Black Boys Can Jump

Take a few minutes this weekend to watch and share this video from the New York Times. Watch as a young boy overcomes ridicule to participate in a double dutch competition in NYC. It made this snowy Friday feel a bit warmer. I invite you all to blow up the comments section with your thoughts and opinions.



Happy Holiday weekend! Read more!

The Gloves, I Mean the Shoes Are Coming Off!!!

We have all heard the phrase, "the gloves are coming off" when referring to a fight. For women, they might say "their nails and earrings are coming off." For journalists in Baghdad, its "the shoes are coming off, get ready for my toe jam." Over the weekend during President Bush's goodbye visit to war zone, an angry journalist took his shoes, turned them sideways, and sticked them straight up Bush's candy...actually he just chucked those things straight to our President's face.



The irate man was later tackled to the floor by fellow journalist and security. Blood was reportedly found at the spot where he was tackled. Apparently, this man was given the business by his own countrymen for giving Bush a little taste of athletes foot.
Clearly unpopular for the current economic crisis and war, the only good thing our President has to show after his two terms in office is good reflexes. He dodged those shoes like Neo in the Matrix dodges bullets. Read more!

Why I'm Broke, Act 1: Origins

Welcome to my new recurring post, "Why I'm Broke," a drama in four (or three, or whatever) acts. Don't worry, it's not actually a play, but it might offer some insight into how to save and manage money or otherwise navigate the current financial quagmire in which we live. Stay tuned for upcoming posts, but for now, enjoy "Origins!"

Protagonist enters, stage right.

I'm broke. I have a job, but I'm broke. I went to a good school, but I'm broke. How did this happen? It doesn't quite make sense by most conventional measures, so I think I will have to do some serious soul-searching and examine my history to figure out why in the world am I so broke, and maybe learn something about money-management along the way.

Many of us are not taught the ways of the financial and banking systems available to us as children. Now, this is often attributed to race, but I would argue that it is more tightly connected to class (although we know the two are cosmically intertwined anyway). Take the book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki, for example. In a nutshell, this book explains what the rich teach their kids about money that the poor do not. While somewhat exaggerated and lofty without much concrete strategy as to how one can escape the "rat race," the key point remains: don't work for your money, make your money work for you. It's a very interesting point, and something that wasn't exactly ingrained in my head as a child for whatever reason.

Now that I have a few (meager) bucks of my own, I have no idea what to do with it. I had a Bank of America account, but I had a nagging feeling that it wasn't enough. Until I did some real digging into my Bank of America Online Banking page, I didn't know that the interest rate on my savings account was only 0.25%! What can you do with that? That's basically zero (although, admittedly, free money is free money); I knew I could do better. One solution I have discovered (and advertise on the regular with my friends) lies in transferring your savings into an ING Direct savings account. It has one of the best rates around (2.75%) which turns $1000 of savings into almost thirty bucks instead of three after a year. If you are lucky enough to have savings, don't be fooled by the convenience of Brand-name bank savings accounts; there are better ways to save your money.

While few conventional ways of managing money are actually palatable these days with the financial crisis bearing down on us (who really trusts the stock market right now?), I looked into some other forms of microfinance to discover other ways of saving and managing my money. It might be something that the Poor Dad knows that the Rich Dad has overlooked...

Ever heard of a 'susu?'

When I was growing up, I constantly overheard the word "susu" used in my house. I thought it was the name of a family friend at first, then possibly the name of a gift or object ("I get my susu this week" - I was too young to think otherwise, you nasties). For a long time, I didn't know what it meant, but I eventually discovered that the word referred to an Afro-Caribbean method of microfinance based in Ghana which, in a nutshell, provided an informal means by which families and friends can save their money. As I understand it, the saver deposits a portion of his or her income monthly or weekly into a 'pot' with several other savers, and receives the balance of the deposits on a given month, as designated by a list. The 'susu banker' manages the funds in a bank account and is responsible for handling all of the deposits and withdrawals, in addition to informally checking the credit and reliability of each participant. So, if you and your four friends deposit $100 a week for a few months, you will be able to withdraw $500 once every five weeks, helping to manage your cash flow problems, like buying a new appliance for your apartment, or paying down a backed up credit card bill. If you are at all confused, I have drawn up a very scientific diagram of the whole process. This is proprietary information, copyrighted by IINOI, Inc. All rights reserved, snitches:


I did a little research, and I found that the 'susu' has been a viable source of mortgage funding and inventory purchases for small businesses in the United States (especially in Caribbean neighborhoods like Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn). Some susu 'hands' (the money you can receive when it is your turn to withdraw from the pot) are as large as $100,000 and are primarily used for opening or renovating businesses.

This is just one way that you can try to make your money work for you. Why not give it a shot? If there's one thing I can't stand, it is when the practices of a minority are frowned upon in favor of some oppressor's technology or innovation that isn't necessarily better (see religion, medicine, and/or clothing). If you are in a bind, this might be the way to help get that boost you need to keep yourself afloat while you try to make it through these tough times. Now, there are drawbacks to this methodology, namely a lack of long-term savings, interest, or reliability, and it should only be done with people who you trust. But, in the wake of Reaganomics, Bushanomics, and CreditCrunchanomics (I made that one up), why not give "susunomics" a second look? There's got to be a reason why it is one of the oldest economic practices in the world. Thinking on a macro scale, providing the lower and middle classes with sufficient capital to reinvest in their local and national economies may help us take an active part in righting our titanic failure of a system as it flounders today.

My two cents. (submitted diligently every month into the pot)

(An interesting book on the topic by Paul A. Barton can be found here.)

Stay tuned for Act 2... Investments and Why they Scare me
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Illinois Senate Seat to the Highest Bidder

For Sale: We have this one of a kind Illinois Senate Seat available to you. With this seat, located in Washington, D.C., you can change the world. Former owners of this seat have moved on to do great careers such as... um... well... President of the United States... um... and I'm sure there are more. Act now and you will be able to change laws and give back to your community through our special Earmarks Program. Bidding closes January 20th so please call us at the Illinois Governor's Office ASAP!!! While supply last!!!

Sold to Ms. Hilton! And No, your dog cannot have the other seat!!

If money can't buy you happiness, it sure can buy you power.

PEObama is in the hot seat-or should I say was in the hot seat. Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has been arrested for attempting to sell or trade former Senator Obama's Senate seat. The Governor was not only arrested on these charges but also with attempting to get the editors of the Chicago Tribune fired because of their criticisms of his governance.

Not only is this hugely ridiculous but probably one of the bigger political scandals of our my lifetime. (For you old heads, I was not alive for Watergate.. so chill.) You could count former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry smoking crack as a scandal but I personally wouldn't.

PEObama has nothing to worry about as all of this selling nonsense took part far away from him and concerns a man who has been recorded calling our President Elect a "motherfucker" within the past month.

Things don't look good for Blagojevich with all of these charges mounting against him. Seems like he should have just called up Barry and shared a puff of the pipe instead.

Head on over to the Huffington Post to read all about the scandal. They have it covered!


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Thoughts on the BCS

Sometimes you don't care about the economy, sometimes you don't care about international politics and sometimes you don't care about PEObama (rarely, I'm sure.. but it happens). Many times all you want to do is kick back and watch some good ol' College Football.

For me, you can only count on me watching College Football 4 days out of the year; The 4 days of the Championship Bowls.

Tim Tebow is ill. And will murk the Sooners.

I, like any semi-College Football fan, has an opinion on BCS bowl rankings and the current system: I hate it. The issue that plagues the brains of the operations however, is how can it be changed? As of now the system relies on a multiple polls including a coach's poll, the official BCS standings and the BCS computer which looks at season match-ups, points and each team's schedule strength. Selfishly, I dislike the system because it leaves for only 4 days of juicy match-ups within 8 days instead of 6 days of intense playoffs over the course of 4 weekends.

If I had my way (which invariably happens to be just a slight twist of Obama's way), a similar voting system would be used to set up a 16 team play-off. Of the 16 teams, 10 of those teams would be the winners of their conference championship and the system would be used to decide the other 6 spots.

I doubt many of y'all who have been following College Football since you could remember would be anywhere near to agreeing with me. Many take the possible fall of Bowl games as disrespectful to the spirit and tradition of College Football and logistically, networks are busy buying future stakes in BCS games to broadcast until 2014 (ahem, ESPN, ahem).

And think about it this way too... if we took the Rose Bowl away, Citigroup would only have CitiField to squander money on!


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Oh, yeah! And expect quaterback Tim Tebow to probably run away with the Heisman this week and have a career day on January 8th and go top 5 in the NFL Draft, depending on how the rest of the NFL season wraps up. And while you're doing all of that, you can remember who told you first.
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Dipset is for Diplomats

While the Civil, Women’s, and Gay Rights Movements, along with their aesthetics and strategies, seem like they burned out a long time ago, the enduring action on Prop 8 has proven that the end of that era was not the end of the issues.

An Exclusive from Funny or Die*

Prop 8 has refocused the country’s attention on homophobia. And while for many, the fight against homophobia is a daily struggle, there are some out there claiming it is returning to the United States and implying that for some period of time it had left. But recently I have been thinking of what it is about the way this fight has been presented that could have given that impression. The impression that the period between the first Gay Rights Movement and now was a sort of gender paradise.

Without sounding like an anarchist, I think it has to do with the weight we put on the law as the source and goal for political and social power – ignoring the potential for our popular culture to proliferate and normalize biased attitudes.

I recently saw a video by hip hop vlogger, Jay Smooth,* where he gives a brief explanation of the phrase “No Homo,” and his own feelings on its use.



That homophobia runs rampant in hip hop is no secret. Cam'ron’s explanation of the phrase “No Homo” and why he uses it, exposes its ridiculous nature and gives a sense of how ideas promoted by popular culture are often absorbed into everyday actions. To be clear, this is not an argument for the Hip Hop Created Homophobia camp. Just like hip hop didn’t invent sexism, black-on-black crime or either of those terms, hip hop did not create homophobia. Brad Paisley’s “I’m Still A Guy,” is a close country parallel to all of the “No Homo” catchphrases. But whether you watch CMT or BET, it is important to notice the ways popular culture hides and normalizes homophobia in jokes, music, cartoons, etc…

Like Jay Smooth touched on, the times when satire and rejection are confused with endorsement are important to think about as well. YouTube has hundreds of “No Homo” home-video spoofs. But for many of them, it’s hard to tell which way they go. And the time wondering if the authors think saying “No Homo” is okay or not okay is the exact space where popular culture blindfolds us to the fact that if we heard the things they are saying without any knowledge of their intentions, we would find them to be offensive.

It is hard to say what would have happened had Prop 8 failed. The absence of homophobia is not equal to the force of anti-homophobic action. In the same way that the ignorance to homophobia does not guarantee its absence. But it is interesting to think of how much credit the law could take for the homophobia expressed in our pop culture, and how much credit pop culture could take for the homophobia in our politics.



*NOTE: In case anyone is interested in citing sources…

Jay Smooth’s blog (illdoctrine.com) is dope and you should check it out. He also has a program on WBAI, called the Underground Railroad – a show on Underground Hip Hop and culture. WBAI (99.5 FM) is “Your Peace and Justice Community Radio Station” and definitely worth listening to.

I found “Prop 8: The Musical” on Kanye West’s blog. He posts photos and videos and some articles of things he likes and that peak his interest in just about all areas, from fashion to architecture to political satire things like Prop 8: The Musical.
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The Power of the Pardon

As President George W. Bush's term comes to a close, he, as is customary with all Presidents since the ratification of the Constitution, has the privilege to pardon those somehow intertwined with the criminal justice system who he deems has either a) served an appropriate length in prison, or b) was wrongly accused and convicted, or possibly c) one of his old buddies. This person then has to admit to guilt and blah, blah, blah. Now, I don't expect that W. will ruffle anyone's feathers with a groundbreaking pardon of some sort, or, heaven forbid, exhibit clear judgment and appropriate use of his authority, but let's take a look at a partial list of people he has already pardoned. The working list can be found here. Keep in mind that Bill Clinton pardoned twice as many people as W. has to this date, and some of his pardons fall under the "extremely shady and possibly bought" category.

By the powers vested in me, I declare you not dinner.

Savings and Loan Scandalers - In the 80s there was a major bust of shady dealings at Savings and Loan companies across the country. Among the men tangled up in this whole scandal were a group of senators, who "improperly intervened" when Charles Keating's S&L was going under in '87. Although it didn't receive much press during this Presidential election, the so-called "Keating Five" scandal of the 80s involved one John McCain, who was later deemed to have "poor judgement" for involving himself with these men. Now, GWB is pardoning not one, but several former S&L execs who have since served their sentences for screwing with other people's money around the USA. Check out Harper's magazine for the short list of executives who profited on bad loans which sparked the downward spiral of our economy today. Nice one, George.

Cocainers - Rapper John Forte of Fugees' fame and association, convicted after being arrested at Newark Airport with $1.4 million of cocaine, had his sentence commuted after serving 7 years of a 14 year sentence... If he truly wasn't given a fair trial and he really, really didn't know about the 31 pounds of coke, as Carly Simon's son claims, then this is a fair pardon, and I hope that Forte will take his message warning of the ills of drug use to schools and cities around the country.

Mandatory minimums for drug cases is one of the worst aspects of our criminal justice system, but the atrocity of this outdated stipulation in the law was neither exposed nor discussed at the time of the pardon, and I don't think it ever will be. It is a harsh and unjust system that needs to be adjusted. Young Jeezy says it best (really? maybe he just says it): when you get more time for selling dope than murder, in this crazy world...


Others - Scooter Libby, Cheney's Chief of Staff and former Assistant to the President, who lied through his teeth about a CIA leak in March of 2007, was semi-pardoned by GWB. Libby's sentence of 30 months was commuted, while all the other punishments (a felony on his record, and a $250,000 fine) remained in tact. Technically, that was all GWB could do at the time, because you generally need 5 years after conviction or release to pardon someone. Still, Libby's only strength was having friends in high places. Any one of us would still be in jail. There are random liars and thieves mixed into the group as per usual, but not too many of serious infraction or high profile.

Gobblers (do you like the repeated -ers? I thought it was clever) - Pecan and Pumpkin were thankfully pardoned from the Presidential Dinner table this Thanksgiving, but you have to wonder how many birds it takes to feed the White House...


Now, for the sake of argument, we can write off George W's Presidential Career as a series of screw-ups, misinformation, and maladjustments to the needs of the American people and the global community. 27% of Americans approve of his job as President, and, according to the man himself, many people voted for Obama as a repudiation of the Republican party and of him. Why not, then, take a step to offer a ray of sunshine into the dark and ominous pit of destruction that you have created, George? Why not pardon people who have made great strides to promote anti-gang sentiments and public advocacy, like the ex-crip Tookie Williams, who was on Death Row with a Nobel Peace Prize nomination before he was executed in 2006? (His bid for clemency was denied by the State of California.) Why not put your faith in the power of forgiveness, and pardon some people who have actually learned from their mistakes and only want to positively contribute to the communities in which they lived? Why not convict, rather than pre-emptively pardon, any offenders of human rights laws, simultaneously admitting your guilt in this matter and trying to do something about the overarching problem?

You can do it, George. You could write about it in the NY Times like Clinton did, and get people to believe that you actually think things through when you make decisions. At this point, people are basically calling PEObama the President, so why not do something truly Presidential while you still have the chance? After eight years of turmoil, it's about time.

Oh, and don't pardon Marion Jones. Cheaters should never prosper. Read more!

Disney in the Bayou

Sometime in 2009, Disney will release its 49th animated feature film. This comes as very exciting news to toddlers and artists alike as it is Disney’s first film to be hand-drawn since 2004. It comes as very interesting news to me since it will be the first ever Disney film to feature an African-American princess.

The movie, entitled “The Princess and the Frog,” is set in New Orleans during the 1920’s Jazz era. The producers felt that after Hurricane Katrina, this was a positive addition to the very violent images that have replaced many of the romanticized notions of the city. A valiant desire, but let’s be real. This is Disney. The same Disney that has glorified and re-written some of the nastiest and bloodiest times in our history – the “discovery” of North America in Pocahontas, all of slavery in Song of the South (a movie that, along with an alarmingly long list of demeaning cartoons, is locked away in the Disney vault).

And while romanticizing and glorifying is Disney’s main MO, I think there is a very fine line to be walked here. For example, I can’t help but wonder if anything historically accurate can or will be included in this film. New Orleans in the 1920’s wasn’t exactly the beacon of free expression and economic bliss for African Americans. Not to mention physical well-being or safety. So the first problem is that a movie about African Americans in the post-Reconstruction South really shouldn’t be for kids.

But even if we were to just take the film as another adaptation of a fairy tale, the history of Disney and the negative iconography associated with blackness don’t cease to be an issue. Originally, the movie was entitled “The Frog Princess.” However, the image of the frog overlaid on black culture (think, among other representations of blackface, Michigan J. Frog) caused such a backlash that the title had to be changed. As were the princess’s name, from Maddy to Tiana, and her role from chambermaid to princess.

In addition, the question of dialect or any hope for an innocuous depiction of the princess’s animal sidekicks seem to arouse a certain unease. As I watched the trailer, I couldn’t help but think that they didn’t quite get it right…



Many who support the movie believe that it’s “about time” Disney used an African American princess in one of its fairytales. Yes, there was the Lion King. But that would be an African princess (who had a minor role) and really, they were lions. The sadder thing is African American remakes of familiar fairytales were very popular at one time. “Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs,” produced in 1943, is a 7 minute retelling, complete with an evil queen, Prince Chawmin’ and a jazz soundtrack.

And while that time was a long time ago, it seems like there’s still a lot to unpack. Like, why is this villain a Voodoo Priest? As if we don’t have enough to face about the decimation of native religious practices… Or, who can decide if it’s more of a disservice to ignore the historical context of this film rather than produce a Disney-illustrates-the-Brothers-Grimm type cartoon? Or, should we focus less on it being “about time”? And try to think if there was any time period that would have been a better setting for an African-American princess? Read more!

General Motors is Generally Screwed

Happy December! I have been out of it recovering from too much turkey and a little beer. Some of you may know the symptoms I exhibited as the "itis". I had the ill itis.

No one's dinner actually looks like that!

Moving along, there has been much to speak on in the last week or so.


For starters, President Elect Obama (who I am now gonna refer to as PEObama for the next month and 18 days) officially named some key people to his cabinet. Here's the list:

Senator Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State
Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense
Eric Holder, Attorney General
Governor Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security
Susan Rice, Ambassador to the United Nations
General Jim Jones, USMC (Ret), National Security Advisor

And no, the last dude isn't the Dipset's and Harlem's own, Your Obama's favorite Obama (see this article for reference), Jim Jones. Even though they're both Capo Status...

---------------General Jim Jones ------------ Dipset Capo Status Jim Jones---------------

The resemblances are astounding!!!

Also in the past week, I had been talking to friends about small banks making a comeback because of an article I read in Crain's New York Business. Basically it said small banks would be willing to give loans unlike big banks who can't monitor them as well and are scared. Also since the big banks always end up selling some loans elsewhere, it may be hard for them to find buyers and they would panic whilst said loan is being lent.

My girl Jen sent me an article from a blog at the New York Times that goes further into this. Joe Nocera, a columnist, has been receiving many e-mails from a high level employee at a Big Bank on how things should change. It breaks everything down pretty simply. It can be especially insightful if you're looking for information on the credit crunch that's happening. Because it is real. Check out the 3 posts here.

Also, upon further searching Joe Nocera's articles, I found this one about the Auto Crisis that is happening right now. With the reduction in car commercials, and General Motors supposedly running through $2 billion a week, y'all need to educate yourselves and figure out how this affects you. Here ya go: Should General Motors go Bankrupt?


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