Blasphemy

Sorry dear readers, I was almost fired… then I almost quit… then I said well screw it, I guess I have a few more lines left in me since so much has happened since we last spoke. Let’s recap: I put Lebanon down as a country (I was bashed hard about that one) I lost a very good mentor and I am moving to the United States’ only “third world” state or as I like to call it Hog Heaven, or you can just call it Arkansas.

So we’re now watching the presidential frontrunners going at each other, we have poor Mike Vick being chewed up and spit out by every media outlet on the face of the earth (chewed up Mike Vick cards now on eBay), and more locally we have the story and subsequent death of a famous bay area journalist, Chauncy Bailey, which is marred by a vicious he said she said battle in which the three parties involved are all finger pointing at each other-- which is what journalism seems like it has become today. No longer are good journalists now just reporting stories, everyone has evolved into the next Heraldo Rivera or Anderson Cooper (God, you know how much I love that guy….) where sly remarks and quirky comments replace facts and outlining data supporting the opposite parties claims (depending on which media outlet you follow i.e. CNN, FOX, MSNBC) our country instituted the right for free speech for the fact or reason that people want to hear the facts. We all want to know what happened, but how do we know what happened if while watching Nancy Grace, her overly conservative views of America and blatant racial stereotypes cause her to share her prejudiced views on something as non important to the worlds society or United States policy as Mike Vick dog fighting case. Now while I do understand it is the job of some of these specialty reporters or journalists – whatever you may want to call them- to give their various opinions based on the facts presented but convicting a man in the media is just as wrong as… I don’t know… say a white woman yelling rape in the Deep South shortly after slavery (See Emmitt Till). There is no rush to find facts, gather information, or even hear the complete story before there is a sentence handed out on the head on whomever the accused may be (especially if he’s Black).

While we are on the subject of white vs. black, Mrs. Rodham Clinton just happens to be pulling away from our good friend Barak “Our Brother” Obama and has even gone as far as to say that he has no experience in handling foreign policy, as well as foreign diplomats and that his strategies in dealing with other world leaders are naïve and childish, at best. WOW! Now, didn’t I say in a previous article (Run Barak, Run) that “Our Brother” Obama would face mountains of slander and character assassination for giving us fresh ideas on how he and a lot of newer politicians view the changing political and global climate. But for all his lack of experience, he has been a fundraising machine. His name has become synonymous with some of the best fundraisers in democratic history. Yet again, his color seems to be his only downfall in the race for the seat of the world’s most powerful person. With such a prize being highly contested, of course there would be a little mudslinging but as I stated in a previous column that “Our Brother” Barak would receive the most vile and degrading of all the slanderous mud that’s been slung across Capitol Hill. But then again, we wouldn’t want to throw the race card into the game because that tends to complicate things (plus that’s not the NAACP mode of operation, right?)
Look, I’m not supporting or endorsing any of the acts they say that Mike Vick committed. And I’m also not saying that I won’t be voting for Mrs. Clinton or that my support is fully for Barak Obama. And I’m definitely not passing judgment or saying that some of us in the media are wrong for the opinions that most of us are paid for and that most of us love, but we should all look at ourselves as story tellers from us who work in media outlets to parents at home who have the responsibility of explaining slavery as well as race relations, and why this presidential election that will soon be upon us is one of the more groundbreaking and exciting races we have had for a long time… and maybe even ever. And why Mike Vick’s story and case is so unprecedented.

Since I have been on my summer hiatus, I have not been able to comment on a much sadder note. Bay Area, reporter, editor, and associate of mine, Mr. Chauncey Bailey (editor of Oakland Post) was gunned down in a brutal and senseless assassination in the streets of downtown Oakland some 4 weeks ago and while yes his death was a tragedy, the real tragedy was the harbinger of death. Mr. Bailey was gunned down for what we all love to do, just tell the story. Mr. Bailey was gunned down while getting the facts; Mr. Bailey was gunned down while taking his job very seriously for giving his honest opinion and exposing an ugly truth. Now imagine if all of us writers, bloggers, reporters, journalists, and investigators could be targeted for death or at least physical harm for bring about the truth in every story or article we’ve ever reported. This was Mr. Bailey’s only flaw, was that he got out the story whether the truth hurt or fit someone’s “lucrative” agenda. Only thing is that the truth is what got Mr. Bailey assassinated, while someone’s “lucrative” agenda covers the truth while furnishing you and the public with a villain, a plot, and a lie. Only thing is now you have to figure out the truth!!!