BAD NEWZ KENNELS

Life and death.  Man and Animal.  Black and White.  Perception.  One of the key aspects in my desire to move to Chicago was to be in a more culturally diverse environment.  We love to consider America a melting pot of many cultures . . Los Angeles often gets credit for being the best example of this.  Well on the whole, we may be mixed in a pot, but little has melted.  Chicago, in my experience living in the United States, easily has the greatest variance of ethnicities and nationalities.  You've all heard of the rough and tough south side of Chicago, well the west side is not a featured destination either.  My new home is about a mile east of this "bad" part of town.  My neighborhood in Los Angeles was approximately ten miles west of South Central.  Both cities have huge black populations, and the "bad" part of town is where you'll find the greatest concentration. 

When I grew up Southern New Hampshire, there existed nearly a 99% caucasian population.  Boston, our closest major city, had a long standing reputation for racism.  From its large Irish contingency to long time Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey's well documented bigotry in management and player personal selection.  Growing up in the 80s & 90s, I was exposed to some of the greatest developments and expressions in Black American history.  I think I was born with an affinity for the underdog, from my earliest memories I was pulling for and amazed by the feats of the superstar African American.  From Kool Moe Dee, Eric B. & Rakim, and Public Enemy . . to Jim Rice, Andre Dawson, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Walter Payton . . posters decking my bedroom walls.  In all out respect and curiosity, I went forward and tried to learn what I could about black culture (hip hop turned out to be a much better source for truth than my public education on the subject).

Brand new to the Land of Lincoln, re-education on the man starts now. We've all been taught of  the Civil War, The Emancipation Proclamation and the rest.  I've made it a mission to fully realize our 16th president; his agenda and achievement.  As Union as Illinois is, it is easy to assume Chicago as one of the key areas of the first free black societies.  I've relished my new place among such a varied population here.  As many black men on the lake front bike path as white . . reciprocal respect.  In Los Angeles, on the whole, neither ethnicity showed much respect or interest in the other.  I see the strongest ambition amid strength in the black people of Chicago.  Former collegiate athletic standouts, leaders in discipline and industry.  Diversity breeds progress.  Chicago is it.          

The following exploration is rated "T"(for truth).

Approximately four hundred years ago, settlers in "the new world" began trafficking human beings from Africa.  Slave ownership and labor remained a common and legal aspect of American life until more than two hundred and fifty years later with the passing of the 13th Amendment.  The black race has been free from the bonds of slavery in the United States for less than one hundred and fifty years.  Do some quick thinking and you discover that wasn't all that long ago.  After "earning" their freedom, African Americans congregated in outlying neighborhoods of Americas largest cities. We can only imagine the conditions of this new found freedom and the tumultuous adjustment into society.  Try to imagine looking for paid work after generations of being housed, fed, told what to do and how to do it.  When one was fortunate enough to find a willing employer, how much less would they earn per day than an existing employee?  How long would this trend continue?  How would any such person or family make enough to move out of their impoverished surroundings?  Add to this one hundred years of segregation after two centuries and a half of slavery . .

Fast forward to the 1960s where the Civil Rights movement finally brings segregation to its official end.  CIA had been formed just over a decade prior, operations foreign and domestic well under way.  Blacks in America had proven themselves more than resilient since released from captivity.  Athletes like Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, and Bill Russell had been on stage for all the world to appreciate for some years.  Blacks were adapting to American society at a surprising rate, apparently not good for the powers that be.  It was time to bring illegal drugs to the ghetto.  For now we'll skip the in-depth study into which federal and local government agencies were directly responsible for this influx, but it's long past due that we recognize what has happened here.  Of equal importance, the assassinations of Malcolm X and Dr. King.  These conspiracies have been well researched and uncovered by many brave souls over the past 40 years.  Most information can be easily accessed for those willing to learn.  I may write at length on these events in the future, for now, I encourage all to begin unlearning what they have learned.  The same evil forces that have committed these acts are alive and flourishing in the world still today.  If

you don't know the past, you can't know the future.

So lets all accept that "urban" or "inner-city" life in America is common place for drug dealing and abuse.  Try to stay with me in following this thread of circumstance.  If not from the intelligence and military community, where would these government projects and ghettos come by such increments of narcotics?  Continue along and recognize that nearly 9 out of 10 prison inmates in this country are black and nearly 1 of 10 people in this nation are locked up.  Keep up with me and discover the majority of Americas largest prisons are corporate owned and operated, and business is booming. From shackles to cells; mental, social slavery.  Think it over.

So a short lived, confused, contaminated season of freedom for the black man in America yields unfavorable results.  Is is deliberate or an unwelcome side affect of Americas sad policies since the Civil War?  Race riots, gang violence, drug wars, urban unrest . . what strength is required to overcome such odds?  In what profession can a man rise above it all and move forward?  Professional sports. Entertainment.  You can cut your education short, focus on athletics.  So you have the abilities and talent to rise up and out of your impoverished environment . . but what about your crew?  Your friends and family? Recruiting begins . . cash, gifts, clout.  Your crew begins to reap the benefits, old habits become more elaborate and accessibility to all things increases . . . Drugs, Dice, Dominoes, Dog Fighting.

I began my blogging too late it seems to really slam the following point home the way I first intended.  The NFL season is in full swing and major media outlets and their followers are neck deep in fantasy football, weekly predictions, and overall Sunday fever.  But if you can think back just a few months you'll remember the biggest story-line to follow, other than Brett Farve's misadventures, was Michael Vick and his dog fighting ring; Bad Newz Kennels.  Check out the media frenzy these days over each and every development with Vick's return . . all is forgiven once you are back entertaining the masses. 

In my experience, American's will do everything in their power to do two things.  First, to avoid any form of original, independent thought.  Second, to find anyone else to point a finger at.  To concentrate as much negative energy towards another group or individual in efforts to distract themselves and like minded individuals from exploring their own shortcomings.  Racism, to a great extent can be boiled down to just this.  Keeping a creed at arms length.  Keeping a race of humans in a box.  Stereotyping an ethnic group to an extent that they might never break free and be known for their individual, unparalleled contribution to society.

Dog Fighting is illegal in all nations but one.  It is savage, violent, primal.  I do not have any statistics to back it up but I would venture that the United States is the dog capital of the world.  Personally, I have a stronger connection with dogs than anyone I know . . I am a self-proclaimed dog whisperer.  Yet, since the day the Mike Vick story first broke, I was his biggest defender.  Not that the activities he was involved in were acceptable or right, I was just ready from the jump to come to my own conclusions on the matter.  Pavlovian America was ready to react, all at the same time, all with the same mind.  No one has been trained, apparently, to value human life over canine.  In fact, it seems American dogs are more valuable than Middle Eastern human beings . . at least, that's what the media taught me.

My perspective on this matter has gone on much longer than I had originally intended therefore I will have to save my perception of our 43rd president and his role in all this for another day.  The smoke and mirror, sleight of hand "shell game" the media's been playing and projecting for nearly a century has to end.  An awakening at an unprecedented scale is required, the question is who will lead the charge in this effort?  What leaders in which fields will bring our national illness to light?  Who is willing to trade the comfortable lie for the cold, hard truth?  Understanding a problem is half way to its solution.