Aw Lighten Up, Brother Herman Cain-We Just Funnin' with Yo White Folks!

 "Happy white peoples independence day the slaves weren't free but I'm sure they enjoyed fireworks." -Chris Rock

That's what he said, alluding to the fact that while America had won its independence from Great Britain, slavery was still the law of the land for black folks and some Indians.   Rock didn't lie. He was just making a joke based on fact.

But the conservative wing nuts on the right got mad. One of them, who authors one of the blogs that I refuse to read, told Rock to go fuck himself. Not nice! I mean who knew they paid attention to or had even heard of Chris Rock? Most conservative comedy is provided to them by guys with names like Herman and Clarence or Stepin, or Amos or Andy (Amos n Andy were white, too-shhhhh don't tell anybody).

Chris Rock? Really?

Rock didn't lie. He just pointed out a truth and therein lies the problem. Some whites, mainly conservative but some liberals too, are very sensitive when you start pointing out to them how big a bastard their collective ancestors were back in the day. That's why they are always telling us to get over it, because THEY have and don't want to discuss it. WE “hold onto the past.” WE “play the race card.” WE are “too sensitive.” WE “misunderstand” when the President is called a Monkey or his wife a gorilla or his kids, orangutans. 

 All that shit is funny, right? But to link slavery and independence day...that's not funny...

You know what's funny....Conservatives who are literally rewriting the history books to teach their kids that slavery was not a problem in America. Some of them are going all the way to changing names like calling the slave Middle Passage, the Triangle Trade, or eliminating altogether any mention of the fact that most of America's Presidents were also slave owners...makes the USA look bad..... Texas, Please!

I don't know of a Black person on this continent who is not proud of being an American , especially on the 4^th of July (Wil Smith whipped ET's ass, remember?). However what pisses us off are those who refuse to acknowledge what went down after the Revolutionary War. We have all, both black and white paid a price for it and it will never end until some white people, some blacks in denial and some conservatives own up to what happened.

And as for Brother Cain, he told CNN today: “I think it was Chris Rock who made fun of the fact, ‘Well, it might be Independence Day, but the slaves weren’t free then.’ Look at it this way, if America had not become independent, slaves might still be slaves.”

Actually Pizza Man, it took 90 years for America to free its slaves after the revolution . The British, however, freed their slaves some 32 years before that. It's called the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. Feel free to look it up.....that is if the conservatives haven't wiped it out of your history books yet.

hehehe....

Why are We Mad at Bill Cosby

Can someone please tell me why we're mad at Bill Cosby. Did he lie? Did he stutter? Is he traveling the country using his bully pulpit to libel and slander Black people? Should we revoke his Black membership card for talking outside the group and spilling community secrets? Or are we just mad because he is telling the truth and "we" don't want to hear it?

Bill Cosby is traversing the nation, talking about the plight of the Black community in general. The lawlessness, the dropout rate, the illiteracy, and the overwhelming problem of babies giving birth to babies. No one is quibbling about what he is saying, just that he is saying it. Cosby is apparently fueled by the anger that a lot of us are feeling right now. Those old enough to remember a vibrant civil rights movement that won many of the rights and privileges that these young knuckleheads (Cosby's word) of today take for granted.

My niece graduated from high school this past week. She is an honors student, National Honor Society, in fact and headed to college on a full ride scholarship. I am so proud of this kid. While watching her make her first steps into adulthood, I looked over her graduating class. I didn't make a scientific head count, but it was obvious that for every male in that predominately Black school, there were three females. That night was a joyous celebration of achievement and promise by both the students and their families and friends who showed up to bear witness.

It was a scene that brought tears to my eyes for two reasons. One, my happiness for my niece and two, that not enough of our young people are finishing school, especially young men. For me, it was bittersweet. And don't think it's been easy for my niece. She comes from a fatherless home, raised by a mom with three other kids vying for attention. Even for us, who are solidly grounded in middle class, there is always struggle before achievement. But we are taught from birth to "not let them see you sweat." Our community seems to have given up. Those who can have moved on and out away from the problems isolating and insulating themselves in the suburbs.

Another comedian, Chris Rock, I believe, does a comedy routine talking about the difference between "niggas and black people." He says he doesn't mind living next to Black people, but he won't live next to niggas. We laugh as we get into our late model Lexus and drive 50 miles back to the burbs. But the truth is most of us don't want to live next to niggas either. We just don't want to openly admit it. We turn a blind eye unless somebody like Bill Cosby brings it up and begins painting everybody with a broad brush. Then folks want to get mad. Well, we should get mad, but not at Cosby.

We should get mad because of the violence that chokes our neighborhoods. We should get mad because not enough young men finish high school preferring to answer the siren call of the streets. We should get mad at the overwhelming number of young men, and increasingly young women, who are ending up in jail. We should get mad at the stupefying rate that young black women are getting pregnant. We should get mad at the unchecked AIDS epidemic within our community. We should be mad at ourselves but not Cosby, he is only the latest messenger.

The war is here folks, when are we going stop killing the messenger and wake up and fight?.