Welcome To The Terror-dome...

As unfortunate as last week's tragic events in the Boston area were, there's one inescapable conclusion that shouldn't be ignored.  White America has another opportunity to empathize with Black America experiencing the veil of terror that it lives under as a matter of existence.  9/11 was the first time in recent memory that the nation as a whole began to wrestle the irrationality of hatred that couldn't be understood even though there were many reasons that could be uncovered without much effort.  The fact remained that for most of our White brethren, they simply couldn't come to grips with a notion of being hated for hatred sake. In the weeks and months to come there will be much made of the psychology of enmity that led the two Chechen brothers to act so violently towards people that they didn't know but the reality is that African Americans live under this cloud of sudden terror.

From the long history of lynchings and Klan attacks to every time there's a Charles Byrd dragged to death in Texas or James Craig Anderson being beaten and fatally run over or Marco McMillian being beaten, dragged, and set afire in Mississippi, every Black person lives under the threat of death from unknown persons who may strike out of an unfounded and irrational hatred.  This is the same insanity that White America struggled to understand in the aftermath of 9/11.  Going forward there was a tendency to allow the threat level to diminish in their minds as time caused the impact of the event to fade from memory.  Fast-forward to the Boston 2013 Marathon and the emotional scar was reopened.  Can this be an opening for America to at least dialog about the need to address the cancer that is racist hatred for Black America?  If so, welcome to the terror-dome and let's destroy it while we still can.  We were all Americans for a few weeks after 9/11 so hopefully, since these two "terrorists" who are the very definition of White as in from the Caucasus region that gave us the term Caucasian have been identified as the perpetrators, we can unite to face the truth that the threat from without is great enough to make us remove the madness of imagined threats  from within based on ethnicities...

The "Race" Conundrum...

Hello, all, it's been a while since we last communicated (over a year - how the time flies).  We've seen many things: Obama re-elected, Tiger Woods re-ascension to golfing heights, Bin Laden's comeuppance, Newtown, a freakish natural disaster - a hurricane (Sandy) in the northeast, and most of all - the slow but steady creeping insanity of the rank-and-file dominant white male psyche.  Now, my grandfather used to say, "It doesn't take all day to do nothing" and "You can't tell it all in one sitting" so I'm not about to try and relate everything that I've experienced or been thinking over the last year!  I, for one, am glad that memory mercifully deletes enough experiences and storage-locks others so that we can get on with the business of living.  Therefore I'm not tempted to live in the past except as it relates to the future.  So allow me to share these few thoughts:

1. Race in my title is in quotes because I read and saw a fascinating article and PBS program that made a coherently cohesive logical argument for why human beings come in ethnicities and not races.  The primary point being that there are not enough physiological differences at the cellular level for us to be considered different from each other racially.  Basically, the fact that we can mate successfully producing normally functioning offspring makes our differences more about geographic adaptation than those of evolved races like Cro-Magnon, Neanderthal, and Java people of the homo-sapien variety...
2. Obama's reelection has sent the white male dominated establishment over the collective edge and they are grasping desperately for fantasies.  Actions that mark the behaviors of the clinically insane.  Witness their combined efforts to embrace anything that opposes the prospect of the President succeeding on any front: the economy, jobs, the crumbling infrastructure, the environment, education, and even their own personal safety regarding gun control when the will of 91% of the population to have stricter gun control laws in the form of universal background checks is overridden by the gun manufacturers lobby known as the nra... 
3. The republicons have allowed a fringe element of not even comically cloaked racists calling themselves the tea party to control the thought capital, or lack thereof, of their efforts even after seeing their political efforts go up in flames in massive and historic proportions.  This isn't unexpected because any party that has seen newt gingrick (no mispelling, that's his given spelling before he changed it for political nuance), david duke, bob bauer, sarah palin, michelle bachman, sheriff joe apaio, and george allen on it's national stage can't be faulted for longing for the good ol' days of slavery, Jim Crow, and separate-but-equal.  Why they were willing to invoke the wrath of GOD on this Christian nation (NOT!) by having a non-Christian mormon in the White House!  Side Point: Christianity teaches that there is only One GOD and one Path to Him, and that's Through JESUS CHRIST.  So exactly how does a nation founded on freedom to worship any god you choose or none at all qualify as Christian?  Short answer - it doesn't...
4. The demicrats are little better.  You certainly have to ask yourself why the party that initially held a substantial Congressional majority in both houses didn't get more done in the first two years of the President's term and then willingly proved themselves so ineffectual as to get routed in the 2010 elections ceding majority power in the House in a landslide and maintaining only a slim majority in the Senate.  Couple that with the remaining question of why after a 5M vote squashing of willard mitt romney last year, they still haven't closed ranks behind the President to force-feed this country the medicine it needs to get back on track?  Of course, you'll hear them talk about filibusters and veto proof majorities but where was that same talk and political stalemating they when bush-cheyney occupied the Oval Office with unearned and unwarranted dictatorial-like powers that allowed them to shove two unfunded wars and stomp on countless freedoms while fostering usury for most of America that bankrupted the nation while creating a new oligarchical class of the top 2%?

This insanity proposition submitted by me is based on the fact that there isn't a single logical defense that's been offered by otherwise thoughtful people with the capacity for rational thought.  They ramble on, shouting down simple questions that infer and imply both truth and common sense because their minds have been unable to cope with the fact that their worldview has been turned upside down, inside out, topsy-turvy.  This brings us back to President Obama and Tiger Woods.  The White House and the golf course were symbolic of the clung-to created illusion of permanent white male world dominance.  Both of these institutions were supposedly the forever domain of white male superiority and both have been taken over by of all things -- two opposite-white men!  And not just once but now twice (Oh, the horror, the horror of it all!)

You see, as traumatic as the first incarnation of the Tiger & Barack show was, it was presumed to be only a temporary condition that once the good white power structure worshiped their god properly, the almighty dollar, and pressed the issue by training and recruiting successors to take back their rightful places; all would again be right with the world.  Why there was even glee in the tumultuous state of Tiger's marital woes, and more in the chance to see a non-Christian white prove that even he was a better alternative than a Christian man of color.  This is a Christian nation, is it not? (Again NOT!)  Funny thing happened on the way to the past.  Tiger began to right his ship and reassert himself as golf's dominant force and Barack -- well, you know the rest...

That's when the combined intellect of the white male dominant power structure began to implode and lose its grip on reality.  A second term at the top makes them both legit even in the eyes of the white power structure.  The birther message finally lost its steam.  The secret Muslim rantings even subsided.  The nonsense didn't work and now the harsh reality has set in.  Even though the good of all America is good for the white male establishment too, they'd rather commit the treason that leads to national suicide than to rescue the country.  Even when figuratively, actually, and ultimately this is a good, if not great, thing for them too!  If a black man is going to get the credit then he may be somehow seen as a success paving the way for other minorities to someday usurp their divine right to sit in these two highest representations of their lost philosophy of the white male being entitled to rule the world.

So, be very careful, my friends, because there is a heightening sense of this irrationality that is becoming increasingly evident.  Have you noted the number of white officials who have allowed hateful racial epithets to drip confidently from their lips only to offer up a terse apology when called on it but then refusing to step aside, resign, or receive reprimands for their behaviors?  You see, this has regressed from the poorly concealed racist emails, cartoons, and jokes that popped up during the first term.  These comments are now being verbalized in public forums and the speakers are sure enough of themselves to have resisted calls and actions calling for their removal.  This indicates a graduated infection that will only get worse without proper treatment.  It began with Sen. john mccain's infamous "that one over there" in one of the 2008 presidential debates, US Rep-SC joe wilson's "You lie!" at Obama's 1st State of the Union address, and AZ gov jan brewer's wagging her finger disrespectfully while seemingly scolding the leader of the free world.  Unfortunately, the President didn't understand the menacing cancer that was about to metastasize onto the American consciousness and thus he didn't act aggressively and assertively to eradicate it at the source by using the might of the highest office in the land.  Since then, there's been an opening of Pandora's taboo box of not approaching the third rail of incendiary comments.

Remember the days of Jimmy the Greek, Al Campanis, Howard Cosell, Sen. robert byrd, and others who were summarily dismissed or reprimanded for broaching these same areas without nearly the bravado of these latest forays.  Well, my friends, this has all led me to the following inescapable questions: if we've backslid this far toward the good 'ol days, where will it end?  Can lynchings and Jim Crow be far behind?  Gerrymandering and emergency managers in predominantly black cities in Michigan, are these the wave of the future?  When voting rights are considered by a sitting Supreme Court justice to be a racial entitlement (without so much as a peep from the handkerchief head justice who sits next to him), what do you think they'll come for next?  We're not different races just different ethnicities.  That has to make some kind of difference!  I'm just sayin' because it had to be said...    

What Does President Obama Owe The Black Community?

Here's the thing; blind loyalty is a dangerous prescription that usually ends up with the type of abject betrayal that finds the most vulnerable being exploited. There is far too much information available in this day and age to subject ourselves to such a fate. I fully support Obama as opposed to the quacker-factory clowns that make up the right but I'm angry that he seems to take us, black African Americans, his strongest supporters, for granted. While he has made it clear that he supports gay rights, the military, Wall Street, the healthcare insurance industry, and immigration reform by taking bold steps to meet and strategize with the leadership and rank-and-file of those movements resulting in bold initiatives; we of his own ethnicity are dropping further behind when a simple acknowledgement from our Commander-in-Chief could lift our entire community. Let us know, Mr. President, that you're aware of our pain as we lag in everything from income and wealth to real estate and business ownership while we lead in incarceration, HIV-AIDS, unemployment, lowest mortality rates, and violent crime.

There's a pretty significant dispute happening in our community regarding the President and talk-show host Tavis Smiley and by extension those who support either side even though they need not be mutually exclusive. Unfortunately for Tavis and his supporters, the basic disagreement with the President stems from an egotistical "sword" fight between the two men over who's the most popular intellectual leader in the black African American community. When then-candidate Obama refused to change his schedule to accommodate an appearance on Tavis' show even though he volunteered Michelle as his surrogate, the die was cast. Due to that tiff, Tavis continues to be seen as a self-serving petty individual by a large portion of the AA community, me included, and even aligning himself with a respected academic such as Cornel West has done little to quell the furor and moreover led many people, but not me, to derogate Prof. West for the association.

But those are reals problems that exist in crippling the black AA community and loudmouths like Steve Harvey who represent the worst in bully-pulpiteering attempting to brand anyone an "Uncle Tom" (better said as "Uncle Clarence" as in Thomas & Pendleton) who dares question why a president who hales from a population that supported him 99% would treat his own so cavalierly while constantly cow-towing and capitulating to the far right who have figuratively spat in his face and called him-- well, you know...

There was an old idiom that used to speak to the notion of the "bigger man" that would expect that if President Obama can bring in Prof. Gates and the Cambridge policeman to talk about their differences over a beer; to state that he was going to keep floating ideas out there until #1 Teabag bigot, "eric cantor finds something that he likes"; then I'm old-fashioned enough to believe he can quietly outside the spotlight address the rift between Tavis, Cornel, and himself to settle it for the good of all. The last thing our community can afford is another turf war especially when the stakes in this one are so high. And in this election year, this President is going to need us 110% because I'm of a mind to believe that racism both subtle and overt are going to negatively impact the European vote this time around. No one likes to be taken for granted and I dare posit that there's already been significant damage done to a sizable part of the black AA population when the President rather churlishly admonishes us to 'stop complaining, take off out bedroom shoes and put on our marching boots' or some such nonsense he uttered at a NAACP gathering that I dared not bother rehashing lest I get even angrier all over again...

So count me in as a defender of both responsibility and accountability because if the President doesn't wake up to the reality that we're drowning in our own tears, then he will indeed find himself going down with us...

Excuse Me If I Don't Salute...

It's not quite 24 hours since "the announcement". We got him, he's dead. Our special forces and intelligence community after almost 10 years finally tracked him down and killed him. The guy who took credit for masterminding the 9/11 attacks was shot dead and there are reports that he may have used one of his wives as a human shield before being shot through the eye by one of our skilled soldiers. Excuse me if I don't salute...

Now, don't get me wrong, I support our troops and anybody who would bring such horror on foreign soil must obviously understand the old saw, "Live by the sword..." but as I watched the coast to coast celebration of the death of a figurehead, a chilling but familiar thought crossed my mind. Whenever we have these world figures with overt ties to this government, our government's sideways dealings in other countries, there's a disturbing trend that sees these individuals rubbed out before they can reveal the extent of those ties. Look up Ngo Dinh Diem, Park Chung Hee, Idi Amin, Anastasio Somoza, Rafael Trujillo, Anwar Sadat, and Sadaam Hussein. By the way, has anybody seen Manuel Noriega? Excuse me if I don't salute...

Somehow the stories of what's being done by our government on behalf of mega-corporate interests go largely unreported and untold. Would there have been an Al Quaeda without the Reagan-Bush training and manipulation of Bin Laden and the Saudis to do their bidding. They were funded and deployed by the US to fight the war in Afghanistan that the Reagan administration knew they could never get support for in Congress. So after the Soviet Union collapsed under the weight of fighting an un-winnable conflict against Bin Laden's forces in the same barren wasteland that is the Afghani border today, what did we do? Did we reward them with funding, equipment, and materials to build an infrastructure? Did we send them nation-building consultants and engineers? Did we retrain them to embrace the democracy we so dearly love to export? Did we at least say thank you? The answers: nothing, no, no, no, and no! We left them high and dry with weapons and festering anger in that same barren wasteland that we're caught up in today. Did you ever wonder why we had a war-front there in addition to Iraq? "They hate us for our freedom." Right! Excuse me if I don't salute...

What's the point? I'm glad you asked. A reporter at today's White House press briefing asked the Press Secretary, "Under what legal authority did you go into Pakistan?" After the cursory response about believing that there was credible evidence to support the apprehension or killing of a HVT (High Value Target), the follow-up question was, "So would you have gone into any country to kill someone you considered a HVT?" The answer, "Since, we were able to get him there, there's no need to engage in that sort of speculation." So, here's my question: If Bin Laden was responsible for thousands of deaths and destruction here which made him number 1 on our Most Wanted List, then what would happen if the Iraqis decided that Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-Blair-Rice whose deceptions are responsible for millions of deaths and untold destruction in their country decided to exact the same type of "justice"? So, while I'm trying to figure it out, please excuse me if I don't salute...

Where Are The Classics?

Some friends and I have had some lively discussions about our musical culture. Recently, the question was: "What are the new classics?" I'd like to invite you to participate. In other words, can you name 10 songs from each of the last couple of decades that will have true staying power? I attended the NCAA regional tournament games recently and each of the 4 teams had a pep band there. After hearing a couple of songs (Proud Mary & Billie Jean), I began to count the songs from the various decades. Over the 2 games, I noted 36 songs. These were portions of songs played during the various breaks in the action including timeouts, tv breaks, at half-time, and between games. Some of the groups also played the same songs. The tally: 3 from the 60's, 21 from the 70's, 8 from the 80's, 3 from the 90's, and 2 from the 00's. That meant there were 24 songs (2 of every 3) that were over 30 years old and 8 that were over 20 (1 out of 4). Therefore the definition that we were using as a classic is really quite simple. Which songs will not only maintain their signature sound (remember there wasn't any sampling in the 70's) but also still be played at parties, weddings, sporting events, cruises, reunions, and other fun social events?

We tried to identify some modern classics but perhaps because we're all coming-of-age products of the 70's and 80's, we found it extremely difficult to come up with more than a handful. So where are the tracks that in 20 years will compete with "Shining Star", "Flashlight", "Rockin' Robin", "Get Down Tonight", "The Horse", "Word Up", "September", "Rock the Boat", "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now", "We Are Family", "Boogie Wonderland", "Heard It Through the Grapevine", "My Girl", and on and on? Your input please...

Why is this a cultural question? Well, it seems to me that too many modern songs have become homogenized into this slurry of sameness that makes it challenging to remember them across the last couple of decades. Couple that with the extreme corporatization of the music industry that has mass-produced a formulaic sound that no long represents any particular culture other than youth and it seems that we may need to start our own counterculture revolution to bring classic back!

Identity Crisis...

While I was waxing nostalgic as I listening to some of the greatest music that this world has to offer: The 70's - Isaac Hayes, The Emotions, EWF, The Staple Singers, Mandrill, P Funk, Curtis Mayfield, Michael Henderson, Minnie Riperton, Heatwave, The Jacksons, Norman Connors, Chic, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, and on and on and on, I had a sobering exchange with a female "friend", a sister, on Facebook. She posits herself as a member of the clergy and she had posted a picture of a very African-looking man that she was making fun of. She posted a caption that this was her "future husband - hahahaha". I privately mentioned that perhaps this wasn't the way that we Christians, especially those of us who purport to be called into ministry should be singling out another fellow human being. Her reply in short as she decided to "block" me: 'I was too serious and needed to recognize that GOD Has a sense of humor'. There the thought occurred to me -- what happened to pride that we used to have in our identity? What's happened when an ordinarily intelligent person considers prominent African features, GOD's Joke? Have we become like the sister in the Chris Rock documentary "Good Hair" who said that wearing her hair naturally had made her something of an outcast? No, this isn't a topic meant to create an ethnic divide but simply to try and reclaim something very useful...

Growing up in the 70's, I remember the zenith of black pride when we were willing to shake off the accepted standards of what was considered beautiful and aesthetically pleasing. We rejected the idea that natural hair and dark skin was unattractive and undesirable. To the contrary, we relished in black expression as defined by us. Some we borrowed from our African brothers and sisters like dashikis and wooden jewelry but others we originated or adopted such as blowout afros, hot pants, and platform shoes. The bottom line is that we took James Brown's seminal track, "Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud" as our national anthem. And it comes as no surprise that this represented the most progressive period of gains in civil rights, politics, and relations between ethnic groups. Our numbers grew in Congress, State houses, mayor-ships, and government positions in general more than at any time in the history of this country. The music of the time was also uniquely expressive of who we were as a people. We weren't rejecting anyone else's music forms, we were simply celebrating our us-ness! "Free Your Mind...", "That's the Way of The World", "Everyday People", "People Get Ready", "Respect" and "Respect Yourself", "Shining Star", "To Be Young, Gifted, and Black" and again the list goes on...

Fast-forward to the new millennium and we as black Americans have lost so much ground in spite of the more noteworthy gains. Sounds contradictory but here's the truth of the matter. Notwithstanding a black man in the White House, a governorship or two, and a relatively stagnant number of blacks in Congress; we have not only lost but continue to lose ground in so many areas. We have lost ground in Church membership while we've exploded the prison population. We have lost ground in owning businesses while we've exploded black-on-black crime statistics. We have lost ground in the number of black professionals and exploded the number of deaths due to gangs. We have lost ground in the number of black healthcare professionals while we've exploded the number of deaths due to HIVAIDS. We have lost ground in college presence while we've exploded the number of high school dropouts. We have lost ground in the number of nuclear families and exploded the number of teen pregnancies. We have simultaneously lost ground in corporate boardrooms, C-suite offices (CEO, COO, CFO, etc...), and MOST IMPORTANTLY in our homes and our communities. We used to have grass roots power that sprang from the embrace of our cultural differences...

What happened? Today, there's a sameness to our music, our styles, and our lack of passion for non-material things. That pride used to care - about and for each other. We loved our music and we loved ourselves -- and there's nothing wrong with that! Loving yourself doesn't mean hating anyone else. It doesn't mean disparaging anyone else, it just meant standing up for who and what you are. While we could once easily recognize the distinct sounds of both male and female vocalists along with the different rhythmic harmonics of the bands and even the regions of the country (Motown, Philly, Memphis, Chitlin' Circuit, LA, Chicago, DC, Texas, etc...); it's difficult to tell today's "artists" without a program. More disheartening still is the fact that the overall emphasis on cultural individuality has been so watered down that other ethnic cultures can rather easily replicate a passable facsimile (Justin Timberlake, Robin Thicke, Michael Bolton, Christina Aguilera, Pussycat Dolls, etc...). Well, as I said earlier, this isn't about division. It's simply a suggestion that perhaps we need to reclaim that pride that led us out of 400 years of subjugation and third-class citizen status to claim our rights to be celebrated for our contributions and our place in the multicultural diaspora of this nation. Where we're headed doesn't appear to me to be where those who fought and bled and died for us would have dared to see us end up in their worst nightmare!

Black History Month?

An old saying in essence goes, "I'm laughing to keep from crying!" which reminds me of the conflicting sentiments that arise over the notion of a Black History Month. There are supporters who make jokes about the fact that the shortest month of the year is devoted to Black History while opponents get rankled over the fact that there is a month designated to a single ethnic group. Well, this may come as a surprise but I think they're both right!

Black History in the USA is the history of this nation. Without us there would be no nation. The early settlers needed the Natives to help them learn to survive and they were ill-equip to do much more than that. Their next move was to try and enslave these indigenous peoples to perform the herculean task of building an infrastructure for a fledgling nation but that proved to be a "peace pipe" dream. It's awfully hard to beat a man on his home turf playing by his rules.

So, along came option number two. Let's dehumanize and bring in a new group that will make us the home team and we can create our own rules. It was indeed a successful strategy for a couple of hundred years and it illustrates why Black History is American History. From agriculture to the industrial revolution to the advent of modern technology, we have been an irreplaceable part of the story not only as labor but just as importantly as inventors and innovators. Yes, without a Black History Month perhaps all of our contributions would quickly become obscure and forgotten but that's because we, all Americans, don't demand that all ethnicities be given their rightful place in the history books of this nation.

You may have noticed that I denote ethnicity and not race. That's because race as a fictionalized frequently redefined term is the primary underlying factor in the process of keeping people divided. Here's how the American Anthropological Association (AAA) stated it in its recommendation to the US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for the 2010 Census:

The American Anthropological Association (AAA) recommended that OMB combine the "race" and "ethnicity" categories into one question to appear as "race/ethnicity" for the 2010 US Census. The Interagency Committee agrees, stating that “"race" and "ethnicity” were not sufficiently defined and “that many respondents conceptualize "race" and "ethnicity" as one in the same underscor[ing] the need to consolidate these terms into one category, using a term that is more meaningful to the American people.”^[4]

The AAA also stated,

"The American Anthropological Association recommends the elimination of the term "race" from OMB Directive 15 during the planning for the 2010 Census. During the past 50 years, "race" has been scientifically proven to not be a real, natural phenomenon. More specific, social categories such as "ethnicity" or "ethnic group" are more salient for scientific purposes and have fewer of the negative, racist connotations for which the concept of race was developed."

"Yet the concept of race has become thoroughly--and perniciously--woven into the cultural and political fabric of the United States. It has become an essential element of both individual identity and government policy. Because so much harm has been based on "racial" distinctions over the years, correctives for such harm must also acknowledge the impact of "racial" consciousness among the U.S. populace, regardless of the fact that "race" has no scientific justification in human biology. Eventually, however, these classifications must be transcended and replaced by more non-racist and accurate ways of representing the diversity of the U.S. population."

The bottom line here is that race is a made-up term that is used to classify people in ways that make it possible to discriminate based on artificial attention to perceptions about physical differences. Biologists have long acknowledged that there is one race of humans with many different surface characteristics but underneath we all possess the same physiology influenced only by our ancestral location origins. These are ethnic differences. Race is a better term for animal types. There are races of birds, monkeys, fishes, etc. because they can have physiologies that are not interchangeable.

So with that backdrop, let's use Black History Month to launch a more ethnic friendly version of history for all people. Otherwise, we may be forced to call attention to the fact that all humans can trace their ancestry beyond Europe, Asia, and the Americas to Africa meaning that ultimately we're all simply displaced Africans...

Critical Thinkers the Latest Dinosaur...

On this icy day in Jersey, I'm waxing a bit nostalgic and remembering the best thing that I experienced in college: the opportunity to grow intellectually. My collegiate career had a couple of turns along the pathway. First, I attended a post-high school summer program at then Clark College in Atlanta called the Rowland Scholars before spending my freshman year at Tennessee State University in Nashville. A year in Tennessee was all I needed to convince me that I wanted to return to Atlanta as soon as possible but that's a story for another day. Suffice to say, I returned to finish my undergraduate schooling at Georgia Tech . In my mind today, I was lamenting the fate of an oft overlooked commodity - critical thinking, and I was wondering how many people are out there who feel the same? If not, you can, and probably have stopped reading by now. Otherwise...

Do you recall the time when you simply gathered together to share your thoughts and exchange ideas? There wasn't any planned agenda or list of discussion points. All that was required was a group of those willing and able to engage in a dialog of thoughtful opinions. Yes, sometimes the discussion got heated and intense, and yes, there were plenty of times when the topics were the mundane, "who's the best, funkiest, prettiest, dumbest, etc..." or the silly, "cartoon characters, Stooges routines, off-color jokes, etc..." but ultimately you left the conversation knowing that your own knowledge base had been enhanced.

And here's a little known fact about those gatherings: all of us weren't friends and we certainly didn't all share the same perspectives. Often these were spontaneous sessions that arose whenever the opportunity presented itself. Sometimes there was a particular topic that we wanted to address but that was more the exception rather than the rule. While we did discuss our own varying degrees of political activism around subjects like on-campus support for minority students or local/state/national elections, we were more likely to engage in talks about the plight of our generation and the future based on what actions we took. Certainly we didn't have any consensus except for one: that we needed to do something other than talk.

Out of those conversations, we not only planned for our futures but we continued to evolve in our thinking as to shape our societal and political insights to this very day. My only regret is that during that time period, the late 70's and early 80's, there wasn't more openness in the Churches to help us reconcile our spiritual beliefs with our secular knowledge. Unfortunately, this is still somewhat problematic but progress is being made in that when today's children ask questions relating the spiritual to the secular, due to the preponderance of information available to them, we adults are required to pay more than lip service to their questions and that often means searching for answers that we had simply taken for granted ourselves.

That, friends, is the core observation at the root of my lamentation. All around us there are people in decision-making capacities who have shunned the critical thought process in favor of simplistic rhetoric. And while there's nothing wrong with simple rhetoric which is a preferable form of communication, there's something dreadfully abhorrent about those who would try to address the complexity of today's challenges with a refusal to entertain a variety of potential solutions as warranted by the fact that new problems can't always be solved by old answers. And, yes, even back in the day, there were those around who practiced the same narrow-minded approach. It was the old, "My great granddaddy said this or that and nothing is going to change my mind!" Even when the fallacy of their argument could be demonstrated on multiple fronts, they'd say, "I don't care!" They were sad then and they're even sadder now but we used to be able to ignore them expecting that that type of thinking would only take them so far.

This world demands critical thinking now more than ever before and yet it appears that those of us who practice said art are slowly descending into the tar pits and not being replaced. The saddest part of it all is that in the absence of critical thought, evil flourishes. When no one challenges convention, those intent on practicing evil gain strength because they are the loudest and the boldest. One reason for their obfuscation actions is the fear of being found out. If required to support their positions with real facts supported by truth, their arguments and indeed their power, both founded on lies, would soon disappear. There's so much more to be said but before another "critical think-asaurus" vanishes into the ether, please take an opportunity to enjoin your children or any children that you interact with to explore the meaning of deeper thought. It's the only hope outside of GOD that this world has, and if you read the Bible, you'll see that when people give themselves over to evil, GOD Has a tendency to get Fed up Himself and Decide that people are no longer worth the trouble...

New Year, New Decade, New Millenium, Same...

There's an old saying attributed to the philosopher Edmund Burke that effectively goes, "Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it". You may have heard it more contemporized as "Those who forget the past..." or "Those who ignore the mistakes of the past..." but I'm convinced that the original quotation is the most accurate. Our modern American society has become one of unparalleled ignorance. While Chris Rock famously joked that 'some black people take pride in being ignorant and call it keeping it real', this is obviously not a condition that has been relegated to blacks only. A recent study showed that overall, American students finished 17th in science and 24th in math out of 57 countries that were measured. While that's disturbing enough, what's even more distressing is the category that we did finish on top - you guessed it - self esteem! We're stupid and we're proud!

I'm convinced that the vestiges of both of these problems can be traced back to two factors: Reagonomics and soccer moms. Few people remember where the Alzheimer's president and his cronies made most of their deepest funding cuts in the 80's to partially fund their trickle-down economic theory tax cuts. They came from education. Many socially responsible and academically needed programs were gutted in the process of igniting the largest transfer of wealth in the history of the world. Programs like headstart and the much maligned midnight basketball were not only providing a platform for students to receive help but the environment was conducive nationally to fostering a competitive spirit in the classroom across ethnic groups. It was the old "rising tide lifts all boats" adage. Parents and students took advantage of opportunities to allow their kids to participate in environments that were evocative of learning because there were trained professionals available just as there were at the police athletic league facilities and the boys and girls clubs.

But underfunding and cut funding either eliminated or marginalized these programs and the dumbing down of American began. And scarcely a single generation later in the 90's and early 00's, we had the first celebrations of ignorance. Remember the Jaywalking segments on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Street Smarts the game show? Both of these actually made "fun" of our spreading ignorance by asking simple questions to people on the street which they regularly got wrong to the delight of the studio and television audience. Oh, what hilarity!

So, what of the other culpable group that I mentioned earlier, the soccer moms? Well, here's the skinny. They're responsible in largest part for the pride in ignorance. Because they seemingly have a vendetta against competitive sports activities, they've undermined the very best aspect of competition which is to bring out the best in us. The overarching theme in sports has always been to prove who's best by providing recognition for the efforts of those who perform the best. But leave it to soccer moms (and wimpy men) to decide that competition is not only a bad thing for the psyches of little Johnny and little Susie but that superior performance incentives should also be squashed flat. Everyone must play and everyone should receive the same recognition. Never mind that there are kids who simply aren't any good at particular sports and many that actually don't want to play sports but are forced to anyway because far be it from Ms. soccer mom to have a kid who wasn't on the team! In an ironic twist, these parents have actually created this environment of non-competition among the children because they want to be able to compete with the other parents in having their kids involved in all the same activities.

So here we are in 2011 with our kids getting dumber by the minute and yet so proud of their non-accomplishments. That's why I'm convinced that the original saying in the 1st paragraph is correct. Ours is a new society that simply doesn't "know history"...

Is It Me? part 1...

Is it me or...

• Did the Democrats pass up a golden opportunity to root out vote fraud and fix a corrupt voting process?
• Is there something fundamentally wrong with how NFL quarterbacks like Jason Campbell and Donovan McNabb are treated versus Brett Favre and Jay Cutler even though record-wise Cambell and McNabb are playing significantly better?
• Have we become a country that cannot think well enough to usher the radical nuts like Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck off the stage?
• Does it seem that President Obama doesn't understand that we are not in a post-racial society and that his efforts to bring compromise are being stymied by both Democrats and Republicans who refuse to work with him because of his ethnicity?
• Why do we continue to allow the richest 2-3 percent of the population to rake more and more of the economic pie into their purses (some estimates say 90% of the wealth) as the rest of us are hoodwinked into a bait and switch involving gay marriage, race-baiting, immigration, and abortion while the rich and super-rich, especially corporate entities leave us scrapping for the remaining crumbs (the other 10%)? Should a pizza with 10 slices and 100 people waiting to eat have 2-3 people get 9 slices and the other 97-98 fighting for even a sniff of the last slice?

I'm just wonderin'...

Business as usual... (sigh)

As 2009 prepares to come to a close, I'm reflecting on the word trajectory. I've heard it used quite a few times this year in regards to a number of issues confronting the country. The economy, war efforts, and healthcare are just a few of the areas that have had this term used in describing their pathways of progress or lack thereof. So how unfortunate that when the term usually describes a pattern of ascent or descent that a look at our current political system that promised such a hopeful commitment to change, has turned out to have such a mind-numbingly flat trajectory...

The great society of the new millenium heralded by the deposition of the horrific bush-cheyney dictatorship as the people rose up to elect a hopeful new intelligent leader has proven to be a lot of the same old-same old. Two needless-useless wars continue; the rich continue to get richer while the poor get poorer; personal freedoms continue being abridged; the idiotic fringe remains unchecked in their support of suicidal issues like zero gun control; and corporations increase their control of government while seeking to become a new classification of lifeform with rights that supercede those of any living organism: human, animal, or plant...

The greatest example of the latter is the healthcare debacle. We thought we had a President with a commitment to real change that would involve putting the best interests of the people of this nation first but alas it really is business as usual. First, he continued the insane policy of giving hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars without any strings to the very banks and other financial institutions who created the our economic crisis and who flatly refused to channel those funds back into the economy to keep millions of people from losing their jobs so that these latter day robber barons could regain their obscene profits. Then he promoted and listened to a military leader, Gen. Stanley McCrystal, who had already shown his unfitness for the post by carrying out a major scandal along with the previous administration in the attempted cover-up and misuse of the death of Cpl. Pat Tillman by friendly fire.

In between, President Obama undertook a historic mission to overhaul the healthcare business and provide something that initially over 70% of the public supported -- a system of universal healthcare for all Americans. A no-brainer that now appears to reflect the possibility for the greatest windfall profit in US history. No public option, no expansion of Medicare, and no penalties for denial of coverage for preexisting conditions, but mandated healthcare insurance purchases with penalties for non-compliance. Instead of universal healthcare, this would be forced healthcare purchases for 30 million people from the same unregulated health insurance cartels that would charge 17% of the income of households making less than $88K per year.

No wonder that now only 37% of the public supports this latest plan which the administration has curiously permitted to morph into this giveaway to the health insurance industry. An industry which by the way contributes absolutely nothing to actual health care. So the only winners here are the Cigna's, Blue Crosses, Aetna's, and United Healthcare's as this administration is now caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place. Pass this bad legislation and the insurers win big, or do nothing and let the republicans and the insurers claim victory while the President looks ineffectual. That type of impotence is a lot more of the same from democrats who currently control both Congress and the White House...

Well, there is a third option... Use the power of the ballot that was bestowed upon you in the last election and use the reconciliation procedure to pass the original legislation that we the dominant majority of people prefer. Forget this notion of compromise when your opponents both within and without your party have shown that they have no interest in. Do what's right for the people of this nation and defy the corporate entities that would be dictator kings. Be a democratic party that shows a backbone, a real spine, and show us a new trajectory for this nation or at least one that hasn't been experienced in over 30 years. Something, anything, other than business as usual...

Insanity By Any Other Name...

It's now the 4th quarter of the 10th year beginning with 2000 and I'm writing this because so much of what is going on in the world, and particularly in this country, makes me question my own sanity. Yes, it has been a while since the last post but that had more to do with a wait-n-see attitude than anything else. I wanted to wait and see if the election of this nation's first Black President and a majority for his party in both Houses of Congress was going to make a difference. My conclusion: Yes, it has. But not the way I hoped...

While the rest of the world has reacted as I believed they would in seeing the Obama election as a positive signal after 8 years of the most negative, polarizing administration since Woodrow Wilson, the change in the US of A has been discouraging to say the least and frightening to say the most. Racism has roared back to the front in levels unseen since the 60's at the height of the Civil Rights movement. For 40 years it had been more or less resigned to an underground, mostly off-the-radar status, that occasionally flared up in cases like the Rodney King beating, the Amadou Diallo killing, the James Byrd Jr. dragging murder, or the Sean Bell killing, but now it has gathered itself and risen like a mangy, rabid rottweiler ready to attack.

However, this time it seems to have decided that it can play directly in the sunlight and out of the shadows going openly after any and every thing that looks like it might benefit people of color: healthcare reform, gun control, border stabilization, and blue collar jobs. Using fear of becoming a minority as its rationale to keep ordinarily good men and women of European ethnicity from opposing and relegating it back to the shadows, there is more than a passing nod to the limbaughs, becks, and bachmanns of the world while when it was perfectly permissible to vilify Rev. Jeremiah Wright for his views, nothing is being said about an Arizona crazy church where the pastor preaches vile and despicable hatred for Obama.

Here's the rub. This time the overt racism is being handled like a precision instrument that has the power to inflict blunt force trauma. The Rupert Murdochs, the Goldman Sachs, the Morgan Stanleys, the Exxon Mobils, and the like have decided that this is the best smokescreen that they could ever have to keep the masses from recognizing that the real problem isn't the color of anyone's skin but the fact that some 3-4% of the population is controlling 90% of the wealth while the other 96-97% of us scramble over something less than 10%. Racism has the irrational effect of blinding people to the facts. Its very nature is predicated on ignoring the obvious and proceeding to the stereotypes. And that's what makes today's version so much more insidious because while it has always been an evil tool borne out of fear, that fear used to be genuinely spawned out of ignorance. Today, those who wield it, not only know better, but would do so with full knowledge of the catastrophic effects on our society, and all simply because of greed.

So, we have democrats as well as republiklans involved is this great morality play that is geared to somehow make us believe that there continues to be a "debate" over moral issues when all evidence points to the central theme being played out as "haves" vs. "have nots". Why else would Wall Street get away with hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars with no strings attached and precious little oversight while many more hundreds of thousands of jobs related to the automobile industry are allowed to disappear as lawmakers quibble about a few "measly" billion dollars (some 31B)? And why else could a Dept. of Transportation figure out that 3 Billion dollars could come very close to rescuing the auto industry by putting that money directly between the consumer and the industry but that kind of thinking somehow eluded the Dept. of Commerce and the rest of the administration?

And in this, Mr. President Obama, even you have fallen prey to the fallacy of the economic policies adhered to by your chief fiscal advisers who all subscribe to the generally unmerited theories of Milton Friedman and the U. of Chicago. They're dead wrong because nothing has ever proven to be able to police itself. It's simply mankind's nature to need controls and yet Friedman's standing principle is on the market's ability to do just that. You said, Bro. Barack, that 'we couldn't stand by and let the financial system fail' and you also said that 'we don't want to see our friends and neighbors who work for the health insurance companies lose their jobs'. Well, I believe you to be wrong on both accounts and here's the irony -- because both of those statements violate the theory that you were educated under.

If the market truly works, then businesses must be allowed to fail to show that the system can work and correct itself. And further, in the case of health insurers, those that bring no intrinsic value to a process should be eliminated. We need a new system and a new process as we're already seeing a fresh influx of greed on Wall St while unemployment reaches unprecedented numbers. Not because of the percentages but because of the size of the population. With over 300M people, a 10% unemployment figure represents the highest number of total people ever not working in this country!

So all of this brings me to the title of this missive. Every major society of the recorded and studied periods of history all failed because they allowed the decadence of greed to foster an environment of the rich few to lead lives of debauchery (Paris Hilton, Donald Trump, etc.) while the masses groaned under the weight of oppression. There's a very old adage that simply says, 'those who ignore the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them' which can today be coupled with the new popular definition of insanity: 'doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result"...