Its a MoVeMeNt baby!

A collection of poetry and social criticism…from my block to yours!  Catch ya’ on the FLIPSIDE!

THIS IS THE INSIDE OF THE OLD DODGE MAIN PLANT IN HAMTRAMCK, MI. THIS PLANT WAS MY GRANDFATHER’S FIRST JOB IN THE NORTH AFTER HE JOINED THE “GREAT MIGRATION” FROM THE SOUTH. THIS PLANT CREATED THE FOUNDATION OF MY ENTIRE FAMILY FROM THAT POINT ON!

$50K Prize Would Help ‘Zone 8′ Activist Further His Work: MyFoxDETROIT.com

Yusef Shakur was featured on FOX 2 News today in Detroit.  Shakur has gotten a second chance at life after incarceration.  He has spent the years following his release as an advocate for change and progress in the community in which he grew up.  He has published a book and is currently working on more material to help enlighten the youth of our declining neighborhoods.

Along with the Urban Network Cyber Cafe, Shakur is constantly working toward “Restoring The Neighbor Back To The Hood” which is the slogan of his movement that is printed on tee shirts available at the cafe and bookstore.  You can help him in his mission by voting for him in the Examiner.com “America Inspired” contest.  Just got to examiner.com and vote for Shakur in the OVERCOMING ADVERSITY category and bring him one step closer to receiving the recognition he deserves.  Catch ya’ on the FLIPSIDE.

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The relationship is obviously heading to the next level, but when do you know the time is right? Call into the Straight From The E-Block Radio show this Tuesday and let’s talk about that dirty four letter word… L O V E! 760.283.4647 or see us LIVE on uStream >> http://bit.ly/eblock1 And don’t forget to follow the crew on TWITTER @HoodHowardStern and @RealMonkMoney

Red Tails is a celebration of the African American contribution to WWII.  It is a movie that was reportedly over 20 years in the making for George Lucas who eventually funded this project himself.  The story of the Tuskegee Airmen is a story which once again resonates the sound of opportunity.  It sharpens the focus on the goal of equality and perhaps encourages optimism to the idea of overcoming oppression and racism.  Yes indeed, all of these rays of sunlight burst from the seams of this film before any one set of eyes were ever placed upon its big screen projection.  Some people are thankful for the re-creation of this era in time and encourage support of the film.  On the other hand there are those who are not as welcoming to the idea of the Lucas production of the black man’s conquering of a military that was not so accepting of his black skin.

I’m not sure what we are upset about.  Is it a problem that it’s George Lucas?  Are we angry because Spike Lee or Tyler Perry were not responsible for the film instead?  And when I say we, I mean black people, because we seem to somehow feel the need to find some obscure flicker of reasoning to feel as though the Red Tails movie somehow undermines our journey of overcoming.  I’ve seen bloggers everywhere insisting that it is imperative to support this film.  I’ve also seen bloggers suggesting that we need not support the movie or all the black actors who lent their skill to teach a generation of young black children just exactly who the Tuskegee Airmen were and how important they are to the history of America.  I’m still not sure why that is.

For those of us who do not agree that this film was a necessity for our younger generation and deserves the support of the black community, I have just one question.  What’s the problem?  Why would you not want to celebrate a film that celebrates you? Okay, I guess that’s two questions, but I just had to ask that one as well.  I wonder if we had the same gripes about Roots, would it have had the impact that it did some 30 plus years ago?

Of course, I’m just ranting, but sometimes its just upsetting when it appears that the only thing holding us back is us.  I won’t complain about who made the movie,  I am encouraged because it was made.  I won’t complain that the movie was marketed using the race card because race was a major player in the whole event that inspired the movie.  I won’t complain about things that were missing in the production, because I will not allow myself to be educated about history through a movie when books and written documents still exist anyway. So quit acting like a movie is going to include every detail.  Finally, I won’t let complainers prevent me from supporting a film that deserves the support of the community in which its struggles created the events that inspired the production in the first place.  Catch ya’ on the FLIPSIDE.

Detroit Consortium improved to 7-1 after defeating Auburn Hills Avondale last night 61-48. As easy as 1 2 3, the Cougars were never behind in the contest.  Deonte Smith (1), Malcolm Sterling (2), and Travon Baker(3) pushed the charge as Consortium left Auburn Hills one win closer to their dream of a State Championship. Smith put up 13, Barker dropped 11 dimes and Sterling added 8 points and a couple assists after early foul trouble limited his action. The Cougars head to Dayton, OH to take on Dunbar on Saturday.

Do you see that picture above?  It’s a sketch of a slave trade.  Blacks being sold for profit and slave labor. As much as we try to move forward and into the future it is all but impossible to forget the past.  So schools are teaching children about this period in time where slavery was a legal operation and apropriately so.  But, when does the lesson plan cross the line?

A sixth grade social studies class in Melvindale, Michigan was asked to create a journal describing what their life would be like as a slave.  The assignment asked for each student to describe their slave master and his family.  They were also asked to describe how they would attempt to escape the plantation in which they were being held captive.  Really?  So in the sixth grade we are around 11, do you want the mind of your 11 year old burdened with the hatred, murderously vicious cycle of slavery?  It is one thing to learn of the events, but to be forced to basically relive the period and create a journal describing your experience just seems a little too intense.

What’s intriguing about the whole situation is that while the Oprah special on Roots is still fresh on my mind, it reminds me of how some of the characters in that movie are to this day unable to watch the movie again.  If these trained actors were affected in that fashion, I wonder what makes the school think that a lesson of this nature would be suitable for 11 and 12 year old children. Catch ya’ on the FLIPSIDE

Roots took the world by storm in 1977.  Two years before I was even thought of, the entire nation was glued to their television sets watching the life story of Alex Haley.  Haley’s book, which was written originally in 1974 and published in abbreviated form in the Reader’s Digest then the completed version hit the shelves in 1976 , resulted in the syndication of the television mini-series.  Roots is a detailed account of Haley’s family and it’s elevation from captivity to freedom through the generations.  The compelling story shed new light to the plight of the black American family.

The story and the subsequent mini-series was so moving that some of the cast members have not watched it since it’s original airing.  It is something about the reality of the harshness of slavery that made the actors tense on set even though they realized that they were indeed merely actors.  Slavery was real.  The affects of slavery today are real.  Despite people’s miseducation, the affects of slavery has trickled down into racism and is still present in our society today.  The important thing is to educate our younger generation as well as ourselves because we need to know the struggles in which we have come through to get where we are.  We need to know our Roots.  Catch ya’ on the FLIPSIDE.

“This race has degenerated into an onslaught of negative and personal attacks.”  This is what Jon Huntsman said in his statement today as he dropped out of the Republican race.  The negative and personal attacks proved to be too much for the candidate who had just recently mustered only 17% of the votes in the New Hampshire primary.  While Huntsman takes himself out of the race, he endorses Mitt Romney on the way out.  Oddly enough, Huntsman was one of Romney’s harshest critics.  Huntsman declares that Romney is the most competent candidate to beat President Obama.  Here we go again.

The hypocrisy of politics is uncanny.  One week ago a candidate can be bashing another then in the following week can be his biggest supporter.  Politics have and probably never will make sense to anybody other than politicians and of course the political pundits who somehow think they do a better job selecting officials than us common folk.  But, even with all the hypocrisy aside, I need the objective to be a great deal more intensive than “beating Obama.”

I have yet to hear one single viable plan for how to reduce unemployment, how to reduce the cost of higher education, how to bring troops home while keeping a presence abroad.  How to make affordable health care available to everyone who needs it or how to make sure that the richest people are not paying less taxes than the middle-class blue collar worker who is at risk of losing his job because the CEO of his company is steadily receiving million dollar bonuses while cutting jobs.

But then again, I suppose the basic goal of “beating Obama” is suffice for the Republican party.  So, I say good riddance to Jon Huntsman.  Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.  I would love for you to take everybody else with you too and please don’t come back in here until you give me some idea of how you are going to make my country better because your dedication to “beating Obama” does not make me understand why I should vote for you.  Then again, I’m not a politician so I guess I will never understand politics.  Catch ya’ on the FLIPSIDE.