Dizzy Rascal what are you doing?

So I was watching TV last night, surfing for information relating to the recent election of Barack Obama. I'm waiting for Heroes to come on so I go to BBC2 and what do you know, they have a Newsnight special relating to everything that has been going on. At one stage Paxman decides to get the point of view of 2 people that the BBC must have thought correctly reflected the different spectrums of the black community.

So you have former Leader of the House of Lords, Baroness Valerie Amos in one corner and Dylan Mills (aka Dizzy Rascal - no...you have not read that incorrectly) in the other!

Valerie Amos gave a clear, thorough and well presented view of where she felt everything was going and what needs to be done next etc. Dizzy Rascal on the other hand did nothing but fulfil what in my view is an extremely negative stereotype. The hand gestures, the obvious lack of understanding relating to some of the questions and his blatant inability to clearly communicate his patterns of thought in a concise manner were an extremely sad sight to see.

Barrack Obamas achievement is a proud moment in humanity and shows that the Human race is moving forward and transcending racial differences and divides. Many of those divides do still exist and I agree with Malcolm X who said that before we as a human race can unify we as black people need to unify. I feel that if we are going to have people that represent our community, the younger black community, it should be someone with a bit more effluence than Dizzy Rascal!

I couldn't even watch the entire thing for fear that he was gonna start shouting "Brap! Brap!" at the camera...idiot!!

Here we have, another point of view.
And another...

First Black President, pinging on Paul and a change of scenery.

Well, I am still in a state of shock after reading the news on the BBC web site to find that Barrack Obama has been elected as President of the USA. Now this suprise is not derived from my not knowing obviously but more the fact that this is not something I ever expected to see in my lifetime. Even when the Polls had him as front runner all the way up until yesterday I couldn't help but cast my mind (as I am doing now) to when Senator Bush stole (in that he took something that blatantly was not his) the presidency. Al Gore had more votes, but who cares?? We have innocent people to kill, business that does not concern us to involve ourselves in, an economy that needs fucking up and some weapons of mass destruction to find (like looking in your neighbours house for your keys!). Either way, I think it a good thing that this change has introduced itself to the people of the world and it's a sight to see knowing that if you had even suggested the idea of such a thing 60 years ago, you would have been linched, laughed at or
both.

Anyways, I've left the martial arts school I was going to. A few reasons but the most important being that I really wanna concentrate on Brazillian Jiu Jitsu. Lucky for me there's a place within walking distance! Like...5 minutes away!! Had my 1st class on Monday and it was great! You spend 10 minutes warming up and stretching, the remainder of the hour practicing drills and then the remainder of the time you spend on the mat trying to submit each other. Awesome! Got submitted around 50 times which I don't actually mind in one sense being as that won't be the case forever.

Anywho, being as I want or rather, need to work on my standup, I currently spend about an hour a week now doing some pad drills with my good friend Paul. Paul and I met when we worked at Interactive Solutions together, we got on like a house on fire and were always
ribbing each other. The amount of dead arms that guy used to give me (back in my skinny days) was a joke! Anyways, just before I start the timer, Paul reminded me of what I used to say after one of these dead arms..."one of these days I'm gonna be bigger, find you and then kick the shit out of you". This comment was usually followed by copious amounts of laughter in my direction and another dead arm. 6 years on...my how the tables have turned! I was using the MMA gloves so I could only do open handed strikes but it was so much fun. Them gangly arms helped me again. Think I need to get in all the hits I can now though, a few more weeks and it'll be "one of these days I'm gonna be bigger..."

Mr Powell WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING!

OK, former general and US Secretary of State lets his hair down a touch and shows his human side. Nothing wrong with that, but still a touch cringe worthy I have to say. It's almost like watching your dad at a wedding!

Fair play to him though, he's obviously taken the view of "So what - it's for charity and I'm gonna have some fun" and for that alone, more power to him!

My money is on Obama

Yeah, my money is on Obama. From what I can tell he is the one best suited to take America in a better direction than Bush has been doing. I still think the prospect of seeing a black man in the whitehouse during my lifetime is amazing and damn near laughable in it's ambition, but certainly something I hope to see.

In my opinion he has already cemented himself in that group of great black men in history(Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, Frederick Douglas, Martin Luther King Jr., Mohammed Ali etc)

Chinese Guardians of the Torch

Daaamn, seems like China are serious about keeping this torch alight! Those dudes in the dodgy blue track suits are members of the Chinese Counter Terorrism Unit. I'd usually say that was overkill but with the way things are going - maybe not.

I for one will not be watching the olympics at all in protest of the stuff that's going on over there! No way am I about to support the supression of a people. It wasn't right 100 years ago...it's not right now!

More info about these hardcore homies in blue here

BNP Wives

So I watched a show last night called BNP wives in the hope that I could understand a little more about the BNP, their exact motivations and what they were about. What I expected to see? Intelligent human beings directing their intellect at something counter productive. What I actually witnessed were angry, misguided, angry people who had no real argumnent to backup their claims that this country is apparently being 'raped'. By the end of the show my feelings consisted of 20% anger, 80% pity. There was the old lady with White hair who had a fascination with cats (I found it ironic that she had a statue of a black panther - at that very moment I had visions of Huey P. Newton laughing heartily from beyond the grave. I thought it sad to see this quite obviously disillusioned lady make uninformed comments about people of colour and when challenged, could not even make an argument to backup her claims but instead refer to the other party (who was being more than amicable) as a "fat slag" (obviously not within ear shot as this negates the acts of cowardice people of this organisation are so obviously accustomed to). Then onto the lady who's husband had left her quite some time ago who is obviously bitter about the entire thing and it was apparent to me that she opted to convert this anger into racially motivated hatred. When asked if Britain should have gone to war with Germany..."well there's hundreds of thousands dying in Iraq and that has not helped anything". Obviously she failed to mention that these hundreds of thousands are innocent civilians killed by American and English soldiers. The one that saddened me the most was a lady who's father had died whilst on a trip to Jamaica. Upon receipt of his body she had found that his watch and wallet had been stolen. Shortly after she met a guy who happened to be a member of the BNP and had quite obviously manipulated her sorrow and anger. Being pregnant she had asked for a Caucasian midwife and had received someone of African descent. When asked why she opted for a Caucasian midwife her reply was childlike and could offer no viable explanation as to why she had made such a request other than to say it was her husbands idea. Obviously a woman who has a mentality of following the crowd and not very likely to make decisions on her own.

All in all this program left me with a feeling that we have nothing to worry about. England is a wonderful country full of diversity in culture and a world leader in many fields. This will continue to be the case and unfortunate as it may be, there will always be a few who's misplaced anger will cause a quiet and irritating noise in the ether but will most definitely never prosper in their goal.

Now this is FUNNY!!

Oh how I laughed my ass off...and it has a handy message to boot! Freedom to the net!!

Viva la resistance!!

The things people say when they think no one is looking...(another racial issue)

So had a quick play on good ol' XBox Live last night and generally I'll throw the headset on which will allow me to have a chat with other players as I play. Anyways - talking to a couple of guys from down south and there was a little banter going on which is generally the norm. Anyways, one of the guys proceeds to say something along the lines of "Christ...I'm running like a N****R".

Call it racism, naivety or whatever else, but I'd just refer to it as just plain dumb! From my own stand point, I'll admit I was a little offended and this was not only because of the fact that I'm a black man and simply don't like to hear that word being used by anyone (black or white) but on a whole, racist comments whether they are meant to harm or not are still offensive to me (regardless of whether they're talking about black people, asian people etc). I've been on the end of racial abuse when I was younger and knowing a fair bit about black history and how ignorant people had been to others simply because their skin colour was different to that of their own - I just don't like to hear racist comments in any capacity whether it be a joke, passing comment or out right ignorance.

Anyways - when I pointed out the fact that I was indeed, a black man, an awkward silence ensued followed by and apology and one of them attempting to give an anecdote..."Yeah...I met this black fella once and he was well funny...proper nice bloke". Thank you ever so much for telling me that - and on the basis of your anecdote I feel that we have made an ever lasting connection...(obviously I'm being sarcastic).

It's a difficult one when talking about racial issues being as there are those like myself who have been on the receiving end of racial comments which in a predominately Caucasian environment causes you to feel extremely uncomfortable and on the basis of this, it's not something that I would do to someone else. On the flip side of that, there are others who feel that because their comments were said without any malicious intent they are cleansed of any wrong doing. With that said I feel it is important to remember this. The fact that you do not intend to cause offence does not stop others from being offended, and it's a shame that even though we should all relate to each other as human beings - we are still a far cry from doing so.

Just goes to show that it's amazing what people will say when they think no one else is listening.

When good men do nothing...

Edmund Burke said "all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing" I see no better example of such a thing than this (although "good men" is probably the incorrect terminology to use in this instance). I find it deplorable that any organisation would make such a stupendously idiotic and cowardly decision about the display and exposure of the torture of innocent people. Along with such facts as the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council (China, Russia, France, USA and the UK) are the largest arms dealers on the planet (get your head around that if you can) just makes me feel that the world our children are coming into is on a downhill tumble at an exceedingly scary pace!

At the risk of sounding negative...we're all f**ked!

Heroes, Spooks and Barack Obama

So - as per this post - watched the 1st 3 episodes of Heroes Season 2 - actually quite good (spoiler to follow...) seems like Peter Petrelli's been workin' out (I'm sure the dude didn't look like that in series 1!!) although I'm a bit gutted that he decided not to open the box. What gives dude!! And it's a damn shame that they killed off George Takei (Sulu from star trek)but it would appear that it's out with one original star trek member and in with another as it turns out that Micah's grandmother is Nichelle Nicols (Uhura from star trek)- I so didn't see that coming. I reckon she's got a power!!! And what the hell is Sylar's problem...the damn fool!! Evil or not...find out where you is before you start killing peeps you idiot!! Also - I think that Heroes and Star Trek have a bit of a deal going being as the dude that plays Sylar is gonna be Spock in the next Star Trek Movie.

Anyways - enough about that. Spooks is back on tonight (if you're in America the show is called MI5 apparently) - it ain't 24 (or as good as) but it's the closest we got. Besides...as woop ass as 24 is...it's pretty much the same flavour each season - you'll have a mole, someone you expect to be evil that turns out to be good and vice versa with a touch of "What's gonna happen now" at the end of the series. Also...if I was in the "24 world"...I'd be wondering why all these dodgy goings on in my life always lasted for exactly 24 hours...not knocking the show cos I never miss an episode but comon guys!!!

Finally - was watching Panorama last night with the title being "Is America ready for a black president" and while I admire Barrack Obama for going for it - I think the poor guy is ahead of his time. We've come a long way in the past 50 years but he's always going to be looked at on the basis of his colour, not his skills as a politician. I also got to agree with Al Sharpton's comment with regards to Obama saying we're 90% of the way there. Soon as he said that I found myself screaming "Stay of the crack!" at the TV! This is not the case in most if not ANY country and this is certainly not the case in America. If we had come 90% of the way...he would have a better chance of becoming president and would NOT be judged by the colour of his skin but the content of his character. Colour just simply would not come into it and it's the big debate right now! Either way...I think it would be way cool to see a black president in my life time - but the dude better be working out cos you ain't gonna be able to do no speeches without bobbing and weaving them hill billy snipers!! And either way...I think almost anyone would be better than the dude they got in office right now! It always makes me twitchy when a man who is in charge of one of the most powerful countries in the world can't even pronounce the word Nuclear!!! (please tell me I ain't the only one to have noticed that!)