Black Salvage

Happy Holidays! This one's going to be a quickie. . . The term "house negro" is a pretty harsh way to reference any black person. I want go into the history of it, you can do that yourself. That said, I present to you Alan Keyes. Keyes is one of several individuals at the moment apparently challenging Barack Obama's citizenhip and as well, his presidency. There are theories claiming that Obama was born in Kenya and others alleging he's really an Indonesian citizen. Another cedes that because Obama held dual citizenship at birth from the U.S. and Great Britain, he is ineligible to hold our nation's highest office. Here's the good news- no court is taking this matter seriously and the Supreme Court of the U.S. has declined to even hear the case three times already. For the moment, it seems the only place this nonsense is even catching steam is on Faux News. Now, back to Mr. Keyes. . . Some folk are calling the man a house negro. Maybe he is, maybe he isn...

She knew that winning was unattainable, but to be a black woman and run for President of the United States, amidst a time of racial and gender inequality is a victory in itself. Her campaign was unorganized, underfunded, and unprepared, but to be a pioneering trailblazer, who changed the facade of American politics speaks volumes about her character. Chisholm story proves that effective leadership is not measured by the performance of the leader, but rather his/her ability to inspire and motivate others to lead. Sixteen years before Jesse "kept hope alive", Shirley Anita St Hill Chisholm sought the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. Thirty six years before Hilary and Barack turned American politics upside down, Mrs Chisholm became the first woman and African American to challenge the concept of what a President should look and act like. Furthermore, at the 1972 Democratic National Convention, she received 152 first ballot votes, this may be insignifican...

[I know some of you have realized by now that the Salvage kinda' goes dormant during the summer. . . for obvious reasons. . . so I won't give some lame excuse for the absence, lol. That said, I would like to present the first article from the newest addition to the Black Salvage team, Angry Sally. -Chief Editor ] Why so Hateful? According to Urbandictionary.com, the number one definition of hating is when one puts down the success or fortune of others due to jealousy. When you hear the word hating what comes to mind? Lately, in my mind, the term conjures up images of Michelle Obama. Ever since she came into the national spotlight, Michelle Obama has been an open target. She has been described as a volatile “angry black woman,” caricatured as a gun toting terrorist, and quoted to sound like an unpatriotic fist-bumping anomaly. Most of her criticism comes from “credible” twenty-four hour television news programs, magazines, and newspapers. For every compliment and praise Mrs. Ob...

The Black Salvage is pleased to bring you more real talk from our regular music contributor L. A. Grant. They say talk is cheap so you can speak freely but, if it’s not for a reason, then what is it actually good for? The station that was meant to highlight things pertinent to blacks along with educating, uplifting, and motivating “our people” has lost its luster. There was a time when such shows as Teen Summit and B.E.T. News were a staple of our network. Now, you would be hard pressed to find anything resembling communication of thoughts that don’t include money, cars, or something of monetary value. The quality of programming has changed so drastically that I have noticed, in talking with educated people of color, most find it hard to even view Black Entertainment Television on a daily basis unless they are trying to see the latest videos. Movies like, “Cornbread and Earl”, will most likely never air on B.E.T. again even though the premise behind the situations and problems conveyed...

I would like to take this time to formally announce and introduce the third editor and contributor to the Black Salvage team, Ms. Catrina Sally. Here are some words from our newest addition: "I’m a Graduate English Student at Morgan State University. My concentration is screenwriting and I work as a paraeducator during the day. I love being Black, I love to write, and I hope my posts will exhibit these sentiments. Jerel and I have argued over the most mundane things, at least we have Black awareness in common!" As a long time commenter on the blog before making the move to join us, Catrina will continue using the pen name "Angry Sally", and likely for good reason. . . lol.

So... don't you hate when people who have absoulutely no relevance attack a relevant person to get their name in the news so that somehow, they might become relevant? I'll cut to the chase. Here are some comments presidential hopeful(yet again!?) Ralph Nader made: "There's only one thing different about Barack Obama when it comes to being a Democratic presidential candidate. He's half African-American. . . whether that will make any difference, I don't know. I haven't heard him have a strong crackdown on economic exploitation in the ghettos. Payday loans, predatory lending, asbestos, lead. What's keeping him from doing that? Is it because he wants to talk white? He doesn't want to appear like Jesse Jackson? We'll see all that play out in the next few months and if he gets elected afterwards." This is probably one of those things a lot of people are thinking, especially a lot of black people. Honestly, I think this comment and others come...

First and foremost, The Black Salvage is not turning into a celebrity gossip column so calm down! I just thought this would be something a lot of you'd take interest in. Below is a clip of some choice words old school rapper Ice T had for Soulja Boy . Ice T's words are at the beginning and Soulja's Boy's response follows. I'm sure that most of you who know me personally know that I despise Soulja Boy. I used to say, that his music was stupid- now I know that he too is stupid. . . sigh*. Now, I'm not in anyway justifying Ice T's "eat a dick" comment because that was entirely uncalled for, but everything else he said was entirely true, in my opinion. Now for part two. This vid is of Ice T's response to Soulja's Boy. Too funny. But personally, I'm glad someone of Ice T's stature did openly criticize Soulja Boy. I wouldn't say he's killing hip-hop but as far as lowering the standard- that can't be argued. By Prodigy-...

Just wanted to let everyone know about another documentary that's coming up in July. It's going to be on CNN and it's entitled, "Black In America" . It's a two part series that airs on the 23rd and 24th. Watch the trailer; it looks pretty good. Another reason why you should watch this is because its CNN, which is basically the only news network on cable that's not biased against blacks or Democrats, lol. YES, FOX AND MSNBC, I'M TALKING TO YOU!! I'll keep you posted. By the way, the documentary on Douglass High comes on tonight at 9 on HBO. Don't bother me during those two hours! - Prodigy Maestro (You do not have to be a member of Blogger to comment. Choose 'other' or 'anonymous' when your identification is asked for.)

What I’m about to bring to your attention, if you already haven’t seen or heard it, is probably one of the best rap/hip-hop songs that’s come out in awhile, from one of the best rappers, in my opinion. The below video is of Nas’ “Be A Nigger Too”, from his still untitled album that drops next month. When I first saw the video I was speechless. It was a shock to my system- all I’ve heard the last several weeks was the ignorant stuff, most notably Lil’ Wayne . But this “Be A Nigger Too”- it took one of the most offensive words in our society and laced with one of the most important messages in rap music that I’ve seen in awhile. He essentially made the ‘n’ word positive. It’s almost like he made it a learning tool. The Black Salvage caught up with Prince George ’s County, Maryland area rapper Jay Luminarty for his thoughts on the video. Luminarty, who attested that he has to deal with the words nigger and nigga on a daily basis said that calling the video controversi...

Just letting you all know that Monday night, HBO will be airing a documentary on Baltimore's Frederick Douglass High School. A professor and good friend of mine, Donyel Hill, was involved in the project. Here's a little of what he had to say about the film: "Alan and Susan Raymond spent one year filming in Frederick Douglass High School, which has a rich history of successful alumni, including Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall. Shot in classic cinema verité style, the film captures the complex realities of life at Douglass, and provides a context for the national debate over the controversial No Child Left Behind Act, focusing on the brutal inequalities of American minority education, considered an American tragedy by many. . ." "Douglass principal Isabelle Grant oversees a staff of teachers that is two-thirds non-certified, while many are substitutes unqualified to teach their subject areas. Threatened with sanctions, or even closing, unless student scor...

Anyone who knows me well, or well enough knows that I do my fair share of video gaming. Now honestly, I never thought that video games would have take the topic of discussion on The Black Salvage, but here we are. . . Your’s truly was playing Grand Theft Auto online via Xbox Live the other day. Those familiar with online console gaming will know that there is a ‘forum’ type area before matches begin, where players can communicate with each other if they have the headset and do things like talk trash. . . or. . . .call Your’s Truly a nigger, filthy nigger(while imitating a Southern accent), and nigger-lover. Why any of this was even necessary is beyond me. And the expletives I and others were called was not limited to just these. People were expressing their hatred of Jews as well as Hispanics. The token Asian slur was also thrown about. One person even told me, that “blacks are only good for peanut-butter and basketball”. One player told me that "black people can't afford Xbo...

A couple of months ago, we ran a piece on the relevance of historically black colleges and universities . With all the disproportionately negative press these schools receive, it’s important that positives stories, like the one I am about to bring you, get out. With that said; I present to you our first ever Black Salvage Spotlight- allow me to introduce to Mr. Ke’Shawn Forbes. Here’s a snapshot of Forbes- He’s a junior, majoring in Social Work at Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD, and currently has a 3.1 grade point average. Outside his studies he mentors, tutors and serves as a host for different university events. Did I mention he’s in school on a “full ride” through academic scholarships. Forbes has a nickname, “Flexxa”, which is Caribbean, he tells the Black Salvage. “down there you get a nickname for what your good at. It comes from flexibility and being multiple places at once- and being a people magnet.” People magnet is an understatement, given that Forbes just won th...

As a white man, how in the hell were you able to become a photographer for the Black Panther Party(BPP)? The exact question I asked world renown photographer Stephen Shames ( I highly encourage you to visit his site). Looking at me with a condescending smile-he began to speak-but, before he could answer, an announcer called him to the podium, to present a lecture on his experiences as a photographer for social and cultural awareness. Knowing that I was unable to stay the entire lecture, he began first, by answering my question. After hearing his in depth explanation of how the BPP's intentions were social reform, and not racial division, I suddenly realized the lack of knowledge I have on the black liberation movement of the sixties. My false impressions of anti-white, pro violence, and racial demagoguery were all thrown out the window. Feeling like a misinformed asshole, I stood frozen for two minutes, drowning in a pool of my own ignorance. Walking out the lecture hall-with a sa...

BET, MTV, VH1; not at this moment-instead, try focusing your attention on PBS-there you will find a phenomenal television series, African American Lives 2 . Executive produced and hosted by Harvard professor Louis Gates Jr, genealogical research and investigations are done on the ancestry of black celebrities. Trust me, what the researchers discover, will motivate you to research your family's history. Celebrities such as Chris Rock, Morgan Freeman, and Don Cheadle show expressions of disbelief, as they discover unknown truths about their ancestry. Below is a clip from AA Lives 2 ; observe the look on Chris Rock's face, as he learns about his great-great grandfather: Knowing ones history is knowing ones self. I am sickened at how undervalued and overlooked black people are in history. Our history has been so distorted, that we lose sight of how important we are, not just to history, but, every aspect of society. Since our involvement in history remains unappreciated, it is our...

So, I'm going scouring CNN this morning and I come across a video entitled, "Senate Apologizes to Native Americans". I was taken aback, if only for comical reasons. I'm sorry, but if it takes this long to apologize for genocide, it can't really be taken seriously. And that's not to say that an apology shouldn't be made- I just think that those making this. . . admission of guilt need understand that it's an apology merely out of principle. Mass grave in Wound Knee, South Dakota The bill in play here is S.J.RES.4 , which was introduced by Arkansas Senator Sam Brownback(R). The page for the bill describes it as "a joint resolution to acknowledge a long history of official depredations and ill-conceived policies by the United States Government regarding Indian tribes and offer an apology to all Native Peoples on behalf of the United States." All this comes only about two weeks after Austrailia apologized to it's own aboriginal popula...

Salutations to all of our readers. . . The Black Salvage was contacted this morning by Chris Weber, a PhD candidate at Stony Brook University in New York. Mr. Weber h as asked our help in letting people know about the survey, which is apart of his dissertation project. The survey is anonymous and can be taken by clicking here . This survey is not too long so I encourage everyone to take a crack at it.

Street violence must be stopped-No shit! Thanks for stating the obvious Quintin. I could sit here and ramble about how sad it is to see young minorities kill each other, or, about how its affecting our community, but if I cant give you a suggestion, not even a small idea of how to alleviate the situation, I might as well put my pen down, and shut the fuck up. The main question is how, how do you detain street violence? I definitely don't have the exact answer to that question ( honestly, no one does), but, I do have a small suggestion. Let me take you on a virtual walk to east Baltimore (McElderly Park to be exact)- where ex- convicts are making a tremendous impact on their crime ridden community. I first read their story in the Febuary 11th edition of The Baltimore Sun . "Operation Safe Streets" is a government funded program that allows ex-offenders the chance to clean up the same streets they used to run. These men walk the streets, patrolling the neighborhood-in add...

I know my co-editor has a bit of an infatuation with Michelle Obama(lol) so his take on this will be interesting. . . On Tuesday, in Brookfield, WI, Michelle Obama was quoted as saying: "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I’m really proud of my country … not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change,” she said. “I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment. . . and not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction." There it is. I know that you know how and why people might blow up at that. Even John McCain's wife, Cindy, used Obama's words as political fodder and said at one of her husband's events, "I am proud of my country. I don’t know about you? If you heard those words earlier, I am very proud of my country. . ....

After Obama's speech, we decided to get a few opinions from the audience. Check It Out! This second clip is one off Youtube, and much better quality than the footage we got of his speech.

So, as you might already be able to tell from the pictures, The Black Salvage Editorial Staff was in attendance Monday when Barack Obama spoke at the 1st Mariner Arena here in Baltimore, MD. I would like to give my piece on the sights and sounds of Monday afternoon. I would like to leave you my impressions of my first major public political experience. . . I arrived downtown at about 2:30 in the afternoon, and only 15 minutes before doors were supposed to open for the event. There were crowds posted outside the every entrance to the building and even more folks crossing the streets trying to get in. I was anxious to get inside as soon as possible- my friends at the University of Maryland College Park, where Obama spoke around midday, told me the lines were horrendous there. While there was a line wrapped around the building to get to the doors, there was a good number of people walking right up to the doors and going in. At this point, we had to do our hustle and bypass the lines...

"We should emphasize not Negro History, but the Negro in history. What we need is not a history of selected races or nations, but the history of the world void of national bias, race hate, and religious prejudice." -- Carter Woodson (1875-1950) A man creates a small event in order to educate and inspire his race into learning their culture and history-as well as- integrate a systematic belief that there shall be no distinction between ones own historical background. In addition, he hopes that the event will soon be a non-existing factor in learning our heritage. Carter G. Woodson created Black History Week (as it was known until 1976, then it became a monthly celebration)-hoping that the celebration would give black Americans a sense of historical importance, and that eventually, black American history would be a thing of the past. Black American history is American History, and its about time the two came together as one- Our African ancestors didn't mysteriously fly t...

Thick, optimistic, intelligent, gregarious, giving, opinionated, fashionable, graceful, chocolate, sassy, intuitive, outspoken, determined, charismatic, sassy, and well proportioned; just a few adjectives that describe the woman of my dreams. As a child-I imagined Claire Huxtable- the mother from the 1980's sitcom The Cosby Show, as my ideal woman; I grew older and realized that Claire was nothing but a facade; a phony; a fictitious t.v. character created by middle, aged white men. After 12 years of of arduous searching, my real life version of Claire Huxtable finally arrived, and trust me, t.v. producers could never create a creature so divine-Her name is Michelle Obama-Unfortunately, a gentleman by the name of Barack snatched her before I could make my move. Since I cant have baby girl exclusively, I took it upon myself to write a tribute article on this mahogany goddess, hoping one day she will read it, leave team Obama, and hop on team Wallace. Mrs Obama has the intellect to c...

I am proud to present to Black Salvage readers our first guest feature. I would like to introduce to you L. A. Grant, our first regular contributor. Grant hails from Prince George's County, Maryland and is a graduate of Northwestern High School in 2000. He is a Philosophy Major and has studied at both Mississippi State University and Tallahassee Community College. With a new year comes new music. One of the most anticipated albums being released this year is Nas’ “Nigger” album- yes, that’s exactly what its called. There has been a lot of criticism of the title by black activists and organizations such as the NAACP, citing that it is going against what they are trying to accomplish. The NAACP not too long ago had a funeral service for the “N”-word in hopes of burying it forever from use in the vocabulary of today’s society. I am reminded of a phrase that is used in the Marine Corps when I hear things like this, “Good initiative, bad judgment”. We, as a people, can try to control...

So, you may or may not have heard all the ruckus over Golf Channel anchorwoman Kelly Tilghman's comments during the Mercedes-Benz Championship earlier this month. Tilghman and co-anchor Nick Faldo were discussing younger challengers to Tiger Woods when she claimed jokingly that they should "lynch him in a back alley". Tilghman was suspended for two weeks for her comment and as you can imagine, the accusations of racism followed soon after. Tilghman did apologize: "On Friday during our golf broadcast, Nick Faldo and I were discussing Tiger's dominance in the golf world and I used some poorly chosen words. I have known Tiger for 12 years and I have apologized directly to him. I also apologize to our viewers who may have been offended by my comments." Personally, when I first heard this story I didn't really care. Honestly, there are more important things on my mind like Darfur, primaries, and the stories of missing minorities who have been neglected by ...

December 7, 2006, Public Housing officials decided to demolish 4500 government subsidized homes in New Orleans 9th ward district. The 9th ward, New Orleans most poverty stricken area, received a large amount of flooding and damage from Hurricane Katrina. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) believes that Katrina left the low income areas in a "deplorable" state- and there is a lack of available money for repair. Replacing low income for mixed income homes is what HUD and private investors have been planning for over a year. Unfortunately, these new mixed income neighborhoods will leave a large number of New Orleans citizens ( at least 2000) demoralized and homeless. The 9th ward residents did not take HUD's decision lying down. The residents managed to garner support from lawyers, politicians, and civil rights activists. In their efforts to secure a place to live, they demanded that if authorities insisted on spending millions of dollars to demolish thei...

I'm pretty sure we've all seen our share of both dirty and clean comics. The question I would like to raise is, are dirty comics really as bad as people make them out to be? After all, we laugh at them- does that make us equally guilty? I personally don't understand why people complain about dirty humor. I honestly don't care whether a comedian is clean or not, so long as his material is interesting and funny. Even further, there are a variety of outlets out there anyway for different types of comedy. I don't understand why people complain when they have a choice- no one is forcing you to watch ComicView over Bill Bellamy's Who's Got Jokes, the latter of which I find severely lacking in the 'funny' department, if it matters. Some of us write off dirty comedians as wrong or perverse without hearing their acts, something that I really find disappointing and downright annoying. When we wake up everyday and step outside our homes, we step into a wo...

The Nigga Movie. I openly express my condolences to all who have had to watch one. Every so often, I like to take a less formal approach, usually due to the topic. This is one of those occassions, friends. If anything, I hope you at least get a laugh out of this one. . . For some time now, I've noticed a good number of people, white and black, have been grouping all "African-American" movies together in one single category. I personally take offense to this. I personally believe that just as we have our action genre and our romance genre in cinema, we too have a "black movie" genre and a "nigga movie" genre. I'm sorry but I take offense to the thought that a Denzel Washington film and one by, say. . . Mo'Nique, could be placed in the same grouping. If I may discern the chacteristics of these two types of movies. . . Characteristics of a "Black Movie" Anyone can sit down and enjoy it, regardless of race; it's a film that either ha...

I was perusing the Washington Post one Tuesday afternoon-I came upon an article entitled "Best Kept Secret For HIV Free Africa". The article discusses how U.S funding for birth control has been decreased in Africa, and how antiretrovial drugs are the main treatment and initiative for HIV infected Africa. The article continues to emphasize that science and research proves that birth control is more effective, but unfortunately, the U.S Government has decided that antiretrovial drugs will continue to be the focal point in the struggle to help developing nations in Africa. For those who dont know, Antiretrovial drugs are medications for the treatment of HIV. I would like to emphasize the word treatment. Antiretrovial drugs help to slow the HIV virus from entering different cells in the human body. Basically, the person continues to have the virus, it just takes the virus longer to spread through the body. Some may consider it to prolongate sickness and death-But that is just o...