Am I the only one getting fed up with this petulant farce of a Republican Party, or is everyone else seeing what I'm seeing? Republicans no longer even try to be either credible, or consistent. A Democrat and a Republican can commit the exact same act and they'll call it treason on the part of the Democrat and a glorious act of patriotism by the Republican. Even when a republican is caught committing an act of incredibly stupidity, it's no problem for them at all - they simply come up with a lie to whitewash it, and then move on to the next disaster. And they couldn’t care less how incredibly transparent the lie is. All they care about is making it plausible enough for their gullible base to swallow - and their base will swallow anything, as long as it promotes their delusion of infallibility. .
SEN. RON JOHNSON
Sen. Ron Johnson is a perfect case in point. He had the audacity to read into the congressional record an account of the capitol insurrection, by some observer he dug up, who claimed that it was actually carried out by leftist conspirators who disguised themselves as Trump supporters – and that’s in spite of the fact that of the hundreds of insurrectionists arrested, not a single one was a left-wing activist. And beyond that, relatively all of them said they carried out their actions at the behest of Donald Trump. And on top of all that, we watched it as it was taking place on live t.v., yet, Sen. Johnson read this complete fiction into the congressional record with the damp-eyed conviction of Walter Cronkite's finest hour. . It leads one to believe that the man is either, mentally ill, incredibly stupid, or think America is both. But regardless of which way the winds of delusion are blowing in his head, it clearly proves that he’s unfit for office. Now, that wouldn’t be a problem if we were only talking about one dysfunctional politician, but it seems that the entire Republican Party has fallen victim to the Trump-is-Jesus syndrome. . There was a time when if a politician got caught in a blatant lie it could cost him his career, but thanks to the new normal that Trump and the GOP has created, lying has become a routine part of communicating with the public. Their disregard for the truth has run so rampant that it would be breaking news if they went an entire day without lying. It's gotten so bad that the only way of determining what the GOP is actually up is by listening to what they’re accusing their opponents of doing.
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This has become one of the most serious threats to American democracy that we've ever faced. We have an entire political party – one half of our political apparatus - who feels so threatened over the nation’s demographics that they neither like, nor respect, democracy any longer, and they’re willing to utilize every monkey wrench in the toolbox to undermine it. And what’s worse is, they have the dysfunctional assistance of one-third of the population to back their efforts. Due to the lying environment created by Donald Trump, the GOP, and Fox News, they've gathered an assemblage of the most recklessly insecure, undereducated, and mindless individuals in American history.
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So, it’s no wonder these people love Donald Trump. He’s a perfect symbol for everything this motely crew stands for. He’s also an uneducated and truth-resistant failure who’s destroyed everything he’s ever touched. But he’s been propped up by his father most of his life, and later by Russian opportunists, so, as yet, he's never had to suffer the consequences of his incompetence. But that makes him a perfect reflection of his followers, a group that's comprised of a bunch of uneducated losers who have also been propped up, but in their case, by the White supremacist system. So the convergence of Donald Trump, his motely crew, and the Republican Party is the most serious threat to democracy that this nation has faced since the Civil War. In fact, considering the gullibility of his base, and Donald Trump's absolute stupidity, they could very easily place another civil war in our near future if we don't get a handle on the situation. Because the further in denial we remain, the more idiots they recruit, and the bolder they become. So we're taking these people much too casually - they staged an insurrection against the United States government! Think about that. They committed treason, soTrump's ass should already be in jail. It's time for America to wake up.
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There’s a very easy solution for this problem, however. If we’re smart, we’ll make an example of Trump by giving him exactly what the law prescribes for every crime he’s committed. We should strip him of all of his ill-gotten wealth, charge him with inciting insurrection, and then throw in all the many other crimes he’s committed. He should be treated exactly like any other American who's committed his crimes would be treated. That would easily put him away for life. . But the one thing that stands in the way of getting that done is America’s hypocrisy. While we claim to believe in equal justice under the law, that’s blatant a lie. Can you imagine the nation's reaction if Barack Obama had organized a group of crazed Black people to commit insurrection against our government!!!? The possibility of his being lynched right on the White House grounds would have been well within the realm of possibility. . This country has never held white collar criminals accountable for their actions. That’s why Nixon didn’t go to jail, and neither did Reagan, George W. Bush, or Dick Cheney - and as much as I love Obama, he was a part of that hypocrisy with respect to Bush and Cheney because it's a hypocrisy that's built into system itself. Another example of that double standard at work is how they’ve let so many white collars criminals out of prison and placed them on house arrest due to the Coronavirus. Why should such people get out on house arrest while all the "average" prisoners have to stay incarcerated? What makes them so special? Let me tell you what makes them special – they're White, and they have money, connections, and social status. .
So, if we’re smart, we’ll ignore our national hypocrisy and jump in Trump's ass with both feet. We should deal with Trump like a common dope dealer, but worse, because his crimes are much more serious. That would not only send a strong message to the other dictator wannabes in the wings, but it’ll also send a message to Trump’s base. It would send them the clear message that what they smell ain’t cooking. . It's been rumored that Trump supporters intend to blowup the capitol at Biden's first State of The Union message. Now just think about that for a moment - The former president's supporters are planning to blow up the United States capitol. If that doesn't sound unreal to you, it just goes to show you how far this nation has slid down the slippery slope under Donald Trump, and it's time to correct that. . So, good. Let them come. Take down all of the fencing and barriers from around the capitol and let Trump give another one of his fiery speeches. Then the moment they step foot in one area they don't belong, the capitol's defenders should open up on them with machine gun fire just like they would against any other enemy who attacked our capitol. That's what should have done the last time, because that’s a response that never fails to get an idiot's attention. It's time to stop playing with these people. .
if we'd have acted decisively the first time, we wouldn't even be having this discussion today. It would have immediately restored order in America. Because as I pointed out above, these people are the perfect reflection of Donald Trump. That is, they're cowardly wimps out to impress their friends by taking selfies of themselves playing Rat Patrol against our democracy. Think about it - can you even imagine Trump in a fist fight? Neither can I, because he even looks like he's a coward. So just like Trump, when the shit really hit's the fan, all of his gang of wimps will haul ass and crawl back under the rocks from which they came. Thus, the solution is simple. America has got to demonstrate to these idiots that we take our democracy seriously, so we have no intention of playing in the sandbox with them to use as a photo op.
NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL LETITIA JAMES COMES DOWN ON THE NRA – AND DONALD TRUMP IS NEXT .
Black people are brilliant, but we take it for granted, and it's hard to get that message across because far too many of us don't like to read. Our long history of brainwashing during slavery has made us so fixated on partying, fronting-off, and fighting among ourselves that we don't take the time to recognize the value of our intellectual creativity. Many of us tend to put all our effort into pretending to be what we're not, instead of putting in the work to actually become who we're pretending to be. .
It's absolutely essential that we get real and start to focus on the power of our minds, because the time for being cool, and being primarily known for shaking our booties is past. We saw what happened on January 6th at the nation's capitol. If we don't get on top of things, what we saw happening at the capitol could end up happening at our front doors. . So the time has come to demonstrate to the world what we have to bring to the table. We know who we are, and we know our capabilities, but in order to solidify our place in society we've got to demonstrate what we know to the rest of society. We've got to show the world that Barack Obama wasn't just an aberration, and the power of his intellect is common among Black people.
. But due to our history, many Black people have a problem with that - especially Black men. During slavery, house slaves tended to be better educated than the slaves who worked in the fields. They spoke what came to be called "proper" English, and many often looked down their noses at slaves who worked the fields. As a result, field slaves developed a hostility towards house slaves - thus, the expression, "House nigga". Resulting from that, over the years the hostility that many Black people held towards other "proper-speaking" Blacks morphed into a hostility towards education in general. Many consider it trying to be White. So, to this day, many highly intelligent Black people go out of their way to hide their intellect - and with good reason.
. When I was coming up in the hood, there was no faster way of getting your ass kicked than to go around trying to show everybody how intelligent you were. That's why Dr. Cornel West tries his best to act like he's the coolest thing in the room, and Dr. Michael Eric Dyson is always runnin' around quoting rappers. They're both, essentially, apologizing for their education.
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But times have changed. It's time for us to recognize that intelligence and the pursuit of knowledge is not "a White thang". It's essential that we reverse that attitude. Knowledge has no color, it only has power. So it's time for Black people to bring their intellect out of the closet and start struttin' their brilliance, because during these times, being dumb can also get our asses kicked - but this time, by the White man - and as we speak, they're being groomed by people like Trump, and they're in the process of modifying the cultural norms to do just that. Under Trump, it became routine for a White man to chase and gun down a Black man for jogging through his neighborhood, or for rogue cops to gun down a Black kid in his own backyard. That's their vision of how America should be. So, if it's not yours, what are you singing and dancing about?
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Donald Trump and his motley crew have made it abundantly clear with their capitol insurrection that this country will become just as lawlessly bigoted as we sit back and allow it to. So it's time for Black people to wake up and utilize our creativity to help steer this nation in the right direction. We can no longer remain content to be passengers on this flight, because the pilots are in the cockpit getting drunk on power, so it's time to prepare to take the wheel. . It's time to recognize that the adversity that Black people have been forced to endure, from the time we open our eyes in the morning until the time we close them at night, for the past four centuries has been the intellectual equivalent of a daily workout at the gym. So, while I don't trust the White man - at least, the establishment White man - I'm not mad at him; on the contrary, I wanna thank him. Because the adversity that he's sent Black people through over the centuries has served to make us MORE rather than less. It's been like Marine Corps boot camp. As a direct result of the pure hell we've been forced to endure, what we now so casually refer to as "soul", is nothing less than Black intellectual brilliance straining to be unleashed. So it's past time for us to utilize that brilliance to save this nation. And we have one leg up in that regard. Due to the White man's delusion of superiority, we know him much better than he knows us, and that's always a tactical advantage. He's created a monster. Now it's like Charlie Parker versus Boots Randolph, a slam dunk, if we only apply ourselves.
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We must recognize that our creative "soul" is not just limited to singing and dancing. We can apply it to anything we choose. It's being used right now to relate this message, so we must stop taking it for granted. . The Attack on the capitol should alert us that it is the time to set aside our frivolous pursuits and get busy. Things have come to a head, so we can no longer afford to have 90% of our youth aspiring to be rappers or bouncing a ball for a living. As long as we continue in that vein, we'll always be controlled by others. We've got to start striving to own the racetrack, instead of struggling to be the horse. God made birds to fly, fish to swim, and man to THINK. So, we've got to begin to do just that, and once we do, we'll even shock ourselves with how much more we have going for us than just rhythm. After all, it takes tremendous intelligence to be Quincy Jones.
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So we've got to start placing a lot more emphasis on developing the power of our intellect, and devote a lot less time to just "kickin'-it", and trying to be cool. The capitol insurrection is a clear signal to us that the time for fun and games is over. Many more of us have got to become more like the sisters mentioned below. They're utilizing their “soul” to help protect our people, by making us the masters of our own fate, and allowing us to move forward with a sense of confidence and dignity. Sisters have an innate understanding that we have far too much knowledge and creativity to continue to allow ourselves to be the White man's dependent step-children - and thanks to the behavior of many Black men, sisters know the indignities suffered by step-children much better than most.
THE PROBLEM
Due to the White conservative's propensity to live in a paranoid delusion, the establishment class makes billions of dollars by playing them like fiddles. Demagogues routinely play on their emotions, because they tend to do more feeling than they do thinking. That explains why they're so prone to embracing conspiracy theories, and can be so easily persuaded that reality is "a hoax". It takes nothing short of pure delusion for them to convince themselves that they're superior to Black people, but that's what they're desperate to believe. So, instead of following logic and connecting the dots in life for themselves, these people tend to believe anything they're told by the people they look up to. They have a vested interest in it, because these are the people who are assuring them that they're superior, and they have a desperate need to hold on to that belief. But as we've just witnessed, the convergence of ignorance, desperation, and delusion is a dangerous combination. .
Many conservatives want so passionately to believe that they were born special that they'll accept any manner of nonsense from anyone who massages that delusion, and that leaves them vulnerable to manipulation. That's why it's so important for everyone to understand - whether they be Black or White - that it's the ability to think that separates superior human beings from those who are inferior, not the color of their skin. We think with our minds, not our pigmentation, and anyone who says anything different is lying.
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But many conservatives refuse to accept that simple fact of life because it shatters their delusions of grandeur. So they tend to be world-class suckers, and social manipulators routinely click their emotions off and on like a light switch for profit, influence, and then, ever more profit. A perfect example of that is how Trump convinced conservatives that hordes of drug-crazed Mexicans were about to invade the U.S. to rape White women. He did that to gain their political support and become their leader, and they fell right in line. And now, in spite of the fact that he's a mindless idiot and con man, he's managed to mold them into a cult. Trumpism has now moved outside the political realm to become a religion. That's a perfect demonstration of just how weak-minded these people are. . Some of them still claim to believe the "Big Lie" that Trump won the election - in spite of the fact that he's been thrown out of court over 60 (SIXTY!) times, and everyone who's investigated the matter has said it's a lie. These people knew better, but it was convenient for them to claim to believe it, because it gave them an excuse to strike out against America without having to admit that their actions were treasonous. So just like they looked for an excuse to embrace Trump's lie, now they're looking for an excuse to revolt against the nation again, because due to the changing demographics that's about to make them the minority in this country, they don't like democracy any more.
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And the very same technique used by Trump regarding the so-called Mexican invasion of the U.S. is now being used by the National Rifle Association (NRA) to single Black people out - in fact, the NRA is the one who perfected it long before Trump came along. Their game entails the NRA convincing White conservatives that Black people constitute such a looming threat to their survival that they have to armed themselves to the teeth to be prepared to meet that threat. That’s not true, of course, but the NRA is playing on conservative fear to gain both wealth and influence. They gained their wealth through both private donations and the support of the firearms industry, and then they used that wealth and influence to purchase the political clout to obtain even more wealth and influence. In the end it became such a self-perpetuating cycle of money and influence that the NRA now all but controls who's being elected to office and much of the legislation that come out of Washington, D.C. So essentially, whatever the NRA says, becomes law.
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That's bad news for Black people, because the fear they generate feed into the demagoguery of people like Donald Trump, and it has led to behavior like what we saw during the capitol insurrection. That has become a dire threat to all people of color. It's exactly that influence that's led to the police being more aggressive towards Blacks, why judges and juries are more prone to putting Black people in jail and setting rogue cops free, and why it's harder for Black people to obtain employment.
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So the bottom line is, the manipulators are making money by getting hordes of unthinking White people to believe that Black people are the enemy. But in spite of that, instead of countering that perception with intelligence, far too many of Black people have our heads in the clouds. We're so busy focused on singing, dancing, and dedicating our lives to trying to bounce a ball for a living that we're completely unaware of how America is changing around us - and not to our advantage. So it's well past the time to face the fact that the entire Black community will never fit on a basketball court. If we want to survive, we've got to pursue other areas of expertise other than singing and dancing and trying to bounce a ball for a living. .
Now, that's not meant to be critical of those who have managed to succeeded in those areas, because everyone has their unique talents, and many Black people have used sports to obtain degrees in more serious areas of expertise, and that includes my own children and grandchildren. But we can't allow ourselves to focus on those areas exclusively. We've got to start looking at sports and entertainment as a means to and end, and not an end in itself. We have to learn to play sports, without allowing sports to play us. We've also got to make the thinkers among us our superstars, and stop letting the White man choose our heroes for us with his television cameras. That's his most powerful form of social manipulation. So we can't allow ourselves to be played like that. Those cameras are powerful tools of manipulation. They made Donald Trump a cult figure, in spite of the fact that he's an absolute idiot - and that's not hyperbole. .
Black people have a natural infinity to think. That's exactly what we call "soul" is all about - intellectual creativity. We have brains, and the White man has known that about us for generations. That's why he's so hostile toward us, and in the past he passed laws that made it against the law to educate Black people. The reason for that was pointed out by Frederick Douglass when he said, "Knowledge unfits a child to be a slave." I've listed a few example of his point:
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2017 HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE
BREANNA IVEY
HELPS SEND PERSEVERANCE ROVER
TO MARS
The White man recognized the power of Black minds while we were still in slavery. During that time Smallpox ravaged the White man for generations. It was wiping them out just like Covid-19 is doing today. And with all of his institutions of "higher learning", he couldn't managed to get a handle on it. But it took a Black slave, known only as Onesimus,to come up with an immuniza-tion technique that all but eradicate it, and we're still benefiting from his knowledge today in the fight against Covid-19. And the creativity of the Black mind is still adding to that knowledge. Today, a 34-year-old Black scientist, Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, is at the very forefront of the fight against Covid-19. . So, again, the White man has known about Black intellectual acuity for generations. That was the purpose of many of the Jim Crow laws, to keep it in check - and with good reason. Look at the ease in which Barack Obama played White Conservatives like a banjo to become one of the most celebrated presidents in American history. Barack Obama, this supposedly "lowly, and inferior" Black man, is now honored and celebrated all over the world, and will go down in history as one of our greatest, and most beloved presidents. A huge factor in President Biden's electoral victory over Donald Trump was his mere association with President Obama. Essentially, Joe Biden represented a choice between Donald Trump, and returning to the excellence of the Obama era, and the American people chose Obama. Thus, the Black community's biggest challenge is not the White man, but getting more of our own people to recognize the absolute brilliance that lies dormant within us.
BLACK BRILLIANCE UTILIZED
TO SAVE HUMANITY
Have you ever wondered why Black people are all but banned from entering many lucrative professions, while we’re allowed to get filthy rich in the entertainment industry and sports? I’ll tell you why – because sports, entertainment, and dangling the possibility of stardom before us is used as a distraction. They keep us from focusing on the things that are truly important in life. The lure of possibly becoming a star is dangled like a carrot before us to keep us from noticing what’s going on around us, and it also keeps us from focusing on more intellectual endeavors. Can you just imagine where we would be today if our Black youth focused as much of their intellectual creativity on science as they do shooting hoops? .
We've got to recognize that the social manipulators are using our distractions against us. They're taking advantage of our limited stature in society resulting from our intellectual distractions to portray us as potential enemies of the people. They're telling insecure conservatives that "Those poor Black people want to steal your piece of the pie" - I mention conservatives in particular because they're the only ones delusional enough to buy into that nonsense. . Certainly not all, but far too many Black men have dedicated their lives to the pursuit of frivolity. We have far too many Black men in their forties running around wearing baseball caps to the side, drooping
pants, and acting like kids with whiskers. But, to be sure, this is not just a problem in the Black community. There are still White hippies running around in their seventies, and the White folks who attacked our capitol were made up of full-grown White men playing cowboys and Indians - that's why they're so easily manipulated. But they're indulging in a luxury that Black people can ill afford. We can't afford to play in the sandbox of reality. We owe it to our children to remain dead serious, and to become the educated adults of this society. . Many of our sisters already recognize that fact, but sisters have always been ahead of the curve. They've always been the backbone of the Black culture. Sisters like Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Fannie Lou Hamer, Angela Davis, and now, Kamala Harris, Stacey Abrams, and Letitia Harris have always stepped up to the plate to address issues that far too many brothers have been too busy to even consider. Brothers have been too busy trying to prove their manhood to everybody but the White man. . Too many of us fail to realize that manhood is not about "keeping it gangsta" in our dealings with one another; manhood is about perfecting our ability to think, and instead of running the street, staying home to teach our children to think. So it's time for more Black men to grow up and take note of what's going on around us. Our survival, and the survival of our children, depends on it. The greatest legacy that we can bestow upon our children is the ability to think. For it is the thinking man who will inherit the Earth. But at this point, many of us are drenched in the nonsense below:
KEEP IT GANGSTA, DAWG
We no longer have time to remain drenched in our childhood, or "keepin' it gangsta". Black people are being singled out just like the Jews were in Germany prior to WWII, and if we don't wake up immediately, we're going to share their fate. . So, how did the Jews deal with being repeatedly singled out? Very simply - after the war, the Jews sought to make themselves indispensable to the functioning of any society in which they were a part. As a result, today, this nation would crumble without the contribution of the Jews. So, we must focus on utilizing our intellect to pursue that exact same strategy. . The National Rifle Association (NRA) is one of the most powerful organizations in the country, and it has been playing on White insecurity since 1871, just after the Civil War. It has made a mint, and has become one of the most politically influential organizations in the country by simply playing on the White conservative sentiment that they must remain armed to the teeth to ward off our looming threat to their survival.
. To be clear, not everyone who supports the NRA are White supremacists, but virtually all White supremacists support the NRA. But fortunately, not all Black people are just sitting back waiting to become victims. One sister, Letitia James, is all over it – and them - and we have many other sisters just like Letitia out there. They're like mothers who go up to the school saying, "You don't treat my child like that!" These sisters recognize that we've got to leave being stupid to the Donald Trumps of this world. They understand Black people must begin to specialize in thinking, and render Trump-like people the Neanderthals of humanity, which they are.
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LETITIA JAMES
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New York Attorney General Letitia James has come down on the social manipulators bigtime. She's not going out on the street screamin', breaking windows, and shakin' her fists in the air; on the contrary, she assessed the problem, and then quietly developed her intellect and the expertise to address it. Now, she's a sister on a mission, and has converted the brilliance of her "Black soul" into a weapon to bring some of the most powerful demagogues in this country to their knees. She's not just shoutin' "Black Power!", she's demonstrating what that means. .
Letitia has already burned Trump and his family on their children's charity fraud. And as part of the settlement Trump was required to admit to several counts of wrongdoing, was forced to pay $3.78 million in restitution and damages, and the Trump family is no longer allowed to operate any charity in New York. She's also the reason Trump changed his permanent residence from New York to Florida, but that’s not gonna help him a bit. His base of operation when he was committing many of his crimes was in New York, so unless he flees to Russia, Letitia's gonna burn him for every one of them - and she's discovered, and continues to discover, many of them during her extensive investigations.
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Trump has been crying like a baby, and he's even gone so far as to file a personal lawsuit against Ms. James to try to get her off his ass, but she’s not the least bit fazed. Trump became desperate, because he knew Letitia was waiting for him right outside the White House gate - that might be one of the reasons he was so desperate to stay in office that he tried to overthrow the government.
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Trump knows Letitia has been patiently waiting for him to leave office so she can hold him accountable for all of his criminal activities - first, going after him in civil actions, and then using that to uncover his criminality. So, Donald Trump is trembling in his boots, and he should be, because Letitia is one bad sister, and she seems to be determined to bring him down. . But in the meantime, while she was waiting for Trump to leave office, she's bided her time by methodically going after the many other establishment bigshots who thought they were above the law. So while she was awaiting Trump, she decided to take out the NRA in her spare time, and it's beginning to look like she's done just that - one sister bringing down and organization that's been around for 150 years. Now, that's impressive.
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The NRA motto:
"I'll give you my gun when you pry it from my cold, dead hands."
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LETITIA JAMES: "Okay."
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Hollering, screaming and shaking our fists in the air won't get us nowhere. Letitia is showing us how it's done. We've got to stop shaking our booties, and begin stirring our minds.
Strive To Become Your Own Hero... Then Let No One Remove Your Cape.
BIO
Eric L. Wattree is a writer, poet, and musician, born in Los Angeles. He’s been a columnist for The Los Angeles Sentinel, Black Star News, The Atlanta Post, and is a member of the Sigma Delta Chi Society of Professional Journalists (http://www.spj.org/). He’s also the author of "A Message From the Hood."
Some of the greatest minds I’ve ever known held court while sitting on empty milk crates in the parking lots of ghetto liquor stores, while some of the weakest minds I’ve ever known roamed the halls of academia in pursuit of credentials over knowledge.
Am I a hater, you ask? You're damn right I'm a hater. I hate injustice. I hate hypocrisy. I also hate demagoguery, apathy, and the stupidity that allows it to exist. Hater? Absolutely. I'm a big time hater. I hate what I see happening to this country, and I hate watching the development of a culture that embraces ignorance with a stupid sense of pride. So yes, I am indeed a hater, but not only that - I'm a hater with a very low threshold for bullshit, so step off.
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