Excellent Article Worthy of a Reprint
COMMENTARYImus isn’t the real bad guy
Instead of wasting time on irrelevant shock jock, black leaders need to be fighting a growing gangster culture.
By JASON WHITLOCK
Columnist
Kansas City Star
(Note: Jason Whitlock is a black columnist and former ESPN personality)
Posted on Wed, Apr. 11, 2007
Thank you, Don Imus. You’ve given us (black people) an excuse to avoid our real problem.
You’ve given Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson another opportunity to pretend that the old fight, which is now the safe and lucrative fight, is still the most important fight in our push for true economic and social equality.
You’ve given Vivian Stringer and Rutgers the chance to hold a nationally televised recruiting celebration expertly disguised as a news conference to respond to your poor attempt at humor.
Thank you, Don Imus. You extended Black History Month to April, and we can once again wallow in victimhood, protest like it’s 1965 and delude ourselves into believing that fixing your hatred is more necessary than eradicating our self-hatred.
The bigots win again.
While we’re fixated on a bad joke cracked by an irrelevant, bad shock jock, I’m sure at least one of the marvelous young women on the Rutgers basketball team is somewhere snapping her fingers to the beat of 50 Cent’s or Snoop Dogg’s or Young Jeezy’s latest ode glorifying nappy-headed pimps and hos.
I ain’t saying Jesse, Al and Vivian are gold-diggas, but they don’t have the heart to mount a legitimate campaign against the real black-folk killas.
It is us. At this time, we are our own worst enemies. We have allowed our youths to buy into a culture (hip hop) that has been perverted, corrupted and overtaken by prison culture. The music, attitude and behavior expressed in this culture is anti-black, anti-education, demeaning, self-destructive, pro-drug dealing and violent.
Rather than confront this heinous enemy from within, we sit back and wait for someone like Imus to have a slip of the tongue and make the mistake of repeating the things we say about ourselves.
It’s embarrassing. Dave Chappelle was offered $50 million to make racially insensitive jokes about black and white people on TV. He was hailed as a genius. Black comedians routinely crack jokes about white and black people, and we all laugh out loud.
I’m no Don Imus apologist. He and his tiny companion Mike Lupica blasted me after I fell out with ESPN. Imus is a hack.
But, in my view, he didn’t do anything outside the norm for shock jocks and comedians. He also offered an apology. That should’ve been the end of this whole affair. Instead, it’s only the beginning. It’s an opportunity for Stringer, Jackson and Sharpton to step on victim platforms and elevate themselves and their agenda$.
I watched the Rutgers news conference and was ashamed.
Martin Luther King Jr. spoke for eight minutes in 1963 at the March on Washington. At the time, black people could be lynched and denied fundamental rights with little thought. With the comments of a talk-show host most of her players had never heard of before last week serving as her excuse, Vivian Stringer rambled on for 30 minutes about the amazing season her team had.
Somehow, we’re supposed to believe that the comments of a man with virtually no connection to the sports world ruined Rutgers’ wonderful season. Had a broadcaster with credibility and a platform in the sports world uttered the words Imus did, I could understand a level of outrage.
But an hourlong press conference over a man who has already apologized, already been suspended and is already insignificant is just plain intellectually dishonest. This is opportunism. This is a distraction.
In the grand scheme, Don Imus is no threat to us in general and no threat to black women in particular. If his words are so powerful and so destructive and must be rebuked so forcefully, then what should we do about the idiot rappers on BET, MTV and every black-owned radio station in the country who use words much more powerful and much more destructive?
I don’t listen or watch Imus’ show regularly. Has he at any point glorified selling crack cocaine to black women? Has he celebrated black men shooting each other randomly? Has he suggested in any way that it’s cool to be a baby-daddy rather than a husband and a parent? Does he tell his listeners that they’re suckers for pursuing education and that they’re selling out their race if they do?
When Imus does any of that, call me and I’ll get upset. Until then, he is what he is — a washed-up shock jock who is very easy to ignore when you’re not looking to be made a victim.
No. We all know where the real battleground is. We know that the gangsta rappers and their followers in the athletic world have far bigger platforms to negatively define us than some old white man with a bad radio show. There’s no money and lots of danger in that battle, so Jesse and Al are going to sit it out.
To reach Jason Whitlock, call (816) 234-4869 or send e-mail to jwhitlock@kcstar.com. For previous columns, go to KansasCity.com
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Monday, March 5, 2007
Amish Away
Spent an overnight in Lancaster, Pa recently going to auctions of the fellowship held at a local firehouse in the area. This was no small affair as items ranging from horses to house wares, and everything in between, were up for bid.
While many of the attendees were Amish, “civilians” were also numerous in their presence and activity, with a total crowd at approx. 2,000.
Little known to me at the time was the pricing on such items as handmade quilts ($300 to $600) and the buggies that the Amish use ($850 for a used one to $3500 for a brand new one – I asked the guy and he said it was to be a wedding gift), 5 piece handmade bedroom sets (beautifully made) for $1200, was an education onto itself.
However, the outcome of the successful bidding is that the item must be taken away from the grounds that day. While this may be seen as a fairly easy exercise in the case of a quilt or farm tools, the buggies are another story altogether.
We witnessed one of the successful bidders of a buggy actually using himself as the horse and pulling (running) the buggy down the state highway with about 10 cars behind him.
We are planning on going next year – with more time allotted to allow for viewing of the items before the bidding.
While many of the attendees were Amish, “civilians” were also numerous in their presence and activity, with a total crowd at approx. 2,000.
Little known to me at the time was the pricing on such items as handmade quilts ($300 to $600) and the buggies that the Amish use ($850 for a used one to $3500 for a brand new one – I asked the guy and he said it was to be a wedding gift), 5 piece handmade bedroom sets (beautifully made) for $1200, was an education onto itself.
However, the outcome of the successful bidding is that the item must be taken away from the grounds that day. While this may be seen as a fairly easy exercise in the case of a quilt or farm tools, the buggies are another story altogether.
We witnessed one of the successful bidders of a buggy actually using himself as the horse and pulling (running) the buggy down the state highway with about 10 cars behind him.
We are planning on going next year – with more time allotted to allow for viewing of the items before the bidding.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
And So It Ends
Sometimes it comes before you think it would, before the natural end plays out as you envisioned it.
Funny thing, this vision stuff.
It has a way of clarifying that which you thought to be true, wanted to be true, would have sworn to be true. We’ve had a lot of people here in Keyport of late, reexamining what they thought they saw, wanted to see, believed to be true on so many fronts.
So much disappointment when the reality was found, that in the end of the realization process, the only option is to step aside and let it play out without your involvement. To allow others the room to be who they truly are – without your hope or disappointment in them weighing them down. Perhaps with the additional light allowed through from your absence, comes the ability to see the shortfalls and maybe allow some growth.
At least that’s what I want to be true, think to be true, hope to be true……
Funny thing, this vision stuff.
It has a way of clarifying that which you thought to be true, wanted to be true, would have sworn to be true. We’ve had a lot of people here in Keyport of late, reexamining what they thought they saw, wanted to see, believed to be true on so many fronts.
So much disappointment when the reality was found, that in the end of the realization process, the only option is to step aside and let it play out without your involvement. To allow others the room to be who they truly are – without your hope or disappointment in them weighing them down. Perhaps with the additional light allowed through from your absence, comes the ability to see the shortfalls and maybe allow some growth.
At least that’s what I want to be true, think to be true, hope to be true……
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
On Repairing Our Reputation
It was 1987 when Raymond Donovan, the former U.S Secretary of Labor under Ronald Regan asked, "Where do I go to get my reputation back?" after being acqitted of charges that included larceny and fraud in connection with a constructon project for the New York City subway system.
There are many in my hometown of Keyport who may be wondering the same thing about our community’s reputation after the recent confession to felony charges by our former mayor, John Merla.
As revealing as it was to find out that, although admitting to all accusations made by the U.S. Attorney, the sentencing will be for only one charge, with guidelines that call for 24-30 months in prison, we are still left to wonder how this scenario was arrived at, and what give and take transpired to allow this leniency to be somehow satisfactory.
Perhaps time will tell.
With this confession comes a clear deliniation between the right and wrong, between the friendship and the public figure, between the accomplishments and the betrayals of the public trust, between the innocent and the felon.
It was disheartening to read the reactions to this news by individuals who maintain high level and influencial positions within community organizations. It seemed to come across that to them, our former mayor should be allowed some discount on his failure to be honest, and his willingness to work at personal gain, while using this community’s name and reputation to do so.
An example of this settlement’s failure would be the charge stemming from the September 11, 2003 get together with the government witness, a meeting where our former mayor accepted $9,000.00 for the promise of work.
Within hours of accepting that envelope, our former mayor told an assembled goup of 150 people who had gathered to mark the second anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy – that Sept. 11 will always be "a day of mourning, a day of thinking and a day of trying to forget even though we’ll never forget" and that “the country should keep in mind those who lost their lives and the soldiers fighting for our rights and our freedom,” Merla said. A youngster later approached the then mayor and asked for a donation for a fundraiser. Attempting to play the Big Man On Campus in front of a large group of individuals, Mr. Merla produced a $100 bill and gave it to the child.
Ironically, it was disclosed during my interview with the FBI that the $9,000 payment made to Mr. Merla that day was comprised of $100 bills.
While many would point to his many accomplishments in our town, his felony confession now provides the filter through which they must be viewed, assessed, and properly valued.
The restoration of our community’s reputation rests with each of us, our elected officials, and the leaders of all community groups and organizations that have been tarnished and harmed by Mr. Merla’s criminal violations. Convincing statements and actions are needed from our collective leadership, to assure those who would potentially invest and consider living and/or working here; that there are not two sets of understandings of right and wrong in Keyport. That confessed felons are not to be held up as an example of what we, as a community, strive for in a moral foundation.
To this end, I applaud Councilman George Walling for asking that a new plaque be installed on the front of Borough Hall without the name of our now disgraced mayor. While to some this one action might seem to be a small step, I would hope that other community organizations and groups follow this lead as it pertains to them and this disgraced mayor.
I received assurances at the 1/23/07 Council meeting from the Borough Council and Mayor Bergen that they will contact the US Attorney’s office and obtain all of the videotapes of Mr. Merla and the government witness, and make them available to our community. In doing so, the tapes can be viewed without the filtering of the news media or other descriptions and opinions of the events that took place, so that by using their own judgment, everyone can draw their own conclusions based on the actual facts that were found by the U.S. Attorney to be suitable for evidence.
However you feel, perhaps you might want to make your feelings known to the judge before the May 8th sentencing. His address is as follows:
Honorable William J. Martini
District Judge
U.S. District Court – District of New Jersey
Martin Luther King Building & US Courthouse
50 Walnut Street
Newark, NJ 07101
There are many in my hometown of Keyport who may be wondering the same thing about our community’s reputation after the recent confession to felony charges by our former mayor, John Merla.
As revealing as it was to find out that, although admitting to all accusations made by the U.S. Attorney, the sentencing will be for only one charge, with guidelines that call for 24-30 months in prison, we are still left to wonder how this scenario was arrived at, and what give and take transpired to allow this leniency to be somehow satisfactory.
Perhaps time will tell.
With this confession comes a clear deliniation between the right and wrong, between the friendship and the public figure, between the accomplishments and the betrayals of the public trust, between the innocent and the felon.
It was disheartening to read the reactions to this news by individuals who maintain high level and influencial positions within community organizations. It seemed to come across that to them, our former mayor should be allowed some discount on his failure to be honest, and his willingness to work at personal gain, while using this community’s name and reputation to do so.
An example of this settlement’s failure would be the charge stemming from the September 11, 2003 get together with the government witness, a meeting where our former mayor accepted $9,000.00 for the promise of work.
Within hours of accepting that envelope, our former mayor told an assembled goup of 150 people who had gathered to mark the second anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy – that Sept. 11 will always be "a day of mourning, a day of thinking and a day of trying to forget even though we’ll never forget" and that “the country should keep in mind those who lost their lives and the soldiers fighting for our rights and our freedom,” Merla said. A youngster later approached the then mayor and asked for a donation for a fundraiser. Attempting to play the Big Man On Campus in front of a large group of individuals, Mr. Merla produced a $100 bill and gave it to the child.
Ironically, it was disclosed during my interview with the FBI that the $9,000 payment made to Mr. Merla that day was comprised of $100 bills.
While many would point to his many accomplishments in our town, his felony confession now provides the filter through which they must be viewed, assessed, and properly valued.
The restoration of our community’s reputation rests with each of us, our elected officials, and the leaders of all community groups and organizations that have been tarnished and harmed by Mr. Merla’s criminal violations. Convincing statements and actions are needed from our collective leadership, to assure those who would potentially invest and consider living and/or working here; that there are not two sets of understandings of right and wrong in Keyport. That confessed felons are not to be held up as an example of what we, as a community, strive for in a moral foundation.
To this end, I applaud Councilman George Walling for asking that a new plaque be installed on the front of Borough Hall without the name of our now disgraced mayor. While to some this one action might seem to be a small step, I would hope that other community organizations and groups follow this lead as it pertains to them and this disgraced mayor.
I received assurances at the 1/23/07 Council meeting from the Borough Council and Mayor Bergen that they will contact the US Attorney’s office and obtain all of the videotapes of Mr. Merla and the government witness, and make them available to our community. In doing so, the tapes can be viewed without the filtering of the news media or other descriptions and opinions of the events that took place, so that by using their own judgment, everyone can draw their own conclusions based on the actual facts that were found by the U.S. Attorney to be suitable for evidence.
However you feel, perhaps you might want to make your feelings known to the judge before the May 8th sentencing. His address is as follows:
Honorable William J. Martini
District Judge
U.S. District Court – District of New Jersey
Martin Luther King Building & US Courthouse
50 Walnut Street
Newark, NJ 07101
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
The Oil Crack And Our Addiction To It
I watched the State of the Union address last night (Tivo’ed it) after the council meeting. Lots of same olds’ same olds being pulled out and mentioned – Bush wants 20% reduction in oil consumption by 2011, wants fuel efficiencies, no details how to get there.
Here is my suggestion:
Look to Brazil, a country that is totally off the oil nipple and onto Ethanol. Ethanol made from sugar, not corn.
The difference between the two sources is startling. The return gotten from the ethanol made from corn is 1 ½ times what you put into making it. Compare that to a return rate of 8 to 1 by using sugar to produce the ethanol.
Brazil has done the research into this sugar source and has fine tuned it to some 41 different species of plants – plants that can grow in almost any type of soil, are disease resistant and can be manipulated to produce a very high sugar content, with minimal waste by products.
The problem with corn is that the starch has to be extracted, then converted to the sugar- base used to create the Ethanol.
Where does Brazil currently get most of its’ automobiles that use this sugar based Ethanol?
Detroit. The technology is in place on the production line already.
Now imagine what could happen if we took just one of the 100 billion dollar supplemental appropriations that have or are being used in Iraq and applied it to a 5 year plan of credits to consumers (car buyers), sugar farmers, ethanol production infrastructure development, etc.
We could stop using our current 25% of the world’s oil on an annual basis, while stopping the emissions that are helping create the green house effects.
A question – if this was all in place right now – would we really give a rat’s ass about what is happening in the Middle East? Where would these archaic countries be without the petrodollars we send over? We, by default, go on supporting these repressive regimes because of our need for their oil.
What if Bush had said this, or something like it, on Sept. 12, 2001. We would have all fell into line, readily said “yes sir” and we would have been on our way to being off the oil crack by now.
Instead we are in the middle of civil war, slipping on quicksand, with over 3,000 dead and more the same ahead.
Here is my suggestion:
Look to Brazil, a country that is totally off the oil nipple and onto Ethanol. Ethanol made from sugar, not corn.
The difference between the two sources is startling. The return gotten from the ethanol made from corn is 1 ½ times what you put into making it. Compare that to a return rate of 8 to 1 by using sugar to produce the ethanol.
Brazil has done the research into this sugar source and has fine tuned it to some 41 different species of plants – plants that can grow in almost any type of soil, are disease resistant and can be manipulated to produce a very high sugar content, with minimal waste by products.
The problem with corn is that the starch has to be extracted, then converted to the sugar- base used to create the Ethanol.
Where does Brazil currently get most of its’ automobiles that use this sugar based Ethanol?
Detroit. The technology is in place on the production line already.
Now imagine what could happen if we took just one of the 100 billion dollar supplemental appropriations that have or are being used in Iraq and applied it to a 5 year plan of credits to consumers (car buyers), sugar farmers, ethanol production infrastructure development, etc.
We could stop using our current 25% of the world’s oil on an annual basis, while stopping the emissions that are helping create the green house effects.
A question – if this was all in place right now – would we really give a rat’s ass about what is happening in the Middle East? Where would these archaic countries be without the petrodollars we send over? We, by default, go on supporting these repressive regimes because of our need for their oil.
What if Bush had said this, or something like it, on Sept. 12, 2001. We would have all fell into line, readily said “yes sir” and we would have been on our way to being off the oil crack by now.
Instead we are in the middle of civil war, slipping on quicksand, with over 3,000 dead and more the same ahead.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Thursday, January 4, 2007
Belated Merry and a Happy New
Took some time away from this, just enjoying the holidays.
A lot has happened – death of 2 presidents (one of natural causes, the other of causes of his own doing), death of the Godfather of Soul, a new mayor & 2 new council members, new majorities in House & Senate in DC, a new year.
Mob scene (shown via cell phone video) at Saddam hanging did the impossible – they actually made this despicable bastard look good and made me wonder if this is the best this supposed government (that we are spilling the blood of our young to establish) could do. I guess it could have been worse, given the level of “civilization” we’ve seen on display for the last 3 years, they could have decided on death by stoning.
Sorry to see President Ford go – nice guy who did some hard things and with the passage of time, some wise things. Some facts you may or may not know about Ford:
Authorized the establishment of ATM’s and variable rate mortgages.
Authorized women in the armed forces.
Authorized the use of the White House for daughter Susan’s high school prom.
Liked James Brown music, but could do without some of his personal battles with loved ones.
I wish the new Keyport mayor well.
To the new council members – good luck and make sure your votes are based on your feelings, not somebody else’s instructions. Try to have some fun too.
A lot has happened – death of 2 presidents (one of natural causes, the other of causes of his own doing), death of the Godfather of Soul, a new mayor & 2 new council members, new majorities in House & Senate in DC, a new year.
Mob scene (shown via cell phone video) at Saddam hanging did the impossible – they actually made this despicable bastard look good and made me wonder if this is the best this supposed government (that we are spilling the blood of our young to establish) could do. I guess it could have been worse, given the level of “civilization” we’ve seen on display for the last 3 years, they could have decided on death by stoning.
Sorry to see President Ford go – nice guy who did some hard things and with the passage of time, some wise things. Some facts you may or may not know about Ford:
Authorized the establishment of ATM’s and variable rate mortgages.
Authorized women in the armed forces.
Authorized the use of the White House for daughter Susan’s high school prom.
Liked James Brown music, but could do without some of his personal battles with loved ones.
I wish the new Keyport mayor well.
To the new council members – good luck and make sure your votes are based on your feelings, not somebody else’s instructions. Try to have some fun too.
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