Ahmad's Night

On Friday Night I saw a most heroic performance by the 79 yr. old pianist, Ahmad Jamal, at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center, here in Los Angeles - I say 'heroic' because there are few musicians who can deliver the same level of improvisational skill, enthusiasm, joy and technical facility, at his age!

Coupled with his prodigious gifts on the piano, is his genius for integrating the American Jazz form with the European Classical form - there are only a few who have successfully coupled the two, as he has done - from Ravel to Ellington, from Strayhorn to Copeland and Gershwin, and most of all, from the percussiveness of Rachmaninoff to that of Monk - all of these were integrated into his inimitable stylings, which he applied to the full range of the willing Steinway Concert Grand he was playing.

Not only did he play in his customary bravura style, but he conducted his able sidemen as an orchestral conductor might - particularly his bassist of 26 years, James Commack, and the local drummer, Kenny Washington. The symbiotic bond between him and his long-time bassist was apparent...it was almost spiritual in how they related to each other and complimented each other's playing. Added to these was the superb percussionist, Manolo Badrana, who played an eclectic assortment of at least a dozen bells, whistles, drums, and more.

He was animated, played joyfully, and at times, even stood up while playing in response to the sheer joy of hearing the music that was bubbling inside of him. I was sitting behind the fabulously gifted pianist, Eric Reed, and I was able to see that he could hardly contain himself - his was the same dilemma that I also experienced.

It's a shame that Ahmad Jamal isn't better known, and iconically revered right here in America, rather than in France, all over Europe, Asia and much of Africa - all because of America's reluctance to celebrate the genius of it's best musicians, especially if they happen to be black. So it was gratifying and a joy to see the older crowd of mostly black music lovers in attendance, who came to show their appreciation and support, and to honor this gifted icon, notwithstanding America's neglect.

.....A rare, rare performance of a musical genius that enthralled us all.....I am still on a musical high and on 'cloud 9'!

Top 10 Things Vick Learned...

Now that Vick has been hired by the Eagles.....

"Top 10 things Vick (hopefully) Learned While Sitting in the Federal Pen"

1. No white quarterback would have received federal prison time (and probably no time at all) for a similar 'crime'..

2. America just finished 'shocking and awe-ing' Iraqis, resulting in the slaughter of over 1 million humans on a damn lie, with no one from PETA, ASPCA, etc. uttering a single word of protest at the human slaughter..

3. America loves it's dogs more than it loves it's humans, particularly if they are black humans..

4. America has no problem with the dog-racing industry brutalizing and eventually killing dogs, because that makes money for them..

5. America also has no problem with hunters like ex-governor Sarah Palin, shooting wolves and bears for sport from an airplane..

6. America continued it's grand tradition of thievery, first by stealing the land from the Native Americans, then by stealing the labor from the African slaves, then by stealing the $130 million he just received for being one of the best QBs in the league..

7. No NFL team would hire him to be the back-up for a white QB, because he's better than most of them and it would cause too much anxiety and insecurity among them..

8. No NFL team would hire him if he wasn't still among the best QBs, eventhough he hasn't played in nearly 3 years..

9. The NFL team that hired him, would do so because they can get him cheaply, and also keep him from playing for another team that could eventually beat
them because of his tremendous talent at the QB position..

10. Most defensive coordinators and other strategists, will probably have to endure sleepless nights again, trying to figure out how to defend against his passing plus his running..

If he learned just half of these, he should be able to move forward to earn a living and feed his family, never doubting that he was victimized by a racist double-standard in his punishment. He now knows that as long as he is black in America, he will be subject to this double-standard, and must take care to avoid being ensnared by it again - this is something we have all had to learn..

How Stupid is "Stupidly"??

It depends on whether an experienced police sergeant, who is also reportedly an expert in racial profiling and a teacher of how not to do it, makes an arrest of a Black professor, Gates, in his home - after he determines who he is and that he is lawfully in his own home.

President Obama said Sargeant Crowley acted "stupidly", in making that arrest, and it was! The proof that it was, is that the police department had to drop the charges because it was a bogus arrest, and the follow-up report written by Crowley, lied about what the 911 caller said. She said that she could not tell the race of the two suspicious men - Crowley wrote that she said "two black men were acting suspiciously." Crowley lied to justify his arrest and to obscure the fact that he had 'profiled' the professor in doing so.

Obama later spinelessly backed off his assessment of Crowley's actions for political reasons, but the fact remains - the police acted "stupidly" as he originally stated!

The Birthers

- those who question Obama's birthplace and fitness to be president....

...these are the descendants of the dregs of Europe who colonized and raped this land, while enslaving and lynching Africans, and committing genocide on the native Americans. Even with that foul DNA in their bloodstream, you would think that over time, they would have evolved as they became better educated and presumably enlightened. Instead we find them to be as savage, racist, unenlightened and pathetically ignorant, as their ancestors - perhaps even worse than they, because it's 300 years later and the world has advanced so much in general, while they have stood still or regressed.

Miracle on Penn. Av.

Today, July 20th, is exactly six months since President Obama took the oath of office and became POTUS.

Looking back, I now see nothing but miracles that were performed by God on his behalf, on the road to the White House. If you don't believe in miracles, consider these:

- a non-stop barrage of incendiary Rev. Wright TV ads, that would have derailed anyone else..
- a slew of racist comments and ads by the Clintons, trying desperately to derail him..
- the media's linkage of Obama with Bill Ayers as terrorist comrades..
- the false assertions that Obama was not a US born citizen..
- white trash Sarah Palin's strident assertions, that "he palled around with terrorists"..
- the false assertion that Obama was a Muslim..
- a major magazine's cover feature, picturing the Obamas as fist-bumping terrorists..
- right-wing, racist evangelicals like James Dobson, praying to their false 'gods' for rain to wash-out Obama's nomination ceremony in Colorado..
- an unprecedented number of death-threats issued, unlike any of those received by previous presidential candidates..

All of these and many, many more, had to be miraculously overcome in order for Obama to reach the White House...they were overcome, and he became the President in spite of all the racist garbage from hell thrown at him!

'Reverse Racism'??

Recently I was accused of 'reverse-racism' by a black conservative ex-colleague..this is how I responded to her...

'Of all of the instances of inexcusable ignorance, it is of those blacks who are ignorant of white racism, and either excuse it as being benign, or conveniently ignore it altogether. When a black person accuses another of 'reverse-racism', they are implicitly accepting this phony made-up term by white racists, who devised it to 'flip-the-script' on blacks and fool them into believing and accepting a specious premise - that blacks can be, and are, as racist as white folks.

Not only is this premise false, but it ignores the realty that there can be no effective racism without the necessary power to implement and execute it - something whites have always had, and blacks have seldom, if ever had.'

'Rising Above IQ'

I read Nicholas Kristof's NY Times article, and the new book he referenced seems to finally get it right - that there are no innate intelligence differences among racial groups.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/opinion/07kristof.html?em

The differences arise from unequal history and access to resources, which translates into all manner of inequalities right down to the number of words a baby in a welfare family hears - "One study found that a child of professionals (disproportionately white) has heard about 30 million words spoken by age 3; a black child raised on welfare has heard only 10 million words, leaving that child at a disadvantage in school."

Interestingly, Kristof did not address white children raised on welfare, which number many-fold more than black children raised on welfare, and presumably they also have only heard 10 million spoken words by age 3, leaving them also with a disadvantage in school.

If this 'spoken word' count is correct and results in a learning and educational disadvantage, then it partially explains how 65 million mostly white voters could vote for Bush in 2000, 68 million voted for him in 2004, and 60 million mostly white voters voted for McCain/Palin in 2008.

In contrast Bush received less than 4% of the black vote in 2000, less than 11% in 2004, and McCain/Palin received less than 2% in 2008. So it appears that despite some blacks being handicapped by hearing lesser spoken words by age 3, we as a group 'rose above IQ' and had the sense to reject the Bushco disaster both times, and avert the McCain/Palin disaster that would have surely followed. Above all we had the good sense to vote for President Barack Obama! - now that's really 'Rising Above IQ'!