever to get paid or get a little name recognition. This type of behavior is merely a reflection of what has now become common place. Yes the men are just as guilty, but can't a woman say no if she knows the man is married? I don't know, that's why I am just asking the query, do black women support adultery and what makes women give Alica Keyes or Fantasia Barrino a pass for acts they would not forgive their girlfriend or sister for if they slept with their husband? Or would they "rather be cheated on than broken up with or take a piece of a man that's married?"
I ask this based on two recent observations, I could make it three if i decided to include the debauchery proffered by a one Superhead, but I won't. Albeit I feel that her influences on young women is foul seeing that it supports scandal and leg opening for fortune and fame.
The two examples I am referring too are Alicia Keyes and Former 'American Idol' Winner Fantasia Barrino. I would expect that any woman who was married and found out that another woman was being intimate with her husband would be mad, and mad at any woman who slept with a married man. I would also expect that, although it takes two to tango, that women would equally find that both the man and woman involved to be disrespectful, despicable and sordid.
However, what I noticed regarding Alicia Keys, and her affair with Music Producer Swizz Beats, was that many made excuses and even applauded her actions as acceptable behavior under the guise of the man and his wife were separated. Like separation is the same as a divorce or that maybe even she was the cause for the separation.
Now I do not know how women will respond to the allegations that Fantasia Barrino made sex tapes with a married man, but I wonder if celebrity gives such behavior a pass by some. I never heard Alicia Keyes being called a home-wrecker as i suspect many common folk would be labeled. But it is obvious that the wife off Antwuan Cook, Paula Cook thinks otherwise.
It seems that in the age of strip clubs, groupies and fame, women now, more than ever are willing to do whatever to get paid or get a little name recognition. This type of behavior is merely a reflection of what has now become common place. Yes the men are just as guilty, but can't a woman say no if she knows the man is married? I don't know, that's why I am just asking the query, do black women support adultery and what makes women give Alica Keyes or Fantasia Barrino a pass for acts they would not forgive their girlfriend or sister for if they slept with their husband? Or would they "rather be cheated on than broken up with or take a piece of a man that's married?"
Monday, August 09, 2010
Mike Epps Critical of Mel Gibson for Using a Word He Uses Every Day
Recently, it was brought to my attention that a noted celebrity comedian went all in, as they say, on Mel Gibson for his use of the N-word. I was unaware of the video but just had a chance to watch it today. Now the way I see it, ain't that the pot calling the kettle black. Of all folks, Epps should keep his mouth shut.
In this case the definition of a hypocrite is a person who is mad at Gibson for using a word that he uses every day — if the shoe fits, wear it. I cannot recount Epps having any history or concern with civil rights or racism issues in the past. I may be wrong but I don't. He even went so far as to invoke the name of God, asserting to Mel Gibson that God knows what he did.
It is strange to me that Epps could be mad for Gibson using a word that I have seen him use in his comedy acts. Not to mention that he, through the use of the word, continues to encourage others to maintain the history that created the term historically. I have it easy, because instead of the N-word, I use Mel Gibson. Example: That Mel Gibson is crazy.
Our conditioning as a people is overtly evident, for we will jump on a white man before we jump on ourselves and our associates. True, what Gibson said was derogatory and vile, but I don't feel right picking on him, a man I don't know who doesn't know the experiences of African Americans. However, I do feel it's appropriate to dress down my own people and acknowledge the duplicity in holding others more accountable than we do ourselves. Epps, I suspect your intentions are good, but Mel Gibson, please!!! That's what is wrong with us today. We want to deal with nonsense while avoiding issues of content and substance. You should have used it to address young black men who use the N-word like a pronoun
In this case the definition of a hypocrite is a person who is mad at Gibson for using a word that he uses every day — if the shoe fits, wear it. I cannot recount Epps having any history or concern with civil rights or racism issues in the past. I may be wrong but I don't. He even went so far as to invoke the name of God, asserting to Mel Gibson that God knows what he did.
It is strange to me that Epps could be mad for Gibson using a word that I have seen him use in his comedy acts. Not to mention that he, through the use of the word, continues to encourage others to maintain the history that created the term historically. I have it easy, because instead of the N-word, I use Mel Gibson. Example: That Mel Gibson is crazy.
Our conditioning as a people is overtly evident, for we will jump on a white man before we jump on ourselves and our associates. True, what Gibson said was derogatory and vile, but I don't feel right picking on him, a man I don't know who doesn't know the experiences of African Americans. However, I do feel it's appropriate to dress down my own people and acknowledge the duplicity in holding others more accountable than we do ourselves. Epps, I suspect your intentions are good, but Mel Gibson, please!!! That's what is wrong with us today. We want to deal with nonsense while avoiding issues of content and substance. You should have used it to address young black men who use the N-word like a pronoun
Wednesday, August 04, 2010
Colored Hair, Weaves, and Tattoos: How Black Girls Replaced Coretta King with Nicki Minaj
Back in the day, there were standards of decorum that men and women set and adhered to. The women in my family and neighborhood behaved maturely and responsibly and always looked after all the kids and provided guidance. Very rarely would they act or behave in a manner that would be detrimental to our development. Those times are long gone.
Today, the trend is completely opposite. Young women often mimic behaviors, not of their elders, but those that are presented in the media. This habit has seemed to worsen over the years. Young women adopt behaviors of people who should not be idolized or looked up too as role models at all. One such person is the self-proclaimed black Barbie, Nicki Minaj.
I have yet to understand how much one has to hate who they are to the extent that they would identify with a white toy doll. Now if it is a metaphor to indicate that one is fake, plastic, artificial, superficial and lacks substance -- then the term fits. Otherwise, it is one of the dumbest assertions I have ever heard. Unfortunately, I guess I am the only one who thinks like this, for it appears young women copy everything and like what she does. From colored wigs, to having so many tattoo's on their bodies they could pass as being a Maori, a New Zealand native, young women have been influenced so much that they do not even carry themselves like ladies.
The message of being responsible and being your own person with personal standards and morals is lost in the picture. We have a culture of young African American girls who are so fixated on entertainers and materialism, that they concern themselves more with their hair and clothes, than education and basic family values.
Attempting to be like trifling folk like Nicki Minaj is just a way of saying a person doesn't like themselves and would rather accept and live by European standards of what is considered beautiful. The fact is that a younger audience is listening to her music, an audience that already lacks self-respect and is often disrespectful in general. These are just more ignorant practices that degrade women as just a form of meat.
Today, the trend is completely opposite. Young women often mimic behaviors, not of their elders, but those that are presented in the media. This habit has seemed to worsen over the years. Young women adopt behaviors of people who should not be idolized or looked up too as role models at all. One such person is the self-proclaimed black Barbie, Nicki Minaj.
I have yet to understand how much one has to hate who they are to the extent that they would identify with a white toy doll. Now if it is a metaphor to indicate that one is fake, plastic, artificial, superficial and lacks substance -- then the term fits. Otherwise, it is one of the dumbest assertions I have ever heard. Unfortunately, I guess I am the only one who thinks like this, for it appears young women copy everything and like what she does. From colored wigs, to having so many tattoo's on their bodies they could pass as being a Maori, a New Zealand native, young women have been influenced so much that they do not even carry themselves like ladies.
The message of being responsible and being your own person with personal standards and morals is lost in the picture. We have a culture of young African American girls who are so fixated on entertainers and materialism, that they concern themselves more with their hair and clothes, than education and basic family values.
Attempting to be like trifling folk like Nicki Minaj is just a way of saying a person doesn't like themselves and would rather accept and live by European standards of what is considered beautiful. The fact is that a younger audience is listening to her music, an audience that already lacks self-respect and is often disrespectful in general. These are just more ignorant practices that degrade women as just a form of meat.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Neo-Nazis and Aryans Taking Over Where Tea Baggers Leave Off?
In this climate of the resurgence of hate and racism, America may be returning to its post-Civil War roots. The impetus is namely the excuse that America has its first president of African descent. There was a white pride march this past spring in downtown Jackson, Mich., whose goal was to “fight for the rights of whites.”
Although we have seen the rallies fostered by the Tea Baggers, there are even more substantially dreaded events scheduled to occur in the coming months. The Georgi-based League of the South has scheduled its 2010 national conference for the 8th and 9th of October at the Atlanta Airport Hilton. Founded in 1994, the League of the South is a neo-Confederate group that advocates for a second Southern secession and a society dominated by “European Americans.”
This Saturday, there will be an Aryan Nations rally at Gettysburg National Military Park. At this event, the members will be allowed to carry firearms on park grounds, under a new federal law that took effect in February. Gordon Young, who leads the Maryland chapter of the organization, has said the group intends to bring two rifles to "protect" the group's national director Paul Mullet. Young, the former head of the World Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, was recently arrested on a statutory rape charge.
In addition, just this week in Arizona, members of the Neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement led by J. T. Ready and Harry Hughes have started patrolling the Pinal County and Mexican border armed with assault rifles. Ready, who has a criminal record, was also court-martialed twice and kicked out of the U.S. Marine Corps.
This is a troubling period in America. While the fringe hate groups and political extremists in white America continue to spew vitriol, many African Americans remain unconcerned and uninformed of the threat that we actually may be facing. We have elected the first African American president in U.S. history, but it seems that after the inauguration, many of us have left Obama out to dry with our reduced activism and support after he was in office. Will we recognize these threats and become more involved beyond voting and maintain our political vigor, or will we define this historical outcome with our inactivity?
Although we have seen the rallies fostered by the Tea Baggers, there are even more substantially dreaded events scheduled to occur in the coming months. The Georgi-based League of the South has scheduled its 2010 national conference for the 8th and 9th of October at the Atlanta Airport Hilton. Founded in 1994, the League of the South is a neo-Confederate group that advocates for a second Southern secession and a society dominated by “European Americans.”
This Saturday, there will be an Aryan Nations rally at Gettysburg National Military Park. At this event, the members will be allowed to carry firearms on park grounds, under a new federal law that took effect in February. Gordon Young, who leads the Maryland chapter of the organization, has said the group intends to bring two rifles to "protect" the group's national director Paul Mullet. Young, the former head of the World Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, was recently arrested on a statutory rape charge.
In addition, just this week in Arizona, members of the Neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement led by J. T. Ready and Harry Hughes have started patrolling the Pinal County and Mexican border armed with assault rifles. Ready, who has a criminal record, was also court-martialed twice and kicked out of the U.S. Marine Corps.
This is a troubling period in America. While the fringe hate groups and political extremists in white America continue to spew vitriol, many African Americans remain unconcerned and uninformed of the threat that we actually may be facing. We have elected the first African American president in U.S. history, but it seems that after the inauguration, many of us have left Obama out to dry with our reduced activism and support after he was in office. Will we recognize these threats and become more involved beyond voting and maintain our political vigor, or will we define this historical outcome with our inactivity?
Friday, July 23, 2010
Quasi-Intellectuals That Happen to Be Black But Work for Whites
In theory, an intellectual is one whose devotion is directed toward the exercise of intellectual pursuits. Intellectual, a word that stems from the Latin, means one who studies, reflects or speculates.
African American culture is replete with a history of scholars and intellectuals. These include the self-taught astronomer and mathematician Benjamin Banneker, Frederick Douglass, George Washington Carver, Carter G. Woodson, Paul Robeson and W.E.B. Du Bois. Recent history includes many from the ranks of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, Benjamin E. Mays, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Ivan Van Sertima and Cheikh Anta Diop.
Since the latter group, there has been a major drop off. As a scientist and professor at Emory University, it was rare that I would see others that indulged in academia to the extent of conducting research that focused specifically on African Americans, especially in my area of behavioral epidemiology and disease. However, the few that do exist often go unnoticed in the eyes of the masses.
Today there are many African Americans who claim to be intellectuals, but they are really pseudo intellectuals who think of themselves as better than the people in the communities from which they come. They promote themselves more than the needs of others. Harold Cruse first noted this in his 1967 treatise "The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual."
His premise is that most African American intellectuals are from the middle-class, which often functions to separate it from its historical mission — helping African Americans as a collective rather than individuals. Since Africans in America have had limited control over their political and economic lives, we should develop our own intellectual standards. However, this has not been the case with individuals such as Tavis Smiley, Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, Shelby Steele, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Niger Innis, Jeff Johnson and many others.
These individuals represent a small corpus of media and self-proclaimed "experts" and "specialists" on African American culture and consequently Representatives of the people. They proclaim via rhetorical and pedantic proclamations to understand every issue regarding race and culture, even if it has to be manipulated to match the audience they are addressing.
In many instances, the key of discussion is premised on issues associated with racial injustice under the guise of social, political and economic equality. I guess this is why they are paraded on the media so frequently since most such oral dissertations are polemic and aggressive refutation of the opinions of another and not rooted on causation.
The African American intellectual is a dying breed and what is often passed off as representatives of this group are merely polemics that claim to advance the philosophies engendered during the Civil Rights Movement, while their singular goal differs extremely from the views of Martin L. King Jr. or Malcolm X. Unlike these and the aforementioned men, they are disingenuous centrists who favor individual vanity, fame and success over the well-being of the larger corpus of African Americans who bear the brunt of all forms of injustice in the United States today.
African American culture is replete with a history of scholars and intellectuals. These include the self-taught astronomer and mathematician Benjamin Banneker, Frederick Douglass, George Washington Carver, Carter G. Woodson, Paul Robeson and W.E.B. Du Bois. Recent history includes many from the ranks of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, Benjamin E. Mays, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Ivan Van Sertima and Cheikh Anta Diop.
Since the latter group, there has been a major drop off. As a scientist and professor at Emory University, it was rare that I would see others that indulged in academia to the extent of conducting research that focused specifically on African Americans, especially in my area of behavioral epidemiology and disease. However, the few that do exist often go unnoticed in the eyes of the masses.
Today there are many African Americans who claim to be intellectuals, but they are really pseudo intellectuals who think of themselves as better than the people in the communities from which they come. They promote themselves more than the needs of others. Harold Cruse first noted this in his 1967 treatise "The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual."
His premise is that most African American intellectuals are from the middle-class, which often functions to separate it from its historical mission — helping African Americans as a collective rather than individuals. Since Africans in America have had limited control over their political and economic lives, we should develop our own intellectual standards. However, this has not been the case with individuals such as Tavis Smiley, Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, Shelby Steele, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Niger Innis, Jeff Johnson and many others.
These individuals represent a small corpus of media and self-proclaimed "experts" and "specialists" on African American culture and consequently Representatives of the people. They proclaim via rhetorical and pedantic proclamations to understand every issue regarding race and culture, even if it has to be manipulated to match the audience they are addressing.
In many instances, the key of discussion is premised on issues associated with racial injustice under the guise of social, political and economic equality. I guess this is why they are paraded on the media so frequently since most such oral dissertations are polemic and aggressive refutation of the opinions of another and not rooted on causation.
The African American intellectual is a dying breed and what is often passed off as representatives of this group are merely polemics that claim to advance the philosophies engendered during the Civil Rights Movement, while their singular goal differs extremely from the views of Martin L. King Jr. or Malcolm X. Unlike these and the aforementioned men, they are disingenuous centrists who favor individual vanity, fame and success over the well-being of the larger corpus of African Americans who bear the brunt of all forms of injustice in the United States today.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Afraid to Live But Not Afraid to Die: The Autobiography of Young Black Men
I often wonder what has changed to make folks, especially African American men, less concerned, apathetic and even irresponsible about their lives. The behaviors we display are not productive, and the things we do — from fighting, to not knowing how to use a belt, to making it rain in strip clubs, to gang culture makes me ask: Are black men afraid to live more than they are afraid to die? Biggie, now deceased, said it best with his Ready to Die album.
I ask this in all sincerity in an age where it appears that a large corpus of young black males would rather take the easy way out, denigrate the importance of education and think of all outcomes in terms of money, yet not show any penchant to work for what they want. I do not know if it a sign of the times, or the veneration of a culture that reveals drug dealing and making music about sordid topics more than the sustainable values of family and self-determination.
From ghetto street fights on Youtube to videos that display women as being nothing more than meat, many of us promote this under the guise of "keeping it real." We have more knowledge about the mundane than that which may assist our personal growth and development. We can make time to know about Lil Wayne but nothing else of substance.
Why? I cannot answer that question. Maybe it is easy to look at that which affects us the most or least in the form of media and parental influences. From clubbing to our concern for designer clothes and Air Force Ones, young males value a host of "things" more than intellectual development in an environment of an excessively sexually degenerate culture. Ours is a problematic state of being, for we lack knowledge of self, which is what causes us to participate in our own self-destruction. Maybe that is why we sing and have the bling-bling but no books.
Yes, I may be wrong in my terse examination of the state of young African American males, but I will state what I think is an objective reality. Gone it appears are the days of children wanting to be professionals and valuing education. This is the autobiography of young black men today, many are afraid to live but even more are not afraid of dying.
I ask this in all sincerity in an age where it appears that a large corpus of young black males would rather take the easy way out, denigrate the importance of education and think of all outcomes in terms of money, yet not show any penchant to work for what they want. I do not know if it a sign of the times, or the veneration of a culture that reveals drug dealing and making music about sordid topics more than the sustainable values of family and self-determination.
From ghetto street fights on Youtube to videos that display women as being nothing more than meat, many of us promote this under the guise of "keeping it real." We have more knowledge about the mundane than that which may assist our personal growth and development. We can make time to know about Lil Wayne but nothing else of substance.
Why? I cannot answer that question. Maybe it is easy to look at that which affects us the most or least in the form of media and parental influences. From clubbing to our concern for designer clothes and Air Force Ones, young males value a host of "things" more than intellectual development in an environment of an excessively sexually degenerate culture. Ours is a problematic state of being, for we lack knowledge of self, which is what causes us to participate in our own self-destruction. Maybe that is why we sing and have the bling-bling but no books.
Yes, I may be wrong in my terse examination of the state of young African American males, but I will state what I think is an objective reality. Gone it appears are the days of children wanting to be professionals and valuing education. This is the autobiography of young black men today, many are afraid to live but even more are not afraid of dying.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
African American-Owned Businesses Affected by Oil Spill in Gulf
The massive oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico is finally reaching the shores of the Gulf Coast, in what many have called the worst environmental disaster since the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. Not only does it have the potential to threaten hundreds of species of fish, birds and other wildlife in the area, but more importantly the livelihood of many who make a living fishing in the nation's richest seafood region.
More than 200,000 gallons of oil a day have been spewing into the ocean since British Petroleum's Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and sank off the Louisiana coast last week. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano stated that BP, is "the responsible party" according to U.S. law and is "required to fund the cost of cleanup operations." In fact, in a letter sent last year to the Department of the Interior, the oil giant objected to what it described as "extensive, prescriptive regulations" proposed for more rigorous safety standards stating. "We believe [the] industry's current safety and environmental statistics demonstrate that the voluntary programs … continue to be very successful."
More than 200,000 gallons of oil a day have been spewing into the ocean since British Petroleum's Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and sank off the Louisiana coast last week. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano stated that BP, is "the responsible party" according to U.S. law and is "required to fund the cost of cleanup operations." In fact, in a letter sent last year to the Department of the Interior, the oil giant objected to what it described as "extensive, prescriptive regulations" proposed for more rigorous safety standards stating. "We believe [the] industry's current safety and environmental statistics demonstrate that the voluntary programs … continue to be very successful."
Last year, BP made more than 40 billion in profits yet paid no taxes in the United States.
This oil spil could not have come at a more significant time given that just a few weeks ago President Obama asked Congress to lift a drilling ban in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, 125 miles from Florida beaches and called for new offshore drilling in the Atlantic Ocean from Delaware to central Florida.
President Barack Obama has pledged "every single available resource" to deal with the situation and called the leak a "spill of national significance,"
The real threat is to thousands of independent African American and small businesses in the region that make a living via fishing and tourism. If there is a significant reduction in the oyster, shrimp and fish populations, which has been in decline anyway over the past decade, it may signal an end to the livlihoods of many.
In Louisiana for example, 12 percent of all businesses are owned by African Americans with coastal cities like Baton Rouge having 17 percent black-owned business, most in the fishing and tourism industries. The same can be said of Mobile, Ala., where 14.8 percent of business are black-owned compared to 9 percent for the state of Alabama. If this problem is not under control soon, many family owned and small African American businesses in the Gulf region may not survive.
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