Sunday, April 15, 2007

So many things

have changed in the few days since my last post. First my iPod has seized up and decided to die again. I am working on getting my money back or getting it fixed again for free. I was so overjoyed that it was working and then it started to freeze up and die and now it is giving me the sad iPod face again. But alas I digress from this issue, onto the good.

Things are looking up in the apt search. I went and viewed a unit on 17th and U St on Friday evening and have fallen in love with it. For starters it is a two level duplex with 2 master bedrooms and an extra half bath. The rent is $2475 a month and doesn't include utilities but does include a parking space. There is a redone kitchen, a fireplace, a small deck out back and a small perch outside the front window of the smaller master bedroom. Initially pets will not be allowed but that can be negotiated later and we would have to sign a two year lease. We will find out this week if we got the place but things are looking up due to several things that have gone our way. If we do get the place look forward to a house warming party where you will be required to bring small tokens of appreciation such as toilet paper, paper towels, dishwashing liquid and other inexpensive but necessary tokens items. I respect the fact that you're poor too. Here are some pics to wet your pallet. Say some prayers for us and I will be sure to let you know the result as soon as I do.


On another note there are several issues at the forefront of the national attention that have me concerned. This week you couldn't walk ten feet without hearing something about the "Imus story". While personally I have taken his comment and turned into a term of endearment to use on female friends(hypocritcal I know, but more on that later), I know there was no endearment as the words "them some nappy-headed hos" left his mouth. The resulting fallout is very intriguing.Should he have been fired for what he said. I don't think so. Unfortunately the ignorant bastard has some rights to free speech based on his constitutional right. The line is crossed when what is said is done so with malicious intent and creates a hostile environment. What I believe he was truly fired for was that he could no longer produce a desirable product as sponsor of the show pulled out in order not to alienate enraged consumers of their products.

On another face of the story are the "champions" of our cause Reverends Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. In my opinion hardly moral posts to whom we should anchor ourselves as a race still looking for racial equality and progress. As one Joe r. Hicks (glad that ain't my name) of the Washington Post writes "we are confronted with the specter of individuals who have little in the way of moral credibility...no presenting themselves as arbiters of public morality and good taste in broadcasting." He could not be more dead on. These two are notorious for finding issues that have a racial tint and using it to their personal advantage for self-promotion. It was gratifying to read in the very same article that "Polls have shown that only about 2 percent of blacks view Sharpton as their leader." These are the same people who have made racially insensitive statements about Jews on two separate occasions.

The good that will arise from this incident is the attention it brings to our community on the double standards about the negative images we place on our own community. As a consumer and perpetuator of some of these negative images I am far from taking the high road on this one. "Make it Rain" is an addicitingly great song but the lyrics are far from positive. Lupe and Common are equally addicting and spin positive images of life in the community. I guess I need to make a stand.

Spotlighted again this week is the Duke Rape Case; you know the one of which I speak. All charges against the three players have been dropped due to lack of evidence. While I believe that the three young men are innocent of the crimes they were charged with, the case is still an example of privilege in America. These young men were in a situation of their own choosing. Notorious for partying and causing trouble they have little space to say they were unjustly vilified. These men could have just have easily gone to a strip club for this entertainment, if it was an absolute necessity. However this is another example of The Reverends have used an issue for their own promotion. (When will the media realize that the majority of the black community doesn't give two shits about what these men have to say?)

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