Some Things Really Are Priceless, Part III

Last night, Rachel Maddow did someting amazing on her show. She found, from the NBC Archives, footage from a 1979 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Amazingly, the owners and operators of that rig were TransOcean, the same owners of the rig that recently exploded and sunk in the sea. Amazingly, the company used the same techniques that are currently being used now. Unamazingly, most of those techniques failed, and oil spewed into the Gulf for more than nine months until two relief wells were drilled and put in operation. Please go to www.msnbc.com and find Rachel's show for the entire segment. It is amazing. Also amazingly, the well that exploded over 30 years ago was at a much shallower depth. The TransOcean well that exploded a little over a month ago is more than one mile down. It is at a depth that no human can reach.

The safety precautions for an accident with deep-sea drilling has not been updated since the 1970s. In fact, even the very lax precautions that the United States government imposes upon the most profitable business in human history, the oil companies, were ignored.

Superpose the oil spill with the financial sector meltdown. Okay, superpose those two things with the fact that Black hair care is a nine billion dollar business and only five percent Black-owned. Okay, superpose that with the fact that most Red states continue to build prisons while simultaneously cutting education budgets. Classrooms may go empty while prison cells are awaiting inhabitants.

None of this makes sense, does it? Here's how I see the world....some things are priceless. Having sense enough to stay informed through world news from reputable a source (NPR, CNN, FOX, MSNBC,...it doesn't matter) and picking up a history book -though not easily, quantifiable, is priceless. As Americans, the oil spill and financial sector meltdown has taugh me that we have learned how to turn greed into cold, hard cash. In America, the horrible cliche is true, "greed is good." But at what cost? Oil companies are the most profitable businesses in the world, but oil spills DO happen. One would think that 30 years after one of the most horrible oil spills in the history of man occurred, oil companies would spend at least a miniscule amount of their profits, maybe $1 billion out of the almost $500 billion profits they posted each year for the past few years, would have been dedicated to precautionary measures and increased safety technologies. Instead, profits were put over people and our ecology. People have died, and so has parts of the multi-billion dollar fishing industry and the livelihoods of countless small businessmen along the Gulf Coast. The loved ones who died cannot be replaced, and sadly (though I hope this may not be true), part of our marsh they may be destroyed by oil and/or dispersants.

Second, Black people fought and died for us to be able to sit at a Woolworth's counter. I appreciate that. Love them for it. But 40 years later, we have not been trained to own and patronize our own businesses. As a result, we own almost nothing. We do not even control the things and chemicals that go on our head. It is a nine billion dollar a year business, and we own less than five percent of it. That's pitiful. When I hear that people in the 'hood do not have access to fresh produce and good meat, I wonder why it has never dawned on any Black person to open a grocery chain that can service lower-income neighborhoods with fresh produce and decent cuts of meat? Why is it that Black beauticians are the only race in the world who do not learn how to style their own, natural hair first?


As far as prisons are concerned, does anybody know the impact of putting prisons on the stock market alongside vacation resorts and hotels? No one builds a hotel without expecting occupants. Same with prisons. Whereas hotel owners use the economy and the amount of money people have for leisure spending to predict how many rooms and the amenities they will offer, those who build prisons use elementary school reading test scores. Sadly, Black boys often lag behind their white/latino counterparts in reading test scores. Draw your own conclusions here.

I want to leave my readers with a high note. My friend, Tamieka Pippins, is a child therapist for the state of Mississippi. With two Master's Degrees, she earns less than $40,000/year, but she has dedicated her life to helping children with behavioral problems -children that most teachers, administrators, and even parents have written off and cast aside. About 90% of her clients are young, Black boys of elementary school age. For some of them,even their parents have given up on them. Tamieka refuses to give up on these children. She works with them. She nurtures them. She makes them believe that they are somebody and that their futures are priceless. She gives them rewards and trophies when they do well, and punishes them when they do not. But she's sincere, and the children feel that and respect her for it. On May 20, she held a graduation for some of the children in her group, which she bank-rolled from her own pockets. Her graduates were all Black males. She gave all of the children either huge trophies, gold medals, and/or certificates. There were many mothers, and a good amount of fathers, present to see their children read scripture, perform master of ceremony duty, sing, and receive rewards. The children were so proud that they even sung Tameika a song, and presented her with a dozen roses that they'd put together and bought from their own little piggy banks.
Many of Tameika's graduates go on to middle and high school with no behavior problems. Some of them ask her to attend their various extracurricula activities. Normally she tries to make their activities, and it inspires the children to strive toward a future that does not end in a new jail cell.
And that, my dear reader, is priceless.

I Can't Leave, a Reminder

Given all of the craziness that happens in politics nationally, I felt I had to remind myself. I know that some of you have read this once before. But for others, this is new. Yes, I'm suffering through Haley Barbour's idiotic budget plan right now, and sometimes, I just don't know. Perhaps this can help me and you weather the Republican storm.
I have decided to stay in the South to help bring about change here. I know the South is often pigeon-holed as America's "third world" section of the country. Being from Mississippi, no one feels and lives this myopic perception more than us. However, there are some good reasons for staying in the South. I'm not saying that these reasons apply to everyone. This is my South as I see and live it.
1. $250,000 will get you a nice home (a home, home. Not a condo), some land, and a house full of furniture in a nice neighborhood in the South.
2. $100,000/year is still a better-than-average salary in the South. Getting a college education is definitely worth the sacrifice here.
3. Gaining 5 to 10 extra pounds will not ruin your social life in the South. Unlike our Northern counterparts, Southern brothers are still into thick chicks (I said thick not flabby).
4. Food is plentiful. Most of my cousins from the North think it is horrible the way we just go into each other's refrigerators to help ourselves. Why not let one person fix the food so that everybody gets something to eat? Well, everybody always has something to eat. Food is plentiful here. I know many, many Southerners that will let a credit card bill slide to put some extra food on the table. Do you remember coming home to grandma's. Did she ever limit your food? No. Even though she lived on a fixed income, there was always plenty of food on the table.
5. The rat race is slower here. Work is important, but a worker can be replaced. A mother or a father cannot. Southerners work hard and play hard. Life and family are to be enjoyed -which explains the scarce amount of boarding schools in the South. There's always time for family.
6. Children are not inconveniences. Yes, they get on our nerves. They make us mad when they are being hardheaded. But in the South, you still see Mommas walking into churches with switches. You see Momma's taking their children to the dressing rooms with belts. And it's okay. Everybody knows what that Momma is trying to do. She's trying to raise her children to be productive citizens. And sometimes, they just need a little heat put to their bottoms. As we say in the South 'Sip, "a little heat to the bottom will make the top percolate!"
7. In the South, it's just easy to chill and let it all hang out. I love throwing on last year's fashion with some flip flops and going to the store with no makeup. It's too hot for all that!
8. In the South, you know where you stand. Racism tends to be covert in the North. I love knowing where I stand down here so I don't have to wonder and blame myself for another man's prejudices.
9. The beaches of Texas,Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, New Orleans, Atlanta, Hot Springs, Arkansas, can be reached in a day's drive...sometimes in as little as three hours, depending on your location.
10. In most places, the Spirit is still alive here. Whatever that Spirit is for you, you can always drive to the country and feel it. We still chill real hard in the South. Want an instant party? Put the radio outside, get the coals smoking, and before you know it, somebody shows up with some beer, sodas, dominoes, spades, cigars, and jokes! There's a spirit of unity there...even if a bunch of old women just get together and shell peas on the porch together.

The South is no Utopia. The cities here have many of the same problems and issues of our major Northern Counterparts. But I love this South. I was born in this South. My folks made this South. It's my South, and I can't leave her. I'm staying

Some Things Really Are Priceless, a Response to Taylr Mayd

a. Last week, I tuned in to Taylr Mayd's Chopped and Screwed Show, and I must say, it was hilarious. You can hear it at wwww.chroniccast.blogspot.com. He made me think twice about biting into a fried chicken leg. I'll never do it on camera! Taylr Mayd, in a round-about way, made some very important social commentary concerning stereotypes of Black people, and how the media plays with those stereotypes. Let me leave off here, and I'll come back to that later.

b. Yesterday, Governor Robert F. McDonnell of Virginia declared April Confederate History Month. It can be read in its entirety at http://www.governor.virginia.gov/OurCommonwealth/Proclamations/2010/ConfederateHistoryMonth.cfm. The language is very beautiful. The imagery is heroic. The tale is stuff of legend.

c. Last year, Governor Rick Perry of Texas played to his base by campaigning on the right to seceed from the union. Texas is a sovereign state, he claims, and can seceed from a tyrannical government that would impose its bigness on the great state of Texas.

d. About three decades ago, Ronald Reagan kicked off his presidential campaign by talking about states rights in Philadelphia, Mississippi.

The genius of Taylr Mayd's commentary is that he asks a simple question over and over again, "What's up with people giving all this chicken away?" He goes on to ask, "What's up with Black celebrities endorsing stereotypical commercials that feature Black people laughing and singing about chicken?" By now, my very expensive liberal arts education is causing me to sit up and take notice. The chicken, the declaration from yesterday, Rick Perry's crazy secessionist talk, Ronald Reagan kicking off a "states rights" campaign at the site where three Civil Rights workers were brutally slain, these things are very symbolic.

They symbolize the fact that America is definitely not post-racial. America is still steeped in white Supremacist rhetoric and culture. A bunch of Black folks laughing and singing and biting into a juicy fried chicken leg is exactly what white supremacist culture needs to comfort itself in the wake of America electing an Ivy League educated Black man to lead the free world. It is a way, if I may say so, to put Black people, "back in their places" behind the fried chicken counter, Taylr Mayd.

Reading the declaration by Virginia's governor is stunning because it does not mention the long nightmare that lasted over 400 years in a "free" country. Civil War apologists have been touting "states rights" for almost 150 years since the war ended. They simply do not finish the sentence. The war was over "states' rights to enslave other human beings and treat them as chattel property." Rick Perry's secessionist banter, in no way, mentions the over 600,000 dead because rich, Southern planters convinced many poor, white boys that they were better than Africans simply by virtue of their white skin. They neglect to mention that most white people of the South were lower-classed white who were either ignored or scoffed at by the plantocracy. And when the plantocracy lost the war, they had no more time to waste on their poor, white brothers who died to maintain their wealth. Ronald Reagan's bid for presidency, based upon smaller government and "welfare queens," began at the site of one of America's most heinous acts during one of its darkest hours. Taylr Mayd, I think the message is clear.

The state of Texas has even demanded textbooks for innocent school children based on this sanitized version of history. Attending school at Ole Miss, I've met people who were honestly brainwashed enough to cry and become angry when they learn the real truth about the South. I've heard people, barely over 20, scream very fervently that Ronald Reagan was the greatest president of all time, and I know damn well they were not even alive when Ronald Reagan served as President! Oh, the horror the horror they experience when they say these things in front of Vietnam veterans and suck up that first ass whipping in the name of Ronald Reagan!

What damage will this type of misinformation do to a new generation? It won't be harmful for the richest 1% of America that propagates lies about itself. It will produce of generation of sheep who vote how they are told, become angry when they are told, and hate who they are told to hate...regardless of the facts.

Taylr Mayd, I have one question for your thoughts: I wonder what would happen if the true builders of the South, my ancestors and your ancestors, begin to fly the Confederate Flag? It should be ours. Our ancestors were killed, raped, and worked to death for it. Would all of these people then yell about tradition and continue to sanitize history?

Some Things Really Are Priceless

"English? English? Shit, I thought you went to school for something. English ain't nothing."

The above quote is the response I get from people 90% of the time when I tell them that I am a Ph.D. candidate in English. In addition to that quote, I work with a gang of Education professors who look upon my graduate work with condescension because, as one Education professor put it, "You never have to do any quantitative studies. You just read and write, and what you all read and write really aren't pragmatic at all." Well, I can't argue with that. Anybody who has ever tried to read Lacan or Spivak knows that the obfuscate nature of their writing is difficult enough to read, let alone apply them to real situations.

It is true that since the 1980s, when Ronald Reagan and other hardline conservatives painted humanities and social science professors as a bunch of ex-hippies looking to badly influence students with their Communist-inspired ideology, these majors have been on a steady decline. It seems that everyone who was anyone who went to college ran to the MBA programs. Those who really wanted to major in something that mattered took hardline sciences such as Biology, Physics, or Chemistry in order to obtain entrance into medical or nursing schools. Still others who wanted a quick, guaranteed job after college majored in elementary education. For the most part, by the time I enrolled in college in the late 1990s, people only majored in other Humanities/Liberal Arts courses to help them pass their LSATs and enter into Law School.

Thus, at this late date in the year of our Lord, most people ask me, "What in the Hell did you major in English for?" My answer is simply, "I like to read." Most people do not understand the purpose behind a humanities/liberal arts major because they cannot easily translate these majors into six-figure jobs. Most college undergraduates attend college to make money. The formula goes: 4 years of college + self-deprivation of the college life = big bucks, authority, and prestige upon matriculation. Since the 1980s, fewer and fewer jobs have been awaiting Humanities/Liberal Arts majors -even at the Ph.D. level. The degrees are equally difficult to obtain, since theories relating to human culture are never as simple as even the most difficult calculus equations. Humans just aren't that predictable. The purpose of a humanities/liberal arts education is to expose students to other cultures and other times in the human famiy through art/literature/anthropology/music/theatre/dance/philosophy/psychology/history, etc. And hopefully, along the way, we learn something about ourselves. We learn, through an engaging study of history, that it does not have to always repeat itself, and that people do not fit into neat little labels. But most of all, a degree in the humanities/liberal arts teaches us how to think about our world. LIBERAL ARTS AND THE HUMANITIES TEACHES US HOW TO THINK.

And seriously thinking about problems before we try to solve them really is priceless. If I have any criticism of American culture at large is that it is anti-intellectual. We continue to be the dumb jocks of the world -all muscle and no brain. Our current political discourse encourages all emotion and no reason. Other countries laugh at us because they can. Let me provide some prime and contemporary examples of where more liberal arts/humanities course would help our world reputation.

1. During last year's Presidential election, the Right accused Barack Obama of being a "Muslim/Islamic terrorist," and then proceeded to play clips of a very militant sermon from his long-term pastor, Jeremiah Wright. People were calling and twittering in to various political pundit shows saying how they were afraid of this "Muslim terrorist" who sat in church all of those years and listened to hatred from that antiwhite pastor. Sigh. When was the last a Muslim regularly attended your local churches? I've never known a Muslim to attend a Christian church regularly, seeing as how they have mosque sevices to fill their spiritual needs.

2. Not simple enough for you? Let's look at the healthcare debate. Why should we listen to people who use government/tax-payer funded healthcare tell us that government/tax-payer funded healthcare is bad? In case you don't know, all government workers/Congressmen use government/tax-payer funded healthcare...including Republicans. I was so embarassed for old people when they said, they don't want government-funded healthcare and the government had better not touch their Medicare. I can hear the French and Canadians laughing even in South Mississippi.

3. It's not American to pay taxes, but it is American to send soldiers to foreign countries to take natural resources. If not for taxes, who pays for wars?

4. Somehow, being gay has become a cardinal sin in America, but we're the fattest country in the world. Do I have the only Bible in the world that lists gluttony, not homosexuality, as one of the seven abominations before the Lord?

5. Celebrating Halloween is fine, but Harry Potter is witchcraft? How are the two different?

6. Wow, here's a good one. Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin tell people to watch out for liberal news bias and liberal news agendas. Those poor conservatives are always under threat, even though 91% of all talk radio is conservative talk radio and they have an entire news network devoted to their agenda. I guess the other 9% is REALLY dangerous.

These are just a few examples. I could go on and on. But hey, I'm writing to Americans, and you're tired of reading by now. Thanks for sticking around this long. Think about this, most of our greatest leaders, presidents, and thinkers were liberal arts majors. However, George Bush II had an MBA from an Ivy League school. Bill Clinton, on the other hand, studied in three liberal arts areas before attending law school: Philosophy, Economics, and Political Science. One left a surplus. The other left a deficit. THINK about it.

Disappearing White Privilege?

I must say, I hate when people relegate racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia to Mississippi. I hate it because I travel extensively. I follow the news extensively. I'm a history bug. I consider all of the above -hatred - an American problem; not one exclusive to any state or region of the country. From Watts, to Detroit, to Chicago, to Memphis to Jackson to Dallas to Washington D.C., senseless acts of violence have erupted in this country, taking the lives (or in the case of Reagan, attempting to take the lives) of some of our most promising leaders.
When historians write of these times, most of them talk about the politico-economic uncertainty that produced flames of fear and hatred. What they don't talk about is the importance of the hot air coming out of people's mouths that whipped those flames into 5-alarm fires of violence. Case in point: the Oklahoma bombing of 1995 was not a random act of violence. It was carefully planned and orchestrated. Could it also be that Mr. McVeigh, and other domestic terror groups are being given signals to use extremism and violence against opposing points of view from Conservative -often Republican -leaders?
With the passage of the health care bill, the secret service has seen an increase in terror threats against Democratic lawmakers. In Ohio, New York, and even in Washington D.C., seemingly random acts of violence and racial/sexual epithets have been hurled at lawmakers. In Pinson, Alabama, a Mr. Mike Vanderboegh is calling for like-minded patriots to break the windows of Democratic lawmakers before rifle owners have to resort to pulling guns in a new revolution. Mr. Vanderboegh is not patriotic enough, however, to turn down his government-issued social security disability checks which support his suburban lifestyle. Michelle Bachmann, giving an interview earlier this week, described herself as a "foreign correspondent on enemy lines." I saw senior Republican Party members fan the flames of angry Tea Party members by waving their flag back and forth. Meanwhile, on the floor of government, Republicans are just now proposing some sane amendments to the health care bill. Why now? We don't even know what's in the health care bill. Neither does Mr. Vanderboegh. And I'm willing to bet that most of those Tea Party members don't know, either.
So, what's the real issue here? We know that the Congressional Budget Office said that the new health care bill actually reduces the deficit, and is not guaranteed to grow the government. So, what are these people really wailing about? Most of them receive Medicare/Medicaid or some form of assistance. Those who are not already receiving this benefit, will certainly qualify for it in the future. So, I ask again, what's really going on here?
It is my belief that domestic terrorism and anger at government increase from those who stand to benefit the most from government increase is a screen for a more American problem: that of hatred. These people are terrified of losing what they feel is some sort of white privilege. In America, whiteness is a property that comes with not only a form of normalization of life and experiences, but with a certain intrinsic value protected by legal, social, and economic institutions. J. W. Cash called it the Proto-Dorian bond, and it is to be guarded and watered by the "blood of tyrants" who dare take it away. One of the cornerstones of white privilege is that it is exclusive. In order to enjoy this white privilege, one needs first and foremost, white skin. I think that may be all, because certainly the throngs of poor white people gathered in Washington D.C. and who live and benefit from government intervention, have nothing to gain under Republican rulership, which leans toward big business. According to W. J. Cash, the Proto-Dorian bond is a feeling of unity and support that unites whites across all class lines in a common culture of white supremacy. So, it was no slip of the tongue when Pat Buchanan, when being interviewed by Rachel Maddow, claims that white men alone built this country and its theirs.
All of this violence, protesting, screaming, and yelling is not about Big Government. It's not about health care. It's not about the deficit. If you ask me, these are just code words in a common culture of white supremacy. White supremacists feel like they are under attack, and may very well lose the white privilege they've enjoyed for more than three centuries in the United States of America. They are angry at the white people who voted for Barack Obama. They are angry at the white lawmakers who would betray them by guaranteeing immigrants and minorities a share of that seemingly shrinking American Pie. Most of all, they are afraid, and their leaders are stoking that fear every day. People like John Boehner, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Bachmann, Sarah Palin, John McCain...good white American people who stand up to this "socialist/communist takeover" are their last hopes. In true American fashion, they react the only way they know how: with hateful words and equally violent actions that follow. If this violence results in tragedy, I think the people who are fanning the flames should also be held accountable, not just the participants of the protests and acts.

Barack Obama, Political Chess Master II (Special Commentary)

Last night, I watched as this historic healthcare reform passed. There was much drama and action. The procedure itself has the making of a very good movie: the Tea Party members spitting on members of Congress and calling them racial/sexual epithets, Jessie Jackson Jr. having to bang that gabble and raise his voice to call for order during a very heated verbal exchange, John Boehner invoking scripture trying to shame a few more Democrats away from the "Yes" box. I tell you. I was on the edge of my seat.

The highlight came when a cool President Obama, standing in front of a very emotional and passionate Vice President Biden said, "This is what change looks like." As cool and as calm as expect any Black man to be, he looked square into the eyes of his political adversaries and he said in so many words, "Checkmate."
I bubbled over with laughter. My eyes brimmed with tears as I remembered the Lion of the Senate, a rich man who devoted almost his entire career to attaining healthcare for those less fortunate than himself. Then, I became uncontrollably angry because the public option/expansion of Medicaid for everyone is not in this bill. Why in the Hell would they take out such a huge victory for the American people? I mean, it's such a big bill that includes....

Then, exactly ten minutes after Barack Obama declared "checkmate," I realized that I don't know what is in this bill. Yes, I am a political junkie who watches at least four hours of political commentary every day, and I don't know what the heck is in this bill. I know if I don't know what's in it, all of those fanatics out there yelling about socialized medicine don't know, either.
So far, the coverage of this historic change has not been on the specifics of this bill. We saw the sausage making process, but not the ingredients of the links. Media focus has been on the strategy of the game, the coaches' game plays on each side, rather than what was happening on the field. Who wins? Who loses? Who's going to suffer at the polls? Who's going to benefit? What's Obama going to do next? How have the Republicans been so effective at controlling the message? What message? Aside from scaring the hell out of folks about death panels and "socialized medicine," there hasn't been a message.

So, the public option is out, but what's in? I don't know. The opposers of the bill don't know. This factor, including the ramping up of the rhetoric of fear and the constant referral to this bill as "Obama care", further affirms my view that this whole ordeal has been more about fear of what this Black man, leader of the free world, can do than about policy-making. Inciting violence against Barack Obama and the Democrats smacks of the jealous jouissance of Southern lynch picnics. What was that dark day in America's history all about? Power play dynamics and phallic authority. Just listen to Rush Limbaugh...you don't have to take my word for it.

Sadly, our public discourse is stil informed by white supremacy and jealous sexual projections. Sadly, those people who were out there spitting on lawmakers and taunting them probably need that help the most. Sadly, those people out there probably cannot even define the very words that very rich, white men like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh told them to use. Sadly, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh know exactly what they are doing. Sadly, those folks do not know that they are being used in a powerful class war and a fear of redistribution of wealth and elitism. They are no better than those young, poor white boys who died in the Civil War to enrich the pockets of wealthy plantation overlords, a class they could never belong to. Sadly, those people and their children will also benefit the most from the passage of such a bill, in spite of their manifest hatred.

So, even though President Obama cannot directly say it to his adversaries, I will. Check mate. "On to the next one" in the words of Jay-Z.

Some advice for all political pundits -liberal and conservatives - get used to a new, cooler style of leadership. We are dealing with a very calculated political genius, not someone prone to egotistical, masculine posture. There's actually some substance behind his exterior, and nobody can rush him. He's the chess master. You don't rush a chess master before he makes his move. He must study the board from every angle. He must study his opponent's peices from every angle, anticipate his move, and be prepared to counter it. That takes more than posturing. That takes brains. And brains is what we have back in the White House after an eight year vacuum.

President Obama, the Political Chess Master

President Obama has occupied his current post for about 15 months now. For 14 of those months, he has aggrevated his base to no end...even myself, an African American woman who is a Southerner to boot. He has made me regret voting for him, and left me wishing that I'd voted for Hillary Clinton instead. As the "birthers," including Lou Dobbs, questioned his citizenship, we asked, "Why doesn't he do something?" As the Tea Party members showed up to his rallies with loaded weapons, we asked, "Why doesn't he say something?" As the antireform factions interrupted town hall meeting after town hall meeting, we shouted, "When are you going to take the lead?" As we watch Republicans controll the healthcare debate message, every one from Chris Matthews to Bill Maher challenged President Obama by telling him, "Lead, damn it Lead! You are the president of the United States! Act like it and lead."

Which is exactly what Barack Obama, current president of the United States, wanted us to do. Barack Obama the candidate played down race. He ran as an American man, not a Black one. He quoted Abraham Lincoln as his favorite president, and failed to mention the works of Frederick Douglass (an "overlooking" that garnered him criticism from some in the African American community). He stayed out of sight as Republicans and Conservatives concocted fake Kenyan birth certificates. He sat "idly" by and let the Democratic Congress and Nancy Pelosi mop up after the "death panels" windfall. Like a political chess master watching a three-dimensional chess board, he let everyone say what they wanted to say when they wanted to say it, and when everybody ran out of steam about everything, he moved. He went directly to a Republican meeting and took unscreened questions with no teleprompter, and had it televised -a first for our nation. He held a boring, seven-hour press conference on healthcare, calling out Republican incentives and naming names. When he'd done all of that, Daddy came back home and gave Congress a deadline for a bill, giving them the go ahead for reconciliation. To date, no Republicans have made an effective rebuttal.

Check mate.

Though Barack Obama the candidate played down his race, he has conducted himself like the level-headed Black man that he has to be in order to operate in America. He gave us the old ideological rope-a-dope as long as he had to in order to obtain a signed permission slip to lead (Right now, the letter supporting a public option in the Senate has up to 40 signatures). He knows that as a Black man, he's always already perceived as an angry Black man. He is always already perceived as less than capable of being in a position of leadership. As a Black man, he is always already perceived as someone more interested in chasing tail than chasing enemies. As a Black man, Barack Obama could not come out swinging and jabbing. Like Richard Pryor's character on Harlem Nights, he had to play it smooth and he had to play it sweet.

Now we're begging him to lead. Lead damn it! We're begging him to cease being a Black man, and be our president. Exactly what he wanted to hear. To his opponents I say:

"Check mate!"