Trenton

Russell Simmons

It was two weeks ago that I heard the most sickening story to date. Human beings often let me down and seldom surprise me with the depths of their depravity... but this story managed to both let me down and actually shock me. From what I could piece together, a 15 year old girl in Trenton, NJ was headed to a party and her 7 year old sister was worried about her safety and decided to tag along.

At the party, a number of guys, ages 12-19 years old offered the 15 year old money, if she would allow them to feel her up. She agreed and as a bonus, sold them her 7 year old sister. The result, both the 15 year old and the 7 year old girls wound up getting raped... gang raped!

The 15 year old, I might understand getting raped and I say "MIGHT", but the 7 year old is just beyond my comprehension. The 15 year old and these knuckleheads who took part in this were arrested (as they should have been) and charged with a litany of crimes (prostitution, soliticing prostitution, sexual assault, corrupting the morals of a minor, etc.).

So what now? Well, in the wake of the alleged gang rape of a 7 year old girl, community leaders and activists have called to action the men of Trenton, New Jersey. Dozens of men joined Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer and hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons in an impromptu march this past Saturday through the neighborhood where police say the 7 year old girl and her 15 year old sister was gang raped. The march followed an afternoon rally organized to spur discussion about violence committed against and by young people in urban communities.

Near the end of the rally, the founder of an organization that uses men to help keep youth out of trouble recruited men to march. Dennis Muhammad also challenged the men to create a community policing program similar to the Peace Keepers organization he founded. The group has chapters in New York City, Jersey City, and Wilmington, DE.

Russell Simmons said Peace Keepers have had some success in his hometown of Queens, NY. "We sit back sometimes and allow just a few bad eggs in our community to scare us off our own corners," Simmons told a standing-room only crowd at a church auditorium before the march. "I stood on the corner. I sold drugs. But I went back and saw what it felt like when we launched our Queens Peace Keepers movement."

The crowd also was stirred by speeches from local dignitaries and hip-hop gospel songs sang by a choir. Mayor Palmer, who initially said he did not plan to attend the rally, arrived shortly after the event began. "I think it's a good beginning," Palmer said as he, Simmons, and dozens of Trenton men marched through the neighborhood, exciting residents watching from their porches. "The proof will be if we can get more men together in this and other sustaining activities."

The proof will be if something like this never happens ever again. These marches are held, attracting and well-known, well-meaning people like Rev. Al Sharpton and Russell Simmons, and the media will give this story as much life as they feel it garners and then they will be gone. And, the mentalities that fostered this event will still be sifting around the streets... The mindsets that told these boys that it was okay to do this and the low self-esteem that told this 15 year old girl that it was cool to sell herself and her sister, not to mention the mental trauma that this little 7 year old girl is facing will still sadly be lingering on the streets like a bad taste in your mouth.

In addition, there will still be the fact that the newly elected Republican Governor of the state of New Jersey eliminated the $43 million dollars the state gives to Trenton each year as municipal aid and payment in lieu of property taxes since Trenton is the Capital City. Largely because of these cuts, property taxes could be raised to a level that makes it hard for people to maintain ownership of their houses, or that Trenton runs the risk of not being able to have after-school programs for the children? These issues are all pertinent to what happened to that 7 year old girl. You think not?

Unless we deal with these very real day-to-day issues that effect life in Trenton and other places like it, that march and the appearences by Russell Simmons, Al Sharpton, and others isn't worth a thing. The sickening mind set and conditions that nourish it will remain and another girl will become the victim at another time. That's what makes this story even more sickening.

The New Face Of Exclusion

My great-grandfather probably couldn't vote because he was a slave. My grandfather couldn't vote in the state of his birth, Georgia... because in his youth, it was actually against the law. When my father and mother were young people, they couldn't vote in some places because the Ku Klux Klan would and could make you disappear if you pressed the issue and the White Citizens Councils had poll taxes and all kinds of other foolishness to stop them from voting. The young black man of today can't vote because he's on "papers" (parole or probation) and therefore, has lost his right to vote. The more things change, the more things stay the same.

I didn't notice it at first but in November of 2008, when so many of us was excited about voting for the first African-American president in history, there were a few guys hanging around that couldn't vote. I was talking to a number of cats about registering and they were telling me that they couldn't vote because they were on parole or probation. They really wanted to vote but their present legal situation made that impossible. A number of black males in my neighborhood are on parole or probation and thus, can't vote and are also job challenged. Of course, I know that this is basically their own fault that they've been in prison, but it would seem to me that after a person has served their time, they should be allowed to vote. Why is this right taken from them, but the right to drive, drink, own property, and other rights are not?

No politician I've posed this question to has ever answered it to my liking or with anything that resembled any sense or logic. I understand that this law effects all races across the board, but it hurts the African-American and Latino population more so because we are, after all, minorities and need every available and willing vote possible. This just seems like a lame law to me. There has been attempts to repeal this in some states, but no real progress has been made. I understand that when you commit a crime, you must "pay a debt" to society, to some thinking. I am assuming that when the prisons release you, that debt is payed. So, shouldn't all rights and priveledges of citizenship be restored also? I'm just asking.

I wrote some years ago, when I was in my twenties, that all young black men should resist with everything in their power, the "man" when he starts that jail talk. I said that "jail was no place for a young brother to be." I was very radical in my thinking then, but I was not all wrong. Jail is no place for anybody to be, regardless of race. Now, I just feel like the criminal justice system is being used to deny some people the right to vote and to be full citizens. Today, it is perfectly legal to discriminate against criminals in nearly all the ways that it was once legal to discriminate against African Americans.

Once you’re labeled a felon, the old forms of discrimination--employment discrimination, housing discrimination, denial of the right to vote, denial of educational opportunity, denial of food stamps and other public benefits, and exclusion from jury service--are suddenly legal. As a criminal, you have scarcely more rights, and arguably less respect, than a black man living in Alabama at the height of Jim Crow. We have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.

Random Thoughts

1. When did men wearing jeans that sag so much their boxers showed for the whole world, become sexy?

2. Why does a team with a losing record keep their quarterback, while another that consistantly wins and goes to the playoffs trades theirs to a division rival (I'll say no names)?

3. People use the weather as an excuse not to vote, not to go to church, etc. but we will go to work in any kind of weather. We have to be told by our employer that they are closed because of the weather, for us not to go.

4. As much as I post on Facebook, you would think that writing "Random Thoughts" and "What I've Learned" would come easy to me. It turns out that these posts take just as much thought as any other post that I write.

5. When people write "I'm in a relationship, but it's complicated" what do they really mean? ("I'm just barely holding on."... "It's damn near over."... and "I'm not really into nothin'." comes to mind when I read that.)

6. Some people have no clue as to how difficult they are as human beings, then they sit and wonder why they have no friends.

7. Now that the "tea baggers" have failed to break this president and rain on his parade. Can they just go away quietly?

8. No child should be conceived unless both parents are ready to love and protect them. Of course, this is just obviousness that gets tossed on the back burner more times than not.

9. It's amazing that when we start to rise and progress, we get more hate from people who look like us (and therefore, should understand) than we do others who don't necessarily share our sameness.

10. It's great that the people who created "The Wire" have given us another HBO series, "Treme". Hopefully, I'll have a new reason to watch TV on Sunday nights again!

TO: My Daughter & Son-In-Law...

Love Always, Dad

Weekend Humor

Arden Grass Snakes, also known as Garter Snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis), can be dangerous. Yes, grass snakes... not rattlesnakes. And, here's why...

A couple in Baltimore, MD had a lot of potted plants. During a recent cold spell, the wife was bringing some of them indoors to protect them from a possible freeze. It turned out that a little green garden grass snake was hidden in one of the plants and when it warmed up, it slithered out and the wife saw it go under the sofa. She let out a very loud scream! The husband (who was taking a shower) ran out into the living room naked to see what the problem was.

She told him there was a snake under the sofa. He got down on the floor on his hands and knees to look for it. About that time the family dog came and cold-nosed him on the behind. He thought the snake had bitten him, so he screamed and fell over on the floor. His wife thought he had a heart attack, so she covered him up, told him to lie still and called an ambulance. The attendant rushed in, wouldn't listen to his protests, and loaded him on the stretcher and started carrying him out.

About that time the snake came out from under the sofa, the EMT saw it, and dropped his end of the stretcher. That's when the man broke his leg and why he is still in the hospital. The wife still had the problem of the snake in the house, so she called on a neighbor. He volunteered to capture the snake. He armed himself with a rolled-up newspaper and began poking under the couch.

Soon he decided it was gone and told the woman, who sat down on the sofa in relief. But while relaxing, her hand dangled in between the cushions, where she felt the snake wriggling around. She screamed and fainted, the snake rushed back under the sofa. The neighbor man, seeing her lying there passed out, tried to use CPR to revive her.

The neighbor's wife, who had just returned from shopping at the grocery store, saw her husband's mouth on the woman's mouth and slammed her husband in the back of the head with a bag of canned goods, knocking him out, and cutting his scalp to a point where he needed stitches. The noise woke the woman from her dead faint and she saw her neighbor lying on the floor with his wife bending over him, so she assumed that he had been bitten by the snake.

She went to the kitchen and got a small bottle of whiskey, and began pouring it down the man's throat. By now, the police had arrived. They saw the unconscious man, smelled the whiskey, and assumed that a drunken fight had occurred. They were about to arrest them all, when the women tried to explain how it all happened over a little green snake. The police called an ambulance, which took away the neighbor and his sobbing wife.

The little snake came out from under the sofa again. One of the policemen drew his gun and fired at it. He missed the snake and hit the leg of the end table. The table fell over, the lamp on it shattered, and as the bulb broke, it started a fire in the drapes. The other policeman tried to beat out the flames and fell through the window into the yard on top of the family dog who, startled, jumped out and raced into the street, where an oncoming car swerved to avoid it and smashed into the parked police car.

Meanwhile, the burning drapes were seen by the neighbors who called the fire department. The firemen started raising the fire truck ladder when they were halfway down the street. The rising ladder tore out the overhead wires, put out the electricity, and disconnected the telephones in a ten-square city block area (but they did put the house fire out).

Time passed! Both men were discharged from the hospital, the house was repaired, the dog came home, the police acquired a new car, and all was right with their world. A while later, they were watching TV and the weatherman announced a cold snap for that night. The wife asked her husband if he thought they should bring in their plants for the night. That's when he shot her!

What The Hell?

Robert Frances "Bob" McDonnell

The Governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell wants to celebrate, get this... "Confederate History Month". I guess it's a case of jealousy. After all, Black people have their month and I guess Kluxers and racists should have their month.

Of course, the problem is that the two histories are not, to borrow a favorite phrase of right- wing apologists and conservatives, morally equivalent. Yeah, get that? Black History Month was created to highlight people whose achievements have largely been excluded from mainstream American history. The narrative of Black History Month is rooted in the heroic 400-year effort of African Americans to be seen and treated as equal citizens of the United States and to participate in creating a more perfect union.

This crap he's talking about is one of the darkest periods of American history that all Americans, Black and White, should be ashamed of. As for the narrative of Confederate History Month... well, it's already running into some controversy. In his original proclomation, McDonnell failed to mention a little thing called SLAVERY--then tried to back track and say later that it was just one of the causes of the Civil War. His proclamation reads: "Whereas, it is important for all Virginians to reflect upon our Commonwealth's shared history, to understand the sacrifices of the Confederate leaders, soldiers, and citizens during the period of the Civil War, and to recognize how our history has led to our present..."

Is he out of his mind? Is he serious? Sadly to say, he is (serious and out of his mind). You see, this is why every citizen should go and vote. I don't care what the weather is like that day. By not voting, you allow nuts like him and damn near every elected politician in the State of South Carolina to win elections.

The Coming Of The iPAD

iPad Official Website

Okay, this is a "Keith does a post that is finally not about sports" day. Today, a new gadget was released to the public that (they say) will revolutionize reading. It's called the iPAD. In the past few weeks, I've seen demonstrations for the Kindle, the Nook, and the Sony Reader. So now, I breathlessly await this new gadget but, I'm not alarmed.

One day soon, my friends will be reading "Keith's Space", "Escapades", and maybe my first novel on one of these new items. I may be sitting in my living room reading the next Walter Mosley novel on it, while navigating back and forth to my Facebook page. Who knows?

While every other attempt to make a popular flat computer has fallen (eh, flat), even conservative estimates predict millions of iPads will be sold this year alone. But, because there are few precedents with tablets, almost no one has any experience with how everyday consumers will use a thin slab of glass and aluminum that happens to be a blisteringly fast computer. After seeing demonstrations of the iPad for the last week or so, I'm clear that one area that will be transformed is reading.

The Amazon Kindle, as Steve Jobs acknowledged when announcing the iPad, began the revolution of electronic books. But, where Amazon went to great lengths to replicate the best of the traditional print reading experience, Apple has opted for a device that more closely resembles a small, flat-panel TV. When reading a novel or "Keith's Space" (shameless plug). the differences aren't dramatic. The Kindle is lighter and easier to hold with one hand. The iPad, on the other hand, has beautiful visual effects for turning pages. Books with illustrations, like Dr. Seuss (for instance), shine on the iPad's stunning color screen, but still only hint at the full potential of marrying a high-powered microchip with the oldest mass medium.

Am I excited? Well, uh...YEAH! I love new technology that actually makes life easier and interesting. This may even inspire more kids to read and check out great literature. Okay, probably not, unless Shakesphere and Chaucer can be illustrated and animated (which I see no reason, why they can't be).

Look what Blogger, Facebook, and Twitter have already done! This is one future I can look into with excitement and positivity, rather than dread.

Don't Know How Good You Had It!

Donovan McNabb

If I keep on, this just might become a sports blog. Just kidding! It just seems that sports has been upper most in my mind these past few days. If you've followed this blog from it's inception (and I doubt that there is anyone other than my wife and I who have), you'll remember that my very first post was about sports and it concerned the Philadelphia Eagles. So this, my 638th post, is also a sports post and also about the Philadelphia Eagles.

In the past 72 hours, the Philadelphia Eagles have traded Donovan McNabb, its winningest quarterback ever, to its division rivals, the Washington Redskins. Why am I not surprised at such a stupid move? This is after all the city that traded Wilt Chamberlain away isn't it? Throw in Charles Barkley, Brian Westbrook, Brian Dawkins, and a few other talented and yet unappreciated athletes and you have a picture of what I'm talking about.

Everybody around the country, except for people in Philadelphia, are shaking their heads and wondering what is wrong with the brain trust (okay, if you want to call it that) in Philadelphia sports. You have people who don't watch football calling for Donavan's head. You ask them why he should go and they come up with the obvious... he didn't win a Super Bowl. You tell these people that this man won you several division titles, led this football team to several NFC championship appearences, and put you in the playoffs practically every year he was here, and they act like you haven't said jack. The reason why is because you haven't. They don't watch football and all of these statistics mean nothing to them.

True football fans know that before Donavan McNabb came to this city, the Eagles were a joke and they could be counted on to finish in the bottom (just like our basketball team, the once great 76ers). True football fans know that for the past eleven years, the Philadelphia Eagles have been one of the elite teams in the National Football League. True Football fans seam to be everywhere, except Philadelphia.

People on Sportscenter are shaking their heads asking why this guy is even in a discussion about a trade. I 've heard people comment that McNabb has constantly been getting hurt. You play football for eleven years against huge men well over 300 pounds and have them smash into you and throw you to the ground and see how well your body takes the beating.

Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, Brett Farve, and Tom Brady have never been as unappreciated or as disrespected in their towns as Donavan McNabb was here in Philly. You can also bet that if they are traded, it won't be to a division rival. You can also bet that with the possible exception of Brett Farve, who is on his way out (one of these days), that if these guys are cut, their teams will get equal value for them.

I am outraged that the Philadelphia Eagles would do this to Donovan and I wish Donavan luck. What is done is done and when the Redskins come here next season, I'm rooting for them. The rest of the season, I'll root for the Eagles and hope that Kevin Kolb can live up to all of the expectations that will be put on him. I won't be surprised if these same know-nothing Monday morning quarterbacks in this town call for his head in time and demand that Michael Vick become the lead quarterback. That's just the way these fickle Philadelphia fans are. They are spoiled, they have short memories, and they don't know how good they had it.

If Kevin Kolb works out and we win the division next year and make the playoffs, I'll be happy. If the Eagles wind up in the lottery, I won't be surprised or shocked and I'm going to give all of those folks here in Philly who were cheering yesterday when news of Mcnabb's trade was announced the serious side-eye!

Play Ball

Before I start, let me tip my hat to fellow bloggers, Carey-Carey, Shelly Shell, SLC, and 12Kyle. They all pontificated about how superior the New York Yankees were to my Philadelphia Phillies last year during the world series. Of course, being a native Philadelphian and a sports fan in a town where my heart has been broken many times, I couldn't go for it or feel them.

Truth be told, I didn't want to feel them or any other Yankees fan or sportscaster. My Phillies were the defending World Series champions and here they were back in the World Series for the second year in a row and I just could not see them losing to anybody, history be damned.

But they did! Those three words say it all. The New York Yankees were the better team last year, just like Carey Carey, SLC, 12Kyle, and the only New Yorker of that bunch, Shelly Shell, said they were and they beat my Phillies. I bow my head to them for their foresight! That being said, that was last year and this is this year.

I am not going to make any predictions... not yet. For all I know, neither the Phillies or the Yankees will wind up in the World Series this year. It might be two teams that nobody is even thinking about right now. Who knows? All I can really say is, I have two baseball jerseys that I will be wearing when I'm hanging out this summer. One is my red and white striped Phillies jersey and the other is a black and gold striped Yankees jersey (my favorite). I couldn't wear it at all last summer because... well, you know!

The Phillies have a hot new pitcher in their bullpen this year. They may win a lot of games and the Yanks... well, they've got the money and the brain trust to bring in whoever they need, so I expect them to be a threat. But the beautiful thing is, baseball season has begun and the sport my grandfather taught me to love years ago is about to kick in gear. That also means that it's springtime. Can summer be too far behind?

He Lives... Nuff Said

ART: "His Voyage" By Unknown Artist

Happy Resurrection Sunday!

Weekend Humor

A sweet grandmother telephoned Misericoria Hospital. She timidly asked, "Is it possible to speak to someone who can tell me how a patient is doing?" The operator said, "I'll be glad to help, dear. What's the name and room number of the patient?"

The grandmother in her weak, tremulous voice said, "Norma Jean Jenkins, Room 302." The operator replied, "Let me put you on hold while I check with the nurse's station for that room."
"Okay, thank ya darlin'." said the elderly woman.

After a few minutes, the operator returned to the phone and said, "I have good news. Her nurse just told me that Norma Jean is doing well. Her blood pressure is fine, her blood work just came back normal, and her physician, Dr. Matthew Cohen, has scheduled her to be discharged tomorrow."

The grandmother said, "Thank you. That's wonderful. I was so worried. God bless you for the good news." The operator replied, "You're more than welcome. Is Norma your daughter?" The grandmother said, "No baby, I'm Norma Jean Jenkins in Room 302. No one tells me a damn thing!"

What I've Learned

1. Some folks hold grudges but, I don't. Life is just too short for that kind of thing.

2. We meet aliens everyday with a message for us. They come in the form of people with different opinions from ours.

3. I heard a B.B. King Song which went, "Nobody loves me but my mother and she could be jiving too!" which caused me to have one of my biggest and hardiest laughs. Talk about insecurity!

4. My grandmother told me, "You live and you learn, then you die and forget it all!" She had such wit and wisdom. I miss her.

5. I'd love to be twenty-five again. Oh okay, maybe twenty-nine!

6. Loyalty for some people is based purely on what's in it for them. Those are the folks you avoid.

7. Don't let making a living prevent you from living a life!

8. Passion is momentary; love is enduring.

9. Be more concerned with your character than your reputation.

10. Never say yes when you really mean no.