"White Mayor's Burden" by Steven Thrasher in the Village Voice (Read Here) got me thinking a lot about race. We are all clearly aware that issues such as racism will never go away. It's sad but as long as people focus on things that make us different we will never truly be unified as a human race. Thrasher pointed out statistics that have had me in a funk as I walk down my Harlem streets. Statistics that report that by the end of 2011 more than 60,000 people will be arrested for marijuana. Which is more than the seating capacity of Yankee Stadium and of those numbers what number do you think will be African-American or Latino? Here is some interesting information from the article.
"Frederique is making a hyperbolic joke, but she maintains that the prospect that "young men of color, who are hyper-policed in this city" are actually walking around in large groups smoking pot in open view is absurd. So is the notion that poor black males smoke pot more than richer, paler men and women. But still, they get disproportionately arrested because, under Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, the NYPD uses controversial UF-250s—"stop-and-frisks"—on them at a record-setting pace.
"I'm a police officer, I come up to you," Frederique explains as if she were a cop approaching a young man in East New York. "'What are you doing? What's in your pockets? Pull it out.' Once you pull it out, it becomes 'marijuana in plain view.'
"And that's when they arrest you."
According to the New York Civil Liberties Union, more than 600,000 New Yorkers were stopped and frisked last year. Of them, 317,642 were black (53 percent), and 190,491 were Latino (32 percent). Just 55,083 (9 percent) were white. About 70 percent of them were under 30."
What's the solution? Legalize marijuana? Be less harsh on marijuana laws? Face it that racism is still like a virus affecting our world? I'm not sure what the solution and am certainly not the person to figure it out. Or maybe I will be? It upsets me to see these numbers and to see a different reality portrayed in the media. i.e. Entourage. Love the show but they portray Turtle as big pot head and not once has he had a run in with the law. I'm just sayin.
I have to take a moment to speak from the heart. I just found out that a vocal legend has died Vesta Williams was one of the most gifted vocalist I knew growing up. A voice that was pure as silk and could sail way down into the basements with that "gloss" as Luther Vandross would say. She was raunchy, funny and sassy and like many great artist in the post-MTV world never gained the recognition to have made her a household name. Being that I live and breathe R&B she is one of the queens that I would listen to and imitate as I was found my on voice as a singer. Sadly, it is said Vesta died in LA, the cause of death is still unknown but it's looking as if it may have been suicide. As the report mentions that
Multiple bottles of prescription pills were found in the El Segundo, CA hotelroom where R&B singer Vesta Williams died … law enforcement sources tell TMZ. What saddens me the most about Vesta's death is that as I get older and see stars such as Amy Winehouse, Kurt Cobain, Michael Jackson, and Phylis Hyman with such amazing talents succumbing to their demons. Speaking freely, being an artist is no walk in the park. It can be lonely and often times insecurity can do such a number on you that you never feel satisfied. I don't know the details of any of these artist lives and I'm sure there are thousands of other artist to succumb to sucide or drug related deaths that have not been headline news.
I don't have the answer to this one yet but my goal is to now start creating content and work that does all it can to uplift the human soul.
On a positive note last night BET aired the UNCF Night of Stars with performances by Erykah Badu, Ledisi, Anthony Hamilton, and Patti Labelle. It was a fabulous night of entertainment however, the real stars of the night were the college students and graduates that are continuing to show that a mind is a terrible thing to waste.
My reality is this. Life is not black or white. It's always been a very gray thing. After wanting to be so upset with the numbers reported in the Thrasher article I realized that is only one part of the puzzle and many articles and most media does very little to focus on the great things that are happening in the world. For example, Barrington Irving of Experience Aviation in 2007 was the youngest person and the first ever black person to fly solo around the world.
Great things are happening in the world and I don't know if anyone needs to blamed but I do know that if you want find the good in this world sometimes you have to make that your intention and take the necessary acts to find that reality.
I'm grateful for Seth Godin for giving me the boost I needed to write.
If you know you have to write something every single day, even a paragraph, you will improve your writing. If you're concerned with quality, of course, then not writing is not a problem, because zero is perfect and without defects. Shipping nothing is safe.-Seth Godin
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