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2012All MARCH POSTS (110)
Ice Cube Plays Racist Cop in New Comedy
Hey, I know there are a lot of really cool white guys in the country, but this small trend of mean black cop and his issues with interracial love seems presumptuous.
Are Senior Citizens Safe?
This weekend's shooting spree at the senior care facility in Carthage, North Carolina has me concerned: Senior facilities are frighteningly unsafe. You can walk into the AIG headquarters and front desk security will swab your check and test your DNA to protect those thieves, but a home for older Americans and the people in it, are on their own.
Madonna and Another Malawian Baby
I've been holding my tongue about Madonna and her adoption fetish. She's a citizen of the world. Right? She has license to peruse through American black and Latino culture and turn her faceless alternative lifestyle into international stardom. She has license to adopt black children from Malawi or even her hometown of Detroit.
Can Circumcision Help AIDS Epidemic?
Then I was hired to pass out Hors d'ouevres at a Bris when I was twenty-two. When I heard that month-old baby scream bloody murder for at least ten minutes when that knife went "slice", well, I was convinced circumcision was the devil's doing and the cutting of a man's penis should be his choice. And I'm serious.
Should Felons Attend Med School?
Unlike the good ole U.S. of A., the Swedish goverment believes once a convicted felon serves their time, that former-felon deserves access to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness [including a medical career].
Sickle Cell's New Breakthrough
After last year's first-ever sickle-cell anemia cure scientists at John Hopkins are convinced a trend is underway. Robert Brodsky, director of the hematology division at the John Hopkins University Medicine, successfully cured Pamela Newton of Capital Heights, Maryland of her sickle-cell disease in May 2008 through a new intensive chemotherapy and a follow-up bone-marrow transplant. That was not just news, that was some of the most amazing news to travel through the African-American community in eons.
Obama and His Big Awkward Mouth
He's the president; he's not Gandhi or Mandela. Well, they made a few mistakes, too. Anyway... as an uncle of a Down's Syndrome albeit mainstreamed nephew, I feel like my internal and external radar for "disability" bashing is on full volume. So I consider myself extra-sensitive about these issues.
Eastwood directs Mandela Flick... Why?
But here's my issue: Somebody of color should be directing this film. I certainly think Eastwood's talented and a master craftsman. Most writers and directors of color get few chances in Hollywood. And when we do get a chance it's usually a project that's historical and political in content [i.e. Talk to Me, Cadillac Records]. A simple story from "colored" folks is rarely greenlit.
Obama Finger-licking Good
A German company is marketing a new delicacy called Obama Chicken Fingers. And no it's not a fried cuisine meant to poke fun at how black folks love them some fried chicken. Or how America's first black president is possibly a finger-licking cholesterol-seeking man of color with a hidden "ethnic" agenda.
St. Paddy's Day - Not For Me
I have mixed feelings about the holiday. It reminds me of growing up in Cincinnati and how the city become inundated with citizens parading the streets during Octoberfest, the city's annual celebration of its German heritage. And most black folks were sequestered in our neighborhoods until the police cleared out the passed-out bodies and littered streets and made it safe to venture out and claim our city again. You know, the typical rituals for being a reluctant spectator in somebody'e else assumed world.
Cleopatra was a Sista' and a Killer
Cleopatra: A Portrait of a Killer airs Monday, March 23 on BBC One. And get this, archeologists are finally letting the tightly-curled hair and full lips out of the white-washed bag. That's right, the documentary plans to set the record straight: Cleopatra looked nothing like velvet-eyed, porcelain white Elizabeth Taylor. In fact, Cleopatra's mother was a black African. In fact, Cleopatra paraded among her Roman cronies and insisted (a la Halle Berry in her star-making moment in Queen) "I's Nigra, I's Nigra." You know, in case the Romans didn't know....
Elevating Our Female Artists
When discussing theater white men are often used as examples or templates for how to think about the genre. And if not white men, then black men like August Wilson. And, hey, although I try hard not to follow the routine of elevating maleness for the sake of maleness [I consider myself "evolved"], I often fall into that trap.
The Killers Among Us
Even after Columbine and Virginia Tech, the massacre of innocent people still overwhelms me. You'd think I'd be desensitized to the news of rampage and murder, but, in fact, it unnerves me a little more each time. Within three days a gunman opened fire on his family and town in Alabama and a German teen in military gear killed fifteen.
Obama's Cradle to Career
Obama wants to churn out better-educated citizens through rewarding teachers. And I second the motion. In fact, I third and fourth the motion with sugar on top. Look, paying incentives may not solve the complete problem, but it's a start. If anything, it might weed out those teachers who are not in the game to excite children to learn. And everyone knows these kids need some educational excitement.
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