December 12, 2005
Tookie
fuck him!!! but since the last time i checked, dead men don't fuck, then
fuck his gassed ass.
yes, this is indeed out of human, fatherly and spiritual character for me,
but i must admit that this mess has made me unexpectedly weary and pissed.
we (whoever that might be) want safe neighborhoods but we want brain dead
and thoroughly confused assholes running around doing whatever they will
whenever they will. we call 'em gangbangers, and we think they are simply
confused, unloved and perhaps even romantically heroic and cute. we want
cops out of our sight except when we want them in our sight. whusup wid
dat?
l.a. has the most effete clique of weak-kneed, camera/publicity loving
male and female black leaders i have ever seen. the shame is NOT that
tookie will bite the dust, but that we don't even fully understand why.
and, no, it's not a race thing. it's a calmly thought out matter of
letting everyone understand that legally murder is very serious business.
i don't give a shimmering shit that tookie founded or co-founded the
crips. that only means that he had founded an equally demented bro' man!!
i do, however, give a shit that he methodically (with malice
aforethought) blew away people with whom he had no beef. he was callous
and calculating. it was at that point that he took away thier humanity
and instantanteously gave away his claim to same. no, that didn't make
him an animal because animals don't do that sort of thing to each other.
{i must say that my beloved buster would chew up a cat or a squirrel in a
minute!@} rather that makes him a bonafide non-card-carrying asshole.
whatever the so-called black community has needed and needs now it is NOT
more assholes.
if he has truly been redeemed, thrn God understands. and his post san
quentin fate will be decided by God. so, why worry? if he is as
unrepentant as many believe he is, then, why worry 'bout that? he is then
the devil's import and that takes care of that.
if i sleep restlessly tonite, it's because of my erratic diet (popcorn
shrimp, dots (as in candy), oreos, cook's champagne, chicken, cheese and
some stuff i can't recall.......you name it) and NOT because "another one
bites the dusk."
finally, the universe is much more in balance than we think it is. it
remains extremely difficult for countless earthlings to accept the reality
that God created it and, despite EVERYTHING we mortals do, say,
construct, fabricate, etc., that same God REMAIN IN CHARGE.
.........like.hello! rest assured that in saying this i am not assuming a
holier/more righteous than thou attitude. i CONTINUE to screw up in my
own life and am less than likely to change. but at the same tiempo, i
worry less.
so............the beat goes on and on and on. despite jesse jackson, earl
ofari hutchinson, the beloved and skewed naacp (i.e., "negroes always
anticipate colored purposes" -- which means absolutely nuthin') and all
the other tanned and fanned brothers and sisters.
it'll always be a better day.........despite us. and that's a good thang,
believe me!
peace and justice and love,
me
Posted by mbowen at 08:59 PM | Comments (0)
December 09, 2005
TOOKIE REFLECTIONS
What seems like centuries ago, I wrote a piece titled “The Night That Hugh
Blew.” The “Hugh” referenced was the Masakela dude. He was playing in
the stadium of Jordan High School in dear old Watts, USA. There was the
“traditional” (now I have to say “Ha!”) concert on the closing evening of
the ANNUAL Watts Summer Festival. Masakela turned the place out and I was
caught up enough with the spirit of the evening to want to write about his
playing’s impact on me and others. I think the reflection appeared in the
Sentinel and/or Liberator magazine. {One of these wishful thinking days
I’ll hire an archivist and then I’ll be able to put my hands on such
historic pieces.]
The cadence of the title came to me recently to the “tune” of “The Lives
That Tookie Took.” Different black men, different time and totally
different circumstances. The ironic connection though is that Tookie was
all about gangbangin’ and the latter is what put a halt to the Festival.
I’ve read most of the positions about Tookie’s pending fate. And I have
to say my concluding gesture is a shoulder shrug. I am “conflicted” only
to the extent that there is the strange luxury of time to consider whether
or not a human being should die. And, that the death has the desired or
(undesired) “blessing” of society. That’s what the law is all about.
It’s a (ever flexible and indespensible) statement about what goes and
what doesn’t. I don’t choose to get into all of the ramifications of the
law’s purpose here except to say that murder is against the law whereas
killing evidently isn’t. wars are all about killing; and as totally
wasteful and immoral as many of us think that war truly is, wars are
legal! Moral arguments and legal arguments are not the same thing.
As for (as we used to say) Mrs. Williams’ son, Tookie, here are my
concluding points.
· If Arnold is truly the Terminator, to what part of him are people making
an appeal in asking that Tookie be spared? Most black folks in California
did not vote for Arnold to be governor, so if he acts from a time-honored
political perspective, why should he listen and/or respond to a
non-constituency?
· Homeless advocate Ted Hayes suggests this: That key black players in Los
Angeles (civic, social, political, religious leaders and heads of gangs)
come together and agree to take fully responsibility for Tookie’s fate.
It would work like this: for every 30 days there are no gang murders,
Tookie gets to live (in prison, of course) for 30 days. Once there is a
slip-up, aka a murder, Tookie dies forthwith. That puts the onus of
Tookie’s fate in the “hands” of those who are both black and concerned.
That puts them in a position in which words and interviews and press
conferences are suddenly useless. They’d be too busy truly keeping the
peace to have time for what they have time for right now.
· Then there is a strange and yet interesting strategy taken by Jerry from
St. John’s. Jerry say that if, from prison, Tookie has such a positive
effect on gangbangers, then he should be set free so he can be even that
much more effective! Totally crazy which is why it makes sense..
· Nobel Prize nominations are appropriately discounted since both Hitler
and Mussolini were once nominated; and they were international gangbangers!
· The incantations about “Thou shalt not kill” come with too little, too
late. Late because this truism should have been whispered or shouted to
Tookie those many years ago when he had the power of life or death. And
now he and others want “the state” to do what he (Tookie) wouldn’t and
didn’t do when the power and implications of choice were his. Tsk tsk.
· And then there is this. I have yet to read that the families of any of
the deceased have forgiven Tookie for his deeds. And, odd as this may
sound, it really doesn’t matter! No, rather I should say it doesn’t
matter in the grand scheme of things. Cold-blooded murder is not simply a
personal one-on-one activity. It is (hold on to your tattered hat) a
crime against an entire civilized community. That is, against all of the
people. Maybe in the old days it was a family or tribal or neighborhood
thing. So be it. The courts, for all their countless misdeeds and even
corruption, are accepted as the arena for (again, I’m not being naïve)
meting out justice. So, no matter what our deep down (humanistic,
emotional, sincere) feelings may be, the harsh reality is that murder
offends the human spirit and destroys the very fabric of what makes a
people (any people!) special or at least civilized. No, it’s not about
the origin or continuation of the Crips or any other unfortunate spin-off
of human ego or madness. It’s about what remains of our sanity and/or our
willingness to both address and resolve terribly difficult challenges.
Tookie may live. Tookie may die. What we call society continues no
matter the outcome. The “issue” is how do or how will we define or
re-define that same society long after the smoke – literally and
figuratively – has cleared.
I really don’t know. I’ll simply shrug.
Posted by mbowen at 07:44 AM | Comments (0)