the more things change...

just before this year's super bowl, new orleans elected a new mayor.  he won 66% of the vote in a field of over 5 other candidates.  his closest competitor received only 14% of the vote.  no doubt he was the people's choice in a crowded field where elections usually drag on for successive rounds of primaries and runoffs.

in contrast, several seasoned politicians and a couple of political newcomers (but not new runners) rushed to the open Louisiana State House District 93 Seat a few months ago.  James Perry and Helena Moreno rose to the top of a wide field of candidates and will duke it out in next week's runoff.  now that the stakes are high, the kid gloves have come off and both candidates are going for the jugular, exposing the relative faults of their opponent. 

the gambit, nola's local weekly paper (the smart and reliable alternative to the time-pic) recently posted it's endorsement in the District 93 race. 

Voters in House District 93 will choose a new state representative on Saturday, May 29. The district contains the economic nerve center of Louisiana — most of the French Quarter, all of the CBD and Warehouse District, the port, the Morial Convention Center, the Louisiana Superdome and New Orleans Arena, the new LSU/VA hospital project, and the mainstays of the city’s tourism and restaurant industries.

The two remaining candidates are housing advocate James Perry and former newscaster Helena Moreno. In their runoff campaigns, the candidates have brought forth disturbing accusations against one another, and recent revelations about both cause us to take no position in this race. That this race has come down to two seriously flawed candidates is a shame, considering the economic importance of this district. 

more of the same.

hope on dope

about a month ago, i pondered the effect/affect that Barack Obama would have on the average ambitious young Black man as it relates to his relationship picks. i hoped that YBM would start looking for their own personal michelle's and stop defaulting to the brain dead eye candy. now it seems that the Obama has effect has spread to local politics in some interesting ways. how so?

well, during the election season, it was not uncommon for local, state and national politicians, both democrats and republicans, to co-opt the changey mchoperson message that made Obama so popular. and some of that was to be expected, right? during any presidential election year, the candidates down the ticket will often ride the coattails of the nominated commander-in-chief-to-be, in the hopes that all levels of government will reflect the values and ideals of the man on top.

but the thing i've found most interesting is that the Obama juice continues to flow, even now after the election season has been put to bed and the next major round of races aren't set until 2010. for example, last night i attended a meet and greet for a friend of mine who is contemplating a run for mayor of new orleans. it was a small gathering of 30 to 40 people, primarily between the ages of 20 and 40, with almost every ethnicity represented. while i think my friend is passionate about what he does in his field, i didn't necessarily think of him as the mayor of nola before last night especially given the nature of politics in this city. but at the event, it was as if Obama himself came down from on high and anointed my friend to run this race...seriously.

the woman who opened for him began her spiel by invoking Obama in all his glory, the idea that while Obama has reached the ultimate height, we, the masses, can not sit ideally by and let him do all the work. no! we must take to the streets and start the revolution. or not. more like we each should become involved in the political process in our own corners of the world. the urgency of now demands it!

and as i stood there caught up in the rapture of her words i had to pinch myself. this hope shit is contagious. addictive even. almost cultish. and my friend had not even uttered a word yet. afterwards, i watched as a woman came up to him and told him how inspired she was to have heard his words. and how excited she was that he was running for mayor. and i thought to myself, wow. really!?! ok! i've known him for a little minute so it's weird to see him make this transition from do-gooder to politician do-gooder (oxymoron maybe?) Obama certainly made us all believe it could be done. with his hope and si se puede...

the full ramifications remain to be seen but its clear that Obama has inspired a generation of folks who previously toiled for justice outside of government to contemplate infiltrating the machine and working for change from within. i guess they've got it...a more potent grade of hope than i've ever seen before.

what say you?

Oh, Say Can You See

Can you see...
How long have we waited? For decades.
picking cotton, sharecropping, working in places we couldn't afford to go, marching, working a factory job, excluded from the union, enduring when, told we didn't meet the qualifications because we were too dumb-too ugly-too black, not even considered a person...
Until we forced them to see us as people.
with families, and values, and hopes, and dreams, not so different, we are a great peculiar people, people of joy, peace, gentleness and long suffering...
Can you see?This is a new dawning.
One that we have to help rise up.

I guess this would be the place where I would insert a some lyrics from a good Negro spiritual. Or throw in a few verses of We Shall Overcome...but I feel like those type of battles are over. I think this election is more to remind all folks that this is our country too. We might be marginalized in the media, but we are more than what we see on television. We have a voice beyond the rappers and the athletes...we have a history and a culture the includes, but isn't exclusively hip-hop. To me this election is about me being seen as a person in my own country. It's about telling my yet unborn children that they can be anything they want to be...and it be a true affirmation that doesn't just stop at the Governor's mansion or in a Senate seat. Today is about getting the idealistic American definition of a land for all to truly represent itself. This election is about people being different and unique but no less American for being themselves.


So at this place, I leave you with a little Marvin, who rearranged our National Anthem so it showed his perspective. And that's what voting today is about! Showing our perspective. Making it impossible for our country to blindly ignore what must be seen..and that is us!



See You In Seven

enough already?

7 days never seemed so long.

Last night's obamamercial was a prime example of that. While I am not an obamamaniac I do support the brother. Not because he gon fix child support or get reparations but more than anything because he gon stick it to the MAN. Show these white folks. Allegedly.

Now I know that's not the most pc way to say things such as this but that's just how I feel.

Anywho one would think that having raised 150 million in the month of September would make you guaranteed to win. Allegedly.

Running for president on the democratic ticket at the height of an economic crisis would make it impossible to lose. Allegedly.

But seems like the only thing for sure is that obama is still a black man.

In America

Where folks that looked like him were enslaved just 3 generations ago.

Where his daddy would be strange fruit in Mississippi had he whistled at his momma a generation ago.

And while WE get it. Apparently there are still some folks that don't. still undecided 6 days before Nov. 4. chile please.

So to me, there are 6 days left for some shit to pop off. Enough time for full page ads with blackened images and the n word. Now while I thought 30 mins of reworked speeches was overkill, enough already...maybe not.

what say you?

Great Expectations

I usually don’t dip my toes into the political water as I try to leave that up to the professionals like Bellini. LOL! But during this political season, several things have given me pause, especially when it relates to Obama. But in an effort to be brief I will just focus on two of them. And what I’m about to write isn’t really about the O man himself (since I’ve been there done that), but more about the public and its perceptions of him, his policies, his commitment to the people, his ability to feed the masses with five loaves, two fishes, a smile and jazz hands. So here is what has baffled me the most:

1. Some Black Folk
If I hear another Black person talk about how they thought this country had come so far, or they never thought this country could be so racist, or those days are supposed to be over, or it’s not fair how Bracky O is getting treated, I am seriously, for real, for real going to scream. I have heard it from Black folk of all ages. And it leaves me with a where did this Black person come from feeling. I mean I know the man has gotten farther than many of us ever imagined, but let’s not forget this is the good ol’ US of A. Somewhere in all of our excitement at the idea of history being made, we done lost our minds.

I don’t know how things went down in y’alls households, but here’s what my mama would say to me and my brother when we were coming up: I don’t put nothing past white folks. Now what does this mean? Does this mean that we didn’t have white friends? No, of course not. Does this mean that we were taught that there are no “good” white people in the world? No, of course not. Does this mean that we were taught that all white people are the devil? Well... No, I’m kidding, dear white readers (all 3 of y’all), we were not taught that white people are the devil. But like I recently heard Diamond aka Neesee aka LisaRaye on an All Of Us episode say, we were taught, “to watch our front, back, and sometimes they come from the left.”

Of course this doesn’t mean I live my life full of suspicion waiting for some white person to come twist a knife in my back or take my land, but, um, er, I ain’t no fool. Nothing white people do surprises me: good, bad or evil. When they dress up in “ghetto” costumes and black face for Halloween, while so many of us are getting upset I am not shocked. I am mostly amused. But mainly at our reactions. When they use the "N" word, I am not astonished. I’m wondering what took them so long. When they use scare tactics like having a blonde haired white woman tell Harold Ford Jr., to “call her,” on a television commercial at the height of his historic Senate race, that recall old school fears and stereotypes, I am ready for it. I don’t like it. But I’m ready for it. And I’m not ready to let my guard down. Call it paranoia. Call it a refusal to let go of the past. But whatever you call it, I won't be surprised at anything that happens in the Fall.

2. Everybody else
Recently on the Tom Joyner Morning Show a Muslim American from some non profit/non partisan group was being interviewed saying that he took issue with the way Obama is denying that he is not a Muslim. The man said, “He shouldn’t just say that he’s not a Muslim. He should also say, ‘But if I were there would be nothing wrong with that.’ He’s making it seem like it’s not good to be a Muslim.” Now as I’ve expressed, I’m no Obamaholic, but man heavy is the head that’s trying to wear the crown! You want him to do alladat? You realize he’s running for President of the United States, right? Heh, heh. That line works on more than just Black people I see.

So the guy was talking bout Muslims might not support Obama now. And of course Joyner and Co. were on some but what about how McCain thinks/treats/supports Muslims? Ok if I remembered anything from my argumentation class I would know exactly what kind of argument this is, but since I don’t, I’ll just say that this is a silly argument to me because McCain is not running on the Hope/Change/There are no red states or blue states just purple states/We all in this together Express. You pretty much know what you’re going to get from the Republican Party: White men, their wives, and a few “special” minorities who have lost their way. I kid Black conservatives. Obama has been stamped as the inclusive candidate which only leads to trouble because then everyone thinks they’re, well included. Until they find out that they’re not. Because in reality no one can be all things to all people. And when that reality is finally revealed those people want to go get all get mad and act betrayed. Apparently they didn’t get the memo that someone was going to come up with the short end of the stick. And it’s usually minorities: in terms of race, religion, and economics. But maybe they never thought they would be the ones who were going to be forced to pick that short stick. Sucks doesn’t it?

Now some people (cough Bellini cough) might label me a cynic. I prefer to call myself a realist. Maybe it's because in my voting lifetime I’ve never been fully ride or die for a candidate, so I don’t know the thrill of hitching my wagon to someone’s star, and taking that magical carpet ride to victory. But I do know that I recently read that every movement begins in idealism, turns into a business, and ends up as a racket. Chew on that. And as I watch and hear some people become slightly disillusioned with yo' mama's favorite candidate, (I’ve even heard some use that clichéd well he’s the lesser of two evils line-now when did he become that), I like this New York Times writer wonder what everyone was expecting. Cause I'm still waiting for this water I'm drinking to turn to wine!

That’s my time y’all! Happy Rum Punch Friday!

from the belly of the beast

imagine a large room, well-lit but dank, heavy with the misery of those around you. black men and women, ranging in age from the older gentleman with hair graying at his temples to the young woman with the baby dreadlocks crowning her defiant face as she glances around the room, each one seated, some slumped in mix-match plastic chairs. they are all clad in the obligatory orange jumpsuits subdivided into pairs not necessarily partners in crime or friends from around the way but temporarily shackled together, cleaved at the ankles as they await their fate (for the day).

what will be the price on their heads today? how much will their families attempt to scrap together in order to bail them out? what will freedom, even home-monitored freedom, cost today? what will the man do, as he sits in the stately, oak paneled room across town, peering through the peculiar apparatus inserting an ironic touch of technology into this rustic room that looks like the inside of an empty pool or an elementary school cafeteria. if you peer close enough and pay attention to the sheriff in green keeping watch from the back of the room, you'll learn that it used to be the place where police line-ups were conducted. this place, long forgotten after that bitch katrina laid bare the federal government's engineering inadequacies, has been revived.

welcome to bail hearings in orleans parish.

where the magistrate's only link to those whose bail he must determine is a video camera and a flat screen TV up front. a substitute for bringing the accused into the judge's actual presence, lauded for its ability to promote judicial economy and eliminate the supposed inefficiencies of having those whose lives you are so deeply impacting appear before you in real life, real time.

this is how they do it down in the big easy. how they've been doing it for years. the lady sitting at the judge's right hand calls a name. the accused stands. his charges are read. marijuana first. crime against nature. any priors? 96. armed robbery. the judge doesn't miss a best. Bail is set at 5000.

there is no space for the defense attorney to plead her client's case. no regard for the statutory bail factors. the likelihood that he'll return to court for his next appearance. and if one dares to interject, a swift rebuke is sure to follow.

once the spectacle is over, all names having been read, prices set, the men and women in orange are trotted back to their cells to await the next stop on the criminal justice train (wreck).

this image sits with me. reminds me that there are places in this country, the land of the free where every man and woman has certain inalienable rights, that this is the level of criminal (in)justice you receive. sits with me as the election churns on, candidates speak endlessly about their experience in making change, the change they hope to inspire, the change they've spent their life working for. the trail each one is trying to blaze without actually acknowledging that they are this or that, that they don't represent this or that, when we all can see that they are and that they do. no matter who becomes president shit won't change in orleans parish just because [name your favorite candidate] took office. cause these poor people aren't the middle class that so desperately needs preservin' or the rich folks who are searchin' for the tax breaks. talk to these people about the finding jobs that will pay a respectable wage from which taxes can be taken out.

who panders to these people? who sits with them and hears their stories? who truly listens and forces that judge in the little box to consider the bail factors?


who indeed....