"Read a book, read a book, read a mutha****ing book!!!!!"

USA: Blacks don't read: They are still our slaves

I came across this article and it got my blood boiling! In it a caucasian man is explaining why, mentally, black people are still slaves. WHAT!!!!! But as much as I hate to admit it, he does raise some serious questions. I, for one, don't know too many brothas and sistas who read for their own mental enrichment. The ones who do, including myself, can be ridiculed for it sometimes. Especially black men, such as myself, who read. But reading has introduced me to beliefs, concepts, cultures, philosophies, etc. that I would probably never be exposed to otherwise. A good book can help you mentally escape a bad situation. A good book can take you anywhere you can imagine or give you a deeper overstanding of the environment you're living in. Books can be a powerful tool in helping you to develop yourself in every way but brothas shouldn't have to be locked up in prison before we realize it.

Lil Wayne Could've Used the Fake Album Cover

I just found this picture that was supposedly the cover art for Lil Wayne's forthcoming "The Carter III" album. Turns out that it's not the real album cover. Well either way I say this would have been one of those album covers everybody would have hanging on the wall. It's funny, deep, twisted, and beautiful all at the same time.

Damn, Wal-Mart, why you gotta go and do that?

I was in Hell the other day......I mean Wal-Mart.....when I noticed something strange. How the hell can you sell DVD’s that have blood, guts, T& A, and every four-letter word ya mama told you will lead you straight to H-E-double hockey sticks but every CD has to be edited? When I thought about it at first it looked like Wal-Mart was catering to the Hollywood community. But as I thought about it some more I realized the music and movie industries are really controlled by some of the same mega-media corporations. That led me to believe that maybe Wal-Mart’s reason for the policy was something else. Maybe they have this policy as a way to try to control what type of customers shop in their electronics department. I don’t know about you but I like my music uncut and raw. I can’t remember ever buying a rap/hip-hop CD from Wal-Mart. And most brothas I know are the same way. So maybe selling edited CD’s is a way to keep "certain individuals" from being in their CD section. Just something that made me go......hmmmmm.

p.s. They sell those video games that everyone says are making kids shoot up their schools too.

Just Cash 4 Y'all

I was......uhhh...visiting...... my friendly neighborhood county jail the other day when something hit me. I realized how much the whole justice system is really big business.

It starts with the police. I’ve seen folks get tickets for going 5 miles over the speed limit in some of the most nonresidential areas. Not to mention what we like to call "speed traps." If you ever been driving in a 50 mph zone that all of a sudden changed to a 30 mph zone, you have been the victim of a speed trap. It’s not a coincedence that the police sit right at these particular spots. We got something they need....the almighty dollar. They need it for new Dodge Chargers to catch more people going 5 miles over the speed limit. They need it for new laptops in those new Chargers. They need it for new tasers to shock your 80 year old Granny with severe arthritis when she gets to be too much for them to handle. If you happen to be lucky enough to get arrested by these fine gentlemen you get the opportunity to be introduced to the next level of money-grubbers....the bail bondsman.

Speaking of the bail bonds community; while I was on my little visit I noticed that all the bail bondsman were.....women! (I just thought that was strange) But anyway, the bail bondspeople are a trip. It was like the bondspeople were posted around the jail like Michael Jackson at a Boy Scout convention. Its their life mission to get you out of that big bad cold dirty stankin jail no matter what. For a small fee that is.

Once you do get free its time to deal with the judicial system. Home of some of the biggest leeches in the whole feeding cycle. I won’t even go into how crooked and money hungry some lawyers are. These cats will represent you even when they know you’re gonna lose your case. They’ll take your whole McDonalds check plus send you a bill later. Hell, you might even catch them out having drinks with the judge and prosecutor who just threw your ass back in jail. Using the money you had to pay the court But if they just lost your case what could they be celebrating? Oh yeah.....PAYDAY. For everyone from the police to the bail bondsman to the jail to the contractors who build the jails to the lawyers to the courts .

In my opinion the whole system is a money making machine. It’s not much different from Mickey D’s, Wal-Mart, or your local service station. Except the justice system sells second chances. It’s up to us to not be repeat customers.

So when I hear someone in the criminal justice business use the term "Justice for all", I think "Naw, it’s Just-Cash 4 Y’all."