We Black folks have known it for generations: Statistics are not our friends. Test scores, prison records, out-of-wedlock pregnancies, figures on all of these are used to reflect the often sorry state of affairs in the Black community. Just a couple of weeks ago, a statistic was released stating that 46% (FORTY-SIX PERCENT!) of African American males in my home state, Maryland, dropped out of high school. I've got three sons, how do you think that made me feel?
I comfort myself by repeating that stats can be used to prove anything, but hearing so much bad news brings a cynical fatigue.George W. Bush's approval ratings are in the low 30's, you tell me? Why the hell are they still THAT high, I'll say.
Anyway, last night I heard a stat that put a smile on my face.Black enlistment in the military has fallen 38% since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have begun. Other job prospects and the influence of friends and family members already in the military are attributed to this drop in enlistment. But the major factor in this drop is the unpopularity of these wars, especially the war in Iraq.
And my reply to these figures is: ABOUT FREAKIN' TIME. Recruitment for Bush's Sham War of Aggression (Iraq) should be through the floor, across the board. Recruitment is up among Latinos and other races, and I'm not celebrating that. But given the fact that the Pentagon has lowered standards so much that even a 42-year-old, 290-pound functional illiterate is still getting a look from recruiters, it's good to see that there's one segment of the population the spiel isn't working on.
Years ago, when I went to see the movie, Glory, about the efforts of Black Union soldiers to be accepted during the Civil War, I had two thoughts. The first was, what was Matthew Broderick doing starring in a movie about Black Union soldiers. The second was, Denzel, Morgan, if you only knew what the result of your fight would be. After years of fighting the US military's reluctance to put weapons into the hands of downtrodden Blacks, Vietnam saw African American soldiers welcomed. To the front lines. As America waged an increasingly unpopular war, whose "goodness" was questioned, and the scions of the wealthy and powerful were hiding out in the National Guard ranks, this country went to war with the army it had, increasingly Black and poor. I am encouraged to no end to see that enough opportunities are opening up that stepping into a Middle East meat grinder isn't such an option anymore.
But the news can't be all positive.As recruitment drops and tours are extended and the military gets over-extended, there will be misguided cries to reinstate the draft (Charlie Rangel: Shut the hell up!). One would think Bush wouldn't call for the return of the draft, but don't be surprised, kids. He doesn't have shit to lose at this point. For the time being though, you're safe, young people. So if you see a recruiting officer when you're walking down the street... Walk on by.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Sex, Money, & Ignorance
Nearing the end of Paris Hilton's jail term for VIOLATING PROBATION (no, apologists, she was NOT sent to jail "just" for drunken driving), I have an admission to make. As I watched the news footage of her that Friday, sitting in the back of that police cruiser, sobbing her eyes out, I felt, for a moment, the merest twinge of sympathy. It passed quickly, but it proved one thing to me: Even schadenfreude has its limits.
There are reasons to hate Paris Hilton, and they are many. She is moronic. She is talentless. She is ubiquitous. She is, by most accounts, promiscuous. She is likely a racist and a homophobe. And, as a person born to wealth that she did not earn, she feels entitled to do as she pleases.
All of these are valid reasons. But I think, for me, things are a little more complex. Because I feel that Hilton typifies America's three obsessions in the 00's: Sex, Money, and Ignorance. When I say sex, I mean sex stripped of all subtlety and meaning and rendered in its cheapest, most base aspect. Like, say, suggestively eating a hamburger in a bathing suit while washing a car. When I say money, I mean the pursuit of lucre not through honest effort, but through cheap, cynical dodges like seeking to charge a nightclub for the privilege of hosting your Get Out of Jail Party. And when I say ignorance, I mean giggling vacantly while you're being videotaped dancing at a party, and comparing yourself to a "n****r from Englewood."
While Hilton's been serving her time, we've heard two different accounts of how it's been going. In the first, she is totally losing her shit, freaking out because, even under the comparatively cushy administrative segregation she's under in jail, she's living in a cell that could fit in her walk-in closet. In the second, she's taking calls from Baba Wawa, waxing reflectively about how she's tired of allowing herself to be portrayed in the media as a vapid idiot. Let me clear my throat. BWA-HAH-HAH.
A person as hooked on sex, money, and ignorance as Paris Hilton is is gonna take a lot more than a couple weeks in jail to turn herself around. At the very least, she'll need a couple more weeks. But more likely, we'll see her before Independence Day, openly smoking weed in front of papparazzi, snickering like Muttley behind some greasy pig like Brandon Davis, promoting some crap to people deserving of nothing more than crap. If we were serious about changing her life, she'd just go away for a while and spare us her presence. But you know we could never be that lucky.
There are reasons to hate Paris Hilton, and they are many. She is moronic. She is talentless. She is ubiquitous. She is, by most accounts, promiscuous. She is likely a racist and a homophobe. And, as a person born to wealth that she did not earn, she feels entitled to do as she pleases.
All of these are valid reasons. But I think, for me, things are a little more complex. Because I feel that Hilton typifies America's three obsessions in the 00's: Sex, Money, and Ignorance. When I say sex, I mean sex stripped of all subtlety and meaning and rendered in its cheapest, most base aspect. Like, say, suggestively eating a hamburger in a bathing suit while washing a car. When I say money, I mean the pursuit of lucre not through honest effort, but through cheap, cynical dodges like seeking to charge a nightclub for the privilege of hosting your Get Out of Jail Party. And when I say ignorance, I mean giggling vacantly while you're being videotaped dancing at a party, and comparing yourself to a "n****r from Englewood."
While Hilton's been serving her time, we've heard two different accounts of how it's been going. In the first, she is totally losing her shit, freaking out because, even under the comparatively cushy administrative segregation she's under in jail, she's living in a cell that could fit in her walk-in closet. In the second, she's taking calls from Baba Wawa, waxing reflectively about how she's tired of allowing herself to be portrayed in the media as a vapid idiot. Let me clear my throat. BWA-HAH-HAH.
A person as hooked on sex, money, and ignorance as Paris Hilton is is gonna take a lot more than a couple weeks in jail to turn herself around. At the very least, she'll need a couple more weeks. But more likely, we'll see her before Independence Day, openly smoking weed in front of papparazzi, snickering like Muttley behind some greasy pig like Brandon Davis, promoting some crap to people deserving of nothing more than crap. If we were serious about changing her life, she'd just go away for a while and spare us her presence. But you know we could never be that lucky.
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