Snitchin

“In 2005, I was a victim of a violent crime. I was shot multiple times without provocation by two armed men who attempted to carjack my vehicle. Although I was a crime victim, I didn’t feel like I could cooperate with the police investigation. Where I come from, once word gets out that you’ve cooperated with the police that only makes you a bigger target of criminal violence. That is a dark reality in so many neighborhoods like mine across America. I’m not saying its right, but its reality. And it’s not unfounded. There’s a harsh reality around violence and criminal justice in our inner Cities."

Camron Giles

I was watching the news and saw that the "snitchin" thing is big in the news. I had heard of this before. I saw it on shirts and posters and such, but I am embarrassed about how naive I was. I never would have thought that people would actually take this to heart. Apparently people are following this Idea. People are letting this idea that they must be street credible or street soldiers. I believe in social responsibility. Rappers whether they want to or not are role models in America, but especially in the black community. There is a disturbing number of children growing up without a competent father figure. So the children look up to the rappers who could care less about the children. Many rappers will tell you that it isn't their job to be role models for the fans of their music. Which is true, but one should take that to to be on both sides of the coin. It is one thing to say something in your music and say it is just music, but it is quite a different thing to promote it outside of your music. This "stop snitchin" thing really make me angry. Rappers are putting this idea in people head and it is doing nothing, but creating more problem in the black communities. So here we have a cycle. The dangerous circumstance of the ghettos create gangsta rappers, who in turn promote the life style that they claim is so bad, that sustains the situation of the black community, and probably increases the danger of the black community, and that creates more gangsta rappers. Thus the cycle starts all over again. You would think that people who grew up in the harsh, unforgiving streets would not want it to continue, but alas they enforce it. It is all about money. Big corporations control rap music. These rappers sell out their own people for money. The CEOs of the corporations will only sign people who enforce these ideas. So people rap about the same thing in order to be record deals. One man that I have lost all respect for is Russel Simmons. He is one person that is all about the money. He defends rap to the end. Say things to the effect of it is not the rappers job the be responsible for their music, stop blaming the rappers, basically to me he is saying I don't care, stop bothering me, I just want my money. That is my take on his words not his words. He is a man that is all about the money to me, he defends the diamond trade knowing full well the the deaths attributed to it. When rap came under attack and was threatened he takes the high road. Where was he all the years it was going on before. What I think is that he is in danger of losing money so he call for reform to save rap so he can continue to make money. I have no respect for Russel Simmons. As long as people like Russel Simmons are considered the leaders of the black community rap has no chance for redemption.

Frozen

I have not been up on the news lately, but what I have noticed is the stand off between Congress and President Bush. Congress wants to pass a bil bringing the troops home, but President Bush has vowed to veto any legistation towards that end. You all know that I am all for bringing the troops home. I know would like to look at this objectively as possible. We have been in Iraq for four years. We seem to be getting nowhere in this war. How much longer will it take to get this in to the mind of this administration we can't stay in Iraq out of pride. Yes this entire situation is embarrassing for our nation, but this is not a game. Innocent lives are being lost daily. I want the troops home because I never believed in this war. President Bush wants more troops as far as I know. I know that a lot of people thought that this war was justified if not noble, but four years should show you other wise. It would be different if we were getting anywhere with this war, we are at a stand still. I think that over all this cannot end well at this point. maybe a year ago we could have saved some of our dignity or reputation. At this point we can forget that. I want the troops home. I have stated in a previous post that we have too many internal problems do try to first stablize a entire region then maintain it in definately. We need to focus on domestic problems. I am not saying we should be isolationist, because we can't. We have a role to in the affairs of the world. All the politics of the world affects the United States. We have a responsibilty to the world. We are not making a difference in the middle east. In fact we are causing more problems.

Hypocrisy

I have been watching news and the whole Imus situation is prevalent. I do not think his actions are acceptable, but on the same token we live in a society where even vastly different cultures are heavily tied into each other. So the slang and traditions of one culture can bleed into another. In the Hip-Hop culture calling women outside their name is commonplace. Hoes, sluts, tricks, chicken-heads, hoodrats are names you will hear almost everyday if you live in, near, or just hang around a majority black community. I am not trying to give a bad image of black people. Just telling the truth. Again I am not saying what Imus said was okay, but can you cannot get upset if you do it too. Now if you don't say things such as that get mad. Women should be thoroughly upset. Hip-hop culture should have nothing to say about this with any type of anger. Double standards are not acceptable. So before we make him out to be Strom Thurmond. Maybe we should realize that if we ourselves do not degrade ourselves with such names we will have less incidents like this, at least publicly.

Theocracy

"Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof"

Today is the "Blog against Theocracy" day. We live in a Nation that was founded on certain principles. One of the First is separation of church and State. I am not against religion. I am a very spiritual person actually, but on my own terms. I am also a the type of person that cannot, and would not stand by and let people's rights be violated. A Theocracy is apart, at least in my view, of the Absolutism family. The absolutism family includes dictatorship, Monarchy, Despotism, Totalitarian, Fascism, Nazism, and Theocracy. I believe this because in a Theocracy the views of one group is set above all others. That will inherently lead to abuses of power. It does not matter how good the religion is absolute power corrupts absolute. A lot of people push religious agendas in American politics. This is wrong. We can't allow creationism to be taught in schools. We cannot allow the Ten commandment in govn't buildings, and we cannot allow prayer in school. We can't be that because if we do we are persecuting people who do not follow these teachings.When we do this we are forcing Christianity on people. This nation of ours is not a christian nation, despite what you may think. My roommate thinks that this is a christian nation. He says that this country was founded by Christians. In fact many if not all of the founding fathers were Deist. They followed Deism, which is a religious philosophy that believes in the existence of God, but believe that God isn't involved in human affairs, and that we must take care of ourselves while we are here on the earth. It also states religious beliefs be based on the natural world, because understanding the world is that only to know God. So basically they were not pro religion, which is not the same as God. I hope we all know that God and Religion are not the same thing. So now that we know the founding fathers could not be Christian because they were not advocates of Religion. We must move on to the majority is Christian claim. What if the shoe was on the other foot? Would you be offended if the Qur'an were displayed at your courthouse? The golden rule "do unto others and you would have them do unto you" This nation is for everyone. If we allow persecute people and force our beliefs on others we are no better than the real bad people. I see that the Right wing evangelical radicals in this country are trying to turn this country in to a christian nation. If that were to let this happen I know we would persecute the people that differ from them. Whether it be Muslims, Scientist, Homosexuals, or atheist. What people don't realize is that if it became that way. the moral values would be enforced harshly and more than just moral views. The principles that we hold dear would be stripped from us. You cannot have it one way, and not the other it everyone is free or no one is. Do not let people manipulate your fears. They will turn it against you. A religious state is not and never will be what you think it is.