the hardline

I gotta say that every time I look at the grocery store bill, the idea of growing my own food gets more and more appealing. I don’t have a green thumb — I once under-watered a cactus, to put it in perspective — but how hard can it be to grow your own vegetables? I…

Remember back in the ’90s, how every single black man was allegedly on the “Down Low” spreading AIDS and bad fashion sense, and black women were all in a tizzy about it? Keith Boykin debunked a lot of that but uber director Bill Duke recently tried to cash in on the hysteria. Well, if you…

Vermont becomes the forth state to legalize gay marriage, and I’m oK with that, to the extent that it matters to me at all. Everyone should feel free to live and love outloud, and if having a binding contract with the state makes your love come alive, I say “go for it.” Quiet it’s kept,…

Harris Publication’s King Magazine is dead, according to reports, and while they blame the economy, it’s a miracle it survived as long as it did. King was mainly barbershop fare, a magazine full of pictures of cars, stereoes, cognac and women with really, really big butts. People that know me know that these are among…

I read a joint some time ago about a study that suggested that sexual lyrics make kids horny, as opposed to, say, HORMONES. Looking for reasons to explain teen sexual behavior, the culprit, some would have you believe, is obviously pop music. For me, there isn’t enough meat on that argument —- I don’t see…

Sen. John Mccain is pushing hard for a presidential pardon for boxer Jack Johnson, America’s first heavyweight champion, and aside from O.J. Simpson, perhaps the most roundly hated, unliked and reviled black person among whites in the history of our country. That’s how disconnected McCain is: He thinks he can shore up his bonafides and…

ABC’s “Good Morning America” is doing a series called “Black and White Now” where I guess they are trying to figure out when racism will be over or not. They got a three-part series jumping off this week, and I swear I wish someone would just shoot me now. These programs about black people most…

One year ago today, singer Sean Levert died in jail while being held for felony non-payment of child support, and while the jail has changed its policies about dispensing meds to prisoners, there has been no talk of taking a closer look at the laws that put deadbeat parents in jail.  Jailing doesn’t work: It’s…

The General Assembly in Tennessee is bandering about the notion of a bill professing “profound regret” for that state’s roll in the American Slave trade, but there is no addendum that would include any kind of reparations, sympathy card or balloon bouquet, so I am always confused about who, exactly is supposed to feel better…