Michael Vick and the Pounce Factor

It truly saddens me that we give in to the urge to pounce on a person when he or she has hit the bottom. The likely explanation for this is that most of us have never been on the bottom of the well, looking up. It is true that there was NO evidence that this man EVER killed a dog. He participated in a criminal enterprise that likely killed and/or tortured dogs. Admittedly that is a terrible thing. However Mike Vick has paid enough. He may not have gotten this treatment if he had committed a more serious crime involving personal violation on a human being. No offense to PETA folks but, regardless of how much pets have become parts of the family, Mike Vick didn't kill a human. The ambitious prosecutors, bandwagon lynchmobbers and other pitiful opportunist need to leave him alone. He surely has gotten the message about how we as a society treat and protect animals over starving children, poeople living below the poverty line, Katrina victims, rape victims, homeless people, the mentally ill and many others. Where were we when family members left little Terrell Peterson to starve in a damp basement after being beaten nearly to death? Where were we when Mrs. Johnston was shot to death in her west Atlanta home? Why werent we locked in arms over these tragedies? What about the JENA SIX? Anyone feel like marching for these crimes against HUMANS? WE should be ashamed to do this to this man and turn our backs when our fellow MAN/WOMAN suffers. Ease up pet huggers and smell the litter box that you have created.

Bill O'Reilly and Race

If anyone was shocked by Bill O'Reily's comments, you are clearly in the dark.. Our society is drowning in a sea of political correctness while flailing about aimlessly regarding the issue of our time:RACE. I applaud Billy Boy for his honesty. Painful as if may have felt, Billy Boy told us where he and many other whites harbor safely regarding Black folks. To his dismay (and maybe even disappointment) Billy Boy discovered what we colored people already know. We Black folk can run a respectable business and can patronize a respectable business with the best of them. We Black folk also have great manners. Billy Boy just reminded us that even the well-educated, highly celebrated, largely followed whites still have offensive, idiotic notions about Black people that permeate every area of their existence. Still, Billy Boy would forthrightly tell us all that he doesn't see color. Billy Boy is a microcosm of a larger group of people who think that Black people eat, sleep,think, bath, birth, concieve, smell, defecate and even bleed differently than "true Americans." If he and Imus (and they probably have) were having a conversation, I would not be surprised if they discussed whether we actually tan when the sun is real hot. The moral to this Billy Boy story is that we all should recognize him for what he is: A White Man Who Pretends to be Colorblind until you get some Soul Food in him. He told us what we need to hear to confirm what we already knew. The problem is that most whites, liberal or not, havent been honest with themselves or us about how they really feel about US. Fear is one hell of a thing. It doesn't make you less than a man or woman. it makes you human. The true measure of a person is what he or she does after the fear comes. Come on...Tell us...I promise...We don't bite.

It seems that we have gotten used to looking for excuses rather than answers. It's so much easier to succumb to the urge to blame than to own our future. We, as a people have to come to grips with the fact that we are the architects of many of the problems which plague our streets. Black on Black crime is a prime example. I have heard all of the explanations and/or justifications for the same. Some have legs and others are just stumps. It is true that our views of ourselves have been fractured and distorted by force and a perverse manipulation of what we see in the mirror. Weaves, contacts, blonde, fake this and that and Brothas being attracted to the same bear loud witness to the snail's pace healing of these wounds. However we, as a people, have continued to rip the scabs away and hide behind the ignorance of most regarding history's role in our predicament. The fact is that WE are responsible for the safety of each other. WE are responsible for whether dope is sold in our community. WE bear the shame of Black domestic violence. WE are responsible for how we refer to and portray our women. Our women are responsible for whether they allow themselves to be portrayed negatively. WE are the key to our liberation. Until WE wrap our arms around the world we helped to create, WE will endlessly waddle in the waste of the world.