Virginia Apologizes for Slavery

WHOOHOOO!!! Pass the peas, Virginia decided to officially apologize for her role in slavery, after one of it's delegates publically stated that African-Americans should get over slavery. I think it would have had a more sincere meaning if A). it wouldn't have come after the politically incorrect and insensitive remarks made by 80 year old Delegate Frank Hargrove and B). there was a financial disposition attached to it. Oh yeah, and they threw in a shot out to the Native Americans too (since they were in such an apologetic mood, I guess they decided to kill two birds).

Frankly, no pun intended, I couldn't give a rats ass about an apology. I lump it in the category with all those treaties with Native Americans that you didn't mean either. More importantly, to me at least, is that you recognize the unfair economic advantage that white Americans experienced during those times and fairly compensate the African-American nation that resides within the borders of the USA. Am I talking reparations? No, I'm talking Just Compensation. Share the wealth. The price that the continent of Africa suffered, and her people who were brought here and severed from all that they knew; beaten, brutalized, and murdered unmercifully, deserves more than a mia culpa apology from one tiny state in the union.

Do I think Just Compensation will ever happen? No. Power and money usually isn't ceded without a firm and steady twisting of the arm of sorts. And America knows that African-Americans aren't in the mental position to do any long-termed mental arm twisting. We may shout, jump up and down, and march around carrying signs and singing "We shall overcome," but we aren't going to voluntarily do anything that takes us out of our comfort zone. She knows that if the Bloods and the Crips ever stopped killing each long enough to see that historically, the federal government has always had it out for them, she might have a larger problem on her hands than she thought possible. Those guys are seasoned killers, and they almost pulled it off after the Rodney King beating, but weak minds are easily distracted and it wasn't long before they were back murdering one another in the streets of Los Angeles.

It was once believed that America's greatest fear was the Black man. Even I thought that to be the case. I was always reminded of that when I walked down the street and witnessed white women clutching their purses tighter or lock their car doors when I walked by. But then I realized that America doesn't fear the Black man. She doesn't fear the physically imposing and strong Black males you see during professional football games either. It wasn't until I began going back to the gym on a regular basis and commiting myself to physical strength conditioning that I began realizing what she really feared: A Black man whose mind and body are equally strong. Not only does he possess the physical ability to destroy you, he has the mental capacity to out manuever you as well. That is why the image of the Black male lacking scholastical aptitude is extremely important to perpetuate, and early on in his developmental stages. I can remember having the ability to read and write at a very young age-well before I attended school. But by the 4th grade, I was somehow put in a remedial reading class. By the time I reached high school, I was failing classes and barely attending classes at all. Eventually, I dropped out, took my G.E.D. and joined the USAF. I remember scoring extremely high on the G.E.D. and the lady administering the test asking me why I wasn't finishing school. It was obvious I had the knowledge. I filed that conversation away in the back of my mind because it was to become extremely useful as I dealt with the stigma of failing high school. I would always remember the words of that woman. Those words I carried with me when, for the first time in my life, I walked across a stage an accepted a diploma-my Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management.

As long as Black women continue to, unknowingly, continue the cycle of Willie Lynch and retard the mental abilities of Black men, America knows she has nothing to fear. She will never have to worry about a collective race of people standing together and demanding more than just a token apology; demanding an equal place at the table of the civilized. As long as we've got MTV, BET, and a populace whose measured collective average intelligence rises no higher than G.E.D., she won't be cutting checks anytime soon.

RCP

Bastards of the Party

This is a must see for anyone who is remotely linked to the Los Angeles and it's gang problem. Cle "Bone" Sloan in his freshman production manages to capture the history of African-American's and their strained relationship with the city of Los Angeles and the federal government. He provides a rich backdrop that lays a foundation of gang relations not only with the community, but with political parties and even the F.B.I. and specifically J. Edgar Hoover and the infamous Counter Intelligence Program used to dismantle the Black Panther Party, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King jr.

Bastards poses many questions but attempts to answer none. It highlights the depth at which the gang problem exists in Los Angeles. Those who think that a simple cease fire or truce will lessen the tensions between the government manufactured enemies delude themselves. Sloan was able to reveal a deep-seated hatred between the red and blue factions that won't be easily appeased. Even when a loosely arranged truce was arranged, gang members themselves testify to LAPD involvement in keeping tensions between the two groups high. One gang member said that police officers confiscated his car, drove it to a rival gang neighborhood and conducted a drive-by-then returned his car to him.

Gang members still fear that any truce will not be upheld by rival members still grieving over fallen comrades. Listening to the testimony of member after member, its easy to see that the problem is far more complex than what meets the eye. I've contemplated how the problem could be solved and the only solution two solutions I arrived at were to either scatter all members across the United States to locations where tensions do not exist (which is virtually impossible), or if a common enemy similar to the one that appeared during the uprising in 1992 after the Rodney King injustice. Rivalrys were laid aside long enough to vent frustrations with the justice system that have been long standing.

I would like to see my brothers in Los Angeles put their weaponry aside long enough to join hands and rebuild their community. I would like them to recognize that, like all other people, we do have a common interest-it's called survival and it is so much sweeter when communities and together and tackle the problem as one.

The Prince

The L Word

I like the "L" word. I watch it religiously every season and I love the characters. The show is well written and, although it has nothing to do with heterosexual males, I feel priveleged to be able to look in on a world that absolutely loathes me. Perhaps it something I'm used to. Being an African-American in a world that views me as the lowest thing on the planet perhaps has prepared me for being on the outside-never ever fully being accepted. I don't feel a part of anything in this world. My family doesn't fully understand me-but they tolerate me. I don't feel close to anyone anymore. But for one day of the week, I bask in the reverly lesbians enjoying a world without men.

I don't blame them-men have been pretty awful to women throughout history. I'm watching Marle Matlin and Jennifer Beals get high and I miss it (getting high that is). When I got high every night of the week, I enjoyed losing myself and not worrying as much about things as I do when I'm sober. I haven't smoked in so long and I know that it's best for me that I don't. I can't focus when I do. I try to remember things but give up because I just don't give a fuck. But I digress-I just wish that I could find that which I'm looking for. Some enclave that understands my sufferage. Perhaps I'll die without ever finding it.

It's funny to watch the women of the L word acting just like men. It's weird. They've condemned us for behaving this way for decades, and when finally they discover autonomy, they emulate us. This world is crazy and I don't feel comfortable in it. I don't know if I ever did. I always thought that there was this place that I would end up where things would be the way that I envisioned them. But I've yet to find that place and at the age of 43, I don't think I'll ever find it. I don't know what it will take for women to discover men again, but I figure by the time it happens, I'll be too old to care.