The Bad Negro

If the charge is Black protectionism, I plead guilty. Fine. But I think it’s deeper than that. I fully understand that my sense of what Blacks must overcome in this country to become successful and my sensitivity towards the extra scrutiny Blacks in power and prominence endure causes me to err on the side of tolerance for most Black people. If Mike Vick wants to kill some dogs on the weekend, I don’t agree and I think he should stop but I wouldn’t send him to prison. If president Obama doesn’t seem as effective as promised, give him a break he’s dealing with a lot.

More so than a protectionist, I am a huge fan of the “bad negro”. I love to see when Black men refuse to defer and exist as a thorn in the side of the collective conscience that fears a slave loosed. In my opinion this is most obvious in the world of sports. The whole world believed that LBJ owed Cleveland his career or he would be less of a man is he left and didn’t pursue the “legacy outlined for him at New York or, to a lesser extent, Chicago. What did he do? He went to Miami to play alongside the men he wanted to play with and instantly became the most hated figure in professional sports. I researched it; he didn’t have his car reupholstered in nun leather. He became a bad Negro because he exercised his right to make an independent decision and he planned it with two other Blacks, seemingly without a single white paternalist’s help. The national anger wasn’t really about betrayal, it was about power.

Albert Haynesworth has made a tremendous amount of money and has been the subject of a tremendous amount of blame and animosity. The Redskins (I feel bad typing that name) are a terrible team. They have an, old, untalented offense and a defense that could use a tune-up as well Instead of blaming the general dysfunction of the organization This one player is to blame because the R-dskins can’t score touchdowns or can’t tackle running backs or can’t cover opposing receivers. Mike Shanahan has made obvious and frequent mistakes, including benching his effective Black quarterback in favor of a White quarterback who promptly lost the game. Conversely, in San Francisco, Mike Singletary has taken the brunt of the blame for his team not meeting expectations although his (White) Quarterback is one of the quietest first selection busts in the league.

Protectionism isn’t racism. I liken the tendency to rooting for the underdog, hoping a persona non grata can etch out a place to succeed by his own terms. If Mike Vick would have said, “eff you league. I’m not apologizing anymore. I did my time and you need me to play. I’m changing my life for me not because you have some sort of control or influence over me.” I may have moved to Philly. The bad Negro represents a threat to the power structure and I enjoy it especially the customary overreaction and the tension that lasts until the prepared apology.

The Joys of Entrapment

We can all sleep a little easier tonight knowing that the U.S. Government is patrolling Facebook for impressionable young minds. Muhammad Hussein (Antonio Martinez) is clearly an angry and perhaps confused kid. Was Hussein a threat to our freedom or safety? Doubtful. When approached by FBI officials to start planning a terror attack, he suggested stuffing socks into the tailpipes of officers vehicles.
How dangerous could he really be? For a moment, consider he was discovered because he made some inflammatory posts on Facebook and has no knowledge of terror tactics as indicated by the FBI. If terrorist groups really recruited in the same way, we would have no fear of the next 9-11; we would see it coming a mile away. If you give the average male teen a bomb and tell him to go attack who he perceives as his enemy chances are he’s going to consider detonating it, if only to see it go boom. Couple that with what I’m sure was at least some healthy encouragement from the FBI and instantly your confused kid becomes public enemy number 1. In the end, we all feel safer for knowing we weren't safe at all and American kids are becoming radicalized everyday by the FBI. Why don't we start giving bombs to white supremacists that say they want to blow up the projects? Why don't we give a faux nuke to Tea partiers who believe the government has gotten too big? We won't do that because we have already taken the pill and we're well on our way to fulfilling the agenda of those who wish to vilify and marginalize Islam for political gain.

P.S.
I understand that the majority of people who make anti-Islamic statements have little understanding of Islam. The Americans against Islam movement is generally what’s en-vogue; however the consequence of such a pursuit has lasting effects especially when perpetrated against our own youth.

For Your Consideration

Hey Douchebag! If your trying to lay low until this whole "rape thing" blows over, maybe you shouldn't make yourself the most hated figure in the international diplomatic world.

Dealing With Loss

We endure losses nearly every day, some bigger than others and we each cope in different ways. In general we are only aware of the most obvious losses, the ones that force us to reconsider or correct previous ideas. For example, we may regret that a family member has decided to move across the country, we are at a loss. Of course we consider the larger scenario as the loss. Our family member will not be here at our disposal; we can call her but can’t see her. Maybe she’ll be around for Thanksgiving but not to help us move into a new apartment and so on. Perhaps we have a tendency to overlook a series of smaller losses that occurred before she made her decision whether that was years of taking her for granted, instances of distancing yourself from her or a combination of the two. The impact of the loss is enhanced by one, consciously or subconsciously, making those revelations in hindsight.
We lament having made poor choices in the past and are forced to course correct by apologizing for not being a better sibling or trying to be a better one in the future. Sometimes, we even concede defeat and beat ourselves up for not realizing our mistakes before time ran out, vowing not to repeat that mistake again.
The greater losses are the losses that we may never detect, the losses that change us without our knowledge, and the losses that inform our future decisions without our permission. I call these losses of self. We endure them whenever we choose not to speak out against the abuse of power, whenever we choose to compromise our principles for the sake of convenience and whenever we choose to neglect our sense of self to accommodate for someone else’s growth or happiness. We accept the terms of such losses when good enough will suffice and we don't submit our humble best because others don't recognize or appreciate our efforts. The result is never what our intentions convinced us was possible. We sacrifice a portion of our soul in hopes that we can derive some benefit. Truthfully, in these instances our concept of the greater good is flawed and as things fall into place our enfeebled souls reserve animosity for the conditions, under which, it was attacked. Bit by bit, our essence resembles something that we detest more than what we’ve conceived it to be and we are unable to rely on our moral compass although we want to so much. For the lucky or strong that realization forces us to reassess and for the rest of us we are made to wait for a catastrophe of self.