I never realized what assimilation was or is. I never gave a thought about genocide or Manifest Destiny and I thought the holocaust only pertained to what Hitler did to the Jewish people. And it didn’t matter to me, because I never gave a thought about it. I was busy living life as I knew how, a Lakota woman. I was raised in our traditional ways but never taught all those things until I was older. I just thought life was about being traditional, with our ceremonies, songs, traditions, and ways. Sure, I went to a Christian church with my friends, went to Vacation Bible School for a popsicle, and I tested out other religions as if dipping my toes in cold lake water, but I never felt right about it. I didn’t feel wrong about it, I just felt as if it wasn’t my thing. And I made my way back to who I was and who I knew myself and my people to be. Lakota. That is where I belonged and where I feel centered.

The first time I realized that a child raised without their culture and forced into another way of life develops a huge hole in their soul was in college. I read an essay by a Vietnamese American student. She was adopted as a baby, from Vietnam, by white parents here in America. She was given a good life, she was raised with little blonde brothers and sisters and she had a suburban sounding name like Caitlyn or something. She did everything right and everything she was supposed to do in life, plus she won a scholarship to a college away from her family. It was her first time on her own and she discovered herself questioning who she was. She was drawn to other Asians and began hanging out with them. She learned of their likes, dislikes, cultures, foods, and she felt “at home and at peace.” Many of them were also adoptees, taken from their families and countries and grew up American. They were drawn to each other to fill a need in their souls. Yet she felt this with a great deal of guilt towards her American family. She loved her adopted family but felt at home, finally, with her friends, who in turn felt the same.

That is the first time I realized how taking the culture away from someone can be somewhat traumatic or really traumatic. How lost it makes that person feel. As I grew older and started seeing cases of this same thing happening with my own Native people and it was shocking. I remember the first time, was when I met a lady in her twenties. I saw her at the casino we both worked at and asked her what tribe she was from. She became angry and said “The lady that gave birth to me was from so and so reservation but I’m white. I grew up white. I was raised white, so don’t ever ask me that again.”

All I could say was “Whoa.” I stood there shocked. I never in my life met another Indian who hated being Indian, and she had to nerve to say she was white, when she was a few shades from midnight? That’s when someone told me she was raised in a foster home, who eventually adopted her.

I began then to understand what it meant to be assimilated and colonized. I began reading of our history and how children were taken by the US government from Native families once they were put on reservations. Children were forcefully taken out of their homes at the age of 5 and put in residential schools until the age of 18. They made handcuffs so small to detain these children. They were beaten for speaking their language, hair was cut, and all for the purpose of “Kill The Indian, Save The Man.”

This generation was our grandparents and great grandparents, who suffered physical, sexual,and emotional abuse in the residential schools. They were never given the chance to heal because these stories were never told. They were kept on the down low by the Catholic church and the government who ran the residential schools. Many of these boarding schools who are now in operation are now making monetary payments, now wanting to hear the stories of abuse and now trying to make amends. After a few were hit with class action lawsuits.

The next generations, also suffered and still suffer. By the foster care systems. Children were taken from their homes and given to white foster families to raise. The families receiving funding for every foster child, would often take on many foster children. The state holds the households they take the children from to the standards set by white society. Without ever listening to how we set family structures, how we take care of our own, or how we live with our traditions, they set everything up to fit a mold, that they live by.

Based on a 1976 study by the Association on American Indian Affairs found that 25 to 35% of all Indian children were being placed in out-of-home care. (Eighty-five percent of those children were being placed in non-Indian homes or institutions.) Congress then passed the Indian Child Welfare Act (25 U.S.C. § 1901) in 1978 in order to keep American Indian Children with American Indian families.

However, this is not being followed in South Dakota. Why? Because South Dakota has a dirty little secret. According to a wonderful and very thorough investigation by National Public Radio that inspired me to find my brother who was lost for 21 years due to failure of the fact that DSS didn’t follow ICWA regulations and place him with family. I was 19 years old when he was taken from his mother. I was employed and had my own place and he was 8 years old. When I asked them why they didn’t ask me, all they said was sorry and also ,sorry we can’t help you find him now. That is when I began to search for him and I also began to investigate why so many of our Indian children in South Dakota are taken from their homes and placed in Non-Native homes, this is when I found their dirty little secret.

South Dakota’s Department of Social Services receives money for Native children they take custody of. They receive more money than the non-Native children they take from their homes. Native children in South Dakota make up 15% of all the children of South Dakota, yet over half the children placed in foster care are Native. And only 13% of those children are placed in Native foster homes. While Native foster home sit empty for months. South Dakota removes children from their homes at a rate 3 time higher than any other state. But according to state figures, less than 12 percent of the children in foster care in South Dakota have been actually physically or sexually abused in their own homes. That’s less than the national average.

I still didn’t get to the dirty little secret yet. South Dakota, years ago, designated all Native children as “special needs.” Which means every Indian child in every school benefits that school with more funding and it also means that every Indian child taken from their home by DSS benefits South Dakota more than non-Native children. And although the state says they match all the money coming in from the feds dollar for dollar, the match is not exact. According

to records from 2010, the feds reimbursed the state three quarters for what it spent on the children they removed from their homes. There is also an adoption incentive program nobody hears about. The federal government gives the states $4,000 for each child who is placed into adoption from foster care. That amount is $12,000 for “special needs” children. And of course over half the children removed from homes in South Dakota are Indian children, who, you guessed it, are designated by the state as “special needs” just for being American Indian. The state has made almost a million dollars in the last ten years off of our most precious resource. Our children. They moved us to dry, barren lands that cannot be farmed, the took the gold and every resource from the lands they stole. And now they are after our children.

Why is this not making a splash? Why is it not news? Especially , in South Dakota? Because they will go to any length to cover up what they do to take our children away. Even as our children are being violated in the homes they are placed in. Here is one case that will blow anyone’s mind and still has yet to reach the media in South Dakota.

Former assistant state attorney Brandon Taliaferro and court appointed child advocate Shirley Schwab go to trial tomorrow, January 7, 2013 for crimes they didn’t commit. Mr. Taliaferro and Ms. Schwab have been indicted by SD Attorney General Martin Jackley with witness tampering and disclosure of confidential, Department of Social Services information. They are being accused of these crimes for encouraging two teenage Lakota foster girls to tell the truth about being molested by their non-Native foster parent, who is now serving a 15 year prison sentence for rape of a child under 10.

According to the Daily Kos: Mr. Taliaferro and Ms. Schwab now assert that South Dakota is engaged in a criminal conspiracy to discriminate against Lakota foster children and their mothers, fathers, grandparents and relatives. “It is financially beneficial for the DSS to remove American Indian children from their homes and place them in [white] foster homes,” said Attorney Taliaferro to the Aberdeen News on December 19, 2011. “[Had I followed] the orders of [my boss with respect to the Mette investigation, it] would have required [me] to violate the law, and ethical rules that govern attorney conduct.” Mr. Taliaferro asserts that in 2011 he refused to participate in “a cover-up of misconduct” by the DSS.

The charges are believed to be a direct response to Mr. Taliaferro and Ms. Scwab for criticizing the state’s payroll during the NPR investigation. According to reporter Stephanie Woodard in her article for 100 Reporters “Rough Justice In Indian Child Welfare” where two state Department of Criminal Investigation agents are seen on a Youtube video planning the cover-up by the state against Mr. Taliaferro and Ms. Schwab. They are unaware, that though they are off camera, they left their microphones on.

This is all dirty, low down, Gestapo like tactics used by the Department of Social Services . And it shows how far the state will bend, how low they will go, to keep the millions of dollars they have coming in by stealing yet again from the Indigenous people of this land. Instead they don’t take from the land, they take from the womb.

They won’t get away with this much longer. Something has to be done.

The post South Dakota Rape Cover-Up Case of Lakota Foster Children Ignored appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Way back in the day, well before we were known as Niggers, Negroes, and subsequently African-Americans, we were known as Spearchuckers. It was meant as a derogatory term as did most other terms used to describe Blacks of African descent in America. But you know what? I do not think Spearchucker is a bad term. Actually, I wish we were Spearchuckers today, or rightfully called that in a literal sorta way.

Ok, bear with me as I explain. You see, way back when, when Africans lived on that other planet called Africa, we carried spears as a weapon, right? I was not there, but I suspect, that back in the day in Africa, a Black man without a spear was as worthless as a Black man without a job and unable to pay his child support today. Yup, possessing a spear was important, without it, there was no food, or means of defending the homies in your crew from some other crew that claimed to either be a Crips or Bloods, or whatever. Plus, I seriously doubt the chicks took a Black man without a spear seriously. I mean, why would she if he cannot even bring home a rhino or elephant periodically, right?

Some where along the line, some White guy decided to show up in his space ship on planet Africa. Being from another world, and not knowing what he would run into, he carried with him what was known as a gun. And you know what happened? The White guy being forever the forward thinker, decided to trade his guns for a few Africans (who were sitting in the county jail) to give them their freedom to come help said White guys tend to his flower garden. Was not that so nice of the White guy who landed on planet Africa? Of course the ever so curious African do-gooders accepted the guns as bail money. Yup, and the rest is history as they say.

This is why I always say that the gun, is worst invention known to man. Yup, Africans got guns in exchange for other Africans. Then, they put down their spears, (which made it even easier to be kidnapped) and now White people are using spears in an Olympic sport called the Javelin. Ain’t that a bitch? And now here we are centuries later, Black people here in America are killing one another in record numbers every year by using a guns.

If we Black people of African descent here in America had spears, there would more than likely be less murders or Black on Black crime. I mean lets face it, the Bloods & Crips in Africa never really ran around doing throw bye’s, and killing innocent bystanders like they used to do out in L.A. back in the 90′s did they? Seewhumsayin? I mean, just keeping it real, a spear is kinda hard to hide and tuck into the small of your back under a jacket.

Seriously, I think it would be quite uncomfortable to carry a concealed spear. Yeah, you just cannot expect to sneak a spear up in the club, and shit just like that. Are you crazy? And what would that mean for the Black community? Less Black on Black crime, or in particular murders. Not just that, but less cops harassing Blacks like they do looking for guns. Yup, no more racial profiling and all of that racial shit, and we would all be able to live in peace and harmony. Yes, life in America would be different for us folks of African descent if they had just left their guns at home. Now all we have to do is figure out how all these guns get onto our streets everyday.

Can you take a guess how they do?

The post Gun Control: If Only We Could Be Spearchuckers Again appeared first on Madness & Reality.

After reading this, you may ask: How can a mother stand there and let a man do such a thing to her child? Well, the answer is easy: The Bible teaches women to “submit” to their husbands. Additionally, it also says, “Spare the rod, spoil the child.” That said, isn’t it easy to understand why something like this actually happened in our much touted civilized society?

After all, isn’t it telling that when they found 7-year-old Roderick Arrington unresponsive after being beaten to near death a day earlier for not reading the Bible, instead of dialing 911, they called their pastor? My guess is that this was all God’s will as well, right? Yep, Jesus loves the little children of the world; yep, even the ones who are physically abused that are raised by parents who love him.

LAS VEGAS (KSNV MyNews3) — Markiece and Dina Palmer are accused in the murder of Dina Palmer’s 7-year-old son, who police say died from injuries consistent with child abuse.

It’s a heartbreaking story that’s left so many people asking the question. When the Palmers found second-grader Roderick Arringtonin the morning, the couple says he was unresponsive.

However, they told police they didn’t call 911 first. Instead they called a pastor.

Dina Palmer: Mother of Roderick Arrington

[...] Pastor Kenneth Hollingsworth says he’s as shocked as anyone that Markiece Palmer chose to call him before first-responders.

Metro police said they believe Roderick Arrington was abused at Markiece and Dina Palmer’s home near Decatur and Desert Inn.

Palmer admitted to hitting his stepson on multiple occasions in front of the boy’s mother.

He told police that’s how he would discipline the second-grader.

In the police report, detectives say they found a broken broom stick, belts, cords, spatulas and clothing — all with blood on them.

Roderick was taken to a hospital on Thursday and died a day later. (source)

Now, I’m not opposed to spanking my kids: and, I’ll be the first to admit that. No, you’ll get no argument from me when it comes to corporal punishment as a form of discipline. And I say that having been on the receiving end of more than a few as a child myself. However, whether deserved or not (yes mom, the jury is still out on a few of those). It’s very hard for me to rationalize inflicting the abuse to a child, for lying about reading the Bible. Having said that, I won’t be surprised if Roderick’s mother, Dina Palmer, is also a victim of religious-sanctioned physical and mentalabuse as well.

The arrest report details the child’s injuries, including open abrasions on his buttocks, severe bruising to his thighs, marks and bruises on his back and shoulders and evidence of previous beatings.

Markiece Palmer told police he and Dina Palmer spanked the child November 27th, because he lied about reading a Bible verse. Markiece Palmer said Roderick was spanked again the next day for not finishing his homework. In the arrest report, Markiece Palmer said the boy balled up his fists and “ran at him”. That resulted in Markiece shaking the child. He also told police Roderick slipped at the bottom of the stairs and hit his head on a table and the floor. (source)

Check out the following video:

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I’m not sure if I totally agree with Bob Costas on last night’s now “controversial” halftime commentary on the Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher’s murder-suicide. However, I would say that he has a point when speaking to the culture of violence fostered by gun ownership or gun possession. Unfortunately, there are many who disagree, and I see this as part of the problem. So much so that there’s no cry for gun control when the principal parties involved in any violent crime like Jovan Belcher and Kassandra Perkins are people of color.

Yes, guns don’t kill; and yes, it is people with guns who kill. However, the truth is, gun ownership or possession in some cases are in fact not used as a tool of last resort when it comes to conflict resolution. Like I said in a recent post: Gun violence is as American as hot dogs and apple pie.

The post Jason Belcher Murder-Suicide, Bob Costas, & Gun Control appeared first on Madness & Reality.

There is something sick and perverse about George Zimmerman selling autographs to raise money for the cost of his upcoming trial. What this says about Zimmerman or willing participants of such a sordid transaction, I’m not sure. But hopefully, it doesn’t reflect the insidiously pervasive direction of larger society. The last thing we need are twisted individuals receiving stars on Hollywood Boulevard for murders in spite of how justified they may be deemed in a court of law.

Speaking of which, by now, hopefully you’ve heard about yet another senseless murder of yet another 17-year-old black male at the hands of a “responsible” law-abiding white gun owner . I wrote about my initial feelings with regard to the lack of national outrage yesterday. But ironically, as I punch keystrokes, I can hear my man Rev. Al Sharpton speaking (very loudly as always on Politics Nation) about the incident itself. Ask any black person: When it goes down, you want Al on your side.

I take some comfort in knowing that if anybody is on the case to give it the national coverage it deserves — unlike the Daniel Adkins case — it is the good brother, Rev. Al Sharpton. Let’s just say that I can sleep a little better tonight knowing that the brother is watching this one very closely.

Having said that, check out what the shooter, 45-year-old Michael Dunn’s attorney is saying:

Now, for the first time, we’re hearing Dunn’s side of the story, from his attorney Robin Lemonidis. She said, “They were blasting some rap music. And he said he rolled down his window, pulled up on the passenger side, and rolled down his window and asked, would you mind turning that down? And said it very politely.”

The attorney says the teenager in the front seat turned down the radio. But then she says her client heard the teens cussing at him, making threats. She says Dunn rolled down his window and said, “He said excuse me, are you talking to me?”

At that point, she says one of the teenagers told Dunn he was dead. “And that’s when the guy in the back seat raised the barrel of a shotgun over the rim of the window,” said Lemonidis. “At that point, he just snapped into self protection mode.”

Dunn’s attorney claims that’s when her client reached for a gun he had in the glove compartment of his car, loaded it, and fired. “Firing at the car, because they’re showing him a gun, and he can’t see their hands,” she said. “And he doesn’t know. They’re about to blast him in the face with a shotgun, as far as he knows.”

Sounds reasonable, right? I mean, if someone gets a bit upset and refuses to acquiesce my request to turn down loud aggravating hippity hop music, and points a shotgun in my direction after exchanging pleasantries (remember this?). Yes, like me, you too would feel threatened and feel the need to protect your life by using the necessary deadly force it requires, right? Because of course, everybody knows how rap music if played loudly, gives black teens super human strength known to rival that of the Hulk. There’s only one problem, however, there was no guns recovered from the car.

How’s that for being a “responsible” legal gun owner?

So yeah, as Michael Dunn’s attorney says, this case is nothing like the Trayvon Martin case. You hear that? This guy isn’t the obvious racist many perceive George Zimmerman to be. Nope, according to his attorney, he is no “vigilante,” Unlike Zimmerman, he was fearful for his life, And listening to her in the video above, if I was a white man, I’d be afraid too. Again, forget the fact that there was no gun, the fact that there was more than one scary black teen in a car with tinted windows, clearly means there had to be a gun involved somewhere — after all, the music was loud.

As a matter of fact, supposedly Dunn’s attorney also stated that police didn’t find a gun because police didn’t look hard enough. Yep, no need to even plant a gun; nope, the kids were black and the windows were tinted;yep, there had to be a gun in that car. Hell, if the cops looked hard enough, I’m sure they’d also find empty KFC fried chicken boxes,empty malt liquor bottles, and a watermelon-chitlin juice mix on the upholstery. After all, the four occupants of the SUV were all black, no? Not that it should matter; but, I’m just sayin’.

“There are no comparisons to the Trayvon Martin situation,” said Robin Lemonidis, Dunn’s attorney. “He is devastated and horrified by the death of the teen.”

Yep, he was so devastated that he drove off, and slept knowing that a black kid was dead…

Listen, I could go on and on about how this is yet another example of how the negative stereotypes of black people in general, and black males in particular often lead to grave consequences. Yes, we’ve been down this road before on numerous occasions. Instead, I’ll close by saying that other than the obvious, what’s overlooked is how the culture of violence in America facilitates a mindset that’s foreign to the concept of proper conflict resolution. After all, America has taught us that if there’s a problem with someone or something the best way to deal with it, clearly, is to kill it.

Don’t blame the NRA, folks; nope, in American culture the bad guy always wears black.

The post Attorney: Jordan Davis Killer Michael Dunn is no George Zimmerman – But is He? appeared first on Madness & Reality.

A black mother of two who died in Hurricane Sandy was refused help by a Staten Island resident. Having seen for myself the look of desperation on the faces of people only hours removed from Hurricane Katrina when it hit New Orléans in 2005. The following story of how a mother lost her two children after seeking help to escape the ravaging storm conditions doesn’t sit well with me. It reminds me of the countless stories of death and survival recounted by victims of Hurricane Katrina in the days and months after the storm.

This from CNN.com:

(Staten Island, NY) Police in Staten Island, New York have found the bodies of two brothers, Brandon and Connor Moore, swept out of their mother’s arms by floodwaters during Superstorm Sandy. The grim discovery was made this morning by NYPD divers in a marsh.

Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro says the boys, ages 4 and 2, were found “maybe a block or two from where [their mother] lost them.” The parents were there when police found the boys.

According to police, the boys’ mother, Glenda, stopped at a man’s house after her SUV hit a hole during the storm.

She begged for help and asked to come inside, but that man said no.

Soon after, the mother and her two children were hit by a massive wall of water.

The mother desperately tried to hold onto them, but the force of the water was too much.

Her two boys were carried away in the deadly floodwaters.

Somehow the mother managed to survive.

CNN’s Gary Tuchman talked with Alan, the man believed to have rejected her plea for help. He’s telling a much different story.

The mother of the two children, Glenda Moore, was black. Now I’m not going to go as far as to say that there was a racial component to this story since Alvin — the man who refused to help — was white. However, after watching the following video, it’s pretty obvious that race mattered.

After the boys disappeared, Mrs Moore knocked on a nearby door for help but was told: ‘I don’t know you. I’m not going to help you.’

Mrs Moore then tried another neighbor near her Staten Island home, but when she rang the bell they turned off the lights and refused to answer.

As the storm raged around her, the nurse took shelter in a doorstep, screaming and staring at the waters which had just snatched away her children.

Twelve hours later, at dawn when the weather calmed down, she found the strength to walk down the street and flag down a passing police car to raise the alarm. (source)

Watch the following to understand:

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I like Dr. Boyce Watkins — yes, I really do. It is for that reason only that he isn’t this week’s recipient of my Slave-Catcher of the Week award. Not that what he said in a piece over at Kulture Kritic isn’t slave catcher behavior. But after thinking long and hard, truth is, the last few strands of respect that I have for him as the “People’s Scholar” just won’t allow me to go there. Having said that, the good doctor has been treading the fine line that is black intelligentsia and fuckery to my disappointment, for quite some time. And the last thing I’d hate to do is to finally write him off as one of those Negroes that I refuse to fuck with anymore because of his ill-formed misguided opinions.

To be frank, Dr. Watkins has been on some bullshit.

I don’t know what’s happening with the brother, but I hate to start believing what I wrote about him recently. That is, I hate to believe that much of his screed of late is motivated by a need to feel relevant. You know, with the likes of Cornel West, Tavis Smiley, and even Melissa Harris-Perry getting some shine, I’d hate to think that my man is feeling left out like the kid who never got picked on the basketball court. Even worse, I’d hate to think that the good doctor is putting out much of what he wrote recently for page views for any one of the many sites upon which he leaves his internet footprint. Yes, I’d hate to think that I’m being bamboozled. And, I especially feel the way I do because Boyce has been putting in work in the black community for quite some time. But, after reading the following, what am I to think? Not trying to be judgemental, but dude’s trippin’.

As we approach the 2012 presidential election, I quietly ask myself: Regardless of who is elected, is black unemployment going to dip below 10% over the next four years? Is the prison industrial complex going to get any smaller? Are black teens going to continue to die from guns being made available on every corner in our communities?

Then, I realize that when we fight to keep “our guy” in office, we’re kind of like prostitutes trying to keep their pimp out of jail. The hookers know that the pimp isn’t going to make their lives any better, but his incarceration might possibly make it worse.

I would not go to the extreme of agreeing with WEB Dubois, who once said that he was not going to vote, since neither party cares very much for the African American community. But I am certainly in favor of African Americans being as selfish as every politician in Washington who simply does what’s best for him or her, without any regard whatsoever for the needs of the African American community. The fact is that you should care about them about as much as they care about you, end of story.

Whew! I’m so glad he’s not going the W.E.B. DuBois route of telling black folks not to vote. I am because if I recall corrently, DuBois in his infamous passage even noted that in voting for third-party candidates, he often voted against his own self-interest as a black man. But Bouyce is right, no matter who we vote for in Novemeber, there’s not much that will change overnight as far as black unemployment, the prison industrial complex, or even the long-standing problem that is black on black crime and violence. The problem I have with this melancholy self-defeatist position, is that no one presidency can, has, or will ever fix these issues. Indeed these are issues that negatively impact the black community. However, let’s stop it with the bullshit fantasy that this was all supposed to change with the swearing in of America’s first African-American president.

Yep, because Mitt Romney’s policies are best, right Boyce?

There is nothing wrong with supporting third party candidates, since most of us can agree that the two party system simply isn’t working. What offends me most is the determination with which the Democratic Party relies on fear and seeks to undermine individual freedom when it comes to how we vote. The fear is driven by reminding you that if you don’t give them your vote, horrible things are going to happen to you. Their subjugation of freedom comes from the fact that they are seriously threatened by the notion of anyone telling black people to think for themselves. They are accustomed to doing the thinking for us.

Negro, please!!

I’ll admit that, while I like Barack Obama and hope that he wins the election, I find myself unable to be as excited about this election as some of my friends. In fact, it’s downright depressing. I’m sad to look around me and see a world where anyone who doesn’t want to line up and have Barack Obama’s baby is somehow defined to be a traitor. It is also a world where anyone who tells our politicians to help battle against the diseases of poverty, violence, inequality and mass incarceration is told that they are peeing on the Negro Juneteenth Political Parade. No one wants to hear about black people who are suffering, since we’ve been trained to believe that a certain segment of our community just doesn’t deserve any better.

I am firmly against the consumption of alcohol, but this election is driving me to drink. To know that your vote isn’t going to have much of an impact on those you love is, admittedly, downright devastating. Perhaps it’s time that we demand something more, for our politicians have us bamboozled.

Boyce is right — the politics of fear is very powerful. However, the politics of fear isn’t one-sided — no, the fear mongering Boyce speaks of isn’t exclusive to Democrats. As a mater of fact, the very third-party candidates he suggests supporting employ the very tactic of fear mongering themselves. Shit, fear will always be a [art of our politics for as long as heaven is used as a better option than hell. The bottom line is that as long as the political narrative is dominated by the plutocratic power structure as it always has, things will never change. And there’s nothing wrong with being idealistic; but, if Boyce is going to be borderline suicidal and depressed about voting or the election cycle, then he might as well kill himself. I’m just sayin’, does he get this depressed about every presidential election? Shit, I’m only asking because, well, the two-party system has been around a long time. I mean, it’s not like the system or the problems affecting black folks have popped up overnight, no?

OK, so I’m not advocating that he ends his life. However, I am suggesting that he gets his shit together and stop feeding our people the slow poison that he has been serving up lately. You see, this isn’t about Barack Obama being black. This is about an ethnic group of people with a long history of marginalization exercising the right to vote after years of struggle. More importantly, this is about the very group of black people Boyce claims to love, mobilizing, and being a part of the democratic process. What pisses me off about Boyce’s tripe, is that he’s projecting the idea that voting is the end all be all to our struggle for equality. Quite naturally it’s easy for one to be depressed if everything was to be solved by simply casting a vote. But, that’s not how it works.

Listen, voting is important; yes, it is. However, as the late Howard Zinn said: Democracy is what happens between elections. Democracy doesn’t stop at the ballot box; no, it doesn’t. Democracy is us continually speaking truth to power and organizing ourselves so as to influence change. Yes, we have to become the change we believe in. Yes, it sounds cliché as hell, but it’s the truth. And believe it or not, Dr. Boyce Watkins knows this. How do I know that he does? Well, if he didn’t, he would have never started the program Building Outstanding Men and Boys (BOMB). If he didn’t, he wouldn’t traverse the country promoting his family empowerment series that targets the parents of young black males. That said, surely Boyce believes in himself as being a person being able to affect change. It’s just sad that he too is an infected crab in the bucket of black academia starving for relevance. I don’t know what’s up with this brother, but either he stops listening to that Emo Hip Hop (yeah dude, Drake sucks) or refrain from writing stuff to be published on the internet after having a fight with his baby momma. Seriously, get it together, Boyce — this ain’t you. Sheesh!!

Seriously Boyce, you’re better than this….

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Not to belabor a point, but let’s follow-up on what I wrote yesterday in response to Richard Mourdock’s ridiculous comment. Yes, let’s take another look at the idea that a woman becoming pregnant as a consequence of being raped needs to succumb to “God’s will,” and as such, should not be allowed to legally have an abortion. As I noted yesterday, there are many who support this Mourdock’s stated opinion; and, many are coming to his defense. That said, in an attempt to make the idea of a woman being raped all the more real, let’s meet 37-year-old, Tiana Stevens.

I came across Stevens’ story via News One. The article they did was heart wrenching, but it could not have come at a better time. I say that because as my wife and I discussed, it’s easy for people and politicians like Mourdock to discuss rape and incest without having been victimized themselves; or, without have any close and personal experience with anyone who has actually been through such a horrific experience. But, with women being sexually assaulted every 45 seconds here in the United States; and, with 1 in 15 sexual assaults resulting in pregnancy, rape is very real, folks.

So yes, let’s take a look at one woman’s story. That’s right, meet Tiara Stevens, a rape survivor and single mother to her son who also happens to be her brother. Yep, Tiara was sexually assaulted by her father repeatedly when she was 12-years-old, and gave birth to, well, her brother.

Would you really be willing to go through it?

Unfortunately for Tiara, she didn’t have that option. As she stated in the video above, she had no idea she was pregnant until the baby was born. But I have to wonder, what if she knew? What if she knew she was pregnant, would she want to willingly go through a pregnancy and deliver a child fathered by her father at 13-years-old? I think we can all agree that at that age, life is pretty much complicated as is. Why then would a young woman want to burden herself with the emotional scar of giving birth to her father’s child? Should she too in her not-yet-formed adult mind accept her circumstance as “God’s will,” and her child as a “gift” from God? As a parent, can you honestly say that it would be?

Do you really believe hat?

Tiara Stevens was raped by father when she was 12-years-old and became pregnant — yeah, God gave her the gift of a bouncing baby boy. What’s really awesome, is that she didn’t have an abortion and gave birth to her brother… eww… who quite naturally has a host of medical problems and is blind.

Having said that, I wonder how many of you “believers” are still of the opinion that a woman (or girl) conceiving a child when raped is still a “gift” from God.? I’m only asking because if this is a blessing, then maybe abortion should be illegal and not an option for women who through no fault of their own, are victimized…. oops, I meant blessed by God. I mean, am I wrong, or am I wrong? Oh well, you can watch Tiara’s full interview below. Yep, pay attention to the part where she said her father found out she was pregnant when the baby kicked while he was having sex with her.

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I’m heading to New York City for my brother’s wedding next month. It’s been a while since I’ve seen the bright lights of the big city, so to say that I’m excited is an understatement. Hopefully this trip doesn’t end with a run-in with the NYPD like I did on one of my visits years ago. You see, my mother lives in Brooklyn — Brownsville to be exact — and her neighborhood is considered to be a high crime area. And of course in the interest of public safety, there’s a heavy police presence. For the safety of my mother and the people who I love, this is a good thing.

However, as I’ve written before (here, here, and here), the NYPD’s policy of police harassment — otherwise commonly known as stop-and-frisk — is very problematic. How problematic? Just check out the following from Russ Tuttle at The Nation to understand what’s happening in America:

On June 3, 2011, three plainclothes New York City Police officers stopped a Harlem teenager named Alvin and two of the officers questioned and frisked him while the third remained in their unmarked car. Alvin secretly captured the interaction on his cell phone, and the resulting audio is one of the only known recordings of stop-and-frisk in action.

In the course of the two-minute recording, the officers give no legally valid reason for the stop, use racially charged language and threaten Alvin with violence. Early in the stop, one of the officers asks, “You want me to smack you?” When Alvin asks why he is being threatened with arrest, the other officer responds, “For being a fucking mutt.” Later in the stop, while holding Alvin’s arm behind his back, the first officer says, “Dude, I’m gonna break your fuckin’ arm, then I’m gonna punch you in the fuckin’ face.”

Screen grab from video of Harlem teen named Alvin recording of himself and police during a stop-and-frisk incident on June 3, 2011. The video is titled ‘The Hunted and the Hated: An Inside Look at the NYPD’s Stop-and-Frisk Policy.’

[...] Alvin’s treatment at the hands of the officers may be disturbing but it is not uncommon. According to their own stop-and-frisk data, the NYPD stops more than 1,800 New Yorkers a day. A New York Times analysis recently determined that more than 20 percent of those stops involve the use of force. And these are only the numbers that the Department records. Anecdotal evidence suggests both figures are much higher.

Check out the video below. In it, you can listen to Alvin’s story in his own words. And if what he has to say isn’t disheartening, check out what one cop has to say about them being forced to “violate people’s rights,” as instructed by his watch captain. As you could imagine, this strategic policing is mostly employed in communities of color. Yep, black and brown people are targeted daily by city sanctioned racial profiling which is supposed to be against the law. So yeah, hopefully when I return from New York City next month I won’t have a similar story to share.

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Not that cutting federal funding for PBS will kill Big Bird – because it won’t. But, what does it say about Romney’s proposal to increase the military budget, while de-funding education? It says that Romney doesn’t have his priorities in order. Or does he? After all, if he had it his way he’d give the parents of kids living on Sesame Street the gift of school choice. That would be, a golden ticket to attend a privately owned school subsidized by government funds, much to the delight of one of his corporate friends. This is nothing exactly new given the fact that most of our tax-payer funds have been utilized in more profitable endeavors other than education. Having said that, why then are we mad at Romney for wanting to fire Big Bird?

Sesame Street character Big Bird’s name came up at Wednesday night’s first presidential debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney.

As Romney noted what entities he would stop funding, he mentioned the president’s health care law, then added that he would also stop a subsidy to PBS.

He said to moderator Jim Lehrer, who works for PBS: “I’m sorry, Jim. I’m going to the stop the subsidy to PBS. I’m going to stop other things. I like PBS. I love Big Bird. I actually like you, too. But I’m not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for it.”

As Republican Mitt Romney pledged to cut funding to PBS — adding, “I like PBS, I love Big Bird” — commenters on Twitter leaped to the defense of their favorite “Sesame Street” characters. Big Bird was a major Twitter trend throughout the night, while Oscar the Grouch and Bert and Ernie also featured. Twitter said that shortly after Romney’s remarks, users were posting 17,000 tweets per minute mentioning Big Bird. A spoof Twitter account, @firedbigbird, quickly won thousands of followers, while others shared a jokey, doctored photo showing the character posing with a cardboard sign pleading for work. (source)

Yes, think the prison industrial complex, the military industrial complex, and all of the other complexes that encourages and promotes corporate welfare. Yep, no welfare for the lovable friends of children across the world that have magically entertained and educated many of adults as old as myself. But, thank God there are still child labor laws to protect the countless children short-changed by politicians who sell the idea that the problem with education is greedy teachers and unions. Because of those laws, children in America can be spared the humility pf being exploited sweat shop labor — because, American exceptionalism says we don’t do that to kids in America. Kids in Other countries however? Yeah well, somebody has to do it, right? After all, not every child in the world can be fortunate to sit in classrooms being prepared for either a prison cell or a war zone.

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