People walking down the street talking on the phone with a bluetooth is #320 on my "stupid things that people do list". You see someone walking and all of a sudden they are like "Hey, how are you doing?" You look around and respond, "hey', wondering why a stranger is talking to you. Then he or she ignores you and starts a conversation with themselves... then they turn and you see the bluetooth in their ear and realize they are having a conversation with someone who isin't there. I even heard that a certain Oakland City councilmember was in the chambers during the city council meeting.... with a bluetooth in his ear. Trifling. I ain't naming names but he's the only black man on the council.
Then the state passes a law outlawing talking on the phone while driving. On the surface this would seem like a simple safety issue but it's not because text messaging is still legal! It's a law written by bluetooth manufacturers! Bastards. So anyway, I spent the first few months talking on the phone illegally but got tired of my wife's admonishment: "ring ring" , "Hey babe" "Hey, what are you doing?" "going to work, etc." "Are you driving on the phone?!" "Yes." "Get off the phone before you get a ticket!" And this went on everyday for a couple months and I finally bought one after my wife ordered me to get one. She is on the internet, talking about: "Macheo, get the David Beckham bluetooth, it's only $59.99!" I go to Costco and get the $19.99 one. But mark my words: if you ever see me wearing it outside of my car, slap me down where I stand because that is still #320 on my list!
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Cheap Gas
Gas is so cheap, I feel like driving around so I can buy more gas! I filled up my tank for $16 last night. Gas was $1.95 a gallon. What is happening in the economy however is definately bad, but until I get laid off, this cheap gas thing is great! News Flash! I realized however that all good things come to an end and as soon as the economy picks up, so will the gas prices. But until then: I'm mashing in the right middle lane.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
But Seriously, that election....
I have to write something serious:
American is still racist. black people and a host of oppressed populations (women, latinos, LGBTQ, asians, disabled, poor, immigrants, non-christian, etc.) must now more than ever be in complete and total unity. The black vote that came out for Obama also contributed to the passing of prop 8 which discriminates on Gay and Lesbian people, denying them one of the most basic civil rights to marry, making that great Tuesday bittersweet because Martin Luther King Jr. would have voted no on 8. He and the Black Panther Party built strong coalitions with Gay and Lesbians. It's like were going backwards now. Folks have to own up to their heterosexism and homophobia and get over ourselves. We need to realize that freedom and equal rights for all, is a very simple concept and not complicated by religion, belief, etc. I hear black folks use the very same argument for prop 8 that whites in the south used against integration. (not that integration did us a whole bunch of good but that's another tangent) If you are straight, you must not tolerate homophobia. You have to speak out against comments, jokes and pure ignorance toward Gays and Lesbians, ESPECIALLY when they aren't around when you could just as easily let it slide. Just think about the nicest white person you can imagine who is at least 50. They heard white people say nigger 50 thousand times in the 1950's and 1960's and they said NOTHING. I had a staff person last year (white guy) mention that his Dad remarked how a nigger is running for president. He didn's follow up at all with how appaled he was and how sternly he reprimanded his Dad for being racist. This is 2007.
Now about this Obama thing. Obama is only a small part of the overall effort toward liberation and make no mistake, he is definately for the liberation. What people need to realize is that NOONE expects white supremacy to "change" overnight, or even in 8 years.
Obama's goal was to get elected and be president for at least 8 years, his goal is NOT to liberate black people and usher in reparations. His goal is to alter politics and involve an unprescedented number of disenfranchised citizens in the democratic process. He achieved that. Now what remains to be seen is how blacks hold Obama accountable while continuing to support him.
I am not against healthy criticism of Obama because he is the president of the most racist and murderous country in the history of the planet. I get that. And for that very same reason, we have only 2 options. 1. Take up arms and completely overthrow the government and wipe out the whole structure and start over. or 2. Work with the current structure and system to "dismantle the masters house with the masters tools".
What I hear critics of Obama say loud and clear is that it's simply not possible. But consider this: There's no way in hell Obama would have beat the Clintons by seriously challenging the white supremacist status quo. Even Rev. Wright had no love lost. He was pissed but as a man of God, as a Marine, as a truly compassionate man, he summed it up when he said :Obama's a politician and that was a political speech. (his speech on race repudiating Wright)
So if we can't use the masters tools, then where the hell is strategy #1? It's nonexistant. In fact, critics offer no action steps. We can't think and debate and analyze all day. If you go to a country where recession and economic depression is the normal economy, they talk about action. Support Obama, build more progressive political action committees, establish 501c4 organizations that can participate in partisian political activities, establish a constant fundraising apparatus, establish a progressive base, train and dispatch lobbists to the City, County, State and Federal governments. Hold public hearings, build coalitions, involve artists meaningfully, build on the momentum of the election and have a delegation at the inaguration, be strategic, write your representatives, all of them, not just for inaguration tickets but for explanations for their stances and votes, start asking questions for pete sake!!!! how can we use the Obama situation to our advantage? How can we educate voters over the next 2 years for the next election? What is the ultimate goal? What does freedom look like? How do we involve prisoners? How do we introduce initiatives? Who is already on the team? Cynthia McKinney? Dennis Kucinich? Barbara Lee? Pete Stark? Who else? How do we support them? How do we get more progressive congresspersons in the house? Obama can't do squat alone. He will need a majority in the house and senate, not of democrats but democrats or republicans who are truly progressive. Let's look at why people are republican. Some of them would actually suprise you with their politics but because of their constituency, they are republican. Just like some democrats are the black communities worse enemy (Joe Lieberman). The black panther party was a political party. They fell short of their final goal, to influence the political system from inside. Lionel Wilson, the first black mayor of Oakland was the compromise from Bobby Seale like Obama was the compromise for Cynthia McKinney.
American is still racist. black people and a host of oppressed populations (women, latinos, LGBTQ, asians, disabled, poor, immigrants, non-christian, etc.) must now more than ever be in complete and total unity. The black vote that came out for Obama also contributed to the passing of prop 8 which discriminates on Gay and Lesbian people, denying them one of the most basic civil rights to marry, making that great Tuesday bittersweet because Martin Luther King Jr. would have voted no on 8. He and the Black Panther Party built strong coalitions with Gay and Lesbians. It's like were going backwards now. Folks have to own up to their heterosexism and homophobia and get over ourselves. We need to realize that freedom and equal rights for all, is a very simple concept and not complicated by religion, belief, etc. I hear black folks use the very same argument for prop 8 that whites in the south used against integration. (not that integration did us a whole bunch of good but that's another tangent) If you are straight, you must not tolerate homophobia. You have to speak out against comments, jokes and pure ignorance toward Gays and Lesbians, ESPECIALLY when they aren't around when you could just as easily let it slide. Just think about the nicest white person you can imagine who is at least 50. They heard white people say nigger 50 thousand times in the 1950's and 1960's and they said NOTHING. I had a staff person last year (white guy) mention that his Dad remarked how a nigger is running for president. He didn's follow up at all with how appaled he was and how sternly he reprimanded his Dad for being racist. This is 2007.
Now about this Obama thing. Obama is only a small part of the overall effort toward liberation and make no mistake, he is definately for the liberation. What people need to realize is that NOONE expects white supremacy to "change" overnight, or even in 8 years.
Obama's goal was to get elected and be president for at least 8 years, his goal is NOT to liberate black people and usher in reparations. His goal is to alter politics and involve an unprescedented number of disenfranchised citizens in the democratic process. He achieved that. Now what remains to be seen is how blacks hold Obama accountable while continuing to support him.
I am not against healthy criticism of Obama because he is the president of the most racist and murderous country in the history of the planet. I get that. And for that very same reason, we have only 2 options. 1. Take up arms and completely overthrow the government and wipe out the whole structure and start over. or 2. Work with the current structure and system to "dismantle the masters house with the masters tools".
What I hear critics of Obama say loud and clear is that it's simply not possible. But consider this: There's no way in hell Obama would have beat the Clintons by seriously challenging the white supremacist status quo. Even Rev. Wright had no love lost. He was pissed but as a man of God, as a Marine, as a truly compassionate man, he summed it up when he said :Obama's a politician and that was a political speech. (his speech on race repudiating Wright)
So if we can't use the masters tools, then where the hell is strategy #1? It's nonexistant. In fact, critics offer no action steps. We can't think and debate and analyze all day. If you go to a country where recession and economic depression is the normal economy, they talk about action. Support Obama, build more progressive political action committees, establish 501c4 organizations that can participate in partisian political activities, establish a constant fundraising apparatus, establish a progressive base, train and dispatch lobbists to the City, County, State and Federal governments. Hold public hearings, build coalitions, involve artists meaningfully, build on the momentum of the election and have a delegation at the inaguration, be strategic, write your representatives, all of them, not just for inaguration tickets but for explanations for their stances and votes, start asking questions for pete sake!!!! how can we use the Obama situation to our advantage? How can we educate voters over the next 2 years for the next election? What is the ultimate goal? What does freedom look like? How do we involve prisoners? How do we introduce initiatives? Who is already on the team? Cynthia McKinney? Dennis Kucinich? Barbara Lee? Pete Stark? Who else? How do we support them? How do we get more progressive congresspersons in the house? Obama can't do squat alone. He will need a majority in the house and senate, not of democrats but democrats or republicans who are truly progressive. Let's look at why people are republican. Some of them would actually suprise you with their politics but because of their constituency, they are republican. Just like some democrats are the black communities worse enemy (Joe Lieberman). The black panther party was a political party. They fell short of their final goal, to influence the political system from inside. Lionel Wilson, the first black mayor of Oakland was the compromise from Bobby Seale like Obama was the compromise for Cynthia McKinney.
Monday, November 17, 2008
look alike or not quite
I remember Paul Mooney remarking how he used to say the N word 50 times in the morning while brushing his teeth. That reminds me of what I am going through with Obama. I say Barak Obama out loud like I'm singing a rap song. It's like a Buddist chant. The magnitude didn't hit me right away. On election day, I didn't cry like Jesse Jackson. I was not jumping for joy in the streets. I didn't get religion around the whole thing like some folks did. Don't get me wrong, I was juiced, awed, and deeply moved, I just didn't express it quite as dynamically as some of my fellow black people. Besides, Elijah was calling from his bed (while we watched the speech in Grant Park on the internet) like, "Now will somebody read me a story?"
It really didn't "hit" me that a black man is about to be president until I got this weeks Jet and there it was. The first family and the headline "Yes We Did!" Then the full effect washed over me.
I know you are tired of hearing about the guy but I am forced to think about him for 2 reasons: Keisha and Jerome (not their real names), 2 students of mine. They started calling me Obama a few weeks ago. Now they call me Obama everytime they see me, and it's a small school. Keisha told me that I look like Obama and Kafi looks like Michelle. I stopped her before she said my sons look like Sasha and Malia. and Jerome calls me Obama and shakes my hand... everytime. This is a kid who barely said hi before the election Tuesday. But not all the students think that. "Mr. payne don't look like no damn Obama!" I laugh. It reminds me of a humbling experience last year when a student said "Mr. Payne, you look like Denzel Washington!" Another female student quickly exclaimed very loudly and annoyed "The hell he do!" She was personally offended.
I have been told before that I look like Obama. Kafi opposes such claims reassuring me that I am more hansome but since this guy is now the president of the free world, I am applying for a job. I want to be his decoy. You may say that's a dangerous job but I worked night time hyphy dance battles and video shoots in east oakland where fights broke out in the streets and guns were flashed. This was my JOB. I think riding in a bulletproof motorcade is a cakewalk. But alas, it could not happen. They wouldn't let TWO brothas in the white house would they?
It really didn't "hit" me that a black man is about to be president until I got this weeks Jet and there it was. The first family and the headline "Yes We Did!" Then the full effect washed over me.
I know you are tired of hearing about the guy but I am forced to think about him for 2 reasons: Keisha and Jerome (not their real names), 2 students of mine. They started calling me Obama a few weeks ago. Now they call me Obama everytime they see me, and it's a small school. Keisha told me that I look like Obama and Kafi looks like Michelle. I stopped her before she said my sons look like Sasha and Malia. and Jerome calls me Obama and shakes my hand... everytime. This is a kid who barely said hi before the election Tuesday. But not all the students think that. "Mr. payne don't look like no damn Obama!" I laugh. It reminds me of a humbling experience last year when a student said "Mr. Payne, you look like Denzel Washington!" Another female student quickly exclaimed very loudly and annoyed "The hell he do!" She was personally offended.
I have been told before that I look like Obama. Kafi opposes such claims reassuring me that I am more hansome but since this guy is now the president of the free world, I am applying for a job. I want to be his decoy. You may say that's a dangerous job but I worked night time hyphy dance battles and video shoots in east oakland where fights broke out in the streets and guns were flashed. This was my JOB. I think riding in a bulletproof motorcade is a cakewalk. But alas, it could not happen. They wouldn't let TWO brothas in the white house would they?
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Obama High vs. Hard times
It's the new drug of choice for Americans, heck for folks worldwide. It rivals "fear". Thinking, talking and celebrating Obama has become a national pastime and obsession of everyone. People are high off Obama with no real signs of coming down. I went to the concert and Dwayne Wiggins got a lukewarm response from the crowd with his classic hits but when he started babbling "Obamaobamaobamaobama" out of nowhere, folks started roaring. People stood up, clapped and cheered. Never though I would live to see the day that the mere mention of a politicians name during a jazz concert would bring about jubilation.
Everyone is having such a love fest that I hate to remind folks that times is hard. My brother in law got carjacked last night at gunpoint for his car, keys, phone, everything. My cousin and his wife got cussed out by a lady cause her car was parked in front of their house for a month and they called it in. The lady was muttering something about "times is hard...".
There are a good number of youngsters who I work with who readily admit that the afternoon conversation while kickin it on the block with the homies, is whether they should go rob someone and who should they rob. I am talking about preteens.
Before we moved out of west Oakland, I came home to find someone rummaging in my house. They bolted through my front door (I came in through the garage) and down the street and when the cops showed up and asked me for a description, I shrugged and said, "Black male, around 6 feet, maybe 180 pounds. He basically looks like me. You think you can find him?" The joke was not lost on the cop and he just said "I'm sorry this happened" which was another way of saying "wait until he comes back to rob you again and get a better look next time."
Times are hard. Folks are literally living and breathing Hope as nourishment because they ain't got no corn flakes. For some of my students who don't eat breakfast most mornings, they are gobbling Obama hope for breakfast, lunch dinner and snack.
The real cold part of it is that the brotha inherited a situation that only Jesus would say "I got this". That's why I am convinced that Obama is out of his mind. I love the brotha but he just took the hardest job in show business. When the applause fades and and he has to actually perform, I Hope (pun intended) that folks don't forget that brotha man is a politician and above all else, he is in fact a mortal human being. The beauty of it all is the We in "Yes We Can". It's like a remix of "We The People". Folks can actually continue to organize and rally around change and we are going to have to because if we don't fix this mess, some hungry fool will fleece you in the street, in front of your house or in your living room for your change.
Everyone is having such a love fest that I hate to remind folks that times is hard. My brother in law got carjacked last night at gunpoint for his car, keys, phone, everything. My cousin and his wife got cussed out by a lady cause her car was parked in front of their house for a month and they called it in. The lady was muttering something about "times is hard...".
There are a good number of youngsters who I work with who readily admit that the afternoon conversation while kickin it on the block with the homies, is whether they should go rob someone and who should they rob. I am talking about preteens.
Before we moved out of west Oakland, I came home to find someone rummaging in my house. They bolted through my front door (I came in through the garage) and down the street and when the cops showed up and asked me for a description, I shrugged and said, "Black male, around 6 feet, maybe 180 pounds. He basically looks like me. You think you can find him?" The joke was not lost on the cop and he just said "I'm sorry this happened" which was another way of saying "wait until he comes back to rob you again and get a better look next time."
Times are hard. Folks are literally living and breathing Hope as nourishment because they ain't got no corn flakes. For some of my students who don't eat breakfast most mornings, they are gobbling Obama hope for breakfast, lunch dinner and snack.
The real cold part of it is that the brotha inherited a situation that only Jesus would say "I got this". That's why I am convinced that Obama is out of his mind. I love the brotha but he just took the hardest job in show business. When the applause fades and and he has to actually perform, I Hope (pun intended) that folks don't forget that brotha man is a politician and above all else, he is in fact a mortal human being. The beauty of it all is the We in "Yes We Can". It's like a remix of "We The People". Folks can actually continue to organize and rally around change and we are going to have to because if we don't fix this mess, some hungry fool will fleece you in the street, in front of your house or in your living room for your change.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
SWB: Shopping while black
A while back I was shopping at my favorite drug store. They have everything. I sometimes go there for the smallest thing because I just like going to this store. You could say it's therapeudic. So you can imagine how I feel when I am getting some halloween candy for my staff at work and the security guard starts following me. Comical in the first split second, then sudden irritation. I'm a grown ass man. I pay taxes, all my taxes. I pay for parking. I paid all my school loans. Me and my wife pay for every damn thing me and my family consumes, enjoys, wears, and drives. But the drug store security don't know that. They only know that black people steal and I am clearly black so why take it personally? Now if you ring up a whole box of odwalla bars for 49 cents because you are new and don't catch that it's a box of 24 bars and you gotta multiply, well I didn't steal nothing, that's the price you gave me.
Anyway, this guy is not slick at all. I know how women can psychically tell when a man is staring at her butt because I have that same ability with store security stalking me, trying hella hard to not look directly at me but conspiciously staying in clear sight of me. Another dead giveaway is when they are straightening merchandise that doesn't need to be straightened. So in my fit of irritation, I decide to give the guy a taste of his own medicine. I start following him. It was as if I short circuited his brain by walking directly toward him because he started walking away like he was a thief and I was security. He looked back at me and I strided closer to him. He turned down an aisle. I turned down the aisle. When he finally caught himself, realizing he was being chased by a damn customer, a suspect at that, he stopped and looked up at me. I smiled this smug grin and nodded what's up to him. He nodded back. I pretended to hover around him a little longer, still watching him to make sure he wasn't going to steal some socks or something. Then I chuckled triumphantly and walked to the checkout to buy my shit, leaving security on aisle 8, straightening the scarves.
Anyway, this guy is not slick at all. I know how women can psychically tell when a man is staring at her butt because I have that same ability with store security stalking me, trying hella hard to not look directly at me but conspiciously staying in clear sight of me. Another dead giveaway is when they are straightening merchandise that doesn't need to be straightened. So in my fit of irritation, I decide to give the guy a taste of his own medicine. I start following him. It was as if I short circuited his brain by walking directly toward him because he started walking away like he was a thief and I was security. He looked back at me and I strided closer to him. He turned down an aisle. I turned down the aisle. When he finally caught himself, realizing he was being chased by a damn customer, a suspect at that, he stopped and looked up at me. I smiled this smug grin and nodded what's up to him. He nodded back. I pretended to hover around him a little longer, still watching him to make sure he wasn't going to steal some socks or something. Then I chuckled triumphantly and walked to the checkout to buy my shit, leaving security on aisle 8, straightening the scarves.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
