Featured

Forwards, Backwards and a Subway Ride

I recently celebrated a Beatles birthday.

It is a celebration—even though I understand that while there are a few people still ahead of me, there are now far more people behind me. I am getting older, and with that comes the realization that in a few years I will be facing the ultimate next chapter.

Yet it is a celebration because there really is a lot to celebrate:

I am the youngest of five, and I am blessed that while we all have aches, pains, and some physical challenges, all my siblings are still here.

I am also blessed by the realization that I’ve outlived my father who passed away at 46 and my mother, who passed at 50, two days after I graduated from high school.

I celebrate the fact that while I have had challenges, I have not come close to dealing with the overt racism of the south my parents were born into and the covert racism of the “tolerant” north they spent most of their lives being part of.

Both my parents lived long enough to see the start of America’s second reconstruction, a period their children have been part of for a portion (the older children) or all of their (me and the youngest of my older sisters) lives.

I remember going with my father to the ballot booth, which means he was exercising something that even in Seattle, had to be a bit of a challenge, something that even with the power of the federal government behind it, people who looked like my father were still not able to do in the south in the late 60’s.

When I was born, my marriage was still illegal in ALL OF THE SOUTH—and the ruling that would make it legal was still 5 years away.

There is a major push to eliminate the rights of adults to marry the adults they love, lead by a man who—last I checked—was MARRIED TO A WHITE WOMAN. (Uncle Clarence was lucky enough to find a woman of any color who was willing to put up with him).

Their argument being that Loving focused on the marriage of a man and woman—but what the court said was that “freedom to marry resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the state.” If the state can regulate who is free to marry—does this nimrod honestly believe the states that rushed to eliminate the right for poor women to choose their reproductive health won’t regulate not only who you can marry, BUT WHAT COLOR YOU CAN MARRY?!? Just remember, it took Alabama THIRTY-THREE YEARS AFTER LOVING to remove its anti-miscegenation from the books—AND STILL ALLOWS 16-YEAR-OLDS TO MARRY (with their parent’s permission of course…)

I was still in diapers when the federal government started forcing states to eliminate the illusion of “separate but equal” in education. I see the result of that effort every time I go to visit my daughter in Nashville and pass the amazing number of private “academies” that have a very monochromatic student body.

I also saw that here in “I have Black friends” Seattle where parents at Ballard High School laid the groundwork for the end of school integration in the U.S. and with my daughter in the Seattle School District, where I saw White, Obama bumper sticker “liberal” parents losing their minds about letting in students of color in the District’s old Accelerated Progress Program (APP)—so you smug and sanctimonious hypocrites sit down and stay quiet.

It’s tough to realize that after having gained so much that just like the first reconstruction, 60 years after the second reconstruction, the battle is over and people who look like me—and so many others—are on the losing end yet again.

I have spent a lot of time trying to think about how to explain how this happened AGAIN:

–From the signing of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts and the “Solid South” staying that way—just with a new political affiliation. Some internet historians like to point out that it was Democrats who blocked this legislation without mentioning the second part—that those “Democrats” became Republicans even as President Johnson was signing them into law.

President Lyndon B Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act in a ceremony at the White House, Washington DC, July 2, 1964 .
(Photo by PhotoQuest)

–From Nixon’s capitalization of the White Fragility (and frankly the inclination of too many Democrats acting like spoiled two-year-olds and saying: IF I CAN’T GET WHAT I WANT, I’LL SHOW YOU AND NOT SHOW UP AT THE POLLS or vote for Nader or say there is no difference between Gore and W or between Hillary and the failed talk show host) that came from those pieces of legislation to develop the “Southern Strategy” that gave birth to:

–The “State’s Rights” blueprint launched by Reagan just a few miles away from where sons of the Klan killed three people because they were trying to help end American Apartheid. It was in Philadelphia, Mississippi that Reagan launched the campaign signaling the start of the federal government turning a blind eye to human rights that people DIED to achieve that had been law for less than a generation.

–The “Tea Party” the odious branch that grew from the Southern Strategy and State’s Rights and has now metastasized into the cancerous “MAGATs” led by a grifting carnival barker who opened up the porta potty doors and dumped all of the effluent of the last 75 years into public view—and has bragged about it ever since.

How do you explain all that?

With a simple picture.

A lot of people who are better with words than I have tried to explain the gravity this picture carries. To me it’s simple:

It’s a repudiation of the work of Dr. King, Representative Lewis, Rose Parks, Fannie Lou Hamer, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, Harvey Milk and so many others.

It’s a reminder that the grandfathers and great-grandfathers of these punks at least had the courage to show their faces when they marched in their Klan outfits in D.C. a century ago. They know they’re doing wrong and because they don’t want the brown people they interact with to spit in their faces (or kick their asses) they don’t have the gonads to acknowledge being a proud White Racist.

A little gathering in D.C. 100 years ago

The lack of outrage across the spectrum—I didn’t expect the MAGATs to say anything, but HOLY HELL the overwhelming silence of people who should know better reminds me of what Dr. King said almost 60 years ago: “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

It explains that yet again people of color (and the many other humans who have always been on the outside looking in) should just keep our mouths shut and be happy that we continue to be allowed to live in this “Wonderful White Country.”

There is no fear.

There is no anger.

There’s just frustration—because she realizes there is nothing that she can do.

That to speak up—or worse yet, to fight—could have far lethal consequences than just sitting there and dealing with it until either she or they got off the subway.

So, as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of a document that includes the words “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”

We are reminded that it’s just words because too many people continue to be comfortable committing acts that deny those rights they believe their creator provided to them to people who don’t look or act like them.

Until Next Time

Featured

The Greatest Weapon We Have

Like all of the other dictators he adores and wants to emulate, the Orange Gangster is looking for his strongman moment.

A moment where he will shock the world and scare his enemies with a show of military force.

Not against foreign targets, but against his own people.  

After all, that’s what dictators do.

Orange Gangster would love nothing more than to send military force against a city in his own country.

Troops beating up whining young white people.

Troops shooting colored people of all ages for not “obeying the law”—as he defines it.

Blood is required and if there’s a death or two, even the better, because it shows how determined he is to control the uprising.

Because that’s what dictators do.

Action in a Blue State is required.

A city in a Blue State with a large concentration of communities of color is a must.

A city in a Blue State with a large concentration of communities of color and a very active “progressive base” is PERFECT.

Now understand, Orange Gangster’s enough of a coward that he doesn’t want to send troops into a city that helps keep the economy of the country he’s stealing from moving –or whose populace might just fight back—so New York, Chicago and Los Angeles are out.

Hello Minneapolis!!!

Now why am I writing about this on the day we celebrate this country’s foremost supporter of peaceful protest to change the world.

Because of the word PEACEFUL.

Orange Gangster understands the mindset of the majority of the people who support him.

They believe in the “rule of law.”

As long as those laws don’t impact them and put the screws on the people they don’t like.

You know, people like whining young white people and colored people of all ages.

After all, the MAGAts believe one of these groups were peaceful tourists while hoping to unleash the masked forces against any group that dares object to what Orange Gangster proposes—no matter how asinine or dangerous the proposal is.

All you need to remember is that Orange Gangster’s supporters still believe that George Floyd caused his own death and currently believe that if Renee Good had just “minded her own business,” she would still be alive.

If there is any response that is “against the law” allowing Orange Gangster to respond with the violence he craved in the summer of 2020, those people will APPLAUD HIM.

Why?

Because he will be putting those people “in their place.”

And the liberals who hate what Orange Gangster is doing will ask why these people exercising the rights that are guaranteed in the Constitution can’t register their unhappiness by putting a bumper sticker on their electric vehicles—because that’s what they do.

Remember what the Rev. Doctor King said about these people (who boast about their friendships with people of color) from his cell in Birmingham:

“I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says, ‘I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action’; who paternalistically feels that he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom”.

The Orange Gangster depends on the adulation of the MAGAts who are still waiting for the $50 bible they purchased from him and the apathy of what I call the“Mike Stivic liberals” who support the actions of the civic protests as long as these events doesn’t interfere with them picking up their Starbucks.

But again, why am I writing about this on the day we celebrate this country’s foremost supporter of peaceful protest to change the world.

Because of the word PEACEFUL.

Dr. King knew 70 years ago that peaceful actions drive dictators and racists wild because they don’t mind being seen as dictators—but most don’t like being seen as bullies.

Which is sort of ironic since sending out the military to kill their fellow citizens is a pretty good definition of being a dictator AND a bully.

Dr. King never NEVER wanted to give the racists he had to deal with the literal weapons to beat him with.

He told those who were part of the bus boycott to leave their weapons at home.

He told those who that if they wanted to march with him in Birmingham to keep their knives, guns and straight razors away from the protests because to have them would be reason enough for the Bull Connors of the world to KILL without having to explain why.

“Those ni**ers were armed! My men had the right to defend themselves!!”

Doesn’t that sound familiar? Similar statements were made six years ago in Minneapolis and are being made right now in Minneapolis.

His principles never changed—even as the world around him did.

Dr. King lived long enough to see Detroit and Watts burn.

After his death, the pattern has unfortunately continued:

Kent State

Ferguson, MO

Minneapolis, MN (2020)

And of course the situations in places like Portland and Seattle that the right wing grifters who are the acolytes of the late, unlamented Seattle talk show host like to bring up whenever more than three people gather to say the actions of the current administration are criminal.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did something on a national scale that I’ve seen in city after city over the last year. The media does cover it, but not with the same fervor that they do over breaking glass and tear gas, because a plane landing isn’t news—but a plane crashing…

So as we hear stories about the possibility of military being flown in from Alaska for the specific reason to try to ferment enough of a violent reaction to allow the Orange Gangster to declare martial law in Minnesota, and across the country, a reminder to those non-anarchist types:

DON’T TAKE THE BAIT!

He wants to be able to use your anger to achieve his goals. He knows even those who support you will step away because they don’t want to be seen as supporting violence—even as they ignore the violence his MAGAts create.

Don’t give him the satisfaction. As I’ve mentioned, the greatest weapon we have against the Orange Gangster is to ignore petulant acts of him and his sycophants.

So today, and over the next few weeks, as the Orange Gangster is trying his hardest to get the response he needs, remember these words:

“Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”  

 The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Until Next Time.

The Force and The Future

From one fan to all the others out there:

As we celebrate the 49th anniversary of the phenomenon that Peter Mayhew—the man known as Chewbacca—told a panel at a comic book convention: “Did we think we were creating a legend? NO! We thought we might be making a delightful ‘B’ movie.”  

74, 80, 83 and 89.

Saw “The Mandalorian and Grogu” over the weekend and it struck me that out of the 11 previous movies, there was always a mention—direct (first trilogy ) or indirect (the rest) to the first movie –especially for the two stand alone movies (“Rouge One and “Solo”).

This was the first big screen movie of the Star Wars series that you didn’t have to see “A New Hope” to understand (and appreciate) the movie.

For some “Comic Book Buy” types, that has them wetting the seats of their computer chairs in their parent’s basements.

Worst Fan EVER!!

“HOW CAN YOU HAVE STAR WARS WITHOUT STAR WARS?!?”

Believe it or not, it’s pretty easy.

Mando and Grogu is a lot of fun—it’s “Star Wars” meets “John Wick” and is perfectly set up for additional movies—if the people who last liked Star Wars in 1977, 1980 or 1983 will allow it.

The people who last liked Star Wars in 1977, 1980 or 1983 have made it clear that those are the only big screen versions they will accept and on the small screen the only series they’ve liked is “The Clone Wars” which is ironic when you consider that it involves the further adventures of prequels  THEY CAN’T STAND.

A good movie series—and Star Wars is a movie series, as George Lucas hoped it would be—cannot remain static because of the enemy that all us humans have:

Time.

We all grow old. If our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren are going to enjoy some of the special cinematic moments we grew up with, they should be able to watch both something old and something new.

Welcome to “The Mandalorian and Grogu,”

Welcome to “New Jedi Order” the next big screen movie in the series,

Welcome to the future.

Once upon a time—even Star Wars (and it will always be Star Wars to me) received bad reviews—one of which I think carries through 49 years later to some of the “fans.” It came from The New Republic:

“unexceptional and aimed strictly at adolescent males who carry a “chalice of a Self that was Better Then, before world’s affairs… intruded”

Once upon a time a bad review was a bad review: read once and quickly forgotten.

Of course that was before the toxic presence of social media.

Now a bad review from one of those adolescent males goes out to thousands who were never planning to see the movie, but love to “put it to the man” whoever that “man” is.

Worse yet, their invectives—and the invective of others—infects the entire franchise.

Those of us who enjoyed “The Acolyte” have felt the brunt of their peculiar “love.”   

There’s a difference between “Only Sean Connery can play Bond” or “There’s only one Han Solo” and some of the unique perspectives that are now part of the Star Wars universe.

What these undergrown adults refuse to accept is that for the kids going into the theater for the Mandalorian—or any other Star Wars movie—this is their “New Hope,” the movie that will excite their imagination for the future.

At the end, movies like The Mandalorian are supposed to be fun. That is what George Lucas intended 49 years ago and that is what (whether you like Disney or not) is intended today.

Unfortunately, it’s us adults who decided to make it a phenomenon—with all of the baggage it carries. But I think one of the performers in the second trilogy has captured the essence of what this series means to so many—even after five decades:

“What we didn’t hear at the time was people your age. We meet people now who really love our films, but it’s taken us, like, fifteen years to hear that. It’s so nice. It’s really nice, and it’s changed my outlook on my relationship with Star Wars.”

— Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan Kenobi)

BTW—the numbers at the start: a reminder that no matter how much you want it—there can never be another “Star Wars.”

Why?

Because those are the ages of the last of the primary cast of “Star Wars” and “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi”

Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Harrison Ford and Billy Dee Williams.

The rest are gone.

It’s time to let them hand it off—whether you like it or not.

Keep watching the old ones—I do all the time—but if you continue being a scruffy “Nerf herder” and crying about the next generation of films “ruining your childhood,” be prepared to have people watching future versions of “A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away” calling you something from another film series:

FOSSILS

Until Next Time

Or perhaps I should say:

This is the Way

Using the possible to beat the impossible

Images courtesy of Marvel comics

As I’ve mentioned, I read comic books—and a comic book is going to explain the greatest weapon we have against the Orange Gangster.

Now this is going to take a little explaining, so don’t go TL:DR on me:

I’m sure most of you have heard of the Fantastic Four—even if you’ve never read a comic book you know the quartet: Reed and Sue Richards, Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm.

The name of their primary villain has become part of the American lexicon: Doctor Doom.

We know the Orange Gangster is not much of a reader, so I suspect he has had someone read some of the issues to him, and he probably envisions himself as the FF’s greatest villain. But Marvel Comics’ greatest quartet has a pest that is closer to what he is than the sinister Dr. Doom.

That pest is the Impossible Man.

The Impossible Man is an alien who could become anything he could imagine. Reed Richards called him the most dangerous entity in the universe because he was literally unstoppable.

How did this dangerous alien use his ability while on earth?

He used it to make himself a giant pain in the ass.

The Impossible Man did everything he could to draw attention to himself.

People couldn’t help but notice his antics because he was insufferable.

This is when Reed Richards formulated a way to defeat him—and it was the toughest thing in the world to do.

The solution was to ignore the Impossible Man.

No matter how obnoxious (and dangerous) the Impossible Man became, people were told not to pay attention to his actions.

Naturally, like any other spoiled brat, the Impossible Man started trying to attract even more attention.

And people continued to ignore him.

Which brings me to the point of this post.

The Orange Gangster—and the sycophants around him who are actually running this country—THRIVE ON ATTENTION.

This clown car of the ignorant and imbecilic do and say incredibly stupid things because they know people will pay attention—even though THEY KNOW most of the manure that they spew will never happen.

The cult of personality that placed Orange Gangster back into the People’s House dutifully parrot his statements, because they know it will evoke a reaction in most rational people.

I have a person who I worked with almost fifty years ago who is one of the parrots.

We called him a curmudgeon in 1979—in reality he was a racist who disguised his venom as part of his just being the Archie Bunker of our work place.

For some reason I have him as a Facebook friend.

This means that like the troll under the bridge he will pop up, say something INCREDIBLY ASININE and hope people will react to it.

He did this a couple of weeks ago—and it got me incensed enough where I was about to respond—then I stopped.

My responding would give him the satisfaction of knowing that he had gotten my attention, which is really all he wanted—to make himself insufferable.

To draw attention to himself.

To make himself a pain in my ass.

The greatest weapon the acolytes of Orange Gangster have is our responding to the steaming piles they leave.

This is not a new tactic—hell, Seattle’s version of Alex Keaton (look up the character) made his bones by irritating a person to the point that the person cursed him out on live TV.

It got that person fired and made the person responsible into one of Seattle’s media elite for close to two decades.

That person is still irritating people on the radio, but guess what, he’s become a forgotten entity.

Why?

Because now, people IGNORE HIM!

I know it’s tough—I know people who doomscroll the antics of Orange Gangster on seemingly an hourly basis—and then post about these antics.

We need to stop feeding the beast.

We need to stop giving him and his acolytes the satisfaction of knowing how much they irritate/anger us.

We need to go into the new year with the resolve to not let them know they’re getting on our last nerve.

Because that is the greatest weapon we have—they can’t stand being ignored.

What did the Impossible Man do when people started ignoring him?

He had a tantrum and left the planet.

We know that won’t happen to the failed game show host (even though we can hope he’ll go up in one of Elon’s toy rockets and not come down). But it will lower your blood pressure—and raise theirs.

Until Next Time.

Too stupid to be this dumb

For as “smart” as they like to see themselves…the team around Gangster Orange really is stupid as a box of hammers.

If they had allowed 60 Minutes to air the story about their concentration camp, and let him do his standard bloviating to the cult, this would have lasted one news cycle…

Telling one of his sycophants to spike the story just before it aired and then having her essentially say that it didn’t say anything new is now going to keep this part of the narrative for at least a couple of weeks.

—Now when will the story air?

—It was vetted FIVE TIMES, just how much checking does it need?

—Will the story be spiked because the WH doesn’t comment on it?

I hope one of the team that developed the story has kept a copy of the original…since we know that what airs will be dramatically altered…and has the courage to give it to the NYT..because the WaPo can no longer be trusted to post stories critical of the American Reich.

One way or another, the WHOLE story will air and a news agency that was the gold standard for broadcast journalism will fall deeper into the abyss.

The irony is, Bari Weiss was right, we know about this story. It would have aired and would have quickly been forgotten.

And that’s the saddest part of all, that we’ve become enured to the insanity coming out of the casino that used to be the People’s House.

Until Next Time

Ballot and Balance

Mean…

That’s the feeling I have when looking at the ballot and preparing to vote.

The choice has boiled down to just how mean I want this city to be.

Since 2020, the narrative has been: “if we don’t take steps now, we’ll be overrun with ‘undesirables’” (i.e. any person who makes us feel uncomfortable as we watch TV or have Seattle’s increasingly right wing talk radio hosts tell us that we should be uncomfortable around).

“Compassion” has become an expletive—and we’re willing to look the other way on solving “issues” as long as it will allow the people operating the city’s daily paper to walk downtown on their annual trip to Pike Place because “there’s really no reason to go downtown, but I want it to look nice for the tourists.”

So, we’ll vote for the bully for mayor—and I say this while acknowledging that the incumbent has been part of my life in one or aspect or another for close to 40 years—because he’s made the Downtown Seattle Association happy through forcing people (city employees) back into downtown to buy lunch a couple of days a week. We’ll ignore the toxic environment that permeates his office and the collection of intimidators he’s surrounded himself with.

And we’ll vote for a city attorney who only started being “compassionate” when she realized that after the primary she was 20 points behind. An incumbent that understands that people living in Wedgewood, Laurelhurst, north Capitol Hill and along Lake Washington Blvd have never been subject to police asking why they’re in a neighborhood so recreating the incredibly racist SOAP and SODA laws doesn’t impact them.

And we’ll vote for a City Council President that is perhaps the coldest politician that I’ve ever had to deal with. A politician that just like the orange gangster currently residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, spent most of her year as Council President seeking vengeance against those who “wronged” her. Another politician that became “compassionate” only after finding out how greatly disliked she was on a city-wide basis.

The Mayor and the Council President have one thing in common—the creation of an atmosphere so toxic, so mean that it ensures that unless you work for them directly, you’re reluctant to work in city government. 

I truly don’t know who I’m going to vote for in the mayor’s race—I have very real reservations of making a person with no elective experience the mayor of the most important city in the Pacific Northwest. I believe much of what has happened to Seattle over the last decade plus occurred because the city voted for a person who had no experience running an operation the size and scope of city government.

Voting for stability to avoid the potential of having a “Mayor Saka,” Mayor Kettle,” or ***SHUDDER*** a “Mayor Nelson” in 2030 may be the painful choice I have to make.

The other two choices are much easier. Both challengers have the range of knowledge and experience needed for their positions. More importantly, they strike me as having the proper balance you need to be a councilmember or city attorney. Neither appear to take being called “compassionate” as an insult. The two incumbents flee that word like a vampire flees a cross.

This city has always worked to find a balance between assisting those that need help and locking up those who prey on the people needing help.

Far too many people see that as being “soft,” the soft that helped create the “Seattle is dying” narrative. A narrative that has made it easy for people to look the other way when those who need a treatment bed more than a jail cell are swept off the streets.

Here’s hoping next week is the first step in trying to restore that balance.

Until Next Time….

“Brought to Heel” or “Fear Sucks Up”

“Television is much more difficult because at every moment the network can force you to change things based on their belief about what would make it popular. You’re in a constant debate with a gun at your head, and the gun is cancellation. So it’s hard to win the arguments.”
–Judd Apatow

Lots of discussion from the Red Caps on “legacy media being brought to heel”—like media outlets are similar to dogs or any other animal that can be trained to obey its master.

I would challenge their word choice—legacy media hasn’t been brought to heel—what has been brought to heel is “corporate media.”

And we should be clear that we are talking about broadcast media..print media with the possible exception of the New York Times was “brought to heel” generations ago when Gannett started purchasing community newspapers and homogenizing news content…

How long has corporate media been in place?

–NBC has been purchased in pieces over the last four decades, culminating in Comcast being the majority owner.

–CBS was sold by Westinghouse in 1995 and through a series of purchases now belongs to Skydance media (a purchase that made news because the firing of Stephen Colbert appears to have been part of the approval of the sale).

–ABC was sold in 1985 and has been owned by Disney since 1996.

So “Corporate Media” has been in place for a generation—and truthfully it shows.

The corporations that own these broadcast entities all say they are in the “entertainment business” but the reality is like any other company in the financial system they are part of, they are in the “profit business.”

Anything that impacts their profit will soon be removed, and they are willing to deal with the consequences—i.e., bad press.

They can deal with the bad press because they know the America attention span is:

.03198 picoseconds…and shrinking!!!

Two of these three corporate entities are also trying to complete sales—and need the approval of the Federal Communications Commission for the sales to be completed—so they are willing to be brought to heel—hell they’ll ask their master how high they need to jump to get this.

I mention this because true legacy media:

CBS under founder William Paley,

NBC under founder David Sarnoff,

ABC under Edward J. Noble and Leonard Goldenson,

We’ll skip over FOX simply because their entertainment division has been a subsidiary of Disney since 2019 and the FOX News division has been a wing of the Republican party since its creation…

Would be having a field day with the current national situation.

The true broadcast legacy media understood the responsibility their companies had because they were providing information when there was only two sources: print and broadcast.

The world of today was truly science fiction in the early part of the 20th Century and the three networks understood their responsibility—for both news and entertainment.

Sarnoff and Paley were businessmen and as ruthless as the people who now control their broadcast heritage, but again, they also knew their responsibility went beyond dollars and cents.

They needed to ensure people knew the truth—not “both sides”—but the truth no matter how painful it could be.

Legacy media brought us Edward R Murrow, Walter Cronkite and Huntley and Brinkley.

Legacy media brought us the firehoses and dogs of Birmingham,

Legacy media brought us the attack at the Edmund Pettis Bridge,

Legacy media showed the paradox of destroying Vietnamese villages to save them.

Legacy media also brought us Laugh-In, the Smothers Brothers, Jack Parr and yes the venerated Johnny Carson, who was known to poke fun at presidents now and then.

Corporate media has bought us Jimmy Fallon running his fingers through a gangster’s toupee.

Corporate media has also brought us entities that flinch whenever a hand is raised toward them.

Corporate media has all of the moral courage of school paste.

Which is why we’re where we are today.

Legacy media would have dared the FCC to show where their reporters or entertainers did or said something that placed a subject in danger.

Legacy media would not have capitulated to frivolous lawsuits about news interviews.

Legacy media would not be in the process of seeing how they could get out of a contract with an entertainer because that entertainer is endangering their potential sale.

Legacy media would tell the gangsters in the People’s House “we’ll see you in court and match you attorney for attorney…”

Legacy media stood for something.

“Corporate media” will fall for anything.

George Patton—of all people–said it best about the current collection of corporate cowards in charge of the airwaves:

“A coward is someone who lets fear overcome their sense of duty.”

Until next Time…

Never Giving Up—Never Backing Down

Today celebrates the fact that those in power will never give it up until they have to.

On this date in 1865—two years after the Emancipation and TWO MONTHS after the rebellion fueled by racism ended—slaveholders in Texas literally gave up what they believe was “theirs” ONLY at the point of a gun. The fact that what they were giving up Men, Women and Children was secondary—all they thought of was them losing their “property.”

Why do I suspect that somewhere at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. there is a draft proclamation/statement saying that today should be a day of mourning since it recognizes/celebrates the end of a “very good, very big” economic system that help “Make America Great” at the hand of an “oppressive government.”

Because of what I do, I try not to buy into conspiracy theories, but because of the current administration, this conspiracy gave me pause: that if it wasn’t for the deserved blowback it would receive if they had, I do believe they would rescind this holiday as part of their effort to bring this country back to the 19th century when good colored people knew their place.

To be quite honest, in this effort to deport anyone who looks brown and speaks with any type of accent, I’m surprised this administration hasn’t announced its economic plan to have famers and large growing operations invite people to own property on their land in exchange for helping grow and harvest the crops—you know—SHARECROPPING!!

Let us remember on this day that too much has happened to stop the momentum that has brought us to the present time. As much as many of my melanin-lacking friends want to go back to the days to where everyone knew that “God was a White Man,” just like a glacier we will continue to inevitably move forward—and just like a glacier, we will crush the bigotry and racism that continues to rule the day under its path.

Because today—tomorrow—and going forward–we won’t back down.

Freedom doesn’t come on a silver platter. With every great movement toward freedom there will inevitably be trials. Somebody will have to have the courage to sacrifice. You don’t get to the Promised Land without going through the Wilderness. You don’t get there without crossing over hills and mountains, but if you keep on keeping on, you can’t help but reach it. We won’t all see it, but it’s coming and it’s because God is for it. When God is for a thing it will survive. Don’t worry about some things we have to go through. Some of them are a necessary part of the great movement we are making toward freedom. There can never be growth without growing pains. There is no birth without birth pains. Like the mother suffering when she gives birth to new life, we know there is glory beyond the pain.

We won’t back down. We are going on with our movement.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
March, 1956

Until Next Time

Symbols Matter: Now more than ever

I know it’s been a while…

For those who have followed me in the past, I’ll be working on being a little more regular.

If you’ve stumbled onto this for the first time—here’s a little background—and my hope that you will continue to follow.

On a day that celebrates a game with Roman numerals—I’m reminded of something:

Symbols Matter.

If you don’t think so, remember the construction, destruction and control of symbols have been a way for some people in American society to mark their territory.

It’s why the return of the failed game show host to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave has focused not on actual legislative action, but on the elimination of symbols that celebrate the diversity of American story.

From the ham-handed attempt to eliminate the stories of the Black men who helped protect to the skies over Europe, to the removal of the name that even the residents of the state call the tallest peak in North America, to the shouts of returning the names of traitors onto military bases, there are some who are cheering the return of the supremacy of the White Man.

It’s not that we don’t recognize the secondary achievement of certain races and genders, but it was the White Man who made America what it is and we should be celebrated for all our work in making America Great and you colored folk and women should be thankful for that!!

Again—Symbols Matter.

That’s what makes this week so amazing and amusing.

It’s going to start with a BLACK MAN being the face of biggest sport in America.

And it’s going to end with an 85-year-old symbol of America going onto the big screen as a BLACK MAN.

Legacy

Super Bowl LIX is going to feature a rematch between two quarterbacks that carry the legacy of when the league they are part of made Black Quarterbacks wide receiver, running backs and defensive backs.

They carry the legacy of Condredge Holloway and Warren Moon, who had to take the Underground Railroad to Canada to play the position. 

They carry the legacy of Tony Dungy, an all Big 10 QB, who was told he was a defensive back by the coach that had already had a Black QB and didn’t want another one.

They carry the legacy of after losing the NFC title game in 1980, Doug Williams was mailed a rotten watermelon with a note using that very special word in describing why he would never be a winner.

They carry the legacy of when a few years later, the same Doug Williams was asked during the media day for the XXII edition of the game how long he had been a Black one.

They carry the legacy of the Heisman Trophy winning QB of the national champion Florida State football team that said he was not even going to join the league and honestly Charlie Ward probably made way more in his 10 years in the NBA than he would have riding the bench in the NFL.

WaPo (and former Seattle Times) columnist Jerry Brewer mentioned the first time these two QBs met that today’s game, and the two QBs playing were a glimpse of the future…and that their skills…are NOW THE NORM and not the exception.

Jalen Hurts is looking to join Doug Williams, Russell Wilson and Patrick Mahomes in a very privileged subset of a very privileged club.

And Patrick Mahomes is looking to do something that no other Super Bowl QB has ever done:

–Not Bart Starr
–Not Bob Greise
–Not Terry Bradshaw
–Not Joe Montana
–Not John Elway
–Not Troy Aikman
–Not “Flat Ball” Tom

Hmmm—wonder what those seven have in common….

Good QBs—and there have been bad QBs who have won the Super Bowl—become the face of the league. Which means it’s going to be very interesting to see how Racist Orange will react when having to congratulate a QB he would consider (off the record of course) as a “DEI QB.”

On Sunday, a Black QB will hoist the Lombardi. On Friday, the Red, White and Blue shield of Captain America is going to be hoisted by a Black Man!!

I expect those of you who don’t follow comic books—which is probably most of you who are reading this—to know that in the comic book world, there was a period when Captain America was a Black Man. If you’re interested, here’s the background.

Raising the Mighty Shield

Know you’re wondering what’s the big deal about a fictional character being Black.

Once again: Symbols Matter.

Captain America came onto the scene literally slugging Hitler…

Which is amusing because almost a century later there was a reworked image of Captain America slugging another dictator—but I digress…

The idea of Captain America being depicted as anything other than a White Man tends to raise the hackles of some of my melanin-lacking friends because— it was the White Man who made America what it is and we should be celebrated for all our work in making America Great.

The irony is just like another fictitious hero—the one faster than a speeding bullet—Captain America was created by a couple of Jewish nerds who wanted to celebrate America’s fight against fascism NOT ITS SURRENDER TO IT.

There are already those who are objecting to the movie—which won’t premier until Friday—and are using the standard words of those who object to any hero not being a White Man:

“I’m not racist, (which 99 and 44/100 percent of the time mean they are), I’m just not comfortable with this fictional hero being Black.”

“It doesn’t matter to me, but isn’t Cap a White Man?”

“I just don’t think Anthony Mackie can pull it off the way Chris Evans did” (and when asked why not, their faces flush and they say “‘cause he can’t!!”)  

And these people will of course celebrate when it doesn’t meet the financial expectations that come with the $200 million plus cost of this movie by using the word “woke.”

You know, I hate to say this but go ahead and use that special word—you want to anyway—and that way I will know if I want to continue dealing with you in any way/shape/form.

It could be a bad movie—the last few Marvel movies have been—but it’ll be likely because of a poor plot and a tired genre than the fact that it’s starring a Black Man.

Again—why are a fictional character on the big screen and a person that when they’re a certain hue are accused of playing a “kid’s game” so important?

Because Symbols Matter.

Because the young men who are watching the game who look like Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts, if they are talented enough—and lucky enough—to make it to the NFL, can realistically know they will be able to play Quarterback, and not be told to go to the receiver’s room or to meet with the coach of the defensive backs.

Because much like a young Caryn Elaine Johnson, who decided she was going to become an actor because she saw Nichelle Nichols on her TV screen and shouted to her mother “come look! There’s a Black Woman on the screen and she’s ain’t playing a maid!”  some black child is going to look up at the movie screen and believe, that if they’re talented enough—and lucky enough—to achieve stardom on the big or small screen, they can tell Anthony Mackie how he was an inspiration to them in the same way Caryn—better known as Whoopi Goldberg—was able to tell Nichell Nichols that she was an inspiration to her.  

Because in a period when there is going to be an orchestrated effort on the highest levels of government and businesses to redefine America as the place that wouldn’t exist without the White Male:

Symbols Matter.

And those who look like me need to celebrate those symbols as much as possible in as many ways as possible, because we know if we don’t, they can disappear as quickly as a signature can be affixed on an Executive Order.  

Until next time—and I promise this next one will be soon!!