NY POST: The Message Behind the Cartoon?

Well... I'm sure by now you have already gotten wind of the shot chimpanzee cartoon posted in the NY Post -- right?  If not, this is it right here!  Now tell me, because i don't want to go on a long rant expressing my displeasures with this --- annnd how there are still many & plenty ignorant racist people out there right in your face, in government positions to trying to coerce or even various media positions that won't stop at nothing in order to feed you the bigotry they know as their truth. 

Instead i would like to read you're comments -- and post something a "Open Letter to the New York Post" by singer/songwriter John Legend (via Facebook), that says EXACTLY how i feel!  So i echo his sentiments, but what are yours?

Link: NPR News

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Open Letter to the New York Post
5:10pm

Dear Editor:

I'm trying to understand what possible motivation you may have had for publishing that vile cartoon depicting the shooting of the chimpanzee that went crazy. I guess you thought it would be funny to suggest that whomever was responsible for writing the Economic Recovery legislation must have the intelligence and judgment of a deranged, violent chimpanzee, and should be shot to protect the larger community. Really? Did it occur to you that this suggestion would imply a connection between President Barack Obama and the deranged chimpanzee? Did it occur to you that our President has been receiving death threats since early in his candidacy? Did it occur to you that blacks have historically been compared to various apes as a way of racist insult and mockery? Did you intend to invoke these painful themes when you printed the cartoon?

If that's not what you intended, then it was stupid and willfully ignorant of you not to connect these easily connectable dots. If it is what you intended, then you obviously wanted to be grossly provocative, racist and offensive to the sensibilities of most reasonable Americans. Either way, you should not have printed this cartoon, and the fact that you did is truly reprehensible. I can't imagine what possible justification you have for this. I've read your lame statement in response to the outrage you provoked. Shame on you for dodging the real issue and then using the letter as an opportunity to attack Rev. Sharpton. This is not about Rev. Sharpton. It's about the cartoon being blatantly racist and offensive.

I believe in freedom of speech, and you have every right to print what you want. But freedom of speech still comes with responsibilities and consequences. You are responsible for printing this cartoon, and I hope you experience some real consequences for it. I'm personally boycotting your paper and won't do any interviews with any of your reporters, and I encourage all of my colleagues in the entertainment business to do so as well. I implore your advertisers to seriously reconsider their business relationships with you as well.

You should print an apology in your paper acknowledging that this cartoon was ignorant, offensive and racist and should not have been printed.

I'm well aware of our country's history of racism and violence, but I truly believe we are better than this filth. As we attempt to rise above our difficult past and look toward a better future, we don't need the New York Post to resurrect the images of Jim Crow to deride the new administration and put black folks in our place. Please feel free to criticize and honestly evaluate our new President, but do so without the incendiary images and rhetoric.

Sincerely,
John Legend

Chris Brown & Rihanna News!!

Now I'm sure errr'body has gotten an ear glimpse (can i say that? Sure, its MY blog).. so like i was saying, I'm sure errr'body has gotten at least an ear glimpse of the incident involving Chris Brown and Rihanna. I was waiting until I found some full coverage of what happened or MAY have happened and so far my man illseed (allhiphop.com) has the business --- check it out:

> Chris Brown Rihanna Breaking News/Rumors
> Plus more..

> Just ADDED: Chris Brown's Step-Father Speaks & Aunt Responses!

Oh and oh yea, coincidentially late last night there was a situation that happened in LA where a police chase with a unknown guy driving a white Bentley, which ultimately ended in a suicide. Originally people were thinking it was CHRIS BROWN! ..but not so much, THEN from the coverage and pics, they started yellin' OH SNAP, ITS DJ KHALED!!! ..not so much again. BUT! They do think its a well known DJ in LA, so we'll see. For more news on that, check this out:

> Dramatic Chase in LA



..and i'm gone!! pe@ce!

50Cent is a NUTT!!

Preface:

I don't know if any of yall have been following the 50Cent & Rick Ross beef -- but i got to say its been pretty entertaining. I think this is the most interesting one of them all for 50. Since he's income has increased (FORBES rank 50Cent second in income only to Oprah in the entertainment field), so with more disposable income -- when he goes hard on ya (beef), it cuts alot more deeper now! I'm posting some links below so that you can catch up on the time line of events. From Rick Ross dissing 50, to 50 calling it official then flying out Ross's son's mother (baby momma, if you will) and her dropping all kinds of bombs about Ross. And of course a few diss tracks, radio interviews and all in between!!

Now i'm going to say i liked 50 alot when he came out and then i kinda started disliking him slightly for going in on everyone, but i listened to alot of his interviews and this is not a stupid dude. He's very intelligent and knows how to market, and knows how to push the right buttons in warfare. So i stopped tripping and start just taking it for the entertainment it is...

Now is he right for the stuff he does -- i'm going to say, shoot.. 70% of the time i think: "Yo, Fif' didn't have to do that. Man, thats jacked up." But now i don't expect anything else from him other than for him to try to annihilate opposes as quickly as possible by any means necessary. So next up is Ricky Ross... i suppose. All i hope in all of this -- it ends well. From the looks of it though, its about to get ugly! Theres alot of personal stuff thats coming forth on Ross and i don't think he's really prepared to be exposed like this. He's danced around this previous correctional officer career he 'allegedly' had, but Fif is relentless -- he's coming with actual footage & all! He has all of Ross's financial statements that he was able to get because of the current child support case he has going on with his son's mom. Of course now that 50 has everything, Ross's lawyer is asking for a gag order in the trial so there's no more personal docs released (too little too late)!

Anywho! -- i'm not going to talk your ear off, the point of blog was to show this hilarious video of 50 making fun of the comments Rick made about him and the request for an apology from Foxy Brown!

Check the other links below to catch up or see more 50 vs Rick Ross beef episodes!!

PARENTAL ADVISORY: Adult Language (Cussin'!)



Referenced Links:
* thisis50.com
* allhiphop.com

Poetry & Stuff.. (my artistic page)

Aiiight, so i just finished up part two of my mission -- and that was adding a separate site for my poetry and such. Unlike my Myspace blog, i didn't want them meshed together, so i created a separate but linked page. Feel free to mosey over there to get some culture in ya life!! Lol!!

Go here! >> Literary Artist :: Kalonji Abdul

You can get to it from the links on the right-side of this page too, but anywho..

pe@ce!

My first post of my new Blog Home!

...Stay tuned as i migrate my old blogs over from MySpace to my new Blog home on Blogger.com (Blogspot). I'll keep both active, but this is where i'll bring all referenced sites and links under one umbrella! -- So keep checking back as i take baby steps in getting things situated at our new home!

Peace & love ::

Superman (Lova, rocks lens too!)

OK, so about 3.5 weeks ago, my head was like KILLIN' ME! I mean, I couldn't sleep or anything!! It was completely and totally unbareable! I really couldn't pinpoint anything because i was thinkin' a had this tooth filling that was killing me. Its at the far back, top of my mouth, so I did notice that when I would eat or drink something my head would hurt. I couldn't feel pain coming from that tooth. The only thing was, my head would hurt what seems to be around the clock -- eating or not!

So i go holla at my dentist (Dr. Katrice Thomas -- excellent Dentist!) Sidebar: I've had male dentist all my life and they would just jerk and yank your teeth around, even just for cleanings. At least that was my experience as a man. Females had a different experience... the same male dentist would be gentle with them. Soooo... my man tells me about Dr. Thomas and her all female staff and what do you know, the roles changed! Now I'm in the dentist chair getting treated righteous, and well.. i don't know about how they treat females because i'm taken care of, so I'm good. So fellas, get a female dentist!!

Anywho, I go to her and she does a whole little procedure to ensure my tooth doesn't bother me. Well my tooth stopped hurting for the most part, but my head was still KILLING ME! Eyes hurting and all! So i said to myself, Man this has got to be my freaking eye sight. I look at screens, dual monitors, plasma TVs around the clock and i don't just look at them, i stare into them because i'm working on stuff or even playing my Xbox 360 in a deemly light room. I've never had any vision issues (thus my pen name, SlickVision, which years ago, i used EagleVision as my AOL email address because of my eye shape and vision), but anyway -- I go holla at my good folk at Affordable Eyecare (downtown) like 2 days later while I was on lunch and what do ya know -- Dr. Hobson, shows me the results and its my freakin right eye thats causing my problems.

So there ya have it... I order two pair of glasses IMMEDIATELY! (see Photos) One for home, just a plain pair of lightweight rimless joints, and I decided to go 'bold' as they say with a second main pair being a black rimmed up, slightly tented glasses. I got slightly tented since I premarlily use them for working, not just cause its a cool look (some think). I'm already cool, you numbskull! :)

But nah, so here we go.. Kalonji Gilchrist aka Slick Gilchrist (aka SlickVision), is now rocking corrective lens. So consider it a Superman / Clark Kent feel appeal -- because I still go hard and well jump in the booth and get breezy on ya!

Ya diiig?!!



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(This post originated from MySpace Blog)

...Fell in love again.

Right before I started this Blog i just noticed something -- I am definitely a Soul Brotha... Neo-Soul Brotha or whateva... its in my chemical fabric. I like classic -- i like timeless, and although I do enjoy fly-by-nights situations. I smoke quality cigars, i sip full-bodied wines. Heck, sometimes I even wonder where this comes from...

But i think know... its the gentlemen before me that I admired (Rudy Thomas), its my Grandfather's silent confidence, 'swagger' if you will (and i have something to say about the over-usage of that word, because to me 'Swagger' is the term now coined to explain something that someone poses NATURALLY -- but its false and paper-thin to me if 'money' or 'status' gives you this false sense of confidence or 'SWAGGER' (that way some use the word).

If you're not naturally from within charismatic, then anything outside of YOU doesn't give you swagger -- your just fronting. Not to be looked upon as something bad, but more or less 'Stunting' (as the term most favored today). 'Fronting' is not bad, per say, its only bad when you are 'perpatrating a front' (as in the old school would say). THEN you're not Fronting or Stunting, your perpatrating the 'front'... or attempting to 'stunt' -- when your really not. So when I see everyone and their momma talking about this person & that person got swagger -- its not always true -- they're just FRONTING! ...and its cool, hell I front and stunt too when its time too, but when you strip all that extra stuff away and if you can't stand in front of anyone without feeling insecure about what or who you are, what you can offer, what you can do -- then you ain't got swagger, pimpin'.

Now that i'm off the my soap box (my bad folk)!!
So as I was saying -- its my Grandfather's silent confidence, my father's endless desire to be the best, and being from that era of Soul and Pride -- I myself feel in my natural element around Soulful music, soulful things, classic and timeless pieces... THUS this finally brings me to why I blogging today!!

I just recently saw my first 'play-play' baby momma in concert, and I FELL IN LOVE WITH HER ALL OVER AGAIN! Ya see, before there was Alicia Keys & Keshia Cole to me -- there was Cassandra Wilson, Meshell N'Dege Ochello, Amel Larrieux, Dionne Farris & many more -- but my first 'play-play' baby momma (and I use that term loosely, not to offend) was ERYKAH BADU!! Man I love that chic -- she's soul, but street soul, ya dig? She's a little more edgey, she's my Angela Davis type. That fits for me even better, cause umma Malcolm X, Chuck D type, lol!!

Sooo... let me re-introduce to you -- none other than, my "i buy every album" lady, my favorite rappers 'real' baby momma,my 'maybe next life time' shuga -- ERYKAH BADU!!!



..and one of my all time favorites!




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(This post originated from MySpace Blog)