Wednesday, April 29, 2015

No One is Right or Wrong...Freddie is Dead


Expressing your anger in the most violent form at your disposal is not right. We know that. Looting, trashing, stealing, or any other form of mayhem is recklessly irresponsible. Watts has never recovered. This behavior does not honor Freddie, Freddie is Dead. So says Curtis Mayfield. The destructive uproar continues the cycle of apathy that plagues the minds and hearts of a people that live in a World that can care less about them, Black Lives Don't Matter. 


Time and time again black and brown people around the globe are maligned or left out to die by God's climate warming inactivity (the Nepalese people are brown) which does nothing less than enrage the Browns and Blacks internally. This divine consequence becomes a Burning Spear that melts their souls. Imagine that, killed by the very weapon -the spear- that was no match for the European gun. The White Explorers won the battle. Harboring this rage is the equivalent to literally being on fire. You can't shake the pain. You can't stop the intense feeling of your skin dissolving. 


The evaporation of the flesh is similar to watching a man rape your mother. Your mother fights but the rape continues until the end. Not an Endless Love, it is an Endless Rape. This rape...this stripping that the black human has endured is manifesting in Baltimore and simmering in an awaiting city. Nothing...will extinguish a fire that's not controlled. It is the Fire Next Time. James Baldwin shared years ago what needs to be understood by the white masses:

"You must put yourself in the skin of a black man. . ." 

writes James Baldwin as he seeks to translate what it means to be a Negro in white America so that a white man can understand it.

It is not a fire intended for Purification. We all need that. The fire is the police's brutal and inhuman treatment of black men, Racial Injustice. The believed Right is represented in the images of black men and women who use their anger to dismantle their neighborhoods. The believed Wrong is the demoralization of what no black man/woman has ever obtained, Justice. Nothing is Just about integrating into a Burning House. Both, The Right and The Wrong are inflicted out of fear and corruptness. Both, The Right and The Wrong are outcomes that comfort and pacify the Looter. They are not thugs. 


That identification should be reserved for America's Founding Fathers. 


The looter is the Opportunist who prefers to be the mirror image of the policemen that did something so unconscionable a man's vertebrae was severed...completely broken in two. A duality that describes the United States of America, Two Different Worlds (http://revcom.us/i/318/BAsics-4-1.png). There is no Grey in this Anatomy. 

Both, the Cops and Opportunist are one in the same. They are cheapen CO's, Correctional Officers correcting nothing! They -the police- are the Corrupt Cause and they -the opportunist- are The Erratic Effect. No one wins. No one is honored. 


Freddie is Dead

"We're all built up with progress. But sometimes I must confess. We can deal with rockets and dreams. But reality, what does it mean? Ain't nothing said. Cause Freddie's dead!" -Curtis Mayfield  ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B6TKClPFQA)

The Shadow

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Eddie's Restraint



First, the critics (that includes you) said Eddie Murphy bombed...they said he was unprepared. Some even said he did not have 'it' anymore. Now, we know what Eddie was dealing with...we now know why he appeared to be discombobulated. He decided to do something that many are describing as 'stand-up'. He in fact with his act of granting a comedic reprieve spared Bill Cosby additional humiliation.  Humiliation that's based in accusations that have been substantiated by countless women from all walks of life.  If Bill's accusers are found to be truthful, Bill Cosby does not deserve the 'break' Eddie Murphy granted.

In the past, Murphy has been relentlessly Raw.

As far back as I can remember, Eddie Murphy has not been the comedian that spends a chunk of his stage time directly making fun of an individual. He has been known for mimicking several different personalities - but he has not been that comedian that randomly selects a member of an audience, and begin to make the comedy show-goer the butt of all his jokes.

The decision he made could have expelled him from the Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary show...who knows Murphy's act of kindness may earn him a Macbeth tag. We know that decisions actors/celebrities make can damage or enhance their careers. It was obvious that Eddie Murphy does not give a damn. He is confident in that he will continue to get work. He is confident in knowing that his reputation of an once potty mouth comedian turned children's movie actor is intact.

One is able of doing this when he/she has cemented their legacy. Our legacy is all we have when you strip away money, talent, appearance and accolades. Bill Cosby's legacy should be rooted in The Adventures of Fat Albert, The Cosby Show and all the other contributions he has presented to the moral landscape of the world.

Eddie Murphy has helped us remember what it means to be a Giver and not a Taker. He did not take away more of what Cosby has lost...Respect. Murphy in this circumstance will be remembered for giving us (the public) the opportunity to remember Bill Cosby as which he was before the parade of women issued their accusations. Accusations that more than likely have merit. Bill is not innocent in my mind. If he is, there is a hell of a conspiracy that has been masterminded to malign him. And, we know that all those women are not lying. He is sitting in guilt to some degree. Knowing this, Murphy still gave Bill a pass. That should have been enough to prompt a continuation of 'not kicking a man' when he is down. It was not.


Kenan Thompson, the less funny guy, went ahead and gave the producers SNL producers what they wanted - an opportunity to make fun of Bill Cosby. There will always be that one person who refuses to exercise restraint. Kenan and Bill are two peas in a pod. They could not resist...they had to satisfy their temptation and ego-centered desires. Kenan the comedian who has to issue the last laugh and Bill the comedian turned Black Dad of television had to conquer women in a way that does nothing for his mojo.

Thanks, Eddie Murphy, for doing what Cosby and Thompson were unable to do.


The Shadow