There is not one thing I would pay a hard earned dollar to hear come out of Sarah Palin’s mouth. Obviously, a few brilliant minds at CSU Stanislaus  felt otherwise. Earlier this year they paid Palin $75,000 plus numerous expenses inclusive, but not limited to, first-class airfare for two and additional travel accommodations for others in her entourage,  premium hotel rooms, and even bendable straws for name brand water consumption. Talk about a Queen B! [Click here for a copy of the contract.]

We won’t even address the issue here that CSU is a school in the broke state of California where another round of IOUs are imminent.  Come on, $75,000 for 30 minutes of whining from this trailer trash to national icon hussy? Only in America. It must be said, this was a fundraiser. It will be interesting to find out how much money was raised for the event and what were the net proceeds to the organization.

The whole situation came to light when the school was asked to provide a copy of the contract signed with Washington Speakers Bureau on Palin’s behalf. CSU claimed they did not have a copy initially. A court order caused one to magically materialize.

It’s ironic that so many of Palin’s ilk have the hubris to label Michele and Barack Obama as elitist. Where is all the backlash from the same folks about Palin earning $150,000 per hour.  The entire Palin clan should be eternally grateful to Senator John McCain. We have him to thank for gifting Palin to the world. Is there any wonder why Arizona is in such disarray?

Stay tuned for the upcoming remix release of B@!&h betta’ have my money… Starring AMG, DJ Quik and Too Short with a featured special guest appearance by the biggest pimp of them all Sarah Palin. You better not forget the bendable straws!

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Are you weary yet about all of the  talk about whether President Barack Obama is a Muslim? You are witnessing the lengths at which some will go to cause any distraction possible to influence upcoming decisions in the voter’s booth.

Uncertainty has always bred fear. In such a hypocritical place as the United States it is ironic that two leading debates in the country right now are tied to religion. One issue deals with whether or not it is appropriate to build a mosque around the  corner from Ground Zero, the other on whether or not the President is Muslim or Christian. Whatever happened to freedom of religion? If President Obama is a Muslim, so what?

Behold White Supremacy hard at work. This is what you get when those accustomed to power see their monopoly disintegrating. Oh how short our memories. There was similar uproar when women were given the right to vote, when blacks were no longer forced to utilize separate bathrooms and could eat at the same counters as whites, and when Martin Luther King Jr. was labeled a Communist.

It is sad commentary that because a man can respect multiple cultures, religions and political regimes that he is labeled as supportive of or a member of those groups. America grew too accustomed to leadership that was more renegade cowboy than distinguished and diplomatic.

The short term memory loss in America is incredible. It wasn’t too long ago that Christians used religion to carry out and justify the slave trade in America. On Sunday around eleven in the morning all over the country, you will still find most Christians in a very segregated house of worship. The blood on the hands of Christians from a historical perspective is much worse than the blood on the hands of the terrorists that hijacked the planes on 9/11.

Let’s quickly compare a few scenarios and shine a little light on some extreme hypocrisies.  Islamic extremists killed more than 3,000 people on 9/11. America initiated a war, not in retaliation but over weapons of mass destruction (otherwise known as oil) that the government knew was a false pretense. Death toll unknown.  America dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki and Hiroshima killing hundreds of thousands of Japanese citizens. The President at the time was Harry S. Truman, a Southern Baptist.

Genocides in Darfur have killed and displaced millions over the last decade. Essentially, Arabs continually persecute non-Arabs with Sudanese government support since. The most brutal system of chattel slavery known to man, The American Slave Trade, robbed millions of their religion, culture and knowledge of self with three primary tools: the Bible, Christianity and violence.

No belief system nor its membership is exempt from reprehensible acts. Based upon my study of religion, all suggest man is fallible. All provide for some methodology for redemption. As the world continues to speculate on the religious leanings of the President, take a moment to pull out the book associated with your belief system and look up the passages and scripture that addresses; peace, judgement, love and hate, violence and war and ask yourself a simple question.

Have I been a good ___________________  today?

Fill in the blank appropriately: Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Catholic….

Stop the hypocrisy and bury the hate!

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Lift every voice and sing til’ earth and heaven ring, ring with the harmonies of liberty…

Right about now in the song, especially blacks 40 and under start humming the words hoping no one around them is realizing there is no way you are going to even try the words to verses two and three. You might be saying, I didn’t even know there were more verses.

James Weldon Johnson wrote the poem in 1900.  Soon after Johnson’s brother transformed it into a song. It has been in heavy rotation at every Martin Luther King, Jr. tribute and ceremony, NAACP Convention and any other gathering when more than a hundred blacks assemble for something positive. The only reason the Electric Slide gets more play is because it is now played at gatherings where the attendees are not just black. We won’t even mention DJ Casper’s Cha Cha Cha song right now.

Professor Timothy Askew at Clark Atlanta University, has an interesting perspective on the ideal that the song is actually separatist. Professor Askew has spent a lot more time than most researching James Weldon Johnson while at Yale University. This is a bold position from a professor at a HBCU.You know he has been called Tommy (short for Tom) Askew a couple of times for his position.

It is intriguing how many debates are rampant about the attempt and need to assimilate in a rather all-in  nature since the occupants of the White House have been a little different from the past. According to history, Lift Every Voice an Sing was never the official “Black National Anthem”. Arguably, the song never makes reference to any racial group at all.

In Askew’s new book, Cultural Hegemony and African American Patriotism: An Analysis of the Song, ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing‘, he explores the ideals and traditions surrounding the song.  According to Askew, by singing the Black National Anthem, blacks are sending the message that they prefer to be separate, and have their own nation. Hmmm.

While I respect the professor’s point of view and appreciate the intellectual analysis, I have to say, brother please. First, I honestly don’t believe enough black people even know the words to the song past the first verse. Second, just because you hold onto something near and dear and treat as tradition does not make you a separatist ready to  start a revolution or revive the Marcus Garvey Movement. Lastly, at the root of many of the problems faced by blacks today is a lack of knowledge and understanding of self and that deep seated, often unspoken desire for assimilation and acceptance from the dwindling majority. The revolution will not be televised.

Sing a song full of the full of the faith that the dark past has taught us…

Popularity: 50%

Technorati Tags: African American, Lift Every Voice and Sing, Race, Timothy Askew

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Last week Omar Thornton murdered eight people at his place of employment near Hartford, CT. He also killed himself. His simple reasoning, racism. As you have already witnessed, it was immediately national news. You obviously know, Omar was a black man and all of his victims were white.  What you probably have not heard about, and is most likely news to you is the fact that since May of this year, more than 15 people have been stabbed in or around Flint, MI by a knife wielding, muscular built, young white male assailant. Five of these victims have died. All of the victims have been black males.

Officials in Flint are not assigning any racial motive in spite of a clear pattern. The attacker apparently feigns distress or asks for directions before launching his assault on the unsuspecting victims, police said. There is a serial killer on the loose and the officials are unwilling to ascribe racism as a likely motive. Really?

From murders to abducted children, when the victims are not white, there is an incredible pattern of foot dragging that goes on. Loss of life due to senseless violence is tragic regardless of the race of the perpetrator or the victim. You would not know this from the longstanding tradition of not fairly covering the tragedies that plague black victims in comparison to the coverage that takes place when the victims are white.

What you see depends on where you sit. Many black people (not all), heard the story about Omar and his justification for his rampage and quietly related to their mind’s eye, the man finally snapped. At the same time, many whites (not all), immediately related to their mind’s eye, that since the union officials and multiple employees countered the racism claim levied by Mr. Thornton, that the company was always fair and just in dealing with minority employees and never could have discriminated against him.

When the victims are not white, their stories still deserve to be heard. Their cases still deserve to be solved. It’s sad commentary that when crimes perpetrated upon ethnic minorities occur, there is an unspoken assumption that the case will go unsolved and the cases rarely make the news. Why is it we still don’t know who shot Tupac and Biggie? There is a serial killer active in Flint, MI who is white and all of his victims have been black. Why haven’t you heard about it?

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Technorati Tags: African American, Justice, Media Matters, Race, Racism

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Right off the bat let’s make one thing clear, I support President Barack Obama. With that said, I have a simple question (actually a few). I wonder, will his legacy be one of style or substance? What do you feel he has done right? Where do you feel he really dropped the ball? Tavis Smiley, Dr. Cornel West and Rev. Jesse Jackson have expressed varying degrees of frustration with his candidacy and presidency. Are their criticisms warranted? Yesterday we had a great dialogue on Facebook about the delicate balance Obama manages being a race-neutral political figure with so much pressure in a race-conscious America. The conversation started because Dr. West was bagging up the President on how he came at him after an event. It’s all very interesting. In your words, what have been President Obama’s achievements or shortcomings?

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This video was produced in the early part of  this year. It appears that this version was shared as an agenda item in a Birmingham, AL council meeting. Mayor Larry Langford deserves applause for his courage. The piece was created by Reginald Bullock.

Something must be done to curb the violence and mayhem affecting black children. Commentary about this excerpt is being purposefully limited as the video speaks volumes.

Watch: A War for Your Soul

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Technorati Tags: A War for Your Soul, black on black crime, civil rights, Justice, Mayor Larry Langford, Race, Racism, Reginald Bullock, teen violence

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Recently, our esteemed elected officials had to vote on legislation introduced by Al Franken (D-Minnesota) that would allow victims employed by companies that contract with the Department of Defense to sue instead of being forced into arbitration settlement hearings on cases of battery and rape. Franken introduced the Bill after learning about Jamie Leigh Jones’ ordeal while being employed at Haliburton and stationed in Iraq. Jones was repeatedly sexually harassed. Eventually the harassment escalated to the nineteen year old being drugged and gang raped. When she attempted to report the incident she was locked in a crate. After her release and return to the United States she sought remedy only to find out that due to the fine print in her employment papers, she relinquished her ability to pursue remedy outside of arbitration.

Fortunately, Frankens’ legislation passed. However, all 30 of the Nay votes came from Republicans. The Department of Defense was also against the anti-rape amendment. This is extremely disturbing but not too surprising. Take a look at the commentary by John Stewart and listen to the comments made by: Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE), Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), Sen. Christopher “Kit” Bond (R-MO) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). These fabulous five are adamant about tweaking legislation for the funding of ACORN in light of the whole video pertaining to tips on circumventing the system and helping a supposed pimp enhance his ring of prostitution. But impacting HBR and other companies that do business with the United States Department of Defense with this type of legislation must have hit a little too close to home.

Visit Republicans for Rape.org for contact information on this esteemed collective. The Thirty Dirty. Go figure. I guess this is what it looks like when the chickens come home to roost. It is often stated at the Opus that GOP is dead. Obviously, that position is a juxtaposition of what was and what might evolve. The Republican Party has lost the stranglehold it  had with Latino voters, it’s ploy to reach out to African-American voters is a farce, and this latest gaffe is sure to alienate millions of women voters. Keep up the destruction.

I challenge every reader of this post to call or email as many of the Dirty Thirty as possible and let them know how you really feel. Please share the information with you friends and remember it could have been your sister, daughter, relative or neighbor victimized in Iraq. Political allegiances should not matter in every situation.

To vote against an anti-rape amendment is pretty sad commentary. I guess the old guard feels desperate times call for desperate measures. One’s political affiliation on some matters should be irrelevant.

It’s sad to see that we have legislators that support battery and rape but rail against helping a pimp become more efficient. It looks like they have a thing against the middle man. That was a joke.

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Unfortunately, the life of Meleanie Hain has ended at age 31. Mrs. Hain was the brilliant gun freak that thought it would be prudent to wear her holstered pistol to her 5 year old child’s soccer game last year. Soon after she used such poor judgment, her right to carry was revoked. She later sued and won the right to carry back.

Mrs. Hain was killed by her soon-to-be estranged husband, Scott Hain. After murdering his wife and the mother of his three children, Scott proceeded upstairs to blow his brains out with a 12 gauge shotgun. The whole affair will probably be blamed on gansta rap, but oh well, the saga continues.

Isn’t it interesting that you can’t have a firearm in Chicago, Washington, DC, Chicago and most other areas defined as urban? Makes you say hmmm… So much for the 2nd Amendment. Why do you think the laws differ? I’d love to know.

I know, I know every time there is an incident of gun violence in the Untied States all sorts of chatter emerges about gun control vs. the right to bear arms. Blah, blah, blah…. The fact of this matter is 3 children are now orphans largely because they were born into a union so obsessed with the right to bear arms that the big picture was missed. Now, at the hands of their probable card carrying NRA father, both he and their (probable) NRA card carrying mother are deceased.

The gun was created for a singular purpose, to stop from breathing whatever its projectile hit. While the gun certainly helped man’s survival in the wilderness over the ages, it has certainly evolved over time into the modern day era’s supreme weapon of mass destruction. Think about it, the bullet has killed more people than all terrorists known to man, the atom bomb, weapons of mass destruction (real and make believe), Hitler and both Bushes combined.

The killing will continue. Check out your local 6 o’clock news if you are a non-believer. Numerous states allow gun owners to carry their weapons. Recently in Arizona, gun owners have been given the right to wear their holstered weapons in restaurants, bars and night clubs. Get this… they are not allowed to drink. Further proof about the intellectual deficit in such a beautiful place.

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I would like for someone to explain to me how the Democratic Party again proves that their theme song should be Britney Spears’ Oops I Did it Again. Right now, there is a village missing not one, but five idiots. If you see any of these idiots throw a shoe at them. The not-so-fab five, Max Baucus (D-MT), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Tom Carper (D-DE), Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Blanch Lincoln (D-AR) had the opportunity to make sweeping changes and impact favorably the likelihood that Health Care Reform would happen this year. Thanks to their NO votes, passage this year is less likely.

Their votes make a lot more sense when you pull the covers off. Each of them received financial gain directly or indirectly from the Health Insurance Industry or their lobbyists. Almost $20 million dollars in gain to be exact. In fairness to these dummies, they committed no crimes. Technically…. these types of kickbacks are legal. It’s crystal clear that President Obama’s promise of change, while well intended, will be much more difficult to implement with regard to revamping Health Care.

Earlier, I referred to these elected officials as dummies. They or their causes look pretty smart from a financial perspective. $19 million smarter to be exact. The actual dummies might be the US citizens naive enough to think the Democrats couldn’t possibly screw up this one. Go figure.

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It’s been a while since anything new has been posted to The Opus Unlimited. For my dedicated readers, I apologize. With permission from a friend I am posting the following composition regarding the social reality of race. So much in recent weeks has occurred involving race, racism, profiling etc.

Another friend of mine made a comment on Facebook that he felt that President Obama should not have made the comment he made about the Cambridge police department. I replied to his post that while I agree that Webster’s definition of the word  stupidly will probably be appropriately applied to the actions of the officer and Professor Gates in the end, the American public would take Obama’s comments literally, and better word play would have been the advice of the day.

That wasn’t what happened. Later, the President attempted to remove the proverbial foot from his mouth. I respect that. If you make a mistake, acknowledge it an move on. In my same reply, I reminded my friend that the next time he is pulled over for DWB or teaching his sons about the proper protocol when he gets pulled over by 5-0, to remember the President’s emotional word play and keep his cool.

No sooner than my reply hit his Facebook account my friend John called me back to explain that he could not believe my comments and how fitting they were. He went on to explain how he was DWB in suburban Howard County Maryland a couple of days prior, he looked in his rear-view mirror and witnessed he was being followed by po-po. This went on for a mile or so. The police officer changed lanes and drove up along the left side of John’s vehicle, took a look over, dropped back and then got behind him and most of you can conclude the next paragraph of the story.

John was pulled over. To make matters worse, he was riding dirty, not with a 9mm under the seat, he had an expired emissions certificate tied to his plates. John explained to the officer that he worked in New Jersey and simply had failed to renew his emission certificate due to an oversight and being out of town during the week. He asked for a little consideration and inquired whether or not a warning could be issued. The officer replied, “I can’t do that this is how I make my living.”

John and I laughed about the incident only because the timing was funny as well as the context. The reality is the historic relationship between police and men of color in the United States has not been a good one. Yes, significant improvements have been made and the good officers deserve credit and respect. Conversely, racial profiling is a huge issue in throughout the country. Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona does it in a cavalier manner everyday.

I used John’s recent story as an entertaining introduction to Frederick’s composition. Enjoy.

Race is A Social Reality
by Frederick A. Hanna

Race can be defined as, a socially constructed category, which implies that depictions of racial difference are human creations rather than external, essential categories.

A few months ago a classmate of mine, who’s opinion I greatly respect made a statement regarding race that kind of threw me. We were discussing racism in urban schools, which is a primary aspect of what we do as educational anthropologists, sociologists, philosophers, historians, and practitioners—we all get a good slice of the race issue—when my colleague said something to the effect of, “I think this whole race as a social construct conversation is overused, and getting too much play.” Now this struck me because as practitioners of social science and race theorists, we rely on this definition of race as a cornerstone of our understanding of racial dynamics and discriminatory practices; nevertheless, there was something in his comment that resonated with me. Every time I teach race as a “social construct” which makes complete sense to me and helps me to explain a number of racial dynamics that have played themselves out over a vast history of racism and discrimination in America, I see the image of myself as a black man and I know beyond a shadow of doubt that essentialist characteristics of race (phenotype, skin color, biological characteristics) still matter and still impact me wherever I go. Whatever the term or the logic we use to define race, when I walk into a department store, the stereotypes still apply; when I show any kind of emotional response to anything, the stereotypes still apply; when I walk down the street or drive down the road in a white neighborhood, the stereotypes still apply; even when I demonstrate academic excellence it seems to be posed as a matter of exception to be marveled at—Why?—because when people look at me, they don’t see a social construct, they see a black man. Because of that, a big part of my life story involves shaking off those stereotypes.

Race, along with class, gender, etc. Are socially constructed, but they are also a social reality. “This means that after race—or class or gender—is created, it produces real affects on actors racialized as ‘black’ or ‘white.’ Although race, as other social structures is unstable, it has a ‘changing same’ quality at its core” (E. Bonilla-Silva). That is to say that while race does have dynamic elements that change and are reconstructed over time, there are also essentialist categories of race that remain fixed.

To ignore race as a social reality, which seems to be what many Americans want to do as we push towards a post-racial society, is to deny an entire history of racial exploitation which includes the near extermination of the Native American, the victimization of the Mexican, the exploitation of Asian contract laborers, and of course the dehumanization of the African which extended overtly into the Jim Crow era. The vestiges of this racial social order continue to manifest themselves in our country both materially and ideologically. The history of America is based upon a doctrine of white supremacy which gave rise to a racialized social system. This system bestowed privilege upon Europeans, and assigned deficit to non-Europeans. The result was systems of social relations that reinforce white privilege socially, economically, politically, etc. The tendency of actors racialized as white in this system is to actively struggle to maintain, or passively receive the merits of white privilege. Those assigned to the subordinate race have 2 choices: 1) struggle to change and challenge systemic and structural racism, or 2) become resigned to their position. Thus, the social reality of race and racism continues to play itself out regardless of what the “social construct” is doing. One must then conclude that while these social constructs are defined and redefined, inhabited, transformed, and reinvented, there are certain realities that remain fixed. Simply explaining them away as a social construct can’t work. This would only amount to justification of the status quo by pointing out that certain “races” need to “get over it” and move beyond their racial baggage. A justification which does little more than to affirm the social reality that the “get over it” argument attempts to dismiss.

Popularity: -50%

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