re: "Like It Is": Is Imhotep Gary Byrd The Logical Replacement?

I always thought so. (And I always thought once he got it, I would lobby to become his “Like It Is” producer.) But folks have moved on, so….. Maybe something will happen that we’d like, but I’m not holding my breath. I’m glad the brother, who is, sadly, in grief at this writing, is still on the air in 2011. By the way, my “Like It Is” obit is here.

NOVEMBER 22ND UPDATE: A second meeting?!? GREAT!!!!

Movements Mainstreamed, Or Just Another Day In America?

A new movement that is not completely a movement (didja hear about the “Occupy” reality show yet? 🙂 ) has luminaries that are not completely leaders. “Democracy Now!” profiled in Monday’s New York Times. West profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered” yesterday.  <a href="”>West and Michael Moore on “Democracy Now!” for the hour yesterday. Okay, legitimate (elite) public recognition for legitimate work. (Perhaps the mainstream will pay a little more attention now.)  But for people and institutions that are supposed to be “grassroots,” it  feels a little too elitist and chummy around these parts, with these (anti?) establishment folks being both sincere and playing their part–as in prescribed role. Perhaps this is just the nature of American society–particularly if you graduated Harvard, as Goodman and West did (and I guess in Goodman’s case, we could argue whether Radcliffe was or wasn’t Harvard when she attended 🙂 ), and worked for the white leftist elite, the way Michael Moore did. What about the grassroots co-host Juan Gonzalez, you might ask? Well, thanks to the Ford Foundation (and “Democracy Now!”‘s significant exposure, I might add), he’s on a book tour. Again, maybe this is just America. Cue Don King–or Tom Hayden. 😉

re: "Like It Is" (1968-2011): Goodbye, Farewell, Amen

I especially liked when Herb Boyd and Betty Dopson read from “Black Is The Color of My TV Tube.” As an undergraduate, I had that book glued to my body the way many students kept “The Autobiography” in their knapsacks. Bill Cosby said pretty much everything I would have said if I had been on this last show.

Dear "Occupy Wall Street:" I Admire You, But Would You Please……

….read about the Civil Rights, Black Power, and anti-Vietnam Movements so you can understand how police respond when you threaten white property and capitalism. (You can start, of course, with my book and this one I’m in. 😉  This classic I’m currently scanning-to-re-reading will help as well.) Boy, your white skin REALLY shows here! LOL!

"Shake It Off?!?" "Stop Complaining?!?" Negro, Please

Uh, Mr. President, just a word. You stand with people WHO STAND WITH YOU. Your examples were about people WHO STOOD BY EACH OTHER. And why is it always “We” when you speak to the CBC and the NAACP, and “the American people” for the other 363 days?

SEPTEMBER 27th UPDATE: And check this out:

SEPTEMBER 30th UPDATE:

And this:

OCTOBER 6th UPDATE: And this.