Prediction: U.S. First Black President

Not Jesse Jackson! Not Al Sharton! Not even Colin Powell! Barack Obama, the freshmen Senator from Illinois, will be the first black President of the United States. Mr. Obama has something we haven't seen since William Jefferson Clinton was elected President. He's charismatic! Unlike Howard Dean, Democratic National Leader (I don't know why) or John Kerry, Mr. Obama has a way of getting focused attention (when he speaks) from Republicans, Democrats, white people, black people, Asian-Americans, Hispanics, and everyone else. Personally, I believe he has a better shot than Hillary Clinton (although I believe her time is coming). Maybe after the way the Bush administration treated Colin Powell, he could be Barack Obama's running mate (Vice President), then eventually succeed him in eight years. This would cover all bases. You will have the communicator (Obama) and the experienced military man (Powell). The Republicans couldn't say the Democrats don't care about National Security. Bush wouldn't be able to make statements like "There's a group in the opposition party who are willing to retreat before the mission is done," he said. "They're willing to wave the white flag of surrender. And if they succeed, the United States will be worse off, and the world will be worse off."

Read this article about Barack Obama.

Written by COWBOY4EVER

The Wrong Man (Being a Black Man Series)

In life we all have something that just scares us to death. For some people it's not having enough money to pay the rent. For others, it's not getting married or having kids before their biological clock starts ringing. For me, it's being mistaken for someone that just committed a crime (and spending time in jail for it).

Yesterday's Washington Post told the story of Maryland resident Elias Fishburne. Mr. Fishburne was mistaken for a career criminal named Jarvis Tucker while driving on morning. This article takes the reader through Mr. Fishburne's emotions during this terrible ordeal. It also points out the old saying that black men are "guilty until proven innonence." Although Mr. Fishburne continued to urge the Maryland police officials to match his fingerprints against those of Jarvis Tucker, he was IGNORE. It was Mr. Fishburne's job to prove he wasn't Jarvis Tucker not vice versa.

Read this interesting article: THE WRONG MAN

Written by COWBOY4EVER

Len Bias: 20 Years Later

I can remember the day as if it just happened.

Everyone in school was crying. Although many of us didn't know Len Bias personally, he still felt like family.

My high school had the future Prince Georges County all-time leading scorer on the team, but Northwestern had THE M-A-N. Our star player was one of the best players I have seen but LEN was THE BEST.

Len Bias's death was difficult because he was the closest thing Prince Georges County had to a sports legend. He was the one everyone in school was going to brag about for years to come. We had already planned on asking our parents to buy us tickets for the Washington Bullets (now Wizards) vs. Boston Celtics game so we could see Len play. Unfortunately, our hopes and dreams never transpired. During the mid 80's, our community had not yet become numb to death. Cocaine had not become the PUBLIC drug. But after Len's death, we all started noticing this drug. Area drug dealers even started calling cocaine, "the Bias." Whenever we heard that (as teenagers) it was our warning to STAY AWAY.

Today's newspapers and local newscast debated whether Len Bias's death helped create a change in our community. I heard many former college and professional athletes (Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley, Alonzo Mourning, etc.) say how much it affected their lives (kept them away from drugs), but I'm not really sure that it really impacted our local community (DC/MD/VA). According to the Washington Post, the Maryland Terrapins basketball team STILL has a horrible graduation rate since Len Bias's death. The drug trade has gotten worse. Crime (especially killings and robberies) has seen a steady increase each year. And the local schools (and youth's attitudes) are getting worse.

Have we done a good job as a community of preventing another tragic lose? I'm not sure.

Len Bias: 10 Years After Len Bias: 20 Years After

Len Bias AKA "Prince Georges Maryland Best Basketball Player Ever"

Written by COWBOY4EVER

Hip-Hop Videos: Sexploitation On The Set

Last evening I watched a program on VH-1 entitled "Hip-Hop Videos: Sexploitation On The Set." I have to say, the program made me angry.

In the beginning of the video craze (the 80's), women walked around in videos but many people didn't pay attention to them (except for Ola Ray in Micheal Jackson's "Thriller" video) because they usually didn't have anything to do with the lyrics of the song or the video concept. These women usually received about 15 seconds of air time in each video. TODAY IS DIFFERENT! Now the lyrics of the songs match what the women in the videos are do or trying to protray themselves as (SEX TOYS or EASY). When the song talks about "ho's", the video will show women as "ho's".

Here's the description of the program:

With roughly 200 hip hop videos created each year, all of them require the staple element of voluptuous women to dance, shake, or just look hot. VH1 News wants to find out exactly who these women are and what goes on behind the scenes of these risqué video shoots.

In this special report, VH1 News interviews dozens of working video girls to discover the industry's secret sexual commerce. When a girl enters the video world, is she playing the role of sexual prop? Is she compromising herself for a little bit of fame? What are the sexual demands placed upon these girls on the video set? The relationship between the video girl and artist and director can get complicated. We'll hear from many women who refuse to date artists and see video work as "strictly business." But sometimes sex is expected. Some girls lost work because they wouldn't date a director or sleep with a rapper's ubiquitous entourage. But not all girls know how to say "No."

We'll meet some groupies and hear from the industry's most infamous video girl, Karrine "Superhead" Steffans. She'll explain how the video girl lifestyle almost destroyed her life. Today, away from the video world, she hopes other girls don't follow in her footsteps. There's another side of hip hop videos known as the world of uncut. This niche market of videos has more explicit images and are seen on DVDs and late night TV. In Fayetteville, North Carolina, we'll go on set of an independent uncut video for an artist named Big Delph. We'll also meet Vanity, Princess and Jayda, three strippers from NC, who are chosen to appear in Big Delph's uncut video. One is raising a child and the other two are just trying to survive. They all hope a music video will give them a little bit of exposure, or at least an opportunity to feel special. The show features rappers like Common, Cam'ron, Mike Jones and Luther Campbell, Trina and Jacki-O as well as former video models Karinne Steffans and Melyssa Ford and two casting directors, Ulysses Terrero and Pablo Cornejo, who audition girls for an upcoming video.

Here's my problem with today's videos. Our children (society) aren’t realizing this is JUST A VIDEO and that the actors/artists in the videos probably don’t dress and act like that 24 hours a day. Our kids are acting and dressing like that all the time. Our boys are wearing “wife beaters” in public so they can protray a rough image. Our girls are wearing jeans tight and below the waist. Our boys think they are suppose to refer to girls as "bitches" and "ho's." Our girls think it's normal to "Shake It Fast" (for you old heads, the rapper is really saying "Shake That A#@"). Our boys think it's normal to carry a 9mm whenever they go outside. Our girls think they have to give up the "STUFF" in order to make friends. Our girls think being in a video is the ultimate career move. I can go on and on, but you get my point.

Many of these videos are doing harm to our children and we're not doing anything about it. I often hear the rappers, producers, and filmmakers say it's a matter of free speech. I don't think they should be allowed to use that excuse anymore. It's amazing to me that BET, VH-1, and MTV are own by the same company. VH-1 caters to the older consumer. MTV caters to the 16-35 white citizen. BET caters to the 16-35 black citizen. Why is it that you ONLY see these rauchy videos on BLACK ENTERTAIMENT TELEVISION (BET). You don't see it on VH-1 or MTV. MTV even has a video program that shows the latest and hottest rap videos, but the same artists that make rauchy videos for BET are required to make a CLEAN version of the video for MTV. If the rauchy stuff was shown on MTV, the parents of those sububuran kids would attempt to SHUT MTV DOWN. Why do we allow it? Why hasn't the NAACP, Jesse Jackson, Mr. Dyson, Farrakan, and others join together to stop these videos from being shown on BET. I'm starting to believe that it's become NORMAL to them also.

I know what some of you will say, "don't allow your kids to see it." We live in the age of cell phones that show videos. If they don't see it in your house, they will find out about it somehow. We can avoid all of that if BET stop showing the stuff.

Please make it your business to watch this program. You should see the images that are being planted in our children's head. The program will be shown (again) on Thursday Jun. 22 12:00 AM EDT. RECORD IT because I know everyone is sleep by this time of day.

Written by COWBOY4EVER

BAGHDAD ER

Today I had the opportunity to see the HBO documentary entitled "Baghdad ER". This film gives the viewer an inside look of life in the military emergency room. Unlike the "ER" television series, this documentary is raw, and uncut trauma.

Once again, if you are still undecided about voting in the upcoming election, this documentary will certainly get you thinking. It caused me to instantly pray for the men and women in Iraq.

I can't tell you what political party to choose, but I can tell you that it's EXTREMELY IMPORTANT that you exercise your right to vote.

For more information on this documentary, please click on this link: BAGHDAD ER

Written by COWBOY4EVER

Being A Black Man

The Washington Post has embarked on a series entitled "Being A Black Man." This series include surveys and interviews with men from all walks of life. Some of the men interviewed include NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, local pastor Deron Cloud, and a host of other men. The first installment is entitled "At The Corner of Progress and Peril." I encourage everyone (men, women, and children) to read this series. From the first article, it's apparent that no matter what level of success you have achieved, black men experience some of the same difficulties.

I'm not going to spoil it for you. I will begin posting my OPINIONS about this series very soon.

BEING A BLACK MAN

Enjoy
COWBOY4EVER