Category: politics

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This is why I vote!

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I know that neither party really cares about the people. I know that the political process is severely, and maybe permanently broken. I know that in many political races candidates are running totally unopposed, so who I “vote” for is totally irrelevant. I don’t believe that my vote will make one bit of difference.

Despite all of those things, I vote because many of my brothers and sisters fought, bled and died so that I can voice my complaints. I vote because they couldn’t. I vote to honor their sacrifice and hope for the future.

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The Joy of it all

Joy-Ann-Reid

Yesterday I was interviewed by Joy-Ann Reid, the managing editor of TheGrio.com and an on-air contributor on MSNBC. Ms. Reid is also a political columnist for the Miami Herald and editor of the political blog, The Reid Report. She is currently writing a book on the Clinton and Obama administrations and wanted to talk to me about critiques and observations of the Obama presidency that I posted on my website (www.JamesRichardson.net).  It appears she was intrigued by my comments on the impact of the Obama presidency and how he is viewed in the Black Community. Since I don’t consider myself  overly political I wasn’t sure of what I was going to add to the conversation. In truth I am far more comfortable talking about mobile apps and multimedia than about government policies. With that said, I agreed to an interview. I think it went okay. I guess I’ll see.

 

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…..and my Lambo is blue!

With just a few days remaining until the presidential election I find myself for the first time in many years very anxious about the political direction the citizens of this country will decide upon. My hope is that we will ultimately as a nation gather up the strength to do what is right instead of what is easy.

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We cut heads!

The Pres

I came across this picture of President Obama recently and it made me think.  The worst thing about having a shaved head is……. I miss going to the barbershop.  The last time I went to a barbershop was probably close to 20 years ago. I started shaving my head right around the time that my wife and I started dating.

The barbershop I used to go to was the old Jerry’s Den on Lenox Avenue in Harlem. It was always packed because everyone was waiting for the one or two barbers that were guaranteed to give you a good cut. Most people would rather wait and hour or two to make sure you got a barber that didn’t give you a jacked up cut.

The main thing I miss about the barbershop is the Continue reading “We cut heads!”

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If I can’t be famous, I’ll be infamous!

The martial artist in me is conflicted by the recent turn of events in Colorado, and the anniversary the mass murder in Oslo, Norway. The Norwegian gunman had more than an hour to hunt down and attack his victims. More than an hour, which means that he had to stop and reload at multiple points. As a person that trains in self defense based arts, I can’t help but think about what I would do if faced by such a threat. Would my training make a difference? Would I freeze or rise to the challenge? Are the arts that I am studying really effective in real combat situation? In truth, I don’t have any answers. I would hope that be able to protect myself and my loved ones. Or at the very least make the son of a bitch regret picking me or mine as a target.

My father was gunned down when I was fourteen as he was closing down his candy shop for the evening. The murderer was never found. Even as a young man I often Continue reading “If I can’t be famous, I’ll be infamous!”

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Ready to Die….but he still lives on!

I can’t believe that it has been 15 years since Biggie was murdered in Brooklyn. When I really think about it this means it has been 15 years since I was really excited about any hip hop artist. Despite the demonization of hip hop and rap music in many circles, there can be no debate that this polarizing music genre has been a driving force in the lives of many youth. The above discussion is an insightful and intelligent discussion on the cultural relevance of Biggie and hip-hop.

It made me wanna pull out my old book or rhymes and grab the mic again.

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Thoughts on Black History Month

Black History Month is here again and I find myself reflecting on how things have changed in just a few short years. For example, the story behind the above picture is that a little Black child visited the White House wanted to know if Obama’s hair “felt like his”, so the president obliged and let him see for himself. This brought to mind an exchange that my son and I had during the last primary season in 2008, before Obama was elected.

I took my son with me to vote, and as we were in the booth, he asked if he could grow up to become President one day. Now as a Black father this was one of those pivotal moments where you have to make a decision whether to tell him the truth about the world as you believe it, or allow them to remain innocent for awhile longer by painting them a picture of how the world should be. I try to always be truthful with my children, but in this moment I paused and decided to tell him how I hoped the future would look. “Yes, you can become the President one day”.

I just never thought it would happen in my lifetime.

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9/11: Ten years later

The Towers

I can’t believe that it has been ten years since the 9/11 terrorist attack. So many things have changed since that day that I sometimes have a hard time remembering how things were prior to the attack. About four years ago, in one of the first posts I made on this blog, I spoke about my recollections of that day. In regards to that day, not much has changed for me since then. I am still uncomfortable in large crowds. I still don’t like traveling on public transportation. And I still worry whenever my children are out of my line of sight.