Bending The Rules For Profit...The American Dream

Initially I refrained from commenting on the hazing situation at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) and members of its famed "Marching 100" marching band, but I just can't let this one ride. Recently, after the Florida Classic football game between FAMU and Bethune-Cookman University, a yearly hazing ritual claimed the life of Mr. Robert Champion, a drum-major at FAMU. The reasons why I didn't want to comment largely had to do with factual accounts I had been given of how HBCU bands operate in addition to my own experiences and views on hazing/pledging, but I've just had enough of the commentary from the peanut gallery. I am actually troubled in writing this because as a self-proclaimed "bandhead," the contents of this post may come off as blasphemous, but as an attorney, I am inclined to ask for impartiality and equal treatment that I know will not happen.

While I have not and will not ever believe that the price of admission in a prestigious organization should ever be someone's life, there is a price to be paid that keeps the exclusivity of the organization. I have argued that despite the announcement that FAMU has indefinitely suspended the band program, the Marching 100 would get a much tamer sentence than any Greek-lettered society if faced with the same circumstances. In fact, deaths of pledges have occurred in both Kappa Alpha Psi (1994) and Alpha Kappa Alpha (2003) both of which resulted in the charters for the chapters at those schools being retired and a year-long moratorium against new membership. Another hazing incident occurring at FAMU among members of the Alpha Xi chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi in 2009 resulted in the chapter being suspended by the university until 2013 despite no serious injuries and most importantly no deaths. In bringing these facts up in a post within a Facebook group with members of both the Southern University and FAMU student body and alumni I was told that the same standard that Greeks are held to should not apply to the band, and the only reason I could see as to why this would hold salt was the all mighty dollar.

Like Greeks, band members are required to maintain a certain GPA to be active within the organization, and most colleges and universities require members both current and perspective to sign statements displaying a knowledge of both the illegality of hazing and the consequences that both those who participate in as well as consent to these activities could be subjected to. As a result, the person who initially told me that the band and Greeks are not the same retorted that band is a school-sponsored activity that represents the university and that the equivalent of the impartiality and fairness that I wanted to see would be to suspend the Penn State football team in light of the Sandusky child molestation scandal. I wholeheartedly disagreed and challenged the same individual to put his blatant favoritism to the side and see that this is the equivalent of a Greek hazing event and in no way related to the Penn State incident, a sentiment echoed by ESPN's Jemele Hill in a recent article written for ESPN.com.

Greeks have to get permission from the school to function on campus and you had better believe that when the organizations do well that the university takes credit just as they bear the brunt when hazing allegations such as the aforementioned ones cast the institution's student body in a negative light. The main difference is that unlike with the band the university does not receive a payday from it's Greeks. For example, FAMU just signed a contract in which the university is set to receive $850,000 to play THE Ohio State University, which I'm sure the Marching 100 and their repore among sports fans around the world was a part of the reasoning behind such a large sum to play a team they have no chance in hell or competing with. Also, this is not a case of the band director of the Marching 100 killing a student in a hazing ritual so the counter point of its similarity to Penn State is irrelevant.

My main point is that while Mr. Champion has paid the ultimate price, the subsequent expulsion and readmittance of accused hazers, firing of band staff, and indefinite suspension of the band is by no means fair. Had this been Greeks, the accused would have been arrested and charged with murder, the chapter's charter revoked permanently, and a lawsuit filed (even though that part is sure to come). Hill said it best, the only plausible solution would be a 5 year suspension of the Marching 100 and I could not agree with her more. And for those of you who know of my love for Southern's Human Jukebox, I would be looking for the same had a member of Southern's band died after a post Bayou Classic hazing ritual. But mark my words, that will not come to fruition as bending the rules in favor of profit is exactly what Anerica was founded upon. Please keep the family of Mr. Robert Champion in your prayers...

So Now You're a Lwayer...Funny, I Didn't Even Know You Had a JD

On September 21, 2011, after an appeals process that lasted close to 22 years, Troy Davis was executed in Georgia. The last few months leading up to his execution, Davis had become a household name with his plight for freedom becoming a media, social, and political frenzy alleging racism and the unfairness of the legal system as Davis, who is black, was convicted of the murder of a white police officer. My problem with this whole ordeal is that the majority of Davis’ supporters, while having good intentions, lacked no real knowledge of the legal system, and frankly I’m getting tired of folks asking my opinion on the matter and most of the inane commentary I have seen on the issue so I’ve decided to add my $19.11….

INSIDE INFORMATION....Since being licensed by the State Bar of Texas in 2009, the majority of my practice has been in Criminal Defense which is kind of tricky with some of my personal thoughts regarding criminals and the death penalty. Personally, I believe in the biblical code of Hammurabi (an eye for an eye…) and fail to grasp how a person would rather spend the rest of their life in jail as opposed to ending it all swiftly. From what I’ve heard, life in prison isn’t really life at all. I do , however, realize that a death sentence or life imprisonment is unfair for a crime one did not commit, so spare me that rhetoric.

Which brings me back to Troy Davis, a man who was convicted based upon nothing but eyewitness testimony, no gun, no DNA, only what other people “claim” they saw and a “possible” ballistics match. This is hardly enough to sentence someone to death in my opinion, but that’s about as far as I’ll take this as a political fight. I have often told people that in spite of the fact that the legal system is not perfect, it is far better than what goes on in most of the world and that I have to believe in it or my profession is a joke and a waste of time and energy. Why do you think attorneys practice, because we attempt to perfect an ever-changing field. After reading close to 500 pages from both sides of the spectrum I’ll give you all my opinion regarding the case.

From the initial evidence presented at trial, the state did put on a case well enough to sustain a conviction. Whether it was strong enough for a death sentence is debatable from both ends, but I feel as though they did their job and had I been on that jury then I would have convicted him as well. Then as quickly as 3 yrs after the initial trial come allegations of coercion by the investigators, recantations, and a plethora of “new evidence” that has been said to exonerate Davis. Therein lies the problem that most attorneys know come with recantations; if a person has already admitted to lying under oath it’s hard to ever trust them again. Most cross-examinations conducted with witnesses who recant often have the following question asked; “So were you lying then, or are you lying now?” Either way the damage to the testimony is irreversible and usually all of it becomes stricken from the record. So of the nine testifying witnesses, seven recanted, and even if they’re testimony was stricken as untrustworthy, that still leaves two eyewitnesses with unchanged stories. But, from court-records that I’ve read (reading is fundamental people, and LEXIS is a powerful tool), what the media labels as a recantation has little probative value in declaring Davis innocent as certain elements still stick in favor of the state’s case.
This brings me to my next issue, which is standard of proof. In order to get a new trial, you have to prove misconduct that would have resulted in a different outcome at the trial court level had it not been introduced. Which calls into question something all of you newly appointed, non-barred, JD-lacking “lawyers” (since yall have all this expertise) should be familiar with; standard of proof. A mere allegation of misconduct is simply not enough to have a meritorious claim. Think Denzel in “Training Day” (It’s not what you know, it’s what you can prove). And since all the witnesses who allege they were forced into a statement or signed a statement without reading it have no proof supporting that claim, they are dismissed as inadmissible hearsay. I have two problems with this; first of all, while I undoubtedly believe that police misconduct would be hard to uncover, think of the damage to the legal system if we let people just throw out accusations with no proof otherwise. To some it may be a bit contradictory given the nature of this case, but I stated earlier that I believe that the evidence presented was convincing enough to get a conviction, not enough to kill the man, but again that’s just my opinion. Secondly, did I or did I not say that reading is fundamental. Why in the hell would you sign something that you didn’t read? Your signature is what makes the document valid, so I can’t envision why you wouldn’t read it before signing it. Now for the witness who couldn’t read, I would suggest you had someone read it to you, and if you didn’t trust those people, then have several people read it to you. So I agree with the courts logic that this standard had not been met. As far as the actual innocence claim made at the appellate level, there is no exonerating evidence presented here, only enough to cause doubt, doubt that should have been raised at the trial court level. But no one sees it that way, no one ever does. You got forced into a statement cause you just wanted to be left alone, or because you were nervous about your own legal troubles, or you were scared that something would happen to you or your family, or you just don’t trust police. Yeah, I’ve heard all those before, and at the end of the day, no one ever blames these people. Well, I do, and I will continue to do so.

So for all of you that signed the petition to get Troy Davis clemency, bought the “I am Troy Davis” shirt, and posted on FB and twitter regarding his “murder,” just know that Troy Davis was not murdered, it was a suicide because those same ones who may have been influenced or were afraid to come forward but are all Troy Davis are the ones responsible for his death. Please stop jumping on the bandwagon of Mr. Davis, Duane Buck and every other black man who is facing a death sentence, because ultimately if you weren’t there, then you don’t know what happened. True racism still exists in society, but everything is not racially motivated. Furthermore, if you don’t have a legal education, then you wouldn’t understand the rhetoric upon which these cases are judged. Go read a book or something. I’ve prayed for Mr. Davis and have made peace with the fact that he is either in Heaven reaping the rewards of being wrongfully accused and paying the ultimate price for it, or in hell for stringing you all along with him, only God knows the true outcome. Stop complaining when the outcome isn’t in your favor, do your best to fix the system, cooperate in investigations, and ALWAYS tell the truth. If you fail to do that, then you are to blame for everything as well…may Troy Davis rest in peace!

You Think You Know...

“Everybody wants to be a nigger, but nobody wants to be a nigger” – Paul Mooney

Recently, there has been a buzz in the hip-hop community regarding the White Girl Mob, Kreayshawn and V-Nasty, and their use of the word “nigga.” At first, I just dismissed it as ignorance and let these women make it, but its just going viral between their continued exploitation and the responses to this topic increasing daily, I just had to say my own piece regarding this because its starting to bother me.

Yes, I do use the word “nigga” on a daily basis, and unlike most people in modern American society, I refuse to put the blame on the hip-hop culture for my usage of that word as part of my everyday vernacular. I guess I can blame my parents for teaching me the lost art of accountability, but I digress. I can’t tell you when or why the word “nigger” became offensive because from researching the term it’s actually a derivative for words associated with the color black. However, I do know that from slavery times up to recent years, the word has become offensive to Black culture. (I don’t really like to use the word African-American because I’ve never been to Africa and other races besides black people, can be African-American.) Since this word is offensive to me when spoken by a white person, any time that I hear it being used by one of those persons, I instantly become enraged. At the same time, I have a similar feeling when a black person uses the word to describe a white person. Why, you may ask? Because my use of the word as either “nigger” or “nigga” is my way of making it my own and destroying the negative connotation associated with it. I think that’s why it was originally used in the hip-hop community to make a word originally used to degrade us as a source of empowerment, but I could be fishing. And even though the word has lost its luster when spoken among other blacks, any white person that I consider a friend, would lose that status if they ever told me about “real nigga shit,” or said “nigga please,” hell they might even be greeted with a fist to the face, but that’s just me, take it how you want.

Then there’s this V-Nasty character, whom I had never heard of until she got on World Star freestyling with heavy usage of “nigga,” like most rappers. From a lyrical standpoint, the chick is trash, seriously. Her whole flow is garbage, I’m not even a rapper and I would eat her alive. So I initially though that her usage of nigga was her way of gaining notoriety, or trying to be “different,” in a world where everyone is trying to do something new. But since she had me lost, I just shook my head and wished I could have my 2 minutes or so of my life back. But I guess I was one of the less vocal viewers of the video because within a week, there were a few videos up on Youtube and World Star criticizing V-Nasty with a resounding “how dare she?” So much so, that Andy Milonakas (who in the hell remembers him), released a video stating that the freestyle was done at his home and that people need to stop prejudging V-Nasty because she’s down for the “hood” and would step up if anybody infiltrated it and used “nigga” in a derogatory manner to any of its residents. Really, Andy, really?! Let me ask you this then, if something went down in the “hood,” and the police in Oakland were called in, I seriously doubt that V-Nasty would be first among those questioned. Maybe the police was a bad example because given the fact that V-Nasty has a criminal record, so I’ll just go with the general public. This question is coming from an attorney who has dreadlocks that go down his back, the same one that has been repeatedly prejudiced in the courtroom being told that “offense reports can only be requested by attorneys” or “are you looking for your lawyer?” All this when I’m dressed to kill, smelling nice, and speaking proper English as best I can with my New Orleans accent, lol. I know what its like to be prejudged, and the Lower 9 is about as hood as it gets, so please miss me with that bullshit.

Another video I saw by someone who’s name I forget places the blame on Black America for the existence of V-Nasty and the White Girl Mob. They discussed how its stupid for Blacks to be okay with the White emulation of the hip-hop culture as far as the music and style of dress, but not the vocabulary. Another white friend of mine, who proudly maintains that she is white and chooses not to forget it posed the question of how I would feel if encountered daily with a forbidden word. I don’t have an answer to that, but I blame V-Nasty’s “friends” for not slapping her in the mouth when she first uttered that phrase. In attending a majority white high school I dreaded the idea of ever being called a “nigger” or being one of my white friend’s “nigga,” because my reaction would have gotten me expelled from school. Thankfully, I’ve never had to deal with that to my face, I don’t really care too much about what people do in their own homes. But the video went on further to discuss how white women such as V-Nasty and Kreayshawn (is that her government name, seriously?) fool many black men into thinking that they are down for the cause but will become turncoats or turn into “Beckys” when things get hot and will prolly leave that black man for the next one they can sink their claws into if he goes to jail.

Does any member of the White Girl Mob truly know what its like to be Black in America? Do they realize that we have to be exceptional just to be considered normal? And to further hinder us we got idiots like Mr. Fab stating that V-Nasty is one of us and she’s real because she “mobs” harder than most “niggas” and she has just served time for armed robbery. Let’s get this straight, so serving time makes you a “nigga” and gives you the right to use that word in everyday conversation? You sound stupid, *Ed Lover voice* “C’mon Son!” That’s about as bad as the white historian who said on BBC that the London riots were caused by white people seeking to emulate hip-hop culture. Ise Lyfe even went on to counter Mr. Fab’s statements and the White Girl Mob by making the obvious connections to a lynch mob and the KKK. But I know his words prolly fell on def ears especially in society where we name our children hoping that they won’t fall into the trap of being stereotyped as being black when their resume is reviewed but have white girls named Kreayshawn. That’s about as bad as all the –ishas –nettas and –quans put together.

I for one have always said that desegregation killed the HBCU and that it hindered us in many ways, but I do agree that it is something that needed to be done when “separate but equal” was only true in word not deed. But then again, I am the same one who has a problem with white members of the Divine 9 greek organizations because of the conditions that led a number of these organizations to be founded. I think that one has an apparent advantage being born white in America, but it seems like some don’t see it that way and want to be black. Can’t we have anything to ourselves these days? I think Nas said it best when he said. “They like to strangle niggers, blaming niggers, shooting niggers, hanging niggers, still you wanna be a nigger too?.” Yall think yall know, but you truly have NO IDEA…

To The Love of My Life

To The Love of My Life:

I’ve written other letters address to the “love of my life,” not being truthful to them, you, or myself and for that, I’m sorry. I tend to feel like I’m not worth the air that I breathe so frequently that I just laugh, drink, and smoke more frequently to forget. I’m not sure what kind of man I’ll become, but I’m damn sure not proud of the man that I am. Yet and still, that’s just me being complicated. You are my world, the reason why I grind, the reason why I hustle, the reason why I hope and pray for better days. While part of me thinks that the world would be better without me, I know that you wouldn’t, and that keeps me here. You don’t judge me based upon my failures, love me without limitation, and l hang on to my every word with adoring eyes. That’s the joy I get from fatherhood…

The Last Straw Pt. 2

Some time ago, I wrote a note that emphasized how I felt about the proposed SUNO/UNO merger that didn’t really get into too many details but just provided a brief synopsis of what I read in the media coupled with my own thoughts. Since that posting, the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education has responded to that proposed merger echoing many of my same sentiments. I wont bother posting the entire response, but you can read it here; http://www.scribd.com/doc/49543283/NAFEO-Responds-to-Proposed-SUNO-UNO-Merger. Now what I didn’t know is that Jindal has been exploring the option of this merger since 2009 when he first convened his Higher Education committee. According to the NAFEO letter, the original proposal for that merger was rejected because of the large differences in the enrollment, admissions standards, classroom size, and student bodies of the two institutions. But I guess Bobby Jindal is hardheaded and had to continue pressing for this.

As of May 4th, the House Committee has voted 10-5 to move forward with the merger of SUNO and UNO and SUNO has released a statement about its commencement exercises. This Saturday, SUNO will graduate 442 students, but according to the graduation rate guideline outlined by Jindal’s committee, only 14 of those count toward the graduation rate. So I’m wondering how can you say that an institution is failing if its boasting of 442 graduates? SUNO’s Chancellor, Victor Ukpolo, Ph.D., issued the following statement; “In keeping with our previous open-access mission, many of our students take longer to graduate, in some cases seven, eight years or more. Most of our student body is comprised of working adults, ages 25 and older, and many of them pursue their studies on a part-time basis. Prior to Fall 2010 we were still an open admissions institution, a designation which mandated us to admit practically anyone who wanted to pursue a college education,” Most of this I detailed in the first note about this merger as to why I don’t believe that Jindal has the right rhetoric to detail why SUNO is “failing.” Now UNO is a completely different story and I don’t have the facts on that one, I only talk what I know.

But all this may be for naught, because now that the House has voted to move forward, who knows where/when/how this will end. But I do know that SUBR has reason to fear and that worries me...

Fee Fie Fo Figga...

…Boy, I hate a nigga.

DISCLAIMER: For those of you who are upset with the usage of “nigger,” “nigga,” and anyother derivative of the “n-bomb” please stop reading now, this isn’t really one of my posts for commentary or to foster discussion, it’s more of a rant. While your feedback is always appreciated, this is just to let me get this off my chest.

Earlier today I was in the barbershop with my father and was just listening to standard barbershop dialect and then the awesome feat that is niggardry arose out of the conversation. I know there are many definitions of the word “nigga,” but for the purposes of this posting we’ll just go with a lazy and shiftless negro. Well the first piece of the conversation that bothered me arose out of discussions on the BP settlement. One of the customers in the shop was talking about his attempts to become a plaintiff in the legal matters with BP but the frustration that he was having because of the requirements. His first point was why should this law firm require him to provide proof of income? He then compounded that point with stating that his income fluctuates so why should his income of last year be measured as his loss point. I just shook my head and chuckled inside. After Katrina, niggas fell under the belief that the government and these multi-million dollar corporations just have money to give out for nothing. First of all, I’m under the belief that unless your profession is actually in the gulf (i.e. fishermen), or you operate a hotel, resort, or something that is directly in the tourism industry, you didn’t really suffer a loss. Like, I’ll be the first to blow the “bullshit whistle” when it comes down to people trying to get over, on anyone, so with that being said, how can you justify your rental property as being tourism related when the minimum lease you’ll allow someone to sign is 3 months? Secondly, if these people are giving you money, don’t you think you should have to justify this to them and what other way than by your income? And because your income fluctuates nothing says that absent the Deep Water Horizon explosion, you would make more money, you could actually make less. Please, miss me with all that…

The second thing that pissed me off was a discussion about child support and how ALL (not many, but as the barber said “all them heauxs”) women manipulate the system for child support and its all a plan designed to “keep the black man down.” (the #1 nigga catch phrase) How can you say this as a man, and even moreso as a father. Now in some instances, I will admit that child support of such an astronomical amount is not needed, but its kind of like a double edged sword because I see the point of the law, YOUR children are YOUR responsibility, and if you were still with the mother, the child would probably get much more than 20% of your check. Which shows the ignorance of that statement, I know of a few mothers who have shot themselves in the foot by putting their child’s father on child support out of spite, and now they get only what the court requires be given unless it’s a holiday, birthday, or the beginning of school. But then again, niggas don’t read or learn so they probably wouldn’t know that. Miss me with that too…\

Finally, the last commentary that the niggardry arose on was Obama. These jackasses said that Obama aint doing his job because he’s not catering to Black America. Well, hello?! I said for the longest how white people should be happy that Obama is the president because he is half white, and half African, two groups that stereotypically don’t like blacks. Also, keep in mind that Black Americans no longer make up the majority minority in the nation so catering to Black America wont get you reelected, that’s for damn sure. To compare Obama with Bush is totally redundant because Bush is white and his daddy was President. I just cant fathom how niggas come up with the kind of shit that comes out of their mouth. Chris Rock said it best; “fee fi fo figga…boy I hate a nigga.”

The Last Straw

Everyone who knows me knows that I am a full-blown supporter of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, hell I am an alumnus of two at both the undergraduate and graduate level, but Bobby Jindal is really making my nerves bad. For those of you unfamiliar with the situation, allow me to offer a brief synopsis. Bobby Jindal, the governor of Louisiana, in an attempt to save some money within the State’s budget, proposed a merger of the University of New Orleans and Southern University at New Orleans and formed a board to write a report on the feasibility of this merger. Jindal cited the close proximity of the two campuses and their low graduation rates as the reason behind this, but I, like most products of the Southern University system, see the disaster that such a merger would create.

First of all, we, the products of THE Southern Univeristy SYSTEM (the only HBCU with its own system with 3 campuses and a law school), would attempt to cause hell to freeze over before we let someone take one of our campuses away from us. I guess Mr. Jindal is not well versed in the writings of Booker T. Washington, who said that the fundamental purpose of Tuskegee University is to give those who would be unable to earn a degree from most other schools a CHANCE to get said degree from their own efforts. Washington later went on to say that if only one of these cast-away students out of an entire freshman class earned a degree then the University would be a success. Hence the lower admission standard for most HBCUs as compared to Predominately White Institutions. But I guess that’s the trend in society these days, people don’t read or find out why things are the way the way they are before they make their commentary. And the funny thing is that with Jindal being an Indian-American, I would expect him to be more sympathetic to minorities, but I guess you forget who you are when you’re a Republican.

I know that the argument that I’m making does not take into accord how the UNO family may feel, but I’m not concerned with them at this point. The report that was compiled by a Colorado group states that the only two viable options are to assemble the two schools into a “University of Greater New Orleans” under the University of Louisiana System or to maintain two separate schools one as a “Metropolitan University” and the other as an “Urban Research University” but would call for new leadership at both schools and would do away with SUNO’s historically black mission, similar to that of Tuskegee. The second option would call for these two schools as well as Delgado Community College to fall under the umbrella of an entirely new system.

Am I the only one who’s lost here??? So now the governor can suggest outlandish proposals and these are immediately brought into action? The governor can remove schools from systems and place them into other systems or just move them into a brand new system all together? This is totally wrong and I think Jindal just bought himself a 12 round legal battle, hope he’s ready for all that. Maybe somebody can explain this madness to me so I don’t look at it as racist or make a bunch of derogatory remarks about Governor Jindal, but until someone can, he’s on my “Fuck You” list, right along with Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, George Bush, Bill White, Tom Joyner and a few others. This proposal could open up the flood gates for other states and probably get some other PWI’s to get law schools on the campuses of HBCUs in their respective systems. I have said for the longest that black folks and their desire to assimilate into Caucasian culture is what killed the HBCU, but if Jindal succeeds in this outlandish proposal and eliminates SUNO from the Southern University System, mark my words, the days of the HBCU are numbered, pray for us!

I Support 2-Cent...Crabs in a Barrel Part 2

I would first like to apologize for my lack of posting lately. For those of yall who don't know, I have moved back to New Orleans and am in the process of getting settled and accustomed to being back home. Anyone who knows me knows that I love any and all things New Orleans, and have devoted my life to removing any and all negative stereotypes associated with my great city. With that being said, when my homie, Malik, posted on twitter that we should retweet our support for 2-cent, so I just posted #Isupport2cent without hesitation and without knowing what was going on. But after today, I found out about the media beef between B-Mike Odums and Tom Joyner, and boy was I appalled. For those of yall who are unfamiliar with 2-cent, please go to http://www.2-cent.com/ and educate yourself about who 2-cent is and what they do. I probably shouldn't get into my opinion on the creative works of 2-cent and all because of my tweets, postings, and favoriting of their videos, one would be inclined to think that I have a biased opinion, but at the end of the day, 2-cent is a bunch of 20-somethings who are doing their part to eliminate those same negative stereotypes of New Orleans youth, and do their part to make the city a better place.

Anyways, last week, Tom Joyner decided to "go in" on 2-cent and B-Mike of which the most pertinent parts can be heard here; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5EnhSlLrEA. Now, let me "go in" on Mr. Joyner, cause I swear he DON'T want my stress trouble! Mr. Joyner brings nation-wide notice and attention to the book drive sponsored by 2-cent and showcased in their video "Every Book" which can be seen here; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HBbTlRz9ZQ. But Mr. Joyner seems to do one of the most ignorant things that any person (black, white, hispanic, asian, male, or female) can do in an argument, and that's not know all the facts. He proceeds to state that while he supports the actions of those who are trying to uplift and educate America's youth, that he cannot pass on such support to B-Mike because he needs to go back to the drawing board as Young Money's "Every Girl" is not the right vessel to propel such a movement, and then plays a sample of "Every Girl" to show why he disagrees with the song. Now Mr. Joyner and I do agree on the point that the youth do not need to be hearing words like that song's infamous hook "I wish I could fuck every girl in the world," but that's about as far as our agreement goes. Tom even goes further in saying that Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff's "Parents Just Don't Understand" would be a better song to use in this plight, and I can only shake my head at his ignorance.

Apparently, Mr. Joyner never watched "Every Book" or he would have listened to the lyrics, the hook of "I wish I could read every book in the world," or the bridge of "we read that...we read that too." Or maybe Tom Joyner needs to do like Lil John suggested and "read a muhfukkin book," possibly one that would teach him the meaning of the word parody, which is prominently displayed in video's title on YouTube. In addition, most educators would agree that the best way to educate children is by associating unfamiliar information with familiar works, so why wouldn't Young Money's song be a good look? You'd be surprised at the things children pick up on these days, and I'd much rather my 4 year old telling me about his desire to read book in the world, as opposed to smashing every girl (before yall start, YES I WOULD). What's even funnier or more ironic is how Tom Joyner suggests "Parents Just Don't Understand" from 1988. Keep in mind that it is now 2011, the last of the 80's babies, those born in 1989, will be 22 this year, and I honestly think that those with a memory of said song would probably be those born in 1985 or before meaning those 25+ which is far beyond what society would consider as the youth. Children these days probably couldn't think back to a time when Will Smith was the Fresh Prince, and not an actor, or just simply Willow's daddy. They probably couldn't even remember songs such as "Gettin Jiggy With It," one of Smith's latter (and lamer) hits.

Now even after reading, listening to, and thinking all that, I was upset but not necessarily pissed off, but what really got to me was the response Tom sent to one of 2-cent's high school ambassadors after she decided to share her thoughts and experiences with 2-cent with Mr. Joyner. Mr. Joyner tells her;

"My office has been flooded with emails and phone calls about this, and if there is an opportunity to address this I'll definitely let you and the folks at 2-cent know. For now, let everyone know I'm getting your messages but there are a whole lot of other things we're focused on right now on the TJMS and I can't make any promises that we'll get back to this right away. I appreciate your reaching out."

REALLY, TOM?! REALLY?! You have other things to focus on, but you didn't have those other things to focus on when u decided to fire shots at 2-cent. Be the bigger man and give them a medium to explain their side of the story instead of the coward who throws a sneak punch for the first attack and then runs away from the repercussions. I'm putting Tom Joyner in the category with Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, in saying that while I appreciate all that you have done for Black America, you're getting dumber in your old age! I think Tom should actually watch the video, have a talk with Michael Eric Dyson, who comments at the end of "Every Book," issue an apology to 2-cent, and bring them in for guests on his show.

B-Mike and 2-cent, I support you! If you feel the same, please re-post this, comment, tell a friend, and write Tom Joyner at tom@blackamericaweb.com, and let him know that he who lives in a glass house should not throw stones, and that NEW ORLEANS SUPPORTS 2-CENT and has the intelligence to know that we should have all the facts before passing judgment.

I can't wait to see the 2-cent parody of "Tom Joyner Just Don't Understand."