The NAACP Manages to Bottom Itself
Posted: January 6, 2010 Filed under: People, Pitts Indeed, Soap Box | Tags: @pittswiley, black people awards, in living color, jon pitts-wiley, michael jackson funeral, naacp image awards, Pitts Indeed Leave a comment »The above is a bit of timeless parody. This is not. I’m gonna have to be the bad guy and say it’s…mildly uncouth to nominate a man’s funeral service for an NAACP Image Award, even if it’s Michael Jackson.
Post-Racial is the New White
Posted: December 15, 2009 Filed under: People, Pitts Indeed, Soap Box | Tags: barack obama, genealogy, michelle obama, warren buffet 4 Comments »
Oh snap! Barack Obama and Warren Buffett are distant relatives!
According to their family trees, the two men who at times shared the stage together during the 2008 presidential campaign are seventh cousins three times removed.
Genealogists at ancestry.com announced on Tuesday that Obama and Buffett are related through a 17th century Frenchman named Mareen Duvall.
…
The discovery was made by accident when the same team of genealogists who had researched Obama’s family tree went on to investigate details about Buffett’s relatives.
“We recognized the name Duvall and it made us wonder if this was a connection,” said Anastasia Tyler, the lead researcher on the project. “So we started focusing on Duvall.”
As much as I would like to believe this sort of thing makes news for the right reasons, for reasons to demonstrate just how close humanity really is, I’m fairly certainly this is yet another case of white people the people running things protesting a bit too much on matters of diversity.
Never do you read headlines about the various public figures of color who the Obamas may be related to. No; it’s always these white people who they are kin folk with and the tone is always one of being utterly wowed as if a biracial man and a descendant of the forced African diaspora (read: slavery) sharing relatives with white people is something to drop a jaw about.
But there’s the rub with all the post-racial confetti that’s been tossed about since November of last year.
As I said a few days ago, from the dominant culture’s perspective, the trend has a whole lot more to do with seeming an acceptable member of the dominant culture than it does with human progression that sees beyond race’s limiting confines. Shorter Pitts-Wiley: ‘Post-Racial’ is a hip, multi-culti version of white.
Tiger Likes Becky. And?
Posted: December 8, 2009 Filed under: People, Pitts Indeed, Soap Box, Sports | Tags: becky, cablinasian, cheating, cross over, elin woods, golf, jon pitts-wiley, jump-offs, men, Pitts Indeed, tiger woods, US weekly, white girls, white privilege, women 3 Comments »
They're not Tiger's...OR ARE THEY?
I don’t have any personal investment in Tiger Woods’ personal life. Frankly, with each new trick that takes her lunch break to give US Weekly an exclusive scoop, I find myself feeling terrible for Elin Woods and their children. A wife and children deserve better than this. Still, I have to admit I find the newfound outrage regarding Tiger Woods’ jump-off choice particularly amusing. Many Black folks have wasted little time pointing out that all of Tiger’s jump-offs have been white. Read the rest of this entry »
Uh, Lee? That’s Screwed Up
Posted: December 3, 2009 Filed under: People, Pitts Indeed, Soap Box | Tags: academy award, child abuse, crime, jon pitts-wiley, justice, lee daniels, new york magazine, oscars, Pitts Indeed, precious, sexual abuse 3 Comments »
"I'm artsy, so dumb quotes are 'eccentric'. "
Tiger Woods texted me that headline.
And Tiger’s right. Despite the recent revelations about his extramarital shenanigans, I have to say, Lee Daniels is catching my Come On Nigro Award.
If you haven’t heard, the Precious director, when asked what an Academy Award would mean to him, had this to say to New York magazine:
“It’s very scary, and I’m nervous”…In a bizarre way, though, Daniels says he’s already won. “Some guy came up to me at a screening that I was at recently and he told me that he, um, was sexually abusing his 14-year-old daughter,” said Daniels. “That’s what he told me. And he was crying. To me, that is the award. There is no award on this earth that can get a man to admit that. So to me, that is my award. My award is healing. You know what I mean? I want to be acknowledged or whatever, but I’m happy with people healing.”
Um…what, Lee?
I get that you feel the personal connection with the viewer has a lot of power, but someone telling you that they are abusing their 14-year-old daughter is not an award unless it’s the Roman Polanski Lifetime Fuckery Medal. Let’s not even talk about the fact that you find Oscar prospects scary and not a stranger admitting to you that they abuse their own kid.
And healing? Someone admitting abuse is only a healing/award if you help that person stop, which should include justice for the abused since this person admitted continually committing and illegal act.
If that conversation ended in you going to the local police precinct with this gentleman and starting that process, I can maybe then see the award factor.
Since you clearly are into yourself more than a little bit, I have to imagine you wouldn’t have let a responsible act like turning this man in and getting justice for his daughter slip your mind in an interview. So…I’m gonna go ahead and assume that just didn’t happen.
Your ego’s not supposed to be stroked by parents who admit abuse to you. Especially when you’re a parent yourself.
Chris Brown’s Life Is Hard
Posted: December 2, 2009 Filed under: People, Pitts Indeed, Soap Box | Tags: cheating, chris brown, domestic abuse, elin woods, infidelity, rihanna, sex, tiger woods, twitter 2 Comments »
Christopher Brown, please take the time to shut you mouth about anything and everything related to possible domestic violence scenarios.
If you all aren’t aware, Breezy has taken exception with the Florida Highway Patrol closing the Tiger Woods case. He feels everything’s so “one-sided”.
I could maybe see how Chris felt he’s been done dirty until I recalled a few things he should take into consideration:
- The Unfair Breaks: Tiger was possibly beaten by his wife in their home and Tiger crashed his SUV on their property as a result of that possible beating. You definitely punched up your girlfriend in a rented Lamborghini on the street of a residential neighborhood.
- 911 was called by Tiger’s neighbors as a result of hearing a car crash and being asked by his wife to do so. 911 was called in your case because people heard a young woman screaming at the top of her lungs and the authorities on the scene found a perfectly intact Lamborghini with a lumped-up pop star inside.
- Tiger, like your girlfriend, has not and will not press charges. Since there’s the plausible (however unlikely) whole car crash scenario and since domestic violence laws being what they are, lots of times, cops have their hands tied when it comes to spousal abuse. You beat your girlfriend in a public place and fled the scene. Even if she wanted to sweep it under the rug–which she did–she was SOL, especially after the photo of your handiwork was leaked to the entire world.
- We know you (and Rihanna) haven’t been completely forthcoming on the matter. You have careers and such to think about so…we get it. You’re protecting each other in your own way. But if things are so unfair and one-sided, you should just come clean. You’ve had every opportunity to set the record straight. And though it may do you no good, if there was something crucial to know–like her laying hands on you first–you might want to mention that fact.
I know you want to feel like comrades-in-arms with Tiger and feel like some justice should be done with regard to the abuse he may have endured. You’re kinda right. Domestic violence laws should go both ways and I’ve long felt Rihanna’s physical part in your altercation has been under-investigated, but that’s where the trail goes absolutely cold.
He didn’t beat the hell out of his wife and then flee the scene. Ass.
I’m a Due Process Fan, But…
Posted: December 1, 2009 Filed under: People, Pitts Indeed, Soap Box | Tags: anthony sowell, cleveland serial killer, cleveland serial rapist, crime, jon pitts-wiley, justice, Pitts Indeed Leave a comment »
Anthony Sowell, Cleveland rapist and serial killer who was discovered with the bodies of almost a dozen women in his house was indicted today. From the Cleveland Plain Dealer
A Cuyahoga County grand jury indicted Anthony Sowell today on multiple counts of aggravated murder and charges related to two other attacks on women, setting the stage for a trial that could lead to his execution.
Prosecutor Bill Mason and other law enforcement officials announced the charges at an afternoon news conference.
Sowell, 50, of Cleveland, faces 85 counts in total, including aggravated murder, attempted murder, gross abuse of a corpse, felonious assault, rape, attempted rape, kidnapping, aggravated robbery and tampering with evidence.
The charges carry the death penalty.
He was arrested Oct. 31, two days after police discovered two decomposing bodies at his house while investigating a rape complaint. After thoroughly searching the Imperial Avenue property, investigators recovered 11 decomposing corpses.
Ten of the victims have been identified: Tonia Carmichael, 52; Nancy Cobbs, 45; Tishana Culver, 31; Crystal Dozier, 38; Telacia Fortson, 31; Amelda Hunter, 47; Michelle Mason, 45; Kim Yvette Smith,44; Janice Webb, 49; and Leshanda Long, 25.
You already know where I’m at as far as Sowell’s discovery being a procedural boondoggle, but when I hear this guy is up on 85 charges–including eleven murders–I can’t help but get that creeping mob feeling.
As a Black person, I’m basically required to really, really, really believe in due process and rail against any attempts to deny a person that right, but eleven decaying bodies makes me feel as though you’ve waived your rights and wouldn’t want to be so disrespectful as to waste the court’s time and taxpayer dollars. Not saying it’s right; it’s just how body collecting serial rapist-murderers make me feel.
I can’t say I want to see Sowell die in a capitol fashion–I’m very much on the fence on that issue–but certain crimes make me wish we could skip the charade and throw people beneath the jail.
The Secret Service Doesn’t Care About President People
Posted: November 27, 2009 Filed under: People, Pitts Indeed, politics, Soap Box, Thought Food | Tags: joe biden, michaele salahi, president barack obama, rahm emanuel, tareq salahi, the new york times, white house state dinner, white house state dinner crashed 1 Comment »
I’m sure the Secret Service doesn’t its job right 99 out of 100 times. I’m sure they thwart threats that we never hear about. I’m sure of it.
What I’m not quite sure about is how they let certain confidenc-shaking shenanigans see the light of day.
While I was, like most people, mildly amused by the Iraqi shoe thrower, I was extremely troubled by the incident. Sure, the gesture was meant as more insult than harm, but the fact that a guy got two clean shots at the President of the United States baffles me. The first shoe I’ll grant him because…who the fuck expects a guy to go tossing Docksiders across the room, but as he reached for the second shoe, I would expect the Secret Service to have subdued and/or shot this guy. Period.
This most recent incident at the White House State dinner was probably more troubling. How can two people crash anything at the White House while the president is on the premises? What’s that now, they had a cameraman with them?
The Salahis–the crashers–claim they didn’t crash anything and that there was a misunderstanding that will be cleared up soon. Maybe this is true; maybe they were supposed to be on the list and are owed some apology. But that apology needs to come on the heels of their being barred entrance to the event. This is the White House, not Bungalow 8.
Obviously, I’m sort of pumped that it took place because it is a choice example for white (or white-looking) privilege. If this is a colored (or colored-looking) couple, you can believe somebody get folded up right there at the gate. The story in the Times would have been “There are whispers coming from the State dinner that a woman was scoop slammed and her husband back body-dropped for attempting to get into the event without having their names on the list.”
So0meone will like get assigned to Des Moines over this, but the troubling thing is that, had these people been a well-dressed sleeper cell, they could have brought harm to any number of people, including the President of the United States of America. Not that I’m in the business of quoting Rep. Peter King, but this piece in The New York Times is on point:
Mr. King said he had seen people turned away from similar White House events, including a congressman who brought his daughter instead of his wife, whose name was on the list. He also raised concerns about the Secret Service’s assertion that Mr. Obama was safe because all guests passed through metal detectors.
“The fact they went through the magnometer is incidental,” he said. “They could have had anthrax on them. They could have grabbed a knife from the dining room table.”
He added, “The next time it will be a far worse reality than a reality TV show.”
To the Secret Service: 99 out of 100 is good enough for everybody else.
The Detroit Blackfaces and San Francisco Chinamen
Posted: November 16, 2009 Filed under: People, Pitts Indeed, Soap Box, Sports | Tags: blackface, chinamen, fighting illini, fighting sioux, florida state seminoles, jon pitts-wiley, Pitts Indeed, supreme court, washington redskins 3 Comments »
"If I was on the Blackfaces, we'd be undefeated right now!"
Sounds pretty bad, doesn’t it?
The Supreme Court, not wanting to get involved in matters of right and wrong, opted not to hear the case of the Native American activists that find the name Washington Redskins offensive.
Maybe the justices are season ticket holders?
For the last decade or more, teams with questionable names have come under Native American scrutiny and names have been changed. St John’s, North Dakota and Illinois are just a few schools who have been chin-checked. The Seminoles and Florida State came to an understanding after tense negotiations.
Common theme: Maybe it’s not the coolest thing in the world to “honor” the traditions of people whose history you neither know nor actually respect by slapping their name and likeness on the side of a helmet, particularly when approximately zero people representative of that culture and history are in the mix. Read the rest of this entry »
