We Are The Ones Song by will.i.am

Here is the second Obama tribute video from will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas. The sentiment of this series of videos is so positive, it makes a person feel almost optimistic about the future of the upcoming presidential election and this country. One can only hope at least.

The Annual State of the Black Union

I'm sitting here watching the annual "State of the Black Union" on C-SPAN (God bless them folks for showing this every year). Based on what I am seeing and hearing from the second panel, I absolutely regret missing the live broadcast of the first panel, assuming they were just as fired up, passionate, eloquent as the second one was.

I must say, even though I believe I'm just being redundant, Dick Gregory, who is part of the second panel, is a genius. He just responded to Tavis Smiley's question about the current political landscape vis-à-vis the Black community, but Mr. Gregory decided to go off on a tangent for a minute or two. His initial response had me (and the live audience) rolling on the floor laughing. When he rounded back around to the original question, he spoke about how he had learned compassion from his wife. He brought tears to my eyes. I know him as a social and political activist, vegetarian proponent and comedian. But I did not know that he is also a feminist. He spoke at length of Black women as victims of racial and sexual discrimination. But not only as victims of the society from without the Black community, but also from within. About the lack of respect for Black women, he brought up how Dr. Condoleeza Rice is referred to as "Condi" where Madeleine Albright is "Madame Albright". This conference doesn't just speak to what has been and continues to be done to us from those outside of the community, but also what we do to ourselves. In a nutshell, be accountable to yourself and to others.

And thank you Rev. Al Sharpton for shining the light on Hillary Clinton's camp using loaded (i.e. bordering on racist) language when speaking of Barack Obama.

Obama cleans up in the Potomac primaries

The counts aren't yet finished but it looks like Obama is taking all three of the Potomac primaries (Washington D.C., Maryland and Virginia). He's got a slim lead over Hillary Clinton, but it's a lead that he continues to maintain. But according to a lot of news agencies, that might not mean a whole lot with the super-delegate votes that are still to be counted. And those votes can go any which way. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to this part of the primary race.

Boycott Beijing Olympics

'Nuff said.

Do I really need to say more? I plan to skip out on any and all things related to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. I can't in good conscience vouch for any event that will help bolster China's reputation in the world. They want to be partners with Sudan who has turned a blind eye to the genocide going on in its country; there is no way I am going to give attention to the Olympics. It's a complete joke that the Olympics are even taking place in this country.

The organization Reporters sans frontieres has more to say on other reasons to support a boycott.

Spielberg says no to China Olympics

Good for you Spielberg. I've not really had a reason to have immense respect for Steven Spielberg, until now. Up until recently, he was serving as artistic director or advisor to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Well that's over now. He resigned his position as a protest to the Chinese government's involvement in selling arms to the Sudanese government.

China is bound and determined to only use their superpowers for evil instead of good. They make money arming Sudan's government while investing in their oil industry which has been dragging ass on ending the violence against non-Arab Sudanese. The Chinese government wants their cake and to eat it too. They want respect as an industrial country while doing dealings like this. I think it is high time to call for a boycott of the Olympics. What the Olympics stand for, China sure doesn't fit the spirit of it.

Check out the story at the BBC.

Obama: Three wins In one

The word around this weekend is three more wins for Barack Obama in the primary race. He won the Nebraska, Washington caucusess and Louisiana primary. Also, he won the caucus in the Virgin Islands. Before this weekend, Hillary Clinton had a slight lead in the number of delegates that she has earned, but Obama is now nipping that in the bud.

It's still pretty early enough in the year, so this race can swing in any direction, especially with the dirty politics, and the downward trend of the economy and people's hopes for a better (immediate) future.

Naomi Campbell outs racist fashion industry

I feel like addressing a semi-lighter subject. Actually, it isn't a fluff subject.

My favorite supermodel, Naomi Campbell, is out in the press again. But this time, it's not about her throwing things. Well, it is about her lashing out, with great reason, about the racism in the fashion industry. Specifically, she points out the unwillingness of (the big) fashion houses to engage non-white models, mostly African-descendant models.

She and a couple of other well-known models of color like Iman and Alek Wek complain about the already well-known history of fashion magazines, such as Vogue, who continually ignore Black beauty. I think this is a big story, and it is happening during a big week, (it is Fashion Week in New York) and I have not seen a mention of any of this on Vogue's website (surprise, surprise). In all fairness, I have to point out that Cosmopolitan magazine does feature the singer, Rihanna, on its cover this month. However, this one concession does not forgive them (or any other fashion magazine) for past and future slights to non-white models. Cosmo has been accused of refusing to put Black models on their cover, because "they don't sell as many magazines".

Naomi has decided to take an even more activist role in reversing this discriminatory fashion trend (please forgive the play on words) by launching her own modeling agency. It will take on, I'm assuming, all models of color and not just African models, even though it will be in Kenya. She also has announced that certain design houses can forget her patronage in the future. The only thing I wish she'd done was to name those exact designers to help the rest of us who'd like to support the cause.

In the blogosphere, most commenters want to focus on her troubled past, rather than on the problem at hand. For those who don't have their heads up their butts, I hope they can see this for what it is, a clear example of (organized) bias against women of color. I mean, you would have to be blind to not see the white-washing of fashion.

Think Global

So I check my inbox and see an email from the Save Darfur coalition, snapping my mind back to a global focus. The organization is making it easy to send a letter to encourage their House representative to get on the petition for China to pressure the Darfur government to do the right thing. The Sudanese government is dragging its feet on stemming the violence against non-Arab Sudanese people by Arab militia. Since China is the country's biggest outside investor, the argument goes that they can apply some influence on the Sudanese to stop the genocide.

Here's a link to letter to your Congress representative.

Act Local

So today is Super Tuesday and I am happy to say that despite being in a leg brace and on crutches, I was able to get the vote out and speak my mind. Happily, as a decline-to-state voter, I had no problems requesting to vote in the Democratic primary. Unfortunately, no matter how much we would like for this process to go smoothly, it doesn't. Despite their training, volunteers at some polling stations here in the San Francisco bay area and in southern California denied decline-to-state voters of their right to vote on the Democratic ticket.

It's Voting Time!

Well the day is upon us where we have a chance to choose our presidential candidates --- and to vote on some other issues that politicians have snuck in early in the year.

Anyway, I hope everyone has as great an employer as mine. My company has given us the green-light to come in as late as necessary so that we may get our vote in. But I really do think we need two new special national holidays, Super Tuesday and Election Day. I know some people will waste it to go on holiday and goof off, but I am so positive that it would boost voter participation. But I have a sneaking feeling that some factions don't look kindly on everyone being able to take part in the democratic process; just look at Florida's and Ohio's treatment of Blacks during the past two elections.

Happy voting!

Clinton has his tail between his legs

Looks like Bill Clinton has seen the light. Apparently, he is on a tour of Black churches (I wish they wouldn't let politicians use them for political gain during the election year). I'm guessing word got back to him that many folks took exception to his racial attacks on Barack Obama. In a last dash attempt to save face, he is visiting Black churches in Southern California, around Los Angeles. I just hope that people see it for what it is, hypocrisy, deceit and political spinning.

Here's a link to a story about it at CNN.