Black Panthers destroyed Ignorant Gangs Thrive.

A couple of months ago, I wrote about my take on the Mexican and Black conflict in the inner city ghettos of America. Of course, I received some racist comments about this situation.  Those comments made me understand why these gangs can thrive and flourish. 

All these gangs - F13, M13, Crips, and Bloods all tend to inflict their violence against each other and their own races. They destroy their own neighborhoods and White America looks on and says please kill yourselves so I don't have to get my hands dirty. 

The problem with that is that the gang violence will spill over into your neighborhoods if it hasn't already, most suburban kids are using their drugs anyway.

But what really bothers me is how the Black Panthers were hunted down and destroyed but these gangs get bigger and stronger. The Panthers fought for equality and education. They started programs in the inner city to better the development of their people. I guess our government thought it was more dangerous to have intelligent and proactive black people with guns than the ignorant fools we have running around today with guns. 

Some of these gangs have a 100,000 thousand members probably half the number of soldiers fighting in Iraq. That's right, an army of foot soldiers selling drugs and terrorizing neighborhoods.

But what does our government do? Nothing,  just like they did nothing about the Ku Klux Klan. I haven't heard any of the candidates or Congress address this gang problem but Congress is right in the middle of this Roger Clements crap. Give me a break, this is a joke. It doesn't take a genius to see that the gang problem in America is more of a national crisis than some rich athletes taking HGH. 

Guess what America, we have more incarcerated people than any where in the world and I know you hope that aids, drugs, gangs and jail can get rid of your minority problem, but it's not, it's just making this country a more unsafe place to live.

A Lesson From D-Harmony

A couple of weekends ago I was entering Burlington Coat Factory with my lady when I was stopped by a young African American man calling himself D-Harmony. 

He was very cordial and polite, he said he was an aspiring R&B artists and he was trying to sell his CD and market himself. Immediately I thought to myself, what kind of scam is this brother running? Well, he put that all to rest when he sung a cappella for us right on the spot. Man, this little cat had some pipes on him and he really impressed me.

Today, our images of black youth are so negative, so I must say it was refreshing to see the stereotype get knocked down right before my eyes. This was a kid who got up on a Saturday morning and put himself out there singing in front of a store. Of course I bought one of his CD's and I thought to myself, are you doing everything you can with your own business to make it successful? Would you get up and sing in front of strangers on your off day?  D-Harmony made me realize that I wasn't putting the effort in to be truly successful, I wasn't going the extra mile. As I got in my car and pulled away I thought about what my father said to me when I was younger, "you can learn a lesson from anyone it doesn't matter how young or how old just be ready to listen and take that information in because it might make things better for you one day."

He was right. 

Who knows, maybe one day we'll all be listening to D-Harmony on the radio or watching him perform on the Grammy's. I wish the young brother luck.

Black vs Brown

Recently I read an article about LA Mexican gangs killing Blacks in neighborhoods for the purpose of ethnic cleansing. This is amazing to me, first we have whites throughout history lynching Blacks and now Mexicans? These gangs are out of control including the Black ones because they've been preying on their own people as well. 

I'm not going to get pulled into hating Mexicans because of the thugs that don't represent their whole race just like the Black thugs that don't represent all of Black society. But this must be stopped, especially now that the gangs are starting to prey on the innocent people in their neighborhoods. I just thought that Mexican and Black people wouldn't be dumb enough to turn on each other. I shouldn't be so naive, human nature tells me that people can't get along even when they are the same color.

What disturbs me the most is I don't hear anything from our so called Black leaders. When the Don Imus or Jena Six mess started, it was all over the news and so were our so called Black leaders. No one was killed in those incidents like the Mexican gang killing the Black man at a bus stop or the 14yr old Black girl, where's the outcry? And even with the hype of the Mexican gangs guess who still kills the most Black people? That's right other Black people. In Philly and New Orleans their were numerous killings per month by Black people. Where are Sharpton and Jesse Jackson when a hundred Black men are killed in one month by their own people? I guess it isn't as sexy as an old white man calling black girls nappy headed hoes which rappers taught him to do or a noose on a tree with no one in the noose. 

These incidents make headlines and maybe they should, but not more than Black on Black, brown on black, or brown on brown  hate crimes. Oh yeah, and if the White population doesn't think this violence won't spill into their world, they're mistaken, but maybe some white people getting hurt will be what it takes to get some action on this crisis.

The Writers Strike just What a Black writer needed, Not!

I was on a personal high after returning home from the Creative Screenwriting conference in LA. Four production companies requested to read my script. One of the four actually came through and I sent my script to them with the hope of getting my first sale. 

Well, all my excitement went down the drain when the writer's strike kicked off. No one has contacted me since, not the other production companies or the one that has my script. 

I know the strike is going to improve the compensation that writers receive but damn it messed up my high. I didn't realize how much writers are shafted until I heard that the writers of the Pirates of Caribbean franchise received only $6000 out of the 5 million their last movie made from DVD sales - and that was just the first week of its release. After reading that I said to myself, you better forget about your high and be glad that they're fighting for the rights of writers.

Being a Black screenwriter though, it's tough. When you get someone interested in characters that are not all white you want to get the ball running. I guess I'll have more time to write if a deal isn't on the horizon, but I sure would like to get that feeling back when they first said yes, I'll look at your script.

Hollywood's Message to Black People

I have loved movies from the time I could walk and speak. I took another path in my life and never pursued that love.

Until now.

I have written a couple of screenplays and it hit me while I was writing for my black characters. I wish Hollywood would stop demeaning black characters on film. When I go to the movies I know as soon I see a black character in the film, if he is not the lead, which you don't see often, he is going to act like a buffoon or die instantly. I've seen it in horror pictures, action movies and comedies.

Sometimes they will let the character live, but he defers to the white character to do all the heroic stuff like in the Lethal Weapon Series. I think in most movies they put black people in it because of a demographic they're trying to reach, so it's like a throw in, maybe we can get some darkies to support the movie. I feel like most black actors in movies are like that one ensign that beamed down with the Star Trek crew. If he wasn't a regular on the show he was going to die - soon. The message is clear -you are inferior and I want you to die. They really play out their hopes and dreams well on screen.

Another message they like to send out is that a black woman and man can't be together. I see Denzel Washington and Will Smith with white, hispanic or so damn near pale, we can't tell, leading ladies. I don't have anything against light skinned women but I find it odd that you rarely see a chocolate or brown leading lady.

Some people probably think this is no big deal but these images are ingrained into our minds. It's brainwashing, because if you think you're inferior, you will never achieve anything. Well, I want to let Hollywood know I hear them loud and clear and I know I have an uphill battle trying to write strong black characters who love black women, but if Tyler Perry can do it so can I.

Black Fraternities & Sororities Aren't Greek

Being a creative person, I have an appreciation of all the arts. I love theater, dance, music, etc. You name it I like it.

I love computer graphics and designing t-shirts is my true passion. I really wanted to design t-shirts for all the Black Greek Fraternities and Sororities because I thought it would be fun but something hit me when I was trying to come up with the designs. What the hell do black people have to do with Greek culture?

Stay with me here, I know some Greek's are boiling already but the last time I checked we were all descendants of Africa. Wouldn't it makes since to have Fraternities and Sororities based around African culture and symbolism? When I see these step shows and watch these beautiful black people dance, I think to myself, I've never seen a Greek person dance like that but I damn sure have seen some Africans dance the same way.

We've been conditioned in this country to be ashamed of Africa, maybe that's why we decided to copy white people at colleges and adopt their Greek culture organizations. I know some people will try to tell me about the positive history of the Black Greeks and I don't dispute, it's an unbelievable history, but that's not the point.

Recently I climbed out of my own ignorance, traced my ancestry (Sierra Leone) and discovered some beautiful West African Symbols called Adinkra Symbols. These symbols are Ghanaian and have true meanings and folklore. I've used these symbols in my designs and people seem to really like them. I wonder why these weren't adopted by the Black Greeks. Well, I know why, because we have been taught to hate our past and culture or to simply ignore it.

It's weird, I meet some black people and they say to me, I ain't from no Africa. Do they really know how ignorant they sound? Last time I checked everyone was an immigrant in this country except for Native Americans. I ain't from no Africa, feels like what you're saying when you adopt a Greek culture around your frats.

It's time to wake up, self hatred and ignorance will surely continue to destroy Black people in this country if we don't stop. And for those who think I hate black Greek's you're wrong, my partner of fifteen years is one and we've had the discussion as two intelligent adults. I don't know if I'll still do the designs but I hope one day maybe some young person on a campus will start a new fraternity or sorority and pattern it after our true ancestors.

TV Has Never Been Whiter.

I think about when I was a little boy and how much TV I used to watch and it was a lot. My pops used to call it the stupid box, he was right but I still couldn't get enough.

Show's like the Jefferson's, What's Happening and even the stereotypical Good Times, which my parents hated and I couldn't understand why at the time. Today, TV is so white they make me miss some of the black shows, even if they were stereotypical images of black life.

It's funny it's like the TV industry said okay you've got your BET and TV ONE so we don't have to put your shows on. Shoot even the WB or CW, whatever it is doesn't do black shows anymore. Man, I miss the Cosby show and a Different World. Now we goy a Hot Ghetto Mess - that's scary.

I wonder how all the other minorities feel, you don't see them being represented on TV that much either. It's funny when I step outside my house I see a rainbow of different cultures but on TV I just see white. We're moving into another age of segregated TV. I see a lot of Hispanic channels and I've heard a gay channel is being started maybe we're all tired of being ignored.

I guess it would be okay if you could get good original dramas and sitcoms from BET and TV ONE but all they want to show is reruns of Martin and Videos. If we have to go the route of segregated TV then these stations have to stop being cheap and produce better shows. As for white TV it doesn't look like it will be darkening up anytime soon.