…That Person Will Be Taken Care Of

When President Bush uttered those words no one had any idea what “taken care of” meant. I of course being naïve and not understanding “Bushisms” took it to mean that the person would be punished. Well, the truth is somewhat different; what he meant to say is that the person would have their sentence commuted and at the end of his term they would be pardoned. If I had only taken that foreign language class I would have known this. It also means that we will look no further for the real culprit, because this thing has run its course.[1]

Why is it that no matter who is in the White House when a thing gets hot and uncomfortable, they always say the thing has run its course? I don’t get it, are we so brain-dead that these people believe that we won’t remember what they have said in the past? Have politicians gotten so brazen in their “rhetoric” that they will say anything only to retract it at some later date? For those who have had a lobotomy in the past couple of years, let me refresh your memory.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush said Tuesday he welcomes a Justice Department investigation into who revealed the classified identity of a CIA operative.

"If there's a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is," Bush told reporters at an impromptu news conference during a fund-raising stop in Chicago, Illinois. "If the person has violated law, that person will be taken care of.[2]

This was what Mr. Bush said in 2004. I recall him saying that if the person was found in his administration they would be subject to prosecution. I remember how tough he talked about respecting law and order. These guys kill me; they want everyone else to respect law and order so long as they don’t have to. What kind of example are we setting when the head of our government will not obey the laws of the land? Mr. Bush you wanted to know who the leaker was in 2004, I guess you’re not as interested today huh? It appears that it wouldn’t matter anyway, the only person charged with a crime from this you’ve let off the hook. This is sort of how this administration conducted the hunt for Osama, and for my right winged friends, no this isn’t the same guy as Obama. You guys can find Obama; it is the other one who is presenting a problem. If the Fox news people spent as much time on locating Osama as they do bashing Obama, he would probably be in custody about now.

Speaking of Fox news, I thought it was very appropriate that Mr. Bush stated that his commuting Mr. Libby’s sentence was, “fair and balanced”; who thinks this crap up? I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.

Bush described as "fair and balanced" his decision to commute the prison term of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the former aide to Vice President Cheney who was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice for his role in the leak of CIA officer Valerie Plame's identity.

Bush went on to say he had not spent "a lot of time" talking with people in his administration about court testimony in the Libby case. But he added: "I'm aware of the fact that perhaps somebody in the administration did disclose the name of that person, and I've often thought about what would have happened had that person come forth and said, I did it. Would we have had this, you know, endless hours of investigation and a lot of money being spent on this matter?"[3]

I pray that one of these days the laws will apply to everyone, not just the “crack head” on the corner, but the “crackedheads” in the White House. I know it is wishful thinking, but we all have our dreams…Keep hope alive!

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[1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/12/AR2007071201479.html?hpid=artslot

[2] http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/09/30/wilson.cia/

[3] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/12/AR2007071201479.html?hpid=artslot

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Back in Da Hood

A federal grand jury in Richmond indicted Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick and three other men yesterday on charges related to their alleged operation of a dogfighting ring based at a property Vick owns in southeastern Virginia.

Vick, one of the NFL's most exciting players, was charged with competitive dogfighting and conducting the venture across state lines. The 19-page indictment alleged Vick was highly involved in the operation, alleging that he attended fights and paid off bets when his dogs lost. It said he also was involved in the executions of dogs that did not perform well.[1]

Many people will wonder how a man under contract to make 130 million dollars, not to mention millions more in endorsements, could be involved in something so cruel as what has been alleged in this case? A man who arguably is one of the best athletes in the NFL and a public icon in Atlanta is being indicted for such a heinous crime. Why is it that so many Black superstars continue to find themselves on the front pages accused of criminal activity, some of it imitating “gangster” behavior publically? Are Black stars different from White stars?

In order to get a better understanding of what is taking place; one must look into the history of many of these stars. It is in looking at their backgrounds that their behavior begins to not seem as bizarre as we would like to think. Many of us cannot understand how men who are making ungodly amounts of money are willing to throw it all away to ride around carrying guns, smoking pot, and assaulting women. Let me start by saying that the majority of athletes both Black and White are not criminals. Because we live in a celebrity driven society the media will continue to highlight the ones that they consider newsworthy. This may not be fair, but everyone who signs on for their 15 minutes are aware of the rules and consents to them. You can’t accept the money and the perks from having celebrity status, but then whine when they use it to sell newspapers, because you got caught doing something stupid. It may be something that Joe Sixpack may do all day long and nobody says anything, but that’s because he is not considered newsworthy. Again, it isn’t fair but its how the game is played.

Having read a number of articles concerning this particular case and others that are similar in recent weeks, I can’t help but notice that there are those who will defend a Black man no matter what he is accused of, convicted of, or confessed to doing. I understand the desire to do so, but at the same time it is this blind race defending that cheapens the times when there really is racial outrage. It is not a secret that Black stars are targeted by the media, law enforcement, and an angry white public. There are those who would like nothing better than to see the frailties of Black men and women exposed and make it stereotypical of all Blacks. Again it doesn’t make it right, it just makes it real. Every Black person in America is aware of these harsh facts at an early age and lives their lives accordingly. Having said that, it would be foolish of me to acknowledge that I am being profiled and still continue to do stupid behavior. When I smoked pot, if the police were behind me I wouldn’t pull out a joint and light it. I don’t care how many white boys were driving down the street doing it, I knew better.

We should stop confusing how things should be, with how things are. Sure in a perfect world we would all be judged equally and based on our character and not our color, but we don’t live in that world. We should be able to condemn the behavior of criminals and deviants no matter what their race. Why does it have to be an either/or scenario. Why can‘t we be able to acknowledge that there is prejudice and that we have some criminals worthy of punishment.

Black stars are different from many of their white counterparts. Most black stars come from poor, single mother households. This is not an indictment against being poor or single mothers, it is merely a fact. They grow up in bad neighborhoods and are surrounded by the “ghetto” lifestyle, these are there realities. Poor people live by different rules. The things that people value changes as their economic status changes, but the rules are much harder to change. Because so many of the Black stars grew up poor and most were not just in situational poverty, but generational poverty the rules they live by are still the same no matter what their economic circumstances. The difference in situational poverty and generational poverty is that when one has situational poverty, it occurs due to some unforeseen circumstance, a medical catastrophe or a layoff. The family was making ends meet until the incident occurred and usually given a change in economic circumstances the family regains some semblance of their previous life. Generational poverty is when the family has been poor for multiple generations; this occurs a lot with single teenage mothers, coming from single teenage mothers. My grandmother lived in the projects, my mother lived in the projects, and I live in the projects. For these stars, no matter how much success they receive or how much money they make, in their minds they are always “back in da hood”, keeping it real. This is why they exhibit the same behavior as others who are still living in the ghetto. You have stars that are making lots of money, dealing drugs, not because they need the money but because this is what we do in the hood.

You add to this poverty mix, the star worship culture that we surround them with and before long they think they can do no wrong. Having been a part of the athlete worship environment I know firsthand how we coddle our star athletes from a very early age, we give them a false sense of the world. They can begin to believe that they are above the law. This attitude is dangerous for any black man no matter what his status is.

I have read that because of white people’s unhealthy love of animals and animal rights that Michael Vick is being unfairly treated. I admit that the calls for the death penalty are a bit ridiculous. I am not an animal fanatic. I have had dogs and I like dogs, but I don’t put animals in the same category as people. As much as sometimes I despise people, I will unfortunately always chose a human life over an animal. What Michael Vick is accused of is heinous. I have never found pleasure in watching animals fighting each other, it just isn’t my thing. But what troubles me more is the treatment of the animals after they fought or during the training process. It is cruel to hang, drown, or beat a dog to death, I’m sorry regardless of your feelings about animals and animal rights this is a no-brainer. I pray that these accusations are false, but if they prove to be true then Mr. Vick will surely be thrown to the dogs…

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[1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/17/AR2007071701393.html

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More Than Black

Being a sports fan and also a New York Yankees fan I couldn’t help but catch the hoopla surrounding the latest tirade by Gary Sheffield, a former Yankee. According to Mr. Sheffield, the Yankees manager, Joe Torre treats Black ballplayers different from the White and Latino players. As I was reading the article I couldn’t help but wonder about his comments in light of two factors. Number one of course would be the source of the comments and number two would be my own personal experiences.

First off, Mr. Sheffield is a player and a man that thrives on controversy. He feels that it is his job to keep things “stirred up”, so he has been known to make some pretty radical statements. Because of his penchant for saying these things he strikes people immediately; they either love him or they hate him, there is no middle ground. This appears to be alright with Mr. Sheffield since his wealth affords him the luxury to tell people where to go. It is also true that Mr. Sheffield has been known to make some comments just for shock value, sort of like Dennis Rodman and the wedding dress thing, well sort of. I have learned in this life that anyone can have a message and that I need to focus not on the messenger, but on the message he is delivering. So with that I listened to the message and found that there was a part of it that had some merit.

I do not nor have I ever played for the Yankees. I have never met Joe Torre. I do know that he is considered a successful baseball manager and his players for the most part like him and trust him. Does Mr. Torre treat Black players differently from other players? Probably, but that is because Black athletes are different and require different motivation. We are all motivated by things from our past and if a manager or coach is going to be successful he needs to figure out what motivates his players. I have not heard of any complaints from Black players about how certain Black superstars are treated differently. We have should get away from trying to have the best of both worlds; we complain when it is convenient and remain deathly silent when it is to our advantage. It cheapens the times when the complaining is real, the whole boy who cried wolf thing.

Anyway, one of the reporters mentioned to Mr. Sheffield about Derek Jeter who is the best player on the Yankees and his treatment from Mr. Torre. It was at this point that Mr. Sheffield unknowingly hit on the crux of the problem for Black superstar athletes. He stated that Derek Jeter was “not all Black”. For those who are not aware Mr. Jeter is of mixed race, or bi-racial. The crazy thing about what Mr. Sheffield said is that in America, unlike anywhere else in the world, to perpetuate slavery and prejudice, a child is considered Black if they have any Black blood from any parent. So it was funny that Mr. Sheffield would say that Derek Jeter got special treatment because of his White blood. Then I got to thinking about the prejudice we all show based on color and race. We as Black people are just as guilty for the most part of the thing we accuse others of.

Lighter skinned Blacks have always had an easier time being black than darker skinned Blacks, not only with Whites, but with other Blacks. Based on studies, we find lighter skinned Blacks more attractive, trustworthy, and happier. Unfortunately, it is a sad vestige of our slave and Jim Crow history. It has always been easier for lighter skinned Blacks to be successful, whether it is in the entertainment field or the business field. The lighter the skin or the closer you look to being white the better your chances were to be successful. But this is not the point of this article, the point is that using number two, my personal experience I have found it to be true that successful Blacks have always been looked upon as being “more than black”.

It is as if in order for Blacks to be successful they have to be “super Blacks”. Take for example superstars like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and others, for many whites in order to accept them they can’t just be regular black folk, they have to be more than black. In other words, they have to transcend their blackness to be palatable to Whites. Because of our history of “inferiority” ordinary blacks cannot rise to success, because that would mean that Blacks were just as smart, just as dedicated, and just as dare I say it, articulate as Whites. And God forbid that could be true. So in order to keep the status quo, whites have had to create a super race of Blacks that can then be worshipped as heroes; these Blacks are “more than black”. The problem is that a lot of these super blackmen have bought into this attitude and believe the hype. It is evident in how they speak about other Blacks and in how they live their lives. These “super Blacks” tend to isolate from other Blacks, their worlds are just as insulated as their White counterparts. The most glaring example of this phenomenon was O.J. Simpson, until his fall from grace.

I remember in college how my white friends would in some weird attempt to complement me say things like you aren’t like the other Blacks, not realizing that instead of a compliment, it was an insult, because guess what; I am them. They believed that my goal was to not be black; they didn’t realize that just because we shared certain goals and values didn’t make me less black and more white. It just made me, me. Blacks share some of these same misconceptions, many believe that if someone does not buy into the "ghetto" culture that they are trying to be white. We in America have these convoluted ideas about race and what it means to be one race or another. So remember this, what does the white state trooper in Alabama call General Colin Powell? Just another ni**er!

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Why The Supreme Court Was Wrong

After having read all the reasons why the recent decision of the Supreme Court concerning school desegregation was wrong, I have come to the conclusion that we have all missed the boat. The purpose of integration was not to make black kids smarter by sitting them next to white kids. If you judge the process based on that criteria, it has been a failure. If you talk to the people who were on the front lines of bringing this issue to the forefront or read their stories, it was never for that reason.

The purpose of integrating the two separate systems was two-fold. First of all, it would bring badly needed funding to the black schools which were in such bad shape; it was a wonder anyone could learn how to tie their shoe, let alone reading, writing, and arithmetic. And the second was to give each child a chance to actually see and meet someone from a different place, diversity. An opportunity to talk, play and argue with someone who was not like themselves. It put a face and a life to “those people” that we didn’t talk about or for that matter even see. It made the invisible, visible. It allowed kids that were willing to see, that we were not so different after all, that a lot of those stories and stereotypes were just not true. If gauged in that light it was a great success.

Some will wonder how I can say it was a great success, I mean after all most of the white kids that went through it were those few whose parents believed in it or those too poor to go elsewhere. Why I say it was a success is in how the majority of young people today interact with each other. Think about what it was like before the Brown decision, how young people interacted across racial lines. Kids prior to this Brown would be amazed at how young people today can interact with relative ease. That didn’t come from television or church; it came from sitting next to each other day in and day out feeling the same way about school and being a kid. For that reason alone it should be mandatory that everyone attend a desegregated school.

I have always maintained and truly believed that the reason everyone should be allowed to attend college is not because of the great education that college provides in the classroom, but the great education it provides outside the classroom. The education one receives interacting with the many diverse races and nationalities in the dorms, in the dining halls, and at the parties is far more valuable. For those who are brave enough college can provide an opportunity get to learn about so many different cultures and people. It always troubled me to see kids come to college and be willing to interact with all this diversity only to go back home and pretend it never happened. To get back to their old friends and go back to their old ways, but I believe that internally they will forever be changed. They will know things that their friends will never know. Walls of prejudice will no longer be there even if they try to pretend they are.

I remember when I first went to college. I came from an all-black high school experience. Growing up I had known whites, but after we moved into the neighborhood most of them left. I learned more about how to be successful from the experience of being around all those different people than anything I learned in class. The truth is that success in life is about relationships, how we interact with each other. Those who choose not to participate in this experience will miss out on more than an opportunity for career advancement; they miss out on an opportunity at life advancement; to grow as a human being. We spend so much of our time trying to separate from each other. We build walls to separate ourselves both physically and emotionally, afraid to lower our guards. We take the easy way out believing the stereotypes and the worst about one another.

The Supreme Court was wrong because they were looking at the wrong measuring stick. In America we must constantly reinforce our unity, if we are to survive. It is too easy to forget that we are all Americans stuck in this insanity together. We need to have our walls broken down or we will just be a bunch of tribes struggling against each other when it would be so much easier if we pulled together. This Court chose fear and isolation over inclusion and diversity. In this place we call America, it is the government’s job to bring us together, even if that sometimes means against our will. Our ultimate survival depends on it. Will we someday have a colorblind society? I doubt it, but we can have a color tolerant society and that begins with coming together and learning together as little children.

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Faith By Any Other Name

It is amazing to me how so-called Christians can with good conscience question the sincerity of another Christian’s faith. Time magazine did an article on the church going habits and faith of the Democratic candidates. It appears that the MSM continues to play into the hands of the right wing by questioning the veracity of the candidate’s commitment to their faith.

Why was this article even written except to cast aspersions upon the candidates, causing it to appear that they are pandering to other Christians who in the past have voted overwhelmingly Republican? Those Christians that have voted overwhelmingly for Republicans are so-called right wing conservatives. The MSM seems to believe that the only “real” Christians in this country are those Christians who identify with these groups.

As a Christian who does not identify with these groups, I find it frightening that if one does not accept their version of the Gospel, then one’s faith is in question. This is all too familiar with the current “with us or against us” philosophy that has characterized the past 7 years. It is precisely this attitude that has done so much to divide not only this country, but the world. It is this attitude that tells the world that if you do not accept our vision of God, then you are a heathen and we will visit God’s wrath on you. If you disagree with us, then you disagree with God. How arrogant of them to believe that they are the only ones who speak for God, that they are the ones in possession of all truth and knowledge.

In an effort to maintain peace with my right wing brethren I have not spoken out against this demagoguery, but the time has come where I can no longer in good conscience not speak out. I am no biblical scholar and I hold no advanced degrees in divinity from anywhere. I am just a man who tries to live a simple life of obedience to God as He has revealed himself to me. Let me state for the record that I believe that God reveals Himself to man at different levels of enlightenment and no one here today has received complete enlightenment. This includes all the many so-called men of God who have claimed otherwise. These are the folks who have gotten the misguided belief that the job of a Christian is to convert the lost to their religion or specifically their domination. Nowhere in the Bible that I read does it talk about converting anyone to anything. The only use of conversion in the New Testament is that we must be converted to little children to enter the Kingdom of God. My job as a Christian is to introduce you to the one who sent me, period. What happens after that is between you and God.

So why have so many gone so wrong? It lies in the fact that the modern Church has allowed the world to corrupt its mission and allowed certain leaders to lead it astray. No one has done more to divide the Church than many Evangelicals; they have come up with the notion that they have the only correct interpretation of God’s word. Yet their interpretation is in direct odds with what the Lord they are supposed to follow preached. As a Christian I would like to point out some differences in what they espouse and what I believe and not just myself, but millions of other Christians.

Many believe that God accepts and condones the use of nuclear weapons. Many believe that it is their job to convert the world to their brand of Christianity. Many believe that God hates sinners. Many believe that God does not care if they pollute and kill the earth. Many believe that God is a God of hell-fire and brimstone and seeks to extract viscous retribution on man. Many believe that God is racist and has chosen white people to lead the world. The list goes on and on, but the truth of the matter is that none of it is true.

The underlying principle in the Bible is love. Love of God and love of our fellow man is to be our guiding principle. We are to bear the weaknesses of others, if we are stronger. Instead of killing folks we are suppose to be loving folks. God does not hate sinners, He sent His Son to die for sinners; God hates sin. Unfortunately, many cannot separate the sin from the sinners, so they condemn them both. The earth is God’s and all that is in it, which means it is not ours to do with as we please. God loves all people regardless of their nationality or race. God is not a respecter of person.

No, these people do not represent Christianity; they represent a fanatical version of Christianity. As with many fanatics they believe that they are the holders of all truth, nothing could be further from the truth. There are many Christians in this country that do not hold to these teachings, but that does not make our faith any less real. We condemn the fanatics of other faiths, yet we ignore the fanatics who misrepresent us and our faith. We can no longer remain quiet as these zealots kill and maim in the name of God and in the name of our faith.

Are there things wrong in America? More than I can name. We have abortion, gay marriage, a humanistic agenda that places man as the head of the universe, rich people exploiting the poor, pollution of our environment, and the list goes on, but again we are not here to judge and condemn, we are here to show love as God has shown love to us.

Are the faiths of the candidates legitimate? I don’t know it is not for me to say. Only God can judge His servants. I do know that just because they don’t buy into the right wing conservative version of the Gospel doesn’t make them any less Christians.

From the cowardice that shrinks from new truth; from the laziness that is content with half-truths; from the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth – oh God of Truth deliver us!— Unknown

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The Answer Is No

Recently I wrote an article discussing whether municipalities, specifically New Orleans, had an obligation to bring low income people back from evacuation. In the article I discussed and asked the question does the city owe the poor a return ticket back to poverty and their slums?

According to many in Louisiana and along the Gulf Coast, the answer is a resounding no! It appears that many jurisdictions are rezoning and allowing previously zoned areas to expire so that they can remove the makeshift trailer parks that FEMA created after the Katrina catastrophe. The modern day “Hoovervilles” are becoming unwelcome to the local governments. These governments want to evict the evacuees and shut down the trailer parks. According to these jurisdictions the trailer parks have become crime-infested, pockets of poverty. There are some who believe that it is not about crime or poverty, but has racial implications. The residents in these jurisdictions have a concern about poor, black people living in their neighborhoods.

Mr. Roberts complained that such residents were often idle, but many evacuees have burdens that prevent them from working.

Gwendolyn Marie Allen, 55, formerly of the Uptown section of New Orleans, now lives in Renaissance Village, a large FEMA trailer park near the Baton Rouge airport. Ms. Allen is the sole caretaker for a son, 20, who was given a diagnosis of schizophrenia after a violent episode in the park, and a severely retarded brother, who huddled on the bottom bunk of a bed in their travel trailer, clad only in adult diapers. In an interview, Ms. Allen periodically shushed his wordless moans by waving a green flyswatter in his direction.

“I want to get out of here, baby, this is not no house,” she said. “I want something where he can move around.”

As proof of her resourcefulness, Ms. Allen opened the freezer of the trailer’s compact refrigerator where, to make room for bargain packs of meat from the supermarket, she had removed the shelves.

“The renters aren’t asking that much, just give us a start,” she said. “Put us there, and we could do what we have to do to survive. We could catch it from there.”[1]

As I stated previously these local governments are not going to rebuild the public housing and low rent houses that these residents formerly resided in. And as if that wasn’t enough they are in the process of demolishing what housing was left, most of which would require little if any rehabilitation. No, this is about recreating New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in a whole new image, an image that does not include poor, black folks.

Is this a sign to poor, black folks everywhere? If your home is destroyed by natural disaster or any other means you could and very well will be relocated, never to return. Of course, for most black folks this is nothing new. We have homes that are destroyed every year in our neighborhoods by fires or other catastrophes that are never rebuilt, only to become empty lots, lots that become dumping grounds and over-run with foliage. I think we are all though, a little bit shocked by it being done on this grand of a scale. I can’t recall the relocation of so many poor blacks from any major city on this magnitude. These people were once proud residents of these cities and have a right to be brought back home.

I am afraid however we are seeing the recasting of New Orleans, where if you aren’t rich and white, we don’t want you. It is unbelievable that with all the low skill labor that is needed in New Orleans that they are not going to provide adequate housing for these workers? Where are these workers suppose to live? The current development plans include raising the rent in these renovated areas two to three times what the apartments were before. These minimum wage workers will not be able to afford to live in the city where they work.

So my question to these civic leaders is who is going to make up your beds, wash your dishes, and supersize your meals without these workers?

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[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/12/us/nationalspecial/12exile.html?pagewanted=3&hp

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The Silence Is Killing Us

TRENTON, July 8 — A woman who was standing 10 feet away when a stray bullet from a gang fight struck 7-year-old Tajahnique Lee in the face told the police she had been too distracted by her young son to see who fired the shots.

A man who was also in the courtyard when that .45-caliber round blew Tajahnique off her bicycle told detectives he had been engrossed in conversation with neighbors and ducked too quickly to notice what had happened.

Indeed, at least 20 people were within sight of the gunfight among well-known members of the Sex Money Murder subset of the Bloods gang 15 months ago, but the case remains unsolved because not a single one will testify or even describe what they saw to investigators. The witnesses include Vera Lee, Tajahnique’s grandmother, who declined to be interviewed for this article. People who have spoken to her about the shooting said she would not talk to the police for fear she would “have to move out of the country.”[1]

I read this story and what it said about the state of my people and my community really hurt my heart. It would be one thing if this was an isolated incident, but it isn’t. This same thing goes on all over in city and towns across America. We have all of these murders and violence being perpetrated against our communities by these thugs and no one says anything. We have a police force that is unwilling and/or unable to stop the violence and our children keep on dying. We have a government that is either indifferent or is impotent to the problem and our children keep on dying. Our communities are becoming war zones right in our midst and we remain silent to the suffering. Our fear is now stronger than our faith. We have been convinced that there is no hope and a community with no hope has no life.

How long will we as a community continue to allow any type of behavior to go on in our neighborhoods? Any and every type of person and predator feeding on our children are allowed access to our community. How many more children have to die before we say enough to these young thugs? They rely on fear to perpetrate their crimes, they rely on good people to turn their backs and pretend they don’t see. This occurs in our neighborhoods because we allow it; do you think this type of thing could happen in the suburbs? No, because those people would rise up in arms and demand the police to protect them and they would not harbor criminals, because its cousin RayRay or baby’s daddys brother. This madness has to stop!

I know you are afraid, but anyone who has not found something worth dying for is not worth living. Aren’t our children worth dying for? If we stand united against these bullies and thugs we will win, the problem is no one wants to stand. It is time that we began to act like men and start standing for what is right. Protecting our homes and our loved ones is right and worth dying for. I guarantee if we begin to stand as one against this senseless violence and these cowards, we will prevail. Nobody wants to die and I enjoy life as much as the next man, but what we have is no longer lives worth living. We can’t even walk down our streets, our kids can’t even play in front of the house anymore, and our elderly are being held hostage in their homes.

Such silence has spread over the last decade in cities across the country, as the proliferation of gangs like the Crips, Bloods and Latin Kings has made witnesses an endangered and elusive component of countless criminal investigations. Criminologists say gang culture has made fair game of brutally punishing anyone who helps the police. What results is a self-perpetuating cycle of intimidation and helplessness: residents refuse to risk their lives by helping a police force that cannot protect them; the authorities say they are powerless to lock up gang members without witnesses willing to testify.

In the area of the Wilson-Haverstick Houses, where Tajahnique’s neighbors routinely encounter gang members in coin laundries and convenience stores, on street corners, at bus stops and occasionally in church, many people say that silence is a survival tactic.

“You just keep to yourself,” said Shaunte Bellamy, who raised her children in the project, explaining that she concerns herself only with what happens inside her own apartment. “If it didn’t happen in 3C, it didn’t happen to me.”[2]

You now have a rapper’s campaign entitled, “Stop Snitchin”, promoting this silence. There was and still is a time when the police unfairly target Black men, but this is not that time. This is about Black men unfairly targeting and holding our communities hostage. This is not about racial profiling, or hip-hop, or any of those other things that have a legitimate concern for our people, this is about thuggish, common criminal activity. Let’s not be fooled, as long as we harbor and protect criminals we will have this type of violence. I am so tired of Black folks complaining about crime and no one willing to do anything about it. If you witness a crime and do not report it, you have lost your right to complain about crime and police.

Shhhhhhhh….Can you hear the silence? It is deafening and it is killing us.

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[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/09/nyregion/09taj.html

[2] Ibid

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