“Dear Young Warriors fighting the wrong wars! Killing each other is definitely played out. Being hurt from the lost of a love one was never cool.You have the ability and mindpower to change they way we are looked at. Look who’s watching us young warriors, look who’s throwing us in jail constantly, look at the ignorance in the world. Look at the racist dogs who love to see us down. Loving to bury us in the ground or in jail where we continue this worthless war on one another. Incredibly STUPID Washed-Up Rapper NAS on Global Slime
Leave it to the chief defender of the Hip Hop Industrial Complex to try to wash his hands clean with the blood of young Black children. This ranks up there with Russell Simmons trying to “empower” Black women by using Global Slime to publish a letter from a White woman telling Black women “B*tch Get Your Own Man!”
Now he’s back at it publishing this nonsensical letter from Nas directed at teens in Chicago who are slaughtering each other. Sandra Rose outright refused to publish this “open letter”. Her reasoning:
A few of you emailed me today asking me to post some random letter written by the rapper Nas whose entire career is based on gimmicks and sensationalism.
Here’s a man (and I use the term loosely) whose violent lyrics helped contribute to the environment that bred the wild children who opened up another child’s head with sticks and laughed while doing it.
And now that his rap career is just about washed up, his sorry azz writes a letter Sandra Rose
I didn’t get to read this “open letter” until I got home and I couldn’t get past the first paragraph where NAS refers to those who are slaughtering innocent men women and children as “Young Warriors.” Doesn’t that about sum up the CANCER that is the Hip Hop Industrial Complex? Trying to make the dishonorable , honorable. The immoral, laudable. The inhumane, human.
Let’s call these people what they are URBAN TERRORISTS! Their war is against US- innocent Black civilians trying to make our way in the world the best way we know now. Russel Simmons is like the UBL of Urban Terrorists. He’s their “spiritual leader” and he and the HIC are funding a jihad on innocent Black civilians. If they want to be warriors go sign up for the Army, Navy, Airforce or the Marines. Go do something, anything other than terrorize kids trying to go to school.
Take time out today to draft your own “open letter” to the innocent civilians that are being hunted down and slaughtered by Nas’ “young warriors.”
Then when you get through with your letter, I want you to email it to the editorial board of every newspaper in Chicago and your home town too.
Right now there are about a half dozen emails reporting on any number of horrific crimes and tales of debauchery, but I RARELY get an email asking me to honor the accomplishments of an ordinary child for doing what we all hope they will do.
By now many of you have seen the tragic video-taped death of Derrion Albert. If you haven’t watched the video, it looks like some scene out of the third world. Instead of machetes, you see various uniformed actors wielding 2X4 s(actually a railroad tie), one of which is slammed into the back of Derrion’s head. He stumbles and then gets punched and when he falls to the ground he gets kicked and punched some more.
It was like a scene straight out of the classic book Lord of the Flies. But instead of British schoolboys descending into savagery and killing each other on a bucolic deserted island, we have Chicago area schoolboys beating 16-year old honor roll student Derrion Albert to death in the South Side Roseland neighborhood last Thursday (9/24).
What’s equally as disturbing as watching children turn on children in this video is watching the savagery unfold through the eyes of the nig-norant videographer who reacts gleefully to the senseless violence as if he’s watching a video game come to life. Sandra Rose
The school is playing dumb, but I don’t believe them for one moment. According to various sources, there had been an ongoing feud between one group of students and others from a particular housing development. The blood of young Black people is flowing swiftly through the streets of Chicago.
But what struck me is how the media focused on the fact that this young man was an “honor student.” What the heck does that mean? To some, that means he wasn’t riff raff. He was headed places. He was going to make somebody proud, perhaps escape the clutches of the prison industrial complex. Today all over the blogosphere we’re mourning Derrion. People are openly grieving for all that was lost, but how valuable was his life before it ended? Commenters are saying that this story brought them to tears, but our tears aren’t going to bring him back. What must he have felt to find himself fighting for his life because he’d gone to school that day. How terrified was he before the day he died? how many times did he have to walk home with trepidation? Why the hey-ell didn’t any adults fight for him to walk to and from school without fear?
You see I could write yet another post about how awful and uncivilized his attackers were. What’s the use at this point? The “system” will process them and we’ll rack up a half dozen more check marks on the population totals for incarcerated Black teens. No doubt before this is over some “precha” will be asking for some type of reduced sentencing because of the tender young ages of Derrion’s killers. I’m waiting for the video of the suspects Mamas talking about how “good” their kids where and how they don’t know how this happened.
I could ask why someone didn’t call the police or where the heck were all of the adults?
I could ask how the City of Chicago, which apparently has a consistent problem with after school fights, didn’t have police posted in the vicinity. I grew up in a medium-sized city, even we had campus cops.
Yeah I could write a post about how we need more programs or how the socio-economic geopolitical historical construct destroyed the fabric of the Black family and lead to wretched parents who weren’t equipped to teach their children the basic lesson that if you slam a 2X4 into the back of a human head, you might kill someone and if you follow that up by coming along and kicking the prone body of someone who just suffered blunt force head trauma, you might go to the clank for the rest of your life.
But I’m not writing a post about that. There are plenty of posts about the dysfunctional. There are plenty of people who will attempt to diagnose the problem and propose the same old tire solutions people have been spouting for years.
What I want to talk about are the Black “Honor” students. The only time we seem to talk about them is when they die. They have to navigate an anti-intellectual culture, not just Black culture, but the culture as a whole. The don’t see any images depicting the likely outcome of the fruits of their labor in the culture. I had Claire Huxtable, Juleesa Vincent and Whitley Gilbert. Who do these kids have other than Dr. Bailey on Grey’s Anatomy and the various interchangeable Black medial examiners on the CSI’s and Law & Order. We demand that they “get their education” and then force them to have to walk this ri-day-um diculous gauntlet to and from school.
Now, unchecked hooliganism and thuggery are the definition of masculinity, not raw intellect, creativity, or discipline. We make excuses for the likes of Chris Brown, T.I. And Kanye- poster children for a lack of impluse control. Hypersexuality, overexposed flesh and sass are the definition of femininity not a goal-oriented, purposed driven life that doesn’t look like something out of a BET or BRAVO reality television show. Where was “Honor”student’s sign that he was beloved? That he was cherished, not just by his parents, but by his community? Heck, where was Joe Clark with his bullhorn?
Because clearly if the City of Chicago Schools valued this child’s life, he would not have had to navigate a gauntlet of violence just to catch the bus home. He wouldn’t have had to spend the final moments of his life swinging to survive. If they truly valued his life, his community would have organized to escort him home if necessary. Folks would have been suspended weeks ago and threatened with jail if they came within 1000 feet of the school house steps for cutting up. If you don’t want an education, fine, you don’t need to be near any body’s school.
This Friday, president Barack Obama will travel to Copenhagen to lobby for the 2016 to come to Chicago. Derrion’s death should in no way reflect on Chicago’s ability to keep international tourists safe during the Olympic games should Chicago be selected. Why? Because Chicago will do everything in its power to protect the lives of the visiting tourists. My question is why they didn’t confer the same concern to this honor student. Since when has it been an “honor” to live in a place that doesn’t care whether you live or die.
If you encounter an honor student this week, give the a word of encouragement. Don’t wait until they are dead to let them know we care. Who knows what kind of hey-ell they are catching at school. Derrion, a child, shouldn’t have had to fight for his life. That was our job. We failed.
P.S.For those of you feeling “helpless” and looking for something “to do.” You can still donate to the Khadijah Williams trust fund. She’s a Black honor student that managed to get into Harvard despite being homeless.
I stole this from Jack and Jill Politics because we need to hear this RIGHT NOW. Many of you saw the beating death of Derrion Albert and I’ve been reading comments all over the blogosphere about “kids these days.” Its like we just accept savagery. When have we ever told these kids that this mess is NOT NORMAL? All they hear all day is dysfunction, dysfunction, dysfunction. The Radio glorifies dysfunction. The television glorifies dysfunction. We tell them its “hard out here on the streets” or whatever in the heck some record executive comes up with to market crappy music this week. We’ve got millionaire athletes that can’t get away from their hood ways despite the fact that god gave them the talent to escape. They want to keep it reall. What’s real?
Well here is a clip from Brick City, its a documentary about Newark, but you could just as easily apply this to Chicago. I’m sick of all of these prognostitutes and “community activists” finding an excuse for this kind of savagery. This is NOT normal. Its not acceptable! It. just. not! That’s a lie and I rebuke it.
The documentary website has more info (http://bit.ly/brickcity) and the series is available via Sundance Channel on demand, as well as iTunes (http://bit.ly/brickcityiTunes). It’s $9 for all five episodes. Cheaper than a movie, and far higher quality.
In terms of followup, I’m interested in a few things.
a) your thoughts on the scene. Does it reflect your experience? Is it completely foreign to you?
b) Other documentaries that shed intelligent light on the challenges of urban/black/lower income communities
c) Effective solutions to the situation depicted in the scene or similar ones, whether they be government policies, non-profit organizations, mentoring programs etc.
Y’all can chime in with your dire assessments of the Black community, but I will not now nor will I ever believe that savagery is “normal.” I don’t care how many rap music videos you watch, this brutality ain’t normal. It ain’t normal for Chicago to have kids getting the crap beaten out of them on the regular basis. Its not normal to have dozens of students shot in a single school year. This ain’t NORMAL.
Yes, there were parties. No, I didn’t go to any therefore I cannot confirm any of the rumors of debauchery and bacchanal behavior associated with “CBC Weekend.” Although I did hear some firsthand accounts the following morning after the “Black Party” from some folks who were staying at the Grand Hyatt.
After going to the Democratic National Convention, I am no longer shocked or even mildly irritated by the scrum that can be created vying for the attention of a member of the US House of Representatives. I didn’t see Roland Burress anywhere. Yes, there were plenty or parties and sponsorships, dranks and vittles, but there were also lots of panels, forums, town halls and seminars. I saw lots of what looked like high school students in the hallway at the convention center and you did have a gathering of Black “thought leaders” and I use that word loosely.
So now for the cellphone photo trifecta ( Click photos to enlarge):
Here is your candid shot of Rev. Al Sharpton. He was doing what looked like his radio show in the hallway. Its the ghosts of Reverends Past whooooo.
Here is Kwame Kilpatrick with his cellphone glued to his ear in the Lobby of the Grand Hyatt.
He kept that cellphone glued to his ear as he sat there. I went off to my breakfast meeting and he was still in the lobby of the Grand Hyatt with the cellphone glued to his ear. If you are in the lobby of the Grand Hyatt during CBCF ALC you want to be seen. Kwame wanted to be seen.
Here is a photo of Jesse Jackson at the restaurant at the Grand Hyatt. He came in giving everybody in the restaurant a “thumbs up.”
Its interesting people try to lump Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton in the same heap. NO COMPARISON AT ALL! Night and Day I have never seen Jesse Jackson not looking as if he was ready to give a speech at any moment. You ain’t gon’ ever see Jesse Jackson walking around in a house coat and some slippers at any public function. If you do, send us the photos
Social Media Panel
Now I was there for a panel hosted by Donna Brazile and Majority Whip James E. Clyburn. We were preceded by Robert Townsend and the cast of Diary of a Single Mom. I made the mistake of tweeting that the title was Diary of a Single Mad Mom.
Diary of a Single Mom is part of One Economy’s Public Purpose Content project on pic.tv. People who read this blog know how I feel about Black women always being depicted as long suffering and struggling. Yes, that’s the life of far too many Black women, but that’s not a reflection of all of our lives. I can’t say anything other than… here is a clip.
SO the entire cast was there including Billie Dee Williams looking old school cool.
Leon, Monica Calhoun and Richard Roundtree were there too.
Leon looks BETTER in person if you can believe that.
Here is Donna Brazile being charmed by the smoothness of Billie Dee Williams. I heard folks in Detroit are upset because they brought back some Colt 45 Malt liquor ads recently. That blog post I just linked to has the amazing, yet disturbing history of malt liquor.
“Die Flesh Die”
I thought I did well on the panel. I managed not to say 95% of the things that were running through my mind. I had to tell my flesh to die about 56.7 times. I reached for the microphone and didn’t talk about 14 times. It didn’t end up being what I thought the panel was going to be about, but I got in a few helpful thoughts apparently.
I finally got to meet Donna Byrd of TheRoot.com. I missed chatting with her when she spoke at Blogher. She was extremely nice and provided some important historical perspective. I got to hang out with Carmen, Shawn, Angela, James and Krystal again. I got into a “discussion” in the hallway with a guy from the National Urban League. Apparently he’s a lawyer too so we were doomed to a never ending philosophical debate before we started
That’s about all y’all would be interested in from my perspective. Its not the kind of place I would choose to go hang out. I would only go back if I had a particular reason for being there. I was happy to be home.
At Congressman Bobby Rush’s reception now. Mississippi Mass Choir singing. Folks w/ wine & champagne clappin & shoutin! Love it!5:46 PM Sep 24th from mobile web
Well if you want to know what Augustus Fontaine looks like, you can head on over to the Palm Beach Post for his mug shot.
As you will recall, only 4 of up to 10 gang rapists were arrested in the Dunbar Village hate crime against humanity. Fontaine was one of two additional people identified, but not arrested. Police say he wasn’t arrested because they could not get a DNA match. So what happened to the days when we convicted people without DNA?
So Fontaine has not been arrested for the Dunbar Village attack, but for charges related to an auto theft:
Augustus Fontaine, who at least one other young man convicted in the savage attack has testified was present at the scene, was picked up by police in late August. He is charged with resisting an officer without violence, which violated the terms of his probation.
Fontaine of West Palm Beach pleaded guilty last year in an auto theft case where, according to a court record, he fled from police in a high-speed chase. He ultimately crashed the car and ran away on foot. Fontaine pleaded guilty to various charges and was sentenced to five years probation.
On the very same day Dunbar co-defendant Avion Lawson was in court testifying about the assault and identifying “Gus” Fontaine as being present, Fontaine was arrested on the alleged violation of probation. Palm Beach Post
So where in the world is Melvin Young, the other person identified, but not arrested in the attack?
I went over to one of my daily blogstops only to find that Khadija is shutting down her blog
I’ve said all along that there was a deadline with this blog, and that I wasn’t going to do it indefinitely. Well, I’ve reached that point after a year of blogging. To manage the blog in the manner that I prefer to do so takes up a significant amount of time. Time that I now need to invest into other endeavors. And since I don’t like to do “half-stepping,” I’ve decided that now would be a good time to shut down the blog. Muslim Bushido
I COMPLETELY understand. The irony of blogging is that it opens up so many possibilities and ignites all kinds of creative thoughts. It also is a time thief.
This summer one of the speakers at Blogging While Brown said something to the effect that if you are the smartest one of your friends, you need to find some more friends. I messed that up, but the point it that you should have people in your life that challenge you and push your growth and I can say that Khadija was one of those people. We didn’t always agree, but she always made me think and she definitely pushed me WAAAY ahead in some of my future endeavors. Her posts were always thorough and thought provoking and she knew her own mind!
She had so many amazing post series. So many of them CONVICTED me. Made me stop in my tracks. Unflinching! It was such a great blog because it was part strategy, part empowerment, and part CHURCH! The comments section was just amazing. I don’t know which I am going to miss the most, the posts or the comments. Imma have to go back and read the whole blog all over again.
I’d say I will miss her, but I KNOW she’ll be back in one form or another. I hope she converts her blog into a book. So I can run around handing it out
All the best!
PPS. No, seriously Khadija, when is your book coming out? Sign me up for ten copies.
So what were your Muslim Bushido all time greatest hits?
Ananda Leeke, forwarded this article by Teresa Wiltz for MOORE magazine I have not have not hat a chance to read it, but the small snippets I skimmed looked like a departure from the typical pablum about Black women:
Wiltz’ article is a great piece with so many juicy points and Black women facts. I like how she uses the term “hybrid” to describes folks like Michelle, me, and other Black women who were born between 1959 to 1969 and grew up in a post civil rights, pre-hip-hop period. She says we ride the cusp between boomers and Gen Xers, post-segregation and allegedly post-racial (not really!). Her article includes commentary from EPA Chief Lisa Jackson, associate professor and author Ella LJ Edmonsdon Bell, journalist Michel Martin, entrpreneur Cathy Hughes, and many other Black women.
Enjoy! Ananda
An “Obama Effect” for Black Women? - “African-American women are a major force in the Obama administration. But will their success help other, less visible black women break down doors?”
Later this week I’ll be on a panel with two of my favorite Black bloggers Shawn P Williams of Dallas South Blog and Carmen D of All About Race. We’ll be on a panel during the the first-ever Congressional Black Caucus Social Media Brain Trust entitled Black Power 2.0 – Social Media Mobilizing the Masses. It will be Thursday from 2 to 5 at the Washington, DC Convention Center from 2-5pm. But we’re not the draw, Billie D. Williams is supposed to be there too “Ciao Bella!” The panel is hosted by Donna Brazile and Majority Whip James E. Clyburn.
I MIIIIIGHT bring a flip camera so I can get y’all some video interviews if you have any hard hitting questions, leave them in the comments section.
I know of at least one Black woman who is running for United States Senate out of Illinois so we MAY break our prohibition against politics related posts to monitor what happens in that race. I don’t know anything about the woman. I think her name is Cheryl Jackson and she’s the former head of the Chicago Urban League. I’ll try to post about her tomorrow.
Well after a few months of waiting, someone responded from the email address I was given by the LA Times for Khadijah Williams. I just received an email from Natalie one of Khadijah’s mentors at Harvard. They have set up a trust fund for Khadijah at Merrill Lynch.
Should your readers still wish to make a donation to Khadijah, we’ve just set up a private trust for her at Merrill Lynch. The address to send to is below.
Irvin H. Nash
Merrill Lynch
For the Benefit of: Khadijah Williams
360 Hamilton Avenue, 8th FL.
White Plains, NY. 10601 ph: 914-682-5578
Thanks again for your kind words, Khadijah very much appreciates them!
For all of you dismayed at some of the tragedies we feature on the regular basis, this is a little ray of hope.
The Palm Beach post actually has audio of the victim’s testimony from Thursday in the trial of Jakarius Taylor. They also have audio from her testimony in Walker and Poindexter’s trials as well. I’m not going to listen to it, but it is there for those who feel the need.
Avion Lawson rebutted Taylor’s defense that Taylor just happened to be around and was there to convince his friend to leave when Taylor tripped and his penis fell out of his pants. Whatever!
Avion said they went to that apartment that night for one reason:
But while Marie and her son testified that the youths demanded money, Lawson said his friends had only one thing on their mind: “We’re going to get some.”
Two others – 20-year-old Tommy Poindexter and 18-year-old Nathan Walker – were convicted last month. They face life in prison. Two others Lawson said participated in the attack haven’t been charged.
Assistant State Attorney Craig Williams asked Lawson the question that has haunted many: “Did you guys care about what happened to Marie?”
“Guess not,” Lawson answered in a monotone. “They started it.”
“How about you? Did you care?” Williams continued.
“After it was over with, yeah, I thought about it.” Palm Beach Post.
In addition Taylor was identified as the person to hold a gun on the 12 year old son and hit him over the head. Lawson also said that Taylor searched for a lighter to set the mother and son on fire.
