BOULE TO THE BONE

"There has never been a INALIENABLE RIGHT or a HUMAN PRIVILEGE achieved in the United States that wasn't fought for by People." - the poet Shazza

One, this is an old interview and I have since beat down this horse a long time ago. It is interesting that like a cycle, when Black people begin to speak TRUTH to injustice, discrimination and or progress towards civil disobedience, MEDIA digs out people like Morgan Freeman, particularly this video and of coarse Samuel Jackson; and a few others I don't have time to get into and won't list, to preach the "Accountability Speech". TRUTH BE TOLD ... Black people are responsible and are accountable. If you talk to Black people, we are actually more "conservative" than liberal. We are to a fault, more conservative than Whites. We do believe in all the principles that make up the foundation that is America. Our detour from that path had come with the political, social and economic change in landscape during the late 1970's and 80's and since then, policy, politics, economics and leadership waned. We can do a 4yrs of back and forth with this topic and still we would not Master the complexities that have effected Black people not just in the United States but throughout Africa. That being said, Freeman's criticism is like criticizing the classroom for not having books to read when the decision to provide books is/was determined by the Bd of Ed. And yes, parents and teachers can come out of pocket for them but there are 12 other classes without books as well. MORGAN FREEMAN just happened to be in the classroom with people who could provide those resources, yet he conveniently forgets to mention that.




For a Man who doesn't believe in GOD, his philosophy on life, responsibility and onus in life as a "formula of nature"a result of Nature and Perfect Nurturing. He totally ignores the reality that what worked for him, the experience, the time, opportunity and even type of competition , may not work for everyone and yet his monolithic vision is that on absolution, one and only, "walk my path and you too can be a MORGAN FREEMAN. He ignores history and individual circumstance. Even the worst of people can become the BEST and we already know that the Best can often do the WORST to people. Some people journey to get to a destination only to say they got there on their own merits. They rarely think about the ground saturated with blood and sweat paved in those roads. As respected an actor he is, I think he hasn't released from playing GOD or the voice of The Universe. HIS privilege came from both Black people that died, sacrificed, protest and protested not to mention the Whites that "decided" to give him his job. People like Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby, Harry Belafonte, James Earl Jones have acknowledged that prior to being who they are, someone "White" gave them a break. If you look at people (especially form Morgan's generation) the door crack wasn't by a Black face but a White person in a position of privilege. Before that door was crack .... people knocked, kicked and sacrificed before that lock was turned. And still to this day, Morgan Freeman's privilege comes from people that don't look like him. And if my change he doesn't act or say the right thing, can be taken away.

Yes we have irresponsible and trifling Black folk as there are many White folks and all the ethnic groups in between that we can write-off but the demise of the Black community isn't in its inability to live RIGHTLY but in its complacency to continue to do Rightly after the Civil Rights Movement. Black complacency in the belief that its has overcome all that America has done to it and the progress of the Civil Rights era pace would continue absent of inertia into a deep American Dream. Then there is the generation born to the late 70's and 80's and those after that do not know or understand the sacrifices before them because they were the first generations born with RIGHTS. They do not know, understand or can comprehend what it took to give them that freedom any more than you or I can understand what it was like to be a Slave. I am blessed to be old enough to know and had seen signs that said "Colored People Only" just before they were removed but to others? They can't relate. Even in photos. Which brings me back to Morgan Freeman. THAT MOFO KNOW BETTER !!! His banter speaks only on the myopic and ignores the system that has created the very people he "down brows". He is the epidemy of the Boule. He speaks well and he looks good, but his "opinion" on those he is disconnected to is easy to do because he is far removed from their experience, their story, their soul and their spirit to exist. Then again .... he is an atheist and for him GOD HAS NO PURPOSE nor does their (Black peoples) struggle or existence.

PRIVILEGED AND THE BLIND MAN

 There is no difference between the Privileged and a Blind man eating steak, for no matter how savory, succulent and tasty the meal is, the blind man will never see how the meat is a product of slaughter and butchery. Neither will see this reality upon the first bite nor will either one care. The only interest would be to thank the chef for the time and dedication for its proper preparation. 

 There are many examples of repealed and non-government regulation and its effect on people, communities, society, Nations. The examples exits but are not in the public eye because if it were, Americans would question its principles and morality. The very fact that our private sector is dancing around the World looking for nations to exploit to the level of “pennies per slave” just so that they don’t have to pay Americans a decent wage, benefits for top executives and maintaining a system of trading imaginary capital and empty financial trades is and should be reason enough to stand up and support more Government (People) intervention.  But to do that, you might have to slightly consider the fact that people might have common sense to pay attention to the details.

We can name random countries different in structure and ideology as confusing  and  possessing  corrupt aspects of government, socialist, terrorist or just evil in comparison  with our nation’s Republic  structure; Republicanism at its core, and we can embrace a “free market” with its self-appointed superiority above the principles of equal barter and trade when in truth, it exploits people just as cruelly and effectively as any corrupt system of apartheid, skewed theocracy or terrorist society. An inherited mark placed back upon the World inked deep by Cain's legacy for deviating from his humanity.

Cuba, pre-Castro, and its economics is a prime example as well as many Pacific and Malaysian  Islands, South American, African and Asian nations where America and the Western World exploited people for cheap labor with zero regulations. Once done, they all left those countries devastated, war torn, resource drained and desolate. The economic practices on the surface flourished and looked good on the reflective side of the mirror but in every society that had been done, the division of wealthy to poor increased tenfold. Why? Because you cannot have a growing free market where everyone is a winner and in a capitalist society to maintain this, you will need to have a significant number of have-nots to control, to bottom feed just enough to be used as hors d'œuvre and simple appetizers. What keeps all the people from becoming completely indentured are government regulations. Historically it is because of this that American slaves were freed, children emancipated from sweatshops as well as women, immigrants and migrant workers given protection and an established legal retirement age for the elderly from being exploited into their graves was instituted.

We live in a world of “assumed” privilege where the illusion of “working hard” is greatly rewarded.  Only now are Americans seeing that what they thought was the American Dream is just that … a REM induced dream as deep in mythology as Dante's decent into the Inferno.  It is only when we agreed to fall asleep did we dream of a reality where waking up to a world that is either living to be the exploiter or being the exploited was real. Unfortunately, the rest of the World is wide awake and beginning to catch up to exploit us right back with vengeance, retaliation and purpose (i.e. China, the Middle-east, the European Union, Brazil, Russia). You can thank the Bush years for this accelerated evolution and Obama for setting the alarm clock to get up.

HOW SEVEN YEAR OLD BOYS SING

Stick for stab
Jumpin grab
Getting the fuk out
Bitch muthafuk forget the shout
Got my piece
Bought not lease
Taggin
Mackin
It’s da real for real
Black all you know da deal

Flip bip an' pow
I got da raw shyt now
Cumin hard
I got yo sweet card
Slow whine down on me
I got da bling for you baby
Turn da ass around
And da around
Breakin yo back
Big Black yo Mac attack

Get wit my program
Oh damn
Like a rubba check
My Ho on deck
You betta be ready
Point yo shyt steady
My Glock on automatic
Fanatic
Nomadic
Top of da 9th Homerun Addict
I’m gonna bat it
Mad Hat it

I crush it like Hannibal
Man handled
Burnin you flammable
I got that work fo you
Unmoveable
Own da room on you
Titan true-able
Beyond liable
The Black Buck
Mack truck
Heavy Load drive
The Lord of light alive
Prison proof
Raisin da roof

I don’t play
I don’t play
Nigga I don’t play
Fuck yall Niggas
Get off my tip
an' go away
I da true Nigga
Multi-Million Figga
Breakin yo back
Big Black yo Mac attack

How Seven Year Olds Sing by Shazza Nakim
Copyright © by Peace of Mind Publishings and with permission by Shazza Nakim

SHARPE JAMES OF NEWARK GUILTY, DIRTY AND KNOWINGLY CORRUPT

OK lets get this thing started, I use to live in Newark, New Jersey just over the Hudson River and have had family and friends there as well. I even worked there for a short time so my experience with the city is personal and professional. As a citizen of the city I made it my responsibility to KNOW the city, its history, its economics, the politics and its people. Much like New York City, it is composed with many ethnic and cultural groups but UNLIKE New York, it is an extremely segregated city. My experience there not only had a major impact on my life but its current make up not only prompted me to turn away from becoming a part of the World of Politics but on the other side of reporting it and or exposing the underbelly of it. The atrocities in Newark, New Jersey also was institutional in gaining me recognition as a Poet in winning my first Writing Award for a piece called OPPORTUNITY, detailing in verse, how the City of Newark had destroyed generations of its youth over the years. If Denzel Washington portraying an American Gangster, Sharpe James is America's Pimp.

Blacks over there, Latinos of here, Whites on the outskirts way over there, the poor in the center in the Projects and Portuguese, Asians and Italians beyond the underpass past the trains and the west Indians on the boarders on the extreme opposite side of town, Newark is a social experiment on How To Not Run An Ethically Diverse City. With it’s Lightning Rod History and Controversy, Newark still maintains a “fear” mongering form of policing where patrols on the boarders of the city keep those people that might be from the city, from crossing over into their own. What I always experienced while living and working there was as close as Newark was to New York City, specifically Manhattan; it was more Southern in style than Northeastern. Newark, New Jersey; the major hub for transportation, shipping, manufacturing, economic advancement, education and music was more like Chicago IL., Baltimore Md., Charlotte NC., Atlanta Ga. than a Brooklyn NY, Boston Mass., or Hartford Ct. Even with Newark’s history as being a city built by Immigrants, it also has had a long account of being corrupt in its politics. What always amazed me was that in its downtown area, at any given time, you could not find a movie theater (unless you wanted to choose between two Porn Theaters), no Ice Cream Shops or Bakeries, no places to get simple Computer supplies or Electronics, no Bookstores, very few Restaurants, no Hardware and Home Supplies shops and I can go on with a listing of "have-nots" that any small town would have but not the largest city in the state of New Jersey. This lack of Private and Public investment for the past 40 years is what tittered Newark on the brink of being a ghost town way before the Bush Administration's Big Score. The state of the city existed in this type of limbo through several presidents; Ford, Cater, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush and only until recently has the cycle broken with the aid of Newark’s present Mayor Cory Booker. For all accounts, Newark was a Ghetto City and that was what it existed as under the combined leadership of two mayors and 40 years.

So why was this? There are many reasons which date back since the later 1960's. Some would argue the White Flight into the suburbs, others would argue the lack of know how by Black Leadership that filled in the void of those that left. Still others would argue the unstable economy that had befallen the City but residents of the City of Newark will tell you that the perpetuation of the city’s misery to be with two men selling and carving out the spoils than an entire Federal and State economy; former mayors Kenneth Gibson and Sharpe James. I would blame it on Black Loyalty at its worst.

I had recently posted on my blog the concerns I had about Black Loyalty (THE FATE OF BLACK LOYALTY). In this posting I discussed the pitfalls of Black Americans voting for political candidates just because they look like them and or use all the words of Hope and Change layered in Sermon and Gospel while wearing the Cloth of a Politician. As part of this analysis I used the current state of Newark as a grand example as to what happens when Black Politicians go BAD and Newark, New Jersey has had some BAD Politicians.

Concentrating on the TOP thrones of political responsibility, the mayor is always the figurehead that ultimately gets the hardest look. Looking at almost 20 years of non-transparent management under Sharpe James’ rule, the state of the city had grind down to almost a complete halt with its high crime statistics, corruptions, government abuse, misappropriation of funds, personal and family favors, money laundering, document and witness tampering and the list continue. What more, as the city continued to descend into near bankruptcy, the city was facilitating no-bid contracts, property sales, tax abatements and pushing Imminent Domain upon the city home owners while raising taxes to offset the cheap land that Developers where receiving without challenge. You had Councilmen and women with budgets that would just disappear into thin air without question. Newark was the place to learn, live, profit and love “Dirty Politics”.

What makes this act so shocking is that one would deem this to be the actions under a Republican Administration (President to Governor down to the Mayor) and yet these actions were all from a Black Democratic Mayor whom had won over a previous Black Democratic Mayor, Kenneth Gibson, who did the very some thing for nearly as longs as James. In essence, one mayor past the baton of corruption to the next to continue the raping, robbing and pillaging of the life force and livelihood of a city with the majority being the Black population. A city, which fought in the late 60’s to remove the gangster-type politics that segregated and oppressed a people to only replace it with another (with the help of corporate, special interest and ex-Newark officials whom had moved up in the Private and Public sectors and still had an investment in gutting out the new GAME that was to be Newark Politics). Think clearly then, you enter into a city where the evidence of riots still remain in public sight, where you allow fortune 500 corporations to exist at the center of your city and are allow to practice a "no-hire" practice for the residence within your city, where you allow (under the guise of Imminent Domain) State and County Universities and Colleges, Catholic Organizations, New Jersey Port Authority, State Hospitals and Manufacturing and Pharmaceuticals and Private Developers to expand into the city maintaining a "no-hire" status for its citizens while gifted with the prize of Pay No Taxes. And as each group gutted out the City of Newark, you heard the rallying call of Sharpe James calling these changes THE NEWARK RENAISSANCE.

I made this statement publicly and in writing, which had gotten me in some hot water, not because I was being a racial or radical, but because my words went out and also included Barak Obama:

"I am a skeptic in all things POLITICAL. For Obama, my concerns are his UNKNOWNS. There are many Blacks in politics that are doing great things and there are many that use their positions to line their pockets. Initially they (Black Politicians) all are inspirational and agents of CHANGE. As Black people, we end up on the loosing end when BLACK politicians go BAD or CAN'T do right by Black people due to political promises and pre-conditioned obligations.” – Shazza Nakim from the Blog: Field Negro

My words were not anti-Obama or anti-Black Democrat (as Obamaholics see the World, the statement read between the lines as being Pro-Clinton) the words spoke from a simple truth of past evidence and repeated examples of mismanaged government, not only of Black Politicians, but all Politicians globally. The politics of Newark, New Jersey isn’t unique to just that city but is does show a pattern in many predominately Black cities with Black Politicians at the helm. We can make claim to the same argument that those surrounding Mayor James and Gibson did this but reality the people's lack of the truth, their lack of ownership, false loyalty, lack of transparency, active participation, human nature and a Politician's bid to be like other political officials. The direction one needed to deal with Black Cities (and YES I will make the claim that a predominately populated city IS a BLACK CITY when the majority residents are BLACK) in a uniquely different way than non-Black Cities. Sharpe James has only done what other politicians have done and like those that were TOO greedy, felt they were TOO powerful and got TOO sloppy, he walks out in MUCH SHAME AND RIDICULE.

So what is the end result, does the City of Newark get back its Billions of lost revenue and government funding dedicated to rebuilding it back to its past luster? Do the children reclaim the loss of broken schools; poor education, undo their drop-out status, get off the streets and back into the classroom of the schools that were either closed or condemned, decrease the incarceration numbers because the after-school programs and summer work programs will be re-financed? Do people get to reclaim their homes lost in the vicious cycle of TAXATION? Do you mandate that those people who purposely set fire to their homes and businesses for Insurance in order to leave the city and add to the decay? Do you make accountable the Corporations that had systematically denied employment to Newark residents for generations thus keeping the unemployment rates consistent and steady? Do the city now balance the budget by cashing in all the Planes, Trains, Yachts, Cars, Private Mansions, Manors and Vacation Homes paid for by the tax payers? Do the people of Newark get back the KICK BACKS the Mayors signed off and granted to Developers for years? How about the subsidized resources given to businesses outside Newark with no return back from where it came from? A person can scream to Heaven, “MY GOD” with the type of abuse that had gone on unfettered all because of Black Loyalty in the City of Newark.

I do not like to wish Bad Luck and Ill Will on anyone and yet like Al Capone, the notorious Gangster of Chicago, if the best the FBI can get on Sharpe James is his hooking up his Side Piece on  with STEALING MONEY AND OPPORTUNITIES from the citizens of Newark, just like generations of other corrupt Black and Brown politicians were doing under his watch, THAN I AM SATISFIED WITH IT. My soul isn’t full with the justice but I think the people of Newark will have a sense that some HIGHER POWER is reminding them that "Not All Devils Go Unnoticed".

THE AUDACITY OF BEING SMARTY PANTS

I am stealing a little thunder from a Blog that I like to read when I wrote this. Over the past few weeks I pulled back from the table of let’s “Bash Hillary” this week, lets “Bash Barak” next week. The whole Style vs. Substance, Action vs. Inactions, Bread and Butter vs. Meat and Potatoes it got tied and pathetic. Even more so, many of the Black Bloggers were and still are far worst than the Traditional Media and I just got sick of reading what new NON ISSUE was going to be the ranted of the day. Well, on my way back I go back to surfing for my general information off the Internet and International sources. Then I go to my Black Blogs and guess what, not a DAYUM beat was missed; SSDD.

My Black Conservative Blog that I enjoy had an “Obama” piece on it (when in Rome I say) that made me decide to do my first Political entry in about a month. The entry was this:

"My biggest fear of the Obama Campaign was not that he would be perceived as the Black candidate (that is pretty hard to overlook), but that he would be perceived as an uppity Black candidate (a Black elitist who is out of touch with common folk and who has the gall to look down on poor whites). Well, it happened and the media and the blogosphere has gone 'ape s__t' over...the truth!”

I thought the same thing way back when Obama was running for Senator of the State of Illinois. My beliefs were not because I am a Conservative or a Black Republican but for the only reason that I come from the same educational background as Obama. The views and perception that the Blogger addressed, I get working in my own Community. I mean lets keep it real, if you are a college graduate and live in a richly diverse Black community, you know you have had run ins with all types of people with varying levels of academic achievement. It is expected upon the first words from people speaking that we expect a minimum of rudimentary level of education; basic reading, writing and comprehension. Absent the notion of Common Sense, we can expect in this modern time that a person will at least complete a sentence with the proper Queen’s English or Street lingo with a noun and a verb. How a person communicates, does speak volumes as to their character. It tells a story of education, geographic location even generation. So when tone, posture and intent is backed behind a Man or Woman speaking in America, we have no choice but to departmentalize where we stand against them either side-by-side or on the sidelines doubting if and how we compare.

Living in urban areas, the diversity in peoples is far reaching and varied. From rich to poor, young to old, Black to White, Saints to Sinners, you can’t keep tract of the complexities. Within the communities of Black folk we have Dark skin to Light skin, Religious to Spiritual, Educated to Illiterate, Elders to Adolescence, Conservatives and New Progressives. Sticking to the Educated (Intellectuals) coming Home to community, there is and has always been a deeply rooted disdain for the character that comes with possessing (too much) knowledge; although becoming an educated Black person, part and parcel, necessitated in the uplifting of a Race.

These groups of Blacks have been a part of the Black American Diaspora since the days of Reconstruction and the Talented Ten. Even more so, those Jack and Jill Blacks are even sub-divided by Northern and Southern Intellectuals and Traditionally Black College and Universities vs. Ivy Leaguers. So when I see Barak Obama standing before the nation and speaking, the perception of him being an Agent of Change and Inspiration does exist and yet his appeal is greatest with the Youth and White Collar Professionals (at least this is how the media is reporting it). So between the Obama’s stance as an intellectual (political), well traveled, Ivy League educated, Charismatic (I hate this reference) and having a command of poised language, on the surface, he can have the appearance of a cultural elite to those without; the poor, the working class and those on the other side of the Black sub-culture.

So when you take the feelings of people under the shadow of inequities, words spoken from the physical representation of a “possible” Affirmative Action recipient that has done GOOD, an individual whom have in his niceties described them as “bitter”, an existence that may or may not exist, it would only be a matter of time before someone on the receiving end speak up and shout words like Elitist, Uppity, and Bourgie. If you come from a simular background as an Obama, the expectation for this type of negative response is like the theory of Memory Prediction Framework. This theory of when the brain takes events and stimuli from the past sets up a framework for serious and preordained reactions. This action supports in making decisions and navigating through complex obstacles and random occurrences. Think of it like driving slowly through a minefield and knowing where they are all placed. Now speed up the driving with a dust storm, the Sun in your eyes and birds flying across your window and your brain blocks out all other stimuli and concentrates on the driving to avoid the mines. This is Obama’s Memory Framework because although he was referring to economics, in America economics is tied too close to Race, either his or Small Town America’s. His fix for the situation? You will see Obama calling upon all of his past lectures, speeches, sermons, conversations, personal conflicts and history of his being MISUNDERSTOOD by others for being ELITE.

Obama’s analyst of Small Town America does not threaten those Intellectuals on par with Obama. It is only those that have not had the blessings of a Harvard education (including those that were rejected and ended up going to their SECOND CHOICE SCHOOL) and those that have been laborers for generations might have issue.

SCHISM

A battle of dichotomies you and I.
Opposite sides of the fence we live, A thought,
" oh no, we just are ".
And we both don't understand the reasons why
and why for.
We're just different or at least that's what we believed.
At some place and time we just
existed.
Never questioned, never asked.
All the same.
But opposites we were.
Being me, myself, by myself.
And it was O.K.
For you, were you, yourself, by yourself.
No one bothered us.
But now I have to think on a different level now.
In terms of evens and equals.
Opposites that had and had not.
Life was so much simpler then, before the catalyst.
I was such a bohemian, the true maverick in those days.
Iconoclastic to the very end I wanted to be.
But a rebel with a capital R

I'll be branded
In this new PC World of two's.
When you are either this or that.
People getting with this or getting with that.
I just don't understand anymore.
It was like we woke up and everything
changed.
I know not of the occurrence of
How we just split.


Schism by Shazza Nakim
Copyright © by Peace of Mind Publishings and with permission by Shazza Nakim

LAND OF OPPORTUNITY

Fair Wages!
Better Treatment!
Do We Get It?
No!

I am sick and tired of being sick and tired!
Working slave hours
in a slave job.
Striving to survive!

Do Not Put that Clothing on your Back!
Put America back on Track!
We're Not Lazy We'll Walk All Night!
We'll Walk Some More to Keep the Fight !

Cotton cutting, polyester pressing.
Chicken feather plucking,
catfish stripping.
Toilet paper rolling and migrant farming.

Hell No We Won't Go!
Heaven Knows Our Might Will Show!
Pride in the North, Pride in the South!
Minimum Wage Can't Feed My Mouth!

New York law, Delta Delight and Scottie to wipe my behind.
5¢, 10¢, 15¢, 25¢ raises
only good for one extra bus ride to work or
day old bread at least.

Our Hungry Kids are Calling!
That Why We are Stalling!
Don't Bust the Line!
Our Wages Here are the Crime!

Picket Captain
Ten Hut!!!!!
Shop Steward
Present!!!!!

Welfare Rat,
Rat You Out!
WIC and Food Stamps,
Ain't No Clout!

Out of the cotton fields
and into the fire.
Locked, stocked, and barreled,
Chain ganged and stuck in labor.

When Do We Want It?
We Want It Now!
How Do We Want It?
Right!

Land of Opportunity by Shazza Nakim

Copyright © by Peace of Mind Publishings and with permission by Shazza Nakim

THE DREAM

Dreaming of seven cows of plenty,
Consumed by seven cows of famine,
Complexed and perplexed
The Knower of All,
The Keeper of Knowledge,
Pharaoh happened upon a chanced fantasia.
A euphoria,
Dancing like mists of silhouette tapestry,
Woven by the Gods
Of air, earth, fire and water.
Pharaoh, on a cold and arid night,
Was mystified by feelings of inadequacy.
This emphirial enigma,
The Dream.
Pharaoh peered, pondered, and prodded
Magical mages and scared sanctums
Of this moment of meticulous movement.
For he had to know
The answers to this dream most undream like.

A man of the wakened world
Stepped forth from the land of God.
Ethiopia.
True Hebrew.
True Joseph.
He taught the lessons of the dream.
He said, " The meat of plenty shall feed the people of the few."
Thus it was told.
Thus it was learned.
"They will suckle from the breasts' of their mothers and taste the milk
of Isis, daughter of creation" Joseph sang.
"A goddess to nourish what the soul will crave."
Pharaoh sighted the seven cows of famine.
Joseph then shared, " Seven seven your land will rule,
Seven years fat,
Seven years thin."

And with a signet ring
Joseph was created equal to the land of Egypt.
A union most sacred was formed.
For the Gods did leave for seven by way of the Nile.
All people dreamt dreams of fat cows
For seven of seven.
And famine, seven more of seven.
But Egypt did not weep.
She smiled upon the land,
And embraced her freedom from the Gods.
I know this to be true,

For I write with scroll and pen.

The Dream by Shazza Nakim
Copyright © by Peace of Mind Publishings and with permission by Shazza Nakim

HANDS

hands so thick
hands so strong
they wrap around necks so small so fragile
and snap. into lengths half long.

they release life from green beans
and drop them into boiling water
softening them, for a side order meal
cooked for another homeless mother and daughter.

soup kitchen line in an urban city blue
from closed eyes, cold winds, and long nights
feeding hungry faces etched in doubts
pained by withdrawals and blackened eyes from fights.

green bean soup, pasta with bread,
surplus choke sandwiches and bitter orange juice.
today's menu for life and living always the same as yesterday.
feeling low by judge, jury, executed, and then set loose.

all of them stripped of dignity and honor
self worth and independence next to metal fences and brick walls.
dispossessed spirits of common treasures
now, only their big hands to hold small hearts asking for food.

Hands by Shazza Nakim

Copyright © by Peace of Mind Publishings and with permission by Shazza Nakim

THE THEORY OF A LOST GENERATION by Phillip Jackson

There is no longer a need for dire predictions, hand-wringing, or apprehension about losing a generation of Black boys. It is too late. In education, employment, economics, incarceration, health, housing, and parenting, we have lost a generation of young Black Men. The question that remains is will we lose the next two or three generations, or possibly every generation of Black boys hereafter to the streets, negative media, gangs, drugs, poor education, unemployment, father absence, crime, violence and death.

Most young Black Men in the United States don't graduate from high school. Only 35% of Black male students graduated from high school in Chicago and only 26% in New York City, according to a 2006 report by The Schott Foundation for Public Education. Only a few Black boys who finish high school actually attend college, and of those few Black boys who enter college, nationally, only 22% of them finish college.

Young Black male students have the worst grades, the lowest test scores, and the highest dropout rates of all students in the country. When these young Black men don't succeed in school, they are much more likely to succeed in the nation's criminal justice and penitentiary system. And it was discovered recently that even when a young Black man graduates from a U.S. college, there is a good chance that he is from Africa, the Caribbean or Europe, and not the United States.

Black men in prison in America have become as American as apple pie. There are more Black men in prisons and jails in the United States (about 1.1 million) than there are Black men incarcerated in the rest of the world combined. This criminalization process now starts in elementary schools with Black male children as young as six and seven years old being arrested in staggering numbers according to a 2005 report, Education on Lockdown by the Advancement Project.

The rest of the world is watching and following the lead of America. Other countries including England, Canada, Jamaica, Brazil and South Africa are adopting American social policies that encourage the incarceration and destruction of young Black men. This is leading to a world-wide catastrophe. But still, there is no adequate response from the American or global Black community.

Worst of all is the passivity, neglect and disengagement of the Black community concerning the future of our Black boys. We do little while the future lives of Black boys are being destroyed in record numbers. The schools that Black boys attend prepare them with skills that will make them obsolete before, and if, they graduate. In a strange and perverse way, the Black community, itself, has started to wage a kind of war against young Black men and has become part of this destructive process.

Who are young Black women going to marry? Who is going to build and maintain the economies of Black communities? Who is going to anchor strong families in the Black community? Who will young Black boys emulate as they grow into men? Where is the outrage of the Black community at the destruction of its Black boys? Where are the plans and the supportive actions to change this? Is this the beginning of the end of the Black people in America?

The list of those who have failed young Black men includes our government, our foundations, our schools, our media, our Black churches, our Black leaders, and even our parents. Ironically, experts say that the solutions to the problems of young Black men are simple and relatively inexpensive, but they may not be easy, practical or popular. It is not that we lack solutions as much as it is that we lack the will to implement these solutions to save Black boys. It seems that government is willing to pay billions of dollars to lock up young Black men, rather than the millions it would take to prepare them to become viable contributors and valued members of our society.

Please consider these simple goals that can lead to solutions for fixing the problems of young Black men:

Short term

1. Teach all Black boys to read at grade level by the third grade and to embrace education
2. Provide positive role models for Black boys
3. Create a stable home environment for Black boys that includes contact with their fathers
4. Ensure that Black boys have a strong spiritual base
5. Control the negative media influences on Black boys
6. Teach Black boys to respect all girls and women

Long term

1. Invest as much money in educating Black boys as in locking up Black men
2. Help connect Black boys to a positive vision of themselves in the future
3. Create high expectations and help Black boys live into those high expectations
4. Build a positive peer culture for Black boys
5. Teach Black boys self-discipline, culture and history
6. Teach Black boys and the communities in which they live to embrace education and life-long learning

More Facts

- 3 7.7% of Black men in the United States are not working. 47.0% of Black men in Illinois are not working. (2006 Joint Economic Committee Study chaired by Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY))

- 5 8% of Black boys in the United States do not graduate from high school. 65% of Black boys in Chicago do not graduate from high school. (2006 Report from the Schott Foundation for Public Education)

- Almost 70% of Black children are born into female, single parent households (2000 Census Report)

- About 1 million Black men in the United States are in prison (U.S. Justice Department)

By: Phillip Jackson

THE BEST GOLDEN GLOBES MONEY CAN BUY

It’s confirmed; I have skipped over my parents and become my Grandmother. I am so set in my ways that I look for the sadness and misery in others for my amusement, and watching the 2008 Golden Globes did not disappoint.

I had to keep checking my cable remote to make sure I wasn’t watching CNN or FOX because for a minute, I thought I was watching a caucus. The reporter faces had this BLANK, “I don’t know what to do next” look just like the political reporters that lost script trying to comment on the election of the REAL.

I know I like to look at most things as they really are and without the fluff but living in a world where fantasy and escapism is the norm, I LOVED THE GOLDEN GLOBES just as they were because it was carried out like it was suppose to, like an awards ceremony while them stank ass Mofo’s had to do their drinking, drugging and daily insanity at home. So while the people who make their money promoting THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE stood there as if they were all Anchoring Reporters demoted to covering the epidemic of "dog shyt" on public streets, we all witnessed what I can only describe as a does of UNION POWER. America was sent to its room without supper for "Watching too much and Thinking too little; for YEARS."

I mean DAYUM, no parties no expensive cars, no advertisers, no free gift bags, no free flowing of alcohol, no movie hair, borrowed BLOOD DIAMONDS and them dresses and tuxedoes. Flippin the channel back and forth I couldn’t help remember that famous line from Sparkle: “They don’t need them dresses, they don’t need them make-ups, those girls can SANG !!!” Even better, I don't have to watch hour upon hour of Morning and Talk Show News about who had the best speech, who was funny and who had attitude for not winning nor do I have to deal with the Best and Worst Dressed breakdowns and the WHERE YOU CAN BUY A KNOCK OFF DRESS FROM.

See, GOD does bless you when you ask for it sometimes.

I trumpeted as my New Years' mantra, CLEAN SLATE FOR 2008 so that the issues of the past don't converge into my present. This here idiot box is taking a serious beating so far but I think its calling on my mantra more than I. The professional athletes are being busted for performance enhancement drugs left and right and now have to play at NORMAL levels, you have qualified politicians talking about real issues in politics and they look like REAL PEOPLE WITH REAL ISSUES as well, the States are now starting to seriously look at banning the Death Penalty, the Writer’s Strike is making Hollywood recognize that you can’t do shyt unless they write shyt, Broadway got shut down as well and caved to giving up them dollars, Corporate America out sourced jobs are getting snagged with compliance issues; issues that are poisoning and killing peoples as well as costing them more outside the country then if they had kept them in the States to begin with, the media can’t guess and BS anymore because they are blatantly getting it wrong, and those people with no Talent (Superhead, Wendy Williams and I Love New York) and the music industry are being called on their ineptitude and shallowness.

The last time we saw an awards ceremony like this, I think Gone With The Wind was the HOTNESS. People didn’t have TV like that and media had to broadcast most of it on radio. All I kept hearing from the Hollywood reporters were, ‘Oh it was so boring, Oh how I miss the RED CARPET, WOW those Striking Writers might be coming back, I hope they do by the Oscars, Oh how television lost so much money", but all I kept seeing was the reality that over the course of seven years, these award shows went on as if nothing was happening in the world, like Iraq, Katrina, Unemployment, Jena 6, children kidnapped, people loosing homes, over populated prisons, increase trafficking in guns and drugs, people held as sex slaves, illegal immigation, national infristructure issues, fires and tornadoes wiping out whole towns and I can go on. Yes I know this is a time when people can reward those talents for their work in fantasy (I am an actor and writer myself and I do like to be acknowledged for it from time to time) BUT this was the best thing that ever happened to TELEVISION and AMERICAN media; the Writer’s Strike.

If this had happened just before the Invasion of Iraq, we might have paid more attention to what was happening to our government and economy and stopped it.

BAD ASS KIDS

I love kids. I do. Really I do so I get offended when people assume that I have it in for little children. Hell, I am a kid at heart. It takes very little effort for me to spoil a child and get down on the floor and play with the same toys, games and color in the books. I like to engage children to see where their minds go, how they work and determine if they have the insight for great things or do I label them "special" and give them the "tard" card. Its that teacher aspect in me to challenge the mind and spirit of all the people I become engaged with. Often adults (mostly parents) complain that I am a spoiler of children. Spoiling in a sense that I would take whatever troubles or stress a child have and let them forget them for a moment. Tell a child they can't have candy and guess what, there is candy in the kids pocket. Can't have the Playstation? Guess who has Playstation for their birthday? I can honestly say that in my youth, I have had some very happy moments and I hold on to them like Angles hold the word of God. With uncles and older cousins, neighbors and grandparents that saw that as a child, I listened to my family, did my house work, did well in school and overall respected my place as a child, my reward to outsiders may have been seen as spoils, but I saw them as rewards for being a decent child.

My child raising philosophy is pretty basic, "Protection and Honesty" with children is what holds children in the esteem of adults and in return we hold "Structure and Discipline" for them as a foundation for proper living. It’s in degrees that we exercise structure and discipline that we struggle with as a society. Its in that old adage of "Spare the rod spoil the child" debate is where we divide as a nation culturally. I am a "rod" person believe it or not. So where am I going with this you ask? The following events all happened within a three-day period so bare with me as I vent a little.

Day 1

Long day and my energy level wasn’t at the highest and I know I needed to be indoors as soon as possible. I watched the kids running up and down the street with their costumes on going door-to-door looking for candy and treats. Trick or Treat ringing in the air all in unison. All this activity reminding me of my youth when I knew my bag of treats will be the death of the thousands of dollars in dental work my parents put into my month but it was the one day I knew I could get high on sugar and have my parents wish they could commit me to a psyche ward for overt hyper-activity.

So I’m walking home knowing my day will soon be done so I can lock myself behind the door of my personal sanctuary when all of a sudden, POW. Right in the jaw I get hit with something hard. So hard, I grab my mouth to see if blood was drawn. As the shock of the impact begins to wear off and the pain begins, I turn to see a kid try and hide behind a tree. The kid must have been about 11 or 12. I didn’t care if he was 1 or 91 because I immediately went into a red zone. As I begin to commit a major crime, a group of kids cut me off and begged me to listen to them telling me, “It wasn’t him, it wasn’t him!”

Clearly the hiding kid, who I KNEW, hit me with a rock was the person. I still marched toward the kid knowing that I was going to beat them like Sofia beat up on Harpo in The Color Purple. When I get half way to the kid who now sees that I was an adult (better yet one of those crazy adults that have no problem going to jail for murder) he begins pleading to me that it was someone from some phantom building behind him that was throwing rocks – mind you I’m getting more piss’ed because he thinks I’m stupid now. Just as I begin the action to choking the boy my Guardian Angle snapped me out of my rage and tells me, “BABY, TODAY IS HALLOWEEN, A DAY WHICH CELEBRATES DEMONS AND DEMON LIKE BEHAVIOR. GO HOME AND GET YOUR MIND RIGHT."

So I paused, took a deep breath, looked at the boy (who was clearly in a panic) and his future Junior Mafia rug rats, and I let it go and left for home. I took a long hot shower as soon as I got in, ate a light meal and chilled in peace watching a slasher movie to release from that moment.

Day 2


There is this family that live above me. Mind you, I don’t like stereotyping people but they are from somewhere south of the boarder. Now the wife just had a baby, which by no account is a crime. The thing is, she has four kids all of which are a year apart. There is the husband who I know for fact is working two jobs, and the grandfather, old as dust. So the total number of people in their apartment is seven. Mind your, it a studio apartment that would be crowded if you only had two people living there. Since they moved in, I have had many discussions about noise and each time they shake their heads and agree to work on the problem until they close the door.

Now you recall me saying how much I like kids? Well these kids I don’t like. Not because they are kids but because their parents allows them to do whatever they want and do not listen. For a group of children less than 90 pounds combined, they move like 300-pound linebackers. These kids run, jump, drop spin, roll furniture, march, stomp, skip flip from 8 AM until 11 PM just before the father comes home.

So on this particular day these kid, possibly after O.D.’ing on candy, were Off-the-Chain. I must have knocked on the door at least 5 times asking the mother if you could control her kids. Her responses in broken English, “I try but they are hard to listen.” By my third visit I asked, “Do you want me to help you? Because I have a very good method that you can apply.” She said No.
By 8 PM, I was kicking her door. When she opened it I wanted to talk to her husband. YES I demanded to man of the house. Then Girl tried to jump bad at me saying she is sick and tired of me knocking on her door about her kids. Mind you, her kids are running around in the background writing on the walls, butt naked with food all over their face and dirty hands and feet. So then I told her she need to reign in them BAD ASS KIDS or begin looking for a new place to live because as of today, I am involving management. Then she played the, “I don’t speak English card”. And to her my response was, “But you do speak Immigration? Have your husband come see me if you have an issue with my knocking on your door.”

Now I know that was bad. I know I need to ask for forgiveness. BUT since then, it’s been quite and now I can sleep and enjoy my peace of mind.

Day 3

Had to go to the doctor. My annual check up. Again, not in the best of moods but it was going better than I had expected. So I’m in the waiting and looking to have a seat when the nurse tells me to have a seat near the door. As I get the seat, this little African kid about 4 years old decides to jump up on the chair. Not sitting but literally standing in the chair. So in my sweet voice I ask the kid, “Can I sit there please?” the kid looks at me and says, “No”.

OK. I look at the kid and then I look at the person next to the kid thinking that maybe she was his mother. Since she didn’t react I really didn’t know what to think, so I asked the kid a second time with a more firm tone of voice, “Can you get down so I can sit young man?” to which he said, “No”. And he stood there in the chair will an attitude as if he had marked the territory for ownership by peeing on the property.

“Boy if you don’t get off that damn chair I will beat your ass until you pass out! Now move before I snatch you up out the way!” I yelled at him. The kid didn’t expect that and in a moment of shock, he got down and stood across from me as I sat down in the chair. Now I can tell this was something new and unexpected but personally, I didn't care. The waiting room was quite as they all looked at me. I looked around at the others in the room and noticed that as the faces looked back toward mine, they all had a look of simple satisfaction. It then occurred to me that this kid had terrorizing everyone in the waiting room prior to my arrival but there was a fear to actively do something. I also noticed I was the only adult male in the room as well.

So I sit in the seat and begin to read a magazine when I feel this wind rush pass my face. I look up from my reading material and see this little kid swinging his fist inches in front of my face. At this moment I channeled my mother.

Now let me break from script down a little. When I was younger, my mother had a low tolerance with BAD ASS KIDS and did not have an issue with beating other peoples’ children. If the child crossed the line with profanity, vandalism, disrespect to elders, or just stepping outside a child’s place, you got beat. And if the mother had and issue, too often my mother and the other parent had at it as well. Momma didn't play. In this case, this Little Ashy Bea Bea Bush Baby from Darfur allowed my mother’s spirit to flow freely into my veins.

“Who’s kid this belongs to?” I bellowed, as I grabbed the kid by the collar. The boy’s eyes were as wide as saucers. The woman sitting next to me then grabs me and tells me that the mother is outside in the hall; and she’d go get her. She takes the little boy and sits him in a chair across from me and proceeds to get the mother. While gone, the child then begins a staring match. I was giving this kid that silent look that spoke volumes and all I thought about was seriously knowing who his father was so I could whop on his ass for busting his nut to bring this creature into existence.

The mother arrives with a dismissive attitude asking what was the problem and what did my child do to you? For which I replied back that her child had crossed a serious line with adults and you really need to address this before something happens beyond your control.

“Well did my child hit you?” she said.

“It don’t mater if he did or not, your child should know better than to raise his hand at an adult and how to behave in pubic with you here or not, especially when he thinks he can swing his fist at an adult and think there would be no consequences.” I said.

Not only was I surprised but also every adult in the waiting room when the mother’s response was, “I don’t see what the drama is all about, he’s just a baby.” She then proceeded to pack her things and left with her child.

Once she left the waiting room, the woman then got the mother from the next room (the same woman that I had initially asked if she was the kid's mother and ignored me) tells me she is a Corrections Officer for Rykers Prison and got involved because she know that if I had hit that child, she would have been forces to arrest me and she didn’t want to see that happen. (I laughed at her logic). She then continued, “Don’t worry, I’ll see him behind bars in about 8 years. Its his destiny with a mother like that.”

Black Wealth

It's waking up in the morning.
Again.
Having heat unexpectedly
on the coldest day in winter.
Washing in the sink
and not seeing roaches
falling from the ceiling
or from the walls.
Having more than just one bowl of cereal,
with fresh, unshared milk,
and then going to school
with a piece of new clothing
harvested just at the peak of Lay-A-Way season
and not belong to someone else.

It's to be able to know your father's name
or even a face,
To receive a government check
barely enough to cover the rent
in a multi-leveled
multi-family
tenement.
It's to live somewhat safe
with four or more locks on a door
made of metal and hollowed steel.

It's sharing a single bed
with only one cousin, one brother, and a sister,
and having drive by bullets miss you.
While you sleep.
Again.
It's being home alone,
unlike a movie,
when your mother works the triple shift
at the factory, and the bar, and the hospital
cleaning toilets and bed pans.
Scrubbing like her mother, and her mother before her.

It's having the telephone work
just enough to pretend no one is home.
Or it's to eat all of your meals in the kitchen
which is the living room
and the guest room,
and the bed room,
and the recreation center
for everyone's child that stops by
for a piece of family.

It's having Christmas
where Santa is charity
and birthday gifts, sacrifices.
Road trips to the corner store
for penny candy and frozen koolaide
while watching live entertainment
where bad guys are Black
and the good guys are in uniform
-- according to TV.

It's strolling with strollers
and hearing a choir of crying babies
sucking on bottles of Simulac
and wearing half taped Pampers
sagging from neglect.
Being able to say No
when rocks are thrown your way
or being able to walk away from a fight
and not lose your breath
and your heart.
It's rapping your way to popularity
snappin' your friends' mothers
and being good
started all because
you're bored.
It's helping an old lady up from her knees,
knocked over
for her purse,
with nothing in it.
The same old lady who knows and loves us all
because that is all she now has.
Only the love.

It's watching suited men
on corners
bald and loud
singing praises to Allah
or selling newspapers of unity speaks,
bean pies and carrot cake, and bow ties
preparing me for the war.
Those same corners where the night time car riders go.
It's having a friend stop by
to visit.
Again.
Staying all because no one is at his home
and he has no other place to go,
to eat,
to sleep,
to dream.

It's having a mother come home
too tired to ask
"how you survived?"
Again.
It's the cashing in the day's worth,
the both of you,
and having enough spare change for
another day.
It's the love that is the worth.
A wealth that comes from
love.


Black Wealth by Shazza Nakim
Copyright © by Peace of Mind Publishings and with permission by Shazza Nakim