You Must Acquit!!!

My main man who sticks it to The Man has passed away, apparently from an inoperable brain tumor... but whatever the case maybe Johnnie Cochran moved on to whatever the Lord has in store for him.

A couple years ago I reach Cochran's memoir A Lawyer's Life, and it was utterly fascinating. He is a nationally (actually internationally) known figure mainly because of the Orenthal James Simpson Double Mruder Trial, a media-frenzied trial that caused widespread outrage among white Americans after Mr Simpson walked free.

Cochran was accused of playing the "race card" to a largely black jury after suggesting that police had planted evidence in an attempt to frame Mr Simpson because he was a black superstar. Is this true? Well, the one thing we DO know about America is that is has never solved its race problem, particuarly its Nigga Problem.

In his memoir, Cochran steadfastly claimed it was an insult to all African-Americans to think he could convince black jurors to acquit a man they believed to be guilty of two murders just because he was black -- and that the victims were white. It's kind of funny whenever African-Americans are in court in the country, because the whole system is acutely foreign to African-American sensibilities and culture; and niggas typically GO OUT FUCKING BAD when in front of a judge. However, Cochran was one of the few African-Americans who knew how to work the System to a T (I can't remember was his win percentage was, but I believe it was over 80%).


In the wake of the trial, Cochran frequently appeared on television chat shows, got his own court TV series and was parodied in films and hugely popular television shows such as Seinfeld and South Park.

But he also handled some MAJOR, MAJOR cases - particularly winning the largest police brutality lawsuit in the history of nigga-hating NYC. He also cleared Sean "Puffy Daddy" Combs from trumped up gun charges where a white district attorney was looking to "make a name for himself" at the expense of true justice; and that myopia bit that DA in the ass. It was under Cochran's counsel that Combs was advised to tone done his high profile image; thus Puffy Daddy became P.Diddy. Cochran had stated after OJ he didn't want to ever handle a criminal case again (opting to take on cases thta affected broad civil rights issues insteadd), yet Cochran knew that the NYC DA was out to broomstick another high-profile Black man, 'cause that's how this country behaves.

Cochran was no saint though -- an he wasn't expected to be, as he was secretive about his private life [who wouldn't be in cannibalistic media-mad culture that we live in?), but startling details were exposed to the public gaze after his divorce in 1978 from his college sweetheart, the mother of his two daughters.

It emerged that for 10 years he had had a second family, fathering a son with his mistress, who later sued him in a case that was finally settled out of court.

A lot of people thought that Cochran - being a Black LA Defense Attorney -- was extremely anti-police, yet Cochran supported his son's decision to join the California Highway Patrol, despite his frequent battles with police departments in court.

Cochran said, but more importatnly knew that many poor (and not so poor) black people feared the police more than they feared criminals. "People in New York and Los Angeles, especially mothers in the African-American community, are more afraid of the police injuring or killing their children than they are of muggers on the corner," he said. In LA, it's a known fact that LAPD was and continues to be "at war" with the Black community. Remember the details of the Rampart Scandal? Where cops received "play" medals of honor for shooting and/or killing niggas?!? In his office he displayed copies of the multi-million dollar cheques he had won for people who said they were abused by police.

And while his greatest fame came from representing celebrities, he said the clients he cared most about were ordinary citizens.

After the Simpson case, Cochran concentrated more on civil cases, but remained an admired figure in the black community for his quest for justice and his philanthropy, which included helping to fund a university scholarship and a low-income housing complex.

T.R.O.N. - I thought that was an '80s Movie!?!

No. it means The Realest Of Niggas! Can you believe that? But more to the point, what does it mean to be a "real" nigga? Who's sitting around with a guidebook/criteria pamphlet determining who's real and who's fake?

That term -- "fake-ass nigga" -- which is so pervasive in hip-pop [see I can't call it hip-hop anymore, because I don't really see the difference between Brittany Spears and Missy Elliot]. As if being a "hip-hop head" gives you the authority to question someone elses sense of individuality.

Being a "real nigga" perhaps means sacrificing singular individual expression for the crass genuflecting to the mass media aspects of hip-hop. There's a great song by The Police called "Rehumanize Yourself" (off the Ghost In The Machine record) with a lyric that says "he's got his hand in the air with the other cunts... rehumanize yourself." In the context of the song, Sting is referencing blind allegiance to a particular mind-state and/or dogma, and then condemning it as the most egregious things a person can do. But hip-hop tacitly asks it's hard-core listeners (which is pretty much everyone these days) to do exactly that. Obviously the bulk consumer - whites - can't be "no real niggas" - despite the fact they really want to some times - so they overtly or covertly maintain a constant seperate identity, even though they might be rockin' the latest Common in a tricked out H2 Hummer (like this white boy I saw in Beverly Hills today).

And then there's this question, is a "LA {Real} Nigga" any more or less a "real nigga" compared to an "New York {Real} Nigga"?

On the previous blog I addressed the reversal of polarity that Blacks are trying to get give the word 'nigga.' I strikes me odd how now a "nigga" isn't just an African-American (for other African-Americans), but a "nigga" is a specific type of Crystal-swigging, gold fronts-having Black. It all kind of goes back to the "Shade Wars" that I touched upon in THE NIGGER FACTOR (but never, never enough), the inherent self-loathing that Blacks have [one of those FUCKED traits of the so-called black community] -- sadly branded upon us.

See this website Willie Lynch - The Making of a Slave.

This is actually a re-post//retooling of one of the few remaining entries from the old blog. I thought about what could be reposted and this came to mind. I'm re-reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X [something that every Black person should read and re-read in their late teens, mid twenties and mid thirties] and what Malcolm recounted about his life, seems STILL to be going on in the current American Black world. Why the FUCK is that?

The Three "I"s

What are the three "I"s? And why are they being written about on this blog?

They are:
Ignorance
Illiterate
Inept

These are systemic psycho-social traits that afflict African-Americans to a high degree, and ultimately contanimate their ability to succeed in 21st Century America.

IGNORANCE -- the fundamental lack of knowledge, education, common sense, wisdom... does that capture what Black People are about? Sadly it does. And WHY? Muthafucka, why? Did you read the cover article of the March 13th issue of The Economist? It's about the digital divide, and it has an African boy using a stone as a makeshift phone! Ignorance has a lot to do with technology transfers; or the lack there of.

ILLITERATE -- the inexplicable lack of the ability to read, write and verbally communicate in a clear, lucid manner. Niggas are so poor in this rubric, a whole new term had to be created to handicap Black peoples woes in this.

INEPT - the lack of ability to successfully complete a task. Unless it's putting a ball in a basket or bootleg consume goods or selling drugs to other low-rent muthafuckas, niggas are poor, poor, poor capitalists. Which means niggas neighborhoods, or as trenchant author James Ellroy put it, Dark Towns around the country continue to stay marginally better than 3rd World conditions with better stocked consume goods at local stores.

Where the Three I's smack niggas the most is in their pop culture. I'm looking at this junk-ass so-called Black Men's magazine called King, and man do I have to say WHAT THE FUCK? This self-styled "hip" jumble of 4-color glossy fishwrap continues to tout ideas and behaviors that Black Men "should be following" that no doubt results in a check-to-check financial existance with brutal behavior toward the "bitches."

That terms "bitches" -- the most ubiquitous sobriquet for Black women (and reference to women in general from Black men) around. Why not call them "nigga bitches"? That seems most appropriate, because if I'm degrading a women by calling her a bitch, then I might as go all the way and degrade her race as well as gender. Don't you think?

White Woman, Black Man -- Why The Hate?

Tiger & Elin
Originally uploaded by Ramses 3rd.

It's quite understandable that American Blacks disdain this combination -- historically it could result in what Billie Holliday called "Strange Fruit" and other types of egregious assaults on Black men.

Because this sexual combination was denied so much, it still generates the most scorn.

Black women are very vociferious about this, claiming that "these White heifers are stealing our men" - with the subtext that Black babies are "being destroyed" in favor of mixed children. And that qualityBlack men -- which are so hard to find -- are opting to erode the struggling Black community by marrying outside their race.

Strangely no other racial mixing carries the same stigmatic weight -- at least not in the United States of America (that corporate puppet country).

In the above referenced photo, we see Tiger Woods (who many a Black would argue that he's "not Black", in that he's not culturally African-American) and his Swedish wife Elin -- by any accounts that woman is pretty, and Tiger is just flexing what his money can buy. Does that sound harsh? Not if you really think about it.

Women want powerful, wealthy men -- that they can relate to. Elin was the nanny for some other big-name golfer's kids, who just so happened to be friends with Tiger Woods. So they were already running in the same circles. His success makes him able to claim just about any girl he wants, also long as she ain't a presumptuous bitch.

Is this a more media-exposed trend? I don't know, but it shouldn't even raise eyebrows -- except for the fact that the US is country that fucked and continues to fuck niggas at each and every opportunity.

Trial Of The Decade (Part IV of A Series)

As the sad, but hilarious Michael Jacko child-fucking trial continues, it seem sthat Jay Leno has been slapped with a gag order (as he's been listed as a witness in the trial) that prevents him from telling jokes about Jacko.

To circumvent the absurdity of the circus, Leno brought in "Everybody Loves Raymond" star Brad Garrett to read the inane cracks Leno wrote. He's an example of Leno's tawdry humor - "Today, Michael Jackson's lawyer said that he will not play the race card - mainly because he can't figure out what race Michael is."

How many other celebrities are going to be called to the stand to air the down-n-dirty about the Gloved One? There has to be some people who have helped secure butt-boys for Jacko, but where are they?

I can't decide if I believe if Jacko is going to the slammer or not? Check back in a few days after more of the Prosecution's Attack comes out.

The Trial Of The Decade - Part 2
The Trial Of The Decade - Part 1

Don't Know What Fun Is Anymore

There was an article in the February 23rd edition of the NYTimes about the collapse of speciality toy stores, you know places like Toys 'R Us and F.A.O. Schwartz and Kay-Bee. The article mainly hits on the fact that low-cost outlets like Wal-Mart and Target are beating down the toys-only stores. That maybe true, but I tend to think that kids today don't give a fuck about toys the same way as kids did say 15 years ago.

Video games are the predominant form of entertainment for kids under the age of 30. For the under 12 set, that's the main for of "having fun;" sitting in front of a TV screen maniupaling a hand-control, watching images that have been loving cobbled together with polygons and painted in Photoshop by 30-year olds (who grew up on Fisher-Price and LEGO and Playmobile).

Do children today even really know what it means to have fun? Are they bombarded by TV and Internet images to such an extreme that they are being told what "fun" is, as opposed to finding out what fun is on their own? "Fun" that is dictated to you is a style of enjoyment that is rife with subliminal messages of what is hip, what is cool, what is geeky, what is lame, what is awesome, what is wack, what is chump.

As the giant Toy stores that were once a staple of the youth experience of America dwindle away, and the "direct" buying of toys at Wal-Mart and Target become the methodology of finding toys. I say buying, not shopping because shopping denotes the act of going to a retailer and browsing; nothing in particular is part of the task. Didn't you ever go to the toy store looking to get the latest LEGO set, but stumbled across at boardgame like Stratego or Operation? And then begged and pleaded with your mom to that game instead of the LEGO? Or kicked and screamed on the floor because the Hot Wheels car that you wanted was sold out, only to have your father assuage the whole situation by purchasing the latest Mego Captain American Action Figure? During the whole ride home as you salt-water tears dried on the side of your face, you envisioned thousands and thousands of new scenarios where Batman escaped the clutches of a Decepticon? Sure those two toys weren't in the same pantheon, but you didn't give a fuck back then, you just wanted to have some "fun," goddamn it!

Alas, Xbox and PS2 (soon to be PS3) rule the day -- that elusive element of all fun - IMAGINATION -- simplity disappears; replaced by more and more heightened simulation.

Is that when thought-control starts to get secreted into the binary code?

You tell me?