Its a MoVeMeNt baby!

Detroit Consortium improved to 7-1 after defeating Auburn Hills Avondale last night 61-48. As easy as 1 2 3, the Cougars were never behind in the contest.  Deonte Smith (1), Malcolm Sterling (2), and Travon Baker(3) pushed the charge as Consortium left Auburn Hills one win closer to their dream of a State Championship. Smith put up 13, Barker dropped 11 dimes and Sterling added 8 points and a couple assists after early foul trouble limited his action. The Cougars head to Dayton, OH to take on Dunbar on Saturday.

Do you see that picture above?  It’s a sketch of a slave trade.  Blacks being sold for profit and slave labor. As much as we try to move forward and into the future it is all but impossible to forget the past.  So schools are teaching children about this period in time where slavery was a legal operation and apropriately so.  But, when does the lesson plan cross the line?

A sixth grade social studies class in Melvindale, Michigan was asked to create a journal describing what their life would be like as a slave.  The assignment asked for each student to describe their slave master and his family.  They were also asked to describe how they would attempt to escape the plantation in which they were being held captive.  Really?  So in the sixth grade we are around 11, do you want the mind of your 11 year old burdened with the hatred, murderously vicious cycle of slavery?  It is one thing to learn of the events, but to be forced to basically relive the period and create a journal describing your experience just seems a little too intense.

What’s intriguing about the whole situation is that while the Oprah special on Roots is still fresh on my mind, it reminds me of how some of the characters in that movie are to this day unable to watch the movie again.  If these trained actors were affected in that fashion, I wonder what makes the school think that a lesson of this nature would be suitable for 11 and 12 year old children. Catch ya’ on the FLIPSIDE

Roots took the world by storm in 1977.  Two years before I was even thought of, the entire nation was glued to their television sets watching the life story of Alex Haley.  Haley’s book, which was written originally in 1974 and published in abbreviated form in the Reader’s Digest then the completed version hit the shelves in 1976 , resulted in the syndication of the television mini-series.  Roots is a detailed account of Haley’s family and it’s elevation from captivity to freedom through the generations.  The compelling story shed new light to the plight of the black American family.

The story and the subsequent mini-series was so moving that some of the cast members have not watched it since it’s original airing.  It is something about the reality of the harshness of slavery that made the actors tense on set even though they realized that they were indeed merely actors.  Slavery was real.  The affects of slavery today are real.  Despite people’s miseducation, the affects of slavery has trickled down into racism and is still present in our society today.  The important thing is to educate our younger generation as well as ourselves because we need to know the struggles in which we have come through to get where we are.  We need to know our Roots.  Catch ya’ on the FLIPSIDE.

“This race has degenerated into an onslaught of negative and personal attacks.”  This is what Jon Huntsman said in his statement today as he dropped out of the Republican race.  The negative and personal attacks proved to be too much for the candidate who had just recently mustered only 17% of the votes in the New Hampshire primary.  While Huntsman takes himself out of the race, he endorses Mitt Romney on the way out.  Oddly enough, Huntsman was one of Romney’s harshest critics.  Huntsman declares that Romney is the most competent candidate to beat President Obama.  Here we go again.

The hypocrisy of politics is uncanny.  One week ago a candidate can be bashing another then in the following week can be his biggest supporter.  Politics have and probably never will make sense to anybody other than politicians and of course the political pundits who somehow think they do a better job selecting officials than us common folk.  But, even with all the hypocrisy aside, I need the objective to be a great deal more intensive than “beating Obama.”

I have yet to hear one single viable plan for how to reduce unemployment, how to reduce the cost of higher education, how to bring troops home while keeping a presence abroad.  How to make affordable health care available to everyone who needs it or how to make sure that the richest people are not paying less taxes than the middle-class blue collar worker who is at risk of losing his job because the CEO of his company is steadily receiving million dollar bonuses while cutting jobs.

But then again, I suppose the basic goal of “beating Obama” is suffice for the Republican party.  So, I say good riddance to Jon Huntsman.  Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.  I would love for you to take everybody else with you too and please don’t come back in here until you give me some idea of how you are going to make my country better because your dedication to “beating Obama” does not make me understand why I should vote for you.  Then again, I’m not a politician so I guess I will never understand politics.  Catch ya’ on the FLIPSIDE.

The idea of civil rights and the advancement of blacks in America originated long ago. Long before this day in 1929. However, in 1929 the blueprint of a leader was formed in the capacity of Martin Luther King Jr.

King and his “Dream” are remembered nationally every year on the Monday after his birthday as MLK Day.  Every year this holiday symbolizes the campaign of a freedom fighter whose mission was cut short.  Everyday though we are reminded that the crusade is not over.  There are some people, both black and white, who believe that the struggle is over.  But is it?  Have blacks in America truly “overcome?”

Yes, it is true that we have a black president.  It is also true that we are no longer forced to sit in the rear of the bus or enter through the back door at establishments.  But, it is also true that there still remains a racial divide.  Theoretically it can be perceived as more of an economical divide because of the nations dwindling economy, but unfortunately race also plays a factor in the economical divide as well. The tough thing though is to be critical of a nation that has seen it’s first black president, plenty of wealthy black people who are owners of their own companies.  So perhaps I have no reason to believe that blacks in America are still being oppressed.

King’s dream was of equality and I unfortunately don’t see that happening right now.  Sure we have made great advances, but there is still a long way to go.  The important thing is for our people to not lose focus of the ultimate goal while being blinded by the false security of complacency.  The black president and black multi-millionaires should in no way make us think that our fight is done.  So, today and every other day we must keep in mind the vision that  Dr. King possessed and encourage ourselves and others to seek out the fruition of this great vision.  Happy birthday Dr. King.  Catch ya’ on the FLIPSIDE.

Watching the Republican debates is disheartening.  There is so much speculation about just how bad President Obama has run the country.  So many claims of failures and money mishandling.  So many fingers pointing at all the wrong things that he and the administration have done.  As an Obama supporter, I am in no way absent from criticism of the president and his administration, however with that criticism I need the Republican Candidates need to produce viable options for the government to move us into the right direction.

The hilarious thing about the Republican Candidates is that they slam Obama’s ideas, but in the same breath suggest philosophies that all but mirror his intentions.  At this point it seems almost obvious that they are more interested in ousting Obama than getting a plan in place to get Americans back to work and out of the cheese line.  While I have been a lifetime Democratic voter, I am not and will never be against voting in favor of the leader who would most likely get us moving into the right direction regardless of the party affiliation.  Its would just behoove the candidates to come up with a better strategy than “I would present the best opportunity to beat Obama”.  That’s not a strategy, that’s politics.  And politics is what got us into this mess in the first place.  Catch ya’ on the FLIPSIDE.

I will be the first to tell you that I am not much of a Tavis Smiley fan.  Smiley is a fixture in the black intellectual sector and I of course respect his position.  Nevertheless my respect for his position does not afford me the privilege to sit idly by and pretend that I agree with his point-of-view on President Obama and his administration.

Last year Smiley confronted Reverend Al Sharpton about Sharpton saying that the president did not need to be pushing a black agenda.  Now Sharpton suggests that his words were perhaps misinterpreted, but even if they had not been misconstrued, I agree.  When I say I agree, I mean the president should not be pushing a black agenda.  The president shoud in fact be pushing a working class agenda.  The working class that includes not only blacks but a multitude of American citizens.  Pushing a black agenda, in my mind, would seemingly perpetuate the ongoing divide  of America as it relates to race relations.

I suppose that at the end of the day, although Smiley is a prominent figure among black intellectuals, he is still pretty much a cog in the media wheel.  With that said, his criticism of the president and his administration just follow along the lines of every other media outlet which does more criticizing than it comes up with viable options.  I would like to believe that our cultural leaders would be able to unite us without the help of a presidential black agenda because if they don’t… what are we going to do when the White House is White again?  Catch ya’ on the FLIPSIDE.

Photo by Marcus Wright / Michigan Citizen

Today there was a story posted in the Michigan Citizen about a bookstore that serves as a community center as well as an independent publishing company. Yusef Bunchy Shakur and the Urban Network Cyber cafe in Detroit got a well deserved face-lift due to some undeserving Michigan weather. Read more about the Urban Network by clicking this link —>> MICHIGAN CITIZEN <<— Catch ya’ on the FLIPSIDE.

Senseless violoence plagues our community and threatens to hinder us from ever prospering.  So when will it end?  Are we even willing to end it?

Slim Dunkin, an Atlanta rapper was reportedly shot 5 times in the face and died from his gun shot wounds. It turns out today, though not verified, that the shooting was a result of some stolen candy.  Are you kidding me?  This is where we have come after all of the struggles and sacrifice of the freedom fighters before us.  It is dispicable to realize that our culture has been reduced to gun fights and drugs.  Sadly, their is some truth to that realization.  Is the title of being a thug so glamorous that even a small dispute will end in death to protect that title?

Sooner or later the senseless violence will undoubtedly subside.  This definitive outcome however will only come in one of two conclusions.  One being because we as a culture will finally realize our self-destructing nature and change for the better of our advancement or the other being the erasing of our culture at the hands of our own ignorance.  Senseless violence will end in one of these two conclusions… which one will you decide? Catch ya’ on the FLIPSIDE.

I’m not heavy into politics so I won’t ever pretend to be.  I am however heavy into making a living as an American citizen and to be honest it doesn’t seem like I’m getting any help with that endeavor.

Politics are wholesome vittles for political pundits and talk show hosts, but for me, they’re nothing more than an excuse for people to make decisions based on ridiculous assumptions and unreachable common ground.  I mean really, how hard is it to agree on something that will benefit all parties?  Or does such an agreeable platform even exist?

I suppose as a lifelong Democrat [by default], I of course voted for President Obama and will  more than likely do so again in the upcoming election.  At least that is my plan.  The economy is a very serious situation as unemployment rises and job creation seems to be stuck somewhere between quicksand and the Bermuda Triangle.  The unfortunate debacle of government that we call Republicans goes hard in the paint to deflect every plan the President puts up, but in doing so have not convinced me that they have a plan of their own.  I’m willing to listen.  At this point I just need to know that there is a feasible plan for economic rebound. At this point I need to know that education will be affordable for new students and that their education will earn them a spot in the workforce and not the chow line.  Yes, I said chow line.  As in going hungry because there are no jobs and a mounting education bill that may bring them to their knees.  I suppose that will be suffice for shuffling through the crumbs that the “haves” sprinkle upon us “have nots”.

Perhaps one day politics will not hinder the successful potential of Americans.  The day when the political party does not determine the passing of legislation vital to the well-being of the citizens in a place where opportunity is promised, but politicians dictate your prosperity.  Catch ya’ on the FLIPSIDE.