Edge Cutting: Race

No More Imus on TV For a Little While

2007-04-16T23:18:00.000-04:00

Oh, and another thing. Expect the Imus and Duke thing to drop off the face of the earth—for better or worse—in light of today's news.

Imus Winds Down

2007-04-16T23:08:00.000-04:00

It's been a few days, but emotions needed to simmer down.

Not that we're done with Imus, mind you. Just no more long treatises.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear my journalism ethics teacher call the networks and advertisers who that railroaded Don Imus last week hypocrites. Then again, he's the chief legal counsel for the New York Times and suggested the paper come to Larry Flynt during the whole Jerry Falwell incident.

On a second, short note, kudos to Fox News' "Hannity and Colmes." They were (along with Opie and Anthony) completely on point throughout the whole Imus charade. Hannity also pointed out that Hillary Clinton (I don't like her, by the way) received some $800,000 during a fundraiser hosted by Timbaland, renowned hip-hop producer. His music has lots of degrading words, too.

The Duke thing, which I'll address later in the week, was another hot, racially charged incident. Lots of hypocrisy there. It's almost as if hypocrisy powers this country. Hmm.

Imus Dropped From MSNBC: Not Surprised At All

2007-04-11T20:46:00.000-04:00

Well, that's that. Imus is gone from his MSNBC simulcast, but for the time being he's still on the radio. Yeah, what's the over/under on that one?

Way to go, America. Way to overreact to a stupid comment.

My plan? To become an ordained minister and become a leader in my community. I'd have as much credibility as other such leaders.

Al Sharpton's Presidential Campaign: Funded By The Degradation of Women

2007-04-11T00:33:00.000-04:00

Al Sharpton is a professional hack. Not only that, but he accepts money from companies that promote the same so-called "abhorrent" words that he finds so awful. How valiant, dear leader.

If you haven't been following the news, radio personality Don Imus said the phrase "nappy-headed hos" in reference to the Rutgers women's basketball team. Right after, if you don't remember, the Earth shook a mighty shake, the streets of New York split apart and flames engulfed the Silver Center. It was horrible. I'm lucky to be alive, really.

Back to Sharpton. In 2004 he ran a tremendous presidential campaign where he championed, I don't know, issues. But campaigns cost money. Thanks to that wonderful Web site Open Secrets, we can see just who gave money to fund his campaign. In the words of Matt Drudge: Shock! The list of contributors include Radio One (to the tune of $15,000) and BET ($3,000). Let's see what high culture these organizations peddle.

Radio One operates 70 commercial radio stations in the U.S. These stations are aimed at the urban (read: black) market and play music that range from hip-hop to R&B. (The company also has talk radio stations.) Now the fun part: what kind of music do these stations play?

From Detroit's Hot 102.7 Top 20 songs: Mims - "This is why I'm hot" (One small part; the rest of the lyrics can be found here.)

This is why I'm hot
Catch me on the block
Every other day
Another bitch another drop
16 bars, 24 pop
44 songs, nigga gimme what you got
I'm in there driving cars
Push 'em off the lot
I'm into shutting stores down so i can shop
If you need a bird I can get it chopped
Tell me what you need you know i get 'em by the flock
I call ma homie black meet on the ave
I hit Wash Heights with the money in the bag
We into big spinners
See my pimping never dragged
Find me wit different women that you niggas never had
For those who say they know me know I'm focused on ma cream
player you come between you'd better focus on the beam
I keep it so mean the way you see me lean
And when say I'm hot my nigga dis is what I mean

Let's analyze this. In this verse Mims uses the word "bitch"—certainly a degrading term—to refer to women; he uses the word "nigga" three times; he refers to selling drugs ("bird" refers to cocaine and "chop" means to sell drugs); he refers to "pimpin," or the entrapment of women to perform sexual acts for money in which he'll make a percentage. That's just one verse, mind you.

How about another verse from another song played on Hot 102.7? This time, R. Kelly's "I'm a flirt." The rest of lyrics can be found here.

Ima b pimpin
I dont be slippin
When it come down to these hoez
I dont love em
We dont cuff em
Man thats just the way it goes
I pull up in the Phantom
All the ladies think handsome
Jewelry shining, I stay stuntin
Thats why these niggas cant stand em
Ima chick mag-a-net
And anything fine im bag-gin it
And if she got a man, I dont care
10 toes and I wanna be, cause I gotta have it
Now-Now who do it like B-O-dub
Girls on me when I walk in the club
Game aint tight, Ima take yo chick
Thats it man now your girl in love
Witta rich nigga, fly young dude
Ride wit me lil mama cant lose
Dont get mad at me homie cause yo girl friend choose
See this is how goin down in da 6-1-4 from the Natty up to Clevland even in Toledo
Ima boss and you know it
I got the money ima show it (Thats right)
If I give yo girl one chance to talk to me homie she aint gon blow it
HA-HA
Now the moral of the story is cuff yo chick, cause hey,
I'm black, fresh , and I rap, plus I'm rich, and ima flirt

Oh, cool. Mr. Kelly also refers to "pimpin;" also uses the word "nigga;" and what about his last line: Now the moral of the story is cuff yo chick, cause hey, I'm black, fresh , and I rap, plus I'm rich, and ima flirt. Some role model, Mr. Kelly. Rapping and rhyming about the very things that outrage Mr. Sharpton so, so much. But hey, not enough to turn down money from the company whose stations make money spinning these records.

But Imus is Lucifer reincarnate for having used the phrase "nappy-headed ho" in jest. Makes sense to me.

BET does fine work, too, what with "Wild Out Wednesday" (Wylin' Out?) and such illustrious guests T-Pain on the show "106 and Park." A quick look at some of his lyrics, from the song "I'm N Luv (With a Stripper)," are in order. The rest can be found here.

She's every man's dream
She's God's gift to Earth
Women they love 'em too
That's what you call a women's worth
See I love all the strippers
Because they show me love
They know I never pay as free whenever I hit the club
But I can't even lie
The girls are here so fly
She slidin' up and down that pole got me mesmerized
Mike Jones don't ever trick
But god damn she thick
I can't lie, I must admit
I'm in love with a stripper

So I guess Mr. Sharpton's cool with the degradation of women when he stands to gain financially from it. Kudos!

I was home for most of the day today and every time Mr. Sharpton was on TV and an interviewer brought up the issue of degrading rap lyrics and the like, Mr. Sharpton was only too quick to point out that he's fought hard to clean up rap's lyrics. Really? Like, hard enough to demand their license to say horrible things be revoked and their livelihoods destroyed? Nah, but you'll certainly take their money when your campaign is rolling through town.

I'm tired, but I'm not done with this hack quite yet. He needs to be exposed, even if only to the 1.2 people who read this.

Poor, Poor Imus

2007-04-10T17:59:00.000-04:00

Holy smokes.

Don Imus, welcome to hell. I was sitting here, both blogging about really cool technology and listening to the Rutgers press conference condemning Imus' hateful, hateful words. There was some dude from the Rutgers upper echelon condemning Imus murder of three million people. Oops, wrong guy.

I really cannot understand all of the hullabaloo. The team is acting as if Imus was the crooked sheriff in Mississippi Burning, not a 300-year-old shock jock like he is. I'd like to know if the ball players would feel so "hurt" if the media hadn't jumped on the story.

Imus is finding out firsthand the power of a vocal minority. He's also finding out firsthand just how deep seeded racism in this country is. This manifestation of racism is even worse than the kind enforced by Jim Crow. And to anyone saying this will be a teaching lesson: bologna. Outside of the media elite, I'd like to see if a single mother working two jobs gives a damn about Don Imus' hateful, hateful words

I'm watching Hardball right now and good ol' Al Sharpton's on and boy does he seem to love the media attention. I'd like to know if any of the Rutgers girls phoned Sharpton and asked him to represent them. Because if not, he really has nothing to do with this story, other than, of course, than to inject himself into the media spotlight. He'll get his own post later in the week, you can count on that. Him and Jesse "Himey Town" Jackson, too.

Let's just get the Cosmic Race in gear and get over this whole stupid, self-imposed problem in the first place. Or just accept the fact that people, generally, are jerks to each other. The guy (Thomas Hobbes) who said life is "nasty, brutish and short" is 100 percent correct.

I'd love to be an alien looking down on Earth. I'd say to my boy, "They [homo sapiens] are fighting each other, making each other's lives miserable because they're different colors.

Oh my God. Can we start a save Imus fund? You know he should have done? Since he's 400-years-old, had a long and influential career, he should not have apologized and said, "Look, it was part of a comedy show. You don't like it, don't listen." (Not that they listened anyway.)

Don Imus: He's a Witch, Let's Burn Him!

2007-04-09T21:43:00.000-04:00

Alright, nuts to OBAMATACH today. Let's just say he was elected the president of Earth and be done with it.

Moving on...

I enjoy listening to talk radio, be it that handsome devil Sean Hannity or those two cool cats Opie & Anthony. But there was a radio story not too many people noticed this past week that really picked up today. It involved Don Imus and Al Sharpton and the whole issue of what is and is not racist. Oh yeah, America will get over its race mania real soon...

Imus recently said the Rutgers women's basketball team was made up of "nappy-headed hos." He said it in jest, too. His whole stupid show is in jest. He's essentially a 200-year-old shock jock that occasionally has Tim Russert and Abraham Lincoln on as guests to discuss the issues of the day. But of course, people overreacted and wanted Imus' head served on a platter... his whole livelihood robbed from him because he uttered a line that could easily have been heard on Power 105.1 or Hot 97. I should know: I listen to the hip-hop.

So because Imus teased the basketball team, he's automatically worse than Genghis Khan. Al Sharpton came out of the woodwork, as he so often does when he smells blood in the water, to condemn Imus' horribly deplorable words. Why does the media pay this man any mind at all? He's not good.

Um, what's the problem with what Imus said? Keeping in mind that his show is to be listened to like an audio-only version of Pee Wee's playhouse, why does Sharpton have to get involved? (Never mind that Sharpton was involved with that whole Tawana Brawley thing a few years ago, which, incidentally, occurred not only in the town where I lived from ages 6 to 17, but quite literally across the street from my house... ask me and I'll take you on a tour one day. In fact, Sharpton will be the subject of my second post this week because he needs to be called out. Hard. Oh, he vexes me so.) I don't know if this guy sees himself as some sort of Martin Luther King Jr. character, but golly gee it's hard to take him seriously.

Another thing, the comment itself—nappy-headed hos—what, specifically, is the controversial part? Is it the "nappy-headed" part or the "hos" part? "Nappy" derives from "shaggy" via the Dutch and German languages and "ho" was a term coined by Bill Clinton in the 1992 presidential campaign to describe Gennifer Flowers.

UPDATE

OK, in the time between drafting this post and coming back to it, the punishments were announced. Imus is suspended for two weeks. OK, whatever, it's not like I expected CBS Radio to let him off the hook (because faceless corporations are cowards that freak out at the mere mention of the word "boycott") but the worst is the response from the NBC News president (MSNBC simulcasts his radio show) and my best friend Obama. Mr NBC said:

Beginning Monday, April 16, MSNBC will suspend simulcasting the syndicated 'Imus in the Morning' radio program for two weeks. This comes after careful consideration in the days since his racist, abhorrent comments were made.

Holy smokes, abhorrent?! Are you kidding? I'm, like, angry at this. To quote the messenger dude from 300, this is madness! Imus wears a cowboy hat not a KKK hat.

Then you've got Obama who said, "The comments of Don Imus were divisive, hurtful and offensive to Americans of all backgrounds." Hey, senator, I'm an American of some sort of background and it doesn't offend me. (Gee, why'd they ask Obama for his comment? Oh, right, because America is a wonderfully racist country and we just had to get the black candidate's opinion.)

If this were Livejournal, my current mood would be "disillusioned, but not at all surprised."

Just stop already with your bellyaching.

He's an American Idol, All Right

2007-04-05T00:20:00.000-04:00

Yes, I'm alive. Sing songs, let the trumpets blare, et cetera. More importantly, let the uninformed ramblings continue. But before I do...

OBAMAWATCH~! How could I let a bit like "Obamawatch" die? It's too perfect, too topical. I'd just like to point at that my best friend Barack Obama just raised more money in the so-called "first primary" than perceived front-runner Hilary Clinton. This makes me so happy. Not least of which because Mr. Obama is a black gentleman, hence making any and every reference to him on this here Weblog both pertinent and necessary, but that we need new blood in the White House. Enough with the same "oh look at me, I'm a politician" politicians already. Man up, America, and don't fall for Clinton's trickery. That goes for either Clinton, by the way.

Moving on...

Well, it's been something like 24 years since I last addressed the topic of race and how its perception is changing right along with the passing days on my Dashboard calendar widget. I don't know why I stopped, either. I mean, here, I can unwind and let the opinions flow as at they may. Flow like the mighty Ohio.

So anyway, what's with this American Idol show everyone's watching? (Shouldn't you be made to look like a fool by a fifth grader instead?) I bring it up because there's this kid Sanjaya who, apparently, has stolen America's heart. Stole her heart, at any rate. Oh, and he's Indian. Like, India Indian, not the kind Andrew Jackson hated. So what, you say?

Well, just a few years ago, you had people like Elton John claiming that American Idol was a ruthlessly racist show. Yeah, well, Sanjaya is pretty much changing that perception this year. Part of the reason why so many people (i.e. yo) are looking at him this way is because he's pretty much the worst singer in history. I do believe Koko B. Ware had a better voice on 1985's The Wrestling Album.

The point of all this nonsense is that, apparently, we're cool with seeing young non-whites prancing about on stage to the point where we'll forgive their complete and utter lack of talent. It's not too surprising, as I so shrewdly pointed out many moons ago.

To Sanjaya, I wish you the best of luck. Just know that you're really just a side show act. If you weren't so "unique," you'd be finished by now.

More hard-hitting content to come.

How black is black in 2007?

2007-02-21T23:57:00.000-05:00

OBAMAWATCH Everyone's favorite black junior senator from Illinois has people around him that have heard of the Internet. I just read the other day (and confirmed with my own two eyes, mind you) that Obama has Facebook, Flickr and YouTube accounts. While I haven't gone so far as to add his as my friend on Facebook, I salute his embrace of all this new, scary technology.

Moving on...

The National Catholic Reporter (side note: who?) recently published an editorial that I wish I had thought of sooner because it would have made my life a whole lot easier: who is black? How "black" must you be to be considered black? Why do we even care? Well, you can blame that senator from Illinois. Jerk.

The article, entitled "Barack's blackness: color vs. experience," tries to hit on all the points that I've alluded to, if not outright made, on this unread jumble of words: we have a long way to go regarding race relations in this country.

The article is mainly a hodgepodge of what other writers think; heaven forbid you form your own opinion.

The main question: Is Obama "black enough" to be considered "black" by the African American community? While I would sooner ask the question, "how wet does water need to be for you to consider it water?" I suppose it's worth looking at.

The article defines "black" using Debra J. Dickerson's definition: only descendants of West African slaves can be considered "black" in today's racial and political climate. So if you just immigrated from Abidjan, beat it, you're not black here.

Another requirement of being "black" is having to suffer through injustice, specifically those brought about by the police. Apparently, you can't call yourself "black" unless you've been stopped by the police while obeying every traffic law to the letter.

But why is this such a big deal? And why does the Community care so much? Easy: Obama is too likable. He's not really "black" as a result. Logical.

Because lily white America loves to fawn over Obama (lord knows Joe Biden did so just a few weeks again) so much, that's freaked out the Community, so now they have to come up with all sorts of excuses. You see, to paraphrase comedian Patrice Oneal, blacks want the first "real" black president to listen to Wu Tang and not expose, you know, an educated opinion and all that nonsense.

God, can I ever stop using linking verbs?

Action that people affirm, part 2

2007-02-15T13:45:00.000-05:00

I touched on affirmative action yesterday but my other responsibilities got in the way of addressing it in any detail.

Again, the supposed purpose of affirmative action is to help people "make it" who were systematically disenfranchised years ago. Talk radio likes to single out school admissions policies as a Great Evil, saying that the U.S. should be a colorblind society and that by giving preferential treatment to anybody you're inherently putting them at a disadvantage.

Whether or not affirmative action helps people "make it" I won't even pretend to know, but I would guess that artificially handicapping people won't help them in the long run. Terrible analogy: if I bowl all the time with bumpers, do you think I'm ever going to improve my game? No sir.

Looking forward, I really don't see affirmative action staying around. It's already under heavy scrutiny and eventually it'll outlive its usefulness.

I saw professional political hack Bob Shrum last week, and in between praising Hiliary Clinton he made one good point: all these "hot button" issues will heal themselves in time. For some reason I believed him, even though he's pretty much a professional loser.

Action that people affirm

2007-02-14T23:08:00.000-05:00

OBAMAWATCH In case you didn't hear (and come here for all your news needs), our favorite black Democratic candidate for the presidency officially announced that he's running for office. While I still don't think he'll win, I'm officially want him to now. I'd rather have him than silly Hillary in office. And how great are my Photoshop skills? I care, people.

Moving on...

I actually didn't know what "affirmative action" was until well into my high school career. (Incidentally, I didn't know what a bed and breakfast was until a few months ago. I guess I've lived—and continue to live—a sheltered life.) All I knew was that people kept complaining about it on TV and that it would lead to our Ruination. When I found out what it was, I'm pretty sure my initial reaction was, "well that's not fair."

I bring this up because, conveniently, I just read a story Drudge linked to about how some journalism program denied a young lady acceptance when they found out she was white. It turns out that part of the Democrats' 100 Hours initiative was legislation that outlawed being white. Here, look at the criminal:

The story's in the news now because the young lady sued the people responsible (the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund) and got a settlement. Now race won't be a criterion for getting into the prestigious Urban Journalism Workshop at the Virginia Commonwealth University.

Now, if we truly want to have a colorblind society, why would things like this even have to be debated? Conventional wisdom (which is my favorite kind of wisdom, by the way) says that it's put into place to redress all the wrongs that was done to blacks throughout American history.

Some hardcore analysis here tomorrow. Think of it as a really big "jump."

The beautiful game continued

2007-02-08T13:28:00.000-05:00

Like I said, continuing with racism in football.

Just a quick tidbit I forgot to mention in the preceding post, the Spanish football governing body has a "meh, it happens" attitude about its wildly racist fans. In the Eto'o incident I mentioned, the referee characterized the monkey noises as "normal behavior." When the punishments, if you can call them that, were handed out, Eto'o said that they weren't sufficient. His coach told him to forget about it.

Essentially, "hey, forget about it kid, you're fine."

Drudge-More as it develops...-Drudge

Spain is racist, too! ¡Olé!

2007-02-07T22:01:00.000-05:00

OBAMAWATCH No big Obama news this past week. I'm a little upset.

Moving on...

Image stolen from The Observer

Spaniards are really, really racist. And they get away with it, too. Like bandits, even. I mean, I'm totally down with subjugating entire civilizations and everything, but when an old man calls a young black athlete a "black piece of shit," well, that's some deep seeded hate right there.

I refer to the Spanish national football (soccer) team's coach Luis Argonés. Way back in 2004, while we were all still full of hope and potential and not crushed by the realities of the blogosphere, Argonés tried to get one of his players motivated before heading onto the pitch. He said, "tell that black piece of shit you're better than him." (Translations vary.) The funny thing is, the black guy, France's Thierry Henry, is about 2.8 million times better than the guy Argonés was trying to motivate, José Antonio Reyes.

A Spanish court today cleared Argonés of all racism charges. They slapped his wrist.

Lest you think it was just el Señor Argonés with the potty mouth, when Spain played England a little while later, Spanish fans made monkey noises directed at England's black players.

Did you see that? They made monkey noises! They do this a lot. They even do it to players who play for Spanish teams, as Samuel Eto'o will attest to.

Tomorrow, we look at Europe's problem with racism in football some more.

Colorblind my foot

2007-02-01T12:26:00.000-05:00

OBAMAWATCH: Joe Biden apologized today for being an incompetent old man and saying that Obama is a "clean" black, he's articulate, etc. He can now, officially, kiss his already slim hopes of securing the Democratic nod away.

Yet more proof that this country will never "get over" race. Something called the "Super Bowl" is supposed to happen this weekend (I'm not sure, though, since I only watch real football) and the media is going bananas over the fact that there's not one, but two black coaches vying for the trophy. It's as if American society has to go out of its way to applaud the achievements of the men since they're black. The implication is pretty obvious: they're not "expected" to do well, so when they (black dudes) do well, heck, let's throw 'em a party.

How condescending. Or am I the only one who feels this way?

I'd rather the media focus on the fact that it's essentially best friend vs. best friend, mentor vs. protege rather than good old fashion racial awareness. The Microsoft Zune will be a commercial success before America truly becomes a colorblind society.

What's six letters long, two syllables and ruins men's careers?

2007-01-31T23:41:00.000-05:00

Let it be said that I'm already incredibly disappointed with the quality of this blog. Everything is so "oh, look at me, I have an opinion and the whole wide world needs to hear it. Yuck

Now for what's surely to become a weekly installment (side note: yes!), the latest on Barack Obama. I laughed at the Democrats today (how that's different from any other day of the week I'm still not quite sure) when Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) said:

I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” he said. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man.

(Via The New York Observer; actual audio can be found here.)

Chris Rock addressed this concept of being "articulate" ("well-spoken," to be exact) several years ago in one of his long-form comedy sets. It's as if we expect a black dude to speak all jive and we're shocked—shocked!—when we hear otherwise. So hats off to Biden. I guess we're supposed to infer from that that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson weren't "clean," either. ::coughtawanabrawleycough:: Old man Biden needs to calm down.

Moving on...

Who could forget this fun video clip from late last year?

Yes, Kramer used the "N" word. Oh my, lock your daughters up, this discussion's about to get a little saucy!

Honestly, I didn't really see what the big deal was. I mean, I understand why there controversy surrounded the episode (The Word is evil, Richards is white and because he used The Word he's a racist pig, the sky is falling, etc.), but for the love of God... It's a word! Never will I ever understand why people get so bent out of shape over two syllables. You'd think American society would have advanced enough to the point where we'd be over this by now. Not so. Even worse was Richards' "apology" on Letterman a few days later, where he stammered and stepped all over his words and the audience didn't know what to do: should we laugh, should we keep our mouths shut, we want the fun Kramer back, etc.

The best was the media reaction. I could've sworn I saw Dolemite on CNN screaming for Richards' head. Granted, you're not likely to find someone who'd be willing to quote Voltaire (or whomever) at a time like that, but how brave of the media to pile atop of Richards the way it did.

(I actually grew up hearing That Word all the time. Hard as it is to believe, my mother was fairly "street," and the conversations she had with her brother in my presence were, in retrospect, pretty damn saucy. Perhaps that's why I'm pretty much desensitized to It nowadays.)

In closing, I suppose the only thing left to say is that Richards was railroaded by groupthink. CNN aired a self-important "Race in America" soon afterward. As you can imagine, it basically boiled down to the typical cable news drivel. Rather than use the opportunity to actually discuss The Word and race in America in general, we pretty much just swept it under the rug.

Again, as if any of this matters anyway.

Entertain Us, Just Don't Lead Us

2007-01-24T23:09:00.000-05:00

A quick follow-up to my previous ramblings on Obama and that whole madrassa thing... Obama's handlers are understandably upset re: the slanderous remarks that he attended a madrassa as a child and therefore must hate America, which is clearly the only logical conclusion to draw... They issued a memo today that said, in no uncertain terms, that not only has Obama never been to a madrassa, he is not, and has never been, a Muslim. So there. The Hotline (whose guys I see pretty much every day on "Hardball with Chris Matthews") interpreted it to mean one of three things: one, the story has "legs" and Obama needed to set the record straight (because nobody watches CNN to know that they already debunked the story); two, Obama wants to give Fox News a black eye; or three, Obama doesn't want to see his campaign go up in flames like Kerry's did because of outside rabble-rousers. My quick take? I guess the old mantra "all press is good press" doesn't work in politics. Can't wait to see stories alleging that Obama hates children and regularly consults Farrakhan.

Moving on...

Thank God race permeates seemingly every aspect of American life, meaning that I'm able to look at everything from politics to sports to today's fine topic, movies. (Remind me to touch on that whole Michael Richards thing from a few weeks ago at some point. Wasn't that a fun time to be alive?)

This past week, the movie Stomp the Yard was number one in the U.S. Now, I haven't actually seen the film for two reasons: one, I pretty much hate movies as it is and two, it'll be a cold day in hell before you find me in a movie theater nowadays. (Let's just say I've seen nearly every movie nominated for the Best Picture Oscar without so much as leaving my room.)

For the uninitiated, Stomp the Yard is pretty much the same "against all the odds" movie that Hollywood has been only too eager to churn out as of late. Essentially, some competitive dancer (they call it "steppin'") kid, who is black (see, it relates, just give me a minute), is killed after a particularly vicious, um, "steppin'" competition. Our young dancer had dreams of going to off college, but since his candle was blown out before he could attend, his brother goes in his stead. Makes sense to me.

See, I bring this up because it demonstrates a bit of a double standard: while America would, in my opinion, sooner elect a koala bear to the presidency ($1 to Opie of "The Opie & Anthony Show") than Mr. non-white Obama, they'll show up in droves to watch the latest film espousing the dance skills of a fictional black university. And we're supposed to believe that we're living in progressive times?

It's not all about stomping yards, though. Dreamgirls did (and still does) pretty well for itself at the box office, but that's just another "all singing, all dancing" razzle-dazzle fest. I suppose what I'm getting at is that America is indeed chill enough to see minorities on the big screen, heaven forbid they attempt to do something of note like run for office. Something like that.

First Post: Why I'm Doomed (And So is Obama)

2007-01-23T15:48:00.000-05:00

How's this for a bright idea: blogging about that touchiest of touchy subjects—race—before establishing any hint of credibility. Yup, here's some 20-year-old know-nothing opining ($1 to Bill O'Reilly) on a topic that, in all likelihood, will never go away. Oh, well.

So why not start out with the biggest news of the week? Barack Obama and Hilliary Clinton (and John Edwards, I suppose) will professionally sling mud at each other for the right to be the Democratic nominee for the 2008 presidential election. Setting aside "I'm as cold and robotic as Al Gore" Clinton and Edwards, let's take a look at Obama and why he hasn't the slightest of chances of wining. I'll let you hazard a guess as to why I think this. (Hint: What's this blog about?)

Casting aside his relative inexperience (which actually may be a benefit, since people seem to be tiring of the endless parade of Bushes and Clintons running the show), Mr. Obama has one small thing that just might do him in: he isn't white. As much as those on the Upper West Side would have you believe, America really hasn't progressed all that much as far as race relations go. (Who can forget the Republican National Committee's anti-Harold Ford, Jr. ad from last fall, race baiting and all?) While America's young people might not be so hung up on the color of this guy's skin, the young don't vote as it is.

Let's play a game for a minute. Let's assume I'm the Average Joe deep in the heart of ~~darkness~~ Texas. There's a funny looking guy named Obama running for president. Why wouldn't I vote for him? Hmm, "Obama" rhymes with "Osama" (can't have that); his middle name is Hussein (that sounds familiar); he grew up in Indonesia (isn't that next to Iraq?); and his father is Muslim (they're bad).

Don't think that the issue of Obama's race and ethnic/religious background hasn't gone unnoticed in the media. Nope. Fox News ran a story last week suggesting that Obama attended a militant madrassa in Indonesia while he was just 5-years-old. The implication was that he received terrorist training and was simply waiting for the right time to strike at the heart of America. Something logical and not straight out of 24 like that. Fox News later retracted the story after the blogosphere threw a fit—sort of, though it was more along the lines of, "let's see where this goes" than a true mea cupla.

And we're supposed to believe that America is "ready" for a black (though I've seen him described as "post-race"... lovely) president when major media outlets act thusly? Sure, OK.