I’m wondering if there is any real crime in Flint. Ofcourse I know the answer is to this question is yes so then the next question becomes  “do the cops in Flint not have more to worry about than the harm of saggy jeans”. Who hires these idiots, everyday people are being murdered, raped and a host of other violent crimes and you want to harrass people who wear their pants sagging.

It’s indecent and immoral, ok I hear you but what about the drugs being sold on the streets of Flint, the armed robberies, crimes that actually affect the well being of our communities. Make those crimes your priority not saggy jeans which is no more than a tacky fashion statement that I myself used to partake in.

Unless the real reason behind this saggy jeans thing is more remniscent of the broad view of racial profiling. The broad definition allows that you utilize race and other factors; ie. geography, dress, location, age and other factors to profile certain individuals. People who don the style of baggy, saggy jeans are more likely than not, young black males so this would give the police ammunition to approach young black males. Why? Because they fit the description and by wearing these saggy jeans, they are breaking the law.

So maybe the police chief has bigger hopes in mind. Maybe while taking these young black men off the streets for such a petty crime they will find drugs or some type of other criminal activity afoot during their harassment of these males. Just something to ponder!

Michigan police chief: Wear saggy pants, get arrested Flint’s top cop calls it ‘immoral self-expression,’ but others fear racial implications By BRYN MICKLE Newhouse News Service Published on: 06/27/08

This city’s new police chief is saying no to crack.

Interim Flint Police Chief David R. Dicks announced this week that officers will begin arresting people wearing pants or shorts that sag too low, exposing rear ends. “This immoral self-expression goes beyond free speech,” Dicks said in a statement released Thursday.”It rises to the crime of indecent exposure/disorderly persons.

” It’s a style that irks many — a few cities nationwide have outlawed the rear-revealing pants (the Atlanta City Council proposed a ban amid much debate, but the plan was ultimately tabled). However, the order also raises serious questions about how it would be enforced, whether it disproportionately targets young black men and whether ultra-low riders should be considered constitutionally protected.

Is Dicks going too far?

Greg Gibbs, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney in Flint, said how people wear their clothing is a form of expression but cautions that not all of those forms are protected by the Constitution.

“The issue is: Does it violate the First Amendment?” Gibbs asked.

Some Flint residents are all for busting those who go bottoms out. “It’s overdue,” said Sam Berry, 73, of Flint.

Gwendolyn R. Allen, 72, of Flint agreed: “It’s so disgusting … It’s disgraceful.” Claude Carter, 49, of Flint sees the issue differently, though. He said wearing pants in that manner is a fad — not a crime. “I see young and old wearing their pants that way,” said Carter. The crackdown on buttocks is an apparent response to “significant” complaints from citizens, according to Dicks. Under the chief’s orders, any sworn officer who sees “sagging/exposing buttocks” will have probable cause to make an arrest under the city’s disorderly person ordinance — a misdemeanor punishable by a $500 fine and three months in jail.

Flint NAACP President Frances Gilcreast is no fan of the style but worries about police focusing on young black men.

“My concern is how (the policy) will be applied equitably,” Gilcreast said. Some Flint police officers, however, aren’t too sure how they will enforce it. “What about ‘plumber’s crack’?” said Keith Speer, president of the Flint Police Officers Association. In the past, Speer said, officers would issue warnings if too much skin was showing but reserved the handcuffs for full moons. “Most of the time, if they’re wearing sagging pants, they’re also wearing boxers,” he said. Memo notwithstanding, Speer doesn’t expect any big changes in how officers handle the issue. “It’s like issuing a memo telling officers to enforce the law,” Speer said. “Are we going to get a memo every time somebody complains?”

Ok first, this is a message to all the young black males and females in America who struggle when their class mates say that they are talking white because they choose to speak proper English.

This fallacy has gone too far, in fact there is nothing “white” about being an articulate and intelligent individual. And now we have to hear these same type of attacks from Presidential hopefuls who know they have no chance in hel of ever becomig the President of these United States.

I am sad that Cornell West once endorsed your run Mr. Nader for you are the epitome of ignorance and you have taken upon yourself to promote discension and misunderstanding throughout the land with your careless remarks.

Recently Nader said, “”There’s only one thing different about Barack Obama when it comes to being a Democratic presidential candidate. He’s half African-American,” Nader told the paper in comments published Tuesday. “Whether that will make any difference, I don’t know. I haven’t heard him have a strong crackdown on economic exploitation in the ghettos. Payday loans, predatory lending, asbestos, lead. What’s keeping him from doing that? Is it because he wants to talk white? He doesn’t want to appear like Jesse Jackson? We’ll see all that play out in the next few months and if he gets elected afterwards.”

So to speak to blacks or about black issues is only to speak about what is going on in the ghettos. Are both whites, blacks and latinos alike not the victims of predatory lending, payday loans, asbestos and lead.

And what is this “talking white” you speak of. Barack Obama often speaks of changing politics, changing America and creating a better world for people of all ethnicities to live in. Is that talking white Mr. Nader. Deep down Nader has the same white supremacist attitude that others before him have had and will inject race into this equation or election whichever you want to call it whenever he can.

I just wonder how does it feel to go down in history as the quintiessential loser. As the man who helped put George Bush in office, who has destroyed the reputation of America and kept us in a bloody war with Iraq where Iraqi officials kill U.S. troops.

Beat it Ralph Nader!

Ok let’s talk about this! Who is paying this false prophet to spew this nonsense? The Bible said their would be false prophets and Pastor Manning is clearly one of them. I am wondering if someone is paying, I will not even call him Pastor anymore because that is a respected name.

Is someone paying Ignoramus Manning or is he making money off these youtube videos. People like this man are disgusting because they claim to be of Christ and their idiotic behaviors turn so many people off to the word of God. What a Jerk?

As far as his hate for Barack Obama, Jerkoff Manning Get a LIFE!

Lil Wayne The Carter III Review

Let it be known that I am far from one of these Lil Wayne fanatics who hang onto every word that he says. I am often disappointed with the state of Hip-Hop or mainstream Hip-Hop because there is a difference. I am still feeling some type of way that Common was not even mentioned in the Hottest MC’s or even MTV’s Honorable mention. But MTV sucks and we all know that they by no means represent the real Hip-Hop.

With that said Lil Wayne’s new album The Carter III is CRACK! Like I can’t feel my face because it’s numb CRACK! With all the anticipation for this album there are many a critic who are running around the Internet making false claims. Claiming Weezy has lost it, the album sucks ect. Ect. I cannot conform to these fair-weather fans, their empty screams sound just as ridiculous as the dude on MTV who was fighting to get Soulja Boy on the top ten (yea, I’m still not over that).

Now before I go any further, is the Carter III comparable to Reasonable Doubt, Illmatic, or Ready To Die. Not at all, those albums are classics and you would be hard pressed to find an artist who could prepare such a lethal album in the current state of Hip-Hop. However one cannot deny that Wayne is one of the hottest mainstream rappers right now.

Let’s get to the album, did he not rip it on 3-Peat, Mr. Carter, A Milli. I mean he starts the album off with a mean flow and witty lines. He and Jay trade bars like ferocious animals on Mr. Carter. Hov himself passes the torch and calls Wayne the heir to the throne. I think Wayne has come along way; I would like to see him focus on more than hit punch lines and actually start saying something valuable. The pyramids were not built in a day, everything is a process and on this album along side his typical swagger and punch line filled rhymes Wayne goes beneath the surface and says some things with some depth on the album. It is always good to see an artist grow!

Mrs. Officer is a certified summer banger; I’m already riding around with the sunroof open letting that joint blare out the speakers. Props to the joint with David Banner, it has that real deep dirty South feel. That Mississippi, New Orleans, Texas feel, which is major that with all this success Weezy can pay respect to his roots and turn the mainstream onto it.

Not to many features on here but those that are on the album are notable. More specifically when Fab meets Wayne meets Juelz we have a nice mix. I haven’t seen Fab spitting like this since he was on the Clue Mixtapes. Now that’s how you let the build beat b****. Another banger for you pump around the way. First I want you to Phone Home then go play in some fire. The production on this album is amazing, hands down.

Concept wise, can you really hate on the genius of Dr. Carter. The game needs a heart shock, something to revive it and this concept, delivery and flow make it one of the hottest tracks on the album….. I saved yo life! I guess hip Hop ain’t dead. Shoot me down, the slow and weak cannot comprehend it and I will not break it down for you.  Tie my Hands, after his completely ignorant statement about New Orleans in the interview I posted on the blog a few weeks ago, I was happy to see him acknowledge the sad state of New Orleans and the disenfranchisement people of color.

Last but certainly not least did Wayne get political on Misunderstood. Did Wayne go and sample Nina Simone and try to put some soul on this. My only complaint here is that Common just used this same sample not even a year ago. In my opinion Common’s version was better but nevertheless the best part of the song was Wayne’s personal reflection on what’s going on with the state of black people and how it relates to the law. His words for Al Sharpton were tough but I felt them. Like if you are not going to reach out and help a young brother improve then please do not say anything at all. All in all I give the album 4/5, it is not a classic but it is definitely a good effort put forth by Wayne!

Am I getting Punk’d

So I’m on the net and I run across what may be one of the most hilarious videos of MC Hammer and his corny antics. It’s worth watching if you want to crack up for hours!

Misunderstood: A Hustler’s Tale

Driven by dreams of material things
Cant blame em; on TV that’s all he seen
Takes more than a reckless spirit
To build a crack empire
Learn the ways of the street fast
Or your life will soon expire
Fiends is clickin’ to what they got on 43rd
So you set up shop next to the woods on 45th
House in the cut you don’t want no shit

Takes more than a reckless spirit
To do what your doing
More like economics and trade agreements
In that language you’re fluent
If only Columbia or Harvard came to the hood
Maybe this young man wouldn’t be misunderstood
With these practices
You’d be a top CEO
But instead we’re relegated to the streets
It ain’t fun out here
Everybody’s packing heat

So you wholesale your product
So all the abusers come to you
Now their consumers
Are your customers
And everybody knows you
Business is good, assets and such
Be careful brother, don’t press ya luck
You got big dreams
To get ya family out the hood
Never was too flashy
But now your rims are what make you look good
Just some more attention
Before they wave ya ass goodbye
Coppers watching, enemies plottin’, snitches will end ya life

He coulda been bigger than John Rockefeller
Coulda taken his charisma
And used it for something better
The world judges you
For serving with hope with despair
The streets is watching
You cant sleep
This lovely crack house
Is surrounded by fiends
Your enemies creep with guns
With ambitions to blow holes in your dreams
Yet the cops pick you up
Putting football numbers behind this big dream
Too many keys to count
You’re on your way to the bing

Don’t get me wrong, they crooked too
You ain’t got no boats
To get all these drugs through
All them drugs they caught you with
Didn’t even make it to the precinct
They supply your competition
And our communities are still bleeding
Only if Penn State and Temple
Came to the hood
Maybe this young mans life
Wouldn’t be so misunderstood

Sharon Stone is on fire as of late!. I’m not even into celebrity gossip but her antics are pure comedy. Here she harasses Diddy and talks of how Madonna won’t do anything for less than 1 million.
Update: Dior pulled her ads from China because of her reckless comments, glad to see someone is being responsible here!

DISCLAIMER: This is a very emotional piece that I wrote several years ago. As for an update, my biological father is now helping me create an avenue for men in prison to reach out to the outside world and share their brilliance. Inside the Wall will become a part of this blog very soon. I hope you appreciate the piece, many had responded while it was on myspace so I felt the need to share the contents with you. Happy Birthday George!

Letter to my unborn Father

Possibly the most personal statement I have ever made to date.

A child was born around 3:41am on the Sabbath Day, always knew the boy would be special because he was born on the Lord’s Day. Like a thief in the night his biological father took off running immediately. Not for good, only for two weeks but those 2 weeks of him missing in action foreshadowed what was to come.

A child is a child, I don’t remember much before the age of four except for maybe one memory at the age of three. Where the child’s mother was cooking, his grandmother and sister were there and a familiar man was at the door. Still that same father only this time he’s not running, for women are strong and when men ain’t shit they tell them to keep going.

Like I said women are strong, so strong it’s frightening if you’re not a strong man. So after a so-called father disrespects the very woman who bore his child with deception, lust, more kids, yes I said more kids; not by her of course, a strong woman leaves. Leaves to find her happiness, which she knows, does not exist within a man who could be so selfish and cruel.

So he writes a letter and the contents of it I will share with you:

Dear Dad,
When I was young I called you daddy to signify the difference between you and my real father. It was a symbol of our love, our relationship, and our connection. A connection I have come to the conclusion we never had. Growing up I knew plenty of kids whose parents weren’t in their life. Being born in the 80’s some parents fled to CRACK, some fell ill with a sickness they first thought was syphilis but today has become a Pandemic known as AIDS.

But many of us young black boys lost our fathers to the system better known as maximum correctional facilities. Sorry, you’re no political prisoner like Mumia, or Assata, NO quite frankly you broke the law and have been caged like an animal ever since.

At an early age I can remember knowing what the term pathological liar meant. My mother didn’t sugar coat things nor did she make them uglier than what they seemed to be. She raised me with my eyes wide open rather than shut so that I could see the wolves in sheep’s clothing. Pretenders, those who said they were with you but really were more out for themselves. Something all these years later I recognize is possible within any relationship, even ours.

In high school I was angry at the lack of a father role that you played. In college I had sympathy for you because I knew how they must have been treating you in those concentration camps, on the outside we are caged mentally but you were physically, mentally at times it seemed even spiritually caged. The trips up north were oh so hard, painful to see the one who is supposed to be your “supreme” in a state that is so desperate. It is unimaginable that this would be a man’s fate, HELL not a man like you, not a man whose mouth is slicker than Stacey Adams shoes. A man whose walk is reminiscent of Malcolm when he was strutting in Boston in them zoot suits. No not you! You, an alleged father, the maker of children who span this earth some aimlessly because of your lack of parenting skills.

I’ve tried to write this letter many times, please don’t mistake my tone for anger, God knows all we need is another angry black man mad at his deadbeat daddy. No my tone is more of disappointment, disappointed at how men can escape their duties. Not mad at you because we made peace four years ago in January of 2002 at that table in that penitentiary where I visited because I thought that if you died I would be somewhat responsible.

My mothers fine, strong as I wrote before, strong enough to take her children find a true man and raise them to be RESPONSIBLE. STRONG enough to go on with her life and find happiness, that’s all the little lady ever talks about, is being truly happy, I’m sure she is. My brothers are growing, their big now, intelligent young fellas, my sisters a nurse she’s doing well for herself. My father, well he’s doing well too you should see us in action. We play chess, laugh about old beatings I got from acting out. He’s a good dude, and I’m thankful I had a father. See a lot of kids cant say that I am just very happy that I can. See I realized that connection I thought we had is false. Years in the pen won’t change you, I won’t change you, she don’t love you so that won’t change you. Players who keep playing get played, they play themselves out, it becomes tired and hopefully they recognize the error in their ways. If not they are relegated to a lifetime of unhappiness, must be that Green Mile they talk about. I say letter to my unborn Father because after 22 years I realized I don’t know you and quite frankly have no desire to.

Misunderstood: A Hustler’s Tale

Driven by dreams of material things
Cant blame em; on TV that’s all he seen
Takes more than a reckless spirit
To build a crack empire
Learn the ways of the street fast
Or your life will soon expire
Fiends is clickin’ to what they got on 43rd
So you set up shop next to the woods on 45th
House in the cut you don’t want no shit

Takes more than a reckless spirit
To do what your doing
More like economics and trade agreements
In that language you’re fluent
If only Columbia or Harvard came to the hood
Maybe this young man wouldn’t be misunderstood
With these practices
You’d be a top CEO
But instead we’re relegated to the streets
It ain’t fun out here
Everybody’s packing heat

So you wholesale your product
So all the abusers come to you
Now their consumers
Are your customers
And everybody knows you
Business is good, assets and such
Be careful brother, don’t press ya luck
You got big dreams
To get ya family out the hood
Never was too flashy
But now your rims are what make you look good
Just some more attention
Before they wave ya ass goodbye
Coppers watching, enemies plottin’, snitches will end ya life

He coulda been bigger than John Rockefeller
Coulda taken his charisma
And used it for something better
The world judges you
For serving with hope with despair
The streets is watching
You cant sleep
This lovely crack house
Is surrounded by fiends
Your enemies creep with guns
With ambitions to blow holes in your dreams
Yet the cops pick you up
Putting football numbers behind this big dream
Too many keys to count
You’re on your way to the bing

Don’t get me wrong, they crooked too
You ain’t got no boats
To get all these drugs through
All them drugs they caught you with
Didn’t even make it to the precinct
They supply your competition
And our communities are still bleeding
Only if Penn State and Temple
Came to the hood
Maybe this young mans life
Wouldn’t be so misunderstood

Brittany Spears, Amy Winehouse, and Lindsay Lohan are just a few of the names who grace our newspapers with drug riddled stories and pictures of them visibly high off of controlled substances. The media has been extremely reckless in their portrayal of these people who actually have serious problems that need to be addressed. A close friend of mine inspired me to write the piece “Our forgotten family” about reclaiming our people who are lost to drugs and substance abuse. I challenge the media to start tackling the issues of drug abuse in our society in a much more responsible manner. Whether it’s a celebrity or the local garbage man, the horrifying reality of drug abuse needs to be discussed responsibly. R.I.P. to the saxaphonist of Haggist Horns, Jason Rae, the husband of Corrine Bailey Rae; he recently died of an alleged drug overdose. This is not a white issue or a black issue, this is a people issue, let’s reclaim our forgotten family.

Our forgotten family

“What’s going on”, these are the words sang by the late great Marvin Gaye in the 1970’s. Here in 2008 this question still needs to be addressed and this time we need to move toward solving the many ills that face our communities. I had a conversation the other day with a close friend of mine and we were discussing substance abuse in our society. Drugs are raping and ravaging our communities of our brightest and most beautiful minds at a rate that leaves us dazed and confused and desperately searching for a resolution.

I thought about the negative images that are bestowed upon drug abusers, the disrespect that they face daily. Everyone has a vice, but these people are treated as if they are sub-human. Do we not all know someone who may be addicted to drugs or someone who may have had a problem with substance abuse in the past? What’s even more amazing is how we turn our backs on our own people in a time when they need us most. Is a crack head, or junkie not someone’s mother, father, sister, brother or maybe just a friend? Why do we leave our people at their weakest times and allow them to fall even deeper into their despair, helping them sink to even more desperate measures to obtain that “high”.

I started off this piece with adults in mind, I thought about all of the adults that I see in urban areas addicted to drugs looking for their next fix. But then I looked at some startling statistics and to my dismay I saw the increasing numbers of young teenagers who are smoking crack. No longer can we push drug abusers to the outskirts of the community and the abandoned houses in the neighborhood. Drugs are infecting the brilliant minds of tomorrow at record numbers and if we continue to ignore this problem we may be looking at the destruction of our communities as we know it.

Of course it is not our fault that people resort to drug abuse, however what we forget is it is often not their fault either. We all handle hardships and pain differently. Some feel the need to escape using alcohol; others resort to hard drugs, while some of us use promiscuity as a way to alleviate our stressful lives. None of these vices are correct but we have no right to neither judge nor condemn these people. In fact our judgment becomes a part of the problem rather than the solution.

Imagine it is your own mother who’s abusing drugs, or your little brother. Because these people are somebody’s brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, aunts and so on and so on. The first step in helping to solve this situation is to embrace those with drug problems, perhaps volunteering your time at a local rehabilitation center. The effects of drug abuse are very dark; when people feel abandoned they only crawl deeper into a space where no one can see them. It is in this space that addicts become violent stopping at nothing to reach their high because that high is where they feel comfortable amongst others who feel just as lonely. We need to reclaim our brothers and sisters who have fallen by the waist side. If not for them and their benefit, then for the benefit of our children who see this lifestyle and attempt to emulate it. It happens more often than we would like to believe.

Our approach to drugs can no longer be to sweep this taboo under the rug because it is seeping into our living rooms like a poison and killing entire families in our communities. Besides volunteering and drug rehabilitation programs, the way that we address people who have substance addictions needs to change. Drug user or not these people are human beings who deserve to be treated respectfully and encouraged to get back on the right track. A simple hello, can I get you something to eat never hurt anyone, in fact it may save someone’s life. Lets take the lid off of this problem that is so drastically raping our communities and be proactive in speaking the message of drug prevention. Let us volunteer at programs, and if they do not exist create programs that help to teach job skills, programs that address the depression issues that may have started someone down the path to illegal drug use in the first place. Let’s reclaim Our Forgotten Family, let’s Make It Happen!