And this is what I think about that...

Recently there was a republican presidential debate hosted by PBS' Tavis Smiley and held before a mostly African American audience in which the front running GOP candidates did not show up.

And this is what I think about that...

I think this is unfortunate because if African American voters are ever to have real political power there will have to be a presidential election in which African Americans give a substantial percentage of their vote to a republican candidate. The reason I believe this must happen is at this point let's face it, the democrats take the African American vote for granted. They know like everyone else that at least ninety percent of African American voters will vote democrat. So if this is the case there really is no need to take African American issues or votes seriously. If in the next election just fifteen percent of African American votes were for the republican candidate we would see a gigantic change in the political landscape. All at once the republicans and democrats would be vying for our votes and paying African America more attention than ever before. It's too bad our so-called leaders are bought and paid for by the democrats.


Last month Christian evangelist Juanita Bynum was assaulted by her husband in the parking lot of an Atlanta area hotel. Her husband Thomas Weeks is also a evangelist. Mr Weeks was subsequently arrested and charged. The incident was the talk of Black radio and the Black blogisphere for weeks afterward.

And this is what I think about that...

I think domestic violence is always a tragedy. Having said that I must ask, am I the only one who had never heard of Juanita Bynum or Thomas Weeks before their domestic problems made the news?


Academy Award winning actress Halle Berry was interviewed on the Oprah Winfrey show this past Tuesday. The pregnant Ms Berry talked about her current relationship with her boyfriend and soon to be baby daddy. She, when asked if she planned to marry said no and went on to explain marriage just wasn't for her after her past bad experiences.

And this is what I think about that...

Why do some people (Hollywood types mostly) blame marriage and not themselves for choosing badly? Marriage is only as good as the choices each participant makes. So if Halle is 0 for 2 in the marriage game maybe it's not marriage but her. And just because she hasn't married her soon to be baby daddy doesn't mean that she will fare any better this time, although I hope she does.

The President yesterday vetoed a bill that would have added health care insurance to over four million children. It was the Presidents third veto, the first, over stem cell research and the second over a budget that included a timetable for troop withdrawal from Iraq.

And this is what I think about that...

If the children to be covered were the children of the richest people in the country, the President would have signed the bill into law.

Tuesday Basketball legend and the NBA's New York Knicks head coach and general manager Isiah Thomas lost a law suit in which he was accused of sexually harassing former Knick executive Anucha Browne-Sanders. Ms. Sanders was awarded 11.6 million dollars, although Mr Thomas won't actually have to pay the award, his employer Madison Square Garden will.

And this is what I think about that...

Firstly it's been a bad year for guys named Isiah. Secondly I think sexual harassment goes on all the time. And I think that women in very high powered jobs are victimized more than we would imagine.

Consider this, if a woman who works as a receptionist is harassed it might be easier for her to make a complaint knowing that since she has an entry level job she is likely to be able to retain a comparable position elsewhere. Compare that to a woman who is a high level executive, who may look at exposing harassment on the job in a different way. She might consider that it is already very hard for a woman to attain a executive position (especially in a major sports organization) and therefore be more reluctant to blow the whistle. So while this case was very high profile because it involved a famous former basketball player, I think that there are probably a considerable number of woman execs who have experienced what Ms Sanders suffered that have chosen not to risk their hard fought careers. Which is a shame, there should be stronger workplace laws to provide a safe workplace to all women exec or receptionist.

Recently Fox (so-called) News host and radio commentator Bill O'Reilly, while on his radio show and talking with Juan Williams, expressed his shock at finding Black people to be civilized as they dined at the famed New York restaurant Sylvia's.

And this is what I think about that...

Okay the first thing is that I think Juan Williams (who is Black) is such a wimpy joke. This just goes to show that education doesn't make you smart. Juan Williams listened to these remarks and showed no dismay what-so-ever.

More importantly I think this is an important lesson for anyone who thinks the images of African Americans shown in the media don't have an impact. I know some believe that non-Blacks would be able to watch the degrading and stereotypical images of Blacks in the media and be able to differentiate those images from actual Black people. Here is a case that proves this isn't always true.

Yes I have no doubt that many non-Blacks understand that most of what they see in the media about African Americans is biased to say the least. But what about the ones who don't get it?

What about the White human resources manager who has spent the better part of his/ her life watching rap videos and the better part of his or her non working hours watching shows like The Flava Of Love, who is sitting across from the African American job candidate? Or the White cop who has just stopped an African American motorist or worse a White doctor treating an African American patient in a emergency room who holds the views O'Reilly expressed, then what someone thinks is a matter of life and death, and that's the real problem.

It's not really important what O'Reilly thinks and by the way I think his comments were just shtick. It's important to remember that O'Reilly's views mirrored the views of many if not the majority of his listeners and viewers. So while companies like Viacom have co-opted our images for profit, the result is the we African Americans have to deal with the result of others watching untold hours of the Flava Of Love and not getting that Flava Flav is a caricature invented by a bunch of television producers.