Monthly Archives: July 2016

Shad Moss (Bow Wow) Said What?!

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In our current social climate where everyone is just one “I wish somebody would” away from ranting, raving, or worse, harming someone about a socio-political topic, black folks have become immensely aroused (with good reason) with the current divide and conquer racial narrative propagated by the media. In essence, many black folks are looking to align themselves with so-called “black consciousness” thinking Negroes and looking to alienate or scrutinize others who either dare to tote the line of being “color-blind Negroes” or retorts the “new black” lingo. Such is the case for Shad “Bow Wow” Moss, hip-hop’s last adolescent act prodigy by way of So So Def legendary producer, Jermaine Dupri. Moss in a series of tweets lasting several hours, spoke on how nice the Trump Hotels were and how he’s not really into voting because he believes the system is controlled. This caused some of his followers to question his voting allegiance whether he was pro-Trump or pro-Hillary, due to him being enthralled with the Republican nominee’s hotels

 

Then Mr. Bow Wow received a guilt trip tweet about what our ancestors did so he could have the right to vote. Then, the 29-year-old entertainer responded in a series of tweets about his ‘mixed ancestry’ to the immediate disgust of the ever trolling ‘Black Twitter’ fanbase. This petulant situation continued to snowball out of control once Moss revealed a picture of his biological father—which further ignited a social media firestorm among the sensitive likes of Black Twitter and Instagram.

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Here’s my take on this insignificant matter: Shad Moss was basically talking about politics from his perspective while at the same time appreciating the hospitality, comfort, and luxuries of staying at a premiere Trump hotel. I actually agree with Shad’s position when it comes to voting because the candidates are in fact controlled (which is another word for selected). Even though I applaud people like Carmelo Anthony and others who are using their platforms to take a stance when it comes to social issues; however, we can’t expect ALL athletes and entertainers to be on one accord and Bow Wow is no exception. He gave his honest answer about politics and how he isn’t pro-Trump, yet you have Negroes fussing about him claiming his Cuban, White and Native roots?  I understand he’s cocky, arrogant, and continues to hit the reset button in his mind which keeps him “arrested” in the 2000’s era when his status was most potent as a child star. This is one of the main reasons why he receives a titanic load of hatred because Moss truly believes he’s attained the level of greatness which pencils him in with the upper echelon of hip-hops elites (feel free to laugh people). Based off the tweets I’ve seen, Moss should have of done a better job in explaining his “blackness” because once you declare yourself as a racial/ethnical “other” (when the visual doesn’t add up), be prepared for the ambush of Black Twitter to make you trend for all the wrong reasons. Peace and love y’all!

 

In a Climate of Racial Tension, Is Carmelo Anthony Willing to Risk It All To Make A Difference?

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The 21st century Negro athlete has been all but censored when it comes to social political issues within the African American community. It is looked as the big “no-no” in the eyes of advertisers, endorsements, public relations and the NBA/NFL itself. Gone are the days of Jim Brown, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and the boisterous Muhammed Ali. These were men of principle, character, and weren’t afraid to embrace who they were and where they came from. They understood being socially aware could cost them everything they worked for, but they knew black brotherhood was not only an iconic symbol to engraved in the minds of black America, but a warning to white America that we as a people shall not be moved. Insert the modern day athlete: when unless it’s the current social movements of the day (aka everything non-black), the athlete is obligated to appear in commercials and…

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In a Climate of Racial Tension, Is Carmelo Anthony Willing to Risk It All To Make A Difference?

carmelo-anthony-opt-out

The 21st century Negro athlete has been all but censored when it comes to social political issues within the African American community. It is looked as the big “no-no” in the eyes of advertisers, endorsements, public relations and the NBA/NFL itself. Gone are the days of Jim Brown, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and the boisterous Muhammed Ali. These were men of principle, character, and weren’t afraid to embrace who they were and where they came from. They understood being socially aware could cost them everything they worked for, but they knew black brotherhood was not only an iconic symbol to engraved in the minds of black America, but a warning to white America that we as a people shall not be moved. Insert the modern day athlete: when unless it’s the current social movements of the day (aka everything non-black), the athlete is obligated to appear in commercials and functions for foolish and insulting causes like Sheryl Sandberg’s gynocentric inspired, Lean In. I don’t even need to mention how the LGBT agenda continues to have a burgeoning presence in the league with every team being garnered pride shirts; hosting LGBT game nights; and WNBA player’s broaching the question for pay inequality compared to the NBA professionals. You have breast cancer awareness month which seems abundant and repetitive throughout the year having the players wear pink on it on multiple occasions. Yet, when it comes to men’s health, they have an utter blatant disregard like heart disease and prostate cancer doesn’t affect us? Give me a break!

This leads me to the New York Knick’s star forward Carmelo Anthony. Anthony is recognized league wide as a top ten performer when healthy, and become the face of one of the NBA’s most historic and influential franchises. Anthony sharing the memorable photo of black brotherhood on his Twitter and Instagram a few days ago, may have just entered enemy territory playing for the NBA’s largest market. Melo is calling for his professional contemporaries to challenge their local and state governments and address real social political issues. Showing up with an “I Can’t Breathe” t-shirt and wearing your jerseys inside out during a playoff game, will no longer cut it. As you can remember, the former Clippers owner Donald Sterling was recorded making incendiary remarks about African Americans which led him to sell the team to Microsoft guru Steve Ballmer in 2014. The reason why I bring this up because is both teams who were scheduled to play that day (Clippers vs. Warriors) could have exude their power as players by putting an fiscal stranglehold on the NBA and its advertisers by simply refusing to play. There lies the problem. Melo is not only dealing with the threat of losing endorsements for standing for black people and causes, he will have to deal with the emasculated, coddled, and socially docile black male athlete. Hopefully, with the recent killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile by what some would identify as “race soldiers,” maybe some these athletes will grow a pair after all.

A perfect example of how much power black athletes have in their sports programs is the incident which took place at the University of Missouri late last year. Lead by allegations from micro-aggressive students of racial discrimination, 32 black football players refused to participate in all football related activities until the universities’ President, Tim Wolfe, had resigned. Maybe this could be the example Anthony and others who respond to his clarion call can galvanize; in extreme circumstances of course. In a post which appears on his Instagram and website ThisIsMelo.com, the Knick’s forward passionately expressed the need for change and how even he—by any means–would lead the charge:

Look I’ll even lead the charge, By Any Means Necessary. We have to be smart about what we are doing though. We need to steer our anger in the right direction. The system is Broken. Point blank period. It has been this way forever. Martin Luther King marched. Malcolm X rebelled. Muhammad Ali literally fought for US. Our anger should be towards the system. If the system doesn’t change we will continue to turn on the TVs and see the same thing. We have to put the pressure on the people in charge in order to get this thing we call JUSTICE right…”

Depending how far Melo is willing to stick his neck out there for social change only time will tell. But I personally salute Mr. Anthony for being brave enough for even challenging his contemporaries in a time where racial tension continues to swell nationally. It’s time out for soft shoe protests which judging by what’s going on in Baton Rouge has become a late season version of Marde Gras. See what the corporations are afraid of and absolutely distain is black athletes involving themselves in black political causes. Not to mention if THEY were to gentrify our inner cities (instead of greedy corporations) plus create neighborhood businesses that will establish an economic base. Because while I understand going to our local politicians and assembly men demanding change; however, we all know that this change we long for will only remain daydream without having monetary clout.  I’m sure Carmelo is aware of this as he looks to amend a system that even he admits has been perpetually “broken”. Peace and love y’all.

To see the rest of Carmelo’s post on “It’s Time to Step up and Take Charge”, click here

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After a Slaying In Baton Rouge; Should Jesse Williams Be Fired Now?

#PaperlessThoughts80

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After delivering such a riveting message during last week’s BET Awards, Grey’s Anatomy star Jesse Williams went from a thunderous ovation from a crowd of his peers, to a week of receiving malicious criticism from Conservative cowards; who set up a spiteful petition to have him fired from ABC. See, Mr. Williams’ words wasn’t about his blackness, playing the victim card, or him being some spoiled overpaid actor using his platform to bash cops. Not even close. His words were about what took place in Baton Rouge, Louisiana last night when a young man identified as Alton Sterling, 37, was gunned down by some bloodthirsty cops.  Eerie; however, but prophetic.

In an updated story from the Advocate: “Alton Sterling, a 37-year old man who sold CDs, was shot and killed by a Baton Rouge police officer Tuesday morning outside a convenience store on North Foster Drive after “some type of…

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Thug Lovin: “Black Women’s Undying Love For Thugs.”

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1000wIt’s no secret that black women or women in general, are attracted to a man with some kind of power or influence. Whether it’s your prestigious entrepreneur, entertainer, politician or congress men, even down to your local pastor; women love a man with a position of power. Kind of ironic those feminist women crave power disguised as equality; but then turn around and say they want a guy with some sort of “status?” But that’s another story for another day. What I want to deal with is the fascination that black women have for thugs. Even one of the most respected female emcees, MC Lyte, had to pay homage back in the day with the song, “Ruff Neck.” It actually happened to be one her biggest records by the way. However, what I want to do is to try to understand the psychology that women have when it comes to…

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Why Pastor Jamal Bryant Didn’t Listen To Chris Brown

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Nearly two years ago next month, the black church and various other media outlets and blogs couldn’t wait to dispel the latest sentiments from a message involving mega church Pastor Jamal Bryant. Bryant, who’s certainly no stranger when it comes to controversy both in and outside of the pulpit, received an enormous amount of scrutiny and public backlash when he preached a sermon that contained a line from current R&B bad boy Chris Brown and his latest song at that time, “These H**s [Girls] Ain’t Loyal.” Seems like the mega church Pastor can’t leave these ‘girls’ alone as yet another woman has come forward alleging Bryant is the father of her newborn son. According to reports from The Christian Times, the child’s mother, Latoya Shawntee Odom, a 34-year old Californian massage therapist, bare it all to Obnoxious Television through a series of text messages that she had a sexual…

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After a Slaying In Baton Rouge; Should Jesse Williams Be Fired Now?

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After delivering such a riveting message during last week’s BET Awards, Grey’s Anatomy star Jesse Williams went from a thunderous ovation from a crowd of his peers, to a week of receiving malicious criticism from Conservative cowards; who set up a spiteful petition to have him fired from ABC. See, Mr. Williams’ words wasn’t about his blackness, playing the victim card, or him being some spoiled overpaid actor using his platform to bash cops. Not even close. His words were about what took place in Baton Rouge, Louisiana last night when a young man identified as Alton Sterling, 37, was gunned down by some bloodthirsty cops.  Eerie; however, but prophetic.

In an updated story from the Advocate: “Alton Sterling, a 37-year old man who sold CDs, was shot and killed by a Baton Rouge police officer Tuesday morning outside a convenience store on North Foster Drive after “some type of altercation” with two officers, officials said.

Baton Rouge police did not provide much information about what escalated the incident between the officers and Sterling or what prompted an officer to fire his weapon. A witness, however, described police as “aggressive” and said Sterling was armed but was not holding his gun or touching his pockets during the incident. Police later retrieved a gun from the man’s pocket, said the witness, shop owner Abdullah Muflahi.

Around 12:35 a.m., Baton Rouge police responded to the Triple S Food Mart at 2112 N. Foster Drive after an anonymous caller indicated that a man in a red shirt who was selling CDs outside the store pointed a gun at someone, telling them to leave the property, Baton Rouge Police Department spokesman Cpl. L’Jean McKneely said.

East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner William “Beau” Clark said the initial results of an autopsy performed Tuesday show Sterling died due to a homicide and suffered multiple — meaning more than two — gunshot wounds to the chest and back.” (http://theadvocate.com/news/16311988-77/report-one-baton-rouge-police-officer-involved-in-fatal-shooting-of-suspect-on-north-foster-drive)

**Warning video contains graphic footage**

Then there was this…

In a petition started by Erin Smith on Change.Org, Smith accused Williams of a “racist, hate speech against law enforcement and white people at the BET Awards.” She also wasn’t fond of the show’s creator, Shondra Rhymes, accusing her of “condoning” his actions and even calling Ms. Rhymes a “hypocrite.” Here’s a small excerpt of what Smith wrote:

“Upon receiving a humanitarian award at the BET awards, Jesse Williams released a cascade of inappropriate, unprofessional and racist commentary against police officers and Caucasians. Had any one of his offensive words been said by any other race other than an African American, they would’ve been publicly shamed, fired from whatever job they had, lost endorsements, advertisers, etc…”

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Smith’s petition–a disgusting one to say the least–has over 18, 000 supporters, needing 25,000 signatures to achieve its ridiculous goal. People like Erin and TheBlaze Tomi Lahren, really don’t want to hear about any socio-political issues involving the Negro in this country. We should instead, not focus on race because if you do, I will pull out my conservative bias talking points and remind you who was the people who freed you from slavery. According to them, the subject of race can only be addressed when they control the narrative; which always reminds us what we’re not doing, should be doing, or what ‘they’ have done to help us.

RT.com has just released the names of the officers involved in the death of Alton Sterling: Blane Salamoni, 4-year veteran, and Howie Lake II, 3-year veteran. It has also been noted that one of the officers, Lake II, was involved in a prior police killing in December 2014, RT.com reports.

Prior to today, I must admit I was not a proponent of the Black Lives Matter movement; even after today, I will hold fast to my convictions about the movement. The only movement we as black people should only be a part of, are the ones which are not funded by white handlers. History teaches us from the Civil Rights Movement, when it was completely funded and controlled by white handlers, black folks as a collective received nothing from that movement. Unless you want to count retired or deceased Negro leaders, whose legacy left us singing spirituals, the DNC party, and no economy because we were satisfied with the white man liking us. However, even in the aftermath of this police execution, locals from the Baton Rouge area have flooded the streets in protest (which they should) being assisted by community leaders and organizers—while black America holds its breath waiting to breathe for justice.

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“What we’ve been doing is looking at the data and we know police somehow manage to deescalate, disarm, and not kill white people every day”--Jesse Williams

While I may not agree with Mr. Williams’ Black Lives Matter Movement or some of the sentiments he made during his compelling speech; however, we both agree our lives matter and we shouldn’t have to include “all lives” when historically and concurrently, all lives still aren’t created equal. Peace and love y’all.

Did Kevin Durant Pull A LeBron James Move to the Warriors?

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In perhaps one of the biggest and most shocking free agent signings in the history of the NBA, former league MVP Kevin Durant agrees to a two-year $54.3 million contract (with a player option, of course) with 2015 NBA Champion, the Golden State Warriors. Durant was everything ‘independent’ once he became free agent just days ago, but when the most sought out off-season talent made his LeBron esk decision today, there was nothing but fireworks on social media which drew nationwide attention. In a letter written by Durant entitled “My Next Chapter” which appeared on the Players’ Tribune, a mature Durant states he “understood cognitively what he was facing” at this stage of his life:

“The primary mandate I had for myself in making this decision was to have it based on the potential for my growth as a player — as that has always steered me in the right direction. But I am also at a point in my life where it is of equal importance to find an opportunity that encourages my evolution as a man: moving out of my comfort zone to a new city and community which offers the greatest potential for my contribution and personal growth…’’(http://www.theplayerstribune.com/kevin-durant-nba-free-agency-announcement/)

Although Durant goes on in the letter to vocalize how dearly he will miss those indispensable relationships he established in Oklahoma City, the 9-year veteran poignantly gets to the overall reason his departure:

“It really pains me to know that I will disappoint so many people with this choice, but I believe I am doing what I feel is the right thing at this point in my life and my playing career.”

As touching as this letter comes across, I just like many other NBA fans and critics was taken aback—and dismissively ticked-off—by Kevin’s decision to do the ole can’t beat em, join em with the Golden State Warriors. As if these here today gone tomorrow NBA contracts wasn’t bad enough, Durant opted to join the Warriors who compiled a 73-9 regular season record; and was the same team his Thunder pushed to a pivotal game seven of the Western Conference Finals. But I guess that’s what we’ve should have expected in this ‘new era’ NBA. Even though Durant’s loyalty to the Thunder persisted nine NBA seasons, it seemed like Durant is more concerned about not having an asterisk in his career notes which would denote him not winning a championship.

While I certainly understand how Durant may feel about the possibility of the leagues most coveted prize eluding him one day; but in this situation I feel he just totally overreacted. It’s not like I’m saying he’s wrong for exploring the market and meeting with other NBA teams. However, the operative word is OTHER teams such as Miami, Boston, San Antonio, and his hometown of Washington would have loved to see Kevin turn their franchises into a possible league powerhouse; but that didn’t happen. Instead, ‘Durantula’ will be aligning himself in sort of a contributor role (in my opinion) to an otherwise cohesive, fluid, unselfish offense of the Warriors. Though their defense will continue to be a question mark, offensively the “Splash Family” with Curry, Thompson, Green and KD, they should be the best scoring team in the sport. Just the mere thought of it has many avid fans drooling.

I wonder if King James is giving Durant the proverbial side eye because it was Durant who in 2010 sent a tweet about James joining the Heat to form the “Big Three.” In fact, it was that very same “Big Three” starring James, D-Wade, and Chris Bosh, who would eliminate KD and company in the 2012 NBA Finals. So is KD simply following in James’ footsteps in what could be the new wave of NBA superiors opting out of their contracts to form elite squads? Well LeBron went back to Cleveland where Kyrie and Kevin awaited. Meanwhile, Durant is traveling west to make some new friends in the Bay Area. Just remember this day and don’t be surprised if you start seeing the Chris Paul’s, the Paul George’s, heck even the Brian Westbrook’s of the league opt out their contracts just to devise another player conglomerate. If this does catch on (and I think it will), you better pray those young NBA draft hopefuls begin a basketball renaissance of talent; because those other teams are certainly going to need it.