Chris Arnade:

I have recently lived two lives, during the day working on Wall Street and at night documenting New York’s poorest neighborhoods, mostly in the Bronx.

I get asked often, “What have you learned from your experience?”

The answer is this: The notion that everyone is given an equal chance, that success is about hard work, no matter your beginning, is simply untrue.

We do not, nor have we, in America, ever lived in a meritocratic society.

Via T-NC, Alan Jacobs writing at The American Conservative:

…what troubles me most about this suggestion — and the general More Guns approach to social ills — is the absolute abandonment of civil society it represents. It gives up on the rule of law in favor of a Hobbesian “war of every man against every man” in which we no longer have genuine neighbors, only potential enemies. You may trust your neighbor for now — but you have high-powered recourse if he ever acts wrongly.

From a NYT report on guns & training by Alan Feur:

Some of Mr. Kelly’s troops disagree, going so far as to approach reporters with unsolicited views. One officer, who joined the force with a military background and spoke anonymously because he feared reprisals, said the problem was training. The department has “a factory line” approach to weapons training in which officers “get the basics — breathing, trigger control,” but not much else, he said. “It’s very brief, minimal.”

“Firearms training is important — it’s very important,” the officer concluded. “And it’s something that is not taken seriously.”

I wish I could say I was surprised by this, but the NYPD has participated in enough wild shootings over the years that I was already convinced that our cops get very little/and or very poor weapons training. This is basic shit folks.

Susan Rice has run off by the GOP clowns in the Senate:

Rice Drops Bid for Secretary of State, Citing Opposition

Rick Ungar drops some knowledge on Right To Work for less laws:

Right-to-Work’ Laws Explained, Debunked & Demystified

Gene Demby (soon to be of NPR) writes about the unaccounted for costs of poverty:

On Cory Booker & Poverty’s Psychic Costs

Are the NYPD trained well enough in the use of their hand-guns? I’m sorry is that a real question? The answer hell fucking no:

NY Police Recruits Need More Gun Training In Real Life Scenarios, Critics Say

#ICYMI: I had a few thoughts on the firing of Rhonda Lee by KTBS in Shreveport, LA:

Black Woman Fired For Being Nice

My ex-girlfriend’s mother, a retired assistant principal in Detroit, once told me that school attendance would jump in the winter months; it was the only place the kids knew for sure that there would be food and heat.

Listen… go read that ish.

Eric B & Rakim, November 1987 – Photo/Image By: David Corio

When we talk about Rakim too often we fail to mention Eric B. This was a duo, and we’d do well to remember that. Their 1st record is called “Eric B. Is President” after all.

The photog who the above pic belongs too, David Corio, has some other awesome pictures on his site where they are also for sale.

Via Journal-isms:

“Hello Emmitt–I am the ‘black lady’ to which you are referring. I’m sorry you don’t like my ethnic hair. And no I don’t have cancer. I’m a non-smoking, 5’3, 121 lbs, 25 mile a week running, 37.5 year old woman, and I’m in perfectly healthy physical condition.

“I am very proud of my African-American ancestry which includes my hair. For your edification: traditionally our hair doesn’t grow downward. It grows upward. Many Black women use strong straightening agents in order to achieve a more European grade of hair and that is their choice. However in my case I don’t find it necessary. I’m very proud of who I am and the standard of beauty I display. Women come in all shapes, sizes, nationalities, and levels of beauty. Showing little girls that being comfortable in the skin and HAIR God gave me is my contribution to society. Little girls (and boys for that matter) need to see that what you look like isn’t a reason to not achieve their goals.

“Conforming to one standard isn’t what being American is about and I hope you can embrace that.

“Thank you for your comment and have a great weekend and thank for watching.”

That’s former KTBS-TV meteorologist, Rhonda Lee responding to a comment about hair on the channel’s Facebook page. This comment:

the black lady that does the news is a very nice lady.the only thing is she needs to wear a wig or grow some more hair. im not sure if she is a cancer patient. but still its not something myself that i think looks good on tv.

All I kept thinking to myself is that Lee’s response is exactly what many white people say they want from Black people. They want us to explain our strange ways to them. Explain our strange hair that they love to touch, explain our “attitudes”, and why we’re so damn “angry” all the time. Here you have someone who did that in a nice, and professional way. Does she get praised for handling a difficult comment well? No. She gets fired. Damned if you, damned if you don’t. Meanwhile, as of today, the original comment by “Emmitt” is still on KTBS’ FB page, AND to add insult to injury the station “liked” his comment:

But hey, race had nothing to with it.

No other group in America has so had their identity socialized out of existence as have black women… When black people are talked about the focus tends to be on black men; and when women are talked about the focus tends to be on white women.

I really don’t know if I agree with this statement, but it’s some serious food for thought.

Via Colorlines:

Morehouse College, the nation’s most well-known all-male college for black men, announced this week this week announced a new course focusing on LGBT pop culture, history and society.

This is good news, and potentially a major step forward for HBCUs. I love that they are approaching this from historical prospective as well. Just within the civil rights movement there unsung LGBT heroes. Let alone wider society. A key component of progress is understanding, and nothing fosters better understanding like knowledge of history. Many props to Morehouse.

Fannie Lou Hamer