Miami's Super Bowl of Ignorance

Even in the NBA’s thrilling playoff thick, what a Miami Dolphins GM asked Oklahoma State wide receiver Dez Bryant managed to outshine basketball headlines. Like Bryant, I, too, would’ve been mad as hell had a potential employer inquired if my mother engaged in prostitution. More than one NFL organization has probably dismissed Bryant’s lesbian mother as a “ghetto whore,” the stereotype likely thrust upon her for giving birth to three children by the age of 18 and getting busted for selling drugs.

With his lofty title no indication of executive finesse, ignoramus Jeff Ireland was hands down, out of bounds. I understand interview thoroughness is imperative, especially when billions of revenue dollars and international scrutiny are at stake. However, if these questions don’t fly in the typical employment arena, why should they take wings in the gloried NFL? Naturally, the question prompts more questions: Since when is the NFL not an employer and are white footballers subjected to the same humiliation, provided their backgrounds are blemished?

The GM’s slip from political correctness showed oceanic disrespect to limited ownership partners Venus and Serena Williams. Palm Beach Gardens, FL’s tennis diva duo joined a short list of celebrities in the Miami Dolphins venture last year. Several news reports reveal that this is not the first time such an appalling question has crossed the NFL’s business table.

While previous cases involving NFL players Michael Vick, Plaxico Burress, Donte Stallworth and Ben Roethlisberger confirm Roger Goodell's quickness in laying down the moral gauntlet, we can only hope that the commissioner maintains similar speed in reprimanding Ireland harshly.

To get the scoop on Dez Bryant and his harsh beginnings, visit http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/25/sports/ncaafootball/25okstate.html?pagewanted=print.

If you’d like to sift through the NFL’s filthy Interview Process dirt, check out
http://kevin-blackistone.fanhouse.com/2010/04/29/nfls-despicable-interview-process/

Change Delivered by Hooks and Height

The fabric of the original civil rights movement frayed further when Doctors Benjamin Hooks and Dorothy Height recently passed. Both tireless warriors played pivotal roles in righting America’s historical wrongs and to them we owe thanks for freedoms that some of us take for granted.

Education equality, of course, was one of the movement’s strongest threads. Ironically, the nation’s second African-American female college graduate to be recorded was Dr. Hooks’ grandmother. Augmenting his long-term NAACP chairman post, the pastor in retirement was also the first black appointed to a FCC board seat. Hooks was laid to rest last week.

President Barack Obama will eulogize civil rights royalty when the Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal winner’s funeral is held at Washington National Cemetery today. According to a WSJ report last week, Dr. Height attended New York University after Barnard College refused to admit her because they’d reach their quota of two.

And despite the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954’s dismantling separate but unequal, something is still amiss some 56 years later. Had 2010 been the heyday of Hooks and Height, I guarantee the holler about a return to school segregation wouldn’t be faint.

See this brother's take: http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/90849294.html.

WTF - Bored Stiff?

They say the love of money makes one do bad things, however, when the well ran dry, one former millionaire and convicted cocaine smuggler officially filed moral bankruptcy. Though usually open to what turns one on as long it's not physically or emotionally injurious, I was shocked to learn how one Oregon man got satisfaction. Digest his dirty deed with caution:

http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100416/bc_bestiality_farm_100416/www.ctv.ca/mar/fragments/pipe/redirectBinNewI6398.html.

Sweat Equity or Reality?

Just when I thought the raft of reality shows couldn’t get any more impaired, my eyes bugged wide when I learned who’s got next. The folks at Centric, formerly BET-J, must be desperate, having given R&B crooner Keith Sweat’s “Platinum House" a reality go. Produced by Sweat, the show will trace throwback group Dru Hill’s stab at a new album. When it comes to reviving a stalled career, the reality show is upstaging promotional tours as the new publicity platform.

While I fondly recall the bouncy “Thong Song” and Sisqo’s platinum doo from back in the day, the Sweat connection remains baffling. Perhaps, Mr. “Nobody” is trying to be a TV somebody since ex-wife Lisa Wu Hartwell amply poured his abusive husband tea on the unReal Housewives of Atlantur.

What's more, I hear that R&B artists Toni Braxton and Faith Evans have landed docudramas. Same old contrived concept. Because “monkey see, monkey do” lacks originality, I doubt seriously if exposure to a small audience will propel either to the top of the charts. Just ask the Jacksons.

The Reality Roll Needs to Slow

Baaaaby, puleeze, the simultaneous installments of “Keeping up with the Jones,” “The Real McCoy,” “What Chili Wants” and “Basketball Wives” are proof pudding that the black reality show roll needs to slow. Unfortunately, superficially staged productions in this genre rarely emit real life.

The one that makes me cry foul the loudest is “Basketball Wives,” the lackluster brainchild of Shaquille O’Neal’s soon to be ex, Shaunie. Following in the footsteps of her former LA Laker hubby, Mrs. O’Neal assumes top billing as the show’s executive producer, purposely electing, I suspect, not to share the spotlight with other boldface names.

Although hyped to the glitz hilt, some in the series could easily be mistaken for women of ill repute. As a result, “BW” falls short of a fabulous lifestyle template and the crass behavior showcased deserves cautious applause. It matters not how many upscale goods line their shelves because even the feet of a $20.00 skank can look stunning in Jimmy Choo’s $1,000 shoes.

Do we really require more evidence that a stack of crisp C-notes cannot buy class?

Ck out these sidebars:
Football Wives Spinoff as ShaqDaddy threatens VH-1 suit:
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2010/04/15/2010-04-15_vh1_game_plan_football_wives.html

A Royalty Scorned LisaRaye Takes Aim for Star and Vivica?
http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2009/10/08/2009-10-08_star_jones_vivica_a_fox_targets_in_new_lisaraye_mccoy_reality_tv_show.html

The FAA's New Fly High Policy

The next time you’re on a plane and it goes bump, bump, bump, don’t assume an errant bird strike is the culprit. That’s because the FAA has given airline pilots who are under the influence of Prozac, Lexapro, Zoloft and Celexa clearance to assume the controls. At best, the departure from policy banning the use of antidepressants while flying is pernicious to passenger safety. And who gives a flip if the plane police issue FUI citations since the suicidal effects of these drugs are far weightier than a fully stuffed set of Louis Vuitton luggage? In short, Washington’s sacrifice of our safety in the sky yields little faith so this is change that we can definitely fly without.

Here’s the antidepressant scoop: http://www.salon.com/technology/ask_the_pilot/2010/04/05/faa_pilots_antidepressants_tsa_security_checks

WTF of the Week: Teen Pimps Out Baby Sister

I thought the news report pinning 27 men and women to a Trenton, NJ jail cell wall was April Fool’s Day emblematic until the sordid details unfolded. Some say pimping is dead but a teenage girl who entangled her 7-year-old sister in a sexual web with multiple men and boys for money proves the practice is alive and well.

Desperation is a ghetto life accessory but the juvenile’s “Pimp My Sister” reality show is still difficult to script. I mean, did someone put the teen up to this act expressly for financial gain? And where were her parents while she was sexing at a project party and lavishing some of her earnings on baby stepsister to fulfill her voyeuristic fantasies? Rightfully so, the sick heifer has since been jailed following a swift slap of aggravated sexual assault and promoting prostitution charges.

Surprisingly, the police raid at Roman Towers netted a female majority whose arrests were linked to outstanding warrants. According to reports, police said there were at least seven men and boys at the party and anyone in attendance might be found culpable. Until the same responsibility rope lassos the parents who are just as guilty as the men and boys who gang-raped their baby girl, justice won’t be served.

See the latest account:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100401/ap_on_re_us/us_teen_sister_sex