Saggy Pants and Black History Month
The city fathers and mothers of Long Beach, CA, have taken it upon themselves to neaten up certain young Long Beach residents by insisting that they “pick ‘em up and keep ‘em up,” (“em” being their pants.)
More precisely, “Bishop William Ervin along with Carson City Councilman Mike Gipson are calling on black children and teens to ‘pull up their pants on their waist’ as a sign of respect during Black History Month.” As a white elder, that insistence is as perplexing as Black History Month.
What Bishop Ervin and Councilman Gipson seem to be implying is that young black boys and men–young black girls and women seem to know where their waistlines are–are somehow demeaning black history by exhibiting their underwear. That fashion statement, whatever the nature of that statement is, and that concern, are baffling since there are so many other black issues the bishop and councilman could be addressing.
Other words of wisdom offered for black youths by the Long Beach community include, “You can have the swag without the sag” and a reminder that “the [pants-uplifting] plan is not just for cultural purposes, but may have legal benefits as well: sagging pants are often used for profiling purposes by law enforcement agencies:” http://tiny.cc/xllys
The “cultural purposes” reference eludes me but the lesson is that you can swagger without the sagger and if you insist on the sag look, you risk being arrested during, before, and after Black History Month.
I doubt many black youths are being arrested for saggy pants but untold numbers are being arrested for burglaries, robberies, aggravated assaults, rapes, motor vehicle thefts, gun possession, etc.
It’s unfortunate that Ervin, Gipson, and the other community leaders didn’t see fit to caution them on that aspect of life . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=3682)
Showing posts with label martin luther king. Show all posts
Showing posts with label martin luther king. Show all posts
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Two Rebellious Republican Governors
Two Rebellious Republican Governors
Politicians are known to be many things among which is having an ingrained tendency to be, well, political in the diplomatic sense, not speaking their minds, not going out of their way to be overly honest by possibly offending people and certainly not insulting their constituents. It’s what makes them politicians.
It’s also what makes them phonies.
Therefore, when a pol departs from that norm and dumps the typical script in favor of straightforward, honest frankness, it’s refreshing.
On the eve of Martin Luther King Day 2011, newly-elected Republican Governor Paul LePage of Maine added just such a touch of refreshment when he announced in Sanford, ME to the displeasure of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People why he wouldn’t be attending the upcoming MLK festivities.
The governor, born into an impoverished, French-speaking Lewiston family of 18 kids who is a self-made man, said, “They are a special interest. End of story . . . and I’m not going to be held hostage by special interests.” He added when asked if this was part of a pattern, “Tell ‘em to kiss my butt. If they want to play the race card, come to dinner and my [adopted, black Jamaican] son will talk to them.”
Not attending MLK festivities? The NAACP a special interest playing the race card? Telling them to kiss his butt if they didn’t like it? What is this guy, anyway, an honest man or a politician?
The answer is obvious and his honesty should have been just as obvious since he didn’t pull any punches as a candidate, either. Then he had said that if he were elected governor, headlines would read, “Governor LePage tells Obama to go to hell.“ He later said he regretted his choice of words but stood behind their intent: http://tiny.cc/7j7ld
Another new Republican governor, Chris Christie of New Jersey, hasn’t yet taken on the president with such blunt language but give it time. What he has taken on during his brief, one-year tenure in Jersey is Obama’s most highly-favored groups, public service and especially teacher unions, whose benefits, salaries, and pensions are in process of bankrupting over half the states in America. . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=3428)
Politicians are known to be many things among which is having an ingrained tendency to be, well, political in the diplomatic sense, not speaking their minds, not going out of their way to be overly honest by possibly offending people and certainly not insulting their constituents. It’s what makes them politicians.
It’s also what makes them phonies.
Therefore, when a pol departs from that norm and dumps the typical script in favor of straightforward, honest frankness, it’s refreshing.
On the eve of Martin Luther King Day 2011, newly-elected Republican Governor Paul LePage of Maine added just such a touch of refreshment when he announced in Sanford, ME to the displeasure of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People why he wouldn’t be attending the upcoming MLK festivities.
The governor, born into an impoverished, French-speaking Lewiston family of 18 kids who is a self-made man, said, “They are a special interest. End of story . . . and I’m not going to be held hostage by special interests.” He added when asked if this was part of a pattern, “Tell ‘em to kiss my butt. If they want to play the race card, come to dinner and my [adopted, black Jamaican] son will talk to them.”
Not attending MLK festivities? The NAACP a special interest playing the race card? Telling them to kiss his butt if they didn’t like it? What is this guy, anyway, an honest man or a politician?
The answer is obvious and his honesty should have been just as obvious since he didn’t pull any punches as a candidate, either. Then he had said that if he were elected governor, headlines would read, “Governor LePage tells Obama to go to hell.“ He later said he regretted his choice of words but stood behind their intent: http://tiny.cc/7j7ld
Another new Republican governor, Chris Christie of New Jersey, hasn’t yet taken on the president with such blunt language but give it time. What he has taken on during his brief, one-year tenure in Jersey is Obama’s most highly-favored groups, public service and especially teacher unions, whose benefits, salaries, and pensions are in process of bankrupting over half the states in America. . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=3428)
Monday, August 30, 2010
Observations on . . . "I Have a Dream"
Observations on "I Have a Dream"
Forty seven years ago, on August 28th, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered what must stand as one of the most quoted speeches in American history and one of the most important speeches of the twentieth century.
Tens of thousands remembered and commemorated that address on Saturday with a “Re-claim the Dream” march led by the Reverend Al Sharpton which ended near the location of the 1963 rally.
Now commonly called the “I Have a Dream” speech, its most memorable and most quoted line, ”I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character,” is also its saddest line.
King’s successors may frequently recite the words but have lost sense of their meaning and spirit.
(Fortunately forgotten was a subsequent line that reflected a Freudian slip of a dream added after King departed from his prepared text, ”Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!” The FreeOnlineDictionary defines “curvaceous” as “[of a woman’s body] having a large bosom and pleasing curves; [as in] ”Hollywood seems full of curvaceous bondes;” “a curvy young woman in a tight dress,” which surely Dr. King did not mean at all.)
King’s stirring 10-minute address was delivered before a massive crowd of civil rights supporters estimated at some 200,000, and delivered, appropriately, it was believed at the time, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial as part of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
Had certain truths about Lincoln, . . .
(Read more at Forty seven years ago, on August 28th, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered what must stand as one of the most quoted speeches in American history and one of the most important speeches of the twentieth century.
Tens of thousands remembered and commemorated that address on Saturday with a “Re-claim the Dream” march led by the Reverend Al Sharpton which ended near the location of the 1963 rally.
Now commonly called the “I Have a Dream” speech, its most memorable and most quoted line, ”I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character,” is also its saddest line.
King’s successors may frequently recite the words but have lost sense of their meaning and spirit.
(Fortunately forgotten was a subsequent line that reflected a Freudian slip of a dream added after King departed from his prepared text, ”Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!” The FreeOnlineDictionary defines “curvaceous” as “[of a woman’s body] having a large bosom and pleasing curves; [as in] ”Hollywood seems full of curvaceous bondes;” “a curvy young woman in a tight dress,” which surely Dr. King did not mean at all.)
King’s stirring 10-minute address was delivered before a massive crowd of civil rights supporters estimated at some 200,000, and delivered, appropriately, it was believed at the time, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial as part of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
Had certain truths about Lincoln, . . .
(Read more at Forty seven years ago, on August 28th, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered what must stand as one of the most quoted speeches in American history and one of the most important speeches of the twentieth century.
Tens of thousands remembered and commemorated that address on Saturday with a “Re-claim the Dream” march led by the Reverend Al Sharpton which ended near the location of the 1963 rally.
Now commonly called the “I Have a Dream” speech, its most memorable and most quoted line, ”I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character,” is also its saddest line.
King’s successors may frequently recite the words but have lost sense of their meaning and spirit.
(Fortunately forgotten was a subsequent line that reflected a Freudian slip of a dream added after King departed from his prepared text, ”Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!” The FreeOnlineDictionary defines “curvaceous” as “[of a woman’s body] having a large bosom and pleasing curves; [as in] ”Hollywood seems full of curvaceous bondes;” “a curvy young woman in a tight dress,” which surely Dr. King did not mean at all.)
King’s stirring 10-minute address was delivered before a massive crowd of civil rights supporters estimated at some 200,000, and delivered, appropriately, it was believed at the time, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial as part of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
Had certain truths about Lincoln, . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=1872)
Forty seven years ago, on August 28th, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered what must stand as one of the most quoted speeches in American history and one of the most important speeches of the twentieth century.
Tens of thousands remembered and commemorated that address on Saturday with a “Re-claim the Dream” march led by the Reverend Al Sharpton which ended near the location of the 1963 rally.
Now commonly called the “I Have a Dream” speech, its most memorable and most quoted line, ”I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character,” is also its saddest line.
King’s successors may frequently recite the words but have lost sense of their meaning and spirit.
(Fortunately forgotten was a subsequent line that reflected a Freudian slip of a dream added after King departed from his prepared text, ”Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!” The FreeOnlineDictionary defines “curvaceous” as “[of a woman’s body] having a large bosom and pleasing curves; [as in] ”Hollywood seems full of curvaceous bondes;” “a curvy young woman in a tight dress,” which surely Dr. King did not mean at all.)
King’s stirring 10-minute address was delivered before a massive crowd of civil rights supporters estimated at some 200,000, and delivered, appropriately, it was believed at the time, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial as part of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
Had certain truths about Lincoln, . . .
(Read more at Forty seven years ago, on August 28th, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered what must stand as one of the most quoted speeches in American history and one of the most important speeches of the twentieth century.
Tens of thousands remembered and commemorated that address on Saturday with a “Re-claim the Dream” march led by the Reverend Al Sharpton which ended near the location of the 1963 rally.
Now commonly called the “I Have a Dream” speech, its most memorable and most quoted line, ”I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character,” is also its saddest line.
King’s successors may frequently recite the words but have lost sense of their meaning and spirit.
(Fortunately forgotten was a subsequent line that reflected a Freudian slip of a dream added after King departed from his prepared text, ”Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!” The FreeOnlineDictionary defines “curvaceous” as “[of a woman’s body] having a large bosom and pleasing curves; [as in] ”Hollywood seems full of curvaceous bondes;” “a curvy young woman in a tight dress,” which surely Dr. King did not mean at all.)
King’s stirring 10-minute address was delivered before a massive crowd of civil rights supporters estimated at some 200,000, and delivered, appropriately, it was believed at the time, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial as part of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
Had certain truths about Lincoln, . . .
(Read more at Forty seven years ago, on August 28th, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered what must stand as one of the most quoted speeches in American history and one of the most important speeches of the twentieth century.
Tens of thousands remembered and commemorated that address on Saturday with a “Re-claim the Dream” march led by the Reverend Al Sharpton which ended near the location of the 1963 rally.
Now commonly called the “I Have a Dream” speech, its most memorable and most quoted line, ”I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character,” is also its saddest line.
King’s successors may frequently recite the words but have lost sense of their meaning and spirit.
(Fortunately forgotten was a subsequent line that reflected a Freudian slip of a dream added after King departed from his prepared text, ”Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!” The FreeOnlineDictionary defines “curvaceous” as “[of a woman’s body] having a large bosom and pleasing curves; [as in] ”Hollywood seems full of curvaceous bondes;” “a curvy young woman in a tight dress,” which surely Dr. King did not mean at all.)
King’s stirring 10-minute address was delivered before a massive crowd of civil rights supporters estimated at some 200,000, and delivered, appropriately, it was believed at the time, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial as part of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
Had certain truths about Lincoln, . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=1872)
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