Another Year Down: Time to Celebrate

Well, the '05 is just about over and anyone who reads this has made it through another year in this crazy world. There have been many a trial and tribulation this year and I'm sure that 2006 will be no different. I just want to thank everyone who has visited this Blog the past couple of months. It has been a great experience and cathartic for me to express my views to an audience outside of my internal conversations and those I have with friends. I appreciate those who have commented on my posts, whether you agree or disagree with me, and for those who don't comment, but still stop by and read what I have to say. The comments I get from people really do inspire me to write more and keep my Blog up to date so folks know they can catch something new when they visit.

I scoured google and Yahoo Images to try and find some hot pics to illustrate celebrating the end of the year, but didn't find much that I liked, so I'm stuck with what I have here :-)

I'm not sure what I'm doing for New Year's yet, but I'm sure my partner and I will find something to do. I prefer the house party scene rather than being in a bar/club. What do others have planned for their celebrations this year?

I hope that each and everyone who reads this post has a Happy New Year that's fun, but safe and that we all survive to see the next year. I wish for prosperity, good health and achievement for you all in the year to come.

My first post of '06 will likely be a recap of my year and the directions I'm going in for next year, so check me out!

Here's to another year down!

Sincerely,

Lee

Corey Maye Update- 12/28/05

I visited The Agitator website this morning to see if there were any updates on this case and there were a few. The most interesting are the actual court transcriptions that have been put up by the sites author Radley Balko. On his site you can see all kinds of court documents in PDF form. I haven't really gotten a chance to read them yet, but if your interested click here to view these documents. You'll have to scroll down to the section that says The Maye Trial Transcripts. There you'll find links to several trial documents related to the Corey Maye case.

I have tried my part to bring this case into the consciousness of more people via my Blog, but also emailing the Steve Harvey Morning Show (I know, after all the shit I talk about that show), mostly because Ms. Reid is a respectable journalist with clout in the journalism community. My hope is that she might express some interest in this case. Unfortunately that show has been on break the past 2 weeks and they are only doing "Best of shows" (as if he's been on that long to have 2 weeks worth). I'm planning to email a couple of other nationally syndicated Black shows as well. Please pass the word of this case and these documents on to others you know. The more people who know about this case, the greater the chance that it will reach someone who can bring it to a national audience.

The Violence Among Us

I was speaking with a friend of mine from my hometown, Rochester, NY one night last week and he shared something with me that has disturbed me ever since that conversation. He was getting me up to speed on some things going on there when he told me about a young gay man who was violently attacked by another gay person. There are several reasons why this disturbed me so deeply:

1. I knew the young man who was attacked because he used to frequent the youth program I used to run at the MOCHA Project in Rochester.
2. I also know the attacker who is a FTM transgender and someone who I've always been cool with, but had heard stories about how violent she can be, though I've never been witness to it.
3. She chose to attack him with a hammer!
4. He had to spend several days in the hospital because he was so badly beaten
5. Both the attacker and the victim were Black.

When my friend told me what happened, my heart immediately went out to the victim because I know him and I also know that he's rather effeminate, small framed and his natural disposition isn't that of a fighter. Even if she didn't attack him with a hammer, he didn't have much of a chance against her because of her build and street sense.

I felt a deep sadness that not only did this occur between two Black people, but two Black people "in the life". I'm not sure how the attacker identifies herself in relation to the GLBT community, but I know I've seen her at gay establishments and she has gay male friends. I have heard her on more than one occasion mouth derogatory statements about "faggots this...........and faggots that", "I can't stand faggot assed, punk assed niggas" etc. To me when people say things like this, it speaks to the profound hurt they are going through in their identification with a community they consider themselves to be a part of, but at the same time have been hurt by. No Black person can divorce their Blackness no matter how bad they want to and I feel the same about a GLBT orientation (though some claim to have changed their life after asking the Lawd to deliver them).

What can be going through someone's mind as they run up on you, pull out a hammer and beat the shit out of you? I hope to never have that kind of hate in my heart, because that's the kind of hate that's self destructive and often ends up destroying others in the process. As Black GLBT folks, we have a hard enough time being accepted by our communities, by our families and by our peers. We DON'T need the negativity that comes from our own Black GLBT brother's and sister's. All the shade, back biting, violence and disrespect has to be diminished if we have any chances of developing a sense of community or at minimum a collective well being and relationships with other Black GLBT people. We do more damage to each other than any non-Black GLBT person or heterosexual person of any race could do. Notice I said these things need to diminish and not cease altogether. I'm a realist and know that there will always be shade, cattiness etc, but I think it's detrimental to our individual and collective health and well being with the pervasiveness that it exists now.

I've talked with several Black gay men who talk about how their attitude and shade comes from a sense of not wanting to be hurt by peers, so they adopt an attitude of "the best offense is a good defense" (meaning I'll get you before you get me). If we are so busy being un-trusting of our brothers and sisters, how do ever get to a point where we see them as our supports in a racist, heterosexist, homophobic society? If we're busy beating each other up how do we form loving bonds and relationships with each other? How do we pull each other up from the throws of substance abuse and addiction, which disproportionately impacts GLBT persons?

I don't have the answers to these questions, but what I do know is that we have to figure out solutions soon because this violence isn't only destroying us, but it's destroying our communities, families and our children and threatens to destroy our children's children. We don't have to like everyone, but that doesn't mean we have to violate each other physically and verbally when we don't get along. My sympathies go out to JB (the victim) and I hope he recovers and will be able to move on with his life. I also have some sympathy for the attacker because she has a lot of hate in her heart, which means she's in a lot of pain. My hope is that one day she's able to get to the root of that pain and is able to heal the anger that has festered inside and led her to an adult life of violence, illegal activity and prison. This can't be the life of a person who's happy with themselves, because if you are, then you don't need to destroy someone else as she did to JB.

Spread the love in '06, because our collective health and well being depends on it.

The Death Row Case of Corey Maye

I learned of this young Black man's situation when I visited Keith Boykin's website the other night. I was both amazed and angered by what I read and how this man's life has been ruined and could possibly ended by execution if pressure isn't put on the state of Mississippi to overturn the death row ruling made against Corey Maye.

The Background
Corey Maye, a young Black man was convicted of capitol murder when he shot a White police officer in what appears to be self defense, during an improperly executed police sting operation in December of 2001. They had obtained information that drugs were being sold out of the duplex where Maye lived. The police had a warrant for someone else who lived in the duplex (but not with Maye) and they also had another one to search his apartment as well, though they didn't have Maye's name on the other warrant as he wasn't a suspect. Apparently they failed to realize the apartment they chose to break into first wasn't the intended suspect, but was Maye's residence. The time of the sting was around midnight and Maye was reported to have been sleeping when they busted into his apartment without warning. In an attempt to protect himself from harm, since he was sleeping and only knew that someone had broken into his apartment, he grabbed his gun and shot at one of the people coming through his door. Unfortunately these were police officers and the one he shot, died from his injuries. To make matters worse, the cop he shot, happened to be the son of the towns police chief at that time. And the tragic life of Corey Maye begins......

Some information on the case:

• Maye had no prior criminal record.
• The police originally said they found no drugs in his apartment. This statement was later changed to say that they found a trace of marijuana in the apartment.
• When he went to trial the jury was made up of 10 White's and 2 Black's. The jury came back with the decision that he was guilty and should be punished by death.
• To this day Corey Maye sits on death row awaiting execution.
• According to Maye's former lawyer,who states she interviewed a couple of the jurors after the trial, his conviction by the jury didn't come from concrete evidence of the case, but rather on their judgments that he had been spoiled by his mother and grandmother and their belief that he was disrespectful of elders. They were also upset by a remark that was made by his attorney at the time. According to Maye's former lawyer, these things are the basis for their decision to sentence him to capitol punishment.

The Movement
Obviously this is a HUGE injustice and the life of this Black man in Mississippi has been deemed expendable by a majority White jury who apparently didn't even convict him on evidence from the case. Had they done this, it seems pretty clear cut that it was a case of self defense and not murder. Would the case have turned out different if the cop killed were not the police chief's son? If the "victim" was not White? If Maye was White and not Black? We'll never have these answers, but we do have options to help correct this situation.

A man by the name of Radley Balko has taken up the cause of undoing the injustice done to Corey Maye. He has dedicated a section of his website called The Agitator to an investigation into the case of Maye. He has tons of interesting information on there including links to actual police documents filed against Maye. He also has a 30 minute interview he did with a radio program where he details the history of the case and the findings so far.

This case has been making its way around the Blog circuit, but hasn't made it much outside of it. Balko and others are trying to get major media to grab ahold of this story to bring attention to it and hopefully pressure on the state of Mississippi to overturn this ruling. In an effort to help get the word out, I am planning to send an email to a few of the nationally syndicated Black radio shows to see if they will take up this cause. I encourage anyone who reads about this case and feels this man has been unjustly treated to do your part to bring some media attention to this issue. I hope that through our collective efforts, we can tap into the larger mass media and in turn help to save this innocent man's life.

For More information Visit:
The Agitator
Keith Boykin's Article
News Article

Privacy Denied: Were You Violated?


Well the Bush administration is in the news again for another scandal. News dropped over the weekend that since shortly after the 9/11 attacks, the National Security Agency (NSA), under the direction of President Bush has been tapping phone lines and monitoring the emails of thousands of Americans. The war on terror is infringing more and more into the daily lives of Americans and it's not only because of terrorists. We are all potential suspects to the United States government, especially if you have any kind of affiliations with people outside of the United States. I bet they probably pulled a list of every Arab-American and anyone else from that part of the world that now lives in America and has been monitoring their communications. Of course I don't think it stops there. Have you called to anyone outside the United States? Emailed anyone from another country, especially one that the United States government considers to be a potential threat for terrorist activity? If you have, regardless of your race, it's likely that some of your communications have been monitored at some point without your knowledge.

The biggest problem is that this isn't legal! There is much debate now that this has been exposed about the legitimacy and need for Bush to go this far to collect anti-terrorism data. From all the shows I watched the past few days, where they have interviewed members of congress, lawyers and politicians, they all say that he has overstepped his authority as a president once again. He has abused his power and we are the victims not only of potential terrorist activity, but we are being victimized by our own government. Bush has also made it clear that he is going to continue this illegal activity, until an act of law forbids it. Does this man have an ego or what? When does he play by the rules? Can you imagine being able to do whatever you want and not be held accountable for it? Now we all know dayum well, if a Black president (if there ever will be such a thing in Amerikkka) were to do anything out of line or illegal in his presidency he'd be impeached before he could finish spelling the word. White privilege is undeniable and President Bush exhibits this frequently. How else could you explain someone becoming president of the US who is inarticulate, lacks intelligce and on top of that has a history of DWI's? Two words WHITE PRIVILEGE!

So how far will this eavesdropping go? For years they have been doing this kind of surveillance on groups considered to be radical in the US, especially Black led groups such as the Black Panthers and the Nation Of Islam as well as more peaceful movements such as that of Martin Luther King Jr. If we as Black gay folks become more radical against our oppressive mistreatment by governmental and social institutions, will we be the next to be under surveillance? Will they be tapping our phone lines and monitoring emails to make sure we don't get out of hand? It's hard to know where this kind of thing will stop, especially if it's being done illegally. Our president talks about values and virtues, but where is the virtue in breaking the law? I was reading the New York Times transcript of the radio address that President Bush gave on December 16th and he is quoted as saying "The American people expect me to do everything in my power under our laws and Constitution to protect them and their civil liberties. And that is what I will continue to do so long as I'm the president of the United States". I wonder what he considers to be under our laws and Constitution, because he broke the law when he had the NSA monitoring our communications without obtaining a warrant, which is the law. Had he followed the procedures properly this issue would not be coming up to haunt him. Our president is a criminal and this isn't the first of his criminal exploits and sadly, this probably isn't the last. We still have 3 years of his nonsense to deal with and I hope this country will be able to recover from the profound damage that's been done.

In the meantime realize that Big Brother is watching. This incident reminds me of the Jill Scott song off her first album called Watching Me, where she talked about the infringement of the government into our personal lives. I love the line when she says "Am I watching the TV or is it watching me, man I don't know". This could be a reality. Hopefully Congress will hold President Bush accountable for breaking the law. Could he be impeached for this? Who knows, but at some point his arrogance, disregard for abiding by the law and lack of honesty has to be stopped.

The Boodocks, Stereotypical or Reality?

Have you all seen The Boondocks, a new cartoon that airs Sunday's @ 11pm on The Cartoon Network's Adult Swim? If not, you are missing something and it's worth watching at least one episode. Click here to view a clip of the cartoon. For those that haven't seen it, a quick synopsis of the plot is that two young Black brothers (10 & 8) move to a boondock suburb of Chicago (hence the name of the show) when their grandfather gets custody of them. Prior to moving to the boondocks, the boys lived on the South Side of Chicago. The younger brother Riley is a self proclaimed 8 year old gangsta' who has a foul mouth and bad temper to match. On the other hand is Huey, Riley's 10 year old brother who is a socially conscious intellectual revolutionary who is all for the advancement of Black people.

So here's my take on the show. I have only seen two of the episodes, so my thoughts are based on these two shows. Last night, though I was needing to get ready for bed, I found myself captivated by this show and at the same time thinking that I don't know if I should support it, because of some of it's content. Most of my problem with the show lies with the younger brother, Riley, who uses the "N" word frequently, has a violent disposition that seems to be a bit excessive, especially for an 8 year old. On last night's show, Riley was pissed with Santa Claus for not bringing him presents when he was living in the hood last year, so he decided to terrorize Santa Claus this year when he ran into him at the mall. Not only did he verbally harass Santa, but he physically attacked him, by beating him with a golf club during one incident and then came back another day for more revenge. The second time he terrorized Santa, he had a gun with a red beam on it which he aimed at Santa's head and attempted to shoot him. I can't recall, but I think it was a bebe gun he had. Now keep in mind, this is an 8 year old! Although it's a cartoon, that's a bit much, even for me as an adult to watch, especially when I know the reality of 8 year olds in real life bringing guns to school and children accidentally shooting their peers because they gained unauthorized access to a gun.

A stark contrast to this was the social consciousness of his older brother Huey, who wrote a school play about the true meaning of Christmas where he wasn't afraid to challenge the myth that Jesus had blonde hair and blue eyes and pale skin as is depicted by most Christian's. The things he was saying were really on point and I found myself wishing that most young Black 10 year olds were like that in real life. Wishing they could use their brains to create change instead of ignorance and violence. I loved how he spewed out facts on how Christmas used to be a pagan holiday and how he exposed some of the inconsistencies of commonly held truths.

This is where my conflict with the show comes in. I really have a hard time with the liberal use of the "N"word and the excessive violence displayed by the younger brother. In the first episode of the show I saw, I'm not kidding when I tell you that between the little brother and the grandfather, they used the "N" word more than 20 times in a 30 minutes episode! But, on the other hand I like how the older brother directs his anger at a racist society via intellectual opposition. It's easier to use violence as a means to get people to do what you want, but another thing entirely to use your brain as that weapon that creates change. The latter is what we need to teach our young people to do.

I know, I'm digging way too deep into a cartoon, but I think we have to be careful about how we represent ourselves in all forms of media. Our young Black boys are too violent as it is and we don't need shows to reinforce these negative aspects to the extreme that Boondocks does. None the less, I think I'll tune in next week to see what happens. Overall the show is decent and I have always found the humor of John Witherspoon, (who plays the grandfather) to be funny. I will never forget his roles on Friday and Boomerang.

What do others think of this show?

A Jackson's Reality Show? Say It Ain't So!

Believe it or not, the Jackson family is planning to have a reality TV show based on some of the extended Jackson family members. From what I read in this article the show will be based on the comeback of 3T, which some of us may recall from a few years ago. Their career was very short lived Apparently there will be cameos of all the Jackson family who will be mentoring them as they try to make a name for themselves. Apparently The most infamous Jackson, Michael will make a cameo appearance in the pilot episode, but it's uncertain if he will be in it other than that. If the show gets picked up by network TV, the most featured family members will be LaToya and Jermain. That should be a trip. I wonder if LaToya has consulted her psychic friends to see that this show will flop.

I think people have grown tired of the Jackson family, I know I have. The only one I follow is Ms. Janet. If Michael didn't do such weird things and get caught up in so much negative controversy, I would love to see him make a comeback. He was so hot in the 80's. However I don't think he will ever be able to come back to the magnitude he was early in his adult solo career. As for the show, I don't think I'd watch it if it came on, would you?

Noah's Arc Season One: My thoughts

I just watched the last episode of the first season of Noah's Arc and I have mixed feelings about the show. Most of all, I'm glad that there's something on TV that gives the presence of Black gays on TV and it doesn't portray us in a negative light. There has been much talk in the Black gay community about the series. This weekend when I was at the 3MV retreat, several of us got into a conversation about the series and our thoughts on it.

The things I don't necessarily like about the show are:

• The story lines move way too fast. For example, Wade who was supposed to be heterosexual in the first episode, but ends up in a relationship with Noah in the second episode. It would have been better to build that story line up some before making them lovers.
• The acting isn't the greatest. The ones who I think need the most work is Wade and Ricky. They are both nice to look at, but the acting is less than stellar.
• They take on several social issues, but I think it may be more than the show is capable of handling at this point. It would be better if they took a couple of issues and went deeper with them, rather than cover the surface of several issues.
• Noah's voice is a bit annoying. It seems that it's overly effimiate. I didn't see the initial run of the first episode that was making the gay film festival circuit last year, but I heard that his voice wasn't as high pitched then as it is now.
• Some of the plots were whack. The one that stands out the most was the one when Chance was taking "homo thug" lessons from T-Money because his lover had a fetish for "homo thugs".

The things I like about the show are:

• I like the camaraderie of the characters and how they help each other through hard times. It's especially endearing to see because we don't see many pictures of Black men having healthy friendships like that on TV.
• On the same token, it's also nice to see images of Black men loving Black men, though tonight's episode was DRAMA!
• Though they may try to tackle too many hot topic issues that the Black gay community is dealing with, (e.g.: homophobia in the Black church, masculinity in the Black gay community) at least they are broaching these issues.
• I like Alex's character for some reason. I think because he's so witty and of all the character's he has his own little tag line, which is how he says the word "girl" when referring to his friends.

As for the season finale, I'm not sure how I feel about it. I think there was lots of DRAMA!!!! (almost too much for one episode). I was a bit disappointed in Noah for cheating on his boyfriend at a sex party. It was too much when the guy he cheated on Wade with sits next to him the next day at Chance and Eddie's commitment ceremony. Speaking of which, Wade's friends completely fucked up their ceremony! I felt for poor Alex for getting played as hard as he did in front of everyone when his proposal to marry Trey was declined and then to add salt to the wound, he found out Trey was planning to move out of the country for 6 months, putting their relationship on hold. The fight between Alex and Guy I think his name is, was corny. It didn't really seem realistic at all. But it sure does seem that Guy and Trey have somethin' goin' on.

Overall, I think that the show is okay, but could use some tweaking of the storylines and acting. I also think the story lines move much too fast which makes the show seem unrealistic at times. If nothing else, Noah's Arc has caused a lot of discussion within the Black gay community. One of the things I wish they might do for the future is to add more facets of the Black gay community such as lesbians and transgender's. Not doing so only feeds into the divisiveness of our community where it seems that lesbians and gay men rarely socialize in the same circles. I do think kudos should be given to Patrick Ian Polk for getting this show onto a weekly national spotlight, even if it's on a conservative station such as LOGO. I suppose that part of my support also comes from the fact that I support Black gay media as long as it doesn't portray us in a way that I feel is detrimental to us.

The Life of Stan "Tookie" Williams

At 12:35 am today, December 13, 2005, 16 days before his 52nd birthday, Stanley "Tookie" Williams, the infamous co-founder of the Crips street gang died from lethal injection in the state of California, according to news reports. Him and his supporters' request for him to be granted clemency was denied by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenigger (I mean Schwarzenegger). If granted clemency, Williams would have been able to avoid the death penalty, but would have had to remain in prison the remainder of his life without the chance of parole, unless some kind of evidence surfaced that could prove his innocence. His death row sentence was given to him after he was convicted in 1981 for murdering 4 people in two separate incidents. Williams claimed his innocence to the day he died. This has been a hot topic not only in the news, but also on many Blogs that I came across today. The focus of this post is to share my thoughts on why I think he should have been granted clemency by the state of California.

I have been doing a little bit of research on Stanley "Tookie" Williams, so that I could get a better picture of who this man was. After finding out some of the work he's done since he's been in prison, I don't think he should have been executed. I say this with a little bit of reservation mainly because I don't know if I would be saying the same thing if it were my family members he was accused of murdering.

According to a fact sheet that appears to be endorsed by close associates of Williams, there was some shakiness in his conviction for the crimes. This document states that the physical evidence against Mr. Williams wasn't solid, nor was the credibility of the witnesses. The document goes on to state that several of the witnesses who supposedly heard him confess to the murders had their own serious brushes with the law they were dealing with at the time they testified against Mr. Williams. Remarkably each witness had their charges dropped or lessened as a result of testifying against Mr. Williams. Now I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out that there was some corruption going on here. All this evidence was also based on what these witnesses supposedly heard and not that they actually saw him commit the crime. These witnesses certainly had a reason to make up a story so that they could save themselves from their own legal issues and I'm sure the government would have liked nothing more than to see him off the streets because of his gang affililation. I'm not saying I believe Mr. Williams didn't commit the crimes as I'm sure he was more than capable of doing so, but I trust the fairness of the judiciary process even less than an ex gang member. I suppose we we'll never know the real truth, and even if we did, it's too late for Mr. Williams at this point.

Suppose for a moment that he did commit these violent crimes; people can change and make good out of a bad situation, which is what this man was doing for the past several years of his life. He had been in prison for 24 years and seemed to have turned his life around and done a significant amount of good to combat violence in urban communities as best he could from a prison cell. He had written approximately 8 books for grade school kids, which includes some for highschool aged kids about the danger of gangs and the need to find other solutions for the frustrations many urban youth (particularly Black's and Hispanics) have to deal with as a result of racism, urban decay and poverty. He wrote a book called "Blue Rage, Black Redemption" which is a memoir of his life and how he became the kind of person that ended up being a co-founder of one of the largest gangs in American history and his words of wisdom for young urban kids to not follow in his footsteps. He made several Public Service Announcements to denounce the gang lifestyle. He developed an anti violence curriculum that was implemented with success in over 20 Chicago Public schools where there was a high incidence of violence. In addition to that, he has worked from inside his prison cell to build peace between long time rival street gangs and reportedly had some success with it.

I took the following text from his official website where he made an apology for all the suffering he caused America and beyond for the violence the Crips street gang has caused over the years:

The Apology

Twenty-five years ago when I created the Crips youth gang with Raymond Lee Washington in South Central Los Angeles, I never imagined Crips membership would one day spread throughout California, would spread to much of the rest of the nation and to cities in South Africa, where Crips copycat gangs have formed. I also didn't expect the Crips to end up ruining the lives of so many young people, especially young black men who have hurt other young black men.

Raymond was murdered in 1979. But if he were here, I believe he would be as troubled as I am by the Crips legacy.

So today I apologize to you all -- the children of America and South Africa -- who must cope every day with dangerous street gangs. I no longer participate in the so-called gangster lifestyle, and I deeply regret that I ever did.

As a contribution to the struggle to end child-on-child brutality and black-on-black brutality, I have written the Tookie Speaks Out Against Gang Violence children's book series. My goal is to reach as many young minds as possible to warn you about the perils of a gang lifestyle.
I am no longer "dys-educated" (disease educated). I am no longer part of the problem. Thanks to the Almighty, I am no longer sleepwalking through life.

I pray that one day my apology will be accepted. I also pray that your suffering, caused by gang violence, will soon come to an end as more gang members wake up and stop hurting themselves and others.

I vow to spend the rest of my life working toward solutions.

Amani (Peace),
Stanley "Tookie" Williams, Surviving Crips Co-Founder, April 13, 1997

This man clearly has done a lot of introspection while in prison and had turned his life around. The purpose of prison is to rehabilitate and though the prison systems in America aren't good at doing this, some men do change and Mr. Williams was an example of that. He has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize 4 times and even was acknowledged by the current president Bush whom Mr. Williams received a presidential award from for the anti violence work he was doing.

I think I've made a strong enough case, at least for myself, that Gov. Schwarzenigger (and I mean it this time) made the wrong decision to not grant this man clemency. I say Schwarzenigger because if he weren't so ignorant, he would have seen that this man did all he could to undo the harm he did while he was running the streets of Los Angeles as a gang member in the 70's. A man should be judged by what he's done to make a positive impact on this world and without a doubt Mr. Williams has done that. But I'm sure that Schwarzenigger isn't phased by the fact that he's made one of the biggest mistakes of his career. He probably doesn't care that he's executed an important figure in the gang anti-violence movement, because the kind of lives that Williams touched aren't ones that White society values. Schwarzenigger seemed to be caught up in the fact that Williams, though convicted, never confessed to the crimes and never apologized or showed remorse for them and therefore deserved to die. Well maybe, just maybe, he didn't commit those murders and his conviction for truth was so strong that even in the face of death, he wouldn't acknowledge something he didn't do. To me, that shows a man with character and integrity and one that was worthy of clemency based on the work he did to better urban communities from inside his prison cell.

I hope that Stanley "Tookie" Williams will rest in peace. At least he knows he died with his dignity in tact and made great strides in redeeming himself from the corrupt lifestyle he was living prior to his imprisonment. Schwarzenigger will have to be the one to answer for his sins for wrongly executing this man. Indeed Mr. Williams spent the rest of his life working toward solutions to urban violence and for that, he deserves much respect.

Happy Birthday Chris!

Last night a few friends got together to celebrated our friend Chris's birthday. He started his b-day weekend off with a party on Sunday at his place. Unfortunately I missed most of it because I didn't get back in town to Philly until around 10:30pm. But none the less I was able to stop by for a few minutes. Last night several of his friends took him out for drinks at one of our favorite bars in Philly called Bump and then we went to a restaraunt on 15th street called Roys. I had never been there, but that was one of his favorite places so we took him there. The meal was great and the company was very enjoyable. My partner and I met some of Chris's other friends that we hadn't met before. So i'd like to shout out to them. It was cool meeting you guys, Belmo and Curtis. Here are a few pictures from the night.

My partner Georgeo, Chris & Me @ Bump

Chris, Ervin & Me @ Bump

My partner & I @ Bump

Front to Back: Ervin, Curtis & Belmo; Georgeo, Chris, Me & Kevin @ Roys

HIV Prevention And Black Gay Men In 2006:
Changing the focus

World AIDS Day has come and gone and 24 years into the game, we're still trying to figure out the million dollar question "How do we decrease HIV prevalence among Black gay men?" This is a question that researchers and HIV prevention workers have been grappling with for years. So what's the answer? I don't have the magic answer, but I have some thoughts on directions we need to go in if we have any chance of decreasing HIV prevalence among Black gay men. This post is about one area where I think greater attention should be paid as we progress into more effedctive HIV-prevention approaches.

I think that any effective HIV prevention approach must target improving the emotional health and well being of Black gay men. On a daily basis we have to cope with the impact of discrimination and marginilization, including: racism from the heterosexual and gay community; homophobia from the Black community; heterosexist ideologies of larger society, especially from our religious institutions; the violence that threatens to take our lives if we express who we are too flaboyantly and decide to do so outside of our "gayborhoods" to name a few. Dealing with any combination of these things has taken a toll on Black gay men which can be seen in the way we treat each other, the disproportionate amount of alcohol and illicit drug use that occurs among us and the sexual risk we engage in among other things.

I don't say these things as a blanket statement because I realize that there are lots of Black gay men who don't use illicit drugs, or engage in risky sex, but my statements are more about the need to address the mental health and well being of Black gay men. This approach is more easily attainable than trying to uproot racism, heterosexism and homophobia or eradicate economic disparities. They are too pervasive and deep rooted to realistically hope these things will be resolved and then we as Black gay men will automatically feel better about ourselves. A better strategy is to help people cope with these discriminations in a healthier way. Of course some people may like to engage in sexually risky ways or use drugs "just because", but for those who are engaging in these activities to cover pain are the ones we need to save. The needs of Black gay men are much more complex than simply using condoms or telling them that drugs are bad. Interventions need to be rooted in helping people figure out what's driving their unhealthy behaviors. In most instances sexual risk taking and drug abuse are symptoms of larger issues a person is dealing with and until those issues are discovered and dealt with, it's not likely that behavior is going to change.

One of the setbacks in HIV prevention has come with the Bush administration and their bullshit"golden standards" called the ABC's of prevention: A= Abstinence, B= Be faithful, C= use Condoms each and every time. Now those of us who have worked in HIV prevention for more than a day know that these are not the realities of most peoples lives. HIV prevention efforts have been forced into ineffectiveness by a government that won't allow organizations to do programming that will really engage Black gay men into services and if these organizations do things that the current conservative government disapproves of, they lose their funding. This has happened to several HIV service organizations since Bush has taken office. Maybe Kanye West was right when he blasted George Bush on the Katrina telethon when he said that "George Bush doesn't care about Black people". Indeed this country has a history of neglecting the needs of Black folks since it's infancy as a country.

I think the only way we will really be able to do the HIV prevention work that will make a difference for Black gay men is if we have our own source of economics that aren't tied to reliance on government funds. As long as government funds are being used, there will always be restrictions on the work we want to do because the lives of Black gay men are more complex than the scope of the ABC's. Unfortunately relying on government funds is a reality, so we have to at least hope for a less conservative political climate once Bush is out of office. In the meantime we have to figure out ways to save our community, because as Black folks, this isn't the first crisis we have had to deal with. We survived others and we will survive this one, but we have to make it happen and be unapologetic about how we do it.

Did I already tell you.........

that I really don't like the Steve Harvey Morning Show? I have been trying to get into it, but I'm still having a hard time getting into it. part of the reason I listen to it in the morning is because I only get one other morning talk show program on my radio in the morning and that station has Star and Buckwild on it and I absolutely despise them. I'd take Steve Harvey over them any day!

Last Friday Steve Harvey did his show here in Philly, just a couple of blocks from where I work, so I went up there to see it live. He came with my girl Jacque Reid and his other host that he calls his nephew Tommy. It was my first time seeing Jacque in person and though I was kind of far from her, she looked quite beautiful in person. I did like how they interacted with the audience, but after about 15 minutes I was done with Steve's bufoonery (not sure I spelled that right). One of the things I don't like about his show is that he seems to make a big deal out of the fact that Jacque has a college education and apparently he doesn't. Several times I've heard him refer to her as "white lady". Black folks need to stop that nonsense of associating college educated Black folks with Whites. As if only Whites are educated. I think that Jacque should find a better gig. She's a classy lady, with a good reputation for her journalism skills. She doesn't belong on a show like Steve Harvey's.

Another bone I have to pick with him is that the past week or so he keeps referring to "The Down Low". Today he was talking with Anita Baker I think it was, and he said something about "Ain't nobody on the down low up in here, I'm all man". As far as I'm concerned, the hetero's can keep him, because he's nothing special to look at. It's interesting how Black comedians will often use homophobic jokes in their comedy routines and make money off of doing it, but be quick to distance themselves from any kind of real association with gay folks. Mr. Harvey is no exception, as one of the regular characters he features on his show called Eugene, who does birthday shoutouts talks in a stereotypically gay voice. But don't say anything that might challenge Mr. Harvey's manhood, 'cuz he'll make it clear that he's "all man".