Glorious

Last Thursday, as Barack Obama gave his historical acceptance speech Fannie Lou Hamer was on my mind. Hamer co-founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP). The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party was organized with the purpose of challenging Mississippi's all-white and anti-civil rights delegation to the Democratic National Convention of 1964.

Fannie Lou Hamer’s efforts drew national attention to the treatment of Blacks in Mississippi, and represented a challenge to President Lyndon B. Johnson, who was seeking the Democratic Party's nomination for reelection. Hamer drew a great deal of attention from the media, enraging Johnson, who referred to her as "that illiterate woman".
Hamer spoke in front of the Credentials Committee which was broadcast nation wide and reached millions of viewers. She told the committee how Blacks in across the country were prevented from voting. As a result of her speech negotiations were conducted, without Hamer’s participation, and a compromise was reached in that the DNC would select the two delegates to be seated. The MFDP was not allowed to choose the delegates for fear they would select Hamer. In the end, the MFDP rejected the compromise, but had changed the debate to the point that the Democratic Party adopted a clause which demanded equality of representation from their states' delegations in 1968.

Last week, forty-four years later, an African-American accepted the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Fannie Lou Hamer succumbed to breast cancer in 1977 at the age of 59.

So Excited.

I tried to watch all of the DNC before commenting. I couldn’t do it. It is now official. Barack Obama is the Democratic Nominee for the Presidency of the United States. Hilary Clinton ended the roll call vote in acclamation for the Illinois senator. Bill Clinton convincingly backed her up by embracing the Obama-Biden ticket and providing validation of why the country will be in safe hands. He also told us why Americans should vote Democratic this fall. Neither Hillary nor Bill left any room for doubt. What few rifts might have remained after Hillary’s speech last night and releasing her delegates today; Bill healed.

Joe Biden’s acceptance speech was even more moving. The reference to his family’s hard times had me, as well as Michelle Obama, in tears. And, watching all the pride on his mother’s face was extremely touching.

The Nominee has never taken the stage before the final night of the convention. Tonight was no ordinary night at the DNC. Barack Obama joined Joe Biden after his V.P. acceptance speech. All eyes will be on Invesco Field tomorrow night. Forty-Five years to the day that Martin Luther King made his “I Have a Dream” speech, Barack Obama will accept the Democratic Nomination.

The most consistent aspect of the Obama campaign from the beginning has been its discipline, and the nominee’s control of his own message is apparent. Thus far, the Denver convention seems to be on that same track.

A V.P. & the DNC

With less than a week until the Democratic National Convention and 74 days until the election it looks as if Barack Obama will make his selection for a running mate known this weekend. Speculation about the potential candidates has recently been focused on Delaware Senator Joe Biden, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine and Indiana Senator Evan Bayh.

Senator Joe Biden is a foreign policy expert with working-class roots who made a short-lived bid for the Democratic nomination earlier this year and currently chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The benefit of choosing Biden would be that he could help Obama win over crucial blue-collar voters in swing-states like Pennsylvania and Ohio. And let’s face it we need to pick up some of those swing-states if we are going to pull this off. The liability of choosing Biden is that he is a Washington insider and this could hurt Obama’s message of change. How much change could one expect with someone on the ticket who has been a senator for over 35 years? And let’s not forget that back in 2007 he referred to Barack Obama as "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy".

Governor Tim Kaine was an early Obama backer and has clout in key states. He was the first major political figure outside Mr. Obama's home state to endorse him and he could be an electoral asset to Obama in a state where there is sure to be a fight, Virginia, where Kaine has served as governor since 2006. The downside of choosing Kaine is that he has little to no experience.

Senator Evan Bayh is a former Clinton-supporter and could possibly help unite the party; however, this man has less charm, wit and personality than any politician I have ever seen.

With all of this said, next week promises to be quite interesting. The focus will be off of Beijing and on Denver, Colorado. For more information click on the above picture of Barack Obama and stay tuned.

Book Review - A Long Way Gone

I recently finished reading A long Way Gone. The first time I started reading this book was over a year ago. I got through the first chapter and had to put it down. It was too sad.

The book, subtitled “Memoirs of a Boy Soldier,” tells the story of Ishmael Beah a young boy from Sierra Leone caught in the middle of one of the most brutal and violent revolutions in recent, while only twelve years old. Beah is a wonderful writer who gives his readers a clear and moving picture of each of the circumstances he encountered on his journey as a boy who goes from fearing the violence of the civil war in Sierra Leone to reveling in the torture of other human beings after being recruited by the government army at the age of thirteen.

This is not a book for the faint of heart. Over half of Beah’s narrative chronicle how easy it is for a normal boy to become addicted to hate, killing, and drugs. Some of the more disturbing moments are the shooting or slitting people's throats without remorse or even a second thought.

After two years of fending for himself in a kill or be killed atmosphere UNICEF pulls Beah, as well as many other boys, too safety. This is where the autobiography lacks detail. We simply get a glimpse of what it took to free Beah of his addictions and how he actually got to New York.

In all fairness I must mention that this book is not without controversy. The Australian has published several articles debunking the memoir and alleging that Ishmael Beah extremely embellished the facts. According to journalist working for the paper Beah’s timeline is exaggerated. Instead of Beah’s village being annihilated in 1993 as Beah purports, the reporters contend that the village was in fact in not raided until 1995; making Beah an orphan soldier for little more than two months.

Without making a call as to the authenticity of the books timeline I will say that if you have the heart, or stomach as the case may be, this is an informative look into what happens to children of war in third world countries.

A Call To All My Brothas

Last Sunday I was sitting in one of my favorite spots to blog, Food for Life Supreme, having just completed my posting, which included an R.I.P. to Bernie Mac, enjoying some of the organic, vegetarian, tasty, cuisine that the brothas and sistas offer; when a lady literally screamed, "Not Isaac too???"

On Saturday, Bernie Mac died of Pneumonia at the age of fifty and Issac Hayes died Sunday of a stroke at the age of 65. Both of these men were great at what they did, but of course you have heard all of this over the past few days. So why, you ask, another article/blog/piece regarding the same unfortunate events? My answer,these men were not old and in a country with every possible medical advance our brothas are dying young and at disproportionately higher rates then men of other races. Black men please take care of your health.

African American men live on average 7.1 years less than men of other races. Our men die at double the rate of white men due to heart disease, they have a higher rate of prostate cancer and diabetes, and believe it or not homicide and HIV are not even in the top 10 for white males while they are prominent on the list for our brothas.

Check out these links:
Black Vegetarian Society

Black Male Health Online

Black Mental Health Alliance

An ounce of prevention is worth n pound of cure. Take some time to evaluate what you are eating, your sedimentary lifestyle, make an appointment for a check-up and take the time to actually go, and remember stress can kill you. - Mad luv for all my brothas

Do you really want this man running the country???

What would your response be if a married member of your family offered up his wife for a topless, and occasionally bottomless, competition?

Well, last week John McCain suggested that Cindy participate in the Miss Buffalo Chip contest; a pageant that is more than a little risqué, not to mention marred by spousal violence. The contest includes a talent component – pickle licking, and a wet tee-shirt competition. ESPN's Jim Caple described the contest as "essentially a topless beauty pageant and occasionally bottomless, too." Caple reported, “During a drenching rain [last] Wednesday night, the contest broke up into smaller groups and one woman wound up dancing naked on a bar top. Her boyfriend/husband saw her and angrily dragged her away as she struggled to put her pants back on and muttered something about how, ‘It's only this one week a year.” Unfortunately the pageant sees its share of domestic abuse, which even the event's organizers admitted to ESPN, is a major problem.

John McCain doesn't appear to be any more savvy then the current idiot occupying the oval office. If the Republican presumptive nominee is willing to offer up his wife for a few votes, or worse laughs, just think of what he will offer up you and yours for?

Come On Brotha?!?!?!?!?

Wow, this really looks bad. Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick spent last night in jail –for violating the terms of his bond by traveling to Canada. When he woke up this morning Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox charged him with two counts of felony assault – for assaulting an officer trying to serve a subpoena. This is in addition to the eight felony charges that he is already facing – for trying to cover up an affair with his now resigned chief of staff, Christine Beatty. Moments before Mr. Cox’s announcement, a circuit court judge allowed the mayor to be released from jail after posting a $50,000 cash bond. He also took away the mayor’s travel privileges and ordered him to wear a global-positioning tether. But Mayor Kilpatrick could soon be headed back to jail, as today’s assault charges would be another bond violation.

Mr. Cox, a Republican who called for Mr. Kilpatrick to resign in March and who is widely expected to run for governor in 2010, decided to bring the assault charges after reviewing a report from the state police, who investigated the Democratic mayor’s run-in with the Sheriff’s department. (Detroit Press)

Now I am sympathetic to the condition of Black elected officials but the is ridicules. I can’t even say that I feel sorry for the embattled mayor. It is really sad that for the first time in Detroit's 307-year history a sitting mayor has been imprisoned. All this could have been avoided if he had only told the truth about his relationship with Christine Beatty under oath. He has now tarnished his reputation, his name, the office and has put his family under undue stress and embarrassment just for being, how can I put this nicely, a dog.

We will be watching. Hopefully he will redeem himself by stepping down as mayor and quietly trying to put his family back together in order to reclaim his pride.

Do You Know Tamika?

The Lima PD knew she was a mother of six young children when they raided her home looking for her boyfriend. Tarika Wilson was shot and killed as she held her 1 year son who was shot in the shoulder. When Tarika’s neighbors informed her mother that the house was being raided she came to the house to see about her daughter and grandchildren, where police told her to “shut up and stay out of the way or you’ll be tazed”.

This all took place on January 4th of this year in Lima, Ohio where one in four residents is black. Sgt. Joseph Chavalia, a white police officer told jurors that he thought his life was in danger when he shot the unarmed Tarika as she held her son in her arms. Chavalia told jurors that he now knows the gunfire he heard was coming from downstairs, where other officers shot two charging pit bulls, but at the time “There was absolutely, positively no doubt in my mind right then and there that whoever this was is shooting at me. They're trying to kill me," Chavalia said. Chavalia pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor counts of negligent homicide and negligent assault. He faces up to eight months in jail if convicted of both counts. An all-white jury was selected on July 28, 2008, with a black woman and a white woman as alternates.

On Monday, August 4, 2008, Sgt Joseph Chavalia was acquitted.

Why was this “officer” charged with misdemeanors? In a town where one in four residents is Black, out of 12 people, there should have been some Blacks on the jury. Have you heard about this case? T.V./Radio coverage? Why isn’t anybody doing anything about this? What can you do?

Inform your Black talk, t.v./radio personalities. Inform you elected officials. Inform family, friends, and colleagues. This happens far, far too often and has been going on since the middle passage. This time it was Tamika next time it could be you or yours. It is time to insist that Black lives be valued.