Shawn’s Official Policy On “Beefs”

On May 21, 2014 I had a Black woman come to my Twitter page upset over the blog Why Black women choose Thugs over good Black men. This woman was so upset they left several tweets, including one where she said she’d never read my blog again.

Yet this woman still followed me on Twitter.

Clearly she was looking for me to have a “beef” with her.

However, I understand It takes two people to argue. And one person to hit the Block button.

I didn’t see the angry tweets until the 24th  when my internet was back up. And when I saw them I let the person know the blog they were so upset about was over three years old. Then I blocked them.

Here’s the Shawn James policy on “Beefs.”

I do not do “beefs.” with people. Not YouTube beefs, Twitter, beefs, Facebook beefs or any of that silly nonsense.

I do not go back and forth with people even in the comments section of the blog. If you disagree with a point in a blog that’s your right. If you want to leave a comment, then cool. If I want to rebut your points then I’ll do that.

But if I see an individual trying to start an argument or bait me into a circular argument where things just keep going back and forth with no real conclusion I’m going to shut it down.

I’m 40-year-old-man. And 40-year-old men do not do “beefs”. I didn’t do “beefs” in junior high school, or high school. I always believed the whole idea of going back and forth with someone who disagrees with you is a waste of time.

My time is too valuable to waste on “beefs”. I’d rather spend it on doing something constructive like writing my books, writing a blog, or promoting existing books.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s when I was a teenager, I saw many Black men killed because of “beefs” here in New York City. Because these males (and some females) were too proud to agree to disagree, they insisted on keeping a debate going until it turned into an argument. And when one side realized the other wouldn’t concede or they couldn’t win the argument, they resorted to name calling. When that didn’t work, they came out with fists. And when that didn’t get them satisfaction they came out with a gun.

One man was dead. The other spending the rest of his life in jail. All because they couldn’t agree to disagree.

Growing up in a time where over 2,200 people were murdered over silly nonsense like a basketball game on TV, a woman in the club, or a pair of shoes, I know how dangerous a “beef” can be. And that’s why I refuse to engage in one.

Again, if you have an issue with any blog I write, take a step away from the computer and realize the internet is not that serious. They’re just words on a screen. People have different opinions and it’s their right to post their views on their page. If you don’t like the content, click off the page. There’s three trillion websites on this World Wide Web, spend your time on one of those pages.

New eBooks on Smashwords Summer YA eBook Series 2014 Kickoff!

It’s Memorial Day Weekend and that means….It’s time for The Summer YA eBook Exclusives on Smashwords!

This year the series starts with the devilishly funny all-new E’steem adventure Faerie Tale. A contemporary spin on Sleeping Beauty, this one is chock full of laughs in an action packed African-American fantasy adventure. It’s great reading for tween and teen girls!

Synopsis:

Bad girl gone good! Good girl goes Medieval! When legendary sorceress Morgan Le Fay casts a spell on E’steem’s boyfriend John, she journeys to her Castle above the Clouds to save her prince.

As always all the Summer YA eBooks are FREE for you to download to your e-reader, cell phone or your computer! I want kids to keep reading during the summer months because it helps them do better in class when they go to school in the fall!

Next Month will feature an all-new All About Nikki eBook! And look out for All About Nikki-The Sensational Second Season (FINALLY) Coming this July!

Why No One Takes The Negro Seriously

400 years after the Negro was brought here the Negro still remains at the BOTTOM.

160+ years after The Negro was emancipated from slavery the Negro still remains at the BOTTOM.

50 Years after the Civil Rights movement the Negro still remains at the BOTTOM.

Even with the First Black president in the White House the Negro remains at the BOTTOM. Even worse, he’s falling deeper and deeper into the abyss.

No one takes the Negro seriously. Why? Because he is a JOKER.

For all the Negro’s TALK, the Negro NEVER follows it up with ACTION. Even with all the tools in front of them to build economic and political power, the Negro is still the poorest person in the industrialized world.

And the Negro is poor because the Negro won’t work with his own people. For the Negro everyone else who is Black is an enemy and not an ally. Every other person in the world will set aside their personal issues to work towards a greater goal. But the Negro will allow a business situation to devolve into name calling, arguing and violence instead of taking action to meet the goal.

The Negro will argue you in circles. And the only reason the Negro argues is not to have a constructive discourse, but to shut down any plans for constructive action that would require them to take responsibility for themselves. The Negro figures if they can talk a subject to death can they’ll wear you out and make you walk away wringing your hands and shaking your head in frustration. Then as you walk away they’ll launch into their shaming tactics telling you that you are a racist, an Uncle Tom, a Sellout or other inflammatory language meant to make you feel guilty about seeing the truth about the Negro.

This is the paradox of the Negro. And this is the main reason why no one takes the Negro seriously.

The truth is the Negro needs White Supremacy more than White people do. Without the crutch of White Supremacy to carry him, he has no one to hold accountable for his sorry state. Like the battered wife or the alcoholic wife, he is more co-dependent on White Supremacy and racism than most White people are.

And just like the co-dependent person, they talk about changing things but never make a single step towards actually doing it. Just like that co-dependent wife of that alcoholic they may make superficial moves like calling the police one or two times or moving in with a family member. But within a few months the Negro is right back where he was in the gutter with their Air Jordan sneakers on holding an iphone asking for a handout from a government program.

Action speaks louder than words. And when you watch the actions of the Negro they may talk about change but don’t take action to change their economic, political or social situation. The truth is the Negro is all about maintaining the dysfunctional status quo.

Yes there is racism, but when you consider that the Negro has been here close to 400 years and has not progressed a single step in all that time compared to the rest of the world, it’s embarrassing. In the last 50 years since having “Civil Rights” the Negro has not built a single piece of infrastructure in his or her communities. There are next to no Black-owned businesses, and Negro unemployment remains sky high even during the best economic times such as the late 1990’s.

Currently the Negro is now being passed by third World immigrants such as the Mexicans, Indians, Arabs, Koreans and the Chinese. People who have been here less than 10-20 years in some cases but have built up an infrastructure of wealth, economic and political power while the co-dependent Negro continues to suck on the tits of government programs.

No one takes the Negro seriously because he takes no serious action. Over the last 50 years The Negro has not built up his or her own businesses or protected established ones left to him. Instead of protecting his own iconinc business and cultural institutions the Negro either passively sits back and lets them go out of business or they sell them off to nonblack owners.

Because the White man’s ice is always colder.

The Negro doesn’t want to stand on his own two feet. Why? Because he always knows there will be a Great White Savior™ today he can fall back on if he fails or screws up. Just like the co-dependent battered wife, they know they have the comfort of someone to fall back on if they get tired of standing on their own two feet. For the Negro, having to contend with White Supremacy is better than being forced to solve his or her own problems on their own.

Whenever things get hard, the Negro doesn’t support his own brothers and sisters and help them pull through the crisis. No, they goes back to the government with their paradoxical circular arguments and shaming tactics in the hopes of getting a few crumbs from the table.

Whereas the immigrant such as the Arab, the Korean, the Indian and any other person knows they have no place to ask for a handout when they come to America. If they fall, they die. So they are forced to stand on their own two feet just like our slave ancestors and our grandfathers during reconstruction, Jim Crow and before the Civil Rights Movement.

The main reason the co-dependent Negro doesn’t want anyone Black to help him stand on his own two feet is because it would show the world that it’s actually possible for him to live without the crutch of White Supremacy. This is why the Negro makes every effort to tear down the Black person next to them, especially those trying to rise above his co-dependent way of thinking.

The truth is the Negro doesn’t want to stand on his own two feet. The Negro wants to remain in their co-dependent position. From this position, they can continue to go around in circles with other co-dependent groups of people such as White liberals, conservatives, and hardcore racists playing the Blame N’ Shame game with them and getting crumbs from their table instead of working towards getting a seat there.

This is why the Negro has everyone’s pity. But never earns their respect.

The Negro could’ve had a full plate over a century ago. But the Negro and his co-dependent partners are just too afraid to WORK for it.

When you deal with the Negro you can’t take him or her seriously. For all the talk, there’s next to no action. And it’s action defines character. What defines a person isn’t what they say they’re doing, it’s what they are what they are actually doing.

We Don’t Need Anymore Black Entertainers or Athletes- We need more SKILLED PROFESSIONALS!

It’s Graduation season. And Shawn wants to give some advice to the class of 2014.

Boys and girls we don’t need any more Black Entertainers in the Black community. We’re full up.

We don’t need any more rappers. We got enough Negroes running around here with sagging pants baggy T-shirts and bling looking hard, flexin and posing talking about they’re going to be the next Diddy and Jay-Z.

We got enough little girls twerkin’ jerkin and shaking their narrow little behinds trying to be the next Lil’ Kim.

We don’t need any more of these hip hop minstrels buckdancing and Coonin’ as they rap about bitches, hoes, and the dope game like it’s 1986. Stop trying to make Demo records on your iPhone and burning CD’s on your mama’s desktop. Stop harassing people in the neighborhood shopping districts on the weekend handing out free copies of your CD hoping to become a rap superstar. Diddy, Jay-Z and his producers ain’t coming to your neighborhood to discover your ass.

Black Boys and girls we don’t need any more Divas. We got enough Black females running around in short slinky dresses with all their cleavage and ass out talking about how they’re gonna be the next Beyonce. Or the Next Rihanna.

We don’t need any more of our sistas parading around half-naked and butt naked in music videos, on the covers of magazines and on record albums. We got enough little Black girls singing about how big their booties are and how sexy they are when they don’t even know what the word sexy means.

Sistas, we don’t need you to be Beyonce. We don’t need you to be Rihanna. We need you to be you. And we need you to go to school and get your education.

When you head down the wanna-be Diva road all that’s going to happen to you is you’re going to get told NO in the next series of American Idol auditions. Then what are you going to do with the rest of your life?

Black Boys and girls we don’t need any more Basketball players aspiring to be in the NBA. We got enough Negroes running around here with their chest and arms all tatted up talking about how they’re gonna be the next Lebron, the Next Kobe, or even the next Michael Jordan.

Half these Negroes think because they can dunk a ball on a playground court against some neighborhood guys they got the skills to be in the NBA. And the other half think because they scored a few points in a Varsity game or two in high school that they’re on their way to the NBA.

I’d advise them to focus on their algebra, trigonometry and calculus rather than their jump shot. If they did the math they’d see the chances of them getting that million dollar sneaker deal from Nike are a billion to one.

In most cases the handful of brothers who do make it in the NBA wind up second or third string. And most wind broke in three to five years after their careers end because most of these ballers lack the math skills to manage their money effectively.

It’s better for most of these brothers to focus their time on learning about finance and building wealth than being a basketball . Screw the Varsity and focus on getting a degree.

Boys and girls we don’t need any more football stars. The Black community is full up of Negroes running around trash talking about being the next Michael Strahan, Adrien Petesen or Jerry Rice.

Half these Negroes think because they can run with a football in Varsity they’re ready for the NFL. The other half think because they can catch a football tossed to them in a game of catch on the block they’re ready to take on the Super Bowl champs.

None of these Negroes are ready for Prime Time.

What they need to do is take them books on and learn more about plants in science class than practicing their End Zone Dance.

The chances of making it in the NFL are a billion to one. And in most cases the handful of brothers who do make it there wind up second or third string. And again, most wind up broke in three to five years after their careers end.

Let Shawn tell you what we really need in the Black community:

We need more scientists. It’s been decades since we’ve had a Dr. Charles Richard Drew create innovations like the Blood transfusion. Blacks have made countless innovations in the field of science. And we desperately need more brothers and sisters to enter the field of science to continue creating innovative medical procedures that will enrich the lives of mankind.

We need more doctors. Thirty years ago we had thousands of Black people entering the medical field and there was literally a doctor in almost every family. Now there’s a desparate need for medical professionals in the Black community.

We need more engineers. Engineers design everything from soda cans to skyscrapers. And many great inventions were created by Black engineers. However, we don’t  

We need more Black people in Information Technology. Lots of brothers and play video games. Lots of sistas spend their time texting people. But how many of us are creating games? And how many of us are creating apps to communicate with others?

Computers now are an integral part of life controlling everything from lights to our cell phones and even the content we watch on the internet and our televisions. However, most Black people are still living in a proverbial stone age thinking they can get by with a VCR and a tube television with a coat hanger attached to it. In Black communities more people are interested in being entertainers than IT technicians, coders, web designers and systems analysts. We need brothers and sisters to learn how to break down a tablet, a laptop or a desktop and put it back together. And we need people to learn how to build networks, Internet Service providers and web hosting companies so we can control the Black part of the World Wide Web.   

We need more Teachers. Enter any inner-city classroom and you’ll see all the teachers are White. That’s bad for Black children. When Black kids don’t see someone who looks like them as their teacher they learn White Supremacy at an early age because the first adult authority figure they see is a White person. They grow up believing White means smarter and associate being intelligent with being White. And when they’re told that there’s something wrong with them for acting out in class, they believe it in most cases for the rest of their lives.

When Black kids have Black teachers there’s a positive impact. When kids see someone who looks like them as their teacher, they grow up believing it’s possible for a Black person to achieve something. That it’s possible for Black people to be authority figures. And that being intelligent isn’t a “White” thing, it’s a human thing. There’s a desperate need for Black teachers, especially Black male teachers in the classroom. If more Black boys and girls saw someone who looked like them in the classroom the chances are better for them to aspire to be something other than a rapper and a ball player.

We need more screenwriters. Less than 2% of all the screenwriters who work in Hollywood in a given year are Black. And In order to get films, TV shows and movies made about the Black experience we need Black people with the ability to write our stories in format for the screen. Screenwriting is a craft and a skill trade that desperately needs more Black people in it and learning about it.

We need more directors and Black people behind the camera. The film industry in America is 95% white and 95% male. And we desperately need more Black people behind the camera. Film production is a skill trade with dozens of careers that can last a lifetime. But most Black people don’t think of becoming grips, best boys, stage hands, set designers, set decorators, wardrobe specialists, prop supervisor, camera operators, script supervisors, visual effects specialists, make-up artists, stuntpeople and other people with better paying union jobs behind the camera because they’ve been made to believe that the real power is in front of it.

We need more actors. Most of our Black actors and actresses are now in their 40s 50s and 60s. And there’s no one learning the craft to replace them. Right now we need young talent to become the next Angela Bassett, the next Denzel Washington, and the next Morgan Freeman. We need more Journeymen like Samuel L. Jackson. We need young brothers and sisters to pick up the baton and learn the craft of acting so that our stories can be told to the next generation.

We need Black Studio Executives. Want to know why there are so few Black films produced in a calendar year? Because there are ZERO Black executives in Hollywood. In order to get films greenlit you need to have a seat at the studio table. And because Black people don’t have the business skills to get a seat at the table great screenplays by Black writers never get the greenlight for production. Without a Black man controlling the money at the top, Black people at the bottom from actors to commissary don’t get jobs.

We need more writers and artists. An image, a sculpture, a painting or a written or a spoken word can inspire a generation. The only way to tell stories about the Black experience and Black culture is for us to do it ourselves. We desperately need Black writers and artists to tell our stories in the arts for African-American audiences. Art is another skill trade with plenty of jobs. But because the money isn’t fast, most Black people don’t see it as a set of skills that are valuable.

We need more people in the culinary arts. Foodservice is a huge business. It’s a skill trade that can be taken anywhere once a person learns it. Whether in a food truck or working the line at a restaurant there’s always a need for skilled foodservice workers. Everybody’s gotta eat, so there’s always a job in a restaurant somewhere.

We need more publishers. The image of Black people is now controlled by six corporations. That’s dangerous. It’s due to these big six corporations controlling the image of Black people that we have so many images of minstrel rappers and athletes, and jezebel singers and reality show stars. If there were more responsible and conscientious Black publishers controlling the image of Black people we’d see more images of Black scientists, engineers, doctors and other Black professionals and less of these two bit entertainers.

We need more businesspeople. In Hollywood there are no Black executives. And in Corporate America there are next to no Blacks in any of the senior executive positions at multi-national corporations. Right now we need more Black people starting their own businesses and creating opportunities for other Black people. We need businesspeople focused on creating a group economic business model for the Black community to create jobs that get Black people out of poverty.

Brothers and sisters, as you finish school and take yourself to the next level realize that what your community needs are skilled people ready to make a difference in the lives of people in this generation and the next one to come. The average entertainment career barely lasts two to four years, and after it’s over most entertainers are broke or struggling to make ends meet. But people who have specialized skills have careers that last a lifetime and will oftentimes always find a way to make themselves money.

Author Lawrence Cherry's Thoughts On the “Scandal” Nonsense- Guestblog

Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot of back and forth between African-American men and African-American women on some old nonsense television show called “Scandal.” From what I’ve heard and read (I’ve never really actually seen the show), its about some African American woman with a PR firm who’s involved with a white man who is supposed to be the president. Everyone is up in arms because of the interracial relationship and what he or she thinks it represents. A lot of African-American women are saying they are empowered by the representation of a ‘powerful’ black woman in the media. Black men are saying that African-American women are being depicted as ‘negro bed wenches’ through this character. Here’s what I say.

First, I’m not going to bash the show’s creator(s). I will not presume to understand the reason or vision that drives the creator(s) to come up with such a story.  However, I do take issue with those in power who selectively choose certain voices and visions to promote to the general public. Let’s be clear: there are many visions, voices, and ideas that exist in our world. There are many stories waiting to be told through our various artistic modes (movies, television, music, dramatic theatre), but I notice that certain voices are silenced and pushed to the back, while others are promoted whether they are profit bearing or not. The powers that be in the media who have deliberately selected this “Scandal” program to be delivered and promoted to us have done so for a particular reason (Think back to what happened to rap music, and how the artistic, socially conscious rap was eschewed by record companies who favored ‘gangsta’ rap, despite artistic rap’s increasing popularity and profitability). Regardless of the creator’s vision, the media machine has decided to spin this program in a certain way to create social influence. Since Hollywood is involved, you know this can’t be good for African-Americans. I believe the show is being used to stir up tensions between African-American men and women. It is a propaganda tool that was deliberately created for African-American men and African-American women to project upon. I know some of you will laugh and think, “Here we go with the conspiracy theories. It’s just a show!” But check this out - throughout history regimes have employed the media to achieve social aims. Just think about how the Goebbels used the newsreels to trick an unsuspecting public to support the despicable agenda of the third reich.

The powers that be, which funded the dissemination of this program, know us all too well psychologically. They know the mental scars that we suffer, which have their roots in slavery and institutionalized racism. Shows like this serve as propaganda to exploit that pain and further divide us. “Scandal” is not the first of such propaganda – just the latest incarnation. That nonsense started with the film, “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” – which upon viewing almost seems like an infomercial with all of the extended monologues and speeches from all of the characters. Whether it’s a black man/white woman or black woman/white man, interracial romance in Hollywoodspeak follows the same script. Allow me to elaborate:

1. The black person in the romance has to have some quality that makes them different from all the ‘other’ black people. They are either really smart like the character in ‘Guess who’s coming to dinner’, or really rich like the ‘Scandal’ woman, or they ‘are able to understand things from a different perspective’ like Halle Berry’s character in ‘Monsters Ball’. The message to the mainstream is clear – the average black person is basically an animal and only the  ‘special’ ones are ok to deal with. Meanwhile, the white person or other person involved in the relationship is merely average, or in the case of ‘Scandal’ -  obviously incompetent and/or wicked (which is, from what I hear, the reason why he needs the black woman to clean up his messes).

2. Relationships are all about control, power, and politics. There’s rarely any ‘romance’ involved. No sweet courtship. No sacrifice of one to save the other. No moments where you go, ‘aww…they’re so in love.’ In most cases the relationships are characterized by lofty insincere speeches on race, conflict, arguments, threats, violence, lots of rough sex, and you guessed it – that Tom and Jerry-cat and mouse-soap opera nonsense.

            White love interest: I bet I can make you love me more than I love you!

            Black love interest:            No you won’t – I’ll make you love me more than I love you!

            White love interest: But you missed me when I went away – you love me more!

Black love interest:            Oh, yeah! Well now I’m going to run away and then you’ll miss me and you’ll see that you love me more!

In other words: Don’t expect the story line in Scandal to look anything like that of, say… “The Notebook”

3. The relationships usually never end in marriage, and if they do the marriage is short lived. In ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,’ there was lots of talk about marriage, but no ceremony was showed – just an allusion to an ‘upcoming’ event. The audience is allowed to believe that maybe by the time the wedding day arrives, the white girl will come to her senses and get rid of the black dude. Same with other interracial Hollywood-style romance garbage – Kirk never married Uhura, Scandal woman will never marry the president (I hear he’s already married). I could go on, but I have limited time. Overall message to the mainstream – It’s okay to sleep with blacks, but don’t marry them unless you have to.

4. The partner of the African-American character constantly humiliates and or abuses him/her. Sidney Poiter’s character was taken by the fiancé to be subjected to an interrogation by her parents. When he meets them in the movie, it almost seems like he’s at a job interview. In contrast, his mom is just so sweet and accepting. She can’t wait to have a white daughter-in-law. Don’t even get me started on what happened in Monsters Ball. That just seemed like plantation rape to me. This ‘Scandal’ thing seems to be the same. Correct me if I’m wrong, but what’s so romantic about some guy who’s always either threatening you or holding you at arms length. Also, you would think that in the process of cleaning up this dude’s messes, the Scandal woman would see just how ratchet this guy is. Why would she even want him knowing all the crap he’s been involved in? Doesn’t really sound like a strong black woman if you ask me.  Anyway, given the humiliation and abuse they endure, it seems as if the African-American character has to ‘prove’ his dedication or worthiness to the other in the relationship, while the other has nothing to prove. That’s not something I’m willing to swallow folks.

Now don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I don’t believe that there can be genuine interracial relationships based on love. In real life there are probably a few. I just don’t think our mainstream media will ever fund or allow such a relationship to be broadcast through any medium it controls. Our mainstream serves to reinforce the existing socio-political structure, and I think even innocent TV shows and movies are used for this purpose. With regard to our community it has always been ‘divide and conquer’ and here’s how it works.

Most of us African-Americans eat this poisoned media bait. We then project our racial insecurities onto the films.  Black men and Black women crave and desire acceptance into the mainstream. Black men prefer the black man/white woman interracial romances because they get to pretend to be ‘the desired’ by mainstream. When they watch these films, they get to feel as if they are ‘chosen’ or ‘special’. They feel as if they are being validated by the mainstream. The reverse happens when black women watch the black woman/white man interracial romance.  Conversely, when the black man watches a black woman/white man interracial romance, he feels as if he has to compete with the black woman for a place of acceptance in the mainstream. She is being preferred, but he is not, creating a jealousy. He is not feeling protective of the black woman, (like some are disingenuously pretending to be in this ‘Scandal’ debate), but envious of her apparent position in the mainstream. The same can be said for the black woman when she watches the black male/white female interracial romance. Then she’s the jealous one, thinking it’s the black male that’s keeping her from being accepted. In the end it’s a lot of wishful thinking and fantasizing about being accepted into a world that will never accept us. But they hold out the illusory carrot stick to us in this form of banal escapism and we eat it up.  But there is a price to pay for this escapism – it costs us our sense of self-respect, our sense of unity, and our sense of self-preservation.

In the end Black men and Black women end up fighting each other when we should be helping each other.  We accuse each other of cooperating with the mainstream to hold one another back. Black men and Black women – wake up! It’s time to be honest. You’re not fighting about ‘Scandal’. You’re not fighting about ‘Guess Who?’ You’re fighting over something neither of you are going to get. You will NEVER find acceptance in the mainstream. I will repeat – NEVER! Get over it already! This society defines itself on the basis of African-Americans holding a bottom-rung status. To allow those of us of African descent to have real access would mean an upheaval of the whole system – and this is something the mainstream will not tolerate. It’s simple self-preservation. Likewise, we need to preserve ourselves. We need to do like we did in the old days. If they won’t let you into their hotel – make your own! You can’t eat in their restaurant – make your own! It’s called nation-building folks. But we can only do this if we work TOGETHER!

Why is it that we don’t fantasize about being accepted by each other? Why doesn’t the black man fantasize about a beautiful black woman? Why aren’t black women fantasizing about a wonderful, do-right black man? Sometimes I think it’s because we equate the mainstream with power. All that the mainstream has is illusory. It is a very loosely stacked deck of cards that is kept together by what they are able to make us think about ourselves. It cannot control us or shape our destiny unless we allow it. Like the character of the Scandal woman, we never stop to think about if what we are pursuing is actually worthy of ourselves.  Too many of us hide in the secret of our heart, a desire to be chosen, to be that ‘special negro’. Too many of us would rather be a doormat in someone else’s reality than to live with dignity in the reality Christ has purchased for us. What’s so special about the mainstream? Why do we have to be a part of it? There are many cultural groups in this country that eschew it, to make and preserve their own cultural mores and traditions. Why can’t African-Americans do this? We know that the messages the machine sends us are always destructive to us. So why do we keep on imbibing things like ‘Scandal’? Why do we keep drinking this poison- even when we know it’s poison.

Some people will say it’s harmless fun, or it’s just entertainment. That’s what people say about weed and heroine – drugs that take away our inhibitions and lull us into a false sense of security. For some people ‘Scandal,’ and media junk like it, is their drug. It’s a coping device that makes living in this hard, cold, discriminatory world a little easier. For an hour one can pretend to be the Scandal woman and have the mainstream’ s limited and grudging admiration and be ‘special’. But as with any drug, the security is temporary. When the hour is over, we have to go back to facing reality. ‘Scandal’ changes nothing. It does what all other drugs do – keep us so that we do nothing about the things that really bother us. It keeps us from enacting the real changes that can move us from being a subjugated minority to an independent people.

So I say to African-American men and African-American women - stop arguing about scandal. Instead, start working together to do the things that can help us move forward. Both of us need to start taking responsibility and stop finger pointing and blaming each other for what’s going on in our community. The real culprit is the mainstream’s use of institutional racism. African-American men and African-American women must work together if we are going to find ways to undermine this insidious influence. Both of us need to start listening to each other’s points of view and stop reacting like victims. Both of us need to start loving ourselves. Finally, both need to stop serving the god of the mainstream (with all of its pernicious vices like lust for power, money, sex, leisure and material goods) and serve the True and Living God, who controls the mainstream and everything and everyone in it. There is no other authority than that of God. When you serve Him, all other ‘so called’ authorities lose their power over you. Then you begin to ask the important questions.

 You start asking the real hard questions like, “Where are our other stories?” Hollywood and the mainstream media only show very few facets of our complex community and most of which are usually negative. Though many want to say that the prevailing media fare is ‘real’, I must say as an African-American, I have a hard time relating to most of it to the point to where I just can’t watch TV anymore. Instead I wonder, “How come no one has attempted to make an endearing, down to earth, African-American love story that revolves around the lives to two everyday people without all of the ‘booty-call’ sex? The closest we got was “Love Jones,” and that was still pretty shallow (at least in my opinion).  I’m sick to death of all these black romantic comedies where the main characters are acting as if they’re trying on relationships like sweaters at the mall. I don’t know about anyone else, but I would love to see an enduring romance with two African-American characters connecting on a more spiritual and emotional level.

I would also like to see stories of African-American friendships that involve men and women who care about each other being put on the big screen and not just a bunch of black women who sit around complaining about black men (Waiting to Exhale) or black men who sit around complaining about black women (The Best Man). I want to see an African-American sci-fi story, and an action adventure flick that doesn’t revolve around robbing someone (Takers, Set it Off) or driving fast cars. Where are the stories that celebrate the strong black fathers who are taking care of business? Where are our black children’s films? In fact, where are the stories that tell our children’s view of the world? Where are our films of faith that are about getting to God and not getting a husband? These are stories that promote healing and a real dialogue. These are stories that will give us hope as a people. These are the stories that allow us to see our own humanity and cause us to value each other. They are out there, but we as a people need to fund and promote them and stop waiting for what comes from the Hollywood machine. We have to do it, and we have to work outside of the system, just like we did with rap when it first came out. Yes, its harder this way, but still doable and most of all – its necessary!

DON’T BE FOOLED – THE MAINSTREAM HAS NO PREFERENCE TOWARD EITHER GENDER when it comes to race so don’t bother bringing up false evidence like interracial marriage statistics and such. (If you’re not sure, really think about what the owner of the Clippers said during a racist rant while in a relationship with a black woman, nonetheless. Racists will date and, on occasion, even marry African-Americans – doesn’t mean they like them) It is determined to reinforce the subjugation and eventual DESTRUCTION of all people of African descent (male, female, young, old, rich, middle class, poor, Christian, non-Christian, intelligent or otherwise). It’s time for us to stop arguing about and fighting for someone else’s validation (which will never come) and accept the validation God has already given us through the blood of His Son Jesus Christ. Now that’s FREEDOM!

Whether you want it or not, there’s my $.02.  Peace.

L.C.

P.S. – It is not my intention to undermine the work of the talented African-American actors who derive their livelihood from this program. As actors, Ms. Washington and the rest have my respect. While I do not watch the program, I recognize everyone has a right to make their own choices with regard to the matter. Rather, I am stating my opinion not just of this particular show, but of the entertainment industry as a whole. I just feel that we need to be more discerning when it comes to what we watch on TV and analyze what we consume rather than sit back and be passively entertained.

It’s time for Warner Brothers to Pull the Plug on DC Comics the New 52

Three years after DC Comics’ New 52 hit comic shelves it was supposed to be revolutionary. Only it seems most comic fans are revolting against the new versions of DC’s iconic Characters. While the change from the original DC Universe to the New 52 stirred up a lot of press, contoversy and a short term-surge in sales in 2011, long term the change has caused irreparable damage to DC’s brand.

Comic fans don’t like the New 52. Retailers don’t like the New 52. It’s time for Time Warner to pull the plug on the New DC Universe and move on.

If one looks at the impact of the New 52 on DC Comics’ business it has been negative. DC Comics has lost market share to indie publishers like Boom! Dynamite, and Image over the last three years. And with the success of Marvel NOW! Marvel Comics has regained some of the market share it lost several years ago.

On the comic shelves the New 52 books are doing no better than books featuring characters from the Original DC Universe. Most DC Comics titles’ sales have plummeted back down to their 2009 levels when many books struggled to sell 25,000-30,000copies.

On the licensing merchandising Mattel’s attempt to sell new 52 has been a disaster. When Mattel put New 52 versions of action figures in its DC Universe Classics line they pegwarmed. Big Box retailers like Wal-Mart and Target refuse to stock merchandise featuring New 52 versions of DC comics Characters.

Most Comic writers and artists now AVOID taking jobs at DC Comics. DC Comics has gone from a place that inspired imagination to one that stifles creativity. Those who have worked there report dysfunction and chaos. Story changes out of nowhere, no focus or direction. No support. Editiors re-writing stories, and constant editorial interference.

Storyline wise the new 52 is actually just as confusing and hard to follow as old 2009-2011 DC Comics. In some cases even more confusing. Batman has had four Robins in five years. Even though DC insisted Batman’s continuity would remain intact. Bad guys are good guys. Good guys are bad guys.

When villains like Captain Cold and Lex Luthor on the Justice League something is wrong.

DC Comics story model now is just as long and meandering as it was before the New 52 was launched. Back in 2006 Infinite Crisis led into Final Crisis. Final Crisis Blackest Night. Blackest Night led into Brightest Day. Brightest day led into Flashpoint. Flashpoint led into the…New 52. .

Now the New 52 leads into Trinity War. Forever Evil leads into Five years later. And most of these storylines take over 100 comics to buy just to finish a leg of a story.

I thought the New 52 was supposed to make the DC Universe easier to read and easier to follow. When it still takes 100 issues for readers to understand DC Characters and the DC Universe after a plan is implemented to make comics easier to follow something is definitely wrong at the top.

DC Comics are a mess. With a brand-new universe creators should be finding new ways to make classic iconic characters fresh and exciting for the next generation of young readers. Unfortunately, DC is still plagued by the same dysfunction that has turned away readers from their comics for the last 10 years.

The definition of insanity is doing the exact same thing and expecting a different result. DC Comics editors continue to apply the exact same archaic story models, business models and approaches to publishing comics that have not worked for over a decade and are still expecting loads of casual readers and younger readers to come in and start buying.

Unfortunately, the comic book now has a median age of 40. Up from 35 three years ago.

Enough is enough. Dan Didio can’t make any more excuses. Didio has had over a decade to show he has the leadership skills to keep DC’s brand competitive on the comic racks in the 21st Century. The fact that he was given a brand New DC Universe three years ago and he still winds up making DC Comics harder to follow than the previous universe proves he is not the right man for the job.

His associates Jim Lee, Bob Harras and have proven that they don’t understand the post 2008 publishing world. Both are still trying to apply 1990’s business approaches in a 2014 world. No publisher can sustain a catalog of 52 titles in 2014. Today print catalogs are getting smaller, not bigger. Most publishers are shrinking their publishing catalogs to the few books that sell and taking the slow sellers digital if they don’t cancel them outright.

Diane Nelson is just not the right person to manage the DC brand. The fact that DC has declined over the last three years under her leadership shows she has no vision. When big box retailers like Wal-Mart and Target reject product lines based on a brand new product there’s something wrong at the top.

Goeff Johns is creatively burnt out. I don’t hold Johns too much at fault, but he’s in the same place Chris Claremont was in back in the late 1980’s. He’s got too much on his plate and has been digging to the bottom of the story barrel. He needs a vacation to recharge and get inspired, and get creative again. Following Didio’s lead as one of the lead executives has not helped him take his craft to the next level.

Time Warner has to realize that the New 52 is a FAILURE. Three years after its launch people aren’t buying DC Comics. People aren’t buying DC Comics Merchandise. People are turned off when they see anything DC related. That’s bad for a brand long term.

From comics to TV shows to movies to home video most customers echo the same complaints: most of DC’s products adapted from late 2000’s stories like Son of Batman and material adapted from New 52 stories like Justice League War are hard to follow, too violent, too graphic and not family or reader friendly.

DC Comics needs an overhaul from top to bottom. Under theleadership of Didio, Lee, Harras and Nelson DC Comics is just not in a place to compete with Marvel Comics. They’re not in a place to compete with Archie Comics. Heck, they’re not even in a place to compete with small indie publishers or even webcomics.

It’s time for Time Warner’s executives to not only pull the plug on the DC’s New 52 Universe but remove the editorial team that has run DC Comics into the ground and replace them with a new group of leaders. People like Jim Shooter, Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and Mark Waid. People who care about DC’s characters. People who have passion for the craft of art and storytelling. People who can give support and guidance to all the new young creative talent out there with their wisdom and years of experience. People with an understanding of the business of comics, new media and possibly the post 2008 publishing world.

If Time Warner doesn’t do something fix the dysfunctional DC Universe once and for all the brand won’t be able to compete in the 21st Century. It’s hard to make movies featuring DC Comic superheroes and sell DC Comics merchandise when there’s no quality comic books with stories good enough to adapt it from.

Why It’s Important For Black People To Control Their Media Image

A Picture is worth a thousand words. And the picture of a Black person can shape how generations see themselves.

Black Men like John H. Johnson and Gordon Parks understood the power of image and how they told the story of Black people. Thanks to their images, generations of Black people saw themselves as human beings in the pages of magazines such as Ebony, Jet and Essence.

In these Black-owned magazines and in other Black-owned media Black people saw themselves as Doctors, lawyers, scientists and engineers artists, musicians and innovators and creators. Not Pullman Porters, janitors, maids and butlers.

It’s important for Black people to control their image. In many cases if Black people don’t tell our stories, other Black people won’t know about them.

Moreover, it’s important for the RIGHT Black people to control the image of Black people. When the wrong Black people control the image of Black people the picture of the Black world we get does not reflect who Black people really are. Instead it reflects what White Supremacists want to see Black people as.

When Blacks controlled Black Cinema we got to see a variety of stories about the Black experience. We saw pictures of competent and capable heroes and heroines on the silver screen that were the equals of their White counterparts. We got to see biopics of leaders like Malcolm X and films about incidents like Rosewood. These humanized images allowed us to see Black people and Black culture from an objective perspective.

When White Supremacists and Sellout Blacks control the Black image we get images that make them feel comfortable about Blacks and the place they think Blacks should be: The po’ miserable downtrodden Negro who needs a great White savior to help him or her actualize their potential. Films like Monster’s Ball, Precious, Radio, The Help and 12 Years a Slave. Or we get a minstrel show like a Tyler Perry movie where an emasculated Black man is shown wearing a dress.

Not to mention White Egyptians, A White Jesus and Whitewashed sanitized revisionist Black history that makes White people look like saints doing Black people a favor for oppressing them.

When Blacks control Television production we got human images of Black people from all walks and all classes of life. The Cosby Show, A Different World, In Living Color, Roc, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The Parent Hood, Sister, Sister, Smart Guy and My Brother and Me were all created by Black people or produced by Black people. All these shows presented images of Black people that humanized Black people and showed the world diverse array of images of Black people and Black experiences, not just one.

When Sellout Blacks and White Supremacists control the image of Black people on Television we get Coons, minstrels, hoodrats and whores Shows produced by sellouts like Scandal, Girlfriends, The Game, Love & Hip Hop Real Housewives, Flavor of Love, and everything Tyler Perry produces all present an image of buffoonish ignorant dysfunctional Black people who can barely get out of bed in the morning unless a White man tells them to.

When Black people controlled Rap and hip-hop we got a music that was rich and diverse. We had room for lyricists who could play on words like Big Daddy Kane, Rakim and Kool G Rap, comedy rappers like Kid N’ Play and Biz Markie, Afrocentric rappers like Tribe called Quest and Arrested Development and Boho rappers like Digable Planets. And we got female rappers like Queen Latifah, Salt N Pepa and Antionette.

When Sellout Blacks and White Supremacists controlled hip-hop it all of a sudden became gangsta rap 24/7. Everyone looks and sounds like NWA, Notorious B.I.G and Tupac along with scantily clad Black women who all promote the image of a jezebel in the mold of Lil’ Kim.

Moreover, When Black People controlled Rap and Hip Hop it promoted education, phonetic wordplay, and having fun. When Uncle Toms and Whites controlled hip hop we get lyrics about Thug Life, drug selling, gang banging, crime, and women proud to be whores.

I always found it interesting after a generation of Black boys were told  Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac didn’t finish the eighth grade how a generation of Black boys began dropping out of high school. Today the Black male High School dropout rate is at 70 percent. That’s the legacy of Biggie and Tupac’s images on a generation of Black boys.

Here’s more bad news: Over the last 20 years Black people have been losing more and more control over their image. With the older generation of Black publishers, producers, newspapers and filmmakers passing on, the next generation has not been picking up the baton.

The next generation unfortunately, hasn’t been taught why it’s important why it’s important for Black people to control the image of Black people by the past generation. Many of the Black people who control the media today believe in Dr. King’s delusional “dream” and the “rainbow” and think that there’s nothing wrong with producing or promoting content that presents Black people in a negative light. Because in their eyes we need “balance”.

Unfortunately, these Next generation Negroes have not studied the image of Black people from a historical context so they don’t understand how distorted the pictures of Blacks in media originally were. So their attempts to balance the picture only slants it back to what White Supremacists originally intended it to be.

These individualized Negroes do not understand how a picture is a thousand words Or how that image can have an shape the way Black people view themselves for generations to come.

How the words of one dysfunctional Black celebrity like the late Tupac Shakur can be used to influence generations of Black males for decades to come. Or how Halle Berry’s Oscar win for playing a Black Jezebel has created an iconic image for Black womanhood that has been established as the tarnished standard for the past 14 years for Black girls.

Worse, most Black people don’t understand the impact The Telecommunications law of 1996 pushed through a Republican Congress and signed by Slick Bill Clinton have changed who owns and controls the image of Black people.

What was dangerous about the Telecommunications law of 1996 was that it changed who could own what in the media. Before the Telecommunications bill of 1996 was passed, an individual could only own one TV station, radio station and newspaper in the media. After this law was passed an individual could own multiple TV stations, radio stations and newspapers.

Once this law was passed, the Big Six (Viacom, Disney, NewsCorp, Comcast, Sony and Warner Brothers) began buying up local TV channels, cable channels, newspapers and radio stations, including Black-owned ones.

Currently, there are NO Black-owned radio stations in major metropolitan areas such as New York City. And no Black executives or produces in Hollywood. Most Black-owned newspapers are shutting down. And Black-owned magazines like Essence are being bought out by nonblack Big six conglomerates like Time Warner.

This is dangerous for Black people. When a person owns and controls the media they control how other people see themselves. And when a handful of people control so much of the media they control how society sees itself. They have a say over what gets presented and what gets distributed. If content doesn’t reflect their view of the world, it isn’t allowed to air.

Again, for Black people it's  dangerous for nonblack people to control our image. If we don’t control our image the world won’t get an accurate story of what Black life actually is. When we don’t control Magazines, radio stations, TV stations and the distribution of media, it means the world is being told the White Supremacist view of Black life. and how White Supremacists see the Black world is completely different than how Black people see it.

When others control the Black image, they tell Black people who they are in pictures and in words. This is how LIES get told like the shortage of eligible educated single Black men in the Black community. Or about Black men only being all criminals and drug users. Or how "thug" culture is Black culture.

With so much of the media in the control of a handful of wealthy White men these days it’s no surprise that the image of Black people has become more and more of a minstrel show over the last 18 years since the Telecommunications bill of 1996 was passed. Instead of humanized images of Black people and Black life, we’ve gotten non-stop coonin’ n’ buffoning, and images of Black women being jezebels and loudmouth hoodrats.

I’ve been studying entertainment since I was 7 and studying Black entertainment since I was a teenager. And as I’ve watched as the ownership of Black media change from Black hands to white ones, the images of Black people have gotten more negative. In the case of Black women more sexualized and in the case of Black men more effeminized. In almost all cases an effort has been pushed to bring back old stereotypes from Minstrel shows and Jim Crow. Images racists are more comfortable with.

Too many Black people don’t understand the power of image. How it shapes how people see themselves. How the world sees them. One of the reasons I became a publisher was so I could protect the image of Black people in the media. I understood that if Black people don’t control their image others will control it. And when others control the image of Black people chances are Black people may not get shown the truth about themselves.