Wednesday, July 1, 2009

The Coonery Paradox

I have a quandary that perhaps you enlightened readers can help me with.  I call it “The Coonery Paradox.” Much like the String Theory or the elusive Theory of Everything, it is a puzzle that baffles the mind.  A paradox is defined as “a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.”  What I am about to describe is exactly that, two sides of reality that seem completely contradictory but at the same time is our current truth.

It boils down to a simple question:  Why is it ok to BE a coon or portray a coon in mainstream media, but if you call people out for being coons in mainstream media, you are vilified?

[Warning:  This is a VERY black issue and I know I have a diverse readership, so others, just follow along as best you can.]

Why does the black community turn a blind eye and meet with absolute silence some of the most coonish portrayals of black folks in the media, but when those same people or stereotypes are challenged for the coonery they are, the community gets into an absolute uproar and the challenger becomes the villain.  The Coonery Paradox.

I look at shows like Chocolate News, The Boondocks and the Dave Chapelle Show, both of which got heat from the black community about their portrayals of black folks and black culture.  These comedians cleverly satired some of the less flattering aspects of the culture.  They parodied people and situations we all know and exposed them in all their ridiculousness in a humorous way.  But the message was clear, come on y’all.  They held the mirror up, added some humor, and went over the top, often in an effort to challenge the very stereotypes we supposedly hate so much.  However, both shows seem to rub many black folks the wrong way.  I read articles that even celebrated the fact that Chocolate News was cancelled.

I look at my show “We Got To Do Better” which aimed to do the same by calling out coonish behavior for what is was, a hot ass embarrassing-to-us-all ghetto mess.  It offered no-apology commentary about the images of ourselves we were promulgating all over the world.   It even had the nerve to have statistics and positive profiles as part of the show.  And as you may or may not know, the show sparked a NATIONAL FUCKING PROTEST.  Rufkm?  The NAACP was having “Watch parties”, there were on-line petitions, panel discussions, t-shirts and God knows what else.  Gina McCauley, a completely misguided idiot who runs some Pro Black Woman bullshit blog, made protesting the show her personal cause de célèbre.  The logo above was the original logo for the show but was yanked because of the “racial controversy.”  What better symbol of ANTI-Cooning is there?  We wanted make our purpose abundantly  clear.  Alas….

 My point, and I do have one, is that I am noticing something very disturbing about black community “activism” (or fake-ass activism as I like to call it). 

Where the hell are these pro-black self-proclaimed protectors of the black image when Flava of Love was on?  When Ray-J was on?  I can’t think of two shows that denigrated black women like these did.

This summer sees the launch of two new reality shows featuring Keyshia Cole’s ex-crackhead mom and her alkie sister.  Both of whom’s claim to fame are their over the top ghetto, alcohol and crack-brain fueled behavior. (crack brain is what people who have been on crack a long time have, even if they’re no longer using, they just aint right no more).  The show is called Frankie & Neffie.  It’s a reality show showcasing a crackie and an alkie, both with several children by several people!!!

 Where are the protests now?  Where is the alarm?  What about all the daughters that will watch these shows and think they are accurate representations of black women?  Where’s the boycott of the sponsors?   Hello????  Anyone? Anyone?  Bueller?

Crickets from the protesting class.

Oh wait, there’s also a show featuring a jailed rapper’s girlfriend and another rapper’s baby mama who had their child at 15.  Both of whom sound like they just learned to read last week.  So now we have a show that many young women will watch and now aspire to be illiterate rapper teen baby mamas. 

Where is the outrage now? Gina McCauley?  Other random idiots???  Hellooooooo????  Where are your letter writing campaigns now?  Are yall going after the sponsors of those shows too?

Btw, the show is called “Tiny and Toya” and debuted this week with the highest ratings in the history of its network.

Seen Maury “You are Not the Father” Povich lately?  What makes women look any worse than that?  (though that shit is funny)  I Love New York?   Proteeeeestors….come out and plaaaaayyyyy…..

Why are critiques of negativity condemned while we welcome actual negativity with open arms and high ratings and top record sales?  The Coonery Paradox.

Bomani Armah’s animated music video “Read a Book” aired last year was a brilliant parody of the stereotypical rap video and parents and viewers and protesters went NUTS.  So wait, you are mad at the parody, but you let the real thing air all day everyday without a peep?  I don’t want that nasty parody on my television for my kids to see, show the Rick Ross video instead.   The Coonery Paradox.

We rarely publicly castigate those who are in the media making us all look bad, but God help you if you ever point out the fact that they’re making us look bad.  Then you are automatically a self-hating, Uncle Tom, elitist, wannabe-white sell-out who is exploiting their people.  The Coonery Paradox.

I am, by no means, saying that critiques of culture shouldn’t be subject to the same artistic and intellectual criticism as everything else.  Lets face it, “ We Got To Do Better” was no Frontline. There should be a vigorous debate about all art all the time.  So why do some things consistently get a pass?  I just cannot wrap my mind around the lack of public galvanization and critique of the things that are REALLY destroying the minds of our youth. 

Of course, I’m close to this issue.  Maybe its just me.   Maybe I’m trippin.  Maybe I’m completely off base here.  Maybe I’ve just had too much wine.  

 We Got To Do Better, despite the highest ratings of the summer, was taken off because of the “controversy” surrounding it.  Yeah, we wouldn’t want to have any show that actually tells people to get their shit together.  But its cool, we have “Frankie and Neffie” now.  The Coonery Paradox.

This isn’t about individual artists, specific channels or record labels.  I don’t want to get hung up on specifics. I used show examples just to make my point.  I just dont understand the odd response we have to representations of ourselves in mainstream media.   We get mad if white people call us coons, we get mad if black folks call us coons, but straight up coonery?  Bring it on.  The Coonery Paradox.

You figure it out.

 Peace people. 

*UPDATED (had to add The Boondocks and explain the graphic)

114 Responses to “The Coonery Paradox”

1. Alexei on 01 Jul 2009 at 9:27 am #

   So true.

2. tammy on 01 Jul 2009 at 10:01 am #

   my 2 cents? black folks can’t stand being called out. every criticism of a blacks, even an accurate one, is considered “racist” and offensive, by blacks. but they laugh at the bullshit aired on tv, like its cool.
   it is odd. too proud to be called out, not proud enough to be disgusted by how you’re portrayed. a paradox indeed. thank you for this post, jam.

3. Melba on 01 Jul 2009 at 10:06 am #

   Have I told you lately that I love you?

4. clickums on 01 Jul 2009 at 10:10 am #

   Realest thing I’ve read in AGES. PREACH!!!!

5. Quesha on 01 Jul 2009 at 10:20 am #

   this is hot. i scream and holler about coonery all the time. i feel like an elitist because of it. i refuse to watch and laugh at black folks shuckin and jivin. i stopped watchin “Martin” back in the day once i was old enough to figure out that slap-stick just wasn’t my thing. actually i don’t watch sitcoms at all.

   anyways, i hope u put this on facebook so that i can repost it…thanx in adavnce:)

6. Yetunde on 01 Jul 2009 at 10:30 am #

   You nailed it on the head. I think like someone said before me, black folks just can’t stand being ‘called out’ or told they are wrong. This type of paradox to me is akin to going after your boyfriend/husband’s side piece, instead of him. Where’s the sense in that? It’s a form of cognitive dissonance.

   Yetunde’s last blog post..passing it to the next generation

7. Mamadoc on 01 Jul 2009 at 10:38 am #

   The saddest thing is that some of the same who will agree with your blog, are some of the same ones watching/supporting those shows you mentioned. I’m always baffled by just how many watch some of the mess on tv but know without a doubt they are plenty because if not, the shows wouldn’t still be on.

   When Jerry Springer became the biggest thing in so many people’s lives, the people on stage didn’t bother me. It was the people in the audience and the ones sitting at home who never missed a show.

   I’ve tried listening to Lil Wayne & still cannot wrap my mind around why he’s the hottest thing out there.

   I’m glad you mentioned Ray J’s show as well because while people looked at Flava Flav as a joke, Ray J was just “looking for love”. I know plenty confuse sex with love & I guess I can see why.

   Thanks for your blog.

   Mamadoc’s last blog post..Revolutionary Road

8. Mr. Shabazz on 01 Jul 2009 at 10:53 am #

   Thank you. I feel the same way. Though I will admit to enjoying the Dave Chappelle show, Flava of Love, and all its subsequent spinoffs and now Keysha Cole and her spinoffs as well as Maury are out of control.

   Those are occasions where we need to scream and holler but we gleefully tune in to every episode.

   I’m not too much better than anyone else though. I watch some of these coonery shows but loudly condemn others depending on whether I found them funny or not. I did watch Jam’s show We Got to Do Better and appreciated it for the satire and social commentary that it was.

9. Conservativeblkwoman on 01 Jul 2009 at 11:35 am #

   Jam~Once again you have brilliantly encapsulated the absurdity of the black quasi-socialist progressive fundamentalist racism chaser’s minds with your deconstruction of the “Coonery Paradox”…Thank you.

   Conservativeblkwoman’s last blog post..Winston Salem Woman (Vap) Has Two Degrees & No Job in Thirty Years…

10. klm on 01 Jul 2009 at 11:41 am #

    You nailed it, Jam. Perhaps you need to teach a how-to recognize satire course (aka, Educated Smart Assery for Dummies) for the less enlightened among us.

11. Cap'n Kirk on 01 Jul 2009 at 12:03 pm #

    SPEAK THE F*ING TRUTH, GIRL! SPEAK IT!

12. Bridget on 01 Jul 2009 at 12:46 pm #

    Jam, YOU ARE SO ON POINT! It saddens me when I see how the black community runs to watch these shows but then run to condemn the truth behind them. And the music, please, I don’t even listen to the radio anymore I’m so disgusted! I’m a mother and I constantly tell my 18yr & 11yr olds the REAL REALITY behind these farces of BLACKNESS. I’m printing this post to pass it on to them & their friends! Thanks Jam!

13. KIM B on 01 Jul 2009 at 1:58 pm #

    I DO UNDERSTAND YOUR ANGER AND YOUR RAGE — ASIDE FROM WHAT I JUST READ WHAT DID YOU DO TO STOP THESE SHOWS FOM AIRING? OR DID YOU? AND IT IS OKAY TO VOIVE ONE’S OPINION BUT IT IS BETTER TO GIVE AN ALTERNATIVE (THE TRUTH OF HOW BLACK PEOPLE DO AND DO NOT BEHAVE) COSBY WAS CONSIDERD A “SELL-OUT” BECAUSE EVERYONE WAS EDUCATED ON THAT SHOW!!! WE DO IT TO OURSELVES; WE NEED TO STOP IT; BUT WE DO IT TO OURSELVES

14. Angel on 01 Jul 2009 at 2:23 pm #

    KIM B, shit woman. First, stop typing in caps. You’re making me blind. That is just holy rude to do on the ‘net.

    Second, at least Jam is doing something. Anything! Something is better than nothing. Ya know… like sitting around and bitching about it at the TV or with your friends but not putting pen to paper. Or fingers to the keyboard to the blog. In any case, if you wanna say “what did you do to stop these shows from airing?” how ’bout turning that same question back on yourself? Don’t attack the one reasonable voice as not having done enough when you much more than likely haven’t done a damn thing about it yourself.

    So if you “do it to yourselves; and I need to stop it” what are you doing exactly? But naturally you want the person who dares to speak the harsh truths to finish the job and fix the world for you. Sorry, hon. Life’s dirty and it takes a community to fix a community. Not one person.

    I think Jam’s other Readers did give the ‘alternative’ view. They fucking agree with her! Jam just pointed out the paradox in all its complexity.

    PS. I am white. And The Cosby Show was the one black show I could ever stand to watch(and really enjoy) without feeling like I was growing stupider by the minute. It was an intelligent show. I don’t think he was a sell out(but then again I’m white so what the hell do I know, right?) I think he made an entertaining family show. Period.

15. jamdonaldson on 01 Jul 2009 at 2:26 pm #

    Helloo? The whole point is that when I and others try to provide an alternative, it often gets shut down by our own people.

16. amy on 01 Jul 2009 at 2:29 pm #

    Jam, I enjoy reading your blog and you are clearly an intelligent person. Do you not see that your show could not be seen as promoting “coonish” images even as it makes fun of them? I am not sure that giving an additional forum for these fools is the best way to dispel any stereotypes.

    (BTW, I agree about the other shows. Despicable!)

17. Conservativeblkwoman on 01 Jul 2009 at 3:15 pm #

    Jam~Where can I find the DVD for your show? I remember Gina M. causing a stink about it but I never saw the show…I’d like to purchase the DVD if you have any available for sale.

    Conservativeblkwoman’s last blog post..Winston Salem Woman (Vap) Has Two Degrees & No Job in Thirty Years…

18. jamdonaldson on 01 Jul 2009 at 3:27 pm #

    Well funny you ask, BET created a DVD version of every other show that season EXCEPT WGTDB. Its like they wanted to pretend it never happened by getting rid of all the evidence that the show even existed. I have some clips i could email you if you send me your email address.

19. jamdonaldson on 01 Jul 2009 at 3:31 pm #

    I do want to say that although they ultimately bowed to public pressure, I will say that Reginald Hudlin and the execs at BET at the time were extremely great to work with and very brave to take on a show with such a radical perspective. Hudlin had balls but none of us were a match for the corporate money-making machine that ultimately ruled us all. I have NO hard feelings against that crew, it was not their fault.

20. Jay Mac on 01 Jul 2009 at 4:55 pm #

    Jam, I think I love you. keep telling it like it is

21. TAE on 01 Jul 2009 at 5:14 pm #

    One word…..PREACH!!!!!!

    TAE’s last blog post..Illuminati population control………….

22. jam donaldson on 01 Jul 2009 at 5:25 pm #

    To Amy — i think that is an absolutely fair question. And I believe the culture and audience should debate issues like that and decide for themselves. Why not have MORE art and MORE perspectives instead of less?

    The sad thing about my show was that it was never given a chance. If the show had aired for a couple of seasons and there was general critical consensus that it was worthless and sucked and did nothing to address the problems it attempted to confront, then fine. Siyonara show.

    But to have a show that people actually liked, and actually watched, taken off the air because a vocal minority screams racism and exploitation is really unfortunate. And this happens often. There are many shows and projects that will never see the light of day precisely because networks dont want to deal with racial “controversy.”

    I know from personal experience that BET had several thought-provoking shows in the works that they pulled after the WGTDB mess. Corporate sponsors were now gun-shy. Guess its easier to put on Frankie and Neffie. No one will say anything about that…

    I mean this really isnt about that show, my point stands if my own show was taken out of the equation. I just happened to have this very unique vantage point and wanted to share it.

    Just unfortunate.

23. Clyde on 01 Jul 2009 at 5:28 pm #

    I agree with everything you have said and it is indeed a paradox. Shows like WGTDB, Chapelle Show and the Boondocks, make intelligence exaggerations and satires of stereotypes to educate people and get protested, but Flava of Love and tiny and Toya get great ratings, it baffles me. I remember you telling me that you were going to relaunch WGTDB as a web show are there any plans to do that in the future?

    Clyde’s last blog post..Marquee in The Sky

24. jam donaldson on 01 Jul 2009 at 5:30 pm #

    Boondocks is a perfect example as well….

25. jam donaldson on 01 Jul 2009 at 5:31 pm #

    I still hope to launch it on the Net, just been too busy lately. Maybe this fall.

26. Miles Ellison on 01 Jul 2009 at 11:48 pm #

    The television and film audience needs a remedial course in satire. The criticism of The Boondocks, The Chapelle Show, and other examples of satirical humor were misguided. There were black people who did not understand Spike Lee’s Bamboozled. If you look up coonery in the dictionary, pictures of Tyler Perry and Flava Flav should be there, along with clips from Meet the Browns and House of Payne. None of his work is satire. Almost all of it is modern blackface.

    The basic problem here is that a lot of these critics don’t understand what they’re watching. As a result, you get cognitive dissonance; praise for Tyler Perry’s useless coonery and condemnation of illuminating humor. Pretty ridiculous.

27. joanie on 02 Jul 2009 at 12:13 pm #

    THANK YOU. Thank you for your commentary. My only question is why your columns are not more frequent? America, black america in particular, could you a daily dose of your insight.

28. am on 02 Jul 2009 at 2:33 pm #

    I didn’t know you were behind We gotta do better. Great show…hate it was cancelled.

    The post was on point. It makes my day whenever you update this blog. Thanks

29. Anonymous on 02 Jul 2009 at 4:53 pm #

    Well, sadly, we ain’t the only ones. Our white brothers and sisters are making fools out of themselves all over televison. “My Big Redneck Wedding” and pretty bascially everything on Vh1. Not that that makes it ok, i’m just sayin….
    Cuz if we had a show called “My Cruntastically Ghetto A$$ Wedding”, we all know it would be a hit!

30. Michelle on 02 Jul 2009 at 4:56 pm #

    It makes my day too. I absolutely look forward to your post because they are always SOOOO ON POINT! I can’t wait for your post on MJ I know it’s coming! Much Love.

31. Tracie Martin on 02 Jul 2009 at 7:15 pm #

    Excellent commentary, however I have to say that the “Coonery Paradox” is simply a subsection of the far more elaborate “Institutionalized Idiocracy” that we all seem to be apart of. The media/corporate america is simply the vehicle used to make sure that we never actually stop and think wtf is actually going on. We are pumped with worthless information and outright lies day in and day out. Nothing on television is thought provoking. We have to take charge of our own lives, and pull ourselves and our children away from TV. Its unfortunate that your show was cancelled, however the show simply did not fit the formula. The protest from that chick just provided the network with the excuse to snatch it off the air.

32. Naijha on 02 Jul 2009 at 7:42 pm #

    I like your style. Strong message. Keep up the good work!

33. jam donaldson on 02 Jul 2009 at 7:43 pm #

    @ Tracie, i will disagree with you only on this, the programming execs and BET did not want to take this show off the air. I learned that it is all about money. And nothing scares corporate sponsors more than a racial protest and threats of a boycott. So the issue was that the protesters scared the shit out of corporate sponsors to where they did not want to be assocaited with the show. So if you cant sell sponsors on the show. It simply cant continue. It doesnt matter if a show has high ratings, a sponsor doesnt want to be labeled as supporting something that is offensive to black people. period.

    It was the effect of the protest on corporate sponsorship that killed the show, not the execs at BET. I give them kudos for at least TRYING to do something different, and sure I didnt agree with everything they did, but they were the ones who came to me and wanted to try this idea, and I admire Hudlin’s moxey for that.

    It really is all about the benjamins.

34. JaBe on 03 Jul 2009 at 10:40 am #

    Jam on it! As always you’ve mangaged to say what, what seems like, too few of us are thinking/feeling.

35. jam donaldson on 03 Jul 2009 at 10:52 am #

    also @ Tracy, there is a great Shakespeare quote that emphasizes you’re larger point about keeping folks in the dark about the real issues of the day. King Henry IV said: “Be it thy course to busy giddy minds. With foreign quarrels…” Same applies whether its the black community’s focus on outside forces and rarely looking to themselves for empowerment–to North Korea or Iran. Keep the focus the foreign/outsider enemy and then you wont be focused on the everyday, internal conditions that rule your life.

    We focus on the larger, philosophical, historical struggles and often forget the everyday struggles we could impact if we just change our focus. This goes for every person, this isnt specific to any race or religion or struggle.

36. Tracie Martin on 03 Jul 2009 at 11:24 am #

    Your right, this issue effects us all regardless of race; however the giddy mind syndrome plagues the black community. We see it everyday, and I often find myself saying to myself, “look at this hot ass mess”. I feel surrounded by coonery(lol), and when I call it out, I’m the one who is considered negative, bitchy, and of course the all time favorite…bourgeois!!! I hate to generalize, but Black folks seems to be comfortable with how we are viewed by others, and it is sad

37. Dwayne W on 03 Jul 2009 at 1:59 pm #

    I totally agree. as a people we are lemmings. but as soon as one of us lemmings realizes where we’re marching another lemming kicks them out of the line. i just don’t understand it.

    coonery. ghetto fab. swag. pimpn. getting paid. hustling…worrying more about fashion and rapping than getting your butt in order and taking care of business and family. i think the media is succeeding in their mission to keep us slaves by any means necessary.

38. R. Clark on 03 Jul 2009 at 2:44 pm #

    In one word… Amen. My beef has always been at the trash we, as black people consider entertainment. From Maury (and Jerry, Ricki, Steve Wilcos, even Jenny Jones!) to new shows like Tiny and Toya, Frankie and Neffie, even shows that shouldn’t be blatantly ghetto (*cough*every BET Awards since 2000*cough*) only perpetuate a tragic trend of catering to the ignorance of our culture. It’s no worse than seeing BET years ago as the ONLY STATION IN AMERICA that would air St. Ides commercials (during Rap City and Video Soul, no less). The Boondocks hit the nail on the head when they called BET on trying to destroy Black people. But, we don’t speak up at all, unless there’s something to gain (political pressure, posturing, and the like). Al Sharpton sat front row next to Joe Jackson at this year’s BET awards… there’s a joke in there, but, it’s pointless to bring up at this moment… I applaud you, Jam, for starting HGM, as well as WGTDB… I LOVE CINAW (though I’ve been absent for a moment)… and I appreciate what you and few others (and I mean VERY few) do to bring some civility and nobility back to our culture. I pray and channel block the things I don’t want my children to see. I protest by not tuning in now.

    R. Clark’s last blog post..Still On My Poetry Grizzlie

39. locgirl on 04 Jul 2009 at 1:18 pm #

    I am intensely loving this intelligent conversation. Thanks, Jam

40. Bianca on 04 Jul 2009 at 3:33 pm #

    I have hated BET since the late nineties. I basically carried on like it didn’t exist and I was pretty successful. Sometimes I would go to a black owned salon that ran BET all day long but I would read a “muthaf*ckin” book instead. As a Boondocks fan, I was not surprised to see that the banned episodes were the ones that straight up said that BET is the Devil. The corporations that own the media do not want black people to realize that they are being manipulated to the highest degree.

    Think of how many shows feature classy blacks. How many black people you know think that having dignity and class is acting white? If you don’t thoroughly embrace hood culture then you are not real enough and should turn in your Black card. This is a problem in our culture that is extremely complicated. There so many factors as to we are in this mess and it is going to take a lot of honest and open conversation to remedy this. But of course, real black folks don’t like to air their dirty laundry in public. They would rather allow other people to tell the world that, other than Obama, most Black Americans look and act like BET.

41. ms mac on 04 Jul 2009 at 10:28 pm #

    Although I agree that corporate plays a role to me it’s all a numbers game, and not necessarily one preceded by dollar signs. Looking at the Black population as a whole, there’s more of a relatability quotient at work here, and that’s where the strength in number comes into play. If the majority of Black folks in America carried themselves rejected the indignity and as whole objected to this buffoonery, it wouldn’t have teeth. But since the greater majority of Blacks are living in urban areas, have lower education and are poorer, it’s easier for the “MAN” to push this BS and get away with it. Simple supply and demand. And this isn’t commentary on whether or not there are a reasonable amount of intelligent Black people living in America. This about the FACT that Keisha Cole’s show and others like hers don’t get high ratings because socially conscious, intelligent, critical-forward thinking BLACKS aren’t the ones tuning in. So what does that say about us as a whole? Check your mothers, sisters, brothers, etc. A lot of them are the ones that make these shows successful and perpetuate the Coonery Paradox.

42. ms mac on 04 Jul 2009 at 10:30 pm #

    typing too fast … I meant If the majority of Black folks in America carried themselves with class, rejected the indignity and as whole objected to this buffoonery …

43. Spinster on 05 Jul 2009 at 8:57 am #

    Food for thought. Thanks for writing this.

44. Cali on 05 Jul 2009 at 8:03 pm #

    the straight TRUTH, Jam. I actually had to EXPLAIN to a friend why the Lil’ Wayne/Drake performance was being edited out of future airings of the BET Awards!! Baffling, I love her to pieces but can you not see that singing “F every girl” (or whatever the song is called) w/ such young girls on stage is JUST WRONG?? ANY girls on stage really, but at least grown women could make up their own minds about how they’re being seen. It’s just awful across the board. & I had no idea folks were protesting Chocolate News, I was loving that show. It’s a paradox for real, Black people are believing ALL the hype & it’s rather sad!

45. amy on 06 Jul 2009 at 4:18 pm #

    Hi Jam -

    First of all, I deeply appreciate your response to my comment. Your intelligence, passion and writing ability are the reasons I read this blog, and it means a lot that you have taken the time to answer.

    I guess I am having trouble understanding the distinction you draw between your show and the others. I mean, you are making fun of these folks in a more overt way, but don’t you think that the other shows assume the audience understands that they are train wrecks and the mockery is implied? If you think about it, it’s kind of a fine line. I don’t think any of the shows are sympathetic toward their subjects, and your show is arguably more patronizing in tone. (When I say sympathetic, I mean without judgement - not in any way condoning whatever is going on, btw)

    The comparison with “Redneck Wedding” etc. made by another poster is valid - people like to watch other people acting the fool, no matter what the race. The difference is that unfortunately, due to our racist society, black people seem to be disproportionately represented as idiots, and let’s not forget that for many people, ideas about other races and cultures come primarily from the media, much more so that any kind of actual interaction or personal experiences. I just don’t think the world needs any additional depictions of these particular stereotypes that might serve to reinforce whatever negative ideas are already out there.

    I’m only putting this out there because I genuinely respect you and just wonder what you think.

46. jam donaldson on 06 Jul 2009 at 4:37 pm #

    @ Amy, I appreciate your comments and the difference I draw between my show and “the redneck wedding” type of show is that, i made sure that the show made relevant social commentary on the images we were seeing. I included stats about what was going on in the community and included man-on-the-street interviews to illicit commentary from people on various topics addressed in the show.

    It was by no means a perfect show, but I told BET going in that i had no interest in some “black funniest home videos” model. Every show ended with a serious commentary and challenge to everyone to do better.

    Was it patronizing in tone? maybe? there was a lot of room for improvement and there were many things i wanted to do that BET wouldnt allow. My point is that I dont think there is value in showing a bunch of videos for people to laugh at either.

    Context was very important to me. I think thats what we are missing in terms of the representations of communities in mainstream media. My show was just my attempt to challenge the pervasive negative imagery and say clearly and plainly, “thats not who we are” and “that behavior is unacceptable and destructive.” By no means was it the perfect vehicle but I think it was a start. I tried to challenge folks to look in the mirror and see how they may be contributing to the problem. I wanted everyone to start to examine behavior more critically and at the same time be entertained and educated. Is that patronizing? I don’t know.

    BUt context of the images was the most impt part to me. Too many young people dont have someone distinguishing for them what is real, what is positive, what is destructive, so many times these images and ideas and behaviors go unchallenged and i wanted to be a lone voice out there challenging them. But it was definitely diff than the “trainwreck” shows that show foolishness just for laughs. It was far from perfect, but i think it would have ultimately developed into a decent piece of television.

    one of these days, i hope to get another chance.

47. Dyan on 06 Jul 2009 at 8:59 pm #

    PREACH!!!!!!!

    “But they don’t hear you tho”.

48. Dyan on 06 Jul 2009 at 9:06 pm #

    Conservativeblkwoman on 01 Jul 2009 at 11:35 am #

    Jam~Once again you have brilliantly encapsulated the absurdity of the black quasi-socialist progressive fundamentalist racism chaser’s minds with your deconstruction of the “Coonery Paradox”…

    Please, you need to quit trying sooo hard. You know a couple of words, we’re impressed.

49. amy on 07 Jul 2009 at 8:37 am #

    Jam, I sincerely hope you get another chance too! We need more smart people willing to confront this difficult topic with all its contradicitions. I believe you sincerely care about these issues, and I know you will be a force for good - and I will DEFINITELY be watching!

50. DeAndra on 07 Jul 2009 at 7:00 pm #

    Thank you!

51. (4o)ur on 08 Jul 2009 at 9:13 am #

    This needed to be said…This was a well written post and spoke nothing but truth…I love the Boondocks, Chappelle’s Show and Chocolate News (the eps. i did see) and commended those shows for bringing out the baffoonery in black culture

    (4o)ur’s last blog post..Spreadin the real: Jay-Z freestyle in Vegas

52. Kisha on 08 Jul 2009 at 9:42 am #

    Its because it is acceptable in our world to display out ignorance but not acceptable to go after it. Many things that go on in this world is ass backwards. You have to be unemployed and have many kids in order to collect welfare, get a section-8 house and pay $27 a month, recieve free milk, money and stamps, have the state pay for child care as you sit on your ass for years. On the other hand there are those that work, go to school, take care of our kids and cannot collect a dime from neither the government or state. People like myself didn’t even qualify to recieve milk for a set of twins as I attend college, pay off loans , work full-time and have to have my mother care for my children as I do so because I cannot afford $200 a week per child. Again, its acceptable to be a coon but not to go after one. Tiny and Toya are great examples of somoeone who learned to read last week (LOL), you hit the nail on the head with that one but I do not give them airplay on my t.v. Its up to the public to figure out what is good for us. My daughter will never be permitted to sit and watch stupid women be…well stupid. I cannot figure it out one way or another, but I do know that in this ass backwards world….we cannot change anyone, just ourselves; and until we do that…we can only define our self improvement. Its a shame you can now get rich off of coonery and I think that this another problem. Easy access to be a dumbass. What? Be stupid and I get paid? BET!! I mean seriously, its too hard to be smart and make some decent money from that. I mean how many people y’all know that will go to college for years, start from the bottom up and learn from the best on how to be rich in a decent society OR just be unemployed, dumb, young and pregnant, support their man in prison, stand on the corner, have sex with 15 women you never heard of but based on looks you get what you want from them? If you asked what would be easier….90% will go with the second part. Ass backwards!!

53. Dwayne W on 08 Jul 2009 at 11:27 am #

    What would it take to get all or most of us “risen” blacks to start a channel? It does not need to be all uppity all the time just no reinforcement of “ghetto fab” lifestyle and denigration of our women and blacks in the light they need to be in.

54. Penni Brown on 08 Jul 2009 at 5:02 pm #

    I think this has to do with shame. Over the last generation and a half, we have abandoned ’shame and embarrassment’. Now, when people do coon isht, we say, ‘oh, but at least they are trying’…or ‘at least they are making money.’ whereas back in the day, we would’ve had no qualms about telling that fool to sit the hell down and shut up because he was embarrassing himself. And the fool would’ve felt a bit ashamed for acting out. a 15 year old pregnant girl would’ve been sent down south to live with her extended family, not been the queen for a day at her heavily supported baby shower.

    You know what, maybe its more than shame. Maybe it also goes back to that whole PC thing we started in junior league sports…where we only offered praise. No criticism is allowed and every child that plays is a winner.

    Alot of people these days are NOT tough enough to actually be a loser, learn from it and be better the next time.

    So, bring back the shame, embarrassment and let the real winners come to the front.

55. Observer on 10 Jul 2009 at 6:05 am #

    this is so true… i felt shame in myself for watching shows that BLATANTLY degraded black ppl in terms of how they are presented… i have ended up not even watching tv. i dont know if that is the right thing to do, as we all know ignoring the issues doesn’t solve anything, but i did it to try and give me space to get my mind right…
    i think alot of ppl know that certain shows are (to coin a phrase) a “hot ghetto mess” and that alot of the videos are the same, but as a ppl we seem to sacrifice our self respect in the name of entertainment. and God forbid anyone gets in the way of our entertainment.
    Victimizing shows like the ones mentioned is pretty much shooting the messenger. we dont mind what we look at, as long as it doesnt challenge us to change. thats when ppl start talking/ protesting.

56. amy on 10 Jul 2009 at 3:29 pm #

    I think the whole notion of collective shame for the unfortunate choices of a few is part of the problem, though. Sometimes as humans we have to take ourselves and the way we feel the bad behavior of others might reflect upon us…even though it may be true that at times it DOES reflect on us…out of the equation. Often the suspicion that the whole will be judged by the actions of the few interferes with being compassionate and fair.

    Things generally don’t happen in a vacuum. There are reasons for people’s behavior, no matter how difficult it is to understand at times. Not everyone has the resources or common sense to steer their own life effectively, and many times it’s because they weren’t provided with enough guidance from the beginning. Other times, they simply use poor judgement or are ignorant.

    That’s why the “reality” shows bother me so much. The people are not actors (well, not exactly). They are REAL people doing REAL dumb stuff. I’m not trying to defend what they do, but I have to assume they don’t fully understand the problems, or don’t know how to correct them. Most people don’t set out to ruin their own lives.

    The sitcoms and so on are just the usual stereotypical stuff and would probably go away if no one watched them.

    It might be more effective in the long run to treat people with respect and give them an opportunity to redeem their mistakes, rather than shame them, which is what people jump to when they feel that the foolish decisions of others may reflect poorly on THEM.

    But that might be where my views differ. I know that many people believe that if we were more judgmental, perhaps it would discourage certain behavior.

57. Bianca on 10 Jul 2009 at 7:55 pm #

    @Penni
    You hit the nail on the head. Bring back shame. We need honor restored.

    @Amy
    You are rationalizing. Folks are free to make their own choices but that does not mean that we have to allow the networks or any other person exploit their stupidity and make an ass out of our culture. People have taken this “i don’t judge” mentality too far. If we judged more of our people and held them accountable for what they do, we might be able to help them before they get into the system (which we know could care two shits about us.) We need to call a spade, a spade.

58. Sammy on 13 Jul 2009 at 3:51 am #

    Re: “But since the greater majority of Blacks are living in urban areas, have lower education and are poorer, it’s easier for the “MAN” to push this BS and get away with it.”

    Please stop this. The “Man” does not force you to not read a book, or not learn a craft, or not take a walk in the park, or not visit some lonely old lady in a nursing home. Most urban areas have many, many types of museums (art, historical, children’s, auto, trains, science, etc. And then there are the different libraries where you can spend hours and hours. Many museums and libraries even offer classes in just about anything you can think of. Sometimes free.

    If you want music, instead of wasting time watching and listening to the shake your booty noise, the library carries records (yes, I said records) or CDs by Leontyne Price, Jessye Norman, Sarah Vaughan, Kathleen Battle, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole or Shirley Scott (the list is long). Free.

    When I express these sentiments on many black site, I get called names (even the “Man”) because some black people cannot conceive of the idea that a black person would have different interests than what they consider black. I am approaching 68 years and many of my interests were developed back in high school at the encourgagement of parents, family, teachers, others. I have never found a reason to seek less.

    So cut the CRAP MS MAC, about what the “Man” is doing to you. Your choices are your own.

    I must admit that I have never seen any of the shows mentioned here. I know who Chappell is from seeing his name in the news but have never seen him perform and I know Boondocks from the comic strip.

    No one is being forced to watch degrading shows on TV. It is a choice I have chosen not to make. (I would have to purchase a TV if I suddenly changed my mine).

    P.S. I love this site and the people who post here. It is nice to read intellegent and inciteful posts by people who understand how we, black people, sometimes are own worst enemy.

59. Angel on 13 Jul 2009 at 7:42 am #

    Sammy, free choice and free will is a real bitch, ain’t it? It can come back to slap you hard if you don’t use it wisely. But that goes for everyone, regardless of skin color.

    You, sir, are a classy man. Thank you for sharing your point of view.

60. amy on 13 Jul 2009 at 9:19 am #

    @ Bianca:

    Actually, we agree that the shows are exploitative and offensive (I think).

    My point was that whether they are just showing fools or showing them and making fun of them, it amounts to the same thing, and I doubt that either one is constructive (if we are talking about wanting to change anything, that is).

61. Penni Brown on 14 Jul 2009 at 4:18 pm #

    @amy - i meant individual shame.

    honor for the collective is based on individuals feeling good enough (respect) about themselves and their elders to to be honorable…and elders, esp. men, realizing that the poor choices of their progeny reflect poorly on them.

    in a community that’s how it works by definition -joint ownership/accountability of how we are perceived.

    of course there are factors that lead people to certain choices. i know that smart people make bad choices…saying a choice is bad is not judging a person.

    Penni Brown’s last blog post..True Hip Hop Stories

62. amy on 14 Jul 2009 at 5:12 pm #

    @ Penni

    I also believe that judging a choice is different than judging the person who makes it. I think my original post even said that. But I guess part of my point is that IMO individual choice is really the right and responsibility of the individual to him or herself and the people close to them and not something they should do to please the society at large. Nor should the greater community be judged by the bad decisions of individuals. I do realize that this is not always (or even often) how it works, but perhaps that is where we should be aiming?

    I think that a lack of self-respect is a contributing factor to some or even most of the obnoxious behavior we are talking about, plus ignorance. I am just not sure that ridiculing people is the best way to address these issues (do not confuse this with me endorsing their behavior or the shows that promote it in any way, though!).

    As far as individual shame vs. collective shame - I think that individual stupid behavior DOES make large segments of the community feel embarrassed (or if you prefer, disrespected) and that is really where the pile-on begins.

    I’m not trying to antagonize anyone…I’m just trying to think of what the most pragmatic approach to these problems would be.

63. CSpotGo on 15 Jul 2009 at 3:13 am #

    My first thought was to ignore your latest literary offering and dismiss it as just another one of your rants, but I think I’ll take this moment to play the proverbial Devil’s Advocate for a moment.

    First off, let’s not lose sight of the fact that the term “coon” or “coonery” is completely subjective. In my observation, no black person is safe (except for the possible exception of Barack Obama) from being labeled a coon at one point or another. But if I needed to properly define the word, I would have to say that it’s a word used by black people to describe other black people engaged in behavior that they feel whites probably won’t understand or accept.

    With that definition in mind, I can better understand why some cringe when they see a genuine display of coonery in their mists. Some of you feel you’ll have some explaining to do to your white friends. Others will know they’ll have to get their us vs. them speech together to disassociate yourself from the offending negro. Others may take on a more parental role and feel they have to educate the unlearned among us so that in the future they’ll know how to “act right.” But can we realistically expect folks to respond to self-righteous cries to get our act together on their own dime during their own time. Whose going to pay 100 bucks a month for cable only to be lectured to about how I decide to live my life. If I want a sermon I’ll go to church. If I want to be reminded about how f**ked up some black people are, I’ll watch CNN. People are entertined watching the adventures of Keysha Cole’s mama because believe it or not she’s a compelling character. I for one thought that the new Tiny and ? show was a big waste of time and video, but I watched it for 15 minutes and they sometimes have more depth than we give them credit for. That’s why shows like this wind up being successful. I preach how America is being dumbed down harder than anyone. But honestly. No one wants to here about how they can improve when they just want to relax. And that’s not just black folks, that’s EVERYBODY.

64. jamdonaldson on 15 Jul 2009 at 7:29 am #

    @ CSpotgo regarding your definition of coonery “I would have to say that it’s a word used by black people to describe other black people engaged in behavior that they feel whites probably won’t understand or accept.” What about the notion that its behavior that noone understands or SHOULD accept. To take your definition to its logical conclusion, it would mean that we could engage in behavior that is destructive to our communities, denigrating to our women, mocking of our history, harmful to our children — and we would all think it was OK as long as white people didnt know about it?

    Although for you and others that may be true, I will say not everyone’s opinions are informed by the “but what will white people think?” mentality. I know mine arent.

    Sure coonery is absolutely subjective, but I consider it like obscenity. I may not be able to define it, but I know it when i see it.

65. keylab on 15 Jul 2009 at 9:05 am #

    Great post. I’ve been trying to find a post regarding the HGM.com situation. How long has the HGM.com website been down? I see it’s still listed below under Links she likes but the site doesn’t work…Anyone know the story?

66. Penni Brown on 15 Jul 2009 at 1:30 pm #

    hey amy - you wrote “I am just not sure that ridiculing people is the best way to address these issues ”

    See - this is where we are probably thinking the same thing but missing each other. Ridiculing people is judging. I agree that approach is not effective. But we should be calling people out for ridiculous choices.

    What we do too often when someone makes a ridiculous choice is give them a pass/rationalize it. (My pastor calls this rationing out the lies. LOL) Look at their environment, look at their role models, look at their education, etc.

    Most of us can understand WHY certain choices would be attractive to some people. But, we all know that those choices aren’t the only ones available. It’s just that the productive choices usually require a lot more work, patience, integrity, virtue and persistance…and who the hell wants to worry about all of that when they can just shake their @ss for a few hours and get some cash, right? LOL

    We aren’t doing them or ourselves (our community)any favors by feeling sorry for them and excusing the ridiculous behavior.

    Penni Brown’s last blog post..True Hip Hop Stories

67. Amethyst on 15 Jul 2009 at 3:46 pm #

    I really don’t know why individuals feel that the actions of others reflect on them. I just really don’t know!

    Most people have no high ground from which to speak.

68. Seda on 17 Jul 2009 at 5:19 pm #

    This just became my favorite blog. Ever.

69. E on 18 Jul 2009 at 2:52 pm #

    Wow. I can’t believe that someone actually said this, and I caught wind of it.

    For one, I don’t watch “black” television anymore because I am so very offended by the behavior that is so idolized by our culture. I tried to watch the Soulja Boy “performance” for the BET awards 1 hour before the show aired. I’m a 25-year-old female and I’ve never been so disgusted by anything as what I saw. He was basically putting a black woman on display as a mere sex object, and she was acting as if her entire being was wrapped up solely in her thick frame and pretty face. And it was like “…What the HELL has our culture become?” And I ask myself that every day. What the HELL has our culture become? What kind of example are we setting for our children when we will tell them “Beware the white people” when we ourselves are our own worst enemies?

    We say we want to do better as a race, but really, as a whole, we aspire to nothing. And those of us individually who are doing well and behaving ourselves can’t fill up the head of a pin in comparison. It’s our own fault. See, someone else may have put us here but it’s up to us to get out of this situation. And the majority of us just want to place blame, not join together to put a stop to it.

    In other words: I agree with you.

70. C Spot Go on 19 Jul 2009 at 1:31 pm #

    I can understand some taking exception to my earlier definition of the term “cooning.” But I stand by it. If this term were applied to those whose behavior is destructive to society, there would be just as many whites called coons as there are blacks. But I’ve never heard any whites referred to as coons. The truth is when we want to show our disapproval to a black entertainer’s artistic expression, we can best sensationalize our disdain by labeling them a “coon.” I’ve heard black folks from Bill Cosby to Lil Wayne referred to as coons. There’s no real rhyme or reason in it all. It’s just a word used to demean black entertainers. That being said, I don’t put too much stock in the coon label. As ridiculous as talentless Souljah Boy Tellem and the others look wasting time on a stage, I probably am more suspicious of the ones calling them coons than the performers themselves. When black folks use it, it’s usually a term rooted in self-hated.

    My hope for black people is that one day we will be free and experience that same freedom white people have. That is the freedom to live our lives without the burden of the entire race on our backs. Then maybe if Lil Wayne wants to get on stage and make a complete ass of himself, it doesn’t mean I have to hang my head low the day after the BET awards. Instead of pulling our hair out over an awards show, we should be striving for that level of freedom.

71. amy on 21 Jul 2009 at 9:00 am #

    @ C Spot Go

    I agree - there is no shortage of tacky people across the races. It’s interesting to me that white people do not take the incomprehensible actions of such well-known dunces/walking disasters as George Bush or Eminem personally in the same way.

    And yes: we are all best served by reminding ourselves that THEY are not representatives for US. There is really no need to judge people if the impact of their foolish behavior is limited to their lives.

    Hopefully over time there will be more diverse depictions of different kinds of black lifestyles in the media, and it will be easier to see that idiocy is just a human trait that people of all races can share!

72. Indigo Red on 21 Jul 2009 at 10:59 pm #

    Jam, I think you answered your own question when you wrote, “I tried to challenge folks to look in the mirror and see how they may be contributing to the problem.” Folks looked in the mirror and didn’t like the reflection.

    I remember when the first episode aired, this disclaimer was shown at the start of the program, “The program you are about to see is ‘All in the Family’. It seeks to throw a humorous spotlight on our frailties, prejudices, and concerns. By making them a source of laughter we hope to show, in a mature fashion, just how absurd they are.” I know your program was different conceptually, it had a similar purpose - ridiculing the stereotype. Had the show premiered only five years earlier, it would have failed.

    Don’t give up on the concept, the audience, or the sponsers. You were just ahead of your time.

    Indigo Red’s last blog post..Senate Democrats Reject Public Option for Themselves

73. Kellye on 23 Jul 2009 at 4:29 pm #

    To quote a number of people who have already posted, “I love this site.” Jam, you do know how to call an issue.
    Although I am a white woman, I see the same sh*t all day long on shows like ‘Big Brother’, ‘Survivor’, and all of those other so called “reality” shows.
    @CSpotgo..I am hanging my head at dunces like Bushy Boy and Eminem. And I believe (perhaps I should say HOPE) there are other white people out there who feel the same.
    To Everyone…keep the intelligent conversations going outside of Jam’s site. One day perhaps we can get people to see past a person’s skin color and take everyone for the human being that we all are. (Hope that makes sense!

74. Dee on 24 Jul 2009 at 4:26 pm #

    I think black people like to formulate their own conclusions and opinions about embarrassing people and/or situations and feel insulted when those most of us deem “intellectuals” or outsiders come in with their holier-than-thou sermons and recriminations about said people/situations. Then again maybe we just don’t get satire…but helly, most of us can watch shows like flava of love & tiny and toya and come to the very same conclusion that those same intellectuals/outsiders come to: these people are a hot ass mess and nothing that most of us would want to aspire to be like…they are just like that cousin of yours pookie that you won’t allow over to the house–with money…

75. Jacqueline on 27 Jul 2009 at 9:29 pm #

    I agree wholeheartedly. I am so tired of coonery and bafoonery! Sometimes I wish times were harder for us so that we could see we still have so much more to do. Black people, tell your sons to put the damn footballs and basketballs DOWN! Pick up a book, take a trip to a science/technical camp this summer to compete with these Aferican, Asian and other foreign students who have their educational standards so high up even MJ’s jump shots fall short:) Stop asking for what we need in our communities folks, we know what we need.
    What we need in the black community 101:
    1. Banks-Financial institutions that generate monetary wealth into the community. It is also very convenient for those who cannot always travel to town or afford to to be able to transact money.
    2. After school math, science,computer(IT), engineering programs- If we can buy $2100 rims, get our nails done for $25 times 365 which equals $9125…you can put your sons/daughters in camp!
    3. EDUCATION,EDUCATION,EDUCATION!!!! You graduate from HS because you are supposed to and going to college is a must or technical training. Something educational for our youth besides BafooneryExploitedTelevision(BET)!!!
    One.

76. Sheba on 28 Jul 2009 at 12:11 pm #

    Jam, you are the **ish!!!
    I rarely watch TV nowadays, and I used to LOVE videos growing up! But it is way too much BUFFOONERY going on. And the “reality” shows are a joke. Calling them “reality” goes against the strides we have made as a race. Granted, what these shows depict is reality to some people, but that is a very small subset of the Black race.

    We all know that drama, controversy, and ghettoism sells. But, I get angry at the “leaders” who come out of the woodwork at even a hint of media attention. They like to jump out, ambush a “cause,” then crawl back under their rocks. I believe it was Jay_Z who said “everyone who wears a cufi ain’t down for the cause.” These people should be in constant protest at what is going on EVERY DAY!

    Anyway, I’ll save that for my own blog! But, I am glad you have once again put the spotlight on something that needs to be put on blast. The end to the buffoonery begins in our own homes/families/neighborhoods.

    Sheba’s last blog post..LIFE, PLEASE

77. Tread61 on 28 Jul 2009 at 4:40 pm #

    Jam,Thanks - I feel your pain! As a grandfather I look at a “network” that bares the name of the community it was “suppose” to represent and I am ashamed of what that network became. Why can I find more POSITIVE shows about my community on other networks (CNN, ABC Family) and not this one? Why are we not seeing Oprah reruns, Tyra, The Cosby Show - even old school Soul Hour or BETSoul (oops I gave it away) on BET? I would even go so far as to include Dave Chappelle reruns on BET. Am I to believe that in the 25 years of its exsistance BET still does not have a library of positive imagery to pass onto the next generation?
    In the early days (1950 to 1984) “Coonery” was almost all we had for Black Entertainment TV. Oh sure we were made a smattering of side kicks (think Tubbs in Miami Vice, “Boom-Boom” Washington in Welcome Back Kotter, etc) and even fewer stand alone shows (Julia, I-Spy, Nate King Cole, Flip Wilson, even Good Times). Yet today the best they can muster is poorly done rip offs of other Music Networks’ “ideas”, Really? Someone alluded to SpiKe Lees’ “Bamboozled” - I loved that movie and in my opinion that’s pretty much where we stand now entertainment-wise. We’ve been bamboozled! BET should be all over getting the rights to Re-runs of Jada Pinkett Smith’s new show (Hathaway)! How many times a day can “Martin” be on (no diss - but please…)

78. Ms. M on 29 Jul 2009 at 12:25 pm #

    Damnit, I can’t believe I didn’t receive an update weeks ago to read this entry! Jam, as usual, you hit all the nails on all of their repsective heads. As a black person who doesn’t watch BET and secretly hopes it one day explodes (without casualties, of course), I never saw your show and therefore had some misconceptions about the format. I had a good idea about your intentions but an unclear idea about the presentation of the show. I think your only “mistake” was trying to bring something educational and even satirical to BET which frankly, should be called Monkey TV. I wish I had an explanation for the paradox other than to say dummies don’t like a light shone on their idiocy. Keep fighting the good fight. I know I will.

    Ms. M’s last blog post..Killer P*ssy

79. Amethyst on 29 Jul 2009 at 7:52 pm #

    Can anyone, in this day, really see the value in the “Amos and Andy” show. Oh, I thought so.

80. Tread61 on 30 Jul 2009 at 12:19 pm #

    Ironically, if you take a closer look at the “Amos & Andy” paradox you may be suprised to see that this show may have caused many Blacks to fight harder than ever to dismiss the stereotypes of the time. BUT - if you really want a suprise watch a couple of episodes and try to see yourself as a black person in 1950’s America (especially if you’re form the South like myself). Then go watch an episode of “Martin”, then TP’s “House of Payne” or “Meet the Browns”…and finally “The Cosby show”! Which shows had a more positive impact?

81. Dr. Kiti on 04 Aug 2009 at 1:47 am #

    I feel so bad…Tiny and Toya just went off I never get the chance to watch TV anymore and my brother had BET on. i thought ‘Why not?’ Well, I wasn’t bowled over by coonery but the previews for Frankie and Neffie had me stuck. Are we really putting this on TV? I remember a time (not too long ago, I’m not even 30 yet) when it was standard that you didn’t ‘put your business out in the streets’ but that’s exactly what we’re doing. We want to know why there’s Don Imus’ in the world and why ignant college kids have parties where they dress up as Black stereotypes? Well, turn on BET. Turn on just about anything geared toward Black people. Listen to the BS on the radio. We’re giving people all the ammunition they need to make the point that Black people are only good for cheap entertainment, we are shiftless and lazy, drug abusers and baby factories. This is not okay. I’m so upset that I missed the opportunity to watch your show. I would have carved out time for that, but Ray J? The Stallionaires (I have to admit this is my guiltiest pleasure), hell, even House of Payne (I can’t with them.), all play right in to the stereotypes of black people, yet you get cancelled? Pure foolishness. Can we get some kind of movement to cancel shows that make you feel dumb after watching them? I would love to see Maury go down the drain (although I’m pretty sure he’s a nice person an all, just a slave to the networks) and most of the programming on MTV and BET (VH1 to a lesser extent, even the wife folks is coonin’ on VH1).

82. RattlerNation on 06 Aug 2009 at 1:43 pm #

    Gina McCauley hates black men, I dont know why. I can only surmise that she’s been dumped by quite a few. I tried reading her blog, but she is B-I-T-T-E-R for real. As to why the paradox, because these numbnuts will rail against BET, but wont dare step to MTV or VH1 - so its mostly because they’re punk azzes.

83. ichannel on 06 Aug 2009 at 2:28 pm #

    ‘America’s conversation on race has reached an impasse’…

    …

84. Anonymous on 06 Aug 2009 at 6:52 pm #

    Peace, Jam.

85. L.B.H. on 10 Aug 2009 at 3:42 pm #

    I Think The Satire Of The Racist Views In Your Show And Others Express A Point Already Spoken Upon Deaf Ears “I Throw In A Mutha Fuckea! Jus So The Ignorant Will Listen”-Lauryn Hill

86. Jimmy B on 13 Aug 2009 at 2:05 am #

    Have you ever considered that maybe it’s personal?

    I mean that’s how politics work, right? And really that’s all we’re really talking about isn’t it?

    Let’s look at the health care debate… The people that were in the room shouting down the town meetings claimed that they were concerned about their health care system being turned into a socialist system, when in reality they were sent by the health care lobby… to, in reality, obfuscate true discourse… All because they are concerned about losing money…

    I know you’re probably saying WTF is talking about, but if you look at what happened to you and your show versus what happened, or didn’t happen, to others, it’s similar… Maybe the sister who ran that blog decided that she did not like YOU (maybe because of HGM, BET or whatever) and made it her personal mission to “bring YOU down” Maybe if it was produced by someone other than you she would have let it slide… Who knows?

    The bottom line is that you, JD, have made some enemies that the producers of other shows either have not or they have the money to make any potential protests go away…

87. jam donaldson on 13 Aug 2009 at 10:42 am #

    That could be very true. Even though i think i’m pretty damn charming.

    But i want to stress this isnt really about my show– and perhaps my experience was an exception that had other dynamics. Im sure the combo of me and BET was a protest they just couldnt pass up.

    But there was an outcry about the other shows I mentioned, though to a less fiery degree. So I still dont get it.

    but maybe you’re right, maybe its just me. though i think im a sweetheart.

    but maybe it is just me.

88. Kellye on 13 Aug 2009 at 10:51 am #

    You are a sweetheart, Jam, and don’t let anyone tell you differant!

89. amy on 13 Aug 2009 at 11:33 am #

    Actually, I doubt it was you. I am sure it had to do with the question of whether advertisers would be able to justify being associated with such a controversial show. I think that in the end, the marketplace determines which shows (or media) survive.

    For whatever reason, your show was deemed more objectionable than the other shows we have discussed here, and that would make it harder to sell advertising.

    Media companies are in the business of making advertising money, and I don’t think they are all that selective as long as it isn’t going to harm their image or garner a lot of negative publicity.

    Jam, time for a new post. Would love to hear your thoughts on Michael Jackson and/or The Wendy WIlliams Show.

90. jam donaldson on 13 Aug 2009 at 11:35 am #

    oh alright.

91. Jimmy B on 13 Aug 2009 at 2:11 pm #

    You also have to consider that anyone who has tried to “lift up the race” has been vilified…

    I never got to see your show (CAN’T watch BET - sorry), but if it was as you described, you were doing just that… Maybe you should have had some “shuckin’ and jivin’” as a part of every episode so that it didn’t seem like you were trying to help…

    To truly understand what happened you have to look @ the history of Black people on TV and the evolution of TV itself…

92. Sammy on 13 Aug 2009 at 7:32 pm #

    “Would love to hear your thoughts on Michael Jackson and/or The Wendy WIlliams Show”.

    Please, please, please, please don’t do this. Just about every other blogger and their ninth cousin removed has already spent too much time on Michael Jackson. What else can be said?

    And leave WW to WW. Again, just what is there to talk about?

    Black people spend entirely too much time blovating about that garbage call rap music and entertainers, the latest hair styles and the latest bling. Enough already.

    Talk about books for a change. Talk about health care. Talk about the black so-called scholars who pollute the airwaves of right wing teevee shows trying to undermine the President. Talk about people like Smiley, West and Dyson who have been appointed by the white media as the new black leaders who have never managed to do anything beneficial for the black community. Talk about the high school dropout rate for black kids? Talk about girls having baby and baby with no means of support. Talk about how ministers have used the black community for material gain and the latest Rolex watch while providing nothing in return.

    But, for the love of God, move on from things that have on interellectual value.

93. amy on 17 Aug 2009 at 4:25 pm #

    I don’t know…Michael Jackson, race and pop culture are pretty intertwined. I am curious to see what Jam has to say about him in general, not his death specifically.

    As for Wendy - she is a contradiction. She actually sort of fits in with the topic, actually, in so many ways!

94. UK nubian on 19 Aug 2009 at 12:04 pm #

    Im sorry I totally diasgree with many posters on here…although I agree on your position re the ignorant shows that provide cringeworthy sterotypes about black people..HOWEVER..if I rememeber correctly ( you have to forgive me there is abody of water that separates are two great countries so maybe some of my information is escewed)..But wasnt your show/website originally called Hot Ghetto Mess or something or the other…I mean I visited the site and would cringe and hawk at the images…depsite not being an African American..I recoiled in horror when I heard this was being brought to the small screen…

    In my opinion, correct me if I am wrong, this wasnt an attempt to shine a mirror on the failings in the community it was a cheap laugh at those in the community who many look down on…those who were poor, uneducated and the rest….

    I often think it better black folk were not on tv as opposed to the unsavoury characters who are selected and decided by the powers that be, to represent millions..

95. Michelle on 22 Aug 2009 at 10:13 am #

    I get where you were trying to go with this, but the reality is “Hot Ghetto Mess/We Gotta Do Better” was a hot azz ghetto mess. The show just was not funny. I liked the statistical bits, but that was about it. Same thing goes for Chocolate News. I had high hopes for the show, but the comedy fell flat. Dave Chappelle’s show took some heat, true, but it was successful with the public because it was funny. I am tired of black shows that manufacture buffoonery and try to pass it off as funny. I love comedy that pokes fun at reality, but that’s not what Hot Ghetto Mess or Chocolate News did. They both were over the top and unfunny and never should have aired.

96. PitBullnaSkirt on 01 Sep 2009 at 2:14 pm #

    What you’ve stated here is so true. Black people never want to be in an uproar about what is obviously detrimental to our children, community or the way we’re viewed by the rest of society.

97. kidcudi81 on 02 Sep 2009 at 6:45 pm #

    What happened to you? This post was from JULY!!!

98. Набоков on 05 Sep 2009 at 3:36 am #

    Большое спасибо! Есть ещё повод получить удовольствие… С вашего разрешения, беру.

99. Cathee on 13 Sep 2009 at 12:00 am #

    Please ’scuse the tardiness of this post, I somehow didn’t get/missed the email update notice. Anyhow, just wanted to say that bottom line IS the bottom line, as Jam pointed out. Follow the money, and you’ll find out why all the crap is filling the airwaves: it makes money. Solution: no one watches, no money made; that’s what makes boycotts so successful. I simply don’t get why people tune in to that crap.

    Would a white counterpart to coonery be what is termed “inbred trailer trash?”

    Whites do seem to view themselves individually, whereas blacks do seem to have a communal view. Maybe a balance between these two perceptions would be good, as they both have some value.

100. Флэш игры on 23 Sep 2009 at 9:31 pm #

     Отлично написано.

101. neil on 04 Nov 2009 at 4:56 pm #

     Amen sister. I agree completely. BTW, the post above in Russian translates to “Perfectly written”

102. Theresa on 05 Nov 2009 at 9:43 pm #

     Thanks for writing this. It reminded me of when Bill Cosby got slammed and criticized by the Black community for saying the things he said about stepping up to the plate, and setting good examples for our children, and educating ourselves. Those things, he said not to be caustic, but to uplift us as people. But everyone told him to shut his mouth. Where are the same people telling Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck to stop their hate mongering against minorities? Hmmm, makes you wonder.

103. m_strange on 23 Nov 2009 at 11:33 pm #

     Yeah, you have dropped a “truth bomb” and I am with you on that drop. Some black folk really don’t know which way is up and that’s why I am rarely entertained by many of the blacks that appear on TV. I get more laffs when I watch the Smiley guy sitting around with a bunch of white guys talking national politics. I said it long time ago, we need to stop the media from allowing F’d portrayals of us to be aired like such as “flava o love”, ray j, and martin. I been sick since the ’70s blaxploitation came into the lexicon!

104. Jean on 30 Nov 2009 at 12:52 pm #

     OK, I’m probably going to be censored (for preservation of the blog, mind), but… At least Jam should get some laughs out of me.
     1. I’m white. Don’t get all the Coonery concept, though I think I get the tip of the iceberg. IE, these people are behaving like, and portraying their own people (hate to phrase it that way), as n*ggers. Even looking at the shite white sitcoms, looking back to Archie Bunker / All in the Family (if I recall the name correctly), Archie was an undereducated working-class white male. Not stupid, ignorant. Willing to be educated. For counterpoint, we have “Everyone Loves Raymond” or “Home Improvement”, even “South Park” or “The simpsons” (which often are snarky/satires). Things have degraded to where all people, men especially, are idiots. “In Living Color” always struck me as assinine; same for the “Wayans Brothers”, or “Roc”, or “Flava of Love”, or …, or…,
     But contrast that with Fat Albert, for example - NOT the nicest show about the Black community - or “Sanford and Son”, “The Jeffersons”, and finally “The Cosby Show” - ALL the same as Archie Bunker one way ro another - the view was UP, as in, WE CAN BE BETTER. Not we can be better porch monkeys / coons / polocks / Jews / Micks / etc., but we can BUILD and ACHIEVE and LEARN. Make ourselves and out communities BETTER.
     2. I live near Trenton, NJ; went to school in Newark, NJ, and Washington, DC. It is epidemic, and the “Great Unwashed” as the masses have been termed are too many to combat. With a chain gun and infitite ammo, you couldn’t clean them off the planet. Violent, I know; I have seen knifings, assaults, etc. and faced hostility to the point it was palpable, you could TOUCH the hatred on Black faces - just because I was WALKING DOWN THE ROAD in Newark, and I’m white. Tell me again, please, who is the racist?
     3. Trenton, NJ; Washington, DC; Morriston, NJ; etc; etc; - the Ghetto / Hip Hop / Have it easy lifestyle is emulated in all the WRONG ways. White rockstars I’ve seen talk of how hard it was, starting out; how they got a break; where they were noticed, how the fans supported them, how they got lucky, how the screwed up their lives trying to live the dream, had to get clean, had to learn things the hard way, etc. Black rap stars talk about how good it is once they made it, how this or that record label had a scout notice how great they were, etc. (Exception would be Will Smith, who I did hear in an interview detail how living the lifestyle bankrupted him because he’d become a consumer whore.) Minor differences, anyone?

     I see Theresa mentioned Bill Cosby. How about Bob Parks (Black and Right blog), or Larry Elder (”10 things you can’t say in America book), or any of a number of prominent Black men (and women, mind), who do NOT live a servile or Gangsta/Thug/@$$wipe life? I’ve worked with both - in IT, you don’t get to decide who you’ll work with - and the good ones were good, and the bad ones were race-baiting SOB (or Daughters of…) like Black Community Activists Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. These people are actively DAMAGING the black (and white) communities, and America overall, by insisting that Blacks need special reparations or special treatment.
     For proof, look at the schools vs. expenditures: D.C., Newark, etc - Blacks run things, but they’re just pouring money into the situation. Education has been derided in both racial groups, but even more in (n-word) enclaves. I don’t understand why, given the obvious differences - Educated people earn a living, dumb-ass f*cktards rely on pipe dreams of playing sports professionally, or making it in music - and let’s face it, only so much to go around, especialy now. Only so many B-Ball teams that’ll consider anyone.

     Were Blacks discriminated against? Yes! they were ignorant, poor, uneducated, and had “learned helplessness” bred into them. Beaten in, too. But they insist on electing the party that has CONSISTENTLY harmed them - DEMOCRATS - and uses them, keeps them poor and uneducated, and supports such bunk as Planned Parenthood, founded by Margaret Sanger, with the EXPRESS PURPOSE of limiting the “undesirable populations”. Ummm… She meant BLACKS and LATINOS.

     Whites cannot effect the change needed. Blacks must do it, en masse, or it will not work. The breakup of the nuclear family, the creation of the welfare state, removing the husband (or even just Father) from the home, coupled with vicious and evil laws, and the entitlement attitude I see from people I’ve worked with, all tie in to the KKK’s DREAM of keeping a servile population. How to assist the Black community in becoming just part of American society is beyond me. Poles learned; Swedes; Russians; Irish; Asians, even though they keep their own culture, too; Indians, Muslims, Greeks, Africans (I went to school with at least one - standing invite to South Africa), they have all assimilated to at least soem extent. Blacks are told that acting in good faith, working hard, building a life - is selling out, they’re “Oreos”, white on the inside, “Uncle Tom’s” {Side note: My understanding is that Uncle Tom was beaten to death by a cruel master, because he refused to tattle on runaways - so tell me, who’s running the Plantation now?}, etc. And the Faith (Christian -> Protestant) is denigrated, too, and overwhelmed by the materialistic schlock advertised by these very shows that depict Blacks in such negative light. I’m amazed the n*gger…. Excuse me, I meant Porch monkey… No, I mean Afro-Ameri-cants…. no, they want to be called BLACK… communities tolerate this sort of shit. Exactly as they protested your “over the top” show, “We Got To Do Better”, for telling the truth - as did Bill Cosby, et al above - yet adored Marion Barry, Jesse Jackass, Al Simpleton, et al.

     Until the community decides to step up and take responsibility and ownership of this problem, America will remain a nation divided - exactly as the politicos want and need. (Look at government cost and size since universal sufferage, or 1900 for comparison.) Whites can’t so it. And I live among the White Trash, and worse, on the outskirts of Trenton.

     Last thought - been dating a woman who refers to herself as a slut and whore. Guess my respect level? Same for Blacks, if the shoe fits… “Racist? / ya know I don’t wanna hear it / But if the shoe fits / I’ll wear it…” -Snap

     Call yourself a nigga, get treated like one. It’s not a White Thing, not a Black Thang, it’s just human nature. Thugs are feared, not respected; hos are used and discarded. White, Black, Asian, same difference. All of American society needs an overhaul, mind, but that gets too far off-topic. If I can’t respect you, regardless of your skin color, I’ll ignore you at best. I am not alone in this outlook. Force yourself into my awareness, I need to ASSUME you have evil intent, and respond the same way. If that makes me a racist, so be it; I didn’t say the attacker was Black, or even male - you assumed it. (Welcome to equality, ladies.) And at 34, I’m going to see the revolution come again. Damn, my life sucks.

105. Kevin on 18 Dec 2009 at 10:35 pm #

     The answer to the coonery paradox is the same “see no evil” attitude one applies to anything they blindly value like religion or culture, especially when it has a history with them. I suppose that’s why I liked “All in the Family,” because at least the characters to some extent were self-aware and admitted things they may be wrong about when shown about it over time.

     Another thing is that cultures follow the same pattern in regards to inequality. Throw those beneath you under the bus regardless of if they have the ability to maintain a decent conversation and have a likable personality.

     You’ll see it with as you mentioned, black people calling those who address this paradox you mentioned a sellout, American Born Chinese who lost their Chinese culture, women loosely calling any guy who rightfully stands up to them, for holding their own gender hostage or exploiting the advantages that favor women, a chauvinist, or more infighting between different groups of Asians hating Koreans.

     The forcefed concept of equality is also another issue I have with how any kind of questioning is deemed as racist, even if it points out a variant of that coonery paradox. Though I suppose some just want to take you down with them when you honestly embarrass them. It also feels that you’re gonna face a crusade if you ever don’t like someone but aren’t going to go insane and start up a rally over it (hence political correctness).

     Kevin’s last blog post..Quickstrike TCG new Captain Card

106. jones6 on 20 Dec 2009 at 6:42 pm #

     The problems regarding the criticism of self-satirizing of us, by us comes down to two things, as I see it. Too many of us still think it makes us look bad to portray ourselves in anything but a simplistically positive light. On the contrary, feigning ignorance or endlessly excusing such behavior appears to everyone else on this planet except such folks as if we’re either implicitly endorsing or explicitly forgiving behavior making us look like uneducated–and uneducatable–fools (I.e., the white people make us act like that), or, worse, that we’re just not sharp enough to employ such age-old literary conventions as irony, parody, and satire to hold an honest mirror up to those of us even we find ourselves embarrassed by.

     The first of these just makes us look simple: like we think we should just pretend believe the following formula: black = good, white = bad (or “oppressor”)–a formulation I hope everyone reading this understands is as racist as the opposite mindset (i.e., white is right, black is whack).

     The second is not far different from the first and has just as long a history. When, in Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain uses everyone’s favorite epithet to excoriate a country unable to afford “Nigger Jim” his rightful human dignity because of the color of his skin, countless African-Americans not only didn’t understand Twain’s devastating criticism of American racism, but actually thought (and think) his story is itself racist. Jim is one of the novel’s two heroes (and the positive role model of Huck’s life–as opposed to his horrific white father), yet all many people saw was the derogatory appellation and responded with: “ban (or burn) it!”

     Now, I’d be more than willing to forgive anyone who’d never read anything more sophisticated or complex than a Dick and Jane book for failing to get the literary convention known as irony and hence not understand–much less feel the power of–Twain’s devastating critique of American racism, though, embarrassingly, this was an outcry generated largely from educated quarters of African American circles (not everyone, obviously). It wasn’t the uneducated or illiterate responsible for this uproar, but college-educated black folk talking as if a sophisticated excoriating of American hypocrisy viz. the subject of race flew many, many hundreds of miles over their heads.

     Now, yeah, this is obviously a black English major’s rant (language and literature are my thing, what can I say?), but it often doesn’t seem as though we’ve come very far when I read or hear someone say we shouldn’t hold up to ridicule offensive images of ourselves because to do so requires holding up offensive images of ourselves–as if the most sophisticated thing we can do for ourselves is traffic in simplistic cultural cheerleading (black folks: yay!!!) The idea that the impressionable little non-African American kid is learning what black folks are about when Dave Chappelle or David Alan Grier step into a character to mock that character hard is predicated on the notion that nobody gets that this is an educated, working black man or woman–who many shares of the kids’ and his/her own parents’ values distancing himself from icons most black people do not want representing us. Ridiculing, say, Flava Flav represents the very values the critics think are embodied by not ridiculing him. Get it? Christ!!!

107. Black Admiral on 30 Dec 2009 at 4:14 pm #

     This is what I’ve been saying for the last 10yrs…I just watched a interveiw with Spike Lee and he was saying the same thing….You know what Ray J got for his connery : 2 million dollars….And there is the problem..In our community if you speak out against someone who is making money or is popular your are deemed a “hater”…this is what we use to accept ignorance (especially in the urban areas)….And it shows were our goals and morales are….So the next time you see a guy selling drugs on your corner, don’t be mad or “hate”….He’s just gettin money…

108. Sammy on 30 Dec 2009 at 5:17 pm #

     Who is Ray J and why and from whom did he received 2 million dollars?

     Now why would I care who Ray J is?

     More importantly, if I see some thug garbage selling drugs on the street corner to young children, I will call the police.

109. Black Admiral on 31 Dec 2009 at 9:33 am #

     he is an R&B “singer”…He got 2 million for putting on a show on VH1 thats is probably worse than Flavor Flav’s B.S…..The point is in our community we excuse this behavior if someone is being rewarded for their coonish behavior….And as far as Durg dealers go, yo might call the police but there are alot of us who turn a blind eye and say…”How else is he supposed to get ahead”…

110. Jean on 31 Dec 2009 at 12:30 pm #

     Black Admiral,
     “And as far as Durg dealers go, yo might call the police but there are alot of us who turn a blind eye and say…”How else is he supposed to get ahead”…”

     Let’s see… Honest work? Stay in school? Work two or three jobs for a while to pay for an education, then use that education to get out of the ghetto?

     But the n*gger “dealer” wants it all NOW, not in a decade’s time, so I think it’s better to not use the police, but a machete, applied repeatedly, at close range. Make a nice little example. Next dealer on the corner might think twice about advertising… ‘Cause if horrific death isn’t enough, we can, you know, leave the b@st@rd alive, with no fingers, nose, feet, or eyes…

     I suspect the police are ultimately on the “take”, if not specifically from the dealer, from the government teat at least.

     Now, to be more accurate - most of us (especially whites like me) couldn’t walk around in such a neighborhood without issues. I used to explore Newark for fun - and there were times I turned around and went back, because I was getting such stares of hatred. I might be dense and crazy, I’m not stupid.
     So instead of a machete, maybe a rifle would be adequate. Three rounds or so, three dealers or so, the message would sink in. And I don’t care if it’s a white guy, need to make that clear - Skin color is unimportant, community cleanup is color-blind, and I wish more Black (American)s would agree to that. I understand a Black person cannot hide their skin color, while an Irish man could change his name; nevertheless, it is NOT a badge of honor to have a chip on your shoulder and a hatred of Whitey, and it WILL eventually lead to trouble - and you might be on the losing end, some white folk are downright NASTY, and some of those nasty ones are educated, too. It’s not just white trash that can scrap, and it’s not even scrappers (street fighters) you need to worry about, sometimes we are just downright vicious. We feel the beast must be met at its own level. Bones break, teeth can be replaced, but eyes still can’t be cloned or replaced with a mechanical vision device, nor can fingers be grown back, or brain damage reversed. Some of us no longer believe in rules once combat begins, and while we might’ve aspired to more mroal codes in the past, we learned the hard way that those who respect only power will see us as weak if we back down.

     Our society is in a decline all over. We Americans either fix it, or we lose our country. Like Rome, the Barbarians aren’t just at the gates; they are INSIDE THE CITY. Those in the ghettos can either make America great again (and get out of the ghettos doing so), or they can piss and moan and whine about how the White Man is keeping them down, sell drugs (run guns, mug people, B&E burglary, car theft, etc.) and never amount to more than a parasite on their community.

     I expect most reading this blog would fall into the first category - thinking, capable individual Americans who HAPPEN to be Black. And those who fall in the latter category won’t understand the meaning anyway. They’ll just see a racist screed. Maybe that second group should dress up in black sheets…? I just can’t think what they’d burn.

     Jam, I thought I’d get a response from my last post, and I thought it might be seen as inflammatory. Either you have very intelligent readers, or they stopped as soon as I said I was white. I’m hoping to get a response, without turning this into a flame war. As an ousider, I’d like to hear from those inside the community to understand what they are thinking, and if there’s actually a future for this country.

111. Black Admiral on 31 Dec 2009 at 1:03 pm #

     I can hear but as Black man who has lived in both communities…I can say we can’t deal with anyone until we can deal with each other…..I think you guys are missing the point….As we all post our comments. most of which are thought provoking and truthful, I want people to realize that alot of us embrace ignorance and cover it with money…Thats funny I been callin drug cats Klansmen for yrs….Also we as intelligent people need to get off this elitist mentality, especially on the net..none of us is perfect or does 100% right…these are opinions and dude who cares if your white ? I’m here to talk about black people and I like to see what white people think about us…thats why I watch the View and listen to Rush Limbaugh, O’Reilley and Imus…You can’t have an educated look without seeing….But I appluad you as a white man trying to understand our community..next time come to my homwtown Camden NJ…Just like Newark but worse…Peace

112. twins baby shower on 02 Feb 2010 at 5:40 pm #

     wow fascinating stuff great article thnx

     twins baby shower’s last blog post..Twins baby shower

113. Huey on 03 May 2010 at 10:25 am #

     Intersting article… It was worth reading thank you

     Huey’s last blog post..Boondocks Season 3 episode 1

114. Tony stark on 19 Aug 2010 at 1:25 am #

     Cats and dogs can suffer from multiple causes of itching, which in most cases is due to one of three or combination of either flea bite allergies, inhalant/contact allergies and/or food allergies. All itchy cats like this should be on some sort of flea control regimen, as well as making sure if there is a flea problem on the animals to make sure the home is treated as well with products like knock out or siphotrol house treatment, or even having home professionally exterminated, as much of flea life cycle occurs in the environment, and I honestly dont think any of the current products truly get rid of all of the flea eggs on the animal that end up in the environment. To help with symptomatic treatment of your pet, you could try an antihistamine such as chlorphenirimine at a dose of 2 mg twice daily, as well as adding fatty acids to the diet like Missing link for cats or nordic naturals pet cod liver oil. I have also find the very palatabe DMG liquid also helpful in easing allergic symptoms when used in conjunction with other products like this. If itching persists and fleas are under total control , than a full veterinary allergy workup should be done including a 6-8 week low allergy dietary trial to rule out food allergies as contributing to itching, as well as even stronger medications your vet can give such as oral prednisone or occasional injections of a longer acting steroid known as depomedrol.

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