TRUTH TO THE BLACK INCLUSION OF POWER

What is currently in places is only maintaining the order for the Established/Congress in status quo/quid pro quo politics. The thing with all of this FEAR is that the wealthier you are, the less it concerns you and Americans exist in a "better off than you" state of mind.

I just got off the phone from an interview about vaccinations in Africa. I basically stated that its not vaccines that are the problem but what vaccines are being administered? What is on that list being sent to Africa and why? And are any of them banned from the US and Europe but aren't in places like Africa? Who signs off on them being administered in Africa? The Side-Effects and overall profits made from a bad drug used on poor and African peoples? The system will continue there and here and unless Black and Brown people are made priority (which they won't) everything you are FEARFUL of won't make the positions of Black and Brown people more equal, just more accessible for those with wealth and influence if you play the Game.

Gains in the system are only based upon what is done on a grassroots level. The Bernie of Bust people who sacrifice to to both challenge and even attack the system. All of those positions you suggested are and will be filled with ESTABLISHMENT people whom trade positions like playing cards. You might get one or two that are legitimate but overall, its about maintaining Power and Influence. Deep down you know this but you HOPE that it will change.

Just as a matter of Political Fact and History, over the past 20 years, every issue that Americans (Black Americans) were fearful of and voted for their Politicians to end .... actually became reality. This is true for both Republicans and Democrats. No one Party separately or collectively has created a solution. This election will ultimately be more of the same with Black People having even less direct influence on the system .... UNLESS .... you are down with it.

TRIALS OF THE INTELLECTUAL ORGAN

As much as I try, my whole day had been completely thrown off. Those that know me, have known me as a child, to teenager, young adult, mature adult and now emerging into my years as an Elder know .... the one thing you do not do is attack or compromise my Intellect or my Character. I can allow for other affronts but those two things, I have zero tolerance for. I have walked away from "once in a lifetime" opportunities just because the INTEGRITY of my Character would have been in question and my parents have in "life" and in their "death" have made sure that this be my place in the Universe. Character and Integrity. Anyone that has followed me just on Social Media alone knows that my very purpose on it is to promote Character, Integrity, Responsibility and Accountability. And although others may not agree with me, I allow for myself to let people speak and be who they are.

My character was molded to be "unmovable" and "unshakable". You know where I stand and I stand with honor and dignity. When I talk about it, my passion can overcome my emotional state, which is why I don't do it Publicly or you'll see me become a blubbering idiot. You'll know that from my presence I will do the RIGHT thing, no compromise. This you would know and do know if you know me; be it friend, enemy or associate. That being said .... I was accused of Theft and Plagiarism and obviously from someone that "thought" they knew me. This person actually called me on the phone and accused me that my own crafted words, thoughts, philosophy and writings were stolen and manufactured by someone else. That all my nearly 40 years of personal, academic, professional and living philosophy to an area of expertise and my Career was lifted as if all that I am was sub par, low and needing of their words. That my personal skills as an intellectual and creative writer needed "borrowing". That in my HALF CENTURY PLUS years of existence on this Planet, one which I have circumvented in the pursuit of knowledge, needed hacking from someone else. I was accused of quoting and referencing myself as "stealing" and "copping" of another person .... which was them. CLEARLY ... this person does and did not know me, my background, my character, my integrity or the influence my presence have played in the World and the people that live on it. And yet, hours later, I still can't shake the negative energy that has come from the event.

I called my Mentor ... a person far wiser and experienced with life than I. He listened to my words and my anxiety over this and after about an hour of complete silence and patience and responded, "Do you need this person's approval or acknowledgement to be an intellectual or to continue to grow and expand your talents?" I said, "No." And my Mentor simply said, "Then Fuck 'em. Let's move forward and continue to build and improve our community that needs you more and in your RIGHT MIND. This is and will be what you will be engaged with as you make your mark upon this Planet. What you do ripples out. Some waves come back strong, some weak and some not at all. You are too intelligent not to know this. Why? Because you are a solution".

THE PASSING OF MY MENTOR

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had the great honor to salute my mentor's time on this Earth and give condolences to the entire Payne Family for their loss. God give save passing to the soul of Donald Payne and thank you for all the work you had accomplished as a politician in Congress. 

 http://politic365.com/2012/03/06/kendrick-meek-reflects-on-passing-of-rep-donald-m-payne/

 

 

 

http://www.theroot.com/blogs/blogging-beltway/new-jersey-rep-donald-payne-has-died

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/06/donald-payne-dead-new-jersey-congressman-cancer_n_1323513.html

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.

I HAVE A NEW HERO

Every now-and-then I get excited when I see, hear or read about someone, just anyone that stands up and say, "I'm not taking your &$#@ anymore!" A person that gives it back righteously and no matter how big, how powerful or entitled their aggressor is, that one person casts a shadow over them and puts fear and shame to them. Do that, just once, and you are my HERO OF THE DAY.

Well today, Dylan Ratigan, you got your official hero gear, cape and all. You did what I want all other News casters to do on the hair. You weren't commercially interrupted, no one dared to challenge you, you got your point across and you didn't care. Even with the Peanut Gallery you sat across from. You even gave it to the watching audience and every political pundit and pseudo-analyst out there collecting a BS paycheck for pushing the same weak agenda day-after-day, week-after-week, year-after-year, decade for decade.  Dylan didn't give the choice of a "blue pill or red pill", he straight up just said, "Open up and take it!" He didn't want to hear a comment back once he said what he did. He didn't want applauds or adulation and you didn't dare. It was the tongue thrashing one would get for braking the lamp in the living room after being told "no ball playing in the house". To even try to defend yourself would have been suicide. Even more so, you'd come off the idiot because you wouldn't know where to start with justifying MADNESS. Simply said, you had no choice but to say, "You are right Dylan." The facts were on the table, in your face, names were named and dates drawn on calendars. Clearly Dylan said, "You are busted and it's broadcasted live, now come for me."

Of course MSNBC will have some kind of follow up for stepping "OUT OF LINE". From the top brass, there will be some lecture or proposal for a time-out session and the executive corner. Maybe a warning for his OVERTLY PASSIONATE or ALMOST OVERTLY AGGRESSIVE manner. Maybe make note how the people working in the background couldn't do their work (a matter which is somewhat dumb because the idea of doing a live show in an open office setting is bizarre and trifle) or even better, "Dylan, you intimated the two female pundits and that constituted sexual harassment."  You know something is going to jump off. You just can't expose the under belly of the dragon showing its weak spot; that missing scale which exposes its heart. But regardless of the end results, Dylan put it out there and it was GOOD!!

You are my hero and I don't have a problem with how much damage you needed to do to get the job done because damage is what this system needs. Its not functional and you told us the who, whats, when, where and hows about the villains and masterminds behind the plan to take over the World. Now all we need is a Justice League or at least The Avengers once its all said to be done.

THERE GOES THAT CHURCH AGAIN

You know, I am hard on comedians that cross the line. Since the question is always, “Who determines the line and where is it placed for crossing?” is as much a matter of personal opinion as beauty is for a Mother pretending her ugly baby is cute. Now that was supposed to be funny but for those Mothers out there with ugly babies, its personal and I am sorry.


You see, for saying something like that, and “Me” not being a comedian, I’d have to apologize for offending people with slighted feelings. As much as some people would think that was funny (and some of you are still laughing) it isn’t right to place judgment on people. Call it Karma, call it respect, call it the uniqueness and variety that make up Humanity, you often get back whatever energy that you put out in the Universe although I have yet to see many comedians get back in “spades” what they put out there for laughter – unless you are Flava Flav. Again, that was a joke.

So what’s the big deal about what is funny? Some would say to do that you need to have a license to be funny, a track record for knowing when and what to say or "timing", a PhD in the area of the Punch line, a working knowledge in being quick on your feet. Like the thousands of people who audition for American Idol each year, we get to look at them all and shake our heads and say, “Oh no she didn’t just sing that? Why?”

We get hit hard with the “Slippage of the Lippage” (I just made that up so you all better pay me if you try to use is as a new catch phrase like Billery or Bradjolina) and when Non-Comedians try to be funny (i.e. politicians or your drunk Uncle Tommy) the results can be often damaging. We all remember the "Macaca" scandal by ex-Senator George Allen of Virginia and his bid to be “funny”. His attempt cost him his seat in Washington DC and opened the door for a relatively unknown competitor to waltz into a relatively easy win.

Even comedians can “cross the line” of Political Correctness. Cross it so far that even fellow comedians can distance himself or herself in a “HOT OBAMA REV. WRIGHT MINUTE” (again another joke). Last I heard, Michael Richard, the fallen from grace comedian famous for his role as “Cosmo Kramer” on Seinfeld, is now sitting on top of mountains calling on his Higher Power to get his “chi” back because somewhere between being funny and calling a room full of Black folk the “N-word”, he lost his MIND. And let us not forget the “Nappy-Headed Hos" and "Jiggaboo” comments from Don Imus. Although this was washed over the media as the sensation for the moment, the hurt still lingers in the halls of funny enough to see that the numbers of those that aren’t laughing are more than those laughing. In a Blog posting entitled “Punk Ass Damon Wayans”, I talked about how in his bid to be funny on the couch of The View, Damon Wayans evoked the Nappy Headed Hos comment and tried to justify its validity as a piece of Creative Comedy on a Daytime Talk Show created by a Woman, for Women and hosted by Women. With the couch shared by three other Comedians, his ability to escape intact was a miracle at best, BUT what was most important was that in his comments, there was no TRUTH to his justification. His time spent on the couch only came off as a desperate need to make a few dozen people begin a chain of uncomfortable giggles thus giving room and validation for others to follow in concert.

“It has been historically noted that the Fool, the Trickster, the Jester and other similar characters were always walking the line of social and political correctness. Even today we honor the kid that can make us laugh as the Class Clown. And that’s who comedians are, Clowns; people who wear masks to hide the truthfulness of both their humanity and ours. And in our laughter he subconsciously laughs at our strengths and weakness, the beauty and our ugliness. BUT you have to be funny with an underlying message to elevate society because that is ‘ART’.” – The Poet: Shazza Blog (November 23, 2007)

We now go back to the “Whats” of funny/satire vs. offensive/politically incorrect in society. It is safe to say that America, as a culture, allows comedy to dance on the line of acceptability and once you begin peeling back a few layers, deep within the cultures, funny is considered a “Blank Thang” with each ethnic group filling in the “blank”.

The cable channel Comedy Central has an array of ethnically diverse comedians that universally are accepted by everyone. You rarely, if ever, hear people say they do not like a comedian because they are a particular "Race" but more so because they are either Funny or Not. I would almost place bets that Comedy Central is the MOST ETHNICALLY DIVERSE NETWORK CHANNEL in existence for its purpose. You have Black, White, Asian, Latino, Native American, Old, Young, Men, Women, Blind, Handicap, Gay, Lesbian, Straight, Overweight, Overly Thin, The Beautiful, The Visually Challenged, Arab, German, Jew, Muslim, Atheist, The Political, The Anarchist, Red Necks, Rated G to Rated PG R and all making fun of you and all the socio-political groups that exist. Actually it is prerequisite to make fun of yourself before others. It’s in the "Official Rule Book of Comedians"; “Thou Shall Make Fun of No Man or Woman Before Not Making Fun of Thine Self.” So when you have a comedian come on stage ranting about others without first talking about themselves, we get a since of uneasiness and eventually reserve our laughter for someone a little more talented since this BUSTER is a HATER. And even with bad comics, there is always that “Shield of Anonymity” that protects the comedian from being called a Terrorist, Anarchist, Ex-Patriot, Racist, Sexist or any host of Anti-American sentiments.

“You see when you consider yourself an “Artist” you create for yourself a ‘Shield of Anonymity’. You pull this infamous philosophy provided by the Constitution and its FREEDOM OF SPEECH. Sadly to say, the Racist of our nation do it equivalently and or in worst degrees practicing the same rhetoric.” – The Poet: Shazza Blog (November 23, 2007)

So here we are again with Rev. Jeremiah Wright back in the spotlightt although not as front and center as we’d like. This time, the Man with the satire in question is another GUEST speaker of Trinity United Church of Christ, Father Michael Pfleger. Now I will be honest, I don’t know a thing about the man so I can’t promote myself to a place high enough to throw stones BUT I will say this much, from what I know and saw (in the sound bytes flooding the media like a monsoon in the Pacific Ocean) HE IS FUNNY. He’s funny because it’s a BLACK THANG and I wouldn’t expect Non-Black Folks (maybe some Brown Folk) to get it.

“I won't lie, I watched the Father Pfleger and found it funny, almost MAD TV/In Livin' Color funny but I will also be honest and say what Rev. Michael Pfleger preached (is) what and how BLACK FOLK think and talk behind closed doors everyday about this election so for Black people to be up in arms and pointing fingers at the MEDIA, we all need to OWN UP and Keep It Real. The way Black folk talked, voted, turned on Black politicians, Super Delegates, Tavis Smiley, Julian Bond and many others we need to watch out for all those stones we are dropping in the Glass House.” – The Poet: Shazza on Jack and Jill Politics (The Obamas Leave Trinity)

The reality of those not culturally connected to the stage in which Father Michael Pfleger spoke on would easily sit “stone faced” and “pruned” over the comments while Black folk laughed, bounce and cried tears of uncontrolled laughter on par with a SANDMAN SHUFFLE off the stages of the Apollo Theater. Most of America isn’t remotely knowledgeable of the going ons of what takes place within a Black Church and will not get the Theatric component. "Fair or Fierce", Black Churches sway, swoon, dance, cry, become inspired, laugh and yes, have opinions about Politics and Politicians. STRONG opinions. Black Churches can be ruthless in its HONESTY because it is the only place where Truth (regardless of one’s spiritual perspective) can be spoken without condemnation. The Church can allow for personal emotions as well as opinions to wear on one's sleeve for an entire community to share. Or so we (Obama) thought. Knowing all of this, we still have to ask the question, why was Father Pfleger funny?

If all the World’s a stage, then for Black folk that stage represents the Church; which for its people is the center of the Universe. What happens in the World and beyond is explained clearly and colorfully every Sunday on this stage. So why was Father Pfleger funny? Because on the Black Church stage, he had a license to BE funny. It is part of the formula which Black folk have embraced. For Black folk, it is human to laugh just as much as it is to sing and dance and cry and love and the whole range of human experiences held together with prayer. Some may find it difficult and even a bit alien to be part of a church that does not sit quietly and reflect but Black folk are active participants during Sunday services. Outsiders may think that Father Pfleger was pandering to the members of Trinity BUT he actually part of the norm of its expectations. As this Nation changes (really as it begins to open a book and or get over its “fear” of avoiding dialogue with people different from his or herself) you will find that the Black Church is traditionally NOT A QUIET PLACE or a place to wear masks.

I have watched as Jay Leno, David Letterman, The Daily Show, Dennis Miller, The Colbert Show, Jimmy Kimmel and others have begun their shows, dedicated whole monologues to ridicule Politicians more so Bill and Hillary Clinton for more than 20 years. Some have “crossed the line” of good taste and other jokes that are timelessly hilarious. The difference is that as a Religious figure, you are not suppose to be licensed to be funny, at NO ONE TIME EVER. Even if within the comedy, there is truth, it is taboo to place it, state it, do it from the pulpit. Not for the Black Church. Here, you use whatever tools needed to get the message of Truth out. If laughter bring you close to your truth, than so be it, you use it like a tool for building the gateway to the Lord. To ignore a sense of humor is a bold example for ignoring the grand design of human expression because even GOD has a sense of humor.

Am I saying what Father Michael Pfleger said was right? Well being me, and my political and social views on People of Color in America, I plead the FIFTH, but for being funny I would have been in the mix of laughing patrons. NOW if he was in any other church, speaking before a college graduation or at a Political rally my option would change but in the Black Church … I’m not so offended. I actually would like to have had an encore performance though, possibly with John McCain, George Bush, Condoleezza Rice or anyone with embedded rhetoric needing to get “Churched” on Sunday.

RWANDAN TEARS

In a sea of faces
the untrained eye would blur
but in war torn Rwanda it’s a fight of the races.
Staring at thousands of pictures like a voyeur
it’s all that life has to offer
when looking through the unknowns in a parental posture.

Babies, just babies they are
ripped away and separated by bloodshed and fire.
From hills and arid lands near and far
Some held behind camp fences made from barbed wire
and still others
recruited by force to become mercenaries for heir.

Mothers plead and cry
in African chants and maternal care
praying to the Creator for theirs not to die
or not to be one of the many in the cold lonely air
where the wild had feast
and their small remains baking in a violent sun's glare.

Aunts and uncles share in the pursuit
as well as in the lost.
Generations corrupted by the future commute
across a nation at both spiritual and personal cost.
A task that will be done
in order to find their loved ones before a Death's chilling frost.

"No war in Africa was started by an African".


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

THE WILLIAMS EFFECTS

Over the past few days I watched the longest playing political sitcom nearing the end of its second season. Why do I say this? Well May and June is when all the other Television Shows end their seasons and the way the Democrats are playing out their scripts, the Season Finale should end pretty much around the same time LOST leaves the American people in the same state. Some time around September or October when the NEW SEASON re-airs, the Cliffhanger that is “WHO WILL BE THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE will be the new storyline that the American people will follow, with new characters (since Romney, Guliani, Bill Clinton, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Anne Colter and if we are lucky Rush Limbaugh will be written out like poorly written Soap Opera sub-plots) and NEW players will surface to bring about new Dramas and Laughs to boost the ratings. So until then we will watch a Summer of Sports and that sport of choice for me will be TENNIS.

As a youth, my parents encouraged me to participate in sports. I played some of every MASCULINE DRIVEN sports; Football, Basketball, Baseball, Wrestling, Volleyball, Swimming, Track and Field and for a short time Tennis. Tennis didn’t stick but for that short period of time, I learned one thing, I didn’t like playing the sport but loved watching it. Years later I chose the sport I liked most and excelled at it well into and after my college years. As the years continued, I learned by working in youth sports, to enjoy watching kids try and find themselves through their experiences in sports. In the 1990’s I had a few youth players enter into an Annual Summer Youth competition where our elite Tennis players were up against a group of players from California. I was to soon learn that our BEST PLAYERS got WALKED ALL UP THEIR BACKS AND NECKS WITH COMPTON HEELS by two little girls with the last name’s of WILLIAMS. That was the first time I witnessed the talents of Serena and Venus Williams.

The best part about my time working with youth and sports is that many on the Premium Players then that survived their Inner City circumstances, are now some of the most visible leaders in their field and seeing the Williams Sisters grow into World Recognizable Status makes a person proud.

So when Venus came of age, the Tennis World couldn’t wait. Being unorthodox in her training and experience she started out shaky and so did her Critics. There wasn’t a kind word at all about her abilities. The comments that came with Venus Williams’ arrival to the Sport of tennis were Racist (especially since the Tennis Association WAS and elitist Sport to begin with). I followed the media; I collected and taped everything Venus Williams. I even had a storage boxes and file cabinets of articles, newspapers and magazines of everything written which in the late 90’s was pretty much all anti-WILLIAMS which detailed her inability to WIN the big ones. Then Serena came along and that only heightened the negative press. For a time I followed USA Today’s forum on Women’s Tennis and in my experience, the International Community had nothing but NEGATIVE comments as well. I mean they were NASTY. For every one posting, there were 25 NASTY comments with only HIGH PRAISE for people like Lindsay Davenport, Martina Hingis, Jennifer Capriati and Anna Kournikova. To the World and America, those Women were the darlings and future of TENNIS. To their surprise and America’s, THE WILLIAMS in a short period of time crushed and forced that same NEGATIVE World to Recognize that they were in Tennis to win it, and Venus and Serena Williams WON IT ALL for several years straight.

So once the two sisters got into their stride, there was A CHANGE in the whole game of tennis. People began to notice the SPORT. Sponsors wanted to be apart of the game, fashion, soft drink companies, cosmetics, McDonalds and Hollywood. Then there were the MILLIONS of dollars that came rushing in like the rains of NOAH. The Tennis Association embraced these "two little ashy kneed, Ghetto playing, Compton plastic bead wearing, Amazon darlings of the TENNIS WORLD". The Naysayers had to eat crow and apologized or grudgingly learned to accept the fact that DIFFERENT wasn’t DEFICIENT and these girls were SERIOUS and could PLAY. There style of play so GREAT that it lifted the level of PLAY across the board on both the Women’s and the Men’s side of the game. This all may be HISTORY to some but it isn’t where I want to go with this story, what I want to do is concentrate on the RELATIONSHIP of the Sisters themselves.

By 1999 America now had two viable Champions that they could stand behind to represent the very best that a country had to offer, “even if they were BLACK”. Their consistency took the country into a ZONE that it could not wake up from. No matter what you though about the Sisters, the FATHER or the family background, Tennis, America, Whites and Blacks knew they had champions, even when they HAD to play each other. And there developed a slight problem. The Sisters were so GOOD that the only people capable of beating them were themselves. As such, AMERICA and the TENNIS WORLD had to decide whom they liked BEST.

SOUNDS FAMILIAR??

Last Tuesday I wanted to make this my Blog topic of the day but my act of Civil Disobedience delayed it. The Political Battles of Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama continued with a 1 to 1 win, Hillary winning Indiana and Obama taking North Carolina. Surprise or no surprise, each won the states they were suppose to win. As they say, a win is a win. Much like tennis, if you take the way the Williams Sisters play, you know from the beginning, they were going to MOP the floor with the chicks on the field and then up the playing once they got to the higher tier players. We knew that once the higher tier players were put away, in the finals you had Venus on one side and Serena on the other. Once that happened AMERICA HAD TO DECIDE. It wasn’t as simple as, “Oh I am just happy that they both made it to the finals because they will both be winners.” NO DAMN IT! Someone has to win and someone had to loose.

The Williams came from the same PARTY, my bad, the same FAMILY. Both are strong players, same talents, same background, the same opportunities but once one looks deeper, there is that one thing that makes a person PULL for one sister over the other. For me, Venus is my choice. She was the first to emerge, the oldest, the more controlled, her goals were loftier, her talents mostly from hard work and dedication and not natural ability unlike Serena, who is a NATURAL TENNIS PLAYER and even by her family’s acknowledgement, is the BETTER PLAYER. You see, I am an Underdog lover and Venus Williams is the Underdog when comparing the two.

Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama, right now are a product of THE WILLIAMS EFFECT. The two are so evenly matched and loved that now the two are meeting at Center Court for the Finals of the GRAND SLAM and America is forced to take a side. Even though in the end, the PEOPLE will be satisfied with the Winner, both will benefit in the end. You might ask how? Lets take a look at political benefits of these two if either accepts the Second Place trophy.

Hillary Clinton is the consummate politician. There is no one on the Political landscape, media, or grassroots can say that Hillary Clinton don't know Politics and the tools to become a good one. You don’t become a leading Presidential candidate on a whim nor do you become a person that is a catalyst in a Political movement that can and has ignited a Nation and a World to pay attention to every word and step you take unless you have the ability to command that attention and or respect. In a short time being active in politics and the history being politically behind and in the forefront as an established influence, as Senator of the United States she stands at the front of the Class as the WOMAN that holds more that 46% of the Democratic Party behind her as most favorite Politician. A Democratic Politician that has left a footprint in all 50 States; good or bad. A Democratic Politician that has played torchbearer in every other Senator’s and House Representative’s backyard. She has carved out a successful Physical presence as well as Political influence that can carry for several years and across several generations. So what if Senator Hillary Clinton looses the nomination for President, She goes back to Congress as the MOST INFLUENTIAL POLITICIAN on the Hill because she has done something that Ted Kennedy, John McCain, John Kerry, Joe Lieberman and a minor few has not been able to do, and that is to ignite the interest of Millions to Vote. Millions more than her counterparts were unable to do. Regardless of her “married name”, Hillary Clinton still had to do the work, and WORK she is and had done. Like a Williams Sister, they earned every POINT and not one was given freely.

In playing on the courts (still using the tennis references), Hillary Clinton knows the angles to play. She sees the lines, the weakness, the good calls and the potential bad calls, but like the WILLIAMS SISTERS, when in the beginning of their playing careers, the crowds were against them. Hillary’s level of Political play to NOT give in or give up, to come back from behind and to TALK THE TALK of the Working Poor and Blue Collar and the Small Towns will and have given her the Aces to play when reaching across the aisles and proposing Bills that benefit those 46% that backed her during her run for President. For some, that might sound like a REACHING PROBABILITY but it isn’t a stretch, especially since the new politics of today has re-written the book on what is Normal Politics.

Like THE WILLIAMS EFFECT, when each Sister Opens Up A Can of WHOMP-ASS on the field and end up playing each other in the finals of the Grand Slam, they sometimes clean-up playing in DOUBLES. When that happens, the Sisters take home the Jackpots of First and Second Prize and then the First Prize in the doubles. Separately the SISTERS improve their status and rankings as number 1 and number 2, their money and influence also rises, and depending on when they peak, the two can and DID capture GOLD METALS during Olympic Years. If Hillary is Venus Williams than Barak Obama is Serena with a No Holds Barred attitude and soon he will garner a SERENA SLAM and capture the love of those on the other side of the Sister Love. Do they collect the Singles or do they consider the Doubles as well? Either way, it is a WIN WIN situation because it’s THE WILLIAMS EFFECT.

Together the Sisters are in love with each other. Of course they have their moments (as all sisters do, and I know because I have four of them) but when it come down to WORK, they snap to it really quick. Hillary Clinton is playing her game until she looses and right now, she has not loss. Calling it, she is in the Third set, and in tiebreakers where SHE and Obama are going back and forth, point for point. Someone has to loose and someone has to win, and in the end, one of the Sisters will reach across the net, shake hands, hug, laugh and giggle and then divide the spoils between the two because in the end, the Prize stays within the family. What happens after the GRAND SLAM depends on the Sisters and there are more Slams, more Players to PUT IN THEIR PLACE, more Games and more challengers to watch out for. You see, sometimes going for the BIG PRIZE, you become limited in what you can really do unless you have backing. Considering the Second Prize can be either going back to the Senate with PREZ CRED or Vice President with Back Up Cred. And this is why I look at Obama because how he WINS will determine how he might loose.

In the Past, the media has always looked for a way to get in between the Williams Sister’s relationship. Even at their dominance in the sport, the players, the Tennis Association, the media has tried to create drama, animosity and psychological difference between the two but that BLOOD mixed with their SPIRIT was the shield that rejected all attempts. If anything, it brought them closer. Not a word or a motion, a gesture or a look gave any evidence that their LOVE for family was in doubt. THE WILLIAMS EFFECT not only demonstrate the proper way to handle the stress of being a leader, but it taught lesson of Grace and Dignity. Obama and Hillary in the end has shown this contrary to the MEDIA’S reporting otherwise.

For Obama loosing the nomination (which at this writing doesn’t seem to be the case), he sits upon the same perch that Hillary would sits upon if roles were reversed. His popularity far outweighs any of the most Senior of Statesmen on Capitol Hill. He also has a fair number of Delegates and Super Delegate behind him with over 53% of American Democrats tugging on his sweaty towel. That type of influence can garner a lot of favors and support. Think about this for a minute, Obama has an open invitation into a Youth Momovement that can guarantee a political base for the next 15 to 20 years. Like the Bill Clinton Generation of the early 1990’s, you can ride this wave just like that crowds at the US Open and Wimbledon throughout the stadium. All it takes is one person to move the crowd and everyone else follows smiling and laughing because they too were in the mix, moving the energy in the direction of the masses.

So, as a Senator, whenever Obama goes before the Congress, no matter what side of the aisle you are on, you have to acknowledge that he has the ability to swing supporters from any and all 50 States because like Hillary Clinton, he has played in all courts and surfaces as well due to his success. Both have changed the nature of the Game; the Political Game. Like THE WILLIAMS EFFECT, all the other players are either breaking or broke down due to the stress of playing a Williams Style Game (Jennifer Capriati, Martina Hingis, Monica Seles, Mary Pierce) or they had to step up their Game (Lindsay Davenport, Kim Clijsters, Amelie Mauresmo, Justine Henin-Hardenne, Maria Sharapova). To relate it to the Political field just substitute any of the prior names with people like Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, Joseph Biden, Chris Dodd, or a John Edwards. Not one of them could, did or will command the type of popularity that a Hillary Clinton or Barak Obama currently command or ever will. Much like THE WILLIAMS EFFECT, Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama have changed the toporgraphy of American Politics; the old tricks and assumptions no longer work. The CHANGE is so evident that even the REPUBLICANS has been effected in its methodology, message, and appeal within its own Party. The Clinton Campaign's initial messages and images that normally worked during National Elections had to be revisited and re-tooled for a newer strategies which had to appeal to "real people". It was because of this quick-to-change that Hillary Clinton was able to achieve a "stay in it to win it" posture. No different than the sport of tennis when a Champion starts out down to then battle back for the win (typical of a Williams sister). It was in her (Clinton) ability to do it quickly and decisively that separated from the rest of the field.

So here we are, at the Finals and the Serena vs. Venus/Hillary vs. Obama Grand Slam which is set for Prime Time, the first time ever. There are millions of viewers watching just to see what the excitement is all about. These two TITANS will be grunting and serving at speeds and power that will defy any one familiar or unfamiliar with the SPORT. If I recall correctly, the first time was a bit ANTI-CLIMATIC. Serena Won In Two Sets and for the Venus fans, we were disappointed. We wanted more and got less but even though she didn’t win over her Kid Sister something happened, WE GOT OVER IT because they were still CHAMPIONS and no one was even close to their CLASS OF SPORTSMANSHIP. America or at least the National Tennis Associations has to or had acknowledge that the Williams Sisters has changed the nature of the sport for a New Generation. Their presence had excited tennis and non-tennis players alike, more tennis clinics and instructors are finding work and purpose, tennis attendance has increased exponentially (US Open tickets jumped from an average of $30 to over $150 in a single year with the SISTERS in play, more Black and Brown folk took to the sport and over all the HATERS (John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert; the Tennis Pundits of the Sport) have all fallen in-line to go with the momentum of the PEOPLE and watch some good A$$ TENNIS .Same here. We are living in a world where we are experiencing some GOOD ASS POLITICS.

OBAMA'S BLACK FACE MOMENT

I am going to keep this entry short, and you all know I am not short for words about serious ISSUE to concern ME but this one I had just put out there for Blogger Opinion.

I was mid-way with a New Blog posting with my take on Rev. Jeremiah Wrights speech during the past weekend's NAACP affair and his Press Questioning and Answer Session when I saw on television the HOT OFF THE PRESS AND BREAKING NEWS that Barak Obama condemns his Pastor. He is quoted as suggesting that Rev. Wright’s “performance” was an OUTRAGE and his "comments were not only divisive and destructive”.

Was he talking about Rev. Jeremiah Wright or Flava Flav?

"I’m outraged by the comments that were made and saddened over the spectacle that we saw yesterday." I find these comments appalling. It contradicts everything that I’m about and who I am. They offend me, they rightly offend all Americans and they should be denounced. That’s what I am doing very clearly and unequivocally here today." – Barak Obama

I know we are talking about Obama's denouncing of his pastor as all Politics but in rejecting Rev. Wright, not only does he reject his own Spiritual Compass, but the Black Church, Black History and a larger body of Black folk and their connection to America through the Church and him.

“In the past, we were taught to see others who are different as somehow being deficient. Christians saw Jews as being deficient. Catholics saw Protestants as being deficient. Presbyterians saw Pentecostals as being deficient.

Folks who like to holler in worship saw folk who like to be quiet as deficient. And vice versa. Whites saw black as being deficient. It was none other than Rudyard Kipling who saw the "White Man's Burden" as a mandate to lift brown, black, yellow people up to the level of white people as if whites were the norm and black, brown and yellow people were abnormal subspecies on a lower level or deficient.” - Rev Jeremiah Wright

Barak Obama is an American so it's hard for me to accept and or see why he has to continue to prove to be American to everyone else when he only has to just BE. The one issue I have always had with those following Obama and love him as their candidate is that the see him as ALL THINGS TO ALL PEOPLE. The one thing about those that are ALL THINGS is that they often fail ALL THE TIME TO ALL PEOPLE. Obama is a MAN and like Men he is flawed which is why he has FAITH and in his FAITH, he worships DIFFERENTLY. And in the words of Rev. Wright, Different isn't Deficient.

I don't feel sorry for Barak Obama in regards to his rejection to Rev. Jeremiah Wright, I feel "sadden" for for HIM.

When you are diminished by YOUR Nation, pressured, manipulated away from your Spiritual Compass, that one person also being your "father figure", a Nation that has you denounce your Spiritual Leader, a leader that has connected you to your CHURCH and your Spiritual FAMILY and have you reject this before the WORLD, if you are willingly or even reluctantly, IN MY OPINION it shows a weakness in Character for one's FAITH. One should not have sympathy from AMERICA (the very Nation whom invented the concept of Freedom of Speech, Expression, and Religion) or Black Christians on this subject because both did not bother to question and allowed this treatment to fall upon a citizen, let alone Barak Obama. And to chock this up to those that are Christians and proudly speak within their “Faith” say, "He had to say this for "Political Reasons", speaks volumes to their hypocrisy comparing them to those who do not like the Clinton's and express that they "will do anything to win". This Black Face Moment now becomes Obama's “Anything To Win" moment”.

I can't see how a MAN, guided by his Faith can dismiss his beliefs for MAN'S LAW unless his Faith was a means to an Opportunity. For those that do not know, Trinity is a VERY powerful and influential CHURCH in Chicago and in the Midwest just as Ebenezer is in the South and Abyssinian is in the North. When you become a member of these Churches you are a standing member in a LONG STANDING HISTORY of Social, Political and Economic Change in America. To reject that, you do more than distancing, you begin to open eyes, ears and hearts to a HUGE SUPPORT NETWORK.

Rev. Wright stated that he is a Man of Faith and that his service is to that of GOD where as Obama is a Politician who must speak to the people and has to say whatever it takes to be a Politician.

I agree with Rev. Wright on this point, and thus Obama's dilemma for Being All Things To All People is careening into a Brick Wall. The thing about Being All Things to All People is that you eventual FAIL ALL PEOPLE IN ALL THINGS.

Obama should have stayed on message. HE HAD ADDRESS TO AMERICA HIS VIEWS AND HIS PURPOSE. He has published Books, did Interviews, made Speeches, has had 21 Debates, presented his Tax Records, presented his DNA and Family Tree so now he has to GET RID OF HIS MORAL COMPASS in order to walk straight? BULLSHYT!!!

"He continues his commentary about Rev. Jeremiah Wright: "As I see it, if a strong, controversial black man in America is not kissing the asses of cynics and aggressively-patriotic white America or submissively acquiescing himself as 'Toby' like Kunta Kinte in Roots, he is ostracized and electronically lynched. It is unfortunate that when sad truths are revealed about America - despite all of the good she has done in the world – people cannot see the truth because they are ridiculously and blindly patriotic. They are in deep denial. In my opinion, Reverend Wright has been vilified and 'caricatured' because he has spoken the truth about America not being utopia. It’s time for Americans to take the blinders off." -- Shay Posted on Booker Raising 4/30/2008

WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER

There is one thing about being inspired. There is another thing about being inspired for a purpose of doing. Today was one of those days. A day for Doing. I often remind Black folk that our work is not done. Like any job or career pursuit, one does not go into it with just working for that day and then coasting on a days profit. There is  a point in one’s life when we have to choose between what is RIGHT and what is EASY. Today was a day for choosing what is RIGHT.

Twenty-four hours after the damning decision that cast cold stones into the hearts of the Bell family, a community gathered to express that although you were blindsided by the legal system, your community has your back and will not allow New York City, the State, a Country and quite possibly the World to witness how the NYPD and the New York City Justice System to create a separate Black or Brown rule. The role we all will play isn’t that of Revenge or Reretribution but of LOVE; a Love for keeping children alive. The community has decided that Black and Brown children are not and will no longer be defined as Collateral Damage as part of the rule of Over Policing without Accountability.

Policing is never the issue when talking about a community. Communities want Policing and look to law enforcement as part of keeping rule in a Nation of Laws, but the cancer that has grown, maturated and expanded has inflicted deadly damage to Black Families in great numbers and the only people who are most concerned are Black folk. Today’s rally is a reaffirmation that the NYPD and New York City will no longer get a pass. Every death will be deal with a series of political assaults, economic shut downs and civil disobedience. A declaration of commitment from Religious, Social and Community Groups and individuals were signed and a public understanding that sacrifices will need to be made for the many who walk the streets Disconnected from the reality that WORK NEEDS TO BE DONE to save the children of tomorrow.

“April 25, 2008, they killed Sean all over again. I’m still praying for justice, because this is far from over. Every march, every protest, every rally, I’m going to be right up front.”, said Paultre Bell. This is what the public will hear as the universal sound bite, which will be looped over, and over for days to come and as so, forgotten by the media and public often does. What the rest of the world needed to know were the words that followed:

“I may have broken down, but I'm OK. I was bent, but I’m not broken.” she assured the Ralliers, and with those words, the tears flowed throughout the hall.

Valerie Bell, the mother of Sean Bell spoke, “I didn’t go through labor pains with my son because he was born C-section. But on Nov. 25, 2006, that’s when my labor pains started. The pains that come with bringing life into the World. When a mother looses a child to violence or any kind of loss, she experiences those pains all over again. I felt my labor pains then.”, as she explains while holding her stomach.

Through out the rally, Rev. Al Sharpton and the families detailed and answered why it was important and necessary for the methodology before the trail and to the day as well as where the Community goes next. We learned how Youth organizations are helping, partnering and not being absorbed but given free reign to develop their own strategies to enforce change in the community. With emphasis on Non-Violent Disobedience, part of the rally was making it a matter of letting those who plan to participate, understand that people talk about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. but people don’t understand him. So as part of the lesson of demanding Massive Civil Rights, we have to look back in history. Highlighted was the legal decision, which lead to the Dred Scott Decision of 1857 where Courts decided that there were no Black Rights that any White was bound to Respect. If you understand the nature of that 1857 decision and how the argument to support that law was applicable to the justification that Justice Arthur J. Cooperman gave as to why the NYPD aren’t responsible for taking innocent life and the reason why obsessive force was merited in the Sean Bell case, the decision sends a message that there is a DIFFERENCE between Black lives and White lives. Black Justice and White Justice. That we value the lives of "caged animals" in zoos more than the freedoms of innocent Black American citizens.

So all the while Black and Brown people were meeting peacefully, the City of New York is pumping millions of dollars beefing up patrols, having armed guards standing outside the homes of the attorneys and offices involved in the shooting, and having helicopters flying over Judge Cooperman’s house and while this happening, in a Peaceful Rally we are discussing meetings with the Attorney General and meeting with Representative John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. So we all sit back and call to our Faith in GOD to give a clear path for Righting a WRONG and in “fear”, the NYPD cling to tax payer dollars to beef up against an enemy that doesn't exist. Clueless in understanding how all the training and military style conditioning has no purpose against a Peaceful people. So what do they do NEXT?

Calling upon biblical text, Rev. Al Sharpton tells stories or in this case, gives examples of what we will all face as people demanding JUSTICE, the rules by which the agents against positive change will use. How the rules change for those that question when the game all of a sudden is skewed against Black folk when their fairness is written out. How there will be times when those dressed to protect will test you by agitation and ridicule, but if you are in the know, if you know the truth in your objective, you can overcome it all without screaming or physical violence. The law is the LAW and Black folk will inquire, challenge, change and keep LAW. That is how it was. How it is and how it will always be because when you rest, somehow, some way, we can go from 2008 to 1875 in the time it takes to send off 50 rounds of bullets.

“It has always been a struggle to keep young men alive when the “wicked” are in change. You can find this in the Old Testament with Abraham, in the New Testament with Jesus and throughout history. Sean Bell was a good YOUNG man and what happened to him was wicked.”, spoken by Rev. Al Sharpton.

So now the commitment begins and from a cross section of Black and Brown New Yorkers are and have made the commitment. Now that Black folk have made the pledge to save Black Babies, it is only a matter of time before Asian, Foreign born as well as other People of Color will come along and JOIN once they realize that their children are next and need equal protect.

THE POWER OF THE FEW OR THE ONE

I am an avid movie watcher. I like the art as much as I like a good song. It bugs people that here I am knee deep in to the Arts; written, performance, graphic, underground expressive and then on a turn will sit and watch PBS, The Discovery Channel, The History Channel and then talk about the intricacies of calculating the probability of Cosmic Strings in the Universe and Nuclear Clusters being attracted to Dark Matter in space. As an unpredictable Nerd, I can see how I could clear a room in one of my typical Schizophrenic Gemini Sybil Brain Farts but then again, I always made good company in my head anyway. It takes a unique mind and a lot of patience to understand and be around me much less, keep up in a conversation. So it is safe to say that when watching movies, I get the chance to rest my brain and just go with the flow. (even though while doing that I am dissecting the parts from beginning to end just to make sure all the elements of a good movie were in place. I can’t help it, I took a few film classes back in the day). This one film came to mind recently and I had this burning desire to Blog about it because as much as it is fantasy, its message reaches at the very foundation of human existence.

Recently there was a Lord of the Rings Marathon, which I watched. Anyone who has seen one of the three movies (Trilogy) knows that these films are not in the tradition of your 90-minute cinema. Besides the whole “epic” thing, what stands out through out the whole film is that there is a HUGE problem that is affecting everyone in the movie; EVIL, and that one thing that can prevent EVIL from winning, is by destroying a single ring. Thus the title, "Lord of the Rings". Well I won’t bore you with all the details but for the most part, what stood out is that throughout the Trilogy there was a Fellowship, a handful of “Warriors” who committed to help one individual, Frodo, to destroy the Ring of Power and defeat the raise of EVIL from conquering Man. A pretty simple premise don't you think?

As a teacher, the whole creating of the Hero and Adventure motif would be the obvious to concentrate on but I like the concept of the selected; the Fellowship, or as I would like to refer to as The Critical Mass needed to get the job Done.

Critical Mass, a theory taught in Sociology, Management and Political Science is a product of “group dynamics” and or “sociodynamics”. Critical Mass defined as the sociodynamic term describing the existence of sufficient or a minimum amount of people creating a momentum in a social system, which by its actions becomes a self-sustaining movement. Much of what Barak Obama's Campaign represents is an example of this.

I watched as this practices was exercised very early in life from my family’s involvement in the community and watching people gather and protest in the streets. It wouldn’t be until I became an adult that I truly understood its impact on a grander scale. Often in discussion groups and in my days at a teacher I would explain that the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950’s and 60’s was just that, an exercise in pockets of critical mass movements. Not all Black Americans were actively participating. In some cases, many were too afraid to take action and others were just too critical to be involved period. Regardless of the reason why people did not participate, a small number of bodies were only needed to begin “a movement” which was enough to shift a nation’s attention into the right direction.

When it comes to activism, those people NEW to the practice always make the mistake in thinking that one need hundreds of thousands of people to impact change when the reality is you only need ONE. In the film, “Lord of the Rings”, the character Frodo was told that there only needs to be One person who could save them all and if HE did not bear the burden, no one will. I mean, just think, you wake up in the morning and someone tells you that your Single Sacrifice MUST and WILL save the World? Kinda Jesus Like Don’t You Think?

So why my need to Blog about saving the World? It’s not about the saving of the World but how the pressures of being a single person doing positive things can be adversely affected by a Critical Mass of people. It is just as important to understand that just as a few people or ONE can do extraordinary things, the net opposite can break it down as well. Take the recent events with Tavis Smiley for example.

Pull back from THE BANQUET TABLE of the people because I know you are hungry, we really need to see the full bounty that is on display. The big picture is this, Tavis Smiley is a Doer in a World where people fit in three categories; those that Do, those that Don’t and those that Complain. He also is a good man with GOOD INTENTIONS. Now I have made note that people with good intentions do need to be watched, critiqued and held accountable when their intentions fall on the side of personal gain, abuse and or “evil” but in the case of Tavis Smiley, the Brother’s intentions are as transparent as a Glass of Arctic Water in Spring. The beauty of his Good intentions is that he is willing to be the ONE that will ask the questions that Black folk either do not think about or are afraid to ask due to this Nation’s unique political climate.

As a journalist and social analyst, Tavis Smiley has to ask the questions that will make people think, laugh, cry, become retrospective, introspective, create a pro-active consciousness and even make a person uncomfortable with accountability. His, like all good journalists, actions allow for TRUTH in character. In politics that is paramount. In American politics it is not only a must, at its core, character will be the glue that will determine the very nature of the US Super Power Status in the World. As a journalist, Tavis MUST walk as straight a line of non-bias practice as humanly possible for fear of being prejudiced towards the subject matter, showing favor and or doing an Oprah (catering to a specific audience or demographic). As a Black Man who has a non-negotiable COMMITMENT to Black People as well as having a proven commitment to the HISTORICAL EDUCATION OF AFRICAN PEOPLE IN DIASPORA AND THE AMERICAS, prior to the Obama phenomenon, Tavis Smiley was, without question, a dynamic individual. So as a fan, a political analyst, supporter, and a writer, I see Tavis Smiley as being one in a few who is truly dedicated to what he does and not loosing his way along the way within his own community YET when his own people turn on him for doing what he has been praised for doing for years, one has to wonder, "What if Frodo had kept that ring"?

No, serious I asked, What if Tavis did not do his job property and allowed certain People a pass on answering REAL questions or just fell in line with Corporately Run Journalism and read from the same TOP 10 Questions List of safe political questions and ignored the other questions, 11 through 50?

Fast-forward a few months in to the primaries and now we have a major violation committed by Tavis Smiley. Tavis’ crime against Humanity is he dared to do his job and asked or wanted to ask Political Questions 11 through 50 to Barak Obama. This, in our unique state of Politics is Taboo for Black folk in mass support of Obama. The temperament for doing this is somewhat a betrayal to RACE and looking even deeper, the Democratic Party, the Economy, the War, Immigration, Africa, Legal Issues, Prison Systems, Corporate Profiting, Labor, Universal Health Care, Education, Selling-Out to Hillary Clinton, Religion, Women, The Drug Trade, Gun Control, Trade and Exports, Political Fundraising, Terrorism and a whole host of American ills. What amazed me is that in the Black Community’s public ridicule of Tavis Smiley's attempt to ask or even criticize All the candidates (All meaning Obama would also be included in his critique) the very questions that each candidate had and has not answered to this very day. These are also the same unanswered questions that are frustrating the whole of America, Tavis included. So if one cannot ask the source, then asking around the source to get to the center is a necessary and professional process at getting to information and or the truth. When Tavis did this, he crossed into Taboo territory once again. So what happens when this occur? Black People complained and those complaints took on a movement to silence that “anti-Obama” hypocrite.

“I personally am SICK of Tavis Smiley, he claims to love Black people and I certainly think the (un-appointed) black spokesperson should be compensated for his work but he was beginning to pontificate his opinions as if his and only his opinion counted. I started to turn TJMS off when Tavis had his commentaries; he was preachy and full of self-importance. I say GOOD RIDDANCE Tavis.” – Dililia from Blog: BlackMenInAmerica

A movement developed in the form of phone calls, e-mails and Blog attacks on the very person that in Public and Private stated and displayed he has more LOVE for Obama than the Hate directed towards him personally. One day, Tavis Smiley is a product of the very best that the Black Community has to offer into the next where he had become the most Stuck-up, Arrogant, Self-Centered Opportunist to wear the mantle and badge of Sellout. Tavis’ Annual State of the Black Union once hailed as a positive event for Black representation and focusing of Black America towards a National Mission and Agenda, now is the Tavis Smiley Soapbox for Personal Grandeur. So the Tipping Point (also know as Critical Mass) of the movement was to limit Tavis Smiley’s exposure and speech.

“Tavis got hammered not because Obama supporters are crazed cultists operating in zombie mode, but because he insisted on trying to pull Obama's black card for trivial reasons, and TJMS listeners and many others called him on his crap.” – Political Session from Blog: Black Agenda Report 4. 16-22, 2008

"Barack Obama's campaign must come first. Hate mail is reprehensible, but Smiley's ego started most of it. If he really cares about the future for all races instead of his puffing ego, he'd shut up. Maybe he'd better go see Bill Clinton. Two blowhards in a state of denial." -- NoMugwump from the Blog: The Trail 2/16/2008

Although many people (knowingly or not) who participated in this addictive protest on Tavis’s journalistic style, now cheer in his radical bid to go into a self censoring from commercial radio where he spoke the most about the State of Black Liberal Politics. This Critical Mass of self-styled activist, feeling vindicated that Tavis Smiley has decided to leave Tom Joyner’s Nationally Syndicated Radio Talk Show. Actually what they did was become successful in maintaining the current status quo for keeping the REAL ISSUES off the table for any discussion from Black Americans as well as the Whole of America thus placing them deeper in limbo, possibly never to be asked of by Barak Obama, Hillary Clinton or John McCain. It is no accident that Tavis Smiley prefers PBS to Commercial media outlets where the pressures of Commercial Advertising Dollars cannot interfere with his honest reporting.

I wrote not too long before the New York Democratic primaries in relation to the Cultural Group Think Mentality towards each other and how there was a vicious line draw between Black Clinton and Obama supporters:

“Some people are Liberal-Conservatives (Hillary Clinton) and some are Democratic Socialist (Barak Obama). The differences are slight but it is in that difference which is enough to be divisive and pit one Democratic ideology against the other. This is what we see now between Obama and Clinton supporters, the differences are that slight enough to split a Party in half and the national vote. The truth is, Blacks on a whole are voting on Racial Lines and it makes me crazy that NO ONE WANTS TO OWN UP TO IT. There has yet to be a dialogue that brings to question IF Black folk voted for Obama because he is Black? Just the same, people are slowly allowing for the reality that Women are voting on Gender Lines and are truthfully saying as much.” -- Shazza Nakim from the Blog: Mirror On America 2/29/2008

Tavis, the professional that he is was bold enough to have this Dialogue with Black America but as the Critical Mass dictated, it was a conversation that was not going to happen. Either now or later, if ever. One could argue that the conversation was trivial in comparrison to the importance of what is at stake. True enough, but what about the other questions not asked; Political Questions 12 through 50? From the very beginning Tavis Smiley have stood by his principles, his responsibility and dedication as a journalist to get at the REAL ISSUES. In his defense, he has often had to distinguishing himself from Celebrity or Entertainer and the Tabloid Reporter from that of the serious Journalist. In parting from the Tom Joyner Show, Tavis was noted as saying the following, "My job is to ask the critical question, to raise these issues and keep these guys focused. There are some people who are disappointed that I'm not jumping up and down saying, 'Vote for Barack Obama.' That's not my role as a journalist. That's not what I do.


And there lies the difference between a Tavis Smiley and an Oprah Whinfrey, Steve Harvey, Tom Joyner or a Whoopie Goldberg on MX Radio. Tavis is a Journalist with a stated Journalistic Ethic and an established and clear line that cannot (should not) be crossed and an Oprah and Whoopie which are more Media Personalities than Journalist hosts shows dedicated to demographics and specific audiences. For either Oprah or Whoopie (whom have Publicly endorsed candidates), to ask bias questions, the reactions would be slight or non-existent. For Tavis, his credibility as a legitimate, non-bias and honest journalist would always be called into question. Once that happens, he might as well do Access Hollywood or go back to BET.

For now, Tavis Smiley is taking an active break and waiting for the fever to burn itself off. Once the Body that is the Black Community cools, Tavis will returrn to ask the one question he has asked from the start, "What if Obama doesn't get the Democratic nod for President or even looses the election? What now? Where does all the energy and inspiration go for Black America and the Greater Nation?" I have an idea that this is a Contingency Plan Tavis is not hoping for but as a journalist, is preparing for.