Terrorists = Thugs on the Corner = Terrorists

Mumbai (update here). Baltimore. D.C. New Orleans. The ABLA Projects in Chicago. Philly. Peshawar.

Don't underestimate the power of nihilism. Oh, they claim Jews have starved and murdered their people. Or white people won't hire me. Or I'm poor. Or my program's been cut and I haven't anything to do. Or a Hindu farmer shot my goat. Or I'm just "angry." Oppression and poverty cause this? No. Nihilism. Utter disregard for anything. Not even "anger." You destroy your own community by selling drugs, you Deebo someone out of their school books for trying to advance themselves, murder someone walking by for disrespecting you, shoot up a restaurant, take hostages...

Nihilism in the dictionary: a doctrine or belief that conditions in the social organization are so bad as to make destruction desirable for its own sake independent of any constructive program or possibility.

Nihilism in practice: a destructive, ultimately self-destructive form of self-pity, self-indulgence, selfishness. Not cowardice or anger. Or even revenge. No: self-pity. Like Lucifer the Son of the Morning, shoved into Hell. God chucked me out. Woe is me. Let me mess shit up, then

I'm sorry. I see no difference between some teenager we're urged to mentor shooting another teen, or murdering an old couple for their car, and a fool who decided to hurl grenades in a hotel lobby yesterday. Listen to the justifications and rationalizations they spout. Listen to the ambivalence of families, communities (e.g. yes, they are destroying themselves, us, others...yes we march in defiance and to show we are fearless...but they are our sons...and well, if they only had love/jobs/respect...and we weren't oppressed...). No difference. If Kashmir was autonomous and Islamic. If the halls of every inner city school were sheathed in gold and classrooms stocked with laptops, if Israel was plain gone. If a black man was President--would things change? A Scripture-centered life? The Quran as lodestar? All that providing a purpose, an aim? I dunno. Perhaps there's only A Clockwork Orange's cure: Drugs and aversion therapy.

Thoughts?

Jennifer Hudson: the hood closes in

The South Side. Where life is cheap? No, but the quality of life's cheapened, too often by the very folk who tolerate the mess. Look, sorrow is a facile, weak term for what we're feeling for Jennifer Hudson now. Her mother and brother shot to death, her nephew missing. Just yesterday we were shrugging off "The Secret Life of Bees," and laughing at her engagement to "Punk" of I Love New York. Black drag queens were emulating her full lips.

But we seem to forget one thing. Jennifer is a Chicago girl...from the hood. The hood's like a werewolf's curse. It never goes away no matter how many Oscars or appearances on The View. And then there's all the stuff you think you've left behind. The place, the people--even family. The pathologies--of place. Of the people. Too much sorrow. Are you mad at me for these opinions? You've had them too. Don't lie.

Why R. Kelly is better for white America than Obama

I'd posited the comment 'round the net and among friends, colleagues (borrowing from Chris Rock) that whilst black people are scratching their heads--even outraged--by the R Kelly verdict, niggahs are jumping for joy. White folks are, too. Quietly.

Poor, poor black people in Chicago. Your boy's running for president and subject to a coordinated denigration campaign, and Fr. Tim Phleger's removed from the largest, oldest and most loyal black Catholic church in the city, St. Sabina (after Poles, Irish Italians et al abandoned many parishes). Yes, Tim's white, and he spoke truth on whites and power. Not good to do even though this is the 21st Century. Niggahs certainly don't care about that, and white folks are feelng that goodness and righteousness was vindicated. (n.b. I met Fr. Tim through my ex-mother in law and he's a wonderful priest who, unlike the cardinal, cares about his flock). YET Mr. Kelly gets major counts against him dismissed based on uncooperative witnesses and shoddy investigatory protocols and clowning in Cook Co DA's office...now's acquitted of the lesser charges.

But think on this. People like Barack...and white people like Phleger...upset the applecart. I don't need to go into any more detail than that; those you who don't have your heads up your coo-looes know what I mean. The natural order. R Kelly, well, he makes $$$ for Mr. Charlie. He keeps niggahs entertained and dancing. And best of all he's a convenient prop-bogeyman who doesn't need to be paraded around. You just know he's there, hidin' in da closet. Being nasty, carnal, crazy looking. And aren't they all like that Missy Anne says to Mr. Charlie? Especially the ones with money. Fame. Jay-Z? oh let our kids listen to him. And yo, son...we younger whitefolks talk like niggahs, dress so, act "black." Yeah thats my swag...and I'll have our black friends who make me seem cool--and I know they can't compete with me at work, school, so no harm. Now if Obama was more like Jay-Z, he'd be cool. As long as he wasn't trying to be my boss, or my president. Ironic, isn't it? Rappers, hip hop moguls, ballers, singers, comedians--hell even criminals--as harmless?! Hey even Jay Z is a small planetoid in the entertainment-telecom ownership universe. Just feeding stereotypes, keeping the world in balance. Keeping the applecart just the way it is. A gift that keeps on giving. Please--give him a guest pundit spot on Fox...