Michael Jackson: Revolutionary

Dear community,

I told you I wouldn’t take too long writing another blog entry! (If you placed big money on whether or not I’d keep my promise…YOU LOSE! So THERE!)

As I noted in my last blog entry, I’m going to comment on the death of legendary singer, entertainer and philanthropist Michael Joseph Jackson.

However, my comments are going to be brief because I would just sound like a broken record, repeating the tons of accolades, tributes, remembrances and stories about an entertainment icon who will (if he already hasn’t) overshadow another music icon in sheer impact of his work and persona after death—Elvis Presley.

Yup, Ol’ “Elvi” will have to move over, there’s a new “super icon” in town…uh Heaven…(sorry!) and that’s Jackson.

If you thought Elvis’ home Graceland is a Mecca for the millions of his fans to come and pay homage to the “King of Rock n’ Roll,” don’t be surprised if Jackson’s former home, “Neverland” becomes the mother of all destinations to “worship” (for lack of a better term) all things Michael Jackson.

This will become especially true if Jackson is buried on the property of his former home, which was also “ground zero” for the controversy that surrounded him for so many years—especially as it related to children.

But I won’t go there. Trust me, a lot of the mainstream (i.e. White) media—in reviewing Jackson’s life after his sudden death at age 50—have already gone there and beyond on his cosmetic surgeries, carrying opened umbrellas on sunny days, wearing face masks, his seemingly odd relationships with women, the way he dressed, his children by surrogate mothers, the new allegations of prescription drug abuse and—oh yes—the child molestation charges leveled against Jackson, one of which landed in him court several years ago. Fortunately he was found INNOCENT on all charges.

Like his fans and all Black people, I’d rather remember his music, his style of dancing that, in many respects, was revolutionary and fostered comparisons to Hollywood dancers Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly.

Come to think of it, perhaps Jackson himself was a revolutionary—in entertainment, race relations, business and culture. No…he WAS a revolutionary now that I think about it as I write this blog.

If you push away the prurient, “sickophantic” curtain of negative garbage being heaped upon his legacy, Jackson was a revolutionary in every sense of the word.

He broke new ground in everything he touched. With the help of his brothers as a member of the Jackson Five, (I believe) they pushed the already well-known Motown Records to even greater heights of visibility, respect…and profitability.

Prior to Jackson, the then music video giant MTV refused to play the videos of Black musicians and singers.

Then came Jackson and the video for one of his signature hits “Billie Jean” that unveiled some of his groundbreaking dance moves. The video is arguably the most played in MTV’s history and opened doors for other Black artists.

Jackson’s subsequent videos became much-anticipated events and were crafted to look like mini-movies with a story line and energetic and unique choreography.

The album that spawned “Billie Jean,” “Thriller” is still the biggest selling album of all time!

He fought his record company, Sony, for the rights to his music and won. Even better, Jackson owned the rights to the music library of arguably the greatest Rock n’ Roll band of all time, The Beatles.

As the old saying goes, if they’re not talkin’ aboutcha, then you’re not doin’ nothin’.

It’s plain to see that Jackson was doing something with his fame, talent and celebrity. How else can you explain the outpouring of love, grief and tributes that have come forth since June 24?

The attacks on Jackson in later years is proof to his impact on music and society and—more importantly—culture. He was a bridge builder whose musical message of love and brotherhood reached individuals of all colors, nationalities, gender, languages, religions, and political ideology.

I could go on and on about Jackson. But as I noted earlier, everything has been said before, even though I probably repeated a few of the accolades.

Regardless, Jackson deserves them. His legacy is set for eternity. He will be missed, remembered and never forgotten

Rest in peace Michael.

Sincerely,

A brotha who knows you are in a better place!

New Venting entry for Blog—

Dear Community,

First, let me extend my sincerest apologies for taking so long between blog entries. I could blame my lapse on my job as editor of the Community Journal, but that wouldn’t be fair. I’ll just blame it on the fact that I’m in love and getting ready to marry the perfect woman (for me) this coming (oops almost here!) July.

Recently, I got an email from a person who read some of my past blog entries, saying she enjoyed them immensely (I added the “immensely” part).

Here’s what Jessica Washington (my admirer—NOT my fiancee’) said about my blogged ventings:

“I just wanted to let you know that I was browsing the site and I came across
your blog and I wanted to let you know I really appreciated and enjoyed your
pieces. It was a pleasure to read and I am also a blogger so I wanted to
make sure I reached out and let you know I thought it was great!”

Thanks Jessica. I’m sorry (again) for not responding sooner to your email. I just want you to know your comments were greatly appreciated. It’s nice to know that someone else other than my family and fiancée read my ramblings.

(Chances are Jessica is no longer checking out my blog because “I’VE TAKEN TOO BLASTED LONG WITH ANY NEW ENTRIES!!!!”)

Sorry about that. I was just imagining (in written form, of course) what “former” Venting blog readers must have said when they’ve checked (in vain) for new entries (I’ve got to see a doctor about this procrastination of mine…maybe…next wee-, no I’ll be procrastinating about something else by then…maybe?)

But I digress…again.

I thought I would celebrate the end of my…ahem!...”sabbatical” (yeah… that’s what it was…a sabbatical) with a vent aimed directly at the Chris Brown and Rihanna brew-ha-ha that just wrapped up in “La-La Land” (that’s slang for Los Angeles for you folks in Racine).

(This news is obviously of little importance now given the recent death of the “King of Pop,” Michael Jackson. But as I wrote this blog entry and was preparing to post it, news of Jackson’s death broke. I’ve still—obviously—posted this blog and plan to have a blog entry on Jackson VERY soon…I promise…no REALLY, I will!!!)

As you may recall, several months ago Brown, a popular hip-hop inspired singer, was charged with beating his girlfriend at the time, Rihanna, another hip-hop inspired singer…and fashionista plate.

And boy did Brown kick the you-know-what outta sista girl. The evidence of the beat-down was all over the Internet courtesy of that bastion of high-quality and responsible electronic journalism, YouTube.

Well, ol’ boy got off light…and I do mean “LIGHT!”

A week ago, Brown copped a plea deal in the assault case, according to short blurb on Blacknews.com (via Bossip—whatever that is), which described the disgraced singer as a “punk d-bag” (I can think of stronger words, but “blog laws” (if they exist) prohibit me from using them).

For his savage beat-down of his former girlfriend, Brown will get 180 days of probation…in Virginia! (Uh, excuse me, but the crime took place in LOS ANGELES FOR CRYIN’ OUT LOUD!!!)

Oh, in addition to the “probation,” Brown will be doing light work only, nothing heavy-duty. That’s pretty good for a felony assault charge, for which he will get only FIVE YEARS PROBATION! He will also have supervised probation. Brown will also enroll in a domestic violence program.

Let’s get real here. If it were I or any other regular Joe Blow off the street who did this to a woman, we would be put up UNDER the penitentiary until the Second Coming of the All Mighty!

To say that Brown got off light would be the mother of all understatements. It just goes to show what happens when you have money, fame and good looks…and no previous “excess baggage” to drag you down.

Call it “O.J. Light.”

(Another interesting point I observed. On the Blacknews.com site, there’s a picture of Brown with an expression on his face that—to me—looked like a cross between contriteness and “I told ya’ll I’d get off for beatin’ the b-----!”)

I could be wrong…but, I doubt it!

(A second interesting point: Restraining orders were also issued against Brown AND Rihanna! Wait a minute…why does the victim have a restraining order on her? Is it because the judge believed Rihanna is still “in luuuuuve” with Brown and can’t live without him and issued the order for her own good?)

That ain’t love. That’s crazy!

It should go without saying that the plea deal does not bode well for women and girls who are currently in abusive relationships with a husband or boyfriend, let alone the organizations that work with women trying to get them out of, or protect them from, such destructive situations.

Coupled with the warped attitudes of some folks (men AND women) in the Black community who think Rihanna deserved the beat-down for alleged remarks she might have made to Brown (and supposedly hitting him first) during a reported argument that preceded the beating, abusers will feel a sense of empowerment by the Brown verdict and continue their abuse, thinking they can come up with some psycho-babble (like Brown probably did) about being abused as a child (which he and his mother was by his stepfather). While this situation is understandable and—unfortunately—all too common, it’s still no excuse to become an abuser.

I don’t know! A co-worker here in the office, thinks there’s more to the whole Brown-Rihanna affair than I or anyone else outside the loopy-loop really know about.

(What the staffer told me about the whole abuse thing I don’t have enough room to include in this blog entry. Perhaps the next blog in November (only kidding!).

Well, I got to wrap this puppy up. I’m probably well over the allowed word limit according to blog law.

So I’ll “blog” with ya later (hopefully not TOO later. Again, sorry!)

Respectfully yours,
A brotha, who hopes Mr. Brown gets the help he needs (Rihanna too!)

P.S.: Jackson will be coming soon…I PROMISE!!!!

From Steele to "Silly Putty"

To: Michael Steele
National Chairman of the Republican Party (also known as the GOP: “Good Ole’ boys Party”)

Dear Mike,

My brotha, you can forget about Black people joining the Republican Party or coming over to the (no pun intended) “dark-side” of extreme right conservatism. It ain’t (sorry mom) gonna’ happen. Uh-uh. No way, no how. Not in this life or the next.

You can just bury that “dream” and say last rites! I think you know what I’m talking about. That’s right—it was that “punk” move you made apologizing to hard right conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, who put the “smack down” on your bee-hind for (in his formerly drug addled mind) acting like an uppity “N.”

All you had to do my brotha—during your appearance on the (reportedly now defunct) CNN show hosted by comedian D.L. Hughley—was stand your ground, fire back at “ol’ chubs” and let him know that you’re the boss of the GOP and that he’s NOT.

You should have told Hughley what you said earlier: That Limbaugh is nothing more than an “entertainer” who appeals to the racist and intolerant gun toting, Bible huggin’ Looney Toons, and the corporate/Wall Street Dick Chaney types who have all the money and the power. They’d like nothing better than to turn the clock back to “Leave It To Beaver” time.

You should have told “Ole’ Rushbo” to stick to his shtick on the radio and leave the rebuilding of the tattered, bloodied and bruised “Party of Lincoln” to you!

You should have told Hughley and “retold” Rush that you’re the best hope to revive the party and make it more in tune and relevant to the vast majority of Americans who are either Liberal or a moderate conservative with an open mind.

But nooooooo, you had to buckle under the pressure of your “fellow Republicans” and issue that embarrassing apology for (rightfully in my opinion) calling out the “Maharushie” and telling him to “SHUT-UP! I’m the HNIC of this party!!!”

Hear that door slamming shut on your bee-hind Mikey? (Man your posterior is getting worn out!) That’s the “Hip-Hop” generation and other Black folks you said you’d go after and claim for the GOP.

They’ve slammed the door on you and any overtures you might have made to join you and the rather small number of “right-leaning” Black folks in the “Pachyderm party.”

You’ve obviously been living in the same world as a “brotha” here in Milwaukee (who recently did his “buck and wing” act on radio before a predominately white audience) for too long.

Because of that, you probably aren’t aware of the fact that your punk move has lost you what few “brownie points” (again, no pun intended) with SOME Black folks who were willing to listen to what you had to offer (even though they see you and your new position as nothing more than tokenism).

You may not want to hear this—let alone believe this—but Black folks in America see your “chairmanship” as nothing more than a tool for the Republicans to use when they want to criticize President Barack Obama and his policies without being called racists.

If there’s one thing we as Black folks can’t stand is someone who allows himself (whether he/she wants to admit it our not) to be punked in public or used as a political tool by the very people who don’t have our best interests at heart; especially if those very people are White and look, think and talk like Rush Limbaugh!

Oh nooo, brotha! That’s just not gonna’ fly!

I don’t blame that sista who’s on the Republican National Committee, Dr. Ada Fisher, for calling for your head. She obviously doesn’t want a punk heading her party either. She called the whole thing between you and Rush a “Republican horror show.”

Fisher, in an email to other committee members, went as far as to predict that the flap between you and that “lovable little fuzz ball” will dry up any money the party hopes to attract!

And if there’s one thing Republicans don’t like is to have their money messed with!

Yeah, yeah, I know Mike. Fisher isn’t exactly a fan of yours. That’s because she supported Katon Dawson, the chair of South Carolina GOP, one of your opponents for the national party’s leadership position.

But it seems you’re about to be introduced to a whole new horror show. You’re reportedly being investigated by the feds for campaign finance fraud during your 2006 senatorial campaign. And that’s on top of questions about the propriety of campaign payments to your sister’s now defunct investment company.

It’s hard for me to decide if you have more to fear from Rush and his “Ditto-heads” or the feds.

Well, whatever happens, don’t expect any Black folks to come to your rescue! Not goin’ to happen my brotha.

Now, maybe if you go on Rev. Al Sharpton’s national radio show and do a mia culpa and declare yourself “saved” and needing political asylum, you might get some help. You could hide out in the Radio One studios and Rev. Al can bring you rations from the Red Cross and get you some legal help through Amnesty International.

Sincerely,

A brotha (and recovering Black conservative and former Ditto-head) who has only this to say to you: “You made your (GOP/conservative) bed; now lie in it!

P.S.: And hope that “your Party” and “He who occupies the ‘Attila The Hun’ chair” (that’s Rush –as if you didn’t know) don’t try to suffocate you with a pillow!

One chicken coming home to roost

In an editorial I wrote in the December 3 edition of the Community Journal, I said racism had not died and gone to heaven (or should that be hell?) with the election and eventual swearing in of President Barack Obama.

In the editorial, I said: “Racism has not been ‘defanged.’ If anything, expect racism’s ‘fangs’ to grow bigger and its bite more vicious during the next four years.

“Black America’s fight for equality is far, far from over. To believe racism is no more after one election is to inspire racists and the racially naïve in this country to continue ignoring our pleas for justice, economic equality and respect.”

Well, at least one prophetic chicken has come home to roost!

If you haven’t heard about it, seen it on television or on the internet by now, or listened to “Keepin’ It Real with Rev. Al Sharpton” (where I first heard about it), the New York Post newspaper provided “Exhibit ‘A’” of what I was talking about in my December editorial by publishing a very offensive editorial cartoon in that paper’s Wednesday Feb. 18 Op/Ed section.

The cartoon was an obvious take-off on an incident that occurred Monday, Feb. 17 in Stamford, Conn. A woman in that city was attacked by her friend’s 200-pound “pet” chimpanzee. The woman was critically injured. Two Stamford police officers responded to the chimpanzee owner’s 911 call and fatally shot the monkey.

The Post cartoon depicts two police officers—one of them still holding aloft his smoking gun—having just shot a chimpanzee (supposedly representing the one that savagely attacked the Connecticut woman), it’s body laying in a pool of blood with two visible bullet holes in it.

The other cop in the cartoon, who’s standing behind the one with the drawn gun, says: “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.”

It doesn’t take a Black rocket scientist to put two-plus-two together as to whom the cop was referring to when he talked about the stimulus bill: President Obama.

The stimulus bill is the first legislative victory for President Obama’s young presidency. He fought long and hard to make that bill a reality.

As a result, he has been vilified and attacked by the Conservative Right in Congress, so-called economic experts (who obviously dropped the ball because they didn’t see the economic meltdown coming—they probably went to Princeton or Yale), and in the media, especially the hard Right Conservative talking heads such as Shaun (“the Pawn”) Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, as well as local talkers such as Charlie Sykes and Mark Belling.

The Post now finds itself neck-deep in some “stuff.” The newspaper threw Black America a lame “apology” and blasted Rev. Sharpton, calling him a publicity seeker for calling out the newspaper and informing the community about the newspaper’s insult of the president.

As expected, the “apology” was rejected by Rev. Sharpton and the community. Demonstrations were held Thursday and Friday in front of the Post’s offices by Rev. Sharpton and other activists and New Yorkers tired of the newspaper’s often dispicable coverage of Black New Yorkers.

More than 75,000 emails were sent to the Post’s publisher through ColorOfChange.org, reportedly the largest African American online political organization in the country.

Let’s just say it plain: The New York Post’s chimp cartoon is blatantly racist and disrespectful to President Obama, his presidency and all African Americans.

Unfortunately, there are White individuals in this country who don't see the correlation between the Monkey and President Obama.

Their white supremacist mind-set and sense of privilege blinds them to the obvious insult perpetrated by the Post cartoonist and editors, who obviously didn’t know (or didn’t care) that among the many racist names Black Americans have been referred to, “monkey” is a close third on the list of “popular” White insults behind the “N”-word and “coon.”

The Post also failed to “realize” the cartoon subconsciously gives “permission” to any racist, neo-Nazi and KKK whack job in this nation to point a real gun at Obama and his family.

The line has to be drawn somewhere as to the insults towards our community and our president. And that “somewhere” is the New York Post and its cartoon, which proves what I said earlier, racism in America, in the era of President Obama, is alive, well and frighteningly real!

What I remember most about granddaddy

Dear community,

Sorry that it has taken so long for me to make another blog entry. Things have been pretty busy here at “Casa MCJ” getting out newspapers, the holidays and preparing for a special supplement in recognition of the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama. Be on the lookout for it. It’s going to be a collector’s item.

Speaking of the holidays, two weeks before Christmas my grandfather, Leon Ervin, passed away. He was 94 years of age. He was living here in Milwaukee being cared for by his daughters (my mom and her sister—my Aunt) and other family members.

My grandmamma, Mary Ervin (granddaddy’s wife), passed away some 20 years earlier.

A memorial booklet honoring him was put together by his daughters. Included in the booklet—which looked back at granddaddy’s life—were recollections by us, his grandchildren (my sister, brother and cousin—whose like a second sister to me).

This is what I wrote in recalling granddaddy growing up:

“Three things stand out the most when rummaging through my memories of my grandfather, Leon Ervin: A gray and white, two-door vintage 50s Chevy, beauty supply products and saws.

“Those may seem strange memories. But to me they’re the strongest, most enduring memories of him growing up and visiting him and grandmamma, Mary Ervin in “tiny” Pine Bluff Arkansas. (Would you believe they fought a Civil War battle over that southern burg? It’s true. There’s a historic marker denoting the unlikely event. I even remarked to mom when I saw the marker: ‘You mean they actually fought over this place?’)

“But I digress.

“Whenever I and the family would visit in the summer years ago when I was a kid, granddaddy, in his slow drawl, would ask me if I wanted to go with him as he made his ‘rounds’ delivering beauty supplies.

“Yup, my granddad, a short yet solidly built veteran of the Pacific during World War II (and one-time carpenter) sold Watkins Beauty products from his two-door Chevy.

“Sometimes before making the rounds, he’d check the oil and other things under the hood of that old car. When he was satisfied everything was A-Okay, we’d hop in (actually, I’d hop in. Granddaddy had to be a little more deliberate with his moves, due to his disability).

“He’d start up the car, put it in gear and we’d back out of the drive way, turn left and drive down Maple Street to ‘our’ first customer.

“The third memory, the saws, reveals granddaddy’s other occupation. He had to be (at least I thought this at the time) the only ‘saw sharpener’ (for lack of a better job description) in Pine Bluff, if not the entire state of Arkansas.

“His ‘workshop’ was the front yard. His ‘tools’ were a contraption he had attached to the white picket fence and an assortment of files.

“He’d attach one of those saws to that contraption and, with a great deal of concentration and skill, sharpen each saw tooth.

“These three memories signify—to me—what was important to granddaddy: Hard work, honesty and an uncompromising determination to do things right and in a Godly fashion. He also had an entrepreneurs’ spirit. He didn’t allow his disability to deter him from anything he set his mind to.

“Those are my memories of my grandfather, a tough, God-fearing, no-nonsense, veteran by the name of Leon Ervin, my granddaddy.”

Until next time community!

Sincerely,

Leon Ervin’s “first-born” grandson!