MJ & OJ: Will Declared Innocent Black Folks Ever Get A Fair Shake?

The racial divide in the media perplexes me at times. I'm amazed at how the media treats indicted black folks who are then found to be innocent of all charges. In the 90's when OJ Simpson was on trial for the murder of his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, there were a lot of people looking for him to get a death sentence or life imprisonment. All the pundits thought it was going to be a slam dunk, open and shut case. The jury had a different perspective and found OJ innocent.

Was OJ able to resume his acting and endorsement career? After all, he was found innocent in a court of law by a jury of his peers. The many on the right who are always talking about the rule of law seemed to have forgotten that little point and no matter what the context, 9 times out 10 when the discussion of OJ comes up in the media, he is always painted as a murderer who beat the rap.

In that same "trial of the century" there was a racist police officer by the name of Mark Fuhrman who had some damaging audio tapes with him using racial slurs about black people and using the N word. But was he dragged through the mud and ostracized from the media? No!! He is brought back on TV time after time after time as a criminal investigator expert. Why is it that OJ is treated as criminal (and I'm talking before the silly crap he recently did that landed him in jail) when he was declared not guilty but Mark Fuhrman, for whom we have evidence of his racial bias, gets to be an expert pundit on television all the time.

I say all that to say that it seems to be happening all over again in the wake of Michael Jackson's sudden passing. Look at the blistering commentary by Bill O'Reilly:



Now I realize that Michael Jackson is not on the same par as Martin Luther King in terms of moral impact on our world but he has had an impact on the culture and on a whole generation of not just black children but young people all over the world. Just like many of my generation, I grew up with all of the Jackson 5 albums in my record collection. MJ was not just a flash in the pan entertainer, he is someone with whom we grew up (he was only two years older than this your humble columnist).

Just like OJ, what Bill and other media & political types tend to do is to focus on the accusations of child molestation. Never had MJ been convicted of any criminal behavior and even when they took the case to court (for those who want to say MJ paid off the first accuser), the evidence didn't hold up and the case was dismissed.

Bill complains that MJ spent millions on himself while singing "We Are The World." MJ like any other celebrity (including O'Reilly who is just back from Switzerland) certainly is able to spend money on himself unlike your ordinary Joe the Plumber type and why shouldn't he? We live in a capitalistic society where if one earns millions of dollars, you are free to spend it however you want (after you give Uncle Sam his due, of course). No one complains about the multiple Penthouses and real estate that Donald Trump owns. No one complains about the jets, cars and other material possessions that many in Hollywood possess. Why should MJ be any different when it comes to enjoying the fruits of his success?

But Michael Jackson also raised millions of dollars to feed starving people in Somalia from that same song, "We Are The World" and he did it not by himself but was able to bring a W-I-D-E variety of entertainers together to make that song possible (right after a Grammy awards show no less) and with their presence also bring along the support of those entertainer's fan base which made the song and the accompanying album a big seller. To paraphrase a biblical passage, Bill has raised his thousands and Michael his millions.

Was MJ a saint to be cannonized? Of course not. He was a great entertainer who was eccentric and had some questionable behaviors that while were not prudent, were not criminal at least from a legal standpoint in a court of law. So why not celebrate his life rather than focusing on the charges upon which he was NEVER convicted? His music has been the music of my life from a youth to the most recent material he released.

I wish the media would stop convicting innocent (from a criminal standpoint) black folks in the public square and never letting them come up for air when they are found NOT GUILTY. The last time I checked, our judicial system based on the phrase, "Innocent until PROVEN guilty."

My Review of Medela Breastmilk Freezing and Storage Set

Toys R Us

Medelas 80ml (2.7 oz) bottles are sterilized for mom and babys health and safety. Designed to be the most convenient, most time-saving and safest breastmilk bottle.Perfect size for newborns and easy storage in refrigerator or freezer. Screw-on lid for leak-proof seal. Sterile inside and ready to us...

Medela Breastmilk Freezing and Storage Set

Outstanding Storage Addition

Darryl The Dad Tampa, FL 6/15/2009

5 5

Pros: Convenient, Durable, Seals Well, Washes Easily, Easy to use

Best Uses: At Home, Feeding, Milk Storage, Travel

Describe Yourself: Grandparent, Parent of Two or More Children

Very handy product. My wife has used them to store milk and they hold just enough to satisfy our little son in the middle of the night. The fact that you can screw a nipple right on to the container is very handy and with the liquid scale on the side of each container, you can track how much baby is drinking.
These units are also small enough to freeze and not take up a lot of room in your freezer.
Overall, using these containers while breast feeding allows the dads to do a little night duty and give mom a break while still supplying the little dude or dudette with momma's milk. I highly recommend these.

Sotomayor & Life Experiences When Judging

President Barak Obama has selected Sonia Sotomayor to be the replacement justice for retiring justice David Souter. There has been a lot of hoopla about the fact that Judge Sotomayor brings her life experiences to the bench when she convenes a court. Some have called her a racist and unfit for the nation's highest court. But the truth of the mater is that no matter what career field we enter, we ALWAYS bring our life experiences with us. I am grateful that Judge Sotomayor has been honest enough to give voice to it.

Republicans on the Hill and in the pundocracy talk about the judges who hold up the rule of law. When Jim Crow ruled the day in the south, judges were upholding the rule of law but those rulings were funneled through a life experience that devalued blacks and elevated white supremacy.

It has been quoted that "Justice is blind" and certainly that is a excellent slogan and a great vision statement for any court but the only person who can be completely objective based on an absolute pure moral standard is Almighty God. Anyone other than the good Lord brings their experiences (good and bad) to the bench with them. We can only hope that a combination of that experience coupled with knowledge of the law can yield a just result. But time and time again we have seen where even the best judges, attorneys and juries can make a mistake. Not because it was intentional but because failable human beings are making the decisions.

Why don't we celebrate the differences and perspectives that other cultures bring to the judicial process instead of trying to pretend that we can be absolutely objective and impartial under every circumstance? Who we are and what we have experiences is what makes us unique as the human creature. If we want unfeeling and purely cold decisions, we should just developed a good artificial intelligence computer program with voice recognition features that should hear and rule on our judicial proceedings.

Political Talks Takes Another Hit

TAMPA, FL-Political dialog has taken another hit in the media. One of the things you would like to get out of your political candidates is truthful answers that at least give you a chance to get to know what the candidates are like on the inside. You would think that with over 50 debates concluded during the primary process (between Republicans and Democrats alike) that we would have a pretty good idea of who the candidates are. But here we are in July and there are still unanswered questions about both candidates.

If that were not bad enough, in this internet and technological age in which we live, the candidates have to be weary of EVERY comment that they make on the video record because everyone from the mainstream media to an 7th grade videophile can take that video off of Youtube, slice it and dice it to make it say anything one might want to promote.

Case in point was the interview that Barak Obama did with Katie Couric during his recent trip to the Middle East. In that exchange, Couric asked Obama a couple of times about the military troop surge and how it did have an effect to help quell the violence and ethnic strife in Iraq. I believe the reason Obama could not admit that the surge was successful was because as soon as he were to say that, it would pop up in a McCain ad against him.

John McCain had a photo moment riding in a golf cart with Bush #41 and I'm sure that image will pop up in an Obama or 529 Organization ad tying McCain to the Bush Dynasty even though taking such a ride has nothing to do with the type of policies that McCain might implement.

The problem with such great advances in technology is that it makes the candidates less likely to say something meaningful. EVERYTHING is carefully crafted, rehearsed and presented and that is a sad thing for our democracy.

Obama and Couric Interview:

Tech: Fix For Failed Adobe Flash Player Installation

Nothing can be more frustrating than trying to install a critical plug-in for your web browser and having the system give you an error. Such was the case when I needed to install the latest Adobe Flash player in my Internet Explorer browser. Now I don't even use IE as my primary browser because of the security issues but I had to get the Flash player installed so that I could use Adobe Captivate to record some work processes that I was attempting to document.

Every time I tried to install the plug in from the download page I would get an error message saying that the Adobe Flash Player failed to install. I spent a couple of hours trying to set certain security settings per the support information posted on the Adobe website. Finally I Google'd my problem and got a link to www.fixya.com which had the exact answer that resolved the problem. I found my solution under the heading "55 Other Users Have The Same Problem".

If you are suffering from the same problem, this solution might just fix your problem. Once I typed the command correctly per the instructions, I was able to go back to the Flash install page and install the player with no problem whatsoever. I got so happy that I even went ahead and installed the Adobe Media Player. Don't know how I'll use it yet but it's installed!

With Flash installed for IE, I can now put IE back on the shelf and go on about my business with Adobe Captivate and resume my regular web browsing with my browser of choice: Firefox.

When Will Black Folks Get It?

TAMPA,FL-While the media will cover Barak Obama as an African-American (or my term black) candidate for President of the United States, you will never hear him play up this aspect of his candidacy. Why? Because while blacks and Hispanics are a significant voting block, the truth of the mater is that these groups are still minorities that could not elect a minority President outright.

Barak Obama is smart enough to stay about the racial fray and appeal to ALL Americans as highlighted in his recent television ad which shows promiently his white mother and grandparents and the Kansas heartland values that were instilled into him as a youth. He has to have broad support if he is to be the first black President which is why his win in Iowa at the start of the primary season was so stunning and critical.

Jesse Jackson Sr made the silly mistake of accusing Barak of talking down to black folks. I thought the comments were not necessary and have to wonder if there are some sour grapes from Rev Jackson because Barak is accomplishing what he was not able to do in the 80s during his presidential runs. If nothing else, Barak Obama has talked up to black folks and all folks quite frankly about the possibility for change in America. His verbal gifts have been used to elevate and not denigrate for the most part.

Be that as it may, I think that it is important for black folks to realize that just because Barak Obama may be the next President of these United States, it doesn't mean that his entire agenda will be focused on the black community per se. It is my hope that should he be elected to the highest office in the land that he would bring a different sensitivity to the plight of those who have been on the margins of our society for some time. It is my hope that he would give voice to those who have been without a voice. It is my hope that his policies would benefit ALL Americans no mater what their racial hue. It is my hope that if Barak Obama were to become President of the United States that we could finally say that what is good for America is good for all Americans and not just a privileged few.

See the segments on Bill O'Reilly's The O'Reilly Factor:



Additional discussion:

Tech: A Practical Idea For Your Cell Phone Camera

TAMPA, FL-Let's face it, unless you have excellent lighting, your cell phone camera is probably not going to take a Pulitzer prize picture. I take outstanding pictures on bright sunny days as evidenced by the lake photo. A little touch up with Photoshop and it is serving as a great wallpaper for my computer's desktop at work.

But another practical idea for the camera on your cell phone is to use it as a memory jogger. I was in a used book store a couple of weeks ago looking through the religious section and found a treasure trove of decent titles that I am interested in acquiring. Rather than pulling out my Blackberry Curve and jotting down all of the titles, I pulled out my Curve and took pictures of all of the titles that interested me.




I did this a couple of times and find that it is much easier than typing because I get the author's name and title perfectly as well as what the book looks like. Try it sometime. You might not take an award winning picture but you'll save wear and tear on your brain cells.


Check out this book Defending Black Faith at Amazon.com