Future Structural Engineers

Hey! Read This!

An essay was posted on the Very Smart Brothas website regarding the friendship that Trayvon Martin had with Rachel Jeantel. Young Ms. Jeantel was on the phone with Trayvon moments before he was killed. Now, Ms. Jeantel was clowned terribly by many people for her perceived lack of education during her testimony. While it was their job to attempt to discredit Ms. Jeantel's testimony, the defense attorneys for the accused seemed to take special effort to make Ms. Jeantel seem as if she did not have the mental capacity to understand what was going on the night Trayvon was killed. A photo of the primary defense attorney, Don West, was posted on Instagram after Ms. Jeantel's testimony was completed. Mr. West was shown eating ice cream with his daughter and one other person. The photo was captioned, "We beat stupidity celebration cones". The photo was hashtagged "#zimmerman," "#defense" and "#dadkilledit."

Meanwhile, Ms. Jeantel's friend is still dead and the heartache of having to relive the night of his death is still fresh in her mind while a good portion of the country laughs at her or insults her appearance. My heart hurts over this kid's death. My heart hurts over any 'good kid's' death. And, I'm disgusted at the way this culture treats its children. In a span of months, it has trivialized the death of a child with statements like "Sorry, 'innocent' boys don't try to beat up anyone, much less the local watchman" and then followed its callous disregard of the loss of the life of this young man with its mockery of the victim's friend.

*smh*

Shame on us all.

Anyway, I recommend that you go to the Very Smart Brothas website and look at the article to get an insight on the interpersonal relationship of Trayvon and Rachel.

Deuces...

Sources
George Zimmerman trial: Instagram photo posted by defense attorney's daughter comes under fire
Rachel, Trayvon, And The Saddest Thing I've Ever Read
Trayvon Martin Was One of the Few Guys Who Didn’t Tease Rachel Jeantel- ROD VEREEN

The Welfare Myth

Politicians love to bait voters with thinly veiled allusions to who's actually on welfare. If you read between the lines of their rhetoric, these politicians' statements imply that they will stop government assistance, codnamed "handouts", to people their constituency find undesirable. Historically, this has been poor minorities.

I guess, in reference to this particular article, a poor minority is 'receiving handouts'. I still wish the general voting populace would pull their collective heads out of their ass and try thinking for themselves. At well over $100,000 per year for the rest of their lives at retirement, federal congressmen, cabinet officials and executive politicians point fingers to keep slow-witted voters from realizing who's actually receiving handouts.

This dude is a doctor. Check out his story and look at the statistics of people with high-level (masters or doctorate) degrees who have filed for welfare assistance. So, folks just MIGHT want to consider a little compassion in their socio-political deliberation. It could happen to anyone.

Even A PhD Couldn't Keep This Man Off Food Stamps

Wait, Wha-?

'Anti-Racists' Attack White Heritage Group in Family Restaurant

So, wait? Anti-racists attack white supremacists. There's a...brouhaha (LOVE that word). Chaos ensues. But, everyone involved is White?

Did I miss a memo?

Post-racial FTW!!!

Post-Racial - How Did We Get Here?

I was listening to Jon Connors “Saginaw Street Chronicles” off of his Season 2 mixtape. This was followed up by Big K.R.I.T.’s “Children of the World”. I couldn’t help but feel the despair of my little brothers. This “post-racial” world we live in is a trip. “Post-racial” apparently means insults, disparaging remarks and the continued systemic disenfranchisement of an entire ethnic group is ok as long as you show one of them in a beer commercial with the “majority”.


School systems steered little boys into positions where they could “make shit”. So, pipefitters, machinists, plumbers, painters, carpenters, mechanics, and other jobs of this sort were the jobs young men were encouraged to seek. Where I grew up, Detroit, working in “the plant” was the job a lot of dudes looked for. It was decent money. You could raise a family on it. And, industries in the area were not hiring young men from the city. Then, big corporations sent all those production jobs overseas and put the people in them out of work. Young men saw their fathers laid off and downsized after decades of doing what was expected of them.

Right around that time, the music industry corrupted & changed. In the 80s, when hip hop went public and became more than a fad, drugs were taboo and those who used them were shunned. Then, the industry gave a voice to drug users. Weed ("pot" to some of you, marijuana officially) is now viewed as the norm. Right around that same time in the 80s, crack hit the streets. The federal government’s tacit complacence, if not actual involvement, in the crack epidemic of the 1980s is a matter of public record.

A Zombie Apocalypse is some sort of cultural meme and a bit of a running joke for most people; but, I lived through Detroit in the 1980s. It was like Raccoon City up in that bitch at times.

So, “society” has steered generations of young men towards these jobs which were then taken away, stripping them of hope and livelihood. The popular music of the time shifted from themes of responsibility, camaraderie and fun to darker themes of materialism, violence and irresponsible sex. Language and music inform cultures. The worst drug epidemic this society has seen to date hits these same streets. So, you can make a LOT of money if you participate in the sale & distribution of these drugs, but to survive the most violent aspects of your personality MUST come to the fore. The other side of that coin is being a customer—using crack, looking for a high as good as that first hit. Anecdotally, some versions of crack were known as cumbomb. Your first high was so good, you’d orgasm. Seeking that elusive high is what created a rock/crack cocaine addict, also known as a “crackhead”.

The same society that stripped the people native to the continent they colonized of hope and their homes, shipping them/us (running joke or not, many Black Americans are the bastard children of two or more continents) to “reservations”, freely supplying them with a chemical addictive (alcohol in the case of Native Americans), used this tried & true methodology in inner cities in the 1980s & 90s.

The additional step of not only making possession of crack illegal, but making the penalty three times stiffer than possession of a corresponding weight of cocaine, made a further mess of things. Mandatory sentencing incarcerated thousands, then millions, of young, Black men. Incarceration became enculturation…along with the violence, misogyny, hopelessness and despair glorified in this newer form of hip hop. Language & music do as much to inform a culture as they are informed by it, after all. Then, the same "post-racial" society whose majority culture & systemic bigotry enabled this entire sad, sorry state of affairs, clucks its collective tongue, shakes its big, collective head and places all the blame squarely on the Black Man.

The hate affair that America has with the Black Man is deeper and even more insidious than what I’ve stated. As I wrote, the rabbit hole just kept getting deeper. Consider that conquerors have proven over the centuries that if you take the men out of the equation, if you can emasculate them either physically or psychologically, then you can do what you want with their women. Follow that thought to its natural end. I elected not to follow every branch of thought, however. There isn’t enough time.

Still, my brothas, you’re playing with a stacked deck. I salute each & every one of you who beat the odds and is trying to do the right thing despite the "post-racial" world around you. Keep your head up and be smart.

...so I can die easy!

I've been watching Trigun with my son. Now, because of the theme song, I have the impulse to listen to Led Zeppelin's In My Time of Dying.

---

I live in one of the most ignorant states in what is increasing ignorant population. I'm generally appalled by the attitude of stupid people who actively resist getting any more intelligent. *smh* I mean, "Damn!" These idiots booed Carlos Santana. I mean, "Wow!" That's like booing Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton. Just how ignorant do you have to be to do that?

"If people want the immigration law to keep passing in every state then everybody should get out and just leave the American Indians here. This is about civil rights." Carlos Santana, 05/15/2011

This is Amurr'ka!

---

Y'know, every month there are two or three stories about paraplegics who can now walk again. Do you agree with that? Walking is a milestone in human existence. So, what is the first thing that society does to those accused of a crime? Confine them so they can't walk very far without an escort. Monkeyshines!

Anyway! More later…maybe.

Disgruntled?

OK...here's a tip for you writers, fiction and non-fiction, regarding Detroit, Michigan. Caucasians do NOT claim the City of Detroit...unless they're Eminem. If they live four FEET outside of the Detroit city limits; when someone asks where they're from, they answer, "Michigan." Detroit, Michigan is more segregated than Atlanta, Georgia. Ask around, if you don't believe me.

I just read part of a book where the writer made this mistake. Don't get me wrong: There are white folks who live inside the city limits. But, Black, White or whatever: Detroiters are hard. This character isn't.

But, yeah...whatever!

---

Ideals vs. reality
Wanna disillusion yourself (some more)? Look at the precepts of equality, justice and, hell, existence put forth in this nation's founding documents. Then, watch the news and see yet another group of armed, white hooligans embrace each other as a jury finds their contempt for the life of a black man an acceptable exchange for perceived safety.

Lady Justice is no longer a whore for hire to the most influential. She's now a slut who'll take it from behind from anybody in a uniform...like Halle in Monster's Ball.

But, y'know, being born to a life of assumed privilege and preferential treatment will undoubtedly give a person another perspective. For examples, click here: Police brutality caught on camera.

---

If I ever get married again, it'll be after the kids are grown & gone. There are so very few absolutes in this world. So, that proclamation may need to be retracted. But, I'm not really seeing why it should be at the moment.

---

My daughter has me back into Metal & Hard Rock for the nonce. It amuses me that people, for the life of them, cannot understand my enjoyment of this form of music...even people who like it themselves. But, I've said repeatedly over the years that some of my best design work has come with Mudvayne or Atreyu or the Deftones blasting in my ears. The energy yielded by the journeymen, experts and masters of this form of art is phenomenal.

At the moment, I'm digging Soilwork, Lamb of God and Seether.

...and if you're into Metal, but not into Hip Hop, I submit for your examination: Geto Boys - Still.