The Hip Hop Anthropologist

We consume too much in this country while recycling too little. It is one reason why we only constitute 5% of the world's population, but consume 24% of the world's energy. The average American creates 1,600 pounds of trash each year. I decided to reduce my carbon footprint by stop buying so much; recycling or repurposing what I have, or obtaining what I want free from either Craigslist www.craigslist.org/ or Freecycle www.freecycle.org/ But I was unable to accomplish that modest objective because site administrators, owners, moderators and, more importantly members on these two websites erroneously believe a member offering a free item has the right to pick and choose who to give it to. It is not true, though, under the ancient premise of "first dibs," which states "there are a number of occasions where the first person to claim ownership or interest in something actually gets it. Such is the case with the term “first dibs,” or in some cases simply “dibs.” ...

When former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA), speaking to a group of voters in Janesville, Wisconsin on Wednesday, March 27, 2012 was caught on television about to call President Obama a "Nig..." http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=nzyvo8SKa0M#t=2065s while still on the stump, the Reverend Dr. Alfred "I-Speak-For-Every-Negro-On-Earth-But-Cannot-Talk-Or-More-Importantly-Pronounce-Anything-Clearly" Sharpton immediately picked it up on his widely listened to radio show, "Keepin It Real," which is nationally syndicated by Syndication One, an African American owned Radio One affiliate. Sharpton  hit it hard for all of one day, never mentioned it one time on the even more influential MSNBC "Politicsnation," where Santorum's unbelievable flub promptly withered on the vine. So, yes, the Fourth Estate has been deeply vested in shaping popular culture and, concomitantly, our collective perception of the...

All we ever hear from Republican pundits, conservative talking heads, and the legions of sycophants and apologists - most notably the “tea baggers” - who slavishly follow and greedily consume this drivel in 24 hour new [read that: propaganda] cycles fueled primarily by FOX is that all our current social and economic woes can be attributed to the skinny black guy in the white house. It’s all President Obama's fault. It was this kind of simplistic, silly even, mindset that brought us 8 years of a disastrous Bush presidency; one where deregulation started in the Carter administration, ramped up by both Regan, Bush 41, and Clinton, took steroids in Dubya's administration. The stated rationale for deregulation is often that fewer and simpler regulations will lead to a raised level of competitiveness, therefore higher productivity, more efficiency and lower prices overall. Opposition usually involves apprehension regarding environmental pollution, quality standards (such as the re...

Thirty year long rival stations 98.7 KISS FM and WBLS (107.5) would soon be "one family, one station." According to the Daily News—who compare the merger with a Yankees/Mets merger—the stations began simulcasting this morning, starting with a tribute to the 30-year legacy of KISS. Then on Monday, they will officially become one station, with all hosts (as of now) being integrated under the WBLS call letters, meaning KISS 98.7 FM is dead.    Former basketball great Erving “Magic” Johnson will hold a minor stake in newly created YMF Media. YMF Media was created by two Yucaipa funds and two Fortress funds, which owned the senior debt of now defunct Black owned Inner City Broadcasting Corporation. The Inner City Broadcasting Corporation ("ICBC") was an American media company based in New York City. Creditors of Inner City Media Corp., the holding company for the owner of New York City’s WLIB and WBLS radio stations, filed an involuntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy...

   The dusty skies forebode a dark drizzly ending to the day. It was 5:00 PM -- quitting time in the city. The weather was unbearably muggy. The faces of weary passengers bespoke a resignation remarkable for usually long-suffering New Yorkers -- those inveterate stalwarts of mass transit. Unwittingly inserting yourself between a tired New Yorker and an open subway car at quitting time place you at serious risk of being run over.     The Chambers Street station was blistering hot despite huge industrial sized fans working overtime to pump warm, fetid air deep into the dank, dark bowels of the badly aging subway system.      With a sigh the tall, lean athletic young brother rearranged his leather shoulder bag, and hopped effortlessly on to the last car of the Brooklyn bound A train. The air conditioning on the brand new subway train was whining mercilessly, but the car was still unbearably hot. He was heading back to do or die Bed-Stuy, w...

This is a great piece: provocative, polemic and, as such, will probably not garner any note from the white liberal establishment (who Leonard is appealing to), or black progressives who he is commiserating with. http://www.ebony.com/news-views/dear-white-folks-stop-denying-racism

Michael Eric Dyson ate George Will's lunch on "This Week" With "Jake" Tapper. Trust me that type of leveling of the playing field will never occur again. The darling of American conservative orthodoxy was clearly frustrated by Dyson's articulate defense of President Obama, his policies, and resistance thereto, which Dyson said was predicated firmly on racisim "there is no other explanation." It was the best episode yet, and I watch virtually every week.

The Martin tragedy brings back memories of another infamous case: The Ojay Simpson matter. Whites lined up on one side of the debate [read that racial divide] bending over backward to give Zimmerman the presumption of innocence while studiously ignoring a simple truth. Had the proverbial shoe been on the other foot, this debate would not be raging in the court of public opinion because Travon or any other black boy shooting an unarmed white man would not have passed go, would not have collected $200, but would have gone straight to the pokey. That is why most black folk have come down solidly on the side of Martin’s family saying that at the very least, Zimmerman ought to have been arrested at the scene. Now that Zimmerman has been finally taken into custody, let the chips fall where they may.