EASIER THAN IT LOOKS

"This is gonna be a piece of cake!", "People say I write and speak well. They should start reading my blog no problem". If I only knew the difficulties involved in writing a blog entailed, I would have planned it out a little better. Having this be my side passion as oppose to my obligatory job has hampered the reach of my blog. The issue of what to write about to catch people's interests is always an issue. I have seen other blogs where guys are writing posts twice a day! Doesn't life get in the way at some point? I try to give you all a snapshot into my mind and hope to peak some of your interests. More often than not though, it seems like I have to pay to get my posts noticed!

Never mind my rambling, I'm just frustrated! I thought that this was gonna be so much easier than it has been. This blog was to serve as practice for the book that I eventually would like to write while also keeping my writing skills sharp in between grad school. I try to strike a delicate balance of keeping the topics interesting while not being too controversial. All it's produced so far are a few comments sporadically and a lot of discouragement on my part. This blog is a jack-of-all-trades blog. I do not have one singular interests so I decided to combine what they are: sports, race-relations, media and its' influence, and hip-hop. Yet it still goes unnoticed by the masses. Perhaps my blog is too unfocused and scattered. Perhaps I do not write enough content to consistently draw more readership. Or perhaps I should just come to grips with the fact that no one care and I need to just stop this blog all together.....Naaah!

 I won't stop because the goal remains the same. I have overcome too much to simply give up because I encountered some roadblocks. I have a much greater appreciation for what bloggers and writers have to go through since I have started blogging. It's a lot easier than it looks! Still in all, I welcome the challenge. Because if life was easy, it wouldn't be worth living. Check me out down the road for more to come.....

STAND UP LIKE A MAN!! Should we redefine what constitutes manhood?

I can remember it clearly even though it was eight years ago. The setting is Ft. Benning, Georgia, home of the infantry. It was 8 P.M. Eastern time and we were in our Army sweats. Sweat dripped from our bodies as we carried our bunks down three flights of stairs. Once that laborious task was completed, we had to line our bunks exactly as they were in our barracks. Next we had to bring all of our shoes and line them up "dress-right-dress" in the proper order from boots to Class A dress shoes. Did I mention we had to line our bunks up in the grass? What could possibly have been the cause of such unconscionable behavior & bullying? We were in Basic Training and that's just how it goes in Basic is the simple answer. The goal of any Basic Training no matter the branch is to toughen you up. As a platoon, you're taught that you're only as strong as your weakest link. There's no time for weakness of the body or the mind. If you had an injury, no matter how serious, your were labeled, ostracized, and ridiculed. But after nine hellacious weeks, your baby boy was now a man!

While my Basic Training experience does not exactly qualify me to discuss the culture of an NFL locker room, I can't help but see many similarities. More than any other sport, the football is depicted as being played by warriors and gladiators. They risk life and limb to make a living entertaining us and win a seven pound piece of silver. It's a man's game that takes a certain level toughness. Weakness is not tolerated and is often leads to ridicule and derision. The kind of derision that is coming Jonathan Martin's direction. For those that don't know, Martin is an NFL player for the Miami Dolphins who left the team under the pretense of bullying and harassment from his teammates, most notably Richie Incognito. By now you may have read or heard the transcript of the vulgar voicemail/text message that Incognito allegedly sent to Martin that included calling Martin a "nigger" (the breadth of the transcript is in the link below). Many were outraged and called for Incognito to be removed from the Dolphins and black-balled from the NFL. Accusations of bullying and ostracism conjures up thoughts of the uptick in teen suicides over the last decade. Martin instantly became a sympathetic figure while Incognito was demonized in the media. However, not everyone is painting Martin as the victim; if anything, Incognito is the sympathetic figure in NFL circles.

Martin broke a cardinal rule in locker room etiquette; he didn't keep it in house! The feeling is that Martin should have stood up for himself and handled the other Dolphins' teasing and ridicule like a man. It doesn't help Martin's cause that multiple Dolphins' players have come out recently in defense of Incognito, Black players included. It has even been reported that the Black Dolphins players consider Incognito an "honorary Black guy". Whatever that means! It seems given the conclusion that can be drawn is that Martin may be the one that will be black-balled from the NFL, not Incognito. If that is the case, is this right? Is this fair?

My personal opinion is that Martin should have been able to go about his business. How he gets up for football games does not have to mirror what the collective does as long has he's ready to perform on any given Sunday. With that said, I believe Martin has done more harm than good by walking away. That is what bullies want you to do. Walking away validates their skepticism of you and confirms their prejudice stereotypes of you. Even if he felt the need to file a grievance with the NFL against the Dolphins, he should not have simply run away. Not much is known other than what is being reported. Was Martin subjected to worse taunting than the public voicemail suggests? Only time will tell who is culpable, Martin, Incognito, other unknown teammates, or the Dolphins organization as a whole. The second layer to this is this idea of manhood. Boisterous hubris seems to be synonymous with showing how much of a man one is in our society. If men don't talk about sports, brag about all the women they sleep with, or their cars, guns, or other objects/topics that personify masculinity, they gain no respect and not real men. I like sports as much as the next guy and can converse about many of the topics most men do, but that does not define me as a man. A real man excepts responsibility for his actions, good or bad. A real man is confident without being cocky. Real men are accountable not because society says to be. Men confront a problem and deal with it the best way they know how. Without knowing the details of what happened, this is where Jonathan Martin erred. His reaction to the bullying is not what makes those question his manhood; his perceived cowardice in the face of adversity is. What defines a man? Only God truly knows that. Until then, we are left to walk this tricky tight rope of masculinity and if we sway too far in one direction, we face ridicule. Perhaps owning up to our fears and mistakes is real manhood.

 


http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/9941182/jonathan-martin-issues-several-miami-dolphins-agent-rick-smith-says 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/06/richie-incognito-racist-dolphins-teammates_n_4227099.html?ir=Sports

THE FORGOTTENS

I've lived in several places throughout my childhood. Being an Army brat has that effect. Yet I've always called Chicago home ever since I could talk! Never mind that between the ages of 3 & 10, I did not even live in the Chicagoland area let alone the city limits. To me, those places I lived was never home the way the Chicago area is. Every chance we got, we went home to see family and friends. Not just my family in Country Club Hills, but everybody! I would be out of school for a month at a time to zigzag across the area. Whether it was going back to visit my aunt on 82nd & Elizabeth, my friends on the North Side, or get my haircut at Cliff's barbershop in Harvey, I knew that this was my home! So imagine my surprise when I moved to Country Club Hills full-time in 5th grade only to be ostracized as an outsider! I had trouble fitting in as I grew up because my military experiences did not mirror the experiences of my Chicago contemporaries. 

Over time, the Chi way of life became ingrained in my personality and psyche. I had the accent down, the music, the chip on my shoulder, I even had that "wait till next year" Chicago sports fan mentality. What I didn't have was a Chicago zip code! Me claiming the Chi didn't sit well with guys that actually lived in the city. You ain't from the city, you from the suburbs! You bougie! You out there with the white people, we over here in the hood! It was as if being in a poverty-stricken neighborhood in the inner city was the only way to equate the Black experience with being reality. Never mind that I was born in Chicago, lived there for 4 years, still had family that lived there, and was only 15 miles from the city at most! It doesn't matter; being suburban was almost an affront on your racial identity. As if my experiences with being black paled in comparison to theirs. Forgotten in this is that blatant racism that still exists simply because of my skin color (that never goes away no matter who you are. Ask President Obama). This was exemplified by the massive white flight that took place in the south suburbs in the 80's & 90's. By the time I had moved back to Country Club Hills, the perception of the neighborhood had completely changed. Now the entire south suburban region was seen as just an extension of the south side. It became a running joke about which suburbs to avoid at night. Save for a few neighboring towns to the east (Tinley Park comes to mind), the entire south suburbs is held in no better regard than Englewood, Roseland, Chatam, & South Shore.

That is the general perception if they're even noticed at all! I found this out once I got to college. Some of the kids were from different states or hailed from countries ranging from Great Britain to Bahrain (my freshman roommate). The majority were from Illinois. While some kids were from towns I had never heard of like Taylorville or Rock Island, most were from the Chicago Area. When I would mention where I was from, a puzzled look would come over their face. Even after I said it was in Cook county, they still had no idea where I was from. Kids from the city naturally laughed "you from the 'burbs". It was a relief when I'd encounter someone that was from Flossmoor, Oak Forest, or Matteson! Finally, someone that knows where I'm from! We're not just a nondescript spot on the map. Others spouted racists remarks when they found out. "you're from Country Club Hills? that's the ghetto! We try to avoid going there. You don't seem like you would be from there!" Right, as if every black person has to either act like Tupac or Carlton Banks. What stood out more than anything is how easy my home area is ignored. It is ignored politically, socially, and economically. I use to brush off complaints from small town residents being ignored as them over reacting. Now I understand why they do it. No matter where you are from, if you are ignored politically, you are part of a disenfranchised group. How are the south suburbs of Chicago any different from a small town in Tennessee?  

I'm proud to claim Country Club Hills as my hometown, 708 as my area code, and to be a subsidiary of the great city of Chicago! People from my town have a voice that should not be dismissed simply because of political corruption! Too many examples exists of this happening throughout our country. If they can forget about a region of over 200,000 people that easily, it's no wonder they can forget about the other marginalized groups!

DOUBLE STANDARDS

Should men be ridiculed for the standards they have for an ideal mate if women have similarly outlandish standards of their own? Don't get me wrong, I'm far from a chauvinist; I just feel that men sometimes are held to such a dated, unreasonable standard of excellence that must be met that I see good guys being ignored for this glorified idea of what a real man should be. While the traditional standards of what a man should embody are common sense, it is the physical/superficial ideologies of many women that don't get enough ridicule. I believe a man should have of the following attributes: be willing to hold himself accountable for his actions, be a gentleman (chivalry is not dead ladies), be a hard worker that strives to improve, and show toughness and resolve in the face of adversity. Ladies, if your man has all of these attributes, he's a keeper! Keep him, by all means keep him! Sure he may be a little overweight, sure he may only make $35,000 as oppose to $100,000, he may even be shorter than you (God forbid!). You choose your mate to be with you till death do you part, not till you find the guy with the best bank account.

I'll admit that men have some outlandish standards of our own. Often times we expect our women to work, cook, clean, raise the kids, and give us head every night on command. We expect this while also demanding that they stay in shape, let me watch the NBA without interruption, blow up my ego, and let me have my guys nights and man caves. Did I mention you gotta pop out junior for us too? Seems pretty unreasonable right ladies? Well isn't it rather unreasonable to demand that your mate be at minimum 6'2 when the average height for a man in America is under 5'10 (for the record my official height is 6'3 1/4)?  Isn't it unrealistic to expect a man fresh out of college to have a $75,000/yr job? How can you want a muscle bound Adonis yet complain about guys being too skinny and wanting something to grab on to? Why we going shopping? That's what you have girlfriends and your mom for! Women expect us to work long hours yet be home on command, be tall yet complain when they have to get on their toes to kiss us, give them sex on their time only, do every single do-it-yourself/yard project and chore, defend your honor, and tolerate your parents. All while staying in shape to keep your attention (not too much though cuz you might think I'm trying to holla at the cute secretary at my job right?) and earning six-figures. Talk about unreasonable!!!

In all seriousness, we let what the media and society tell us is pretty or best for us dictate our lives far too much. I'm not saying to not have any standards or that you can't be attracted to what you are attracted to physically. But be willing to understand that love conquers all. What happens when that guy that had all the money suddenly loses his wealth? What happens when your wife gains a little weight or starts to show her age? It should be about love and affection, and I don't mean the kine Future and Rhianna are talking about. The physical may have been what brought us together, but only seeking out your soul mate will bring true love and happiness.

DON'T FORGET WHERE YOU CAME FROM

This past May, rap mogul (for lack of a better word) Dr. Dre teamed with Jimmy Iovine to donate $70 million dollars to create a new degree program at USC. It combines the humanities with graphic arts, business, music, and technology to create an outlet for talented young people to more easily gain gainful employment after college. The added benefit for Dr. Dre and Iovine (the mastermind of Interscope Records) is to create a pipeline of creative individuals that can later become successful in the music industry. On its face, Dre and Iovine are doing a wonderful service by giving back to the very city where Interscope Records is located. While not a state school, USC is often considered the flagship school for the city of Los Angeles. Programs such as this are a progressive step to help create jobs in a very volatile economy. Instead of Dr. Dre being applauded for his generosity however (half of the $70 million came directly from Dre), he has been chastised for not spending that money more wisely. In particular, some believe he should have donated that money to a historically black college (HBCU). Dr. Boyce Watkins, writing for yourblackworld.net takes particular umbrage with Dre's donating the money to USC instead of a much more needy HBCU. It's not so much that Watkins is trying to tell Dre how he should spend his money, it is that he sees no benefit in donating to a powerful university such as USC when it is not reflective of who Dre represents as a successful black man.

Watkins is not alone in his criticism of Dr. Dre for his generous donation. Dr. Walter Kimbrough of Dillard University also questioned why the multi-million dollar rapper/producer didn't deem it necessary to donate to an HBCU. Kimbrough and Watkins believe that Dre's donation would have had a far greater impact not only at an HBCU, but in the Black community as well. To them, donating to USC is just another drop in their already overflowing bucket. "USC's endowment is over $3.5 billion, which gives this school more money than every single HBCU in America combined. Even more stunning is that the school's endowment isn't even in the top 20 in the nation" (Watkins para 7). Overall, the argument isn't who didn't need the money as much as who did need the money. Watkins and Kimbrough assert that Dre's significant influence and wealth could have been just the boost needed that would have changed the course not only of HBCU'S, but help to send that message that we as Black people need to follow in his footsteps as well.

Most Black people, even if you only reach modest success, are expected to give back to their community. This is particularly true of those who reach a level of affluence since they made it out of their impoverished, destitute, often disenfranchised situations to reach the pinnacle of American society. I think this is the true premise behind Dr. Watkins and Dr. Kimbrough's argument against Dr. Dre's donating to USC instead of an HBCU. They are not condemning Dre for giving back to his hometown university, they're questioning how that money could have been better spent to assists the very disenfranchised communities he comes from. This is particularly true in the wake of a racially-charged incident on at a campus party just days before Dre made his donation. On May 5 of this year, 80 police officers responded to noise complaints by coming in riot gear. The party by all accounts was peaceful, yet several students were arrested. Students protested what they deemed racial profiling since the White party across the street was not interrupted at all. Watkins and Kimbrough feel this highlights the racial inequalities faced by Blacks on many campuses similar to USC. With a low Black student enrollment (5% according to USC's website), the message is that Dre should donate this money to his people, the people that supported his music in the beginning, the people he looks like! I respect the premise of that argument, but using the racial incident to make it is flawed to me. This police racial profiling happens throughout America given our former status as Black people under slavery and Jim Crow. The coincidences of the profiling of the Black party and Dre making his donation are mutually exclusive.

In closing, I cannot tell any person what to do with their money. I also cannot judge the feelings of people affiliated with HBCU's like Dr. Kimbrough as I did not attend one. I have heard varying stories about them both good and bad. Given our history of exclusion, I empathize with the notion that we need to look out for our own and take care of home first before we can successfully mesh with society on an equal plane. But why pressure someone into doing that? We need to allow people to be who they are and make their own decisions. Otherwise we are guilty of the exact stereotyping we encounter daily. Just because Dr. Dre did not donate to an HBCU does not mean someone else cannot. What ties to a historically black college does Dre have? By chastising Dre, we fuel the racist rhetoric that Blacks are looking for a handout. Why do we put so much pressure on each other to remember where we come from? The very basis of "when keeping it real goes wrong" is this notion of remembering where you came from. How can we forget? Society reminds us of this everyday. How about we remember where we came from, but focus more on where we are and where we want to go instead!!

Questions for you: Does Dr. Dre have an obligation to give back to the black community? Should we move to better fund the HBCU's since schools such as USC already have the funding? Tell me what you guys think. Thanks for reading!!

http://www.yourblackworld.net/2013/05/black-news/dillard-president-asks-dr-dre-why-he-gave-35-million-to-usc-and-not-a-black-college/

http://www.yourblackworld.net/2013/05/black-news/as-dr-dre-gives-his-money-to-usc-black-students-protest-being-handcuffed-arrested-at-a-party/

ENOUGH ALREADY!!!

Damn I'm tired of hearing about Miley Cyrus! All week I've seen memes, tweets, and Facebook posts on her performance on the MTV VMA's. My first thoughts when I saw her twerking on R&B singer Robin Thicke was "who cares?". Apparently America care a great deal as Cyrus' performance has turned into a referendum on what is wrong in our country. Whether she is viewed as not being a good role model, a shining example of the over-sexualized images advertised to our youth, or that she is profiting off of the shaming of Black culture, Cyrus has been the talk of the week. Who knew that a skinny white girl could do all of that while simultaneously bastardizing Black culture at the same time. To some, Miley's twerking conjures up images of the infamous blackface performances of yesteryear. I for one will not fall into that trap. If it is true that Miley wanted to distance herself from her Disney clean-cut image by adopting a persona that espouses the worst virtues of the Black community, than let her have it. If we as Black's feel like she is buttressing the Jezebel stereotype of Black women, what does that say about us?

I doubt Miley Cyrus' mind was thinking that provocatively. She's twenty years old. All I cared about at twenty was parties, girls, college life, and asserting my independence from my mother. Few twenty year olds have the foresight to think about the repercussions of their actions, hence the phrase "youth is wasted on the young". Her performance has sparked much outrage, but will it spark action. How can we complain of the Jezebel stereotype persisting when we support the numerous show that glamorize that lifestyle? How can we blabber on about how she is a bad example for kids when we dress them in clothes that are growing more scantily clad by the year? Instead of being pissed about Miley, we should be outraged at the possibility of engaging in a war with Syria in light of their attacking civilians with chemicals. Be outraged that stop-and-frisk could be coming to a city near you. Be outraged that the possible outcome of raising the minimum wage to $15/hr won't mean raises for everyone! To hell with some white girl stealing "our dance"! It's not like she made a mockery of a traditional African, Indian, or Asian dance. She was selling an oversexualized image of herself to promote her album, nothing more!

So what will happen in the end? With the 24 hour news cycle, this story will simply go down in history until next week's shocking even hits our timeline. That in a nutshell is the saddest part about this topic. Remember the outrage after the Trayvon Martin verdict? I have not heard a peep about it for a couple of weeks now. Remember the outrage over the Aussie baseball player that got murdered out of "boredom" in Oklahoma? I have not heard a peep about that either. Cyrus' album will either sellout or flop. Either way she makes money and goes on with her life. Meanwhile, the economy is still stagnant, war is imminent, corruption and violence persist, and racial and socioeconomic prejudice reigns supreme. Yet all we care about is some girl making a fool of herself on TV? When will enough be enough?

Field N---- vs. House N---

I know! The title is rather profane; but for the purpose of this blog, it is extremely necessary. Earlier this week, former NFL player and ESPN personality Hugh Douglas was fired after news surfaced that he threatened former colleague and Number Never Lie co-host Michael Smith while also using a "racial slurs" towards Smith in a drunken tirade. You may wonder why I put racial slurs in quotation marks. If it's a racial slur if white people say the n-word (just ask NFL wide receiver Riley Cooper) then it is a racial slur if anyone says it right? I'll spare you the analytical history lesson on the complexity of the word nigger and its many connotations. Instead, I will focus on the fact that Douglas allegedly called Smith a House Nigga and an Uncle Tom. I was more insulted by the fact that Douglas called Smith a Tom & a House Nigga than I was by Cooper threatening to fight "every nigger here" while at a Kenny Chesney concert. Why do we still refer to each other in this manner? Why have we allowed the original meaning of these phrases to be come misconstrued to buttress the crabs in the barrel mentality that we as black people possess? I cannot answer all of those questions free of personal bias, but this story hit home for me in many ways.

The Douglas-Smith spat puts all of  the black communities dirty laundry out in the open. It's no coincidence that the Field Nigga (Douglas) was reported as calling the House Nigga (Smith) an Uncle Tom. While I'm too young to truly understand the significance of the brutal history of slavery and the Jim Crow era, its remnants remain to this day. Why is it that dark-skinned black men are often portrayed as brutish thugs that serve as a threat to anyone that opposes them? Why is the light-skinned black men seen as more clean cut, educated, and refined? How have we allowed this stereotype to remain in the black community almost 150 years after slavery was abolished in 1865? These are the discussion we need to be having as society at large and in the black community specifically. For too long we have allowed articulation and education to be synonymous with whiteness. Then again, in our quest to be on a level playing field, have we lost our cultural identity? Have we become House Niggas? Are we too afraid of losing the positions we manage to attain to take a stand on inequality?

I won't criticize Douglas or Smith because I was not there, nor do I know the extent of their relationship. Perhaps, this was just the media's way of getting revenge for the justified backlash Riley Cooper got for calling the security guards niggers. who knows? The bottom line is simply this, whether you are considered a Field Nigga or a House Nigga, a racist bigot considers all of us just Niggas! Who cares that President Obama is mixed? He still gets called a monkey the same way you or I would. Kanye West said it best, "Even if you in a Benz, you still a Nigga in a Coupe". The sooner we realize that, the sooner we can fight the enemy instead of each other. That last sentence crosses racial lines and is true of everybody from all cultures, but especially my people!



"All Falls Down", The College Dropout. West, Kanye. Roc-a-Fella Records 2004

http://deadspin.com/espn-fight-hugh-douglas-called-colleague-michael-smith-1042188473

I'm Too Old For This #$%&!

What's happened to Hip-Hop? nowadays its wannabe thugs dressing like a bunch of Carlton Banks preps, grown men dressing like women, and grown women dressing like men! I know I sound like the 1800 tequila commercial, but sometimes that's how I feel when I listen to rap music today. Gone is the Hip-Hop of my youth. Gone is the innocence and youthful exuberance that rap music brought out of me. Gone are the days of watching BET, Yo' MTV Raps, and Video Music Box to catch the latest videos. About a month ago, I saw that Lethal Weapon was available on DVD. My favorite line from that movie is the Danny Glover "I'm too old for the shit!" lament. I saw that and immediately thought about where I am with Hip-Hop. Just as with many things, the cultural epicenter of cool in society has taken on a new face. It has reared its ugly head in fashion, television, and the way we communicate with each other. I use to think that "thuggin' it out" would remain in style until it became ridiculous to be a 50 year old thug. My 17 year old self could never have foreseen a day when wearing skinny jeans and tight plaid button ups with eclectic colored Chuck Taylor's would be the standard for swag. When I was in high school, or even in college in the early 2000's, this look would have been met with not only derision, but also ethnic and homophobic slurs questioning your sexuality. The minute I uttered that last statement aloud, I had an epiphany; I'm too old for this shit! I haven't been in high school in a decade. It's been 15 years since the Bulls last won a title. The last time FUBU was popular, LeBron James was a high school senior!

Maybe this is simply a sign of my maturity as I reach my 30's. It seems only right that I transition to a more refined, professional Bryan as I continue to aspire to reach the goals that I have set for myself. I remember at a party 8 years ago, I had a 30 year old white woman tell me that she no longer listened to rap music. When I asked her why she said she had outgrown the genre. Am I simply outgrowing hip-hop as the songs become more childish? Is it a forgone conclusion that I will distance myself from the music and culture that I grew up with? Will I become the guy yelling at the young bucks that they don't know real music compared to the good ole' days? In some ways, I already have become that guy. At the same time, I can't let go of hip-hop! The culture is ingrained in me since the late '80s. Talent and innovation is the hallmark of good music. I can respect Drake, Machine Gun Kelly, and Kendrick Lamar the same way I do Eminem, Jay-Z, and Nas. While you will never catch me wearing Levi's skinny jeans and Vans, I respect the cultural shift to the younger generation! Much like my generation wanted to be respected and not berated for our culture, I will do the same. While I may be too old for this shit, once something is in your blood, it never goes away.

It's In The Game

As of July 18, 2013, the NCAA will no longer be partnered with EA Sports in any of its video games. This is in response to a lawsuit filed by former players stating that the NCAA has illegally used their likeness to sell games, jerseys, and other memorabilia. Not only is this a win for the athletes both former and current, it also could lead to potential compensation for the players who generate millions of dollars because of the acclaim their athletic prowess brings. I personally am happy for the players, but forgive me for being pissed off as well. Once again John & Joan Q student is being forgotten about in this debate. Why are the regular students being cast as rich snobs who have mom and dad paying for everything when that couldn't be further from the truth? Why are the needs of the few outweighing the needs of the many? This is not a rant against the hypocrisy of the NCAA's bylaws (many of which I don't agree with), this is about regular students who also deserve a voice on their struggles in college and the unfairness and difficulties they encounter.
I came to the University of Illinois with my two suitcases, my mom's old television, and ten dollars to my name! I had a part-time job in the cafeteria in my dorm but their was no way I could have had a full-time job during the school year. I was new to the Champaign-Urbana Area, didn't have a license let alone a car, and I didn't have the luxury of a limitless bank account to draw from whenever I needed it; hell if not for my roommate, I would of had to use the payphone to make phone calls home! I don't mention this to gain sympathy, only to show how I was far from the kid that had a silver spoon in my mouth.
If you talk to the average college kid, most of them are broke! Sure their parents can give them money, but how many of the kids were really receiving money in the thousands, particularly when you consider that 74% of the student body at U of I receives financial aid (http://www.osfa.illinois.edu/).

This is not an attack on the former and current players involved in the lawsuit, this is a call to discuss the inaccurate perception of many college students. Various media outlets, from ESPN to CBS Sports, denigrate the NCAA's treatment of players while also trivializing the struggles normal students go through. The prevailing theme is that regular students are able to obtain jobs and do not have to travel the way student-athletes do while also trying to maintain a respectable GPA. When the argument of scholarships for the athletes is brought up, we are inundated with the line that the scholarship often does not cover the institution's full cost of enrollment. Proponents who bash regular students to buttress their claim that the athletes have it so rough are being very disingenuous. Regular students currently do not have the following privileges that athletes enjoy: picking first for classes, having a scholarship that covers at least 75% of the cost of attendance (most yearly scholarships are full-rides), access to the best tutors and academic resources on campus, and people constantly giving you preferential treatment because of your athletic prowess. College students don't take out financial aid for pocket change; without it, there is no way two-thirds of the students could even attend many universities. I am fully aware that talented people get the benefit of the doubt in life; it is what makes us human. As I have stated above, I feel for the athletes and am glad they finally have a voice to express their frustrations about being exploited, but where is our voice? Where is the voice of the kid swimming in thousands of dollars of debt while working at a minimum wage job because corporations bemoans their lack of experience? Where is the outrage at the continuing rising cost of tuition and fees, fees that partially go towards the athletic department? Where is the sympathy for the dwindling funding of college departments as universities look to save money in a volatile economy? Where is the discussion about the true reason behind this sympathy for athletes? It subliminally supports the stereotype that minorities are always looking for a handout. Whether its government assistance or an athletic scholarship, minorities are not seen as being a self-sustaining group capable of doing it on their own. That is a far greater battle that needs to be fought. The day the assumption that minority students are only there because of sports is no more will be a day that the term student-athlete has a legitimate meaning.

Perception Vs. Reality

Racism is alive and well! That is the post I just saw on a friend's Facebook page. Mind you this friend is White so I was some what surprised. I immediately thought "If he can see the prejudice stereotyping that goes on in our society then perhaps there is hope for the future after all". I could point to the coverage of the Trayvon Martin trial or the Paula Deen incidents as examples, but where I saw it rear its ugly head was in a sports story. On the surface, NFL star Aaron Hernandez's arrest for murder is simply a case of a young man needlessly taking another young man's life. The shame of it all is that Hernandez seemed to be glorifying a lifestyle that is both unseemly and foolish for a man with his income and his perceived background. If convicted, Hernandez is wrong and deserves to go to jail for ruining two families lives (the victim's as well as his own). What floored me was the racist venom that spewed from the various comment sections about the case. Though Puerto Rican, Hernandez has been called every Mexican racial slur in the book. There have even been instances where they called Hernandez the N-word (because Hernandez's fiance is Black).

As galling as that story was, the Paula Deen fiasco has caused an even bigger outcry. While Hernandez has become the target of scorn and derision, Deen has been portrayed as both a clueless racist, and a sympathetic figure! The common refrain from many was "She was fired for saying the N-word? Isn't there more important things to worry about? Black people use the N-word all of the time! That's reverse prejudice". Never mind the fact that Deen was accused of several vulgar racial incidents (which are highlighted in the link below), never mind that Deen wanted to host an antebellum-themed wedding complete with Black "slaves", it was not even a Black person that complained on Deen; it was a White person!

The perception of race relations in America versus the reality bubbles to the surface when issues such as these are at the forefront of our conscience. Black people are often criticized for having the gall to actually discuss race and discuss their frustrations with racial prejudices and how it affects their life experiences. The common refrain is that we too often live in the past and should embrace the melting pot that is our society here in America while enjoying the freedoms we too often take for granted. Those freedoms are ones that until the 1960's, many minorities did not get to enjoy. Too often, we turn a blind eye to the obvious social prejudices that exist today. Not every Black person that complains of racial profiling is looking for a handout. Not every Mexican looking to obtain basic inalienable rights and a livable wage is affiliated with the cartel. Not every minority is crying for help because we lack the wherewithal to pick ourselves up by our bootstraps the way our forefathers did to make it in the greatest country in the world. I yearn for the day when Aaron Hernandez can be ridiculed only for the heinous crime he is accused of committing; its commentary free of racial overtones and prejudice innuendos. We need to quit running from the reality of race and stop clinging to the outdated perception that Martin Luther King's dream has come to fruition His dream is an evolving dream, one that is far from over because we allow perception to trump reality.   





http://www.blacklegalissues.com/Article_Details.aspx?artclid=7dfdbe0461

We Are.....Full of It!

So on a technicality, the Paterno's and former players are suing the NCAA! This story needs closure, and this is anything but. While this may not be their intent, it comes off insensitive & baseless. But, collegiate athletics is big business. Seems selfish & misguided to me to drag this on when Sandusky was indeed found guilty of multiple sexual assaults on young boys & is in jail. As a state employee, I am obligated to be a 1st responder if a child's livelihood could be in danger. Didn't all of the staff & administration @ Penn State have that responsibility as well (it is called Penn State University right)? Why Joe Paterno's legacy has become the focal point of this sordid affair is beyond me. Whether he actively participated in the molestation of children is not the issue at hand. The issue is that he was informed about it, questioned by the authorities and his inaction allowed a pedophile to exist on Penn State facilities for an additional decade! Even JoePa, before his death, admitted that he should have done more! 

For the Paterno family, state officials, and former players to have the audacity to sue the NCAA simply to restore some victories and get off of probation is asinine! Not only does it highlight the culture of cover-up and embody how Joe Paterno was regarded as a deity in State College, but it also is a serial waste of financial resources that would be better served to lower the cost of tuition among other things. Nobody wants their loved one's name dragged through the proverbial mud, but the truth is far more important than maintaining a pristine image. Was the Freeh report flawed and full of hearsay? Possibly. However, Spanier, Schultz, and Curley were arrested and were awaiting trial long before Louis Freeh was commissioned by Penn State to do an internal investigation. Their coverup of Sandusky's molestations as well as the accusations of perjury are far more damning than any information produced by the Freeh report. All Freeh did was corroborate the legal finding previously published. Why wouldn't the NCAA act so swiftly and severely to punish Penn State? These weren't some janitors or some rogue booster that was involved. Spanier was the university president, Schultz was the university treasurer, and Curley was the athletic director! If that does not scream "lack of institutional control" under NCAA bylaws I don't know what does. 
Penn State supporters will argue that no advantage was gained on the field of play as a result of this fiasco. I would argue that a great advantage was gained. If this were known beforehand, Paterno would have lost his job (from 2000-2004, Paterno's job was in serious jeopardy). This coverup allowed Penn State to continue to field successful football teams and recruit the top players in the nation. While that premise is based on many assumptions, the Paterno family's lawsuit is as well. So much like this article does, I call bullshit on this lawsuit!

http://m.espn.go.com/wireless/conversation?uri=PAGE%3Ageneral%3ASTORY%3A9324939

Sympathy seeking versus Problem solving

Shoutout to my man Sergio Richardson for the link to the article. Like the author Tamika Mallory, I abhor reality television. Every time my fiancee tunes in to Real Housewives of Atlanta or Bad Girls Club I run upstairs into my sports viewing bubble. I too tire of the representations of Black women and all minorities. To clarify, when I say minorities, I don't mean just myself and my fiancee; I mean everyone who is not a member of the financial upper echelon. So I'm just as likely to condemn My Big Redneck Wedding or Duck Dynasty as I am Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta. Where I disagree with Mallory is this focus on Black women. While it is true that Black women on these shows are often represented in a less than flattering light, the rhetoric many of them spew about how their are only negative representations of them on TV is counterproductive. It almost comes off as if those women are the equivalent of the kid with a cast who exaggerates his injury to garner sympathy. While I empathize with the Black women that are dismayed by the portrayals on reality TV, I would caution them to not just make it about them. While we are selfish individuals by nature, no one wants to hear about your laments at the end of the day. I challenge all of these women to come up with solutions to this growing issue. If little girls are emulating the women that they see on reality television, where does the fault lie? Why would television producers try to project a positive image of minority groups when we are the biggest consumers of this drivel? Solutions-oriented thinking is what is needed to combat this growing issue. Every week videos and news reports, posted all over the internet, poking fun at our ignorance and depravity are among the most popular. If we truly determine the lifespan of television programming, then it is a must that we do more than simply write in to the networks/producers. Getting the children involved in activities that get them outside of the house is a good start. Actually sitting down and coming up with positive programming alternatives may help as well. The common refrain I hear as to why these shows are so popular is that they are an escape from the mundane drudgery of everyday life. This is bigger than a Black/White issue or a Black Man/Black Woman issue, this is an international issue of the media making fun of our pain for profit. Instead of pointing fingers or simply writing letters to complain or boycotting Tyler Perry, let us get together to foster real solutions to provoke real change.









http://newsone.com/2533345/black-reality-shows/