not angry, just tired

In an interview with CBS news today, First Lady Michelle Obama sought to straighten the record after excepts of Jodi Kantor’s just released book, “The Obamas” were leaked to the New York Times last week. In the article, Kantor characterized Mrs. Obama as an anxious yet fierce ally of her husband who often clashed with the President’s inner circle.

“That’s been an image that people have tried to paint of me since, you know, the day Barack announced, that I’m some angry black woman,” She said when asked about her thoughts on the book’s description of her. Her statement is nothing but the truth too. I’ve heard it and read it myself about the FLOTUS.

“Why doesn’t she ever smile?”

“She looks so mean!”

“She seems like a Grouch!”

“She looks angry because she’s not proud of her country.”

I know the instinct to protect precious brain cells prevents most people from subjecting themselves to the Yahoo comments section or the message boards of FoxNews.com, but just stop by one day if you are in doubt. There is some serious First Lady hatred going on and it has yet to let up in the three years since the election. For black women, it is par for the course and I could just sense a collective head nod occurring when she talked about the criticism that has been aimed at her.

“The Angry Black Woman” meme has become the gold standard stereotype leveled at African American women. It’s as if people think it’s been imprinted on our DNA to mean mug and roll our necks. Nothing could be further from the truth, especially in the case of Michelle Obama. She’s one of the most photographed women in the world. There are plenty of pictures out there of her smiling, laughing, and hugging people. But the critics of the administration and thirsty journalists aren’t trying to put that bit of fact out there.

Then again, even if they did who would believe them? Even if a picture of Michelle Obama was published on the cover of USA Today that had her cheesing like a Cheshire cat, it still wouldn’t make that much of a difference. Some people would still find something wrong, just like they do with the rest of us. How many sistas have been pulled aside and told by a boss or a co-worker and told that they have a bit of an attitude? When was the last time some random stranger veered out of their lane and directed one of us to, “SMILE!”? I have a dozen examples, and those are just my own. It’s tiresome to say the least.

Maybe the focus should be on , “The Tired Black Woman”. She’s real and she’ll tell you that she is sick of the lies. Black women are as diverse in their dispositions as they are in their body types. It’s too damn sad that the First Lady of the United States has to defend herself for being who she is, like so many of us have had to do.

 

 

the color of happiness

As twilight fades, I’m still remembering the previous night when Rafael Nadal won the U.S Open for the first time. It was a sweet victory shared by so many of us who have followed his career and seem to live and die by each match. People tweeted through tears and blogged with huge grins on their faces over the fact that their hero made the final transition from great player to Legend.

It wasn’t easy. There were rain delays and worries about his opponent, Novak Djokovic. There was frustration about the jumping bean television coverage. All that seemed to fade away after match point. What was left was sheer unmitigated joy. A dream fulfilled. Critics silenced. History rewritten. It was Rafa’s party and everyone was invited.

Nadal was asked a question on his blog for the Times of London about what color did he want the star on his tennis bag to be if he won the Open. He said, “I don’t know. The color of happiness?” It leads to the question then, what is the color of happiness? Is it red mixed with white and blue floating above an ebony sky hovering over  tanned caramel draped in black, gray, and neon yellow? Could it be gleaming silver?

It could be so much and if asked, anyone who experienced it that night would be hard pressed to describe it. But what we all know is that we saw it.

Congratulations Rafa. May you always see the color of happiness.

i could but i won’t

Go over the whole Shirley Sherrod fiasco. It was probably the most ridiculous and shameful political display this year. I was hoping that the media would find some more foolishness to latch onto, but nooooo. They have to wring out the last bit of crap like water from a dirty ass rag. Just stop already.

1. We know racism still exists. (Duh!)
2. We know that both The Right and The Left like to stir up the deepest fears of the masses in order to get votes.     The Right : Black People; The Left: Black people who don’t do what they want.
3. Fox News is a propaganda channel. They wouldn’t know real journalism if it came up and kicked them in the  crack of their ass.
4. Somebody’s going to get paid some big bucks from all of this. My guess is Sherrod. “Next on Lifetime, The Shirley Sherrod Story: Slander and Guilt and How I Made it Over!”
5. We’ve got other things to worry about.

So don’t fear. I will not be pontificating about Andrew Breitbart’s assholery. I don’t want to dirty up my blog with that. I’m so over it. I prefer some real outrage over some that’s manufactured.

*drops mic and walks away*

dummy of the day

Poor Mark Williams. In his attempt to defend the Tea Party Movement against charges of racism from the NAACP, he writes what he claims is a satirical letter on his blog that is nothing short of racist. As a result, the Tea Party Federation expelled Williams today calling the letter, “offensive”.

Williams isn’t new to controversy. He once called President Obama a , “Muslim Welfare Thug”. He also called said that Muslims worship a , “Monkey God”. However, instead of embracing his inner racist, Williams would rationalize it and claim that his critics were overly sensitive or racists themselves.

Looks like Williams just rationalized himself out of a job now. The thing is, while Williams was the tone deaf and  culturally insensitive public face of the Tea Party, there are many more Mark Williams’ behind the scenes and in the ranks. We’ve seen the signs. We’ve heard the comments. We’ve seen the pictures. It says a lot about the organization that claimed it wasn’t racist by having this man speak on their behalf time and time again.

His ousting is just symbolic and way too late. Although it took the NAACP months to finally criticize the Tea Party, anyone who’s been paying attention to politics knew long before what exactly the Tea Party is all about. Better late than never? Not a chance.

the golden age

World Cup Champions

2010 French Open and Wimbledon Champion

NBA Champion

It looks like a great time to be a Spanish sports fan!

waiting for the hammer to drop

For the past 18 months or so, R&B singer Chris Brown has been criticized, shunned, ignored, called out, critiqued, and laughed at because of his conviction for physically assaulting his girlfriend, Pop music star Rhianna. Rightly so, I say. He did it, people didn’t appreciate it, and he served his punishment (what little they gave him). With many stumbles along the way, he’s trying to repair his reputation. Not to rub salt, but remember the public outcry and the incessant attention his case generated? You couldn’t turn on the television or get on the internet without having some headline blare at you about it.

Fast forward and another celebrity is involved in a domestic dispute. Movie star Mel Gibson has been accused of attacking his girlfriend and abusing her over the phone. About a week ago, a transcript of the phone conversation was leaked and good lord almighty was it awful. Sprinkled in with some old-fashioned crazy hate, Mel managed to spice up things with some racism, violence, and all around psychopathology. He was already in career crisis after he was arrested for drunk driving  in 2006 and abused the officers with anti-Semitic rants and sexually inappropriate comments. Just yesterday, the audio of his lovely conversation with his child’s mother was released and it was even worse than the transcript. One would think that the calls for his head would be heard far and wide…

Well, his talent agency dropped him. “Showbiz Tonight ” talked about it a bit,  Some interviews with people on the street were done by the local news and some of them said they would boycott his movies, but where is the serious condemnation? None of his peers have said anything, not even Danny Glover. Looking..looking..where’s the outrage folks?

This guy is a megastar. His movies have made millions of dollars. He’s won an Academy Award. He was one of “People’s Sexiest Men Alive”. He doesn’t get the same treatment as Chris Brown? Is he getting a pass because of his past success? If he is, let me remind you all that abuse is abuse. I don’t care how many gold statues you have won. Any man who puts his hands on a woman, or threatens her with bodily harm should be put to task, and arrested!

Oh and the racism..Remember Michael Richards being hounded and pummeled for his rant at a comedy club that was caught on tape? He had to give a tearful apology and we haven’t heard from that mofo since. Will the Hollywood establishment speak out against one of their own? Will they publicly disavow his statements? Black folks buy movie tickets too. They might want to remember that.

I’m still no fan of Chris Brown and I never will be, but I can understand if he isn’t saying to himself, “Wait just a damn minute here!”

not impossible because it happened

As spoken by Tomas Berdych the Wimbledon Men’s Singles Finalist. Berdych got to that lofty position by doing what was called by BBC Commentator Sue Barker as, “The Impossible”. He defeated Roger Federer in the quarterfinals. He then went on to defeat Novak Djokovic in the semi finals. I suppose the “impossible” was in reference to his defeat of Federer. Well considering how scratchy Roger’s play was during to the tournament, facing defeat early wasn’t that much of a surprise. Many thought when they saw the draw that Berdych had a chance. If not him, then Roddick ( oh wait, he went out early too), or Novak would have done the job. More than a few tennis writer’s hadn’t even bothered to pick Federer to win because of his erratic play throughout the Spring.

Maybe the “impossible” moniker should be given to John Isner and Nicholas Mahut who played the longest match in tennis history during the 1st round. It took 11 hours and 168 games before  John Isner earned the victory. For a few hours, attention was taken away from the World Cup and all eyes were focused on Court 18.  Each man looked utterly spent but unwilling to give up. After the match, both competitors (and the ref), were given their just props, along with some goodies to take home. Isner got a guest spot on Letterman and Mahut got to give up his shoe and racket to the Tennis Hall of Fame Museum in Newport. 70-68 in the 5th set? A tennis record never imagined ? Impossible, but it happened.

What else happened was that Justine Henin fell out of contention to win the title she covets the most. Meh. Personally I never thought is was a good idea to come back to competition in order to win a particular title. And since Wimbledon has become the rest haven for the Williams sisters, Henin winning the title might be impossible. Just saying.

But anyways,

Congrats to the Champs: Rafael Nadal (Men’s) Serena Williams (Women’s) Vania King (1/2 of Ladies Doubles).

a not so fresh pick

President Barack Obama announced his SCOTUS pick (24 hours after it had been leaked by the media) in a press conference this morning. After weeks of accurate speculation, Solicitor General Elena Kagan was introduced. Like clockwork, those on the Left tried to find something right with it, while those on the Right tried to find something wrong with it. Those in middle were relegated to quibbling about her Beltway ties and her sexual orientation. All very tedious but expected.

Whatever hopes had about Kagan being in lockstep with Justice Stevens were misplaced. The days of a Liberal majority in the Supreme Court are long gone. The Middle and The Right have yet to get over the sweeping social and economic changes of the ’60′s and ’70′s, and the members of those camps have made it their life’s work to make sure they don’t happen again. Liberal is a dirty word that no one wants to be called. Liberals don’t even like to be called Liberals. The term is “Progressive” now-and don’t you frigging forget it. Thanks to a major propaganda campaign, Liberal is synonymous with Socialism, government hand-outs, and a hatred of freedom.

It’s utterly ridiculous but incredibly effective. The President knows this. He’s no Liberal. He also doesn’t want a huge fight with the Republicans, so he chose a candidate who isn’t a Liberal. This is something that Liberals Progressives will have to deal with. There’s no way in hell that a vengeful Republican party is going to allow the Supreme Court to veer to the Dark-Liberally-Side. They aren’t even interested in participating in a smooth nomination process. The stakes are too high and there’s still a lot of work to do to erase the memory of Roe vs. Wade & etc from the annals of judicial history.

I don’t know that much about Kagan right now and I refuse to watch any coverage. I’ll wait until the hearings start. Unlike others, I prefer to hear from Kagan herself about what kind of Justice she will be. What I do know already is that she will be prepared to stay right in the middle of any issue presented to her.

As expected.

7.5 hours of what?

The President met with Congressional Republicans at the Blair House this morning to talk about Healthcare. You couldn’t call it a meeting of the minds or an effort to compromise. The Republicans have no intention of seeing this through and everyone knows it. So basically the public watched over 7 hours of Republicans regurgitating the same old talking points while President Obama swatted them away like tsetse flies. At times it was fascinating. Even after watching PBO speak at various events for the past 3 years, I still marvel at his utter command of information. I still have to pinch myself as reminder that we now have a smart President.

Like I said, some of it was engrossing. Most of it was snoozeworthy. The question was whether or not anything actually got accomplished. Well, the Democrats still seemed really squeamish about the use of reconciliation and the Republicans were content to poo poo everything. So I would say no. Interesting political theater but useless nonetheless.

Now that the pundits feel like they’ve actually earned their checks, can the rest of us get a health care bill passed?

not real time Olympics

It’s Winter Olympics time. All the thrills, spills, and chills. A chance to cheer on the winners and make fun of the losers. So far we’ve seen history made, expectations met, and hope fulfilled.

Too bad it’s not live in most places. If you live on the West Coast like me, you are treated to the utter professionalism of NBC Sports by seeing everything up to three hours later. Thank goodness for Twitter, otherwise it would be damn near midnight PST before you saw Evan Lysecek spin his way to a gold medal. Try to complain to the brass, and all you get is, “You can’t please everybody.” The thing is, nobody’s pleased. Even the people who get to see stuff live have to suffer through commentator prattle, seemingly endless human interest montages, and a billion commercials. Let’s no forget webcast blackouts, and a homepage that leaves much to be desired. All in all, NBC and Dick Ebersol get a big thumbs down.

We now know why the network projected a 400 million dollar loss by broadcasting the games. They’re salty and they are making the viewers pay for it. I say that NBC sports deserve a big “FU” back from us. It’s bad enough they screw up their tennis coverage every year, but now to turn the Winter Olympics into one giant clusterfuck is ridiculous.

Alert to CBS and ABC, if you get a chance to cover the Olympics in the future, look to NBC as a guide for what NOT to do. Now I’m off to twitter to catch the latest Olympic news..LIVE.

Bastids.