The Dirty Game of Black Politics: It Didn't Stop with Marion Barry

Is it just me or are there a lot of black political scandals? One politician’s involved in some kind of elections fraud. Another is accepting dirty money. The next is talking dirty on the phone to a staffer. Arrest here. Press conference there. And on and on. I don’t know if black politicians have more dirty laundry or if the laundry stinks more to me because they are black. (Or if, as the politicians involved seem to think, black laundry gets riffled through unfairly). In any case, it all still smells.

One recent case in Orlando is particularly fishy to me. This time it involves two black politicians at the same time, Daisy Lynum and would be challenger Ezell (E-Z) Harris. Yes, he calls himself E-Z. Anyway, Lynum has held the City Commission seat for 12 years. Earlier this year, at a Tea Party Express rally, Harris announced he would do everything he could to unseat her. He bought the rights to her name on the Web. So if you go to http://www.daisylynum.com/, you will find all sorts of mudslinging against Lynum. Harris is no dummy. He calls her “Crazy Daisy" among other things. He says she’s corrupt and he wants her gone.

When I saw this, I thought this was just another case of politics having black folk acting silly and fighting each other over scraps. There is a black seat or two in just about every district that all the black politicians have to fight for. It can get ugly. This time it really did.

But it gets uglier and stinkier. Right after Harris qualified to run against Lynum, Harris gets arrested for selling drugs. Okay, pump the brakes here please. Harris was running as a conservative who was going to clean up politics in Orlando, put a stop to corruption and enforce drug laws. Of course, Lynum was crushed, right? Not. This was right on time for her. In fact, it seems to be a little too on time for her. The Metropolitan Bureau of Investigations was investigating Harris for months. However, they waited until after he qualified to run against Lynum to arrest Harris. Of course, Lynum and her supporters say this is just a fortunate coincidence. But Lynum knew all about the drug investigation. Actually, more than that, she had reported a tip to the police that Harris was selling drugs. Harris is calling the whole thing a set up. He also owns the Orlando Police Chief’s name on the Internet. So Harris thinks Lynum, Val Demings and the entire Orlando Police Department are all involved in a big conspiracy to ruin Harris’ campaign and shut him up. He decided to pull back on campaigning so as not to tarnish the political process. Way too late.

Look, I know politicians are human beings. They get weak and make mistakes. But when one decides to seek office, that politician is seeking something higher. They are professing to represent the image, needs and will of their constituents. Often, black politicians represent mostly black constituents. Black people have many issues to deal with in our communities, drugs, violent crime, educational problems and so on. Commissioner Lynum represents (and Harris is seeking to represent) the downtown Orlando area, which includes the Parramore district. They need people to fight for them. Politicians, we need people who can fight for us. How can a politician fight for us if he or she is spending so much time and money fighting criminal investigations and scandalous allegations? Please leaders, try your best to stay above reproach at least during your campaign and term of office. We don’t want to hear about your infidelity, drug use, late night phone calls or abuse of power (using your title to get out of parking tickets and such). There is too much work to be done.

Motherless

Death has a way of making one contemplate life. Its purpose. Its brevity. Its rises and falls. Almost a week ago, my church lost its very dear first lady, Mother Doris Bell Hillery. Our community lost a lady among ladies. She was gentle and kind but never weak. She was strong and fearless but never overbearing. She served God for over 40 years by serving others. She stood by her husband, supported and aided him as he founded and led a church. Her reputation was immaculate. As I list all of these qualities, my heart is aching. We are so in need of women strong enough to stand, yet gentle enough to love. Take a look around. Our communities are filled with people in need of prayer and love. Young people are trying to fill the void with anything they think might work, illicit sex, drugs, things. God said that if we humble ourselves and seek His face, He would heal us. I lament because of the apparent scarcity of hearts left to cry out to God. Who will cry out for the children? I examine myself and seek for a strengthening and purification of my heart so that it will be useful to give the love that is so needed. What good is it otherwise? Mother Hillery left this world on November 8, 2009. She left her love with us. Really love is the only thing transferable from one life to the next. So let us cherish it, use it to serve and leave it for future generations. This is the joy and meaning of life, brief as it is.

Rihanna & Chris: A True Hollywood (and Everyhood) Young Love Story

When I saw Rihanna’s face black and blue beyond recognition, I immediately started questioning the girls I know to get their take on the whole thing. It was interesting. While most of them were horrified at performer Chris Brown’s violence toward a girl, many of the teenagers seemed to want to defend this young man. None of them came right out and said it was Rihanna’s fault. However, they gave a lot of “yeah buts” and “well maybes.” They were extremely hesitant to throw away this baby-faced pop prince. Maybe that’s because they are at the age where they can understand the complexity of the situation. Or maybe, like Rihanna has admitted to recently, the girls also felt embarrassed to have been duped by a sugary sweet image.

I felt tremendous sorrow and sympathy for Rihanna. But I also felt for this young man. I don’t want to give up on him either. For me, he represents the slew of boys who get into trouble early and get thrown away. I’m pulling for him. I don’t want to just give him a pass because he’s a pop star. I want him to sincerely fess up to what he did, learn from it and do better. I want to see him continue with his life and show our boys there is life after a really bad decision.

Rihanna’s coming out and saying she made a bad choice is great. Being a symbol of confidence and self preservation for young girls is admirable. But our boys need a symbol just as badly, if not more so. I’m praying Chris Brown will find the strength to be that symbol.

Rihanna’s interview about her relationship and domestic violence incident with Chris Brown will air tonight at 10 p.m. on ABC.

Still Seperate, Still Unequal, Now What?

The Supreme Court declared mandatory separation of whites and blacks in schools to be illegal over 50 years ago. Ever since that ruling, school districts have come up with all sorts of creative ways to do it anyway.

Orange County, Florida made a deal with the federal government to let them stop busing white kids to schools in black neighborhoods back in 1996. Now the NAACP has brought a law suit against the school district because the district has failed to hold up its end of the bargain, which was to make sure the predominantly black schools were not neglected.

The fact that school boards and white parents buck against and manipulate the system could be one reason why the whole integration experiment just doesn’t seem to be working. We’ve been fighting for over 50 years for true integration. We’ve done everything we can think of to prove how separation by race is harmful. Still, government reports and findings from agencies like the Center on Education Policy consistently show blacks lagging behind whites on every educational indicator.

Black students are absolutely capable of achieving. So what is really going on here? We need to have a frank discussion about what is keeping our kids from doing well in school. Sure, students at predominantly white schools get the more experienced teachers and more up-to-date equipment. But the question that presses on my heart is why can’t black students learn just as well in black schools. I am certainly not advocating for segregation by any means. I believe that exposure to different cultures is education in itself. But sometimes, as we can see, that just isn’t happening. Sometimes black kids will go to predominantly black schools. So I think we need to deal with the question of why does black school equal bad education. We need to candidly admit that good education begins at home. One of the problems (and I’m coming to see it as the main problem) is that our kids come to school with some disadvantages that the school itself did not create. But we expect the school to fix it. When people start talking like this, they get accused of blaming the victim. People jumped all over Bill Cosby for the following comments at the NAACP Brown vs. Board of Education anniversary dinner:

“Ladies and gentlemen, these people set… they opened the doors, they gave us the right, and today, ladies and gentlemen, in our cities and public schools we have 50% drop out. In our own neighborhood, we have men in prison. No longer is a person embarrassed because they’re pregnant without a husband. No longer is a boy considered an embarrassment if he tries to run away from being the father of the unmarried child.”

People accused Cosby of hating black people, of blaming the victim. Well I think he said those things because he loves black people. He’s just trying to figure out what is going on. No, we don’t need to blame the victim. We need to concentrate our resources on helping the victim help himself. We put all of our research, funding, and advocacy into trying to get the teachers, the principals, and the government to lift us up. Sure we pay taxes and we should fight for better schools. But some of our energy could go into closing the achievement gap in the home. After all, the problem starts before the student walks in the doors of the school. How can you solve such a major problem just depending on children who ultimately have to depend on their parents? We’re skipping the parents. That’s backward.

We put all of our money and resources into convincing school districts, principals and teachers to accept our kids and believe in them. Meanwhile, the cycle of low achievement continues. Our community can instead come together and work toward convincing, supporting and teaching our parents so that parents will know how to do what it takes to make sure their children are ready to learn.

A Black Face at the Tea Party

Dave Chapelle used to do a sketch about Clayton Bigsby, a black white supremacist member of the KKK. This guy would go on and on about how niggers are lazy, good-for-nothin’ swindlers. He became a leader of the white supremacist movement and would hype the crowd at Klan rallies, ending every speech with “White Power.” Bigsby didn’t know he was black because he was blind. The white people attending the rally didn’t know Bigsby was black because he had on a hood. Chapelle used to joke that he figured that sketch would eventually get the show cancelled. He was always willing to push the envelope and take risks with his humor. I thought the sketch was genius in how it showed the ridiculousness of racism and hating someone because of the color of their skin.

Now I’m questioning my own prejudice. I recently read about a black conservative musician named Lloyd Marcus. He gets the crowd pumped at the rallies on the Tea Party Express Tour, a conservative movement that wants to “take the country back.” From who, I wonder. During the 2008 campaign, Marcus sang his own version of “Sarah Smile” to cheer up Sarah Palin. Marcus wrote the “American Tea Party Anthem.” The lyrics call the President’s agenda a socialistic scheme that seeks to redistribute wealth to lazy folk and kill the American dream. Sound familiar? The video for the song mocks the President.

Some of the protesters at the rallies say things like, “They can have my country when they pry it from my cold dead hands.” Protesters also expressed fears that all of President Obama’s “czars” are either communist or socialist. They are afraid the President is going after kids and conducting an experiment with population control. They also held up signs showing the President as an African witch doctor. Some advertised about militia training, saying civil war is an option if necessary. Wow!

Is it fair for me to be sickened by the fact that Marcus, an African American man has become the poster child for this movement? Because I am. Marcus and his supporters say he is being unfairly judged by many African Americans because his views don’t line up with Democratic principles. The vast majority of African American voters are registered as Democrats. I’m not sickened because he disagrees with the Democratic Party’s beliefs. I don’t agree with all the Democratic Party’s beliefs. I’m not a Democrat. I’m sickened because Marcus calls himself a “ditto head” and is blindly lining up behind the rhetoric of extremists. I am sickened because Lloyd Marcus reminds me too much of Clayton Bigsby. I am sickened because I think Lloyd Marcus is being used. Maybe not all of the people at those rallies are filled with hate. Maybe some of them just want what’s best for the country. I only fear what some of them think “best” is and whether Mr. Marcus or I are included in that picture. The Tea Party Express Tour wraps up in Orlando on Nov. 11. Maybe I’ll grab a hood and go check it out.

The Vince Carter Story: A Modern Day Fairy Tale Come True

Let me start by admitting I know extremely little about sports. However, I was compelled by the story of Vince Carter who plays his first home game tonight as a member of the Orlando Magic.

Because so many African American boys aspire to be sports stars, Carter's story is especially remarkable. It is the story of a boy who watched his hometown heroes play, dreamed of one day playing with them, pursued his dream, and is now experiencing his dream. Carter grew up right in Central Florida. He played for Mainland High School in Daytona Beach. He went to Magic games and admired players like Nick Anderson.

Now little boys will be going to watch Carter play. But they won't be just watching a great basketball player. They will be watching a genuinely good guy. Carter's character off the court is just as worthy of emulation as his skills on the court. He's a down-to-earth guy who doesn't get caught up in the glamour and glitz of stardom. He also believes in giving back. He has held camps for youth in Daytona for years. He donated $1.6 million to help build a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center with his mother Michelle Carter-Scott.

Speaking of his mother, when Carter was growing up, she didn't play. She made sure he had his priorities straight. He had to attend church and keep his grades up. Then he could play sports. If his grades slipped, he didn't get to play. She also made sure he was well-rounded, not just depending on basketball. He was drum major in his high school marching band and even wrote music.

The Magic's season opener is against the Philadelphia 76ers and will be broadcast on Sun Sports at 7 p.m. So Orlando, Vince Carter has come home. He's glad about it. So are we.

My Hair is Good Enough Thank You

I checked out the Chris Rock movie Good Hair this weekend. I found it to be funny and thought-provoking. However, the highlight of my experience did not take place on screen. Sitting a few rows in front of me was a white gentlemen and two ladies. There is a scene in the documentary where Rock is talking with a chemist about the danger of using relaxers (sodium hydroxide). He showed how the chemical melts aluminum and said even inhaling this substance (let alone putting it on your skin) can damage a person for life. The white guy turned to the black lady sitting next to him and said, "So why would you put that on your head?" I thought to myself, "I was just thinking the same thing." Anyway, here are a few things I learned:

1. Black Hair Care is a multi-billion dollar industry; but black people don't make the money or control it. Black people only get into styling. We are shut out where the real money is made, in manufacturing and retailing. For the most part, Koreans manufacture the products and only sell to Korean retailers.

2. Dudley is one of only 4 black-owned hair care manufacturing companies.

3. Weave comes from Hindu temples in India where Indian women sacrifice their hair. I had no idea!

4. People pay as much as $1000 or even more for weaves. What!?! Not just people like Tyra Banks and Vivica Fox. People like the the teller at the bank. Seriously, girls will miss a rent payment to pay for some Indian girl's hair.

Rock did an excellent job of answering the what. Now we've got to figure out the why.

By the way, make sure you catch the Ice-T line at the end. Too funny.