TRUMP RALLY: A BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB FOR BIGOTS

Folks, please stop it with the “Donald Trump attracts White supremacists meme.” Or, get the history straight — if you plan to keep meme-spraying — since right-wing extremists have been a part of American politics for over a century. I can even argue that White supremacy found a place in Amercan politics for hundreds of […]

MY LAST WORD ABOUT THE 2016 OSCARS

This post addresses African descendants — well, the ones who watched last night’s Academy Awards ceremony and received confirmation that the impending Black shutout was really real — but are still looking for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize your people’s ability to earn one of those gold statues. Peeps, […]

BROWNSVILLE BROOKLYN RAPE IGNITES RACE MEMES

Hearing about an 18-year old woman being raped at gunpoint by five males in Brownsville, Brooklyn disgusts me. Everyone should feel the same way. My disgust is operating on two levels. First — the act itself. It’s no wonder why women in America don’t feel any more safe than their peers who live in war-torn […]

SUNDAY SMACK: BLACK MEN CAN’T DREIDEL?

Self identification is necessary to add proper context to this Sunday Smack — I’m an African descendant non-Jew who recently attended a Chanukah event. The video you see below is a product of my attempt to shoot a spinning dreidel with a holiday choir singing in the background. The challenge I faced was holding my […]

HOW AND WHY AMERICA SUPPORTS TERRORISTS LIKE ROBERT LEWIS DEAR

Let’s assume, if only for a moment, America is correct in its desire to avoid calling Robert Lewis Dear’s Denver Planned Parenthood shooting rampage last Friday an act of fundamentalist right-wing Christian terrorism. Even though I’m not aware of any atheist Pan-African left-wing separatists populating the threat matrix of people who want to destroy Colorado […]

THE SOUTH LOST THE WAR (BEFORE IT WON)

There are three ways to win wars. On the street… On the battlefield… At the policy table… Or through a combination of the three approaches. For example, the continent of Africa expelled European colonizers to gain independence, correct? Perhaps, but African colonialism was replaced with a growth-inhibiting partnership of the European and African elite classes, as well […]

THE ONE PERCENT LOVES ICON-CHASERS

This recycled simmer-boil-simmer debate about whether to destroy, honor or moth-ball the Confederate flag reminds me of Americans’ drug-like habit of chasing icons and fighting over labels—undoubtedly violence-supporting icons which are emotionally powerful, but have no real power. I’ll get back to that thought in a moment, but allow me to throw a large slice […]

FRACTAL OF LONG-TERM RACIAL HATRED VISITED A CHURCH

Do you think lions can make a credible “We are not your enemies” plea to water buffalos? I never had a chance to rap with them to give you a cogent answer, but I’m pretty sure the Water Buffalo language has an equivalent expression for “predator.” And this is why water buffalos are alarmed or […]

THE FERGUSON EFFECT AND DEADLY VERTICAL THINKING

Vertical thinking— disguised this time as the pseudo-theoretical Ferguson Effect—is once again blurring the Post-Racial American debate as proponents of ham-fisted shock troops policing through communities of color attempt to send followers of the Black Lives Matter movement scurrying back to a minimized existence with tails between legs. Unfortunately Americans seem to often fall for […]

PRINCE – BALTIMORE

“It’s time to hear the guitar play.” As promised by Prince, also known in my world as His Royal Badazz-ness, he released his city-titled tribute to the people of Baltimore as well as the people of African descent who have fallen. HRB surprised the hell out of me—given his aversion to many digital artifacts and […]