OK Black people, more specifically Black women, um, let's talk. Yeah, we got some things to sort out or discuss quick fast in a hurry. I can't operate this blog pointing out the silly shit that white folks do and ignore y'all; if I did, I'd be a hypocrite like the fools we put on blast here. Besides, some of the stuff I've been seeing y'all do lately actually makes it harder for us professional racism chasers to do our jobs; as such, our community loses as the conversation never gets past how some of us act in public. Or how much of a scourge upon society we are.
22yr Old Stacy Mattews
OK, now that I got that out of the way, lemme ask: what the fuck is up with all these Black women fighting in McDonald's restaurants all of a sudden? Oh, yu noticed that too? Good, because I didn't wanna be the only one bewildered by this new phenomenon. Not that Black women fighting in public, pulling out weaves, ripping each others shirts off and having wardrobe malfunctions is anything new. Hell, they post that shit on YouTube all day err'day (do a search). But lately - actually in recent weeks - McDonald's seems like the spot for sistas to pop off.
Now I'ono if all this is happening because y'all are taking Steve Harvey's book, "Think Like A Thug, Act like A Nigga" seriously. Or, if the it's just that the word is finally out that most female reality show stars are secretly found at fast food restaurants acting a fool (that last option I'm not sure of, but I'm waiting on the folks at Bravo to get back to me on it; yes, RiPPa cares about the stereotypical images of white women in reality shows so he called with many soon to be answered questions 'cuz that's how he rolls). But at any rate, something's gotta give because, well, frankly the shit is ridiculous.
There's no doubt that being a teacher is a tough job. For most, though taking a most noble position in society, being a teacher is somewhat like wiping the asses of elderly folks for $4.50 per hour. Coming from a family of educators, it has long been my belief that teachers should not only be paid more, but should also be respected and revered as the national treasure they most certainly are..
Remember the movie Falling Down? Well check out this clip of a black male teacher as he tries to breakup a fight in his classroom. Yeah, the brotha practically fell down and went smooth tha f@#k off on this kid:
It's safe to say that this brotha was having a bad day, and in his frustration said some things I personally believe any teacher should say to a kid. You may think I'm wrong and seek to justify the teachers words. But think about it: did anything he said to the kid make the situation any better?
Is this the way you resolve conflict? I mean, if this were a white cop in the streets talking this shit to a kid, would he be justified? Um, I seriously would like answers to these questions. Here are his quotables:
"I'm tired of your little fat ass around here running your mouth!"
"I'll bust yo' shit! Have your lip looking bigger than what it is!"
"That's what is wrong with niggas now!"
"I know punks like you. I kick their behinds every day!"
"You're trying to showoff in front of the girls, but I'm about to showoff on you!"
Published: Saturday, December 04, 2010, 5:20 PM Updated: Saturday, December 04, 2010, 5:22 PM
"Six men are shot overnight in Newark"
NEWARK — Newark suffered a violent night as six people were shot throughout the city in five separate incidents between Friday evening and this morning, authorities said. At 10 p.m. Friday, one person was shot at 25 Broad St. At 10:15 p.m., two people were shot on the 300 block of 6th Avenue. Another person was shot at 216 South St. at 11:13 p.m. Shortly following that, a person was shot on Devine St. at 11:30. One person was shot on Telford Street around 5 a.m. today. All of the victims are believed to be male, according to law enforcement officials, and all were transported to University Hospital for treatment. All six survived, though the man shot on Telford Street is in critical condition. No further details were available yesterday.
It's easy enough for me to ignore the violent deaths that go on in the urban (read: poor black) sections of Essex County. I would say living here causes one to become detached and immune to news of another gun death but that's not true. Living in any ANY urban dwelling causes one to grow distant from the violence that comes included with the utility bill. The only exciting news about Newark gun violence as of lately is that no one getting shot has been killed by the bullet. Apparently, we're dealing with kinder, gentler more life valuing thugs or these mutha fuckas got bad aim.
And I'm grateful for that. I haven't been writing much lately and I don't feel like writing this right now but I must. My best friend's seventeen year old son was approached by two men and shot in the back with a 9 millimeter on the evening of November 11, 2010. He lived, but the bullet severed his spine. He's paralyzed and is now settled into a rehabilitation center learning how to become independent while his single mother scrambles to and fro in search of a new handicapped accessible apartment. I have no idea how she's dealing with this. She has two younger children to care for so she is not afforded the luxury of falling out in a heap of self pity.
Every time I look at his picture I cry. She and I were raised together but fell out of touch. There is a picture on my desk of she and I and our then toddler children taken immediately after coming in contact with each other again. I was the one who spoke her son into existence after suggesting that she needed a child to slow her down and get her centered. Only days later she realized she was pregnant; and he did settle her down into motherhood.
After reading about the bus beatdown Rippa posted about earlier (Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with public transportation these days? Obama, come handle this! We need cash for clunkers to get these crazies in cars ASAP), I just had to add my two cents about a now infamous beatdown, by way of Seattle (so ashamed).
In case you didn't know, most of the country was captivated by the attack on 15 year old Aiesha Steward-Baker in the underground bus tunnel in Seattle. Most people were shocked, as was I, that this "poor" girl was attacked from behind, beaten, and stomped down to the ground a la Rodney King, all while security guards and bystanders watched. To make matters worse, she was robbed by a gang of people and left on the ground. I felt bad for her, and I wanted nothing more than for the little assholes who beat her ass to be put UNDER the jail. Well, apparently good ol' Aiesha had it coming in a BIG way; check it:
Tami Cox, of Shoreline, says she was disturbed when she saw the now-infamous videotape of 15-year-old Aiesha Steward-Baker being kicked, punched and robbed in Seattle's bus tunnel.
Cox was herself the victim of an assault and robbery on May 23, when she was attacked on an Edmonds street by two girls.
One of the girls arrested and charged in the assault was Steward-Baker.
"The video of the [transit tunnel] beating is awful, but once I saw her on 'Good Morning America' it made me sick to think that she has the nerve to play the victim when a few months back she was doing that to somebody else, and that somebody else was me," said Cox, 50, an accountant at a law office.
Cox said she was walking home from an Edmonds pub shortly after midnight on May 23 when two "nicely dressed and polite girls" stopped and asked her for the time. When Cox pulled out her cellphone to check, the girls jumped her. One put Cox in a head lock and yanked at her hair while the second girl punched her in the face and chest and grabbed her purse.
Cox identified the girls who attacked her. She also spotted her purse, which was sitting on the hood of a squad car.
While Cox wasn't hospitalized, she said that the fight left her with a sore neck, a bruised lip and chest and clumps of missing hair.
According to charging papers, Steward-Baker told police that she struck Cox, stole her purse and then dumped the bag in some shrubs.
It gets better! She also attacked a security guard by punching him in the head at Saar's Market Place when he stopped her friend for shoplifting. Gotta love it! But wait! It gets better!
Steward-Baker's public defender, Frederic Moll, said Wednesday that the girl plans to plead guilty to second-degree robbery Monday. However, he plans to seek a significantly reduced sentence because the teen suffers from an "abnormal" heart condition that can result in her death if she's under too much stress or becomes short of breath, according to plea paperwork. (Source)
Hmmm... If her heart condition is such a concern, then why wasn't she worried about that when she ran from Cox and attacked the security guard? Matter of fact, she seems fine after that ass whoopin' she so richly deserved took in the transit tunnel! Yes, Aiesha. That thing that happened to you? It's called karma and it can be a bitch sometimes. You brutalized an innocent woman who graciously offered to help. You attacked a man for doing his job. Why should we take pity on you?
I don't feel pity for her because she deserved it. She robbed, so she was robbed. She attacked people, so she was attacked. I personally want to congratulate the two officers who let her get her just desserts because she was overdrawn in her karma bank account. The people who beat her should go with her to jail... Matter of fact, just go ahead and establish a penal colony for little shits (and their derelict parents) and leave them there. At no point, did she ever take the mature route and say, "You know what? Save your pity. I am NOT a victim."
And that's what pisses me off the most is that she will make it harder for women, particularly black women and girls when they've been attacked for no good reason at all. She even has a lawyer from the NAACP, but we all know they are pretty worthless. From now on, when she comes on my television, I'm turning the channel. I don't care about her fake victimhood, nor do I care about what happens to her after they start roasting her for her insincerity and lack of responsibility. At least not until she grows the hell up and becomes a productive and valuable part of her community and the world.
There are plenty of people who deserve the care and attention this little monster is sucking up like a leech. Had her mama been disciplining that behind from jump, some kids wouldn't have had to put on her in the first place; What goes around comes around. Treat others the way you would want to be treated, Aiesha. The next time, you won't be so lucky. Someone might be waiting for you with a gun or a knife and you will no longer be at liberty to take out your self-hatred on others.
In case you haven't been able to catch any news this week, the internet and the news outlets, especially here in the Seattle area, have been abuzz after the cruel execution of four police officers from the Lakewood Police Department on Sunday at a Forza coffee shop while they prepared for their day. The killer was a deranged, child rapist/molester, with one hell of a rap sheet, Maurice Clemmons.
Naturally, the perpetrator being black was a factor in some of the conversations in the aftermath. I guess some folks couldn't resist, considering just one month before, Ofcr. Tim Brenton was also executed by a biracial (black) man.
Some voiced yesterday and today that there was a "subculture" that was very much against cops, and we all know that "subculture" means black folks or ghetto black folks, one of the two (or even both).
On the Dori Munson show on KIRO FM, he kept mentioning this "subculture", because Clemmons had what seemed like an Army of dirtbag family members and friends who had been coddling and protecting his ass, when he should've answered for his actions. Matter of fact, the police hauled in quite a few of his accomplices and they aren't done yet.
People out here just can't understand how his family members and friends tended to his gunshot wounds, protected him, gave him money (they've bailed him out in the past for heinous crimes, including child rape), and helped him elude the police. Hell, I can't understand it. I'm more disgusted the more details I read.
Most of us in this black blogosphere have been railing against the kind of black folks that rape and destroy their communities, families and their surroundings for some time. You're not going to question my reasons unless you're ultra sensitive and projecting. You don't necessarily question Rippa or The Field Negro when they rip into animals like Clemmons on the regular.
Is it then okay for white bloggers and commentators to voice their opinions on the "Tragic Negroes" screwing things up for the rest of us (seriously, they were stopping black men trying to catch this perp)? Or will they never be privy to these types of discussions?
They brag about sleeping with each other's close friends.
They disrespect and denigrate each other as loud as they possibly can.
They invade each other's personal space.
They don't keep their hands to themselves.
They don't drop the freaking camera to help a girl or woman who's been attacked.
They put a slam on a woman that would make the WWE's John Cena wince with pain.
They simply don't walk away. They keep going without stopping.
When you watch the video, it goes a little beyond the fact that the teenage boy in the video was dead ass wrong for manhandling a female. Period. End of story. There's no argument. He was wrong.
She was wrong too. She should've respected his personal space, and she should've had self-respect for herself. At the same time, I've been heated with my boyfriend, and I have at times nagged him mercilessly. Guess what? He would never lift a finger to hit me, nor has he. And you know what? That doesn't make him a "good" man. That makes him a "man." Unless the boy taped in this video gets his shit together, he never will be a man, and he will always be a boy who will find himself in crappy relationships that go nowhere.
"But she was all in his face?"
And? He started threatening her with bodily harm simply because he felt his "manhood" was being insulted, or he felt like he had to protect his "honor." We are in 2009, there is no reason for us to continue to perpetuate the fuckery that is an honor culture anyway. Matter of fact, that's what's killing black men anyway. There is a certain level of honor that comes with simply letting people act a fool by themselves, embarrassing themselves. A real man would've told her to simply stop invading his personal space, and had she continued talking shit, just walk away.
He is the only person who can control his boundaries. There's nothing wrong with moving away from the person who is not respecting your boundaries. And it's sad to see that this is one "brother" who has been taught to believe that black women deserve to be manhandled if they get too "sassy." Way to go!
She is not innocent. It is clear, by his bragging about sleeping with her friends, that he's a piece of work, and I don't mean that in a good way. Let him be the only one to humiliate himself, and show himself for the walking piece of offal that he is. While it is never okay to hit a man, it is never okay to invade and wage war against someone's personal space. She, like him, fell into the trap that makes black women fall prey to believing that they need to be loud, menacing and obnoxious to prove their point and get their way. I personally would've kicked his balls in had he done that to me, but then again, while I've nagged, I would not put myself in her position over something as brain draining as some teenaged simp not keeping his dick in his pants.
We need to teach black boys, LIKE black girls, that respect for themselves is way more important than protecting some idea of what "honor" is. We need to teach them to respect each other as well. When black women are taught that black men "ain't shit," and when black men are taught that black women "ain't shit," stuff like this happens.
Hopefully after reading this post you're able to look at this issue differently. To do so, I suggest taking the time to view the following videos starting with this one:
So everyone has heard the story - or watched the video - of 16yr old Derrion Albert savagely beaten to death in Chicago. In my opinion, I don’t know if the video or the knee jerk reactions to it was more appalling. I’m sorry and I apologize if that last line offended anyone, but it’s just the way I see it. I’m disappointed that a young man had his life cut short in the manner he did, but I’m not angry. Am I a bad person for not being angered by this incident? No. Am I apathetic because I’m not as “enraged” as some people claim to be? Of course not, but some may think that I am. But hey, the cynic in me tells me that this “rage” will quickly disappear as it did after the Oscar Grant incident earlier this year. Everybody was mad then after watching the video of him being killed by a police officer, but no such rage at the fact that currently murder charges against said officer might be dropped.
If you ask me, it is this very “anger” which is essentially a part of the problem. Let’s be honest, Derrion Albert wasn’t killed because people were “Steppin’ in the name of love,” in the streets of Chicago. I say that because I doubt he was caught up in the midst of two separate but very happy groups of teenagers. Real talk: How do we solve problems if angry? When has anything positive ever developed from a position of anger? Shouldn’t this be yet another albeit teachable moments as it relates to conflict resolution? Ironically, it is this “anger” which has fueled some of the most unproductive discussions and commentary surrounding this incident and the blame game.
So in the spirit of “community” where community exists only when there is real commitment to go beyond rhetoric, beyond the limitations of tolerance, beyond the accusations, attacks and suspicions often experienced when people try to talk through the tough issues. I offer some Socratic questioning in an attempt to provoke rational thought and hopefully move towards solutions.
1) Bad Parenting: I’ve heard it said that what happened to Derrion is a resut of bad parenting. How can one watch the video of this or read about this story and come to this conclusion? Were there parents at the scene acting as agitators and or instigators? I’m sorry, but unless that was the case, I’m not buying that “bad parenting” cliché explanation. If you feel differently than I, feel free to explain that one to me in your commentary. And please give me more than that “babies raising babies” talk.
2) Absentee Black Fathers: Yet another one of those silly arguments to explain this incident. Can anyone prove to me that every single solitary soul involved in that melee came from single parent homes? Again, I’m sorry, but Black people, as a people we need to stop believing the hype as we’re fed by the media. Using absentee fathers as an excuse negates this being a teachable moment as far as personal responsibility and consequences in my opinion. Absentee Black fathers may be a problem in itself. But let’s not use this incident as one of those soapbox moments to promote Black fatherhood when it is not known whether it's even a contributing factor in this instance. If that's what you think to be a contributing factor in this and all instances of violence, pay attention to the last video.
3) Hip Hop: Let’s see, Hip Hop as we know it in the mainstream has been around how long? I don’t know, but I seriously doubt whether it has been around as long as Black on Black violence and crime has, no? Hell, a White rapper was just arrested for murder a couple of weeks ago. How come nobody submitted Hip Hop to be the causation of his crime which had multiple victims? Do we blame, or are other musical genres the motivation behind acts of crime committed by non-minorities? But hey, we can debate that issue in the commentary as well; actually being a Hip Hop head I welcome that debate. Shit, I know plenty of cats my age who love Mobb Deep's “Shook One's PT. II” who have yet to just lose it causing the end to the life of an individual.
4) The Black Culture of Violence: I know and understand Black on Black crime is an issue itself. But, why make this incident, or use similar incidents to give the perception that “it’s a Black thing”? Correct me if I’m wrong, but is there something in the DNA of people of African descent that predisposes them to violent crime? I’m just curious, but isn’t crime – be it violent or not – a problem throughout society that affects us all negatively? Why then see it as another one of those Black problems? Also, I’d like to take the time to remind people that gang culture has always existed in this country, and that the U.S. Gov’t did not create Ricco law statutes to take down the Bloods and the Crips. Yes, there is a pathology associated or attached to Black folks which directly impacts behavior. But how can we challenge this issue without tying it in to a larger societal problem?
All in all people, the problem here as I see it is violence in America; yes, we live in a violent nation. Is it any surprise that a country that was birthed through violence, where people are comfortable packing guns to political town hall meetings, and creating “Should Obama be Killed” polls on Facebook that these type of incidents occur? Derrion was caught up between an incident which involved two rival groups – you know that same “mob mentality” currently occupying our national political discourse? But hey, I guess that’s to be expected when the country you love has, is and will always be the biggest bully in the world community. Yeah, mobs and gangs have long been a part of American culture; why worry about violence here when this country exercises its “violent will” on other people and other cultures abroad.
What’s sad to me Black people, is that we view Derrion’s demise within the “Black community” to be tragic but yet accept or are apathetic towards the culture of violence within our country at large. Hell, a White kid was beaten on a school bus recently by a group of Black kids, but yet I didn’t hear this much “rage” from the Black community. Lemme guess, he lived, so it was no big deal, right? But since I’m trying to offer solutions I’ll ask: how can we stop the violence when we all live or are a part of a larger society within which such behavior is commonplace and not addressed?
“He who warned uh, the British that they weren't gonna be takin' away our arms, uh by ringing those bells, and um, makin' sure as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be sure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed.” -- Sarah Palin on Paul Revere
