Currently listening too...

Swizz beats' latest single. It just matches my current mood. I've been listening to it all aftertoon.

Don Imus part 2...

Go grab some snacks this is a long one...

As I do most Sunday mornings, I woke up to  watch the Sunday morning political TV shows. Clearly the big topic on hand today was the Don Imus/Rutgers controversy. Everyone, from Russ Parr ( a Nationally Syndicated black DJ) to Gwen Ifill of PBS (including the sport reporters from ESPN) got a chance to share their two cents about the subject. What I heard today on the various shows left me speechless and frustrated.

Most of the discussions lacked sincerity and were full of hypocrisy. First of all most than half the people on these shows have been on the Don Imus' show multiple times over the course of his 20 years of tenure to promote books, organization, causes and etc... They have come to know Imus are have befriended him. Asking these people to then discuss this issue, is in essence asking them to participate in a public lynching of a "friend." If my friend messes up, although I may tell them in private they screwed up pretty bad, I will go to bat for them in the public arena. That's what friends do. To ask this journalists to do otherwise is asking a bit much of them, especially after the guy lost his job.

These discussions were too politically correct. First off, the token black analyst, be it Ifill, Donna Brazile (whom i have a great deal of respect for), Clarence Page or Colby King (very impressive resume) gets the first crack at the issue. Just because they are black doesn't mean they should get the first say on the issues. I think this actually frames the discussion as a black issue, which is not. This is a NATIONAL issue. As Imus showed us, blacks are not the only using these derogatory terms, they are not the only ones purchasing the CDs, and they are not the only giving a platform to hip hop artists. I also felt that discussions were not genuine from some of the participants as they should have been. David Brooks of the New York Times went out this way not to step on Ifill's toes while discussing this (see transcript starting the bottom of page 2). One can argue that Brooks did it out of courtesy to her since she had been personally "attacked" by Imus, which would be a refreshing change in today's world of personal attacks politics. However until we can have an honest conversation, one in which every side can express than views and opinions without fear of offending any other side, we are just going to sweep this issue under the rug and come back to it in a couple of months, best case scenario-- in a couple of years.

Two names that were in every one of these panels were Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Sharpton and Jackson are men whose accomplishments and work should be heralded in American history. These two men have fought valiantly for civil rights of black Americans and for that we should forever be grateful. However, the fight has changed and you can't teach old dogs new tricks. No longer are their tactics and goals in sync with the ones of the rest of the African American community. I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that most of the blacks in the country no longer consider these men to be leadership figures. The mainstream media is one of the reasons why these men have stayed in the forefront of the news. The media has failed to introduce any new voices to racial debates. Your guess is as good as mine as of why this is the case. Moreover, the mainstream media has failed to accurately represent the diverse views and opinions within the black community itself when having these discussions. The other reason why these two have been able to continuing to "speak for" the blacks in the country is lack of new leaders to step up to plate and fight the hard fights. An example of this would be Harold Ford Jr., former Congressman of Tennessee. Ford ran for Senate with an endorsement from Imus (interview transcript), but when Imus was under fire Ford was no where to be found. If you're going to ask black Americans and the rest of the country to take you seriously as leader, you must be able to fight tough fights. Harold could have have help framed the debate on race,sex, and language in the country and propel himself in the national spot light as an alternative to Sharpton and Jackson. To be fair to Ford, just because you're running for office doesn't mean you want to be seen as spokesperson for the entire black community. Look at Condie Rice. Needless to say that Ford and I will no longer friends on Facebook.

Lastly, although he doesn't play nice with other reports sometimes, I want to leave you with this article and video from Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star (formerly of ESPN). I clearly don't agree with every word he says, but I agree with his main points.

What are your thoughts on the subject?  I'm really interested in hearing what my peers have to say on this issues. If you don't feel confortable leaving a comment, feel free to shoot me an email at policts  at makembe dot com.

Sorry for the Novel.

UPDATE:  Knojo Nnamdi had a show today about the future of the NAACP.  Take a listen.  It's about time this discussion reaches the public.

Currently listening too...

A Friend of a friend that somewhat follows the blog suggested that I check out the Plain White Ts' Here There Delilah.  I liked the song so I checked out the rest of the album, All that we needed.   I was less than impressed but decided to give them another chance.  So I listened to their most recent album title Every Second Counts. This one was not much better.  But I like the tracks Making a Memory  and Write You A song.  The single Hate (I Really don't Like You) came off of this album. Although I liked Hey There Delilah, I did not much like the rest of their stuff. Their music is like Similar to Fall Out Boy, The All-American Rejects and My Chemical Romance (I only know about the last group because of one my ex). I guess that makes sense since Rhapsody lists them all under Punk-pop, which I'm not a big fan off but Enjoy the video. 

My take the Don Imus controversy

That's some nappy-headed hos there, I'm going to tell you that

[Don Imus -- Video]

Don Imus has since apologized for that comment.  He's gone on the Al Sharpton radio show to, as he put it, "face the music".   But tons of people are still calling for his resignation.  What Imus was wrong, very wrong.  But that aside there are few thing that I like to point out.

• There is great hypocrisy that exist in the Black community and other minorities communities.  Chris rock has said much worse and has received standing ovations.   Carlos Mencia, of the comedy central, is so offensive that I can't give him more than five minutes of my time. The much beloved Tupac Shukar and Eminem have both referred to C. Dolores Tucker, a well known civil right activist, as "Bytch", "Slut" and "mutterfucker",  when she took a stance against using the same type of sexist rhetoric that Don Imus used to refer to the Rutgers basketball team.  The NAACP then try to award him with an image award.  Can you imagine the uproar, if any country music singer was to refer to MLK as anything but national hero and receive an award from the CMA ?  Call it edgy, call it cool, call it artistic, call it whatever you want, but the fact of the matter is that when this type of rhetoric comes from people we like, most of us don't have a problem turning our head the other way.   This can't be case.  If we allow people who are part of the community to use these offensive terms, we have to be ready to allow other people to also use them.  We can not appropriate words that have a clearly negative connotation in history, reintroduce in the pop culture vernacular and then complain when people of different race  use these same words.  No one has ever been offended by "Black is Beautiful" (Not referring to Guinness).  If we want people to stop using negative words, we have to show by example and not just complain when some we don't like uses it.  There are some (book) in the African American community that criticize the type speech no matter who it comes from and should be commended for that and also try to educate the community about why they shouldn't be used outside academia.
• For all uproar, very few people really care about the issue.  Calling for Imus' firing is the correct thing to do for at the moment.  This nation has very deep rooted racial problems that no one is ready to deal with and as longs as the right hands are greased and you're not to public about it, it's Ok.  Remember Trent Lott?

  When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over the years, either

  [Wikipedia - Trent Lott Entry]

  He resigned over that comment. But guess where he is now? Oh yeah. He is the Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate.  Clearly the people really upset about his comments made sure to keep the lid on him.  Remember George Allen and the macaca controversy? Well he is now a Regan Scholar at the Young America's Foundation.  Again what happened to all those people who were so outraged by his comments?

• This shows the failure of the NAACP as organization.  It shows how this organization has failed to evolve as racial issues in this country take on a different facade.  It's has not attempted any education campaign about the new issues facing the different races and to how to best deal with them.   This is not the first time this happens, nor will it be the last.  They could partner up with other minorities organizations, come with a curriculum, and lobby the Congressional Black caucus to have a law passed that mandates TV/Radio host must pass this class and be re-certify every so often.  Of course that means that they have to update the curriculum and I really have no faith that they can do that.  I think ESPN does more during black history month than the NAACP does all year. 
• For the bad things he said, Imus did all say the Tennessee team was "cute".  The Tennessee team is composed of 8 black females.  Was that comment racist or sexist?

If you've been following this story, what's your take?

Currently Listening too...

 I can't remember the last time Timbaland released an album.  So when I saw that he was dropping a new album titled "Shock value" this week, I was all about it.  Since the last album he dropped, he's made beats for Justin Timberlake, Bubba Sparxxx, Nelly Furtado, and countless others.  Listening to this album, the beats lived up to the hype.  They showchase Timbaland's genius for creating beats and bringing together different style, cultures and make work well  to together. However, lyrically, this was not his strongest outing. For the most part, he sings the chorus and seems to be guest artist on most of the tracks.  I guess no one ever loved him for his lyrics.  For those of you who can't get enough of Timberlake , you can find him on most of tracks.   I can seem a one or two club bangers on the album but not much more.  I was quite disappointed. I would not by the album but my favorite tracks are:

1. Oh Timbaland
2. Bombay
3. Apologize
4. Give to me.

Rhapsody says:

By 2007, Timbaland got dance-flavored pop down to a science: giant, jittery bass lines; loose, snaking melodies; a guest roster that included some of the biggest names in music. Tim's sexy surrogate Justin Timberlake pops up on a few tracks (the best of which is "Give It To Me," where Nelly Furtado stops by for a threesome), but the real shock will come later when the legendary hip-hop producer teams up with Fall Out Boy ("One and Only"), the Hives ("Throw It on Me") and Elton John (the surprisingly decent "2 Man Show").

[ Sam Chennault ]

If you've listned to the album, what did you think of it?