My white stand-up comic friend and I have a genuine, progressive black-white friendship. Not the “colorblind” joke you see on TV, but a brutally historical and color conscious one. This was on full display when he offered to steal a joke from me (For the sake of being a hater and not giving him any …
Progressive Black-White Friendships and White Swipe Read More »
According to Sigmund Freud, “The uncanny is that class of the frightening which leads back to what is known of old and long familiar.” In other words, when an event occurs that confirms an infantile fear, it is uncanny. For example, if you’re scared of plane crashes (despite the virtually nil chance of them happening) …
If you ever watch interviews with so-called mafioso rappers that were big in the 90s, there’s always a point where they mention “Iran-Contra” and the crowd (and sometimes the host) looks dumbfounded. I had one of these moments the other day. A friend asked me about some books I had just picked up from the …
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyO02uNGo38&w=420&h=345] I’ve had way too many conversations that ended with, “We could change things if all oppressed people just came together.” While it’s a nice thought, the opposite has actually happened. Races have unified against blacks even though blacks have the least resources globally. Nonetheless, black people have been the first to embrace multicultural …
As a bonus to “To Catch a Set Up” I wanted to share my favorite piece of “fan” mail I’ve ever received. If you don’t like my writing you’ll love this: “Mr. Poinsette, You are the most abysmally ignorant and racist black charlatan I’ve ever encountered in Oregon! You embrace false Afrocentric “history” while dismissing …
Despite Mark Zuckerberg and advertisers’ claims that all data sharing on Facebook is benign, I never really bought it. Giving companies access to members’ extensive personal data can lead to abuse. After getting two pieces of highly personal spam on Monday I’ve become much more wary of the practice. Spam is relatively easy to pick …
Back in high school my friends and I used to go to Blockbuster (Remember those?) and rent movies. Usually we would go for quirky and often stupid films, while making fun of any number of ridiculous titles available. The still undisputed champion remains “The Watermelon Heist”, a black comedy flick that would make you respect …
During the 2008 presidential election, some black comics were saying, “It’s not like we’re voting for Flavor Flav.” Maybe not, but remember, we had George W. Bush for eight years. At least Flav hasn’t had attempts on his life by a pretzel and a shoe. Besides, Bush’s presidency was more about his cabinet anyway. Chuck …
Al Jazeera English has a new page called “Drugs Central”. It’s one of the most comprehensive pages on the drug war and its effects in Latin America, as far as international mass media is concerned. Here is a sampling of some of the content: “Mexico Drug War in Figures” “Who Consumes Mexico’s Drugs” “A drug …
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZxmuMmPLUU&w=560&h=349] You ever get hit with the “nice” racism? Call it offensive with a smile. I was visiting a meeting for a group in Lake Oswego, which I won’t name, and I introduced myself to one member who, ironically, was named Bruce. He was white. We shared a quick laugh about the coincidence and …