DJ MAIN EVENT even in this day and age.  You must be smoking some good crack.  Just a few tidbits to think about.

1) In major urban centers gentrification is going on ,in NY alone, an article in the Times said the "educated" population went up about 25%.  Forcing real estate prices to go up, forcing out the working class and urban poor in communities where minorities mostly black and brown ppl live. 

Oh yeah 1 in every 2 black men has a criminal record just about....so what do these educated neo urbanites look like?  And why do they outnumber ppl that look like me and my Latin cousins in a place like NY with a minority population that outnumbers the majority from bumsfuck, newly moved to the city?

2)  President Bush's handling of Katrina...if that were Beverly Hills would you really have seen bodies floating in the street?  The moment an earthquake or forest fire happens in Calif. you have the National Guard out there with Firejumpers quelching a blaze or rescuing a baby.  You can get relief halfway across the world for a tsunami but you it's to difficult to send trucks to the Bayou!

Be smart...it's hidden under the vail of socio-economic status now but still all and all it's largely racism.

3) DUMB WHITE GUY BECOMES PRESIDENT, DOES HORRIBLE, AND KEEPS HEAVY APPROVAL RATINGS A QUARTER INTO A NEW EVEN MORE HORRIBLY CONCEIVED 2ND TERM.  Only now are some ppl admitting that he sucks a donkey's dick.  And then his base that elected him is still backing him?! You dont' find that strange.  Please believe it believe it pls if your (excuse me but sometimes vulgarity is the abbrassive to clean life's bullshit) black ass thinks that you could be elected, do so poorly, and still be so beloved...let alone make it to the second term...well you are in serious denial.

Look at David Dinkins, first and only black mayor of NY EVER.  He's never been Mayor again tell you that much.  He didn't do a horrible job but he didn't have the infrastructure as the first black mayor ever, ppl often worked against him and so alot of the beneficial things he did never saw the light of day under his adminstration...but yet white ppl would have you believe that he was horrible, while Guiliani rode in afterwards and reaped alot of the credit for initiatives that Dinkins wanted, but did not have the political clout and connections that come with being White.

SYNOPSIS: USE YOUR HEAD FOR MORE THAN A HAT RACK!!!

I'm not saying be closed to life's diversity, but aren't you as being as equally closed to deny it's injustice as well.....?

My point was this.  They never really knew who the hero was.  He just came out recently.  So it was an oversight.  Was it intentional, who can say it was or was not.  Debating it is pointless.  Will all that happened in that movie, for you to pick that one thing out and mention it is shoddy to me.  Its like a dude with a paper cut in the emergency room crying in front of someone that just got run over by a car. feel me.  There are way bigger issues in that movie than what you mentioned.  

And I too really really enjoy your blog and the all hip hop site.  When I first read what you wrote on your rumour section, I thought to myself, "Is that all he got out of it?" 

People do respect themselves and other people.  Just look around.

wow... and none of his so called friends have checked him on calling us "colored"? whatever...

but, my thing is this: the dude saw himself in the movie. they admittted to looking for the guy. i never said that it was racist, but by default they made it a white dude. why not a black fellow by default or an asian or a mexican or puerto rican.

so its ok to replace the black guy other races but its racist to replace him with a white guy.  Insecure??  This blog wouldnt exist had he been a hispanic but since he was white, people take such offense. Sensitive??

I think the point he was making  was that not just that dude was white, but why couldn't he have at least been a minority. I don't necessarily agree tho, they didn't  know what race he was. So, they took a guess.

But, if they did make him some other race, and he actually was white, you know how that would go down.

racÂism   (rszm)
n.

1. The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability

dude seriously, please dont give quotes from websters dictionary ever again.

Reason: they have altered the definitions of alot of words in recent years. dont believe me??? cross reference the definition of the word "nigger" with a few different dictionaries and you will see exactly what i mean!!!

as far as the rest of your comment. that is between u and illseed. But please dont use websters.

oh wait let me correct myself. its Merriam-websters. If u check the old websters dictionary then its a different story.

Actually he is right.  When you add power into racism its called discrimination.

It's amazing how how he never saw how racist he sounds. "Colored" you gotta be kidding me right........This is 2006 and white people still don't get it......Why do they try to compare their "struggles" with what we have faced? It will never be a comparison. Ignorance is all through his email and it's said if he does have black friends......Luckly for him, this wasn't a face to face discussion.......WET TV how dare you...........Black colleges are kidding me........Count the number of HBCU in the world and then count the others...come on now....I went to a HBCU and the white people were given far better scholarships with lower requirements than I would have received if I would have went to a USC(Which I was excepted to but chose a HBCU instead) This guy has got to be playing because if not someone really needs to educate him before he gets himself hurt talking crazy

coincidence or not it happened...and the issue is the context in which it happened.

this isnt a minor event --its something that has changed america as we know it and redefined race and class boundaries that were still there but harder to see (for some) before 9/11. i dont care if its oliver stone or melvin van peebles...if you're going to recount history as a film maker its your responsiblity to do so correctly.

as black people we cant help but notice we get written out of world history by american and european authors . in the past we didnt have a means to contest or petition but when shit pops off now it WILL be checked.

 you can blow the wide nostril nose off hiram akhet (the sphinx)... you can exclude the slave trade from h.s. and jr. high world history books ...and you can change a black sgt into a white pvt for your WTC movie...but dont expect it to go unnoticed and know i aint payin to see that shit

In making this statement, I am in no way trying to appear racist or make your point seem trivial.  I am only trying to better my knowledge since I was raised by history books that exluded blacks from history books.

In my schooling we learned about their struggles in the segregation days and in the civil rights era, we learned how they were stolen from their homeland and enslaved.  A war was waged, in part, to liberate the slaves. And who lost his own life to ensure it happened? Abe Lincoln. We learned about Booker T and GW Carver and Frederick Douglas and harriet Tubman and Beecher Stowe.    We learned more detailed fact during February.

And before blacks came to america, what sort of contributions did they make to grand scheme of world history.  And what did my history books go out of there way to exlcude?

"We learned about Booker T and GW Carver and Frederick Douglas and harriet Tubman and Beecher Stowe.    We learned more detailed fact during February."

okay ....you want to see the problem....this is part of it...you named 5 black americans who contributed....there were thousands...why dont we hear about that? did you know that the man who invented the traffic light and the gas mask was black? why don't we know their names...

and why not get more detail in freakin october or march....it is almost an insult to have february as "black history month"...but since black history seems to be excluded all other 11 months of the year it is necessary.

and that is the problem. IGNORANCE. most people have no clue, black americans helped build this country---this world. and the sad thing is--most people dont want to know. they dont want to know that what they have learned is untrue or i should say incomplete.

kelly, I agree with the fact blacks helped build this country,but so did many other

      oppressed people, namely chinese, japanese , native americans,etc,and they

        don't have  a fill in the blank history month. many races have all made

          contributions.

Thats interesting, but it isnt really necessary to include in history books.  I mean, I dont recall learning who built the first computer or who invented the rifle or who invented any number of things.  Maybe the inventor of the gas mask and traffic light were left out of history books because it isnt signifigant in the grand scheme of things.   We learn of GW Carver for his contributions in farming, the same goes for Eli Whitney.  History book teaches us about Ben Franklin and Edison Lewis Latimer and Elijah McCoy (black men) and Henry Ford and the 'printing press guy'  because their ideas were revolutionary and had greater impact. 

Its impossible to include all inventions of all blacks and all whites.  I dont think the fact that contributions made by whites outnumber those of blacks involves any bit of racism.  Most educated people realize and respect what blacks have contributed to this nation, and I dont respect anyone who thinks otherwise.

exactly. i have a theory....(blending my text book knowledge with my bible knowledge...)okay we (as in the human race) began in Africa! And I think the differences came with the Tower of Babel. We were trying to build a tower into the heavens and God said .."oh heck nah" go to the four corners of the world, we couldn't communicate, we had different laguages...our skin changed due to different climatic conditions....We are all human. We all come from the same place.

And I would like to say that racism is very tricky...in the fact that people(more so white people) are TRAINED NOT TO SEE IT. we have to open eyes here people. The normal white, middleclass, man cant SEE RACISM. (now by normal..i mean that white dude you work with that has no discrimination problems, buys you a beer in the bar, but will tell you why he buys you the beer..."yeah man, i got 5 black friends and i got no problems with black folks") okay. this guy seems okay, has no HATE in his heart for different races but cant see that by NOT acknowledging racism he is in fact contributing to racism. White folks have to be awakened to the fact that yeah we got WET tv....all TV is WET (white entertainment television). We have special foundations for young black americans because the scales are not even and steps have to be taken to FORCE them to be even. Now the day we turn on NBC and we see a show like Friends on at 7 and then Girlfriends comes on at 730 and then George Lopez's show at 8 then we can yell.."there should be no BET." but until then...that is the way it has to be.

hmMm...the link on the rumor page foes not bring me to this page hahaha i had to go to your page but anyway T L <@gmail.com> kwazy!!!

T. Valentine

If you think movies arent a major component in the view people have of history you're playing yourself. I'm not going to go into how closed minded you seem...cuz you seem like an intelligent cat who wants to make a difference (i.e. you responding to 100 folks in one blog). Just know that most people dont read to get true historical accounts of what happened. The avg american sees a movie and allows that to become thier reality. Entertainment at the cost of 1/2 truth is dangerous (off top I'm thinkin Liz Taylor as Cleopatra and Mel Gibson's Passion).

 I try to stay up on the accomplishments and plights of people around the world b/c it interests me. When I see something in movies (like this  one about to come out) I question it and want to get different perspectives so that I know the facts. My only point was whether its purposeful or not, the true identity of sgt thomas should be clarified.

Illseed I'm glad  you posted this b/c TL and others like him really dont get it. I dont want your sympathy or assistance. I just want the same opportunities as the next man and a school for my kids to go to where they wont be lied to or treated like inmates.

Blacks cant be racist b/c they dont suppress another race? Well, although affirmative action was an idea of Pres. Nixon, the fact remains that it is an institution that blacks deem necessary and fair, but it still benefits minorities and hurts other races, therefore showing the power of the race. 

Look at the Duke situation.  A team was forced to quit its season and a coach lost his job all because a black hooker, I mean exotic dancer, claimed the boys raped her.  The black community demanded action be taken against the school and the team and as a result the whites on the team were 'suppressed' due to the power of blacks.

I could offer further examples but I dont really have the energy to do so, but no one can deny that the black community and its leaders have enormous power over our society, and its lazy to think otherwise.

So, if you say blacks are not racist b/c they dont have power, then you are just wrong.

And why dont more black leaders condemn the use of the "race card" that the blacks play so often??

Matt,

Let me start by saying that I respect you opinion, but you really need to be schooled.  First of all, anyone can be racist, whether black or white or yellow or brown. Racism is not exclusive to just whites, but all inclusive to all races.

Next, Affermative action was developed because white america did not want blacks in america to move ahead and have any success(Oppression). As far the situation at Duke University, did you really find it necessary to describe the young lady as a Black Hooker?  I wonder if you would have described her this way had she been white.  Neither one of us were there so we dont really know what happened, and I for one will not speculate. If you think that we as Blacks have power you are Dead Wrong!!!  As far as you statement concerning NFL and Black coaches, I believe that the NFL did the right thing, or do you not feel we are only good for the entertainment but not for running the teams? I wonder??? 

Sorry, I should have just called her a black stripper, its not something you can sugar coat.

Whatever the motivation for Affirmative Action was, the fact remain, it is here and it gives some bit of power to minorities, not just blacks.

The NFL is dead wrong for their policy that a team must at least interview a minority.   For example, the Cowboys really wanted Parcells and no one else.  They should be allowed to interview him and sign him to a contract instead of putting on some dog and pony show that shows the NFL is committed to diversity.  Its a waste for everyones time that the team interview a person who has no chance of getting the job

 the NBA, a sport i love, is being flushed down the toilet by the influx of streetballers and idiots like artest and jermaine oniel. I should email stern.  And guys like Bruce Bowen and Kirk Heinrich get no love.

And my tax money may pay for slave reparations.

And I may lose a job to another applicant simply because the company needed to reach its minority quota

How many BLACK owners are there in the leagues. How many Black coaches are given third and fourth chances. Shit, Notre Dame alone should proove my point. Weiss is getting credit for Willinghams recruits. As for STREET BALLERS: Dr. J was a street baller, Lou Al Cinder played street ball. Artest can actually shoot and plays d. Captain Kurt has NO dee. Micheal Jordan talked the most shit on the court in his day!! But since he never took a stand in terms of race(Ask Craig Hodges) he got love and t.v. burn. If it wasn't for street ballers, theirs no 3 pt. line, and no dunking. Blame the owners for paying millions to underqualified players. Is Jason Williams of the Miami heat a race trader to you? Do you not like the Professor? Since Pistol Pete could cross over and pass behind his back does that make him a bad player? True street baller can play ball period. A under-developed player is just that.

And can people stop saying Abe freed the slaves!! In legal terms the Emancipation Proclamation is a CONTRIBAND act, just like the legislature he pushed before it. THE DARK AGES were when EUROPEAN SOCIETY was in decline. Without MINORITYS working for FREE your state wouldn't be cultivated. The cotton from southren plantations was used to trade with other nations. So a little tax to pay back the ancestors of slaves should be a small price to pay.

P.S. Who knows that the first American to die in our war for independace(from britain) was black. And that Harriot Beecher Stowe was a white lady.

Who cares that the man was left out of the movie.  You people are turning a national tragedy into a racial issue.  I mean, sure I can see how dude is upset, but the movie aint about him as an individual its about the courage of the FDNY and NyPD and those workers in the building who died  an uneccesary death.  And I wonder if a story broke that a white man was replaced with a black man, if you would be as upset.

The main point is to not to exhaust your energy fighting a meaningless battle and to instead appreciate the movie for what it is. If you do got beef about the 'colored fella' then maybe drop Oliver Stone a note.  But I beg you not to get the hip hop community and the ethnocentric blacks aroused at this point becase it will eventually overshadow what the film actually portrays, basically just get over it.