Minutiae and Magnitude
(continued numbering from last time)
8. Minutiae- I’m going to preface this next number with- Aisha told Davis to go eff himself and then Brittany and Zay backed Davis up and Aisha was like uh-uh, I don’t play like that bich! Here is the skinny on the actual hubbub- Drew Brees said something regrettable about kneeling rather than standing for the national anthem and flag presentation- Brees on the flag; Aaron Rodgers and Lebron James offered a rebuttal on Brees’ overshight. Laura Ingraham told Lebron James to “shut up and dribble!” just dribble
Let me put my response to all that as succinctly as possible . . . hey, rich famous people- shut
up and sit down- all you all. Let’s hear from people who are going to help fix the problem. If
you’re famous, I probably care less about your opinion by default because odds are you’re
probably a self-important jackasses.
up and sit down- all you all. Let’s hear from people who are going to help fix the problem. If
you’re famous, I probably care less about your opinion by default because odds are you’re
probably a self-important jackasses.
9. Governor Walz- the week of the George Floyd protests in Minnesota stated that Minnesota is a great place to live- economically, educationally, if you’re white. How is Minnesota if you’re rich? My dad worked as an auto body repairman (from which he was laid off multiple times) for most of his life and a janitor his last decade of employment. I received no scholarships for being white and was denied a low-income loan because my mom had her retirement money in the bank (inheritance from the death of her mother). I have been let go from decent jobs twice because companies in this state either 1) sent my job overseas or 2) the woman deciding my employment had a vendetta against someone rightfully challenging her authority.
I was an English major, who a month out from graduation from college learned that my future
prospects for yearly salary just out of college and ten years in the future was N/A (not applicable). I made it into the information technology area because I made a favorable impression in the work ethic department and was hired based on past performance. So, Mr. Governor, qualify your remarks. Look at the disparity between rich and middle class and poor a little closer. Look at education level as it equates to one’s economic prospects- I have. Don’t tell me it is as simple as black and white. The problem color is green. I have not been at the right place at the right time and gotten zero breaks because of the color of my skin.
prospects for yearly salary just out of college and ten years in the future was N/A (not applicable). I made it into the information technology area because I made a favorable impression in the work ethic department and was hired based on past performance. So, Mr. Governor, qualify your remarks. Look at the disparity between rich and middle class and poor a little closer. Look at education level as it equates to one’s economic prospects- I have. Don’t tell me it is as simple as black and white. The problem color is green. I have not been at the right place at the right time and gotten zero breaks because of the color of my skin.
I’m not saying the racial divide wasn’t ever the biggest problem this country has had to face.
I’m saying it isn’t anymore. There are millions of white people, still not enough however,
speaking out on behalf of black people, how many rich people speak out on behalf of them?
And people please, I’m not talking about people who worked harder than I have to get where
they are. I’ve got white relatives who do work/have worked 50 and 60 hour weeks routinely,
working on vacations, to get what they have. I’m not calling anyone out assuming I know how
they contribute to society or financially to worthy causes.
I’m saying it isn’t anymore. There are millions of white people, still not enough however,
speaking out on behalf of black people, how many rich people speak out on behalf of them?
And people please, I’m not talking about people who worked harder than I have to get where
they are. I’ve got white relatives who do work/have worked 50 and 60 hour weeks routinely,
working on vacations, to get what they have. I’m not calling anyone out assuming I know how
they contribute to society or financially to worthy causes.
10. Bring to mind the scene in “Good Will Hunting”, where Sean (played by Robin Williams), tells Will “It’s not your fault,” over and over again, until Will breaks down. That’s how I feel on the issue of where we are with this race issue. My wife on Facebook was following someone who had a friend of theirs comment on the race issue. He wrote, to paraphrase- if I’m a guy, with his daughter and a fluffy dog on a leash out for a walk, I’m a father, but if I’m by myself, I’m a black man. NO, no you’re not. Not to me. If you are a guy by yourself in my neighborhood with a skull cap on, pants down to the back of your knees, walking with an attitude and a scowl, and you’re black, you have my attention. But if you have that same gangster attitude, same scowl, same attire and you’re white, you also have my attention. I can’t help with the black man’s uneasiness, chip on their shoulderness, or insecurity; I got enough of my own because nothing was handed to me either. I have “won” what I have worked for.
11. Jimmy Kimmel just apologized for his use of the N-Word 25 years ago- Kimmel. Good, he should. He should have known better. But apologizing for wearing black face simply impersonating George Wallace, Oprah Winfrey, Karl Malone, etc. That’s ridiculous. Again, where are all the black comedians coming to apologize for uptight whitey cracker comments? Yeah, I didn’t think so. John Wayne (“The Conqueror”) played friggin’ Genghis Khan for Christ’s sake. Stupid stuff happens. Donald Trump’s been pretending to be president of the United States for almost four years and at least twelve percent of the country is pretending to be just fine with it.
12. Magnitude- an Oliver Twist. Jon Oliver featured the Police- similar to what Colbert did, for all 33 minutes of his June 7th (2020) episode of Last Week Tonight. Oliver June 7th I was predominantly disgusted by what I saw- from numbers of arrests, stops and killings (of black people), to footage of irresponsible and violent acts by police, to interviews of cops (particularly of clueless Bob Kroll the president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis). I was also pretty disappointed in the tenor of the chastisement which Oliver provided. A couple times I was amused by Oliver’s disparagement of anyone who wasn’t apologizing for earning a paycheck who wears blue and is expected to protect and serve. That type of one-sided presentation is part of the problem. At one point however, and I’m proud of him, he even lowered the boom on former president Clinton (in five different state of the union addresses) for thinking just putting 100,000 more cops out on the street would solve the problem. It is tirades, or even measured dressing downs, of the police, which will discourage more people from being interested in becoming cops. Quite a roller-coaster of emotions, as evidenced by the tangled summation I’m failing at definitively offering. I'm lauding the respected and adept messenger, yet frustrated by his overall assessment, because he so often delivers. His commentary was devoid of the accessory of objectivity which must be responsibly included in any investigation of that length and type.
At one point Oliver lambastes the country wide glorification of stereotypical renegade
cinematic and television representations of police officers and mostly chooses white targets,
who have traditionally acted with the requisite amount of insurgency in the protocol, department
often endearing them to Americans. I friggin’ love Jon Oliver’s chutzpah, approach, rapid-fire
delivery, intensity and even his accent. However, I don’t think the almost exclusive use of
white cinematic versions of cops makes a lot of sense. Unless you are going to include the
renegade cinematic versions of black cops, you’re shortchanging full disclosure. The list of
fictional Hollywood renegade cops is incomplete without Eddie Murphy in three "Beverly Hills
Cop" movies, Chris Tucker in two "Rush Hour" movies, then there’s Will Smith from three
“Men in Black” movies and three “Bad Boys” movies, which also feature Martin Lawrence.
The title of that last example is indicative of this whole point. Oh and the original black
renegade cop- John Shaft- he surely did everything on the up and up and to date there are
five Shaft movies dating back to 1971. Again, let’s qualify our criticism a bit shall we? And two
“Ride Along” movies starring Ice Cube and Kevin Hart; “Central Intelligence” starring The
Rock and Kevin Hart . . . and oh, what about “Training Day”, with Denzel Washington- talk
about your renegade- so, mainstream as a renegade cop, he won an Oscar for his performance.
cinematic and television representations of police officers and mostly chooses white targets,
who have traditionally acted with the requisite amount of insurgency in the protocol, department
often endearing them to Americans. I friggin’ love Jon Oliver’s chutzpah, approach, rapid-fire
delivery, intensity and even his accent. However, I don’t think the almost exclusive use of
white cinematic versions of cops makes a lot of sense. Unless you are going to include the
renegade cinematic versions of black cops, you’re shortchanging full disclosure. The list of
fictional Hollywood renegade cops is incomplete without Eddie Murphy in three "Beverly Hills
Cop" movies, Chris Tucker in two "Rush Hour" movies, then there’s Will Smith from three
“Men in Black” movies and three “Bad Boys” movies, which also feature Martin Lawrence.
The title of that last example is indicative of this whole point. Oh and the original black
renegade cop- John Shaft- he surely did everything on the up and up and to date there are
five Shaft movies dating back to 1971. Again, let’s qualify our criticism a bit shall we? And two
“Ride Along” movies starring Ice Cube and Kevin Hart; “Central Intelligence” starring The
Rock and Kevin Hart . . . and oh, what about “Training Day”, with Denzel Washington- talk
about your renegade- so, mainstream as a renegade cop, he won an Oscar for his performance.
In that feature of Oliver’s from June 7th, he aptly calls out the toothlessness of misconduct
firings, the joke of Qualified Immunity, touches on the disenfranchisement and marginalization
of blacks. I was already convinced we had a white cop v. black man problem. But whipping
people into a categorical frenzy without quid pro quo concessions is not my idea of the whole
story. Here's the problem- he leads off like Colbert did, by being too distracted with what the
police were wearing, riot gear, etc. and how intimidating they looked. And again, let me be clear,
the video clips shown of the collected offenses of the police are despicable, and we need real
reform all over the country- there’s no way to avoid it, excepting police unions and administrators
and cops with tenure will try.
firings, the joke of Qualified Immunity, touches on the disenfranchisement and marginalization
of blacks. I was already convinced we had a white cop v. black man problem. But whipping
people into a categorical frenzy without quid pro quo concessions is not my idea of the whole
story. Here's the problem- he leads off like Colbert did, by being too distracted with what the
police were wearing, riot gear, etc. and how intimidating they looked. And again, let me be clear,
the video clips shown of the collected offenses of the police are despicable, and we need real
reform all over the country- there’s no way to avoid it, excepting police unions and administrators
and cops with tenure will try.
But I have this question after watching the last two minutes of that episode of Last Week Tonight
where Oliver yielded some of his time to a representative of the black anger coursing through the
minds, streets and veins of all black people. It is important to keep in mind that not all protests
in the wake of George Floyd’s murder were non-violent- plenty of them weren’t. When you lead
off a presentation of the missteps and obvious gross misconduct not only recently, but
semi-historically, of the police and their dealings with people of color, and skewer them for
dressing for an expectation of the worst behavior any of this country’s citizens could exhibit for
the cameras and not include a history of this country’s violent protests, your overall declaration
of who is right and who is wrong is woefully incomplete.
where Oliver yielded some of his time to a representative of the black anger coursing through the
minds, streets and veins of all black people. It is important to keep in mind that not all protests
in the wake of George Floyd’s murder were non-violent- plenty of them weren’t. When you lead
off a presentation of the missteps and obvious gross misconduct not only recently, but
semi-historically, of the police and their dealings with people of color, and skewer them for
dressing for an expectation of the worst behavior any of this country’s citizens could exhibit for
the cameras and not include a history of this country’s violent protests, your overall declaration
of who is right and who is wrong is woefully incomplete.
It is socially irresponsible to use your platform, as a rich famous person to mock and complain
about how law enforcement personnel are dressed, and end by showing a video of a black
woman advocating burning everything to the ground on a show dedicated to emphasizing the
despicable acts of the police, ripped for dressing in riot gear. Because, if this woman is
representative of a large number of other black people and I’m a cop, my son or daughter, wife,
sister or brother, or friend is a cop . . . how do you think I’d advocate me and my thousand
closest peers dress for a night out standing opposite five thousand people just as rightfully irate
as her?
about how law enforcement personnel are dressed, and end by showing a video of a black
woman advocating burning everything to the ground on a show dedicated to emphasizing the
despicable acts of the police, ripped for dressing in riot gear. Because, if this woman is
representative of a large number of other black people and I’m a cop, my son or daughter, wife,
sister or brother, or friend is a cop . . . how do you think I’d advocate me and my thousand
closest peers dress for a night out standing opposite five thousand people just as rightfully irate
as her?
I mentioned there would be only 3 of these and I lied, because I haven’t gotten to the turn yet, the
reason I think the problem color in this country is tied more to the color green than those obvious,
instantly incendiary shadows of black and white. People haven’t done enough research- not even
Mr. Oliver’s crew. The police are not at the heart of this systemic problem, though they are a very
significant component. I’m not contending that Oliver, Colbert, Kimmel, Fallon, Rock, Chappelle,
Walz, et al are wrong, but that their views and conclusions are incomplete. Next time, I will show
why.
reason I think the problem color in this country is tied more to the color green than those obvious,
instantly incendiary shadows of black and white. People haven’t done enough research- not even
Mr. Oliver’s crew. The police are not at the heart of this systemic problem, though they are a very
significant component. I’m not contending that Oliver, Colbert, Kimmel, Fallon, Rock, Chappelle,
Walz, et al are wrong, but that their views and conclusions are incomplete. Next time, I will show
why.
If Oliver and others focusing on the police misconduct, the number of black incarcerations, deaths,
traffic stops, etc. really want to get to the heart of the matter, they would focus on those who have
institutionalized greed and power throughout this nation’s history. But that might require they go
after the groups of people who own HBO, CBS Time-Warner, NBC, Disney, Apple, the
Rockefellers, the J.P. Morgan types in older times, and even dating back to Alexander Hamilton,
John Adams, and most everyone who signed the constitution. You want to see a systemic
problem, then much more research is required.
traffic stops, etc. really want to get to the heart of the matter, they would focus on those who have
institutionalized greed and power throughout this nation’s history. But that might require they go
after the groups of people who own HBO, CBS Time-Warner, NBC, Disney, Apple, the
Rockefellers, the J.P. Morgan types in older times, and even dating back to Alexander Hamilton,
John Adams, and most everyone who signed the constitution. You want to see a systemic
problem, then much more research is required.
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