4 Good Things About the Reign of the Tangerine Cesar (No, Really.)

Warning:  This post contains no alternative facts.

1. Access

He's the most accessible President in history. Whether or not you believe that tweeting is appropriate for the leader of the free world is beside the point. Writing or calling your elected officials (nationally) usually gets you nothing but a nice automated e-mail or one of their staffers if you're lucky enough to get someone to pick up.  Even then, the attention you're paid is usually directly proportional to the size of your contribution to their campaign. With this POTUS, the access is there. You can tell him exactly what you think without having to worry about being tackled by Secret Service, get stuck leaving a voicemail, or trying to explain to some 20 year old that they work for you and not the other way around. And that goes both ways. If you truly want the pulse of the country, his (mis)use of Twitter, Facebook, and the tone of the responses (sans the usual trolls) can give you a better pulse of the electorate than any poll.  For a nation that prides itself on representative democracy, written accountability being instantly accessible to the most powerful man in the world is incredibly important.  Think about it.  The leader of the free world is no more than a tweet away.  For the cynics that think he isn't reading them, take a look at what Sean Spicer, one of the POTUS' attack dogs (White House Press Secretary), says about "the media" during his FIRST press conference.  They not only read them.  They CARE.  Future candidates for any national office would be foolish to ignore this.

They're literally mad...about Tweets.

2. Exposing Our Vulnerabilities

We have the strongest military in the world. No country would dare go toe to toe with us on the battlefield. But the Art of War says that you attack your enemy at his weakest point not his strongest and it's clear that cyber security is our achilles' heel.  Every intelligence agency including the FBI believes that the Russians actively sought to erode confidence in our democracy if not control who we put in office. On the former point, mission accomplished. We have never been more divided about how fair our electoral system is. You have Americans who think of themselves as patriots defending a foreign dictator against other Americans because they disagree politically. The incoming president is picking fights with his own intelligence people.  

.@FoxNews "Outgoing CIA Chief, John Brennan, blasts Pres-Elect Trump on Russia threat. Does not fully understand." Oh really, couldn't do...

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2017

much worse - just look at Syria (red line), Crimea, Ukraine and the build-up of Russian nukes. Not good! Was this the leaker of Fake News?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2017

Even the FBI, who many say had a much bigger impact than any Russian hack, agrees that we were the victims of foreign interference.  For the record I firmly believe RT America was created specifically for this purpose.  But even if you don't believe Russian interference truly influenced how people voted, the seeds of doubt have been planted.  What better way to tear down your enemy by doing what we've been doing to other countries for decades?  Sew division and mistrust among its people and just sit back and watch the show.  It's obvious that we need to shore up cyber security. Will we? Only time will tell.  A house divided cannot stand.

3. Civics Lessons

If you even halfway paid attention to this election you are more versed now in how our the process works than you were before.  The Democrats, the media, and the Left in general analyzed every legal option they could to stop Trump from taking office to death .  How many of us knew that you could lose an election even if you won the popular vote?  Did you know the Electoral College didn't officially pick the next President until 12/19?  How about that Electors were not always bound to vote for who won their state?  I certainly was never taught that Electoral College itself was a compromise between the federal government and slave-owning states at any level of school.  (My opening argument as to why the system itself is obsolete or in need of serious tweaking by the way.)  The "advise and consent" clause that allows the President to pick a Supreme Court Justice is actually up to the Senate?  And how much will we learn about conflict of interest laws, the actual powers of the President, and its legal limitations before/if/when Trump is impeached?  The first challenge has already been filed.  That doesn't even cover the the scrutiny his billionaire cabinet picks are under thanks to major ethical questions and/or questionable qualifications.  You'll  be a much more informed voter in 2018 (mid term congressional elections) whether you want to be or not.

If you didn't vote, your first chance at a mulligan comes in 2018.  (Provided Voter ID Laws don't require 2 DNA samples and sub-dermal tracking chip by then.)

4. Legal Accountability 

Building on the last point, the President's questionable business income setup will test the Constitution's ethics clauses like we haven't seen since the Nixon Administration.  The upcoming cases against the him will set the legal precedent for all future Commanders in Chief.  Is the White House correct in its assertion that conflict of interest laws don't apply to him?  We're going to definitively know in the next 4 years.  We also now have clarity on what the term "natural born citizen" means in regards to Presidential eligibility.  An early campaign attack Trump, and many on the left as well to be fair, used against Canadian-born Sen. Ted Cruz was to question his eligibility to be President.  Similar to the way he attacked President Obama for 5 years, Trump tried to muddy the waters and claim Cruz didn't fit the definition of a "natural born citizen."

He was rebuffed as Cruz was deemed eligible by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court due to his mother being an American citizen.  That, by extension, means Barack Obama could have been born in the middle of the Serengeti Plain attended to by 12 imams and a witch doctor and was still be eligible to run for President of the United States.

End. Of. Story.  

Who knows?  If we survive this, maybe America can progress enough not think a man or woman with those origins is something to fear but celebrated as proof that America really is for all of us.  Not just "traditional Americans."

The legal challenges this President has left himself open to will definitively settle what we should expect from all future Presidents, legally and ethically for generations to come so the next demagogue can't pull the same crap this one did.

Are You Not Entertained?: Just Thought You Should Know 8/5/16

Dear GOP,

You're getting exactly what you deserve.  8 years of petty criticisms of the President, made up threats about immigrants being evil incarnate, the god awful racism not so cleverly disguised as constitutional loyalty (looking at you Birthers), the crusade against education/intellectualism, and the need for your base to be afraid of everything (even their own shadows because they're black) has finally culminated in this absolute farce of a Presidential campaign.  For the first time in our history, we may end up with 3 major political parties in this country because I don't see how moderate Republicans can possibly reconcile their views with their Presidential nominee and his minions.

Trump supporters, I want you to take a good long look at your candidate.  I mean a real look.  Think about the reasons you support him.  It certainly isn't about policy, he hasn't presented one that wouldn't cost more money than it saves. It's not because of his business acumen.  It doesn't exist.  Ask Atlantic City, NJ.  It's not because he's not a criminal like "Crooked Hillary".  She's been cleared of every charge leveled at her by every single Republican-led tribunal/witch hunt the GOP can think of.  Trump, on the other hand, is still in the midst of multiple lawsuits involving possible fraud.  Oh, and he might be a child rapist.  Not kidding.  Is it his superior values?  The values that he thinks permits him to routinely insult anyone who disagrees with him?  Oh I know, "he tells it like it is!"  Except when he's talking about having met Vladimir Putin and then says that he didn't.  Or that he saw a video of Obama personally paying the Iranians and then he says he was mistaken.  Maybe he was straight shooting when he said he would build that wall around us and then admitted he wouldn't?  The #NeverTrump Republicans, who I respect, though I disagree with their vision, at least had the spine to stand up for their principles.  The rest of the party leadership simply fell in line behind this pompous, entitled, ignorant windbag and it may have not only cost them this election but their party's future.  Among voters younger than 30, Trump is polling 4th, behind Hillary Clinton, Gary Johnson (Libertarian Party), and Jill Stein (Green Party).  Think about that.  The nominee for the 2nd biggest party in the country is polling behind 2 people most of the country has. never. heard. of.  The 18-year-olds who are voting for the first time this election are looking at your nominee as the representation of your party and would rather vote for 2 people who are almost guaranteed to lose. Most people stick with the first party they vote for and the upcoming landslide is probably going to render your party irrelevant for the next 50 years.  As much as I despise Trump and what the GOP has become, that isn't a good thing.

Look, the truth is that the core values of the GOP aren't that crazy.  It's founded in the idea that people can take care of themselves if the government should just get out of the way and let us work. Neighbor helping neighbor instead of depending on handouts from Washington.  And there are valid criticisms of our current system.  Money in politics is a problem.  Even Bernie Sanders agreed with Republicans on that.  NAFTA was a disaster for the American worker and there are many non-college educated people who need work.  But too many times those frustrations tend to be expressed as outright racism when the reality is the answers to your frustrations are a lot more complicated than "blame the non-whites"  Our issues can't be boiled down to a few angry tweets and an agenda that's stuck in the nostalgia of yesterday's America.  On a personal note, I'm part of the first generation of African Americans who full rights as a citizen are legally recognized by our government, these are the good old days for me!  The world has changed. You can thank your conservative news outlets for not telling you just how much and what you can do to keep up instead of feeding you a steady diet of things to hate and fear. If you've been eating up Fox News, The Blaze, and Breitbart for the better part of the last decade, all it's gotten you is a pseudo-intellectual who claims to be your voice but has never been anything but an elitist 1% his entire life.  He's never not  been rich so how can he possibly be your voice if he doesn't even speak your language? Trump is the literal embodiment of the ugliness that has infected the principles of the Republican Party.  I would wear out my knuckles on my keyboard if I listed the times he's proven that he's not just a bad candidate but a genuinely bad person.  It's ironic that it took him slandering a Gold Star Muslim family, a religion he's vowed to ban from our country, to get people to finally see it's him that doesn't represent American values.  His nomination is direct evidence that the Republican Party is broken.  So broken that they're willing to trot out a racist demagogue in the vague hopes that they can re-take the White House by appealing to the very worst American fears.  We've reached the point where the house they've built is no longer safe for any American to reside in.  The roof is leaking, the foundation is shot.  The lessons of 2012, which called for inclusion and moderation, have been outright rejected and the results have been predictably disastrous.  If the party leadership continues to ignore the evolution of our country, its only natural that America will eventually ignore them.  Completely.

...Til Next Week!

You can read more about the "Growth and Opportunity Project" that was supposed to transform the Republican Party into a more inclusive party here.

Black Mirror: Just Though You Should Know 7/22/16

 

Based on a true story...

 

Sorry for the late post.  I almost didn't write anything this week because I don't like sounding like a broken record. However, the spectacle we saw at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland only reinforces what most of us who are not swooning over Donald Trump's unconfirmed net worth (release your taxes, Donald) have been saying since he started his campaign. His leadership style is more in line with a dictator than a president.  He is a narcissist, whose first second and last concern is his own profitability and notoriety. Why else would you as a husband allow your wife to be embarrassed the way she was on the podium?  Though if we're being honest, his acceptance speech had even more falsehoods than hers did.  So there's that.

The real reason that I put fingers to keys this week, though, is this guy...

Sheriff David Clarke...oh wait...!

Whoops!  Sorry folks, wrong photo!

This guy...

Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. (Photo: wkow.com)

Watching his last two public appearances, an interview on CNN in which he tried to intimidate Don Lemon and his speech at the Republican National Convention (link) left me wondering, what happened to this man to make him hate himself so much that he uses his position as an elected Democrat (yes he's a registered Democrat) to reinforce willful blindness to the suffering of his own people?  Rather than write him off as a sell-out Uncle Tom, which I'm reluctant to do since I've long advocated the idea that it's black people that define blackness and not the other way around, I thought I'd highlight some of the things that might motivate someone to turn his back on his people.  

Notoriety:

There's an old saying that a dog biting a man isn't news but a man biting a dog is.  African Americans are surprisingly very socially conservative.  Even as a 1st generation West Indian American, I see that most of them believe in the family values, limited government, and personal liberty Republicans constantly drone on about as if they invented them.  Who wouldn't want the freedom to not be stopped, frisked, and questioned because of what you're wearing or the neighborhood you're walking in?  The divide between us and the GOP is that they seem to think only their base is entitled to these rights.  Naturally, that doesn't sit well with us.  So when one of us jumps ship, he/she goes from being just another "plantation" dweller (isn't that such a nonracist way of opening dialogue?) to being "smart", "a truth teller", and "one of the good ones."  Suddenly, you're special.  Acceptance from a group that's long told you your entire existence is "less than human" and whose approval you've been culturally conditioned to seek is powerful.  It's not just African Americans either.  Former Louisiana Governor and failed Republican Presidential Candidate Bobby Jindal and current South Carolina Republican Governor Nikki Haley have benefited politically and financially from "assimilation" even if it meant throwing their own culture under the bus.  Obviously, not every non-white Republican subscribes to this mindset.  Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) and Former Secretary of State Colin Powell walk in conservatism and self-awareness without compromising their heritage though now it seems the more extreme your views are, the more spotlight you receive.    

Spotlight:

Speaking of the spotlight,  would anyone outside of Wisconsin have heard of Sheriff Clarke if he was towing the Democratic party line?  How about Jesse Lee Peterson?  Omorosa Manigult if you never watched "The Apprentice?"  Stacy Dash if offbeat comedies and late-night B-movies aren't your thing?  How about Trump spokeswoman and failed congressional candidate Katrina Pierson? Being a willing surrogate for racist propaganda can earn you a lot of money. Each of the aforementioned "conservatives" has a warm seat waiting for them on any Fox News show, anytime they want it.   There's a lot of financial security in being able to rationalize racist viewpoints and obviously, the degree to which some people's consciences are eased is directly proportional the number of zeros in their paychecks.  Perhaps some of them fear a return to poverty more than they love themselves.  

Cultural Conditioning: 

There are a few unwritten rules about being black in the United States if you want to thrive (by unwritten I mean no longer codified in law).  The first is that if you want to succeed you have to work twice as hard as everyone else.  Your blackness is already seen as 2 strikes against you so excellence is the only way to even have a chance at success.  If you're average, you're already dead in the water.  The second is that unless you're good at a sport or other form of entertainment, good diction aka "talking white" will get you much further than "talking black."  For you non-Americans/Canadians that means speaking any form of ghetto slang English will usually bar you from getting a job that pays a real living wage.  Third is that you must know history.  "History" being European history or world history from a European perspective.  You must know basics like America was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492 despite the fact that he found a native population that had been thriving and repelling European attempts at colonization since at least 1000 AD.  You must know that America gained its independence from Britain through the cunning tactics of George Washington without help from anyone else.  Especially not a Native American/black guy named Crispus Attucks who was the first American to die in the Revolutionary War.  You must also know that the only role African Americans played in the building of our country was carrying the terrible burden of slavery that they couldn't free themselves from so white men fought the Civil War to free them.  There were never any attempts by the slaves to free themselves and after the war was over, blacks were free to do as they wished with full rights as equal citizens granted immediately.  In all seriousness, with these socially accepted "rules" in place it's not hard to imagine a black person being inherently ashamed of who they are and seeing assimilation into "white" culture as a step up. It's ingrained into our "education" from day one.

Men like Sheriff Clarke are always a hard pill to swallow for those of us that want to see us thrive, connect, and put this racial crap behind us.  Instead of using his position as a vehicle of change, he uses his blackness and his badge as a shield for racists.  There are other police chiefs that are being fired for standing up for their communities but he selfishly chooses to join the chorus of criticism of a people that have historically never been given a fair shake.  He, and people like him are respectability politics taken to an extreme.  They are a cruel twist on the old saying "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em."  Like Kevin Durant, however, instead of being hailed as a hero for joining a winning team, you've only proven that you're not built for the fight and would rather take the easy path to victory.  I hope the perks of being a Republican shill are enough of a comfort to you at night, Sheriff Clarke, and that you never take your uniform off because we both know the first thing everyone sees when you take it off.  Oh?  You don't know what everyone else sees?  Ask Senator Tim Scott.  He'll fill you in.

 

...Til Next Week.

How to end #Blacklivesmatter: Just Thought You Should Know 7/15/16

2016 has gotten off to a really shitty start.  I say "start" loosely since we're in middle of July but the shitstorm of fail we've been going through feels like its not quite done with us yet.  As far as bad weeks go, its hard to top the week Prince died but with another terror attack in France, an attempted military coup in one of the largest countries in NATO, and cops in Dallas being killed by snipers, this week tried its damnedest to take the crown.  Don't get me wrong, there were some positive stories too but when the lowest point in the week isn't the deaths of more than 100 people innocently celebrating a national holiday in France, even the New Day would be hard pressed to find a silver lining.  This week I thought I'd examine just where Black Lives Matter is going as a movement and what would it take for it to abate.   

#Blacklivesmatter

There have been a lot of accusations thrown around by both sides of this debate.  Black Lives Matter has been called a "terrorist" group by numerous media outlets that I won't give the dignity of being mentioned here and likewise Black Lives Matter and their supporters have launched that same charge at our nation's police officers.  As always, the truth lies somewhere in the middle and no one has tried to step in and ratchet down the rhetoric because they're too busy trying to use the moment to push an agenda or get ratings.  If we're being honest, officers tend to get a overzealous when dealing with black people, no matter our social class.  They're less patient, less likely give us the benefit of the doubt, and much more quick to use force on us to gain compliance...and those are the good ones.  There are many departments that blatantly racially profile, harass, and brutalize African Americans.  These are facts.  Conversely, If the police force (en mass since we've been dealing in broad brushes all week) were really a terrorist organization on the level of the KKK, there would be a lot more dead black bodies in the streets.  Most of the egregious police misconduct we see on television are against poor blacks in poor black neighborhoods, where violent crime tends to be higher.  Naturally, officers who've never lived in the area and probably have never been exposed to this type of environment, are on edge.  They don't know the people, culture, mindset, nor do the people make it easy.  Granted, the modern police force started off as an organization of slave catchers and I already mentioned how officers tend to mistreat black people so the attitude is historically justified.  However, all that being said, "fuck the police" isn't helpful to anyone either.  Most officers do their jobs well and are not putting on the uniform every day with the sole intention to harass and murder black people.  Ticket quotas combined with decades of cultural conditioning are probably more responsible than a bunch of individual "rogue" racists in uniform for the current broken state of the relationship.  Most of them, like their civilian counterparts, don't even realize they're racists.  But even with all that on the table, I firmly believe this problem is solvable.  We need the police.  Their function in society is vital, which is why it is imperative that their applicant screening process, psych evaluations, and accountability steps must be impeccable.  But they can't do it alone.  Policing at its best is a joint effort between officers and the people they protect.  The cops can't arrest the people making our neighborhoods unsafe if they don't know who these people are.  Without reliable intelligence, law enforcement is forced to operate blindly with disastrous results.  There are several accepted aspects of police/community culture that must change for real reconciliation to happen.

Silence really does speak volumes.

Break the Blue Wall of Silence

As a veteran of the Army Reserve, I understand brotherhood.  I understand the power of instantly understanding what your fellow soldiers have been through to get where they are and to be instantly understood.  You want to protect your brothers (and sisters) against unfair treatment.  However, this practice has often stood as a shield for people who's racial biases, bully mentality, and misogynistic attitudes should disqualify them from wearing the uniform.  Too many of these "officers" use the law as a tool to harass, intimidate, and humiliate whoever they wish and until recently, their fellow officers remained silent about it.  We've already seen cracks starting to show in the wake of the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. Good cops are finally fed up and starting to speak out against their prejudiced and corrupt colleagues.  In addition to the high profile cases of racial discrimination, we've also seen far too many cases of sexual abuse from officers.

Victims included unsuspecting motorists, schoolchildren ordered to raise their shirts in a supposed search for drugs, police interns taken advantage of, women with legal troubles who succumbed to performing sex acts for promised help, and prison inmates forced to have sex with guards.
The AP's findings, coupled with other research and interviews with experts, suggest that sexual misconduct is among the most prevalent type of complaint against law officers. Phil Stinson, a researcher at Bowling Green State University, analyzed news articles between 2005 and 2011 and found 6,724 arrests involving more than 5,500 officers. Sex-related cases were the third-most common, behind violence and profit-motivated crimes. Cato Institute reports released in 2009 and 2010 found sex misconduct the No. 2 complaint against officers, behind excessive force.
Cases from across the country in just the past year demonstrate how such incidents can occur, and the devastation they leave behind. -- Matt Sedensky and Nomaan Merchant, 11/1/15, Associated Press: Hundreds of officers lose licenses over sex misconduct

The police are the only public service that gives its employees the power to end another person's life if they deem it necessary.  Doesn't it make sense that the people they hire should be as free of prejudice as possible?  Do good cops want these maniacs representing them? Are these really the best candidates we can find?  If so, that's a bigger indictment on our culture than any North Korean propaganda film. 

When 'keeping it real...' is suicide.

"No Snitchin'" must end.

I lost a man I considered my brother to the bullets of a crazed drug addict on November 25, 2001 .  We came from a rough neighborhood and when you live in rough neighborhoods, meeting friends with spotless criminal records is hard.  As a matter of fact, when your neighborhood is over policed, schools are poor, and employment options are few, having a criminal record isn't as big a knock on your character.  It's expected.  It's what whether you go locked up for jay walking or got lock up for murder that matters.  Living in isolation isn't an option if you want to live a semi normal life so you talk to people, even if they've been to jail or sell drugs.  I was lucky enough to have gotten out of that environment through some extraordinary sacrifices by my mother but my God-brother couldn't so he had to deal with who he had to deal with.  Unfortunately, that post Thanksgiving Sunday night, my 18 year old God-Brother was walking home from his new job and decided to chat with one such individual.  Not long after, they were approached by a man wanting to buy drugs. My God Brother's friend was a known dealer so this wasn't out of the ordinary.  During the course of the sale, the addict decided he didn't want to pay for his purchase and produced a revolver.  My God brother ended up on his back and choking to death on his own blood at the bottom of dirty basement stairs, shot in the chest 5 times, while both the dealer and the killer fled the scene.  Both were eventually caught about a week later and the addict was charged with murder, his 3rd felony strike.  The drug dealer, in jail on an unrelated charge, was the prosecution's "star" witness as the only other person who knew what happened that night.  I attended the trial, determined to get the truth of why my friend was dead.  When the drug dealer finally testified, it wasn't his description of the last moments of my brother's life that hurt the most.  It was the during the defense's cross examination that we found out that the drug deal had committed an armed robbery 3 weeks before and the local PD failed to arrests him.  Had he been caught, none of this would have happened.  I initially blamed the police for not doing their jobs, for neglecting yet another young black man's death.  But I know the kind of people who live in the neighborhood we grew up in.  I know because its the same attitude I had as a teenager.  Too many instances of disrespect and outright abuse between us for anyone to say anything to the police.  Even if that meant an armed robber remained free.  The only thing that accomplished was another member of our family being robbed of his future.  Sometimes, the first step to rebuilding a relationship is taking a leap of faith.  We know which officers have no interest in engaging us as a community and which do.  Use those connections and return the respect you're given by making the officers who actually care look good so they can become the people in charge of setting the tone for community relations.  We can weed out the bad cops the same way customers weed out bad employees, build a record of complaints so long they can't deny the pattern of misconduct.  Keep filming, keep exposing them, and keep them from getting another job.  Fighting fire with fire only proves them "right" and costs more black lives.

"Broken Windows" was used in post invasion Iraq with disastrous results (Photo: Wired.com)

Broken Windows Policing/Stop and Frisk/Ticket Quotas Must be Abolished
For folks who are screaming at their screens right now asking about Chicago and why I'm not speaking as vehemently about the black deaths instead of bashing the police?  Simple.  Gang members and criminals didn't take an oath to uphold the law and represent the highest ideals of our judicial system.  It's a false equivalence.  A straw man argument.  It should go without saying that the police should be held to a higher standard as taxpayer funded peacekeepers.  Honestly, anyone who doesn't think that's fair should ask themselves if they'd like to be treated the way the people of Baghdad were treated during the American occupation because that's exactly what "broken windows" policing and "stop and frisk" are.  In theory, broken window focuses on aggressively enforcing petty crime to deter more serious ones, restoring trust, reducing fear, and increasing pride in a community.  It was initially successful in Iraq but that was because Iraqis knew that the local police were backed up by the heavily armed American military.  Eventually, that fear gave way to rage as civilians refused to talk to Iraqi police or American MPs, allowing Al-Qaeda to kill at will.  Since our departure, crime and terrorism are worse than ever in Baghdad.  In New York City, which credited the practice for it's dramatic drop in crime during the 90s, it's become another excuse to use already low income people as source of municipal revenue.  The proof is the dramatic reduction in tickets written during the NYPD "protest" against Mayor DeBlasio last summer.  There was no corresponding rise in criminal activity during the down period inadvertently proving most of the officers have become little more than uniformed backdoor tax collectors.  Stop and Frisk compounds the issue by treating innocent young men of color as criminals regardless of actual guilt or innocence.  You cannot build a trusted network of neighborhood intelligence when you don't make the distinction between civilian and criminal.  Now, just as in Baghdad, police all over the country are being targeted in retaliation for years of abuse.  Good cops are paying the price for years of ineffective leadership, stat padding arrests, and racial profiling.

Where does it end?

It ends with the end of racism.  We got a glimpse of what that America would look like in the weeks after 9/11.  I can't remember any other time in my lifetime that we were all Americans.  No hyphens.  We're not where we were before the 60s but we clearly have a long way to go.  I used to believe that as the older generation died out, they would take their prejudices with them.  Unfortunately, we're seeing the same old battles play out among people my age who didn't live through the civil rights movement, proving poisonous ideas are just as hereditary as eye color.  We shouldn't be surprised though.  Racism didn't die out with the end of the Civil War, either World War, nor the Civil Rights movement.  We've seen small steps though, taken after each generation, slowly repealing explicit legalized racism and with the legal restrictions on education and housing lifted, more African Americans than ever are rising into positions of leadership.  We must remember though, that these leaders are still forced to work within a system that constrains how quickly they can effect that change and how entrenched the social barriers are to that change.  It's like trying to chip away at a glacier with an ice pick.  Killing cops won't help.  Ignoring police misconduct won't help.  But don't just take my word for it...ask the US Department of Justice, who've made the same recommendations I've just spent the last few paragraphs blathering about.

Resource Guide for Enhancing Community Relationships and Protecting Privacy and Constitutional Rights

After-Action Assessment of the Police Response to the August 2014 Demonstrations in Ferguson, Missouri

Community-Based Approaches to Prevention: A Report on the 2014 National Summit on Preventing Multiple Casualty Violence 


...Til Next Week!

Take Care of Yourselves...

Evil flourishes when good men do nothing (Photo: TheGrio.com)

Every time I try to write some dazzling piece about how angry I am or how unfair this is to the families of Alton Sterling and Philande Castille or how something needs to be done, I find myself getting distracted.  If you read this blog regularly, you know I'm not one to shy away from any topic but this week I am not only at a loss for words, I am at a loss for strength, I am at a loss for meaning, I am at a loss for anything resembling the solar furnace of anger that the response to these killings deserves.  Instead, I find myself playing a video game on my cell phone or watching a YouTube video or watching the scenery outside my office or thinking about my upcoming date with my wife. Anything to not have to think about how the fuck this could have happened again.  And again, the usual sides take up the usual positions, each living in their own little echo chamber, spouting the same talking points over and over again like a broken 45 that keeps playing the same half a lyric until you you want to take the entire stereo system and toss it out of your 3rd story window and smile with child like delight as its broken and mangled frame brings the promise of blissful silence.  Except we know that silence will never come.  Not as long as every time something like this happens we rely on cultural conditioning instead of critical thinking to produce solutions.  I grew more and more frustrated with myself for not having the discipline to simply do what I need to do and stop pussyfooting around until I realized that it's not a lack of discipline stopping me.  

I'm self medicating.  

I've heard many in the activist community, talk radio hosts, other writers, and friends of mine sum up their feelings about this week, and 2016 in general, in one word.  "Enough."  Ironically, I realize now that there are some people who avoid the news for this very reason.  I used to chastise them for not wanting to pay attention.  I looked down on them for sticking their heads in the sand like an ostrich and leave themselves just as vulnerable for their lack of knowledge.

"Just because you don't want to hear it and don't want to deal with it doesn't mean it won't affect you!"

After the gut punch of these back to back senseless murders, I empathize a little more, now. They reached their breaking point years ago and for some of them it physically hurts to watch it happen over and over and over and over and over again with no recourse, no plan of action to stop it, no power to change it, and no direction to escape it.  Who in their right mind would be eager to watch the savage deaths of men that could easily be your son, nephew, brother, uncle, cousin, or father?  So, like so many others, I've unconsciously taken steps to either guard my heart or at least try to balance some of the emotional damage with false senses of video game victory, which ironically is what the results of our labor feel like in real life. False victory. The majority of officers who violate the rights of Black Americans go unpunished.  Most white criminals are treated as moral individuals with momentary lapses in judgement that need to be understood rather than vilified as poster children for their race's immorality like their black counterparts.  It's tempting just to shut it off, walk out of the room and make it all go away.  Unfortunately, if we do that, we only give ourselves a false sense of security at best and a disadvantage on the issues that matter the most at the worst.

  

I guess the point of all this rambling is that I've come to an unexpected consequence of being "woke." Battle fatigue.  It really does take a team of people willing to lift each other up to continue the fight, to speak out, to protest, and to demand change because the cause is bigger than anyone of us and its impossible to fight this battle alone.  To the people who have chosen to stand in that gap and position themselves as part that team, thank you.  Writing this blog weekly, I have a newfound respect for people who do this every day.  To the folks that read this blog who put up with my bloviating, sometimes holier-than-thou, writing, I thank you. This space is intended to inform my readers on things they may have missed as well as provide a place for me to download the thoughts I cannot verbally express.  If you choose to follow in the footsteps of activists, remember that all that fire, passion, and energy can burn you out more quickly than you'd like and taking care of yourself and your mental health is priority number 1.  

Just Thought You Should Know 5/19/16

Happy Friday (or Saturday since life tends to supercede pet projects)!  I hope this week caps off a brilliant one in which you got all your goals accomplished, checked off that pesky to do list, and helped save the free world once again.   Conversely, if today is simply the last one an a grueling quagmire of shit, at least tomorrow is Saturday and reading this column will restore some faith in your fellow man.  Well, not really.

Maybe a sense of upliftment by watching others in much more dire circumstances than our first world problems.  If I'm really lucky, I've helped start unquenchable urge in those of you who are in a position to do something about it...to do so.  My goal here is to provide, comment, and illuminate situations that may slip through the cracks of our daily lives.  The kind of things we see a headline about but never click the article because its too long, we're too busy, or it's too depressing.  By breaking it down into more digestible chunks, I hope to get the important points across and leave the biased fluff behind. On that note, here we go...

The Supreme Court of the United States is MIA

SCOTUS is like a 3 legged table right now (Photo: ww2.kqed.org)

The death of Antonin Scalia has left the court effectively crippled.  With 4 liberal judges and 4 conservative leaning ones, the court is literally unable to come to a decision on some of its most important cases. The usual procedure when the court can't make a decision, is that the lower court's decision is upheld and no precedent is deemed to have been set.  In plain English, its like the Supreme Court never heard the case and the lower court's verdict stands.  One case already kicked back would have allowed non-union workers to avoid paying union dues, cutting off a major source of funding for organized labor.  A long term goal for conservatives who believe unions have become too powerful and get in the way of growing businesses.

Why does it matter?

An ineffective Supreme Court means Congress and the local courts have more power than ever since many of the cases now being heard might never make it back to the court.   Whether this is what Republicans wanted when they refused to consider Merrick Garland to replace their conservative hero, the late Antonin Scalia, is up to interpretation.  What isn't in question, is that the power structure of the United States, which is built on each branch of government having the power to check the other 2, is now severely out of balance.  More power than ever rests in the hands of a Congress that seems more concerned with party loyalty and partisan power than following the Constitution.  State rulings on labor, civil rights, and abortion have been notoriously partisan and will leave millions of people essentially stuck with whatever decision has already been made unless the plaintiffs have deep pockets.  Something most people obviously don't have.

What can I do about it?

Find your representative in the House
http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/
 
Find your Senator
http://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/

Tell your friends to do the same and remind them who put them in "power."  Republicans have seemingly mastered the art of using their votes to take out anyone who doesn't stick to the script.  Ask Eric Cantor.   Remind these folks that the ultimate power lies with you and they can be fired just like anyone else for not doing their jobs.


The Women of ISIS are not looking for "Jihotties"

They're definitely looking for something warm, long, and hard...

  
There seems to be a myriad idiotic narratives about why young women are joining ISIS.  The most misogynistic one, and the most insulting in my opinion, is the idea that these women join the most despotic terrorist group in the world...because they're looking for dick.  Comedians use it for cheap laughs but it's honestly how investigations are run almost every time an underage western girl takes off for Syria.  As if she's infatuated with suicide bombers like they're the ISIS version of the Backstreet Boys.  It never occurs to the usually male investigators that just like young men that go to fight, they're actually true believers who are just as dangerous as their male counterparts.  In the "west", as they call it, we've been socialized to treat women as the fairer sex,  which usually means seeing their intelligence as an aberration, rather than the norm.  Usually because we assume they think like we do...which is usually about sex.  It's something ISIS counts on when using women to carry out their attacks.

"Insurgent groups in Eastern Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa have used female suicide bombers as both a shock tactic and a strategic asset for decades. Two women detonated suicide bombs on the Moscow metro in March 2010, killing 40 people. The Al-Qaeda-linked Caucasus Emirate claimed responsibility for the attack." -- Jack Moore, Newsweek.com 11/18/15.

Why does it matter?

Because underestimating someone because of a stereotype is dangerous and stupid, especially when those stereotypes are used against you again and again and again.  History is littered with women weren't frail, emotional, or weak willed.  Though these women have decided to walk down a much darker path, respecting their decision, and holding them accountable for it would make spotting potential attackers much easier instead of relying on profiles that don't work.


What can I do about it?

As Joe "the Black Eagle" Madison says, "read with a third eye and listen with a third ear." 
Strange behavior is strange behavior no matter what race, gender, or nationality someone is.  If  you see something, say something.


MASE??

A long standing mystery about the identity of the New York Knick player in Biggie's "I Got a Story to Tell" has finally been solved!

If you don't know the song I'm talking about...unsubscribe immediately.

or just watch this.....

 
One of the few stories on wax that was verified by multiple NBA players and rappers in Big's inner circle to be true. It was also one of the best kept secrets in the industry until Fat Joe finally spilled the beans this week.

Why does this matter?

If you're aren't a Biggie fan or a Knicks fan...this isn't for you anyway.  If you are, do I really need to say it?  Mase and Big are probably laughing at all of us losing our minds over something they probably squashed years ago.


What can I do about it?

Laugh!  Laugh and remember the joy both these men brought into your lives musically and on the basketball court.  RIP Mase and BIG...

...Til next week!

Just Thought You Should Know: 5/13/16

Coming up with topics isn't my strong suit.  I love to write but I have to feel strongly about a topic to put my best and most authentic self into a piece.  Honestly, those moments come too few and too far in between to operate that way and still call myself a writer.  It would be easy to just gush about popular topics but that only takes you so far before you stop being original.  People shouldn't have a hard time telling the difference between you and Polly the Political Parrot (variations of which are employed by every foxy cable news national broadcast network).  It's lazy.  I also love to spread information, not in a know-it-all sense but in a hey-we're-all-busy-but-I-thought-you-should-know-this sense.  Which, not coincidentally, is the title of my new weekly column.  "Just Thought You Should Know" will feature culturally relevant stories that are a bit off the radar...or that I think are just plain funny. Stuff that would come up over a beer with good friends or things you'd tell your relatives "back home" about life in the land of milk and honey.  Hope you find these informative and add a little color to your day!  Enjoy.

  

Barack, you did it my nigga!

Larry Wilmore pissed off a lot of people with his closing speech at the White House Correspondence Dinner last week.  While his last line got the most media attention, it wasn't the most shocking moment. Looking at you Mr. "Alleged Journalist."

U mad, Don?

Why does it matter?

It might honestly be the first time you've seen such unapologetic, usually behind-closed-doors, blackness on full display.  Especially on such a historically non-black stage.  It made a lot of people uncomfortable.  Silly people crying "reverse racism" or "black privilege", black folks who felt embarrassed by the use of a word they've probably said in private dozens of times used in front of "all those white folk," and others who think the word should just be eliminated from the lexicon.

*sigh*

Look, self determination, the basis of individualism and freedom, is the root of American identity, right?  This country (in theory) was founded on the idea that I can be what I want to be.  That includes deciding how you want to be referred to, just like a nickname given to you by family or friends.  Only the people closest to you and/or who you deem worthy are allowed to call you that name.  Same concept. It's not that hard.  The President had no issues with it, why should you?  Even Don Lemon came around...

"Nope. Not mad at all."

The Philippines' President-Elect makes Donald Trump look civilized.

"Pope, 'son of a whore,' go home.  Do not visit us again." -- President-Elect Duterte being asked about Manila's terrible traffic being made worse by the pontiff's Jan 2015 visit (Photo CNN.com) 

Rodgrio Duterte, Mayor of Davao City for 22 years, will be the next President of the Philippines. Here are some quotes from Mr. Duterte during his rise to the top (Via Asiaone.com)

On crime- "Forget the laws on human rights. If I make it to the presidential palace, I will do just what I did as mayor. You drug pushers, hold-up men and do-nothings, you better go out. Because I'd kill you," he said at his final campaign rally in Manila on Saturday, referring to his record after 22 years as mayor of Davao.
- "I'll dump all of you (criminals) into Manila Bay, and fatten all the fish there."

Duterte is pretty high on Human Rights Watch's shit list considering his "Death Squads" are rumored to be responsible for more than 1,700 deaths in Davao.  Duterte also brags about having personally delivered his brand of justice on occasion.  

On women- "They raped all of the women... There was this Australian lay minister... when they took them out... I saw her face and I thought, 'Son of a b****. what a pity... they raped her, they all lined up. I was mad she was raped but she was so beautiful. I thought, the mayor should have been first." -- Speaking at a campaign rally about a prison riot in Davao in 1989 that saw inmates take a female Australian missionary working at the prison hostage before raping and killing her.
- "I was separated from my wife. I'm not impotent. What am I supposed to do? Let this hang forever? When I take Viagra, it stands up."

Charming.

 Why does it matter?

The parallels between him our current presumptive Republican Presidential Nominee are undeniable.  Even if he doesn't think so...

On Donald Trump- "He's a bigot and I am not." -- Mr Duterte rejecting comparisons of him with the presumptive Republican nominee in the US presidential election, Mr Donald Trump.

Obviously, the Philippines are not the United States but they are a legitimate democracy (as opposed to the Russian variety) and Duterte's election proves that being a sexist, murderous, jackass isn't barrier to public office.  Sometimes its a fast track.  His popularity is no accident as the Philippine government is one of the most corrupt on the planet.  It's not hard to imagine being fed up with a government that has abused the public trust so much that the people elect an "outsider" to fix things.  Cultural differences aside, people are people.  The Democrats, and Trump haters in general should come up with a better strategy to beat him than righteous indignation.


16 Black Female West Point Cadets won't be disciplined for...doing nothing in the first place.

Black Hooahs matter.  West Point Chapter (Photo: theRoot.com)

Add "taking a group photo" to the list of things black folks can't do without being suspicious.  I honestly expected better from the Army.  I really did.  The years that I served were some of the best of my life and it was one few times I felt judged by my merits alone.  I got what I earned, no more, no less and I never felt what I was mattered more that who I was...or at least what my rank was.  Unfortunately, the current atmosphere of crazy seems to have penetrated the Army's ranks.  I suppose in hindsight, I shouldn't be surprised, since the Army has always reflected the nation it serves, but it still disappointing to see something like this having gone this far.  The photo they took was a West Point tradition but for some reason John Burk, a military blogger who I have respect for as a fellow vet and no nonsense attitude...but seems to be clueless about racism, jumped to the all too familiar conclusion that certain gestures, when done by black folks, must "mean something."  In this case, he assumed that raised fists must mean solidarity with "Black Lives Matter."  He raised enough of a fuss to warrant an "investigation" which, thankfully, the Army found was much ado about nothing.



Why does it matter?

The usual reasons.  Double standards and hypocrisy.  While soldiers are forbidden to express much individualism while serving, including political statements, this isn't the first time the Army has needed to be reminded that it is a diverse group and that diversity must be respected.  Kudos to the Army, though, for showing that it can adapt to the changing culture and recognize faux outrage when they see it.  Burk, judging by his YouTube persona, seems like a good guy, good soldier, and loyal American. However, like most "mainstream" individuals, he's blinded by what he doesn't know and arrogant enough to assume he does instead of, y'know...asking.  The military might be the last true meritocracy left and that leaves a lot of its soldiers with a false sense that this is how the real world works. Especially if you joined at a young impressionable age.  I wish John the best but I would remind him, and anyone else who thinks they "know what they're talking about", when it comes to other groups to listen first and ask questions, instead of potentially ruining the lives of 16 young women because you care more about your right to speak than their right to live.



...Til next week!

Je Suis un Parisien Aujourd'hui

I am a Parisian today.  Yesterday as I was leaving work, headed for a well deserved dinner with my family after a long week I glanced a headline flashing across my Bloomberg.

18 DEAD AFTER EXPLOSION IN PARIS.

I admit, I immediately thought "Islamic terrorism," then chided myself for jumping to conclusions.

You don't know its Muslim terrorists
There have been plenty of Christian terrorists too.
Let's wait for all the details to come out before drawing conclusions.

I tried listening to XM Fantasy Sports to take my mind off it, trying to heed the advice of family and friends that I'm taking on too much stress by worrying about things I can't control.  I was enjoying hearing that my best player, Steelers RB DeAngelo Williams practiced and was probable to play on Sunday.  The Browns are a pretty weak run defense and the host continued to impress upon us how imperative it was to get him in our lineups until he was handed a different piece of news to read on air.  The death toll had risen to 26.  I checked the dial to make sure I was on the right station.  Because the attacks took place near a stadium where the French and Germans were playing an international soccer friendly it, was now a sports story too.  It'd be so "first world" to complain about news events interrupting my sports but in this case it impressed upon me just how widespread this attack was.  The President of France, Francois Hollande was attending the game and had to be evacuated to a safe location.  The sports world, the one place many of us use to escape for a few hours a day had now been touched, no, infected by this cowardly attack.  Again, I tried to put it out of my mind as I got home and prepared to go to dinner.  I couldn't let this ruin the evening.  Unfortunately, I couldn't resist turning on CNN before we left.

60 DEAD IN MULTIPLE EXPLOSIONS IN PARIS

I was now getting angry because I realized this day was starting to feel sickeningly familiar.  The confusion, the body count, the inconceivable savagery, and the cowardice of attacking unsuspecting civilians in multiple locations.  Anyone who's reading this who lived in Washington, D.C. or the New York/New Jersey area 14 years ago knows exactly what I'm referring to.  I enjoyed dinner the best I could but the phone updates from the AP, CNN, and even theScore were relentless.  To resist the urge to keep checking, I put it in my coat so I couldn't feel it vibrate.  When we finally left, I pulled it out to check the time and on my lock screen was update after morbid update.

Team Stream
Breaking: Authorities Confirm 3 killed Outside Stadium during France-Germany Game...
AP
French President says he will declare state of emergency and close borders
AP
French police confirm 2 suicide attacks 1 bombing near Paris stadium
AP
Automatic gunfire heard from outside Paris concert hall.
CNN
French security forces are storming the Barclan theater
AP
At least 100 people killed inside Paris concert hall...

I truncated them for my sanity but my local ABC affiliate, Bleacher Report, and theScore all drove the point home that this attack was so savage, so brutal, and so disgusting that there was no escaping it.

Train bombings in Madrid, the bombing of a Bali nightclub, the 7/7 London train bombings, yesterdays savagery in Paris, and countless other attacks keep driving the point home that sometimes, the propaganda is right.  ISIS has proven themselves to be savage, bloodthirsty, heartless, sadistic murderers with no regard for any human life that doesn't abide by their twisted version of Islam.  Some make the argument that they're representative of true Islam, a claim I vehemently reject as much as I reject the claim that the Klu Klux Klan, anti-abortion extremists, or the IRA are representative of "true" Christianity.  I have seen good works and know too many good people to count them among the monsters coming from Syria.  ISIS and their allies need to be put down and the ideology that spawned them needs to be dealt with.  The former clearly needs to be accomplished militarily and economically.  The latter needs to be accomplished through a Marshall Plan-like initiative that would help move these countries out of the lawlessness and poverty they've been mired in and pull them into the 21st century.  Give their young people something to look forward to besides "killing apostates" or living in fear of a dictatorial government  or the bloody cycle will continue for another millennium.  We spent a decade hunting down and finally killing Osama Bin Laden, only for a man even more savage, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to take his place.  What will we unleash on the world if we continue pursing a purely militaristic solution?

I stand with Paris and the nation of France today not just in spirit but in shared experience.  We know what its like to have your security, comfort, and sense of well being violated by people who don't even know you but have been bred to hate you with every fiber of their being.  The world, like 14 years ago, will be bent on blood lust and revenge.  I know that everyone will be trying to use this tragedy to further their own agenda.  Some already have.  But its important to remember that what IS has done in France repeats the same mistake Al-Qaeda made on 9/11.  Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda found out that their greatest achievement was also the first domino that led to the decimation of their murderous organization and the death of their leader.   For all the differences our countries have at the negotiating table, disgust at the mass murder of innocents is the one thing on which we all agree.  It will not stand unchallenged and will not go unpunished.  There is an old saying that warns that you should be careful what you wish for.  I believe IS is about to find out exactly what that means.

"He looks like a terrorist for f*cks sake!"

"Justice" (Photo: Mohammed Affan/NBC News)

The look on his face says it all.

The absurd thing is that this isn't the first time Ahmed was accused of being a terrorist.In an interview with MSNBC's Chris Hayes, Ahmed says he's been called a "terrorist" and a "bomb maker" since middle school.  For anyone that's ever been "the only one" in their school, community, or job, this sounds depressingly familiar.  Ironically, the mentality that led to his arrest, designed to protect students, does the exact opposite.  Most of us reject extremist propaganda.  Why?  Because most of us live pretty decent lives and the message simply doesn't resonate.  By all accounts, Ahmed and his family are peaceful.  Other than Ahmed's extraordinary talent for building things, they're just like any other American family looking for a great education for their kid.  They're living the American dream far away from an oppressive Sudanese regime.  Why would he care about some radical imam thousands of miles away chanting "Death to America" if his belly is full,  he has clothes on his back, and there's a roof over his head? From his perspective, even though he shares their religion, giving them what they want would really kill Friday night.

Pretty sure this looks as crazy to them as the KKK does to us.

Imagine you're in his shoes.  All you care about is building cool things and if that cute girl that sits behind you would be impressed enough to go out with you.  The other kids at school call you names like, "terrorist" and "bomb maker" but you can handle it.  They're dumb and jealous they can't do what  you can so you don't pay them much attention.  You know there's a future without them.  Then, you decide to bring what you think is a cool project for your engineering class.  Though impressed, the teacher cautions, "I would advise you not to show it to any other teachers."  Of course you think this is strange but you comply.  You don't show anyone but the clock ends up outing you by beeping in English class.  You desperately try to explain to your English teacher, someone you're sure is a reasonable adult, that it's not what she thinks it is.  You fail.  Then you're dragged out of class into a room with 6 more adults.  One is the principal.  The other 5 are cops.  Now, they press the issue, refusing to allow you to call your parents and pushing you to say it's a bomb.  Eventually, they slap the cuffs on you like you're on your way to Guantanamo and there's nothing you can do about it. Suddenly America doesn't seem like such a great place.  You went from being an inquisitive teenager to a terrorist because everyone has seen "Die Hard" too many times.  (Side note: this exactly how Hollywood warps your thinking and is yet another example of why it's not just "entertainment")  Now the rantings of a radical Imam talking about America's lies and hypocrisy don't seem so far fetched. What's happening to you is proof.  This is how radicalization starts.  Congratulations, your fear has just turned an ally into an enemy.

It's clear to me no one believed the "bomb" was real.  The English teacher took the device from him until they dragged him into an interrogation room later in the day.  They never asked the engineering teacher, the only person at the school qualified to determine the device's purpose, if it was intended to be a bomb.  They never called the bomb squad nor did they evacuate the school.  This wasn't about the "bomb" at all.  This was about the fear his origin and name inspire among people who believe that "all terrorists may aren't Muslims but all Muslims are terrorists."  A narrative, by the way, that is dangerously inaccurate.  The humiliation of being perp-walked out of school when your only real crime is that you were smart enough to build a clock sends a very clear message.

"You will never be one of us."

Stealing Blackness - The Absurdity of Identity Politics

Pastor Shaun King (Photo: DLHughley.com)

Pastor Shaun King is under attack today for allegedly lying about his race.  A few weeks ago Rachel Dolezal was outed for doing the same thing and the response has been predictable.  My identity is something I protect fiercely.  It's something that I have no choice but to be proud of lest I sink to the doldrums of despair about the ills of being a non-white male in the USA.  I don't take kindly to people pretending to be something they aren't for selfishly asinine reasons like getting a scholarship or record deal or just for shits and giggles.  So should we be outraged that yet another person is being "outed" for pretending to be black?

(Photo: Telegraph.co.uk)

Absolutely not.

Our country is full of people who blur the identity line when its convenient or obliterate it completely when no one is looking.  Americans have been stealing cultural ideas from each other since its inception.  Moreover, the standard for what makes one "Black", "White", "Asian", or "Native" isn't universally accepted.  In the Dominican Republic black is synonymous with Haitian, despite the fact that everyone on Hispaniola would be considered black by American standards.  In Brazil, my wife and I wouldn't be considered the same race.  The President, who's father, of course, is Kenyan, has been hammered by Black Americans for years for "not being black enough" yet when Bill Clinton was in office he was both lauded and criticized for being "too black", mostly stemming from his love of jazz.  Tiger Woods dislikes being considered black so much he made up a word to describe his ethnicity, despite the fact that he continues to live in a country that invented and still tends to define blackness by the one drop rule.  Gov. Piyush "Bobby" Jindal (R-LA), Gov. Nimrata Nikki Randhawa Haley(R-SC), Former Florida Rep. Allen West (R), Justice Clarence Thomas, Herman Cain, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Dr. Ben Carson are considered the poster children for selling out yet Eminem, Macklemore, Yellawolf, and Action Bronson are considered "real."  Cultural appropriation (aka cultural plagiarism), through its intentional obstruction of the origin of philosophical concepts,  musical styles, mathematics, and even health care further blur the lines about what belongs to who and for how long.  Humans have been doing this for as long as we've existed on this planet so why is it only certain instances of line stepping are greeted with so much scorn, vitriol, and derision? Probably because the line steppers aren't stealing,  they're helping.

She lied, but she's been down for 20 years. (Photo: Today.com)

The people who define these terms, black, white, asian, liberal, conservative, libertarian, etc, etc, usually have an agenda to push.  Cable TV "news" has devolved from a service to keep the American people informed to a vehicle to push partisan propaganda.  Its designed to stir up your emotions by playing on your fears of being irrelevant, marginalized, and forced into silence.  They use every trick in the political playbook to get your ratings and loyalty.  They create controversies that aren't there, to play on your biases, stoke your natural human fear of "the other", and keep feeding you what you want to hear until you're so addicted to the echo chamber that everything else, no matter how reasonable sounds like white noise.  The website (I refuse to give them publicity by mentioning their name here) that allegedly outed King is the same website that slandered former Georgia State Director of Rural Development Shirley Sherrod and community outreach NGO ACORN.  Despite the fact the website's allegations were proven false both times, neither ACORN nor Sherrod's career survived the fallout.  You can read about the trumped up scandals in depth here and here.

Racial Hierarchy in Brazil

The real question we should be asking them and of ourselves, is why does it matter?  If King is white...so what?  Are we so hung up on identity politics that we can't accept his help?  If King lied about his parentage maybe that says more about who's opinion we consider legitimate if he and Dolezal had to lie to be taken seriously?  Does a person have to be black to speak out about black injustice?  Does a person have to be poor to stand against poverty?  Charities wouldn't exist if that were the case.  A great man once said his dream was that his children would not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.  It's times like this that we're called to put that mantra to test.  This is where the rubber meets the road and we need to let people know that it doesn't matter what your background is, your actions and the fruit of your works define what you are.  Shaun and Rachel have clearly decided where their loyalties lie.  That makes them black to me.

[Update: It appears they've gone 3 for 3 in peddling libelous bullshit]