N.C. Double Assholes

Unless you’ve been under a rock for the past 8 months or so, you’ve heard about the dealings that have happened at Penn State for the past 12 years, which have roots in 1998 or earlier, Jerry Sandusky and his sexual dealings with minors on the campus. Without being politically incorrect to the victims of such horrendous crimes, I’ll spare you all the rhetoric about “right is right,” and “no matter how much older, bigger, or power a man has over me, I would NEVER LET him do such a thing to me.” This, like most other things I write about, struck a chord with me when the NCAA handed down sanctions against the university which include vacating 112 victories, a $60million fine, four-year postseason ban, and the loss of 10 initial/20 annual scholarships over that same period. The first thing that ran through my head after hearing this was a resounding “WTF?!” The NCAA had just gone too far with this one, trying to be judge, jury, and executioner, much like our good ole friend Roger Goodell, and yall know how I feel about that jerk. Of course one can argue that Penn State didn’t necessarily “break” any NCAA laws, but to look at the punishment administered from a morality standpoint is totally beyond the jurisdiction of the NCAA. Before I get into the heart of this post, let me put out one of my traditional disclaimers as I do when it comes down to controversial issues; I AM NOT a Penn State fan, Joe Paterno supporter, insensitive to child sex-abuse victims, or one who fails to believe that those who sexually abuse children deserve anything less than a point-blank range firing squad, but I do believe in impartiality, due process, and hate those who cover up their own misdeeds through the use of a scapegoat.

This past November, when the Jerry Sandusky case broke out in Happy Valley, initially the mob, much like Roman predecessors, were calling for Joe Paterno’s head. I never really had an issue with Joe Pa, I respected him as a coach (and actually still do to this day), I thought he was past his prime though and only really still coaching in order to pass Eddie Robinson in the record book. (Personally, I didn’t really have an issue with this, as I think all things associated with or from that country school in Northern Louisiana have no place in any sort of record book, but that’s just me **hums “O’ Southern Dear Southern”**) But immediately, after the story broke, Penn State fired ole Joe, and within the next two months, he was dead. My initial thoughts concerning Paterno and the circumstances of his firing were “How in the hell are they going to blame Paterno for not going forward based purely on HEARSAY?” You see when this story broke in November, the only evidence that was immediately available was that in 2001, a Penn State graduate assistant by the name of Mike McQueary witnessed Sandusky and a young male in the shower of the football building, and that the conduct he witnessed was sexual in nature and could be quantified as rape. (Please keep in mind through the duration of this post that hindsight is indeed 20/20, a fact I will remind you of on several occasions before I am done.) In November we learned that McQueary went forward and told his account to Paterno who in turn told his supervisors but nothing ultimately came of this. What I failed to understand is why America became upset that nothing happened after McQueary came forward to Paterno, and them calling for him to do more at that particular incident. Maybe I’m the weird one because I know that hearsay is a statement, other than one made by the declarant while testifying at the trial or hearing,offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted, and that hearsay under no means, when said declarant is available, is enough to secure a conviction. So while Paterno moved forward to tell Spanier, Schultz, and Curley, his chain of command, none of them went forward any further than conversation amongst the four of them, but again, how could they when the only evidence they had at their disposal was a second-hand account from Paterno, or more importantly, why didn’t McQueary do more?

That was my initial question when the story first broke and those are still the questions that run through my mind and of which NO SOURCE (media outlet, Penn State, or the Freeh Report) have been able to answer for me.  So after the story breaks, Sandusky is arrested, ultimately tried and convicted of 45 counts of sexual abuse and still awaits sentencing. Now like I said before hindsight is 20//20 and we have no idea of knowing what exactly Paterno, Spanier, Schultz, and Curley knew, so to just jump on the bandwagon accusing everyone is just wrong in my eyes. The same as I tried unsuccessfully to convince a friend of when he went on a twitter rand about going to State College and “tearing down the statue myself and pissing on the son of a bitch.” So that’s the problem I have with the Freeh Report or any other independent investigation not conducted by law enforcement, they can convey whatever conclusion that you are trying to reach much in the same respect as a lie-detector test and we all know how admissible those are in court. Besides taking Freeh’s word as law is much along the same lines as saying, “he’s truthful, he’s a police officer/politician/district attorney,” when we all know that everyone is capable of telling a lie. In addition Freeh was the Director of the FBI when there was espionage going on within the bureau so I wont exactly say he is the best one to vouch about keeping chain of command or problems out of his organization. But let’s get to the Freeh Report, or as ESPN calls it “the most damning piece of evidence against Paterno’s legacy.” I read the whole report (yes all 267 pages of it), and I didn’t exactly see how damning it was against Paterno. What I did see in the body of the report is that Paterno did involve himself in conversations with Spanier, Schultz, and Curley regarding the allegations against Sandusky but none of which had a paper trail. I also saw that these same men wanted to approach all the allegations in the most sensitive way to their dear friend in the instance that these allegations were indeed unsubstantiated, (yes, the victims did indeed deserve that kind of sensitivity, but at that point in time it was all allegations) and also one must take into account the fact that the criminal investigation in 1998 returned no criminal charges. So again, why is all this falling on Paterno, shouldn’t the police department also be charged with the conspiracy?

What is not evident in the Freeh Report is that a secret society was being ran at Penn State where after candidates for coaching vacancies were given employment, they were approached in private and somebody said something along the lines of: “Welcome to the staff, Jerry used to work here, and he has free run over here. He likes to play with little boys, but that’s just our little secret.” Penn State may have been guilty of running a culture where the football coach was allowed to have the authority over that of the athletic director, but I cant necessarily say that with certainty. What I did see is that other employees witnessed Jerry’s heinous acts but did not come forward because they were afraid of the repercussions, but yet and still these same people are still employed by Penn State. So again, why all the blame on Paterno?  Oh yeah, I know now, because dead men tell no tales, so why not shift all the blame on the man that can’t defend himself. Of course, all this is a statement of opinion, and I may amend how I feel once the civil cases and other criminal trials run their course. But at this point, I think that the vacating of victories was unnecessary and think that Joe Paterno’s statue still belongs in front of Beaver Stadium. If not for Joe Paterno would Penn State still have the rich football tradition that it does? Yall acting like he’s the one who raped those kids….

Gender Misidentity and Assimilation

DISCLAIMER: There are members of the LGBT community that I would consider as friends, associates, colleagues, and/or mentors, while the following post is not meant to be disrespectful by any means, if you cannot read this posting with an open mind, I suggest that you stop reading now. I promise you though I will not use any derogatory terms in this posting and these are just my thoughts, which I have the right to same as you have the right to date who you see fit.

I have this gift/curse to look at things in black and white, which kind of makes the practice of law difficult, but I deal with it, maybe it’s my analytical mind or my engineering background, but I digress on that point. That being said I look at homosexuality as what it is, a man who is sexually attracted to other men, or a woman being sexually attracted to other women. I get that much, but what confuses me is the gender mis-identity that seems to go hand in hand with homosexuality. I don’t judge folks on their sexual preference, and think that the institution of marriage belongs to anyone who cares enough to make a life-long commitment to another person forsaking all others until their last day on Earth. I support same-sex marriage and all the legal rights that go along with it because at the end of the day you can’t control what/who you like. I do, on the other hand, think that it is a slap in the face to God to dress/carry one’s self as a member of the gender that you do not have the genetalia to belong to. So when I read an article on the blog Kollege Kid about MIAKAs threatening to sue Alpha Kappa Alpha on theories of discrimination and homophobia, I was enraged and had enough of that, I just had to say SOMETHING!

Any ladies of AKA who are reading this, please spare me your rhetoric because yall have a lot of warped views of life in general so much so yall think that the colors pink and green when displayed together belong to yall. (I actually might be inclined to give yall that one since those particular colors DO.NOT.MATCH together, only because of the 104 years of your org, have people finally just gotten used to it) Anyways, I’m not too worried about this suit from a legal standpoint because it directly contradicts Title 26 Section 1681 (a)(6)(A) of the United States Code Service which says in pertinent part:

 (a) Prohibition against discrimination; exceptions No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance, except that:

(6) Social fraternities or sororities; voluntary youth service organizations this section shall not apply to membership practices—

(A) of a social fraternity or social sorority which is exempt from taxation under section 501 (a) of title 26, the active membership of which consists primarily of students in attendance at an institution of higher education, 

Furthermore, the contention that members of AKA are denying the membership of male aspirants because of homophobia is an ungrounded statement which is directly contradicted by some of its membership. I know a few members of the sorority who are openly gay and others (although less willing to admit) who are bisexual **innocent face**. So, any lawyer who is willing to file such a suit is probably a crook looking to make a quick buck or somebody who is trying to make their career by seemingly having the audacity to challenge the laws of the country on an unfounded basis. Even if statutes such as the above mentioned did not exist you could still look at this issue from the same standard as Title IX which allows for females to participate and male activities such as sports when there is no suitable counterpart for their designated gender. But since there are fraternities in existence who still promote brotherhood, a common bond, and mentorship activities with the youth, this also fails.

So what other argument could a homosexual man provide on why membership into a sorority should be afforded to him other than the fact that he wishes he was a woman. Let’s look at the definition of the word “sorority.” Sorority - 1. A chiefly social organization of women students at a college or university, usually designated by Greek letters.2. An association or a society of women. So because it belongs to women by definition, you feel like this is discrimination? Let me guess you’re also an expert on telling and/or showing little girls how to be productive and respectable women and members of society? Yeah, right! So why is there a need for this gender assimilation? Can anyone explain it to me???

The Ignorance of White Privilege

How many of you have ever heard of Naomi Schafer Riley? I doubt many of you have, however, she is a Harvard alum (magna cum laude) who once was a blogger for The Chronicle of Higher Education, at least until she was fired last month for the following posting. It’s funny how this posting was just brought to my attention today as I was just having a discussion on twitter about why I don’t like Duke Basketball. While my reasoning behind not liking Duke’s program (limited amount of black players, the majority of them being of the same mold i.e. light-skinned and clean cut) maybe slightly racist, I give people the ability of being racists at times and in arenas that afford them such a luxury, but one would never guess that a writer, although the whole nature of a blog is self-opinion, would openly adopt such a stance. So I did some research on Riley. From reading a few of her earlier postings I’ve discovered that Riley, like most of us, is upset with the rising costs of higher education and the inability of colleges and universities to justify these increases when students are leaving college with extraordinary amounts of debt and not the careers to pay off these debts in a way that the lenders deem fit. (Which reminds me, DEATH TO SALLIE MAE!!!!)

Looking at that posting with that in mind, I would be inclined to agree with Riley in SOME respects. I have long been of the opinion of wondering what those with degrees in Black/African American studies would do as a career. I really can’t think of much outside of teaching, writing, community activism, and or news correspondents, but that again that may be my own ignorance talking. But after the struggle that we as a people have gone through I would never say that Black Studies should be eliminated because if you look at it just from the establishment of this country whites had a 200 year head start on us as far as development and as the old folks say; “if you don’t know your history, then you are doomed to repeat it.” But what I find funny is that while Riley has the audacity to cite her 15 years as a journalist in academia as her expertise when her BACHELOR’S DEGREES are in ENGLISH and GOVERNMENT. This seems to me as though she is entirely self-taught when it comes down to the subject of academia, or doing like the general American, reading the thoughts of others and then formulating a general opinion. While Riley has the right to do that, just like she has the right to place her opinions in her journalism and not do the research to back up the subject of a thesis/dissertation like the graduate students whose studies that she has criticized and cited as irrelevant, but the problem that I have with her posting is that a white woman (although married to a black man) has no idea what it is like to be Black in America.

Before I get into an opinionated rant about Riley, I’ll go ahead and give my $19.11 on the article for those of you who haven’t read it. Riley goes so far as to label Black Studies as “a collection of left-wing victimization claptrap,” citing that the topics of dissertations within the field are “so irrelevant that no one will ever look at them.” The sloppiness and lack of professionalism in a journalistic piece is appalling. I wouldn’t be alone in thinking that no one outside of the physics community would read dissertations in that field, but I wouldn’t ever be so bold to call them irrelevant. Remember, at one point in time people who studied physics, astrology, and other advanced sciences were once thought of as “irrelevant.” But in her posting, Riley goes on to look at three dissertations (not in-depth I might add) and implores that the money by the Federal Government to fund studies such as these are a waste and would be better spent serving other areas of academia. By no means do I think that an entire area of study should be taken under a microscope based upon 3 (*Lil Wayne voice* count em up, one, two, three) instances, and I would think that such a respected journalist would do more research before taking such a hard-up approach to a topic she knows nothing about, but I guess my opinion is just as irrelevant to her. In addition, her 500 word posting goes further in-depth to suggest that Barack Obama’s presidency proves that racism no longer exists in America and the first step to eliminating the problems that Black America faces in their ordinary lives should not be “blaming the white man.”

“Seriously, folks, there are legitimate debates about the problems that plague the black   community from high incarceration rates to low graduation rates to high out-of-wedlock birth rates. But it’s clear that they’re not happening in black-studies departments. If these young scholars are the future of the discipline, I think they can just as well leave their calendars at 1963 and let some legitimate scholars find solutions to the problems of blacks in America. Solutions that don’t begin and end with blame the white man.” 

What’s worse than the audacity of a white woman to make such a posting, is the fact that after faced with an abundance of commentary about the piece both positive and negative, is the fact that when she wrote a rebuttal on the post, she retracted nothing and stood firm in her opinion. Many have even come to her defense in stating that she has a black husband which is furthermore proof that she can’t be a racist (haven’t I said before that comments such as these are the number one indication of racism i.e. “I can’t be racist, I have black friends”). Now I’m not calling her a racist, maybe a few of her ideas are, but I won’t go that far because I don’t know the woman outside of reading her pieces. However as a Harvard educated woman, I seriously doubt that her husband is not on a similar educational level as that of her own and in that same breath think that she would learn a lot by reading the highly scrutinized thesis by Michelle Obama from Princeton in which she detailed how disconnected Black Ivy League students feel from both the Black community as a whole and that of their own institution’s community, before looking at her own husband’s experiences. In fact, I would like to know his opinion on her postings.

The fact of the matter is simply this, when it comes down to the comforts of everyday living, all men are not created equal. Blacks do not have the same opportunities as whites and are not free from the same stereotypes and prejudices. History has turned a blind-eye to this on MANY occasions, and now that we have expanded to having doctoral programs in which this has been studied and looked at in-depth it’s a waste of time? This does not mean that some of the problems of Black America are not completely and totally OUR FAULT, but that Black studies are indeed necessary to keep things from repeating themselves. In fact, for every dissertation that she found that furthers her point, I’ll be willing to bet that there are AT LEAST three that chronicles the more important problems of the Black community, as described by Riley. For the record, I do think that the chronicles of black midwives should be detailed in literature about child birth and its history, I do think that the housing crisis and its subsequent bail out did disproportionately affect blacks (in addition to Americans as a whole), and I do believe that African Americans such as Clarence Thomas who speak down on Affirmative Action destroy the whole Civil Rights struggle with their own ignorance, but I assume that Riley would also consider my thoughts as irrelevant.

Who Defines "Your" in the Phrase, "Jury of Your Peers?"

As many of you have already heard, Trayvon Martin, a 17 year old resident of Sanford, FL, was killed on February 26, 2012 after an altercation with the head of the neighborhood watch, George Zimmerman. While I wasn’t there and don’t care to speculate, the following is clear; Zimmerman, called the police after seeing Martin walking up the street and described him as a black male walking slowly in the rain looking at other houses as well as him (Zimmerman). He accused Martin of acting strange like he (Martin) was on drugs because of his slow pace in the rainy weather and staring at Zimmerman while he was on the phone with the 911 dispatcher. After the dispatcher told Zimmerman that officers were on the way, Zimmerman can be heard saying that “these assholes always get away,” and ignoring advice to do nothing until the officers arrived. Some time later, one, possibly two shots were fired, Martin lay dead and police arrived on the scene to Zimmerman admitting to being the killer. Now many in the Black communities of Sanford, Florida, and the United States at large are shaking their head in wondering why Zimmerman has not been charged with anything to this point.

Now, I’ll try my best to be as objective as possible with this posting, but I’m not sure how exactly that will pan out with my feelings on the subject being what they are as well as my own professional beliefs. Yes, I am a criminal defense attorney by trade but I am also a firm believer in the biblical code of Hammurabi (eye for an eye). Unlike most people think, my responsibility is not to give leeway to the guilty but to defend the rights of the average citizen as given in the laws of this “great” nation. Believe me, I’m not writing off of pure emotion and a lot of thought and research was done before making this post.

First, I’ll ignore the fact that Martin had in his pockets $22, a can of iced tea, and a bag of skittles. Why, you may ask, because as in the case of a 20-year-old suspected drug dealer who was killed by a police officer here in New Orleans, one cannot possibly ascertain whether a person is armed or not when faced with a threat. Sure, it is easy to shift the responsibility once all the facts are presented, but as I’ve said before, I’m trying to be objective here. So like I said, we’ll ignore that one, but let us dissect the “suspicion” of Trayvon Martin. Many blog posters and their subsequent commentary focus on the category of the neighborhood in which this occurrence took place, a mainly white upper-middle class gated community so a black male walking down the street at night may in fact be suspicious to those who equate crime with people of color. However, be you black white, green, yellow, or blue, am I weird to say that I don’t see any problem with a person wearing a hoodie (hooded sweatshirt) if they are walking in the rain?

The next thing that confuses me greatly about Zimmerman not being charged as of yet is the police saying that they have found adequate evidence to support his self-defense claim. I was taught in law school that a self-defense claim did not apply to the initial aggressor unless their initial aggression was met by an escalation of aggression equating to deadly force. I thought that things may differ in Florida so I researched that issue and found Chapter 776 of the Florida Statues specifically 776.012 and 776.041 which state in pertinent part;

“776.012 Use of force in defense of person.-- the person is justified in the
use of deadly force only if he or she reasonably believes that such force is
necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself
or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony”

776.041 Use of force by aggressor.--The justification described in the
preceding sections of this chapter is not available to a person who:
(2) Initially provokes the use of force against himself or herself,
unless:
(a) Such force is so great that the person reasonably believes that
he or she is in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm and
that he or she has exhausted every reasonable means to escape such
danger other than the use of force which is likely to cause death or
great bodily harm to the assailant; or
(b) In good faith, the person withdraws from physical contact with
the assailant and indicates clearly to the assailant that he or she
desires to withdraw and terminate the use of force, but the assailant
continues or resumes the use of force.”

With this knowledge at my disposal, I now can go about piecing together an opinion on the subject at hand. Zimmerman said that he was using self defense when he fired that fatal shot at Martin, but I fail to understand how he felt the need to escalate his defense to deadly force on a 140lb kid absent any evidence that the kid was trying to bash in his skull with the can of iced tea, or are Skittles considered a deadly weapon in Florida? Furthermore, his initial accosting of the youth despite being warned by the 911 dispatcher not to take the law into his own hands reminds me a lot of the Joe Horn case in Pasadena, Texas. True, any requests from the dispatch order can not be taken as a direct order from law enforcement, but I do believe that it speaks volumes when considering motive.


*Side Note* Joe Horn was a 62-year old white man who shot and killed two Latino males after witnessing them break into the home of a neighbor. He called 911 and after being persuaded by the dispatcher not to involve himself in the situation can be heard on the recording of the call loading up a shotgun and telling the two men that he would shoot them if they did not stop where they were. He subsequently shot the two men in the back and was later no-billed due to Texas’ version of the Castle Law which authorizes the use of deadly force to protect one’s property as the victims were on his lawn when he shot them. However, Texas legislators have said that the Castle Law was not designed to protect the property of others, and in fact these same victims were not on Horn’s property until he confronted them.

The death of Trayvon Martin has caused much of the same split among racial lines in Florida as the Joe Horn case did in Texas. Much of the minority community is labeling Zimmerman as a racist who took the law into his own hands much beyond his position as captain of the neighborhood watch, while there are others who have praised him as a hero and feel like when the whole story is known his actions would be justified. Zimmerman’s father has even gone so far as to write a letter to the general public asking people to stop criminalizing his son because he is Latino (even though Zimmerman is a Jewish or German surname the last time I checked) and (get this) has Black friends. Isn’t that like the stereotypical argument most racists use? Sanford police have said that the evidence they have supports the self-defense theory and a few witnesses have given testimony that echoes that sentiment. They have alleged that the recent witness stories are recantations and inconsistent with earlier statements, but in my opinion, the 911 tapes, tell a different story (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/16/trayvon-martin-911-audio-_n_1354909.html). I don’t know what happened that night in February, but there has been evidence showing that Zimmerman chased after Martin, against the advice of the 911 dispatcher, he confronted him, the two wrestled, and Zimmerman shot Martin. I think that’s enough to arrest and charge him with voluntary manslaughter or even first or second-degree murder, or am I missing something here? Is justice truly blind in this country or is it only available to those fortunate enough to have a jury or in this case police department of THEIR peers?

If You Scared Say You Scared

Those of you who really know me, know that I am a die hard “Who Dat,” and many of my friends share the same sentiment. So one can only imagine how I feel about the recent bounty scandal within the New Orleans Saints organization and their defensive scheme particularly during their Super Bowl run of the 2009-10 season. However I don’t see what the big fuss is about in regards to the bounty allegations and really have grown a strong dislike for the NFL Players Association and Roger Goddell. Maybe I feel the way that I do because I haven’t played the game of contact football in quite some time and the last I played was nowhere near the level of professional football. I think all the controversy and the media coverage of this is unwarranted.

Lets take a look back at the beginning of football and the humble beginnings of the National Football League. When the game was first played these men wore very little padding and even had leather helmets to protect their head. LEATHER! In fact, in the 1940’s and 50’s using a clothesline to tackle a ball carrier was a very popular method that got the job done and nobody complained because it was all a part of the game. In fact the early NFL was entirely dependent upon the running game because there was no such thing as pass interference. Those who play or used to play receiver probably couldn’t even imagine having to literally fight a defender off of them and then still catch the ball. The early pioneers of the NFL are probably rolling over in their graves when they see how soft the game is getting.

So we moved on from leather helmets and crude padding to lightweight padding that allows for better movement while still offering protection against the violent game that is American football and plastic polymer helmets with protective guards on that protect the player’s face. But what do the players do, half the time they don’t even wear pads. Seriously, next season, or while in the off-season watching NFL Network, look and see how many players at skill positions wear pads. With the exception of their shoulder pads, many of these players have no protection from the waist down. When I watch a game I am surprised at how many players don’t even wear mouthpeices. I thought the reason why NFL players make such astronomical amounts of money is because of the fact that they put their bodies on the line and after they retire they really aren’t good for much that would be physically strenuous. Spare me the rhetoric about football being a billion dollar industry and players deserving their “fair share,” because that goes against the capitalistic system this country was founded upon. Those in control make all of the money and the work horses, for lack of a better term, get the table scraps. Look at college football, none of those players get paid (legally), outside of their tuition and room and board, while the universities make MILLIONS off of their sacrifice of their body. I’ll ask you this simple question, look at President Obama’s yearly salary of $250,000, now how many people who play a GAME, make more money that him, the most powerful man in the United States???

This is not a defense of the pay for big hits/injury because it’s the Saints who are called into question, I’ve long said the game is getting soft. As dangerous as helmet-to-helmet hits are, keep in mind they are only illegal at the highest level of football. If someone with my 5’5” frame were attempting to tackle a 6’2” 225lb ball carrier, would/should he go up top or attempt to take their legs out? Don’t worry I’ll wait. But in addition to that, chew on this, should he just stop and try to wrap the man up, or should he launch his whole body at the man in an attempt to put simple laws of physics on his side and maybe slow the man down if not stop him? But at the highest level this too is considered an illegal hit. How can football as it is taught at the lowest level, supplemented at the high school level, and perfected at the collegiate level become illegal when it reaches the pinnacle of the competitive spirit that it is based upon? Children are taught to drop their shoulder and put the entire weight of their body into the chest of the ball carrier, wrap him up, and bring him to the ground. It is at this same level that children are taught that if they are scared to get hit, that they shouldn’t play the game, because it’s not the right place for that sort of mentality.

Maybe James Harrison had it right all along, Roger Goddell wants defenders to lightly caress the hand of a ball carrier, coax them into a state of relaxation, and then gently lay them down on a feather filled pillow in order to make a tackle. That’s not football!!! This is the same NFL that has given us the dumb ass “tuck rule,” which I still don’t understand, and still think that hit on Tom Brady was a fumble sending my Raiders to the Super Bowl. The same NFL that has amended the overtime rules because Brett Favre had his renewed shot at greatness swept away from him by the Saints, and the same NFL where you can’t touch a quarterback above the shoulders, and can’t hit him below the waist.

All this talk is bogus because incentives for big hits are part of the game of football. When I played, I didn’t assume that the players on the other side of the field wanted to hurt me, I KNEW they did, and frankly I felt the same way, I was going to take them out before they got the chance to do the same to me. Big hits get helmet stickers at the high school and collegiate levels, and if they cause injury, you say a prayer that the person gets better, and you move along because THAT IS A PART OF THE GAME. Goddell won’t rest until the NFL becomes flag football or two-hand touch because they’re so concerned with the player’s safety. Hell, I’d play in the NFL with a pay for big hits policy, legal helmet-to-helmet hits, and even legal clotheslines. Why? Because the league minimum is a hell of a lot more than I’ve made from any other job I’ve had thus far. I think a bounty program is more of an incentive to go out there and give it your all on the field. And more importantly, IF YOU’RE SCARED OF GETTING HURT, THEN YOUR PANSY ASS SHOULDN’T BE PLAYING FOOTBALL!!! Go get a 9-5 like the rest of us and learn how hard life really is. You are well compensated for the dangers of your profession, now quit your bitching and TAKE IT!

Aint No Love...

“Aint no love, in the heart of the city.” - Bobby “Blue” Bland

At the time of this posting, the 13th day of 2012 is yet to be over but the murder count in the city of New Orleans is already at 11, which amounts to almost 1 dead body per day as the result of an unjustified killing. Now while these killings have been in residential areas and not the spots where tourists flock to, one can only imagine what kind of effect this would have on a city who’s economy is largely dependent upon tourism should the crime and murder continue at this alarming rate. Most of the commentary from the peanut gallery which consists of the frequent posters to Nola.com make the comparison of the potential of New Orleans of the 2010’s to be the same as Detroit of the 1980’s and 90’s after the decline of the domestic automobile industry. My first and last time in Detroit was in 2008 and I have seen a Mecca of many Southern-bred families in search of a better life as a shadow of its former self, first-hand. If many predict that New Orleans would experience a modern-day decline similar to Detroit, I can only shed a tear and pledge myself to trying to do what is necessary to prevent that, hoping to inspire others to do the same. The problem I see with New Orleans is more of a double-edged sword between the police department and the community at-large, and to be honest they both can use some help.

Aside from the fact that I have many friends both close and of the acquaintance variety who are police, I treat most of them with a separation from their personal and professional lives and still stand firm on the claim that I don’t trust police. This is attributed to both incidents in my own personal and professional life in addition to several incidents of corruption, mishandling of cases, and the revolving doors of the Orleans Parish Prison. At the same token, I can sit here and say that this line of thinking is not the fault of the average NOPD patrolman. I give NOPD Superintendent Ronal Serpas credit for being second in charge during the murder decline of the late 90’s under the watch of Richard Pennington, but some people are better suited for being the man next to the man. Serpas has started a new trend of publicizing the criminal records of murder victims I guess in an attempt to make the average law-abiding citizen feel like they are safe from the bedlam that has become the streets of New Orleans, but I see a problem with that. For one, one victim had a lone 15-year old conviction for solicitation, a time period that even the majority of the legal community would consider to be a bit excessive. Secondly, this line of thinking leads way to the philosophy that time only changes, people never do. While I never considered the average law-enforcement agent to be a proponent of rehabilitation, sometimes it makes others feel good when you can see that despite the actions of the members of society, there is still some good in the human race that shines through over all. Serpas also has used most of his limited resources (not his fault) to focus on keeping order in these tourist destinations, remarking that we have the best police force at crowd control in the nation, which I agree with, but if you cant control the members of the community, then what?

Then, there are those average police that I spoke of earlier. A few officers them have taken their thoughts to Facebook and Twitter, some pointing out the community’s fault in all of this, which I will get into later in this posting, and others adopting a “ready for war” attitude. In fact, this post was inspired by a twitter rant of my own in which I criticized the latter line of thinking because of the fact that most criminals have no rules. Gone are the days of thugs who consider themselves gangsters and gentlemen, with a regard for family and a respect for innocent life. I doubt that anything that 12 yr old did in her short life resulted in her untimely demise, but maybe Serpas found out she was in a fight in pre-school so that lets him sleep better at night. A friend of mine remarked a similar sentiment by quoting a line from the movie Die Hard; “you’re a policeman…there are RULES for policemen.” True the police may have the bigger squad, but for the most part, they don’t have the artillery to be ready for war with most of these “big fish” out here, as evidenced by the finding of two grenades in the car that was tied to the home shooting and subsequent shootout with police on yesterday. These same thugs who have no regard for the life of children damn sure don’t care about the life of a cop, or that of their families who don’t wear a badge. Nevermind the fact that these are people out here trying to make a way in the world, faced with a low-paying position as compared with those similarly situated in other muncipalities around the nation, with a community that doesn’t give two fucks about them, doesn’t respect their authority for the most part, has no appreciation for them putting their lives at risk on a daily basis, and won’t help them do their job out of fear or just a nonchalant attitude about things that don’t directly affect them. Many of us hate the places in which we are employed and merely go to work and collect a check doing the minimum required to get by, but when police do this, what are we left with, one word; ANARCHY! Put yourself in their shoes for one second, how would you feel if your job required you to take a bullet for someone that didn’t like you, I bet you would think twice before acting too. In most instances, its not them being scared, its just that they too have families who expect them home at the end of their shift. And please don’t give me the rhetoric about police corruption, because although I don’t think the ENTIRE police force of our beloved city is on the “up and up,:” I do believe that the good far outweighs the bad. There are bad members of every profession, and I don’t believe that all of society is inherently evil.

Lastly, the community as a whole has to realize that we are responsible for these kinds of people taking over our streets. Maybe if the parents of New Orleans spent more time actually trying to be a mentor, positive reinforcement, or authority to their children as opposed to a schoolhouse chum, their kids would respect them more. But when I think about it, many of these same parents who choose to be a buddy rather than a driving force in a child’s life don’t have much to put on display that should garner the respect they deserve as a parent. Just because someone makes a baby doesn’t give them the ability to be a good parent, and just because your parents sucked, doesn’t mean that you have to travel down the same road. WAKE UP PEOPLE, IT’S TIME TO BUCK THESE NEGATIVE TRENDS THAT HAVE INFLUENCED OUR SOCIETY FOR FAR TOO LONG!!! In my opinion, being a parent is about trying to make your kids better than you are, that’s called progress because when you know better, you do better. With that being said, I have long heard the tired pleas of the community to outlaw guns, but ask yourself this question, how many murders do you think are committed with lawfully carried and registered firearms? Im pretty sure that number, if it is larger than zero, is a miniscule percentage as compared to the opposite end of the spectrum. So if we outlaw guns and the only people who carry guns are those who obtain them illegally and our law-enforcement agencies, you honestly think it would be safer than with our 2nd Amendment right to bear arms TO PROTECT OURSELVES???

So does the New Orleans community suffer from ignorance or stupidity? Being stupid is when your actions are so because you don’t know any better, but when you know better and you still choose not to utilize that knowledge, then you my friend, are ignorant. We are too encompassed in minding our own damn business that we no longer care about the city as a whole, just our own little space. We let rappers determine how we live our lives, and use fictional lyrics as inspiration to real life. The whole “Stop Snitching” campaign that took flight a few years ago was even misguided. Stop snitching is not a cry for you to shut up, it’s telling those of you who get caught to “take your lick,” rather than drag others down with you, not to mind your business. Besides, if one of those same innocent bystanders who got killed was a close relative or a child of yours and a friend had information about who pulled the trigger would you encourage that friend to come forward to the authorities in order to apprehend those responsible, or would you remind him that “snitches get stitches,” or whatever other ignorance that you let rappers talk you into. But I guess that wouldn’t be considered snitching because it was YOUR family. Well I have news for you, EVERY MURDER VICTIM IS A PART OF SOMEONE’S FAMILY! We really have to do better individually to live better as a whole! I don’t think that sending in the National Guard would help out much because if you did your research, you would find that martial law is a helluva lot more flawed than our imperfect system of due process.

In closing, I would like to thank the unbiased, honorable men and women of the New Orleans Police Department for their day to day duty of protecting and serving this city, even those who society has written off a long time ago. Your efforts go under appreciated and often unnoticed, but things have no choice but to get better, because as Frank Ocean said;” I still believe in man/
A wise one asked me why/Cause I just don't believe we're wicked/I know that we sin but I do believe we try,” but our efforts may be for naught when “aint no love in the heart of the city, and aint no love in the heart of town.” Peace and Love, New Orleans, PLEASE STOP THE KILLING!