Walking Dead Shirts Racist, Real

So apparently in the midst of a slow news cycle these last couple of days a controversy was created. The controversy I’m speaking of is about a shirt. That’s right a shirt. The shirt has a quote from the television show The Walking Dead. The quote… “Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe.

Here’s where it gets strange. The story originally started overseas. Some British person took offense to shirt stating the origin of the phrase. That somehow forced the hand of chain of stores called Primark. How does this become something Americans care about? Simple The Walking Dead is popular, popular is an understatement, it’s a major phenomenon. So of course anything remotely close to controversy about the show becomes news. This however is something that I totally agree with Jeffrey Dean Morgan that ” Holy crap people are stupid”.

I understand the racial component to all of this, I also know that truthfully most people don’t even know that “Eeny Meeny Miny Moe” has a terrible history attached to it, Black people included. Growing up we have all more than we can even begin to imagine have used the phrase in games. It was how you picked who would be “it” in any game ending with the word tag. It’s something people still say as adults. Even when people are exposed to the truth behind the phrase no one really stops using it. If anything I’m glad this nonsense came from abroad and not here in America. I personally haven’t seen the shirts that are causing such an uproar but if one of the people Negan killed were Black…. Oh spoiler alert, the show and comic would have been in hot water. This is the kind of stuff that makes the rounds when Trump is having a decent week.

Is Tamron Hall Walking Away From The Today Show A Good Look?

 

For some strange reason, slow news week I guess, everyone is either talking about Beyoncé or LeBron and Barkley beef or Tamron Hall leaving NBC. The news broke last week and no one really card. Maybe because it’s now February and the time slot once held by Hall and Al Roker was dominated by the them, beating out Kelly Ripa, will be no more come fall. The question isn’t was Tamron Hall right for leaving but where was the noise about a show with high ratings being cancelled? As of today , Feb. 2, no one is really upset about what happened. Sure we could blame it on Trump and how his ties with Fox got Megyn Kelly removed which resulted in Hall leaving. This is just showbiz 101. The money and that was reportedly offered to Hall should have kept her happy.

The unintentional inconsideration shown by NBC is on display here. Two Black co host consistently winning their time slot are supposed to be okay with being replaced. The lack of respect that morning news/talk shows het is at play here as well. Had Hall been the his of the evening or prime time slots the uproar would go from reasonable to ridiculous faster than President Trump could tweet a response to anything he doesn’t agree with. Then you think of how the news was presented to her, right before Hall went on air. Imagine being told you’re doing a great job one week and then to have someone tell you you will be replaced another week. To Hall’s credit she kept it classy.

I have only seen the show here and there but from reports she as a person takes her fan base to wherever she has gone with the confines of NBC. One could only hope that those who spent ten years with her on the Today Show will follow her whatever she lands a gig. Loyalty and appreciation is something that keeps many people afloat in the world of television. Look at Skip Bayless, he took his talents somewhere else and currently is crushing the former show.

I Don’t Believe Chrisette Michele Is Bridging Anything But She Should Be Planting A Flag

“My heart is broken for our country, for the hopes of our children, for the fights of those who came before us.

I cry at the thought that Black History, American History might be in vain.

This country has had great moments. God has shined His light upon us.

Today, I hope that Great Moments begin in peaceful & progressive conversation. I am willing to be a bridge. I don’t mind “These Stones”, if they allow me to be a voice for the voiceless.

I am here.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Our lives begin to end, the day we become silent about what matters,”.

I am here, representing you, because this is what matters.”

– Chrisette Michele

That was the open letter to fans and Black people in general. There’s no denying that Michele’s words are sincere, it’s the recent past of Trump that makes any  Black  person that even remotely  seems to be hearing him out look a like “coon”.

Let’s get beyond the whole “bridge” talk and get into that fact Chrisette Michele will be performing at Trump’s inauguration. What will she wear? What will she sing? Protesting from the sidelines mean nothing, the media will spin whatever happens  into something they can control. If Michele uses this opportunity to do something significant no one would know anyway. She could fire a  subtle shot letting the Trump administration know that Black  people are watching and want, demand  and deserve respect. Do I think she will just take the money and sing whatever Trump and his family wants, this is me thinking that Trump has no idea about Chrisette Michele’s catalog and just needed a Black female face to show up. The fact that she accepted the invite there isn’t the issue, what happens with the opportunity is. I’m all for a Beyoncé Superbowl Halftime controversy, that overshadows the night. Do I think this will happen? Not at all but I also don’t think her career is over. Fans will be mad for awhile and then move on. Trump is Trump, he has four years to either show his true colors or keep up the ignorance, that is unless it isn’t an act. People will have forgotten about this by the summer unless some diva wants to beef with her over Twitter and bring it up. We as Black people have to wait and see what happens the next day or Monday.

This week’s Documentaries To Check Out

Stretch and Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives

This documentary is for all those Hip Hop heads who lived through 90‘s Hip Hop. You remember hearing those shows via tape if you weren’t in New York. I remember hearing tapes all the time and some of the songs they played you would never hear them anywhere else or even hear them again. It was the place to be for real MCs to showcase their skill. You get the story from the start to the end of the duos run, even that point where it felt like they sold out by being on Hot 97. Great documentary for those who love Hip Hop and remember or just want to get a quick glimpse into a time far gone.
I Am Road Comic

 

This documentary explores the perception of what is to be a road comic. You get the real details of budgeting and how hectic the travel is as well as the places that suck for road comic…. Houston, don’t know why but it is universally panned by comics in this film. You get the unwritten rules of being the opening act to selling merchandise.

Going Clear

This documentary is very close to being completely full of hate towards Scientology. What keeps that from happening is the fact that the people speaking were all at some point in their lives a member of scientology. The begining isn’t much new information, it’s the second half that gets creepy. Every religion is a few steps away from being a cult or just becoming something awful and this documentary shows that scientology has crossed the line a few times but depending on where you stand with scientology you either see it or you don’t.

Streep Said We’re All From Africa And People Lost Their Minds

Call the he quote a way to get around The Oscars fuckery by NOT having ANY African American people nominated at all this year. Or call it a glimpse into what someone believes to be true. In any event one thing is for sure all the pro white was on display on any comment box that reported the comments made by Meryl Streep. It’s not that the comments were made about how dare she call everyone African, it’s more how dare people act as if the comment isn’t the truth.

Let’s put aside racial pride and look at facts. First off just like all man started out as Jews we also were black. Yeah maybe we could play foolish and assume people came from somewhere other than Africa but we all come from Black Jews, Hebrews for those that need real clarification. God created man from the ground. Dirt is brown so by logic we all are black,  Africa becomes the source due to Egypt being in the Holy Books by name. When you fall back and research places in the Bible it’s all Northern Africa. As people traveled the body reacted differently to the different location. Evolution and or mutations happened. Blue eyes were known as a defect, and by the way there are blackest of the black, almost purple, of men and women with the bluest eyes that have not had white people near them, just saying. The white washing of history makes people think there is some debate when the very book that holds the teachings of any religion tells you continuously people were black during those times.

Of course the major thing is the Roman and Greek factor. Look back at history and not paintings by people who weren’t there and notice they occupied the same space as early Egyptians and Hebrews. By this time skin color as well as hair texture have progressed and changed so people have specific looks.Africans look different depending on what country they’re from. Truth be told those pure white cavemen from the Caucasus Mountains were descendants of early Mongolian people, look at the early facial resemblance to Asian people. Evolution and weather and location gives us what we now know as white people.

You want to take offense to what what said about us all being from Africa fine but we are all from somewhere in that area as it’s proof the first Asian people had much darker skin as well as African features. The bigger point is we’re all of the human race and to treat people different based in race is unacceptable. The message got lost in a quote, one that is absolutely true. To continue to deny that somewhere in Northern Africa civilization was born is as silly to argue, the facts are there. There was a time when Egypt wasn’t considered part of Africa for whatever reason. Maybe to not acknowledge that if they were black so too were the Hebrews since Moses was passed off as the Pharaoh  family member they had to look somewhat alike, that just couldn’t be black if you people tell it.

More Proof That The Eastern Conference Is Garbage

It’s bad enough being a NBA player playing for any eastern conference team that isn’t Cleveland and reading and hearing that Cleveland will be in the NBA Finals hands down  while it’s a major debate when speaking about the western conference teams. To just have your conference basically be so weak that other than Brooklyn and Philly all the other teams have a chance to make the playoffs. It’s definitely not because the competition is that tight over in the east, that’s far from the truth. The eastern conference has gotten worse over the last three to four years and it’s at a point now that that national television scheduling is cool with showing all western conference teams and eastern teams when playing Cleveland or any western conference teams apologetically.

All that mediocrity in the east leaves the door open for someone who has coached only three, count em, THREE games to be the coach of the NBA All Star game, not the games on Friday and Saturday but the big game of the weekend. While people have to make an argument to even bring Luke Walton up in the conversation for coaching the All Star game. Walton never had a shot,maybe because he’s an assistant coach who filling in for Steve Kerr, my only excuse for why he was passed up. The Toronto Raptors coach could have been an obvious choice being that the Raptors are second place. Every coach has to wonder how does this happen and watch in shock as it plays out. Yes coaching an All Star game is pretty easy but it’s an honor, something only a few coaches can say they have done. Great coaches have been overlooked due to their team standings and then the one year they are in a good ranking the more recognizable coach would get the job.  Personally I never knew how the coaches were picked for the All Star game, I know team standings don’t count if that coach had coached the game the year before and maybe, just maybe that technically keeps Walton out because Kerr coached last year for the same Golden State team. So how does a guy replace someone who coached a team to the best record in the eastern conference get that guys spot?. Isn’t it safe to say Tyronn Lue is being honored for what Blatt did? How about just get Blatt for the one game because he earned his spot. Giving it to Lue doesn’t make it right by any means., especially when Walton who has coached the Warriors to what could be a historic year for the regular season wasn’t picked to coach.

It’s the All Star game and being honest I personally stopped watching years ago and was going to watch this year for Kobe Bryant because unlike The NBA and ESPN the fans understand what Kobe has brought to the league. Who knows maybe the fans would have wanted anyone from the coaching staff of Cleveland to be the coach of the NBA All Star game. Either way this becomes something other coaches need to examine because one young coach who has led his team to the overall best record in the league and some guy who has coached three games to the point of being named an all star game. That says outright that the eastern conference sucks and no coaches even deserve to be looked because teams are so bad right now.

EPA Stands For Environmental Protection Agency

I’ve watched more than my share of campaign ads against the EPA leading up to Tuesday that I had no choice but to realize that people in Kentucky watching and listening to these ads like the “real” people in the ads have no idea what EPA Stands for. I’m sure if someone explained to people what the EPA does then there would be a real conversation to be had. It’s easy to slam the EPA when you have no real clue how the EPA actually work or what it is that they do. With that being people do hate the EPA and yet complain about what is and how isn’t helping anyone.

It just makes me mad because I watched campaign ads from Kentucky and the whole topic is about how bad the EPA is and how great coal mining is. With all the technology we have in the world why does it feel like mining is something that still deserves to be barbaric? Doctors perform surgeries with smaller more effective tools and don’t have to literally open you up to do so. Why isn’t it anyone’s obligation to make mining safe? I’ve went on before about all the things the EPA watches over and to put it blunt, it’s OSHA for our country. It makes sure America is safe from water to air to environmental regulations. How that is a bad thing is something I just can’t understand.

How Far Right Is Too Far

You know when you think people can’t stoop any lower than they’ve already stooped?  Well The GOP primary candidates have shown there are levels that are lower than people know and they’re willing to go there. Cruz, Jindal, Huckabee and supposedly Carson have agreed to speak at some conference next month. No big deal right? Wrong , well depending on your views on gays. The conference is organized by some far,far far right wing nut job named Kevin Swanson no relation to Ron Swanson.

This guy has issues with girl scouts… Girl scouts. Some how girl scouts promotes being a lesbian. Not sure where that idea comes from and I’m sure if I took the time to listen to his reasoning I’d laugh my ass off, I may walk away from it completely disturbed. Even the Frozen movie is under attack for endorsing the lesbian lifestyle. I can only wonder if he watches Once Upon A Time and is the reason the show side stepped the love triangle of Milan and the sleeping beauty chick. Swanson is totally on some anti gay movement which is fine, but once you start talking about killing people you’ve crossed a line. How does a pastor even begin to have those kinds of conversations with anyone?  We all dislike something and or something about a person or people, having prejudices is one of the worst aspects of being human. With that said it takes a special kind of hatred to openly plot mass murder. Swanson wants to stone gay to death.

The problem isn’t Swanson or those who follow his every word but the republican presidential candidates that are cool with showing up at some function put together by Swanson. How much does acceptance really mean when men who have aspersions of being president are content with alienating a population of people who lives have been openly threatened by the organizer of an event they’re a part of. Is all of this to say gays have no rights, and not be allowed to roam freely in America without wondering if someone will follow through on threats made by Swanson? Each candidate has to know that the talk will focus on being anti gay. So far it feels like the only hate group that can’t get republicans to come to a get together are the Klan. It’s one thing to attempt to misdirect people with The Tea Party, now thanks to the high pole numbers Trump is receiving being hateful is acceptable. Hispanics being beaten, the imaginary war blacks are raging against cops and pastor who think gays should be stoned to death. All of these are views and actions approved by republicans who are running for president. Nothing is more upsetting and scarier than knowing the leader of the best country in the world is willing to openly turn his back against citizens who don’t look like him or agree with his views. Even W.Bush and Reagan played the game while using coded words, no the keep it 100, no PC rule is in play. It would be nice if republicans flocked to groups that didn’t harbor hatred and were about truly making this country great again.

Thursday’s Review Starts September 3rd

I’ve been planning on doing the Thursday’s Review podcast since last year but had too many things on my plate, not saying I have less do do but I’ve figured out how to do some things better than other things. Looking forward to doing this.

Maybe The NBA Should Trade With The WNBA Season

Not sure where all the asking current NBA players about the length of the regular season came from or even why, It’s been 82 games for as long as the current players have been alive. They knew it was 82 games going in, it’s what separated college from pros, it’s fun watching some rookies ran out of gas in the second half of the season. You ask any retired players and they’ll tell you the current players are stronger, faster, and have methods that help them healthier and heal somewhat faster. Those former players will also add that the current players in the NBA are soft. Bitching about the length of the season proves it. As a fan it’s ideal because of football season but other than that it’s fine the way it is. Football bleeds into baseball and no one is screaming shorten baseball, people would like a quicker game but not a shorter season. People would be cool if football expanded its season. For some strange reason the players in the NBA want shorten their season.

I have an idea, why not trade seasons with the WNBA? Not just the season length but the number of teams as well. Let’s be real outside of any eastern conference team LeBron plays for the east is useless. Keep the western conference teams and let the d league keep those from the east. Shorter season, less teams. Allow the ladies to get a real NBA type season under their belts with 32 teams and I’m sure the women playing will not complain. It makes the fight for a championship that much more difficult. Give the WNB A the NBA schedule and have the NBA players in the summer. The WNBA has never really gotten the respect it should be given with all the talented players that play in the league. Why not give the women a chance at an 82 game season since the men are cool with not playing those long seasons. The NBA season isn’t long, it’s the fact that the league hasn’t taken advantage of their television contract. At one point TNT showed games every Tuesday and Thursday with TBS showing games on Wednesday. You add what was once thought to be an every Friday affair on ESPN that never happened four out of five days had games. Not to mention NBATV which could actually show two games every night during the regular season but for some reason they don’t. If you showed more games as well as show more teams and stop trying to show every Cleveland game the league would benefit from 82 games. 82 games a year and television only focuses on ten teams? There is your problem. Also I think the players are taking the league for granted. Players become more recognizable and the job, The NBA, becomes secondary. The NBA makes good to great players stars. Trust me if LeBron had went to the CBA  ESPN wouldn’t have been like fuck the NBA . The NBA is the big dog of basketball. LeBron wouldn’t get a shoe deal playing in China or be considered great. How spoiled are these players to want the same pay for playing less games. I’m surprised that there aren’t former players calling this out as bullshit. The league will not fold if the top players leave and play somewhere else if they were to strike because of a long season, does anyone remember The ABA? That league was just as good if not better but name and recognition of the NBA kept them on top. The NBA will be here when all the current payers retire and there may still be 82 games.