The Proper Occasion

The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox in four parts without commercial interruptions.

The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal.

NBC will not be able to predict the winner at 8:32 on report from 29 districts.

There will be no pictures of Whitney Young being run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process.

There will be no slow motion or still life of Roy Wilkins strolling through Watts in a red, black and green "Liberation" jumpsuit that he has been saving for just the proper occasion.

Green Acres, Beverly Hillbillies and Hooterville Junction will no longer be so damn relevant and women will not care if Dick finally got down with Jane on Search for Tomorrow because black people will be in the streets looking for a brighter day.

The revolution will not go better with Coke. The revolution will not fight germs that may cause bad breath. The revolution will put you in the driver's seat.

The revolution will be no rerun, brothers. The revolution . . . will be live.

Roy Wilkins would never have worn red, black and green. Ever.

But I will sport my red, black and green "Liberation" wetsuit whenever the proper occasion presents itself. Summertime surf seems as proper an occasion as any.

Power to the people!

And Then There Were Four

Somehow, and I may be wrong, I don't think America realizes there will be four of us (black folks) or them (Obamas) in the White House if he wins. Is the country ready for a black First Family? We shall see.

An aside: Look at all of that straightened hair. You can bet we won't be seeing those ladies anywhere near a swimming pool or an ocean.

Jay Smooth

I Didn't Make This Up

A Nigger in the White House

There. I said it. If you were thinking it, I put it out there so you can say it out loud. If you weren't thinking it, go ahead and start. Then we can all move on.

The Day After

Last night was a first for me and my spouse. We both have tended toward apathy with respect to voting. I generally vote in the presidential elections, but it is rare that I cast a ballot for someone from the two major parties. He dismisses the entire system and won't vote at all. Nevertheless, we were both glued to the debate last night. It's not because there's a brother poised to reach our country's highest office. It's that the current president has driven the country into to such a morass that everyone is curious about the person (black, white, male, female) who might be able to get us out of it.

Some thoughts on who emerged victorious. I thought it a draw with a nod toward Obama. He's been demonized by the Republicans as being inexperienced and clueless. He certainly didn't sound or look clueless last night. What I took from the debate was a complete mistrust of McCain's ability to be president. Obama was careful to talk about the normal folks, about how we're struggling and how we need some assistance. Did McCain even speak to this issue? My take is that McCain is all about war. He came to life when talking about Iraq and Afghanistan, and probably could have spent hours talking about it. Hey, I don't live in those places! I do acknowledge that they deserve our attention as potential terrorist breeding grounds. I want to know what my president plans to do for me, my neighbors, the poor, our military vets. Tell me what you think is wrong with our economy, our education system and health care. If military skirmishes and wars are the only things that you love to discuss, you're not fit to be president. (Was it me or did talks about Iraq, Afganistan and Pakistan give McCain a stiffy? He seemed to snap to attention when those were the topics being discussed. If that's what Cindy's dealing with after he pops some Viagra, I've finally found a reason to feel for her.)

I don't want to live in a country that believes we must always be at war. I think McCain is a war monger. It's what he knows best. It's what he likes. But there's got to be more to being the president than that. McCain would keep us on a path that leads to our young men and women being sent off to fight battles that may not be worth the loss of their lives. I'm the mother of a son. He will register with the Selective Service when he reaches the age of majority. I'll be damned if I'll let some punk ass guy or gal in the White House send him off to war for his or her own pleasure.

I'm voting for Obama.

Vote for the Brotha

I've never been hesitant about expressing my displeasure with both the Republicans and the Democrats. In my world (no, not the black world but the world occupied by one little quirky black woman), there appears to be very little difference between the two parties. Granted, there's now a black guy on one ticket and a white woman on the other. And that means what? Now the two parties have miraculously morphed into something they're not? I don't think so.

I'll come right out and admit that I will be voting for Obama in November. Not because he's the first viable black candidate in the history of this country. If that were the case, I should have also supported Clinton as the first viable female candidate in U.S. history. (Shirley Chisholm was a bad ass sista . . . who was never going to win.)

I don't know that I've liked any of the presidents who've held office during my lifetime. I don't remember many of them obviously. Perhaps Kennedy had some stuff. We'll never know. He died when I was a few months old. I realize that I, as a mother and a woman of middle age, want to believe that my president will get down and dirty if he has to. I don't mean tough talk. I mean a man, or woman, who's not afraid to get in someone's face. I have every confidence that Hillary would have been just that type of person. I believe Obama is too. McCain? I don't see it. He doesn't scare me.

I want a president who's willing to take Ahmadinejad behind closed doors and threaten him with bodily harm if he doesn't straighten up and fly right. I know Obama isn't completely one of us. His mom was white and his dad wasn't from the U.S. Therefore, Obama, in some ways, was born without the burden I've discussed earlier in this blog. The racial collective unconscious that taps into the days of slavery and whatever else that haunts us is not quite a part of his DNA. But he is a brother. He is a black man who has lived most of his life in America. He's dealt with some stuff and he knows how to dig deep to evoke that place of anger that all black men (and women) in America share. I know it's there. I can see it in him. America, specifically white America, doesn't want to see it. White folks fear that anger. What is that about? That anger, white America, is not necessarily directed at you. It's your fear of this anger that is at the root of much of today's racism. (Goodness!! I'm getting off on a tangent. I'm going to run with it though. I'll get back to my point about Obama in a minute.) Black folks are angry. We may always be angry. It's time for everyone to accept that and deal with it accordingly. (That means black folks acknowledge the anger, recognize how it hurts us and determine how we'll keep it from killing us. That means white folks will acknowledge the anger, stop the fear and the guilt associated with it and determine how best to keep from exacerbating it.)

Check this!! Ahmadinejad does what he does best. Threatens most of the world with destruction. McCain will pursue diplomatic routes to deal with this dude, right? He'll make some veiled threats, turn bright red and then stroke out because, let's face it, he's much too old to be president. Then we're left with Palin, who's inexperience with the lower 48, let alone the rest of the world, scares me to death. She won't do anything other than a lot of posturing. She may threaten to take him moose hunting and then do to him what Cheney did to his "friend". Who knows? All I know is that she's done nothing to inspire my confidence. Yeah, we both have ovaries and boobs. Sharing those physical characteristics is not enough of a reason to gain my support. What do you think Obama would do to Ahmadinejad? Yeah, he'll smile, looking cool and collected while playing up his intention to use diplomatic avenues to bring this dude to his senses. But somehow I know Obama will take Ahmadinejad aside for a closed door meeting. I know Obama is completely capable of getting in someone's face. I can see it clearly. Ahmadinejad will threaten to obliterate Israel or do something harmful to America and Obama will be on him. That index finger will be in Ahmadinejad's face. Obama, with his face not far from Ahmadinejad's, will have his head cocked to the side. You see this body language quite a bit when brothers get angry. What will Obama say? "Nigga, I will fuck you up!!"

What? It could happen. And it would certainly give Ahmadinejad something to think about. We need a president who's not afraid to take it to the streets. There's only one person I can see doing that. So this election is a no-brainer.

Where Was I?

I've got so much to say these days. I should actually be devoting the majority of my blogging time to this blog rather than to the others. But it is this blog that often leads me down a path from which I have trouble finding my way back.

I'm Confused

From The Huffington Post

House Formally Apologizes For Slavery And Jim Crow

WASHINGTON — The House on Tuesday issued an unprecedented apology to black Americans for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow segregation laws.

"Today represents a milestone in our nation's efforts to remedy the ills of our past," said Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich., chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus.

The resolution, passed by voice vote, was the work of Tennessee Democrat Steve Cohen, the only white lawmaker to represent a majority black district. Cohen faces a formidable black challenger in a primary face-off next week.

Congress has issued apologies before _ to Japanese-Americans for their internment during World War II and to native Hawaiians for the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom in 1893. In 2005, the Senate apologized for failing to pass anti-lynching laws.

Five states have issued apologies for slavery, but past proposals in Congress have stalled, partly over concerns that an apology would lead to demands for reparations _ payment for damages.

The Cohen resolution does not mention reparations. It does commit the House to rectifying "the lingering consequences of the misdeeds committed against African-Americans under slavery and Jim Crow."

It says that Africans forced into slavery "were brutalized, humiliated, dehumanized and subjected to the indignity of being stripped of their names and heritage" and that black Americans today continue to suffer from the consequences of slavery and Jim Crow laws that fostered discrimination and segregation.

The House "apologizes to African-Americans on behalf of the people of the United States, for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow."

"Slavery and Jim Crow are stains upon what is the greatest nation on the face of the earth," Cohen said. Part of forming a more perfect union, he said, "is such a resolution as we have before us today where we face up to our mistakes and apologize as anyone should apologize for things that were done in the past that were wrong."

Cohen became the first white to represent the 60 percent black district in Memphis in more than three decades when he captured a 2006 primary where a dozen black candidates split the vote. He has sought to reach out to his black constituents, and early in his term showed interest in joining the Congressional Black Caucus until learning that was against caucus rules.

Another of his first acts as a freshman congressman in early 2007 was to introduce the slavery apology resolution. His office said that the House resolution was brought to the floor only after learning that the Senate would be unable to join in a joint resolution.

More than a dozen of the 42 Congressional Black Caucus members in the House were original co-sponsors of the measure. The caucus has not endorsed either Cohen or his chief rival, attorney Nikki Tinker, in the Memphis primary, although Cohen is backed by several senior members, including Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y. Tinker is the former campaign manager of Harold Ford, Jr., who held Cohen's seat until he stepped down in an unsuccessful run for the Senate in 2006.

What is the purpose of such an apology? It doesn't do my ancestors any good, does it? It doesn't undo the harms of the past. It doesn't actually relate to me in any way. My parents lived through Jim Crow, as did the folks my grandparents' age (most of whom are no longer living). What does this apology do for them? Nothing. That's like the government apologizing for the internment of the Japanese. You can't change the past with an apology. You can't make it better. You can't return the homes and businesses that these people lost just by saying sorry decades later. What is the point of these U.S. government apologies? Am I safe to assume that this Cohen dude only did this because he wants to be re-elected? If you really want to apologize, give me whatever would be the 2008 equivalent of my 40 acres and my mule.