Here is some sound advice from Jay Smooth. His blog is always thoughtful and informative check him out on youtube or at his site. ENJOY.

p.s. to whom it my concern, we need to talk

Cody Chesnutt - one of the most eclectic artists of the past 10 years - has peeked his head above ground once again to give us an audio jewel for the campaign season. please know that you’ll be hearing this in a future DJ set…stay tuned.

In all the hubbub of the past few months, there was something very warm and familiar looking about Mr. Obama that I couldn’t quite put my finger on… till now. check it out.

May 20 2006

Ok so since i seem to be ahead of the curve on the “tar baby” thing,
(see my post from about a month ago) I’d like to talk for a moment about voting.

I tell this to people all the time when they say they don’t think their vote matters: It’s not about now it’s about tomorrow. It’s about being on the record.

Actually I feel it’s a direct dis to our ancestors and those of all color who fought and died for the right. You could vote it for no other reason than to pay homage. Even if they don’t count it, it doesn’t take long.

My question to you hard core, bitter non voters who want change, is what are you doing that’s more or as effective as voting. What are you doing that voting would hinder or destroy your efforts?

Believe it or not, there is such a thing as the lesser of 2 evils… it’s not what I want but it is what is. I’m sure enslaved black people and white abolitionists could have just waited for the perfect person to come into office before they started agitating, resisting, escaping, protesting - but they didn’t. They did what they could, every minute they could.

Now. About the “Tar Baby” situation.

From cnn.com:

Snow’s briefing also produced a couple of backpedals, several pointed rejoinders — and at least one turn of phrase that raised eyebrows.Asked repeatedly about reports that the government has collected records on millions of Americans’ phone calls, Snow said, “I don’t want to hug the tarbaby of trying to comment on the program, the alleged program, the existence of which I can neither confirm nor deny.”

The expression, which refers to a character in the most famous of the fictional Uncle Remus stories, is sometimes used to portray an inextricable situation. But, as the word also has been used as a derogatory term for blacks, it raised eyebrows when spoken from the White House podium.

Snow’s statement was inappropriate, insensitive, and offensive.

Later in the briefing, Snow was asked what he meant. “Well, I believe ‘hug the tarbaby,’ we could trace that back to American lore,” he said

Racist ass Uncle Remus… WORD? ‘American lore’ has a lot of potential references to describe the position he was in. He chose the most incendiary one possible. Why?

The hubbub around the term has obscured the question he was dodging… probably one of the most important things to be talked about in the entire press conference.

This guy is no dummy
He works on television
He worked for FOX
He knows words and how they work

This was his first press conference, and he says something so wildly inappropriate that everyone focuses on the “bad word” and not on the issue he was “not going to hug” –

The NSA
Spying on you

And while we bicker over this phrase, the constitution is being shredded before our eyes

If you want to be offended, be offended by the dministration’s appalling response to Katrina and the fact that it might happen again this year
Be offended that the dollar is worth less
Be offended that the cultural reference that Snow made will be wasted on a country full of barely literate people of all races that are currently going through the public school system.

Exercise your rights before you get flabby
And stay focused

5/2/06

My jaw is still on the floor after seeing this on C-SPAN the other day.

The speech Steve Colbert gave at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner was awesome if for no other reason that people he was satirizing were all in the room. Here is a link to thankyoustephencolbert.org, a site with links to the performance, transcripts, etc.

4/17/06

Over the past few months I’ve been watching several historical films that deal with race in America (a solders story, crazy in Alabama, glory, in the heat of the night) and at the same time have been mulling over in my head the use by both public figures, my friends and myself of the word “nigga”

What is it about that word that’s so attractive?

Why is it ok to say it on TV and you cant say “shit?”

It’s supposed to be such an ugly word but it feels like it’s becoming increasingly common in our pop culture. My mind instantly flashes to a club that my friend took me to that was populated primarily with white people who where all dancing and having a good time and then the DJ spun the #1 song in America at the time which was “gold digger” by Kanye West. Everyone went crazy, as was the tradition at the time and started singing the song VERY LOUD! Tension built as the hook approached and to every ones credit no one said “nigger” but Kanye.

Which brings me to the question why? Why is ok for any one to use it? I mean, sure we can say whatever we want I’m not challenging that. I’m challenging the hypocrisy of it being called an ugly word but still being used casually. I don’t know how many interviews and talk show appearances I have heard people/artists say “when you use it enough it takes the power out of it” or “we use it for a term of endearment”

2 thoughts run through my mind
#1 we still got a lot of healing to do(not just black but this entire country)
#2 we are not being creative enough.

There were several words besides “nigger” that were used to denigrate and demean us that I feel should be used more often until the power is taken out of them, as well. Here’s a short list
- spade
- jigga bo
- tar baby
- egg plant
- spook
- sambo
- chimp
- ape
- snow flake
- spear chucker
- booty scratcher
- coon

Really try substituting those words in your mind for how you’ve herd the word nigga used.
“yo, that’s my Jigga bo”
“where my tar babies at?”
“all the real fly coons throw your hands up”
“ I ain’t sayin’ she’s a gold digger be she ain’t messing wit’ no broke spear chuckers”
See. Its got a little sting to it that I think “nigger” has lost…and if all else fails emphasize the “ER” that was at the end of “nigga” before it was dropped for the “A”

hey true believers. there is alot going on in the world as you well know and i hope you are out there doing your part to build or destroy. everytime i see or hear this MC and i can let some one know about him, i try to do so. this is Immortal Technique speaking in California recently, the second link is him answering questions.
i would love to hear your thoughts on what he’s talking about.
Statement to the press
Q&A

thanks Davey D

July 4th 2005

I finally got the courage to watch “Hotel Rwanda” last night. I followed that story in the news when it was happening and it was hard to deal with then. Hard to read and then digest as reality. It’s hard to imagine somewhere in the world shit like that is still going on. Needless to say I had some ill nightmares last night. It was happening here and the warring factions were gangs and of course there were people trapped in the middle and I was one. All these MCs were on the radio encouraging the killing and it was all the gangs would listen to. There was no Paul Ruesesabagina to negotiate for lives, there was no safe space - as often there is not. I won’t get into details as those of you who actually read this blog from time to time are probably tired of reading about my personal slice of ‘uglies’ in my world.

Ask yourself this question this 4th of July. When was it ever not an ugly time in human existence? Horror exists, it seems weather we choose to pay attention to it or not. Perhaps it serves some greater functions that we don’t see but regardless there it is.

2 things really quickly before I change the subject dramatically - #1. there is a line in the national anthem that says “…the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that the flag was still there” do you know how many fucking bombs have to go off to see something through an entire night? #2 there was a song during the credits of “Hotel Rwanda” that made my jaw drop almost as much as some parts of the movie. It was a song by Wyclef and in the song he said “if America is the United States of America why cant Africa be the united states of Africa? and if England is the United Kingdom why cant Africa unite all its Kingdoms and become the United Kingdom of Africa”.

Is he not aware that this county was attained by genocide that till this day is not historically dealt with fully? Actually it was started by people from the United Kingdom who enslaved, tortured and conquered people all around the world - not just here. ACTUALLY it’s the reason I speak and write English and can’t even dream in a language native to where any of my people are from. ACTUALLY I don’t want to go into how wack that line was (to me)… I should try to see the positive in everything. I think he was trying to just say ‘Africa Unite’… however it was poorly executed.

Hey at least it wasn’t him putting his energy into a line like “it’s hard out here for a pimp”

pimping is illegal… shouldnt it be hard?

A friend of mine went to a FREE screening of “Hustle and Flow” and not only does she want her money back (LOL) but she said that it was so sad that it’s worth REopening our “why black folks aint gonna rise” file. For those of you who aren’t in on the joke, the “why black folks aint gonna rise” file was an actual file that us and some of our friends kept where we collected things created by black folks or about black folks that we felt did more harm than good (in our opinion) and couldn’t believe existed in this day and time.

OK so let me end this blog with something WACK about ME and then something happy.

I realized this past week that I’m really vain. I DJ’d at a club a couple of weeks ago and usually I shave my mustache off. The gig went great, some days passed and I got an ingrown hair on the rim of my lip that was unpopable. I know this because I squeezed it in every direction which only made it red and big, real big. It looked like a giant herpe and it changed my whole attitude. I was even hesitant to go out cause I knew I would feel obligated to explain that what was on my lip was not contagious and folks can greet me affectionately without fear. It has since gone through the stages of pimpledom and is on its way out but I was amazed at how something so small can change your life.

The last thing I’ll leave yall with is that recently me and my wife celebrated our 6th year wedding anniversary and almost didn’t notice. Its been great fun. It still feels like one big sleepover. Neither of us is really that into remembering dates but we’re happy - more so than either of us thought possible. I suppose I can balance the statement made earlier by saying: When in history hasn’t love and happiness shined through the darkness and colored our human experience for the better? There has always been that, weather we choose to see it or not.

I suppose recognizing the balance between what’s ugly and what’s beautiful is what makes each so.

January 26, 2004

At the MLK day festival last week, I got into a lot of conversations involving the words “they” and “we.” What I realized and mentioned in a couple of those conversations is that the power to change things can only come from changing that “we” to “I”.

For instance there was this young man that walked the entire length of the celebration very slowly with 2 scantly clad women (one black woman, one white) walking behind him. At first glance (and 2nd and 3rd and 70th) he appeared to be a pimp.

I say “appeared to be” because I don’t want to assume. Perhaps he was in a horrible fire the night before that consumed all of his clothes and the only place open before the festival was a costume shop. Perhaps the costume shop (Mid-January being so soon after Halloween) only had 3 outfits left, a pimp, a KKK member, and a clown… so he chose the less of 3 evils and came as a pimp. As for the 2 young ladies, perhaps they weren’t prostitutes at all, but his friends, who dressed up like that for moral support. Or, maybe he WAS a pimp and his miniature multiracial prostitute parade was his perverse interpretation of MLK’s dream.

What bothered me is that no one stopped him and said anything. What bothers me more is that “I” didn’t stop him. Whether or not he realized it, he made a statement that day and “I” didn’t. He’s in the back of my psyche and I’m not in his, and “I” only have me to blame. “We” must be as bold as “they.”

We/I need to start booing at poor performances

We/I need to pull poorly behaved children over and talk to them

We/I need to be less of a hermit so that people see alternatives

We/I need to need to be more pro active and practical in our day to day application of love on others,

We/I need to know that there are no small things all things matter.

The flip side of this story was that after the celebration, several teens gathered in the parking lot to battle. But not with violence - with dance!! It took me back to see that. It also took me back when I saw the po-po (police… duh) arrive. But to my surprise they looked the situation over and let it be. My wife and our homegirl went up to them and actually thanked them for treating our children like human beings. It’s important to tell po-po when they do the right thing. We need to be as bold as the truth.

9/7/03

Folks act like revolution is something you go to or something that happens outside of yourself. Understand this…if you were a revolutionary in whatever it was you do right now you would never have to go to another march or protest ever again.