911 is a joke

Before Flavor Flav sold his pride and soul completely, the brother was actually socially conscious. And its only right in the wake of the lack of justice given the verdict of the Sean Bell trial in which the officers responsible for shooting an unarmed young man 51 times walks free. Is it an issue of racism solely? No, things are way too complicated as two of Sean's assailants were black officers. But one thing is sure, the brutal force used by police on too many of our brothers and sisters is out of hand. And until we can feel completely safe with them patrolling our streets instead of acting like overseers on the plantation we will not be completely free. I look forward to the day when mothers and fathers do not have to instruct their children on the "proper" behavior expected of them when stopped by a cop. Of when an officer is walking the beat I don't feel even slightly nervous. Of when the blue wall of silence is shattered and broken for ever.

getting green in the ghetto

Yesterday, April 22 was Earth Day, an observance born out of the various social movements of the 1960s and 1970s. While most folk were glued to CNN watching the results of the Pennsylvania primary (or the reality tv show du jour), my political/primary fatigue allowed me to marinate on what it means to be green. Excuse the rhyme.

I've thought of myself as a fledging environmentalist since I was a little kid. Growing up in Brooklyn, going to school in Harlem and driving to my parents home in Queens I've seen the terrible effects of not-so-benign neglect on the part of our local government in regards to pollution. The streets were ALWAYS littered with old bags of 25 cent chips, chicken wings, and gum (so many of my sneakers were ruined by stepping on a freshly spat out wad of WinterFresh). Why didn't we seem to care that our homes resembled a garbage can? And why has the environmentalist movement failed to inspire folks in the hood? I'm not really sure. Perhaps people are turned off by the crunchy kids in hemp ponchos that try to get you to donate money to Greenpeace on the street.

However issues of sustainability effect us the most. Children in the inner-city are disproportionately effected by asthma due in large part to highly polluted air and the presence of other allergens. Bus depots, landfills, and factories that pump out sludge are usually in our backyards. America's poorest neighborhoods are also its most polluted.
Or to kick it on the celestial tip - the God that created the heavens and the earths is mad at YOU for throwing your Popeyes chicken boxes out the car window. We are to be stewards of the earth.
So get hip to environmentalism, and make black green.

don't call it a come back

Don't call it a comeback
I been here for years
Rockin my peers and puttin suckas in fear
Makin the tears rain down like a MON-soon
Listen to the bass go BOOM
Explosion, overpowerin
Over the competition, I'm towerin
Wreckin shop, when I drop these lyrics that'll make you call the cops
Don't you dare stare, you betta move
Don't ever compare
Me to the rest that'll all get sliced and diced
Competition's payin the price

- "Mama said knock you out", LL Cool J


Its been a long time coming, but finally on April 14th, 2008, I submitted to the Black Studies department of Amherst College my senior honors thesis - "All o' We is One: Black Political Empowerment and Community Building in Bedford-Stuyvesant. After murking that beast, I'm feeling like a 21st century, female remix of Ralph Ellison. Not because I produced a work of genius (that's for my thesis readers to decide), but rather because I managed to read hundreds of books, articles and newspapers, laid up in my blackademic stance. Ever the hood scholar, I managed to open up my work with a Biggie quote (inquire within as to which one it was).

But now its a wrap, so back to regularly scheduled blogging.