Where is Steve when you need him?

" Here are 146 blog posts on dailykos on the Jena Six. I just did a google blog search and found 25000 blog posts on the issue. I've written about it several times. I wrote about it yesterday in fact, mentioning the fact that I was otherwise occupied because the Senate condemned Moveon and we also lost 6 votes on Iraq, habeas, etc. But thanks for the 'white progressive blogosphere' insult, it's appreciated."


These are the times when left wing bloggers really miss what used to be their only ingress into the black community, Steve Gillard. (May his soul rest in peace) My man had a way of telling our side of the story to them which didn't make them uncomfortable. Left wing bloggers lament Steves' passing every time something like this comes up. "Gee I wish Steve was here, he would really tell us what's going on. You know, I never even knew Steve was black until I heard him mention his mother's fried chicken one day.." Sorry, I don't have that particular... ah, skill.


The above quotes was from a guy named Matt Stoller-- who I think is an "A" list blogger-- which he posted as comments over at Jill Tubman's fine and informative blog.


Now I have to tell you, this guy must think that we are all really fucking stupid. Kos, a user driven blog, gets what, a half a million hits a day? And this guy writes a comment and tells us about "140 "posts he found on Kos about Jena. Huh? And I am sure they are posting on the shit now trying to make up for lost time, but too late, I am talking about posts before Thursday's march.


You are fucking kidding me right? You were preoccupied because the "Senate condemned Moveon" ? Gee, God forbid we miss that vote about Moveon and the General Betray-us ad. Sorry folks, I am not in the mood for this kind of bullshit tonight. Not when after all the marching, and the speeches, and the outcry from decent people of conscience; in a move of unbelievable defiance, a Judge down in the "boot" denied bail to Mychal Bell. Yeah, he was a real flight risk that Bell fella. Not to mention, a racist web site, according to CNN, is publishing the addresses of these six boys involved with this case, and the authorities in Louisiana say that they can't offer them any protection because the state cant afford it. Then there was the motherfucker driving around Alexandria, Louisiana with two nooses hanging from his pick up truck (Pic above) to intimidate peaceful protesters. Notice I said peaceful protesters.


And I know some of you don't like me engaging with these ignorant ass motherfuckers on the left. (Max Julian comes to mind) But sorry, as far as I am concerned, they are no different than the mother fucking authorities in Louisiana and the people who perpetuated this kind of ignorance and double standard in the first place. They might not have committed the actual acts; but sadly, they are co- conspirators, and enablers, who will ignore the festering sore of race until it's too late. And then, the ugly pus that has been hiding just beneath the surface, will ooze to the top and explode on all of us in A-merry-ca.

Just don't say I didn't warn you.

With friends like these....

By all accounts the March on Jena, Louisiana today was a huge success. And quite honestly, it could have started a whole new era for the civil rights movement in this country. I felt proud of my peeps and their activism today, and it gave me serious hope for the future. It was amazing to see all the people of color here in Philly, coming together for a common cause, and showing solidarity by dressing in black. And one only has to read the comments section of my last post, to see that that spirit was not only here in Philly, but it was nationwide as well.

That was the good. So now let me tell you about the not so good. It would seem that our so called progressive friends in the "blogosphere" have been strangely silent about Jena. Yes folks, once again, our so called friends on the left, have shown that they only care about our causes when it suits them and their agendas.

Shame on you Kos, MyDD, Huf Post,and all the usual suspects. You guys had a chance to step up to the plate and show us that you are our friends and you came up small. I expect this kind of treatment from the folks on the right, not you guys. Look, I blog about the war constantly, because it's fucked up, and young Americans are losing their lives to make some fucking oil companies rich. So I understand your issues with the war, and the fact that you have to blog about it. But would it kill you to show some passion and blog about social injustice and domestic terrorism in our own fucking country? Would it kill you guys to get a fucking clue and not be so far behind the eight ball? Folks, when the gang at CNN are ahead of Markos and company on Jena, we have a problem. The entire orange crush crew ought to be ashamed of themselves.

But honestly, I don't even know why I bother. I am feeling like a hypocrite for telling people like Francis Holland to leave the progressives alone, when I am doing the same thing by even tripping about this. I don't know, I guess I was just hoping....aah fuck it.

Yep, this was almost a perfect day, until I read this wonderful post, from a blogger with a coffee avatar, and realized that even perfect can be a relative term.

I'm out.

Francis & The Kossacks

I wasn't going to post today, because I had some more important stuff going on. But then, like the addict that I am, I got on the Internet and caught this post from my man Francis Holland about the Kossacks again.


I swear I had to post this link. (He compared the Kossacks to the Klan!) My man Francis will not leave Markos and the folks at Kos alone. Now he is posting from Political Fleshfeast, a spin off of Myleftwing, which is wild as shit. Seems they gave Francis the green light to post as much as he wants, and boy is he going to town.



I have said publicly and privately to my man Francis, that I really don't co-sign with his need to post constantly and stir the pot on these large white blogs. I think he should use his immense talent to devote his writing and research to black causes and on black blogs. (Like the ones in the Afrospear for instance) But....he won't listen, and he just keeps trying to kick the door in to the white folks house.


Still, I love how he is trying to expose Markos, because let's face it, Markos has become an important political figure in this country. If he is doing or has done some shady shit in the past, well then he should be called on it.

So "write" on Francis. I tried to rope you in, but I guess there is no stopping you. You're the white folks problem now :)

We can all get out of the barrel together.

I have a couple of confessions to make. I like apple pie more than watermelon, and I thought the Captain and Tennille were better than Peaches & Herb. OK so there, I said it. But please stay with me, I am trying to make a point here. My taste in music and food is diverse and varied. And even though I am as black as they come, I happen to like some of the same things that my melanin challenged friends do. But that's just me. There are lots of black folks out here who probably can't stand apple pie, and who probably keep "Reunited" in steady rotation on their ipods. So even though we all might look alike, (at least we do to FOX NEWS) deep down we are all different. My point is this:

It must be really hard to figure out how to please us black folks, and what we really want. We are, after all, individual human beings. Our individual needs are just as diverse as all the other races. But there are things that I am sure most black people can agree on, and that most black people can unify around- at least I think there is, cause honestly, lately I am not so sure- And that is what we all want; to get the f**k out of the barrel!

I have been thinking about this for the past couple of days. Partly due to my post about the recent bullshit that I read about over at Kos, and partly because of the responses that I have been getting from my white liberal friends about it. I mean I basically called out white liberals to recognize; and to get real about racism and the different challenges we face in this country. But it must be hard on them to really get a grip on this race thing, because there is no one black person speaking for all of us. One poster to this site (I think his name was "reasic" wanted to know what the democratic party can do to better reach out to blacks. I believed he was truly concerned and I attempted to give him some answers primarily about issues that I am oncerned with.

But while doing some blog hopping recently, and I stumbled into the what seemed to be some polemic wranglings between one of my brothers in the AfroSpear circle, free slave, and another brother named Micheal Fisher. (More about the names in a minute) The shit seemed so petty and counterproductive that it left me wondering; whats the point? What's the use of calling out white folks and telling them to get their shit together if we can't get our own house (or should I say barrel) in order?

I hate to jump into the middle of this particular clash, because these two men are both grown and intellectually sound enough to fight their own battles. But I am firmly in the AfroSpear, and I am committed to that movement. I like Max Julian (The Free Slave) and I believe that he is committed to the struggle as well. The other brother, unfortunately, I don't know too much about. I do know that he was pissed at the "Spear" over a perceived slight of a sister over there, and he has been demanding an apology from some of it's members ever since. I read his site, and besides the dude who commented on his post and seems to be the Flav to his Chuck D (his own personal hype man) it seems cool enough. The guy has also gone after my homey, Asa on occasion. (I think he called him a religious fascist or some shit like that), but hey, no harm no foul, Asa seems to have moved on. Now as I said, this is not my fight, so I will try and stay out of it. Although I will say this to the brother, who seems to have issues with people who use avatars and not their real names. I choose to use an avatar on this blog because that is what 90% of bloggers do. Please believe that it would be very easy for someone to utilize google and get my real name if that's so important to them. But that's not what this blogging thing is about with me. This is about finding an avatar that I think represents a manifestation of my beliefs and sticking to a theme for my site so that individuals who come to it will know just what to expect. I have some opinions about people who use their real names on their site as well ,(LaShawn) but I realize that I would be just as guilty of what I am accusing the brother of doing if I succumbed to those thoughts.

But I seriously digress. Back to my issue. So this saddens me to see that the old crabs in a barrel adage just might hold true, even in our little part of the world known as the blackosphere. Why can't we work together and put our differences aside to achieve common goals? Why do we have "black on black" crime even on the f*****g Internet? Why do we have to challenge each other all the f*****g time? Is it that we want to prove that we are intellectually superior? Or that our dick is bigger than the next guys?...(good luck) Sorry, I won't engage. I am too busy battling whitey, this corrupt ass administration, house Negroes, FOX NOISE, and our f****d up black leadership. The last thing I need to be worrying about are other so called enlightened ass Negroes, who are supposed to be holding it down and helping to unify black folks around common goals, threatening to take their ball and go home.

So my question is this: If whitey suddenly found the "good witch", decided to give up some of his power and give in to our demands; just what the f**k would we do ?

White Kossacks and Black People

With the exception of My Left Wing, I rarely read any of the big progressive blogs such as Huffington Post, or Daily Kos. But today I found myself reading over at Kos (or as some of my fellow black blogers would spell it, KKKOS), and I read an interesting post from a blogger by the name of "Dr Steve B" titled "White Kossacks Should Read Some Black Blogs" (These people call themselves "Kossacks" for crying out loud). I have blogged about the schism between the white and black blogs in the blogosphere before, and my interest in the subject caused me to read the entire post as well as the comments that followed.

For the record, I am of the opinion that white so called progressives in the "blogosphere" are no different than their "wingnut" counterparts on the right. I was reading Daily Kos, but I could have just as easily been reading Ace Of Spades, Wizbang, or any number of the other wingnut [cons]-servative sites. In fact, they might be worse; because they think they are above the ignorance and the unenlightenment that comes with racism. One commentator, "JuniperLea", was absolutely incensed that the issue was even raised in the land of Kos. After all, they live in a mixed neighborhood, they hire black people for jobs, and the color of skin was never discussed in their home. And, ready for this? Their daughter can have "crushes on sooo many more boys." Yeah right! "Mommy this is Jamal from school, we are going out to the movies together." OK honey, make sure you bring home some Roscoes chickens and waffles for your dad." No but seriously, they (The Kossacks) were killing me with the "some of my best friends" talk. When one poor woman of color (DeminCville) tried to talk about her negative experience while trying to hail a cab in D.C. they jumped all over her. "Could it be because of what you were wearing, the fact that you were a woman, the cabbie thought women were cheep, the cabbie might have been lazy, or ignorant," and on and on. Ahhh could it be because she was a black woman in D.C. trying to hail a f*****g cab? Yeah that cabbie was ignorant, that is what racism is; ignorance! Like what the f**k is wrong with these people? This naive view of America like we are living 200 years into the future is what you would expect from [cons]-servatives who like to throw out the "colorblind society" bull shit in their rhetoric to advance their own agendas, but not so called progressives. Still, the more I read the less surprised I was at why they (The Kossacks) thought this way. One actually wanted to know how you can tell if a blog is a black owned. Hey Kossack man, here is a hint; if the name of the blog is FIELD NEGRO, there is a pretty good chance it's black themed.

Now to be fair to the Kossacks (I can't get over that name) There were some voices of reason in the thread as well. (Although I really have to wonder what they are doing over there) The aforementioned "DeminCville" tried valiantly to explain to her progressive friends that actually having to live as a black person, ain't quite the same as looking at blackness from a theoretical and scholarly viewpoint. That race and gender might be irrelevant in the blogosphere, but it ain't in the real world. One enlightened Kossack (ChapiNation386) had this to say; "There should be no 'white' or 'black' blogs in the first place...race is a false reality." Huh? Race is a false reality? Are you f*****g kidding me? Kossack man, it may be a false reality in your world, but it ain't in mine. "We should continue to share our ideas and experiences here open without regard to our individual backgrounds." (Magisterlundi) Honestly, the more I read that thread the more I realized why the so called progressive movement in this country is still not gaining any traction, and why the [dim]ocratic party can't win a presidential race. How the f**k can we share ideas and experiences without considering our backgrounds? Do these Kossacks and other left wingers really believe that black people will unify with them around issues that effect us if they do not consider our backgrounds? Issues such as crime, proper health care, jobs, and when we do get a job; a proper living wage. Not getting shot going to the corner store to buy a f*****g two dollar bag of potato chips from Mr. Chin, all because none of the big chain grocery stores will set up shop in the hood, that's our background. But it's something they would never understand, because the beautiful grocery store with it's fresh fruits, thirty checkout lines,pharmacy, and sixty cent bag of potato chips is always right around the f*****g corner.

"I am the one who is bullied because I am white. I choose to set an example. I have a black and a Latina assistant...the color of skin was never discussed in my house." (JuniperLea) ~~~Me rolling my eyes~~ "You seem to want a cookie for not owning a white hood." (Gimmieliberty) I could not have said that better myself. Thank you oh great liberal white lady for "setting an example" and choosing martydom over racism ("I am the one who is bulled because I am white") Geez! Why do I do this to myself and even go to these sites? I was quite content in the "blackopsphere". You know what; the Kossac that said;"people choose to isolate themselves about race" may be right. Maybe we all choose to do that because it is so frustrating trying to project our life experiences on other people. So we practice self segregation ( I know I do, I am tired of shouting) and try to work out our problems among ourselves. This is why black bloggers should stop wasting their time in the "whitosphere". Get your own blogs, join black on-line and blogging communities (like the "AfroSpear"), and start sharing ideas and building coalitions to strengthen your voices. Trust me, the Kossacks don't want to hear it, because in their world, racism no longer exists. They want to end the war in Iraq, and elect a [dim]ocrat in 2008. A [dim]ocrat who won't change the quality of the typical poor black person's life one bit. You have been poor from Carter to Reagan to Bush to Clinton, and back to Bush again. Do you really think it matters who is in the white house in 2008? "But field what if Obama wins?" Yeah what about it? It will make you feel good about having someone that looks like you running the country, and it will make white folks feel good about America (we have come so far we elected a black man to the White House). But I watch Oprah's black ass on T.V. and the last time I checked, I don't have any of her money. If Obama being President can't make your quality of life as a black person better, it won't make a damn bit of difference to you or me or any other person of color. Sorry, just electing a black person as President so that I can say; "The President is black just like me", doesn't mean sh** to me. "Yeah but field, what about the little black children who will see Obama and say; "one day I too can be President." If the little black children have to actually see a black President before they can think they can become President, then we have a bigger problem than I thought. But I seriously digress.

Back to my Kossack friends. Hey, to be sure, we have some common enemies and some common beliefs. Believe it or not, like most Kossacks, and unlike most black people, I happen to be a secularist. And I happen to despise everything about this, the most corrupt and destructive administration in the history of our country. But let's just agree to come together when necessary to work on some of our common issues. Let's not bull sh** each other into thinking that we will ever agree on matters of race. Because judging from the overall tone of the comments from Dr. SteveB's post, that will never happen

"If this is still an issue then we progressives still have work to do"( Pat208)

It's still an issue, but don't worry about working on it. You guys just worry about things like trying to end the war in Iraq, the immigration problem, and campaign finance reform. We will worry about the black thing, and try to solve our own problems. After all, we have to live it every day, you just do it when you respond to some guy on the Internet.

No President's Day For Dante.

"For what its worth, Dante Jackson Freeman was the toughest kid in Philadelphia. Ever.
Four years ago, in a craps game in his North Philadelphia neighborhood up around 29th and Oxford Streets, he won what some apparently felt was too much. At least that's his mother's theory of how his trouble started. Stacey Jackson wasn't always sure what was going on with her teenage son in those streets. She was relaxing at a neighborhood club on a winter night when she was told her son was outside. She found Dante, furious, standing on the cold sidewalk in his socks.
"Can you believe this?" he asked her. He had been jumped by some boys he knew, and they had taken his jacket and his boots.
"He felt violated," Stacey said. "People he knew did it to him. After that, Dante just went off."
Another Dante conjured up one stunning vision of hell, but there is another real one burning in fierce pockets around this city. African Americans here are three times more likely to be murdered than the countrywide average. Most of the victims are young men. There were 317 gun-related homicides here last year, compared with 233 four years ago, despite world-class emergency medical care that every year pulls more and more back from the grave. The trend reflects an out-of-control urban underclass, an abandoned and shockingly vicious subculture that is one of the biggest ongoing stories in this city and country.
Yet these are rarely the kinds of killings that get much press. The carnage in the streets of American cities in any one year far exceeds the combined death tolls in Afghanistan and Iraq, yet it is not even on the agenda of national politics. More and more, the shootings are not about money or drugs, but about nothing at all, or what amounts to nothing in the larger world. Today's murders are often about being "dissed." The reckless pride of a teenage boy is not new, but what of a society without the constraints of family and community? That amplifies petty vendettas with easy access to deadly weapons? That encourages it in film and song? There is something new about that.
So Dante's story began with stolen boots. To his mother, he was not perfect, but was basically "a good boy," polite and caring, a dropout just a few credits shy of his high school diploma. To the system, he just fit a familiar mold - an angry young man with prior drug and handgun arrests in a willing swan dive toward death or prison.
Three weeks after his boots were stolen, Dante was shot for the first time. The round hit his lower left leg and foot. He was taken to Hahnemann University Hospital, where they stitched him up expertly and sent him home on crutches, his leg in a cast. That lasted for a few weeks. As soon as the leg would bear weight, he cut off the cast and went back out with his gun.
He was shot the second time just a few weeks later, in the other leg. This time he was repaired at Temple University Hospital, where Dante was to become a regular. He was sent home once more in a cast, and after a few weeks he cut that one off and went back out with his gun, where he was promptly shot a third time. That round went into his side in the front and exited in the rear. No organ damage. They stitched him up in the emergency room at Temple and sent him back home.
"Dante, he was a quick healer," Stacey said. He wasn't down for long.
The fourth time was more serious. On April 14, 2005, he was hit multiple times - "four or five," Stacey said - in the chest and stomach. He was with his friend Pierre "Scooter" Gatson, who died. At Temple's trauma center, where he was now on a first-name basis, 19-year-old Dante had a hole poked in his neck to attach a breathing machine, and surgeons sewed up his innards, which had been savagely rearranged. They cut out a damaged portion of his bowels. He spent 30 days in intensive care.
"He was a wiry, angry kid," said James Curtis, a trauma nurse who got to know him during that visit. "I could relate to him. I grew up in a neighborhood like that. I gave him the talk, the one about putting the guns down, finding a job. They are a captive audience for a while. You hope that the shock of the shooting will open their ears. I give them hard words. Some of them listen. I've had kids who have taken it upon themselves to change. But for some of them, that world is all they know."
Scott Charles, the trauma outreach coordinator at Temple, tells a scarred kid like Dante that getting shot is not like getting hit by lightning; that, hit once, he is more likely to be shot again; that unless he makes big changes, he will probably be back, or dead. He points out that the surgeons and nurses are all making a nice living patching him up repeatedly, that they drive cool cars back and forth to lovely homes on safe blocks. He speaks up for education, responsibility and hard work.
Dante was a polite listener, but unmoved. He knew, but would never say, who shot him. He was annoyed when the women in his family sniffled at his bedside over his terrible wounds.
"You stop all that cryin'," he scolded them. "But when I do die, I want you all to get tattoos."
Dante went home that summer with a colostomy bag. The surgeons left a hole in his abdomen so that the large intestine could drain feces into it. It wasn't permanent. When the healing progressed, they planned to reattach the severed portions and get rid of the bag, but Dante didn't last that long. He had lost a lot of weight, so under his oversized shirt you couldn't see the bag... or the gun. He was hit for the last time on Aug. 18, 2005, in a gangland-style shoot-out with a passing car, which sped away. Stacey found him still on the pavement, silent, his breath coming in heaves, wounded this time in the neck and back.
There are still many, many tough kids in Philadelphia, armed and angry and ready, but I think Dante gets the crown. The old ghetto joke is: If you want to look tough, have a broken arm. So it should come as no surprise that on his fifth delivery to a trauma center, the toughest kid in Philadelphia was dead.
He is buried in an unmarked grave in his old neighborhood. Stacey is planning to get a stone in time for the first anniversary of his death. The girls in the family have tattoos. "

I would like to thank Mark Bowden from my hometown paper, The Philadelphia Inquirer, for that moving and all too familiar story.

Memo to my white liberal progressive friends at blogs like My DD,Huffington Post, and Daily Kos: Dante Jackson and many more like him, is the reason we can't go into this raging cultural and political war together. The truth is, there are no Dante Jackson's in your world or in your neighborhoods. And although there might not be any Dante Jackson's in my neighborhood either, Dante looks just like me, and we share something that none of you ever will; our race. The blood that ran through Dante's veins is the same blood that runs through mine, and more than likely, the person's that killed him. It's what separates me from all of my progressive friends who might share some of my politics, but know nothing about my struggle.

When I wake up every day and have to read about yet another young black man taking the life of another it hurts. And it pains me that a country that can spend billions of dollars to protect the life of people thousands and thousands of miles away can't protect the children right here in Philadelphia. It pains me to watch poli-tricksters posture with bulls**t issues (Troop surge no troop surge,non-binding resolutions,binding resolutions, and on and on) when kids are dying out here on these streets, and neighborhoods are being lost . Why? Because it's not their kids, and the kids that are dying do not look like them. " Field, why are you so angry all the time?" Because America and the ignorant ass selfish people running it made me this way.

Oh well, happy President's Day everybody. Hey, just one more day to be happy for. I bet there will be some great sales in the stores. They even say it's the best day to buy a car. Thank God our 43rd President, the frat boy, is fighting for us over in Iraq. How else could we afford to keep the price of oil down. After all, what good is a shiny new car if you can't afford to gas it.

House Rules (Why field Negroes should break them)

A blogger who I have a great deal of respect for posted a few days ago about the White vs. Black blogospehre debate that I have been participating in recently. Her post was more a critique of another blogger, Francis Holland, who started this debate after he was booted from Daily Kos.

Ms. Tubman raised some very good points, and I would expect no less from her. But I must take issue with some of the things she said concerning Mr. Holland. Throughout her post, she seemed to be admonishing Mr. Holland for not blogging with the proper tone, or for being a "bull in a china cabinet" while he was allowed to post on Daily Kos. (To be fair, Ms. Tubman said she agreed with the message but not how it was being delivered) My question to Ms. Tubman would be this: Should we modify or stance on positions or the way we post in order to be allowed to participate in certain online discussions with white folks? I would certainly hope not, and if there are black bloggers out there doing that....well, let's just say that I hope they gave you a very nice "room" and computer in the house for your troubles.

Now I don't want to speak for Mr. Tubman, she is more than capable of speaking for herself. But I am sure she will say that her critiquing of Mr. Holland , was due mostly to the fact that he himself, seemed to really want back in with the Daily Kos crowd. So one could argue that her post was a road map for him to more or less find his way back in. But I doubt seriously that Mr. Hollands motivation was to simply get back on Kos just to say he could post there again. I suspect that his motivation was political, as he really seems to have a thing for Hillary, and he wanted to openly campaign for her on a site that clearly has kicked her to the curb. Mr. Holland suspects that his race has something to do with why he was kicked off. And while it may not have been a direct cause, I think the fact that he is black made the conversation-whatever it happened to be-more uncomfortable, even for the so called progressives over there at Kos.

Now let me be clear; as I have stated before, I could care less whether I interact with that crowd or not. Their issues aren't my issues, and visa versa. " So the rage against the machine bit is self created. If you want to talk about Iraq,or oil,or campaign finance reform,or deficit/debt..there's none of that on Field Negro" That would be corrct "Charlie", you won't get discussions here about the deficit,the national debt, campaign finance reform etc. You know why my progressive friend? Because most black folks out here don't give a f**k about those issues. We are too busy trying to hold down a nine to five and not get shot on our way home from work to be worrying about your f*****g campaign finance reform. Like it makes a difference whether a mother f****r can spend 100 million or 200 million of his own money. Poli-tricksters, democrats, and republicans, will always find a way around that sh**. Don't even get me started on these clueless,disconnected mother fu****s that I have to share country with. Sorry folks, that was a serious digression, and I tried to finish this post without cursing, (I guess they won't use this one at the Bob Dole Institute of Politics in Lawrence Kansas) but some people just set me off.

So anyway, back to Ms. Tubman's post. She had some wonderful and thought provoking suggestions towards the end. Should black bloggers come together around common goals and try to make ourselves stronger? Or should we seek more inclusion from white bloggers and combine our efforts with them around some common political agendas? Folks, I think you know where I stand on this issue. The problem is, well, I won't call their names, but there are bloggers out there like the Christian lady, Lasha...whoops I said no names, and a few more who know who they are; who would tear the freaking house down if they thought they couldn't get in. Unfortunately, because of their positions, and their way of making white folks feel good about themselves, these are the more popular sites among black bloggers. So the rest of us, who want to start unifying around issues that effect us, will have much more of an uphill battle ahead. It would be so much easier to sell out and write to make right wing "Charlie and left wing "Charlie" more comfortable, but some of us just can't and will never do that.

I loved Ms. Tubman's the idea of a black ad network, and more black empowerment economically. But again, that will call for more black progressive bloggers (why do I even use that word) coming together and being unified in our goals. That's easier said than done, but I have hope. I am starting to see more and more positive black bloggers out here every day. (The usual posters to this site comes to mind.) People who are truly independent and could really give a damn about what "Charlie" thinks. The beauty of it is that many of these folks are new, and they haven't developed a large following just yet. So in a way, this is still virgin territory, and they can take this blogging thing in whatever direction they choose. It's too late for people like LaShawn, and Oliver, and Sh...whoops, I said I wouldn't call names. But that's what's so great about America, there are so many more of us out here, with so many resources, and so many points of views to express that even a few of us typing away in the house can't hold back our message. Because at the end of the day, the fields are so much bigger than the house, and there are so much more of us out here than in there.

"Whitosphere vs. Blackosphere"

I want to post about something I saw over at My DD ,a progressive net roots web site whose primary focus seems to be the advancement of democratic party candidates.

 Now in the spirit of true disclosure, I have to say that I have posted on My DD from time to time, and I even link the site here on my own blog.

 But an African American blogger raised some very good points while posting over there about the lack of links to black bloggers on many of these so called progressive white sites, and the lack of black participation ( I think he said 2%) on the white web sites. So I thought that it was worth talking about. Now this brother-I think his name is Francis Holland- seems to have a (excuse this reference ladies) "hard on" for the people at Daily Kos (who apparently banned him from their site) and My DD. So I understand that there is an element of sour- grapes with his position. Still, he raised some interesting points, and this is a subject worth discussing among people of all colors on the Internet.

I understand that this is a touchy subject for many progressives, because 90% of the time blacks and liberal white progressives see eye to eye on many core issues and causes. But what about the huge elephant in the room? Yes, that one; race. I guess we have to ask ourselves: do we have to get along on the racial issues in order to come together and promote issues that we all care about? Can we practice a form of "blogger apartheid" -as Mr. Holland refers to it- on the net, yet come together around certain issues and politicians who we all support? Honestly, I am not sure I know the answer to that. I thought some of the responses the brother got to his post was really interesting. Some of the commentators were upset that he would inject race into such a "color blind" forum as the Internet. Yeah right, when was the Internet ever color blind? Give me a fu****g break! The Internet is no more color blind than any other aspect of society. (Like when I post as the field-negro folks don't know that I am black.) So that's a bogus argument, and it's the type of hypocritical argument on racial matters which absolutely drives me crazy. I saw where my man from My DD was defending Markos over at Daily Kos and declaring that "he is not a racist".  First, how the f**k does he know this? Because they are kindred spirits on matters of politics? I don't think so!

Now I thought  that Jill Tubman had the best answers and most thoughtful response to Mr. Holland's concerns, because she put the entire debate in its proper context: "White progressives address politics more directly whereas black bloggers are addressing it indirectly, as it affects us more as a community." I co-sign with her on that. If you read most black blogs we address political and social issues as they affect us as a community and not society as a whole. So maybe we can never really become truly as one with our white ideological soul-mates on the webs because our interests when it comes to day to day issues are so diverse.

Mr. Holland seems to be screaming for more black inclusion in the Whitosphere, and more black links to sites like Daily Kos and My DD, etc. This is where my man and I tend to part company. I personally could give a f**k whether My DD or Daily Kos-- or any of the other so called white progressive blogs-- link me or even include me in their discussion. Honestly, their issues aren't my issues. I know they have very strong political beliefs and are tied to the democratic party and its leaders; but not me, and this is going to surprise some people. But I would just as soon vote for a republican over a democrat if I thought that he/she had my people's best interest at heart. So I really don't give a f**k which party a particular politician belongs to. The reason I happen to despise most republicans is that they just happen to be the most f****d up when it comes to matters of race. But don't get it twisted;  a lot of democrats are just as f****d up when it comes to this issue. And I will never walk lock step with any one party. NEVER! This is what separates me from the Daily Kos and My DD crowd, and what I think ultimately might separate me from people who are crying for inclusion.

Call me a separatist, but I am more proud to be linked to sites like Skeptical Brotha, Freeslave, and Mirror On America than to the more popular progressive white sites like Kos, My DD, and their ilk. And, for the record, I have links to white sites on my blog as well. -My man konagod and the aforementioned My DD comes to mind- so maybe I am not such a separatist after all.

I am glad Mr. Holland raised this subject, as it needed to be addressed. But my position on this is pretty clear, although I understand the opposite school of thought: We should try to learn about each other and from a political standpoint, it benefits the democratic party to get  feed- back from its most reliable constituents.

But you can't force inclusion on people, I don't care how progressive they claim to be. We have given up on the republicans because we realize that they have given up on us. Maybe we should take that position with the democrats as well.