As You do: On Trayvon and The Hood

By now very few people in America have not seen black, white, yellow, or brown people in a hood. This is an amazing fact to me. I have been angered by the senseless racist violence committed against black people with impunity in general and against black males in particular for so long that I like every one else has come to mark its passing with little more than a passing thought. And it is little more than a passing thought if we are honest with ourselves because what is happening now because of the young brother Trayvon, the little homie Tray, has never happened before.

A hoodie is no longer a hoodie, in the hood and across this country. This one symbol has captured the imagination of this generation of conscious black people the way no other symbol representing black existence of America has perhaps not since the black power fist. And perhaps it is just the perfect symbol captured in a sanguine perfect moment. Such that none could have contrived it, not a vicious racist yet hungry Hollywood, not even a political opportunist living his or her best moment before the world.

This symbol belongs to no one but the people. But Trayvon who himself purchased it for us with his life blood.

I say again who purchased it for us with his life blood.

Jaime Fox says he'll wear his hoodie forever

The universal cool black male wear is no longer just a sweat top, nor is it just a symbolic purchased passage to a universal post racial America. Hoodies up is a cry for humanity for a people who became so dehumanized so long ago.

The slave block.
The Auction block.
The trees silent witness to so much of our pain.

And with the hoodie our collective experience and frustration is now on display. Perhaps it is because we at once know it is our youth, our innocence, our hopes and dreams which were so callously dispatched from this dying earth and no one cared.

He was just a child for God's sake.
wearing a hoodie was his only crime.
But black was his only curse....
To him.
and to them.
And to them.

No, No one cared. Not the police who didn't check the cell phone. Not the white folks in charge of the process of examining and categorizing another dead ni....

And today every body does care. And perhaps that's the point that this child's clothing transcended race in a way that I've never seen in all my years. I've seen rich white folks moved by the cause black celebrity dragged from the ignominy of American niggardom before his or her inevitable martyrdom but I've never seen the broad adoption of such an anti racism cause celebrity or symbol. Perhaps this tells us more about tomorrow than I dare dream today.

But today I care not for broad strokes and the pyre upon which America stands holding the racist match.

Barak Obama in the Trayvon hoodie

I don't care about NBA teams wearing them.

I don't care about doctored Obama Hoodie photos.

Today I only care about you as you care about me in the hood....

I see the you in your hood today Black One. Sista Goddess, Brother God, Afro American, African American, Cuz, Cuzo...and I know you know. The wretched chains about our necks. The filthy hands in our pockets. And though I wish for a national symbol that is more about our power and our strength, though I wish for the black power fist....

But I don the hoodie and know that there is black power fist in your heart because I dare not dream about tomorrow free of their curse; for we all know there will be another one, though I wish there not be with all my being...

As you do.
On this night in the hood. In my hood.
Amen.

Trayvon Martin and Michael Vick in The Commonality of The Black Experience or One Picture is worth a thousand words

Dubious Reasons in Dubious Times; The Racism behind the NFL's 40 yard dash results.

The truth about the NFL's 40 yard dash timing lies in RG3's results

With this years edition of the NFL's showcase combines in the books, it's time for my favorite public discussion about it. The 40 yard dash times.

My criticism is real and it remains the same. If you want accurate times NFL please install a FAT system used and recognized as the world wide as the standard measure of timing human speed traveled from point a to b. Gun goes off people move, people finish race. Time is measured. End of story. Old saying goes you can't beat the clock. And for those who argue that the times wouldn't be realistic under FAT because you have to use a gun, I say that it would be most realistic because football movement occurs at the end of the cadence.

RG3 disputed the combine official time and well he should. It was flat out wrong and far from right for him while it was wrong, but a lot closer to right for Andrew Luck

But none of that matters. You see because the NFL doesn't want accuracy.

Imagine going to a test where it's all white folks measuring the results for a moment and then you see other white folk there performing with you. And the measurements taken can only be seen by the white male holding the results recorder and then he has to tell another white man the results....And well with out a doubt you might feel like you're in a game of conversation where the story is told to another who tells another and by the time it comes back well....

You ran a 4.41 when you actually ran a 4.18 hand timed.

Or your white male counter part ran a 4.5 when he actually ran a 4.75. Do you see where this is going?

Listen I've said it before I'll say it again, there is too much a margin for error and all kinds of the most ugly in humanity on display the NFL's recording of the 40 yard dash results. My hobby is timing cats. Up in the rest I'm watching track what am I doing? Timing as I watch. It's a hobby. Keeps my finger quick, reflexes sharp.
Are there slow fingers? I know for a fact there are. I see it every year in Indy on tv. Unless there's a white cat at the line. Then it seems the fingers get very quick. Case in point this year? RG3 and Andrew Luck.

Timed both several times on replays. 4.2s(as crosses line) and 4.1s(anticipating the line.) and barely a 4.3(after he crosses on back) for RG3. 4.6 or slower for Luck. Unofficially they gave RG3 a 4.3 and officially a 4.4. And unofficially a 4.5 for Luck but officially a 4.6. Hmmm. What does this tell me. What I've said forever. That for the NFL a white man's 4.6 may be a 4.6 or is slower and a black mans 4.4 is actually a 4.2 or lower. And before you scoff my timing know that I'm consistently .30 range off FAT. Period. consistent.

But why? Why is that these good people refuse to face the facts? Well racism. Blind and simple. They're reporting system was already exposed by the Taylor Mays debacle and there's been no attempt to change it. I would link the NFL network's simulcam clip which exposed Mays running a lot faster than his official 4.44 as he beat out another baller's official 4.33, but mysteriously all the clips have been removed for copy right infringement by presumably the NFL. Why?

You know the answer to that. There's a need for the NFL to tell us these white men are faster than they actually are. There's a lot of money involved and I've said it again and again that these white men want to pay other white men before a black man period. Not all, but definitely most of these white men believe that though they would never publicly admit it. And the forty yard dash is a part of evaluation. So the evaluation must remain in a good light to facilitate that.You want to change my time and my mind move to a FAT system NFL. Until then it is what it is white men giving both black and white man dubious times for dubious reasons. Very dubious reasons in these so dubious times.

Brady and The Cheatriots in Superbowl 46 and Every Body Say...

The NFL Regional Combine and the NFL's Responsibility To The Hood: An Open Letter to Roger Goodell

Mr. Goodell,
Please let me first say that I'm sorry I missed this and forgive me for the belated response to the NFL purchasing the Elite Combine system last year. Forgive me, I was in the middle of a recession which seems to be striking the African American community quite hard and as an African American male who is part of the African American male group which has the highest unemployment rate in the country, I was quite busy focusing on my job, and not my hobbies, so that I did not add to the truly ugly statistic.

What has this to do with my answer to the NFL's purchase of this combine system? Well in a word every thing. Times are rough and many of the men who will participate in the now NFL Regional Combine system will be black, and I dare say an overwhelming number will be as I've witnessed first hand the population of and Elite Combine. And many of them will be unemployed and will have dedicated valuable resources to giving the NFL 200 DOLLARS for the right to evaluated by the NFL. This, as an aside, seems wonderfully like the NFL simply took over Elite and is merely continuing its practices. I did not have a very good experience with Elite and made that clear here in this blog which is read by many people affiliated with your league, both players and others.

 A short but important word about my experience with Elite. Let me say simply that I called it the Hamster Wheel combine which was a spectacle of inaccuracies to say the least. You see when a combine makes its money ostensibly from evaluating you, it is not in the interest of the combine system to "graduate you" for obvious reasons because they get their money by having you come back. An age old adage in business is the best customer is a repeat, loyal, or core customer, even if you have to make them believe they need you. Add to that what I know about the athletic talents of the African American male in this country who has dedicated his life to dream of becoming a millionaire sports baller and Elite's promise of working out before the league in the showcase round with a limited number of spots available and you have an inherent detrimental curve. Let me be clear, there are far more many young brothers in America who could complete a combine making the grades needed than there are spots(and these posted grades have to be achievable or a man wouldn't put up his hard earned money to try.)in Indy in the Elite Combine system. So I believed then that what remains is what I saw, slower times than actual times, non warmed lifting,  in order to ensure that it is not overbooked. It gave me pause and wonder about successful combine participants and their representative's relationships to Mr. Austin then owner of Elite and now Director of the NFL Regional Combines  

I wont bother with more of a discussion of that poor experience it is not the point of this letter, what is is the troubling notion that a billion dollar league is taking money from poor black men who would do better to put that money to better use. And this billion dollar industry benefits directly by the entire community's dedication to achieving in that league forgoing all other dreams or opportunity. Am I saying that the NFL is responsible, accountable, for the incredible number of Black men who have the dream to be NFL Ballers? Yes, yes I am. And I'm saying this because of the overwhelming majority of the cream of the crop of the multimillion dollar earning College Football unofficial farm system and NFL ranks are Black men. Look lets be frank, in the NFL the majority of the starters are Black men committing miracles of athletic prowess who would not be doing them and thereby drawing a great number of fans with out their foundation in the culture of "Black athletic making it" dedicated to honing the skills. With out a doubt, to say that the NFL owes the black community nothing is the denial of a huge responsibility which the billion dollar league has more than enough resources to carry out.

So exactly what am I suggesting? That Black men be allowed to participate at the NFL Regional Combine for nothing? No, I don't believe that would be acceptable to either party. A more sensible and palatable thing for all concerned would be for the NFL to tie donations from the regional combine directly to charitable organizations in the black community. Not the NFL's Play 360 fund, if such a fund exists. Not the ones with the large centralized focus like the YMCA, The Boys Club, The March of Dimes. All very worthy causes, but a donation there may not serve the 'hood branch completely or even reach there.  In this economy, the Non-profit sector has been challenged and strained. Here in Raleigh the well known YMCA's hood branch closed placing great strain upon the Triangle YWCA. I am certain, it is like that all across America. As a result, I urge you to look into a giving campaign to struggling community centers and the Independent branches of larger but decentralized organizations. Put the money on the ground directly in the communities where these men were born, raised and will return to work after their dream dies before you and them at the NFL Regional Combine which odds say it will because the participants will be overwhelmingly Black men and an incredible precious few will succeed to make it to Indy and the showcase round. 

We here at The Black Beast thank you for your time on this very important matter.

I know you missed me....The Black Beast is back!!

Clay Matthews is officially a Great White Hype now after a ho-hum pass rush year. Secondary problems and forced removal from The Juice exposed him.

I know you miss  me....I know you missed me bllllliiiiiiind..... I know you miss me. Yeah I know. Bad, bad 80s tune. Like Colt nation missed Peyton. Like Clay Matthews misses THE JUICE--remember I called his bad year shortly after the season in my post where I said Commish called him and said the New CBA is going to be harder on testing.(With all due respect to the GB coaches who said he was playing well...High level my ass, ya think they didn't need a pass rusher against Eli sittin' back in the pocket throwing daggers all day? Offense puts fannies in the seats but Defense wins championships..Man he wishes he could git back on the Juice...LOL!) But it's the truth. Like Peyton's neck I had to break...I just had to take a month and half break and refocus. So here I am. I know I missed givin' you all Black Beasts of the Week 15-17. You'll git'em if you care. But as you can see after much prayer and meditation the site has changed. Minimalist. Let do it. Let's git it. So now you can focus on this and I can have folks stop with the irritating web stalking. But the good news is the black beast is back and world wide. Tommora? Maybe some superbowl and playoff pics...But for now Breakin'....Sorry Peyton I can't resist. Hopin' you return soon coz I can't stand Brady.

I know U miss me is the theme song for  Peyton Manning wit' Colt Nation backing him up.

NY Giants Jean Piere Paul 2011 Black Beast of NFL Week 14

You saw this young brother right? 1 sack for a safety, 1 sack splitting a double team, and of course Multiple hurries. He was just a load which Collingsworth couldn't stop complimenting on Thursday night football. If this had been Clay Matthews the spotter would've given him 3 sacks off top. You already know.
No matter. We know! They couldn't take away the blocked field goal to save save the game. Congrats big number 90 you are the black beast of the week!!!!