What The Left Got About Blacks & The Right Never Will

The Century Of Self: There is a Policeman Inside All Our Heads (episode 3) from Roses of Time on Vimeo.

"White" may be a social construct, but black is the real thing:

"By trying to turn them into liberated individuals, Esalen was removing the one thing that gave them power and confidence, in their struggle against racism - their collective identity as blacks."

In other words, until whites stop the racism, it ain't going to work,...

 

A Asian Black Somethin' Somethin' Somethin' Somethin'

Lots To Learn Conservatives (Better Catch Up Quick)

Not seeing color is NOT an option,...

For The Record: This Has Always Been About You & Me

I've been told not to say I'm hurt and in trouble, and I've since seen why:

Black man in pain is a story rarely told. 

Hip-hop is considered a safe and powerful space to tell black men's stories. Yet Eminem is the rapper best known for narratives about suicide, addiction and emotional pain. 

It's easy to imagine someone who looks like Eminem, Kurt Cobain or Alexander McQueen as suffering from depression. But Lee Thompson Young? Not so much. 

There's no quintessential cult movie -- a "Black Boy, Interrupted" so to speak -- where we see a black man who struggles with depression or distress. There are even fewer examples of black men seeking help. "The Bob Newhart Show," "M*A*S*H," "Frasier," "In Treatment" and "The Sopranos" are all shows involving men in or providing therapy. They are all white. 

It's hard to believe what you've never seen. 

The conventional narratives about black men tend to be narrow and depthless. They are often presented in two distinct and superficial ways -- as the criminal or as the incredible. Sometimes you'll see them behind bars or in the courtroom. Other times you'll see them in the limelight. Just turn on the TV and the black men you see are actual or fictional lawbreakers. Or they are superstars. 

Aside from these two stereotypical identities, we know nearly nothing about the inner lives of black men. Are they complex? Are they unknowable, untouchable, undesirable or unworthy of help in our collective societal imagination?

There used to be an old saying, that "whites liked their blacks big, angry, and in a CD format."

Weird:

That's all I've ever been asking for help to make happen,...

Black Men Ask Black Men Questions (Why Sell Crack?)

Bill Clinton & Barack Obama In Black And White

O.K., I'm confused. While discussing the latest idiocy from Chris Matthews, Big Journalism's Mike Metroulas said:

If Bill Clinton were black, Matthews would have been bleating the same old race angle over the Lewinsky affair.

See? I don't get it. Do you get it? Toni Morrison gave Clinton that title, and she's blacker than black (well, her hair is, anyway) and black people applauded it, so Clinton's the first black president, damn it:

This new guy is an impostor.

GOP: You Can't Out-Race The Party Of The KKK

There's an article about black Republican National Committee members not supporting Michael Steele that includes the most telling line about his leadership:

Steele, a former Maryland lieutenant governor, Senate candidate and state party chairman, was touted as Republicans' response to the first black president, Democrat Barack Obama.

This use of the race card by a "post-racial" Right has been glaring from the start - Democrats have got a black leader so (rather than finding someone truly effective) we've got to have a black leader - and has been part-and-parcel of Steele's weakness:

When Steele announced his bid for re-election on a conference call, he concluded by saying, "Who you elect as our next chairman will speak volumes about our willingness to truly be the party of Lincoln," according to the Washington Times. A prominent member of the RNC, James Bopp Jr., complained to the Times that Steele had used "the race card." Steele responded by calling Bopp "an idiot" and accusing him of bitterness over a consulting contract the RNC canceled.

Sure. And so the race game goes on. If these are the rules the Right wants to play by, then this quote - by Ada Fisher, the black RNC committeewoman from North Carolina - is even more damning to "the party of Lincoln":

"Nobody asked the black members of the RNC what they felt, and I don't know that the other people were courted or asked for their votes."

That's the way it looks from here, too, on the Left and the Right:

If whites want to show they're non-racial, then they throw up a black man who puts his race first (Barack Obama, Michael Steele, Zo/Macho Sauce) but - if they've got blacks who are truly striving to be non-racial - then they'll take that as a signal to ignore them because, we guess, those blacks have to also learn (for the billionth time) that life just ain't fair.

(And, of course, whites asking - and listening to - those blacks about how to get to our "post-racial" ideal is out of the question. They know what they're doing,...) *Sigh*

There's apparently no way for most whites (grappling with a post-racial ideal) to understand how real inclusion works and/or to establish a level playing field. They're still too caught up in race to escape it.

Which is all extremely depressing.

Our Right-Wing Scalliwag Is The "Most Honest"

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I See A Race (With More Crashes Than NASCAR)

To say I like to keep myself on the right side of issues is an understatement, so I feel pretty bad about my congratulations to Andrew Breitbart for his attack on Shirley Sherrod.

I've been saying, for some time now, that race shouldn't even be part of our national dialogue, and then, damn it, I fell into the trap myself.

O.K., I know - I just stuck my toe in it - but it still feels, to me, like it's been lopped off.

So, once again, I'm going to ask: When are we, as a people, going to let this go? How many have to get hurt, unnecessarily, because of this insistence to keep the race meme going?

The NAACP started this latest broohaha? Doesn't matter.

Like the KKK, they've outlived their usefulness and should be consigned to the trash heap of history, and their attacks on the Tea Party - and the reactions of the black audience in the Breitbart video - prove it.

But this doesn't speak well of Andrew Breitbart, either.

The video was edited to make it appear to be something it wasn't.

I can't lay into him too hard because I understand what he's trying to do, and I think it's noble, but still, wrong is wrong and it should be acknowledged.

He should be trying to get Miss Sherrod's job back.

Like I said, I don't feel good about any of this - especially my, admittedly, minor role in it - so I don't feel like writing too much. But there are a few things I do want to say anyway.


While many people may not care to read what I say on this blog, I've got news for you:

I hate listening to everybody else talking about me - and that's what this silly corrosive "dialogue" is, really, whether it's the stupid New Black Panther Party or those fighting against them - it's a discussion about me.

Both the New Black Panther Party, and it's adversaries, think they're looking out for my interest but they're not - they're merely torturing me with their bullshit.

Just as the toxic Mel Gibson did with his you're-going-to-be-raped-by-niggers comments to that unscrupulous woman I don't even think is attractive.

It's time you all realized "I am a man" and I can speak for myself.

If I need your help, I'll ask for it - and you can start by hitting the fucking tip jar, assholes.

Yea, that's what I thought.

See, I know I'm nothing more to you than a Sambo doll, to be batted about to make you feel good - about yourselves.

I've been saying, since this blog started, that I'm a black man who's been through some pretty horrible shit - more horrible than probably anything the rest of you have had to endure - and, with few exceptions, the reaction I've received is to be ridiculed, harassed, or ignored.

Nobody cared I'm a black man openly asking for specific kinds of help - and not the first to ask for this specific kind of help - you'll give me what you think I deserve, whether it's what I need or not.

Well, in the tradition of great rappers everywhere, I say "Fuck all y'all."

If my NewAge ex-wife assisting a NewAge homeopath in killing three other NewAgers, and running away with all of our money, isn't enough to get you off your asses (or your wallets) to come to my aid, then I don't need your kind of "help".

What good is y'all screaming "raaaacist!" at each other doing me?

I've also said - with a lot of evidence to back it up - that I'm the conservative artist that can end a lot of the bullshit we're dealing with through music.

Anybody rushing to make that happen?

Nope. Not even from my fellow conservatives.

What's up? All of a sudden the problems of a black person ain't so pressing, huh?

It's much more fun for y'all to declare me - a black man - a weirdo, ain't it?

Yea, that'll help.

My online friend, Ann Althouse, has told me - several times - that what she perceives as my self-pity ain't Obama "attractive". My answer to her has always been the same;

I'm not trying to be (shallowly) attractive - I'm trying to be (deeply) real.

All of y'all clamoring over me - specifically because of my race - as my fortunes dwindle - and two killers (my ex and the homeopath) are, still, walking freely - is absurd.

It just reinforces how alone this black man is (and, by extension, all black people are) while surrounded by supposedly-well-meaning lawyers, scientists, doctors, therapists, conservatives, liberals, and more.

As someone who has risked his very life, countless times, to rescue people I didn't know - boat people while serving in the Navy, women in distress, etc. - if I were y'all, I'd be ashamed at what selfish bastards so many so-called Americans have become.

I know I'm ashamed.

I asked for your help because I believed in you.

As you know, if you read this blog, I don't believe in shit any longer.

Starting with your concern for me as a black man.

My day started at 8AM with a tap on my window. It was my friend, Pete - a white guy I've known since Jr. High.

He read the post I wrote about quitting my job and, knowing my issues with NewAge, he came over to see if I was alright.

If he had the money, he would give it to me in a heartbeat, saying, "Here, go make your band, and change the world."

Instead, we went to breakfast, a white guy and a black guy, and wondered what's happened to the country we grew up in - specifically, why there are so few of our countrymen like us.

None of you truly care about "the content of a man's character".

If you did, you'd recognize when you've met one, as Pete and I did so many years ago.

Race, to me and Pete, has always been "your problem" - not ours - and it still is.

And unfortunately, from the look of things, that's the way it's going to stay until the day we die.

Shouts out to The Anchoress:

Love ya, babe.