Ummm Imus strikes again. WTF!

credit to
http://www.profootballtalk.com/2008/06/23/imus-at-it-again/

IMUS AT IT AGAIN

Less than 15 months after losing his gig on WFAN and MSNBC for making racially charged comments regarding the Rutgers women’s basketball team, radio icon Don Imus has danced dangerously close to, and arguably over, the line again.

On Monday, Imus had the following exchange with Warner Wolf:

Wolf:  “Defensive back Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones, recently signed by the Cowboys.  Here’s a guy suspended all of 2007 following a shooting in a Vegas night club.”

Imus:  “Well, stuff happens.  You’re in a night club, for God’s sake.  What do you think’s gonna happen in a night club?  People are drinking, they’re doing drugs.  There are women there, and people have guns.  So, there, go ahead.”

Wolf:  “He’s also been arrested six times since being drafted by Tennessee in 2005.”

Imus:  “What color is he?”

Wolf:  “He’s African-American.”

Imus:  “Well, there you go.  Now we know.”

Last time around, the comments represented a partial effort at humor.  This time around, it was a matter-of-fact statement, with no chuckles, yuks, tee-hees, or ha’s.  As we see it, if the comment wasn’t overtly and blatantly racist, then what the hell was it?

Maybe we’re wrong on this one.  Even so, it was nothing short of stoopid to fly so close to the flame that already burned him once.

Interesting analysis on Police Use of Force by the NYPD. I will be teaching a lesson to 8th graders about the use of force; when it is necessary and when it is excessive this upcoming Monday. For that reason I find it interesting that I found this article, maybe I will print it out for my students.

This article reminds me why we must never forget our fallen soldiers like Sean Bell and Amadou Diallo. It is because of the excessive practices of the NYPD that these two men are not here today. Just some quick facts cops are allowed to use physical force when they are making an arrest, when they fear that a suspect is trying to escape from custody and when they feeel physically threatened.

In the article below you will see scenarios that are the exact opposite of what I have described.

Cops use force - from restraint to drawn guns - in 20% of stops, data show

blesser@nydailynews.com

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

Real Rap, START SNITCHING….. People need to understand that protecting killers is doing nothing but ensuring your own death, or the death of one of your loved ones. No longer can we sit idly by and watch our people be gunned down!

According to Allhiphop.com
A man who worked security for rapper Busta Rhymes was shot multiple times and found dead in the back of his pickup truck on Wednesday (May 28th), AllHipHop.com has learned.

Police found blood dripping from the backseat of his SUV when they discovered Williams’ body, which was wrapped in a blanket in the backseat of the SUV.
Sources have confirmed with AllHipHop.com that Williams, also known as “Black,” was Rhymes’ bodyguard, although it is unclear if he was working for the rapper as of press time.
Busta Rhymes has been on a tour of Europe and was not in the country at the time of the incident sources told AllHipHop.com.
Williams, who leaves behind two children, reportedly went to Queens to visit his grandmother and ended up missing for almost 24 hours.
Police are still seeking the suspects who committed the murder.
Williams is the second bodyguard employed by Busta Rhymes to be shot dead.
His former bodyguard Israel Ramirez was shot dead on February 5, 2006, outside of a warehouse, where a music video for the remix to Rhymes’ single “Touch It” was being shot
Ramirez, 29, was shot in the chest in front of the building, where as many as 500 people may have witnessed the shooting.

All I can really say right now is WTF! There are so many things wrong with Huckabee’s statement that I do not know what to say.

While speaking at an event for the National Rifle Association a loud noise was heard off stage. Former Republican Presidential candidate then joked “That was Barack Obama, he just tripped off a chair, he’s getting ready to speak,” said the former Arkansas governor, to audience laughter. “Somebody aimed a gun at him and he dove for the floor.”

This is the man who just a few months ago wanted to be the President of the United States. This is more than just a bad joke, this is a tasteless comment made by the epitome of a political loser. It is apparent that this comment was made because Barack is running for the highest position in the land and Huckabee well knows that some whites are uncomfortable with this. But to joke about the assassination of the man who will become the next President of the United States is irresponsible and utterly ridiculous. This is the latest blunder by the Republican party. This week from George Bush, to the Tennessee G.O.P. to John McCain and now Huckabee have all been involved in a string of divisive comments looking to further alienate the American People. The time for Change is NOW VOTE OBAMA! YES WE CAN!

R.I.P JOSHUA SIMMS

Words can’t express a mother’s pain when her child is lost. Lost to the senseless violence and killings that are frequent amongst young black men today in America. Today I asked myself, why, and if not why how. How can we help, how can I help, is it worth the energy, will people listen? I am sure that it is worth the energy, to save what many are calling an endangered species; the young black male in America. A close friend asked me yesterday, why do you write, what is at your core? I didn’t know how soon I would be able to show her my answer rather than tell her. Why you ask, because that picture above us, that young man’s soul prayerfully resting in heaven could have been me. It can be any one of us who walk this earth searching for a better way. And because it could be us, might be us, this is even more reason why we must stand against the death of our people.

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

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIxmi3e2Vmo&hl=en]

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!