My President....

....is Black. Once Again. Thank the Lord.

The Black Presidents Obama Should Thank

We all know that Barack Obama was elected as this country's first Black President but he really isn't the first Throughout the media there have been many black presidents, some of whom I think he should thank for his election as much as he thanked voters.

President David Palmer.

I've been re-watching 24 via Netflix. Its an awesome show no doubt but the main reason I started watching wasn't because of Jack Bauer's kickassness. It was because of the black man who was running for president in season one and was president in later seasons. Palmer was a very honest and caring man which made him a great president. He handled a lot of controversies well throughout the series, dealt with ridiculous amounts of assassination attempts and terrorist attacks and did it all with class and grace. I think his time as president on TV was the first time that people really believed a black man could become president. Now he's helping people get insurance too, well him and this guy lol. 

Obama thank him.

President candidate turned Elect Mays Gilliam.

Yes I'm serious lol. Head of State was a "good" bad movie lol. Chris Rock, Bernie Mac as his running mate, Tamala Jones as the #snookup love interest and Nate Dogg rest his soul:

Need I say more lol?

Seriously though the reason why I picked Mays was that he was a black man on the campaign trail surprisingly rallying people...who does that sound like?

Obama thank him.

President Tom Beck.

This is simply off the strength of Morgan Freeman. What's Freeman's most remembered role? Without the shadow of a doubt Lean on Me. He was such a powerful leader in that movie that whenever we see him we think about that. Even though he wasn't nearly as powerful in Deep Impact he was in the ultimate position of power. All we saw was the leader from Lean on Me playing the President of the United States. That held weight. 

Obama thank him.

Dave Chappelle as Black Bush

I miss Chappelle's Show so much. Chappelle had a skit in which he played the aforementioned Tim Beck but his greatest assist to Obama came as Black Bush. That portrayal, while funny, was true: Bush cared about avenging his father and getting oil. Chappelle was able to highlight those truths in a comedic way, making it easier for people to realize it and realize we don't want another republican in office. Who am I kidding? That joint was funny as hell lol: 

Either way, Obama thank him.

Bastards Of The Party

Earlier today I re-watched this documentary entitled "Bastards Of The Party." It's a history of the Bloods and the Crips in Los Angeles. I highly recommend it. One of the key parts of the documentary discusses how the gangs were created after the demise of the Black Panther Party and how they were the bastard children of the Party, hence the title.

It's a pretty dope documentary directed and narrated by a former Blood who wanted to research the history of the gangs after a stint in prison. He spoke a lot about his time banging, and interviewed many people from former (and sometimes current) Bloods, Crips, historians, FBI agents, policemen, Black Panther Party Members and US Organization members to help give a detailed account on the creation and evolution of the gangs from the early 60's through the early 2000's.

If you every have some time you should watch it and you can here.

Enjoy.

Black + Puerto Rican Spiderman

That's right there is a Black + Puerto Rican Spiderman, well Ultimate Spiderman. In an alternate universe Peter Parker is killed by the Green Goblin and a new teenager takes up the costume as Ultimate Spiderman: Miles Morales. Miles is half Black (father) and half Puerto Rican (mother). 

This is pretty damn awesome!

I caught the story via  USA Today which also had another story talking about one of the inspirations. Turns out Donald Glover, from Community (awesome show btw) auditioned to for Spiderman in the upcoming "The Amazing Spiderman" but didn't get the part. As a joke he wore a pair of Spidey pjs on an episode which reaffirmed Ultimate Spiderman writer Brian Michael Bendis to continue with his Black/Latino Spidey. 

Once again, this is pretty damn awesome!

I'm gonna have to support this comic from here on out. Now if this ever gets picked up for a movie I'll be auditioning for Ultimate Spidey since I'm Puerto Rican and Black and a spidey fan to the death of me.

Into The Grey

The majority of the choices we make are based in an extreme. We mostly choose one thing or the opposite, believe one or the other, or we align ourselves wit one set of people or a different, usually opposite set.

Usually these extremes exists in a dichotomous fashion and we are conditioned/socialized/trained to pick one. Either we're Democrat or Republican, Gay or Straight, Religious or don't believe in (a) God. Even on lower level things that we dealt with in schools or our communities we either had to be Cool or Lame, Smart or Popular, the dude whose down with everybody or the one who thinks he's too good.

Of course there are choices that exist outside of the traditional binary lens, but even those exist at extremes. This one, That one or That Other one.

How can we call our self a "smart, forward thinking" society when we force people to choose an extreme? Why must we always be in competition as opposed to collaboration? Is it possible for Democrats and Republicans to collaborate? (How many bipartisan policies have we had?) Is it possible to believe in God but not be religious? Can we be cool, popular and smart? Can I we want to make money and make change? Why can't we acknowledge the grey?

In actuality there are very few things in life that are indeed black and white, mostly everything lives in the grey area. Nothing is completely right or completely wrong. No method is the correct one all the time. Sometimes a mixture of black and white is needed, sometimes the answers are in the grey. But what happens when we go into the grey? Ostracism from society?

In statistics we learned about the Bell Normal Distribution Curve and how most ppl (95%) fall under the curve. Those who fall in the extreme areas are called outliers, exceptions to the rule. However, in real life its the opposite. If you not on an extreme you're an outlier. People who see both sides of an argument are "confused" "indecisive" "wishy-washy." We might say that we appreciate those who are able to compromise, that find middle ground but secretly we question them. We call them weak and say how they're not able to defend their position, stand up for what they believe in.

We need to move away from this line of thinking and become comfortable going into the grey. If we can truly appreciate compromise and middle grounds then we can collaborate more. Collaboration would lead to a lot more change, both sides would work together instead of fighting. We might make our choices in the black and white but change happens in the grey. If we are serious about making changes and getting better we need to go there.