Ain't No Fun When The Rabbit Got The Gun

I'm having a little bit of a problem feeling complete sympathy for those who have been victimized by the California Wildfires.

I'm not happy that anyone lost their homes. But I was in L.A., during the wildfires and as the fire raged, as I watched news coverage of the destruction, it was impossible not to compare Cali to Hurricane Katrina.

(In slave voice) Boy, thangs sholl' do run differently when it's the white folks, doesn't it?

The wildfire victims -- wait, how come they aren't being called refugees? -- were given refuge in Qualcomm Stadium, where the Charges play. Here's a description of what it was like inside there:

"In addition to an almost overwhelming supply of food, drink, clothing toys and any personal care item you could think of, insurance company motor homes stand in the parking lot, their generators droning, offering grilled hamburgers and the chance to file a claim all in one sitting," writes reporter Martin Savidge.

"And then there are services I haven't ever seen offered at a disaster evacuation site.You can get a massage or acupuncture, join a prayer circle, eat Kosher, have something custom crocheted, attend a yoga or meditation class and even get a custom air-brushed t-shirt, all at no cost."

Compare that to the conditions inside the Superdome, where Hurricane Katrina victims -- who were repeatedly called refugees even though they are U.S. citizens -- were housed during the storm:

"Conditions in the Superdome had become horrendous: There was no air conditioning, the toilets were backed up, and the stench was so bad that medical workers wore masks as they walked around."

Hurricane Katrina was the worst act of racism since slavery. The difference in how FEMA and the gov't have responsed to the wildfires clarifies that point succintly.

The asshole-pundits, politicians and diplomats, will have you believe the reason wildfire victims were given tents, kept with their familes, given cellphone chargers, endless food and supplies is because they "learned" from Katrina. It took Dubya Dumb Ass a week or more to come see about Katrina. He was in Cali in three days. And let's not forgot how the former FEMA chief, Brownie, was told about the disaster that was going to strike New Orleans and he promptly took a damn nap.

In fact, the gov't is so aware of their fradulency, they staged a press conference because they probably didn't want to answer the criticisms about how much more efficiently they've handled the wildfires.

Surely, they don't want to admit that if you're poor, black and mass destruction strikes, you're effectively screwed. Since the victims in the wildfires are overwhelmingly white and wealthy, the type of people the gov't decision-makers can identify with, they will act quickly and decisively to aid them. Call me a jerk, but my heart strings aren't tugged when I see a white couple crying outside of their $5 million home.

While in Cali, I heard a couple ads from insurance companies, pledging to help the wildfire victims as quickly as possible. Not sure if they did that during Katrina. But those greedy-ass insurance companies robbed many of the working class citizens in New Orleans who had been paying them for years, offering them $1800 for their homes, claiming the damage sustained was done by a flood, not a hurricane. How saintly of them to create a loophole when people's lives had been ruined.

Neighborhoods in New Orleans still haven't recovered from the storm. In the ninth ward, it took them a year to get electricity. But you can bet in Malibu, San Diego and other cities, they'll have everything up and running in a hurry. Probably already do.

Race and class in this country determines everything. Feel sorry for yourself if you fit the wrong combination.

The Adventures of Big Red & Brown Shuga

I'm not much of a do-er when I go out of town.

I'm a creature of habit. I go to the same spots and generally do the same things when I'm in different cities. Eat well. Drink well. See a few friends. Workout a little bit. Sleep.

I'm back in Los Angeles, where I go every other month, but this trip was a little different because my girl, Brown Shuga, decided to join me.

On the foolishness scale, this trip has been about a 9.5. A quick overview, then a longer explanation: Saw David Beckham rolling in his Tahoe blasting rap music, got into a car accident, Brown Shuga bought Jennifer Hudson's skirt from Dreamgirls, witnessed a woman lunge violently at Jimmy Kimmel, rented a drunk bus and passed out in it, ate a double-cheeseburger with chili and some other unidentifiable ish, ate a top-5 all-time meal, drank an $85 bottle of Saki, and realized more than ever that life is all about good friends in high places. And if that's not enough, this is all taking place in the backdrop of the raging California wildfires and an earthquake that also hit there.

Gotta begin with the funniest thing that happened. Crazy Woman Attacks Jimmy Kimmel. Thanks to a hook-up, me and Brown Shuga got into Kimmel's green room and front row seats. Some dude begins warming up the audience by offering free t-shirts if you come to the stage and exhibit a "talent."

I was thinking, is this the time to breakout my rendition of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together?" Nahhhhh....So this blonde, squat, pudgy chick who seems a whole lot off offers to tell a joke. I mean, it wasn't like she was competing against Fantasia or anything. Some guy who looked like a wanna-be Beattle stepped to the stage and claimed he could crack his knuckles non-stop...and he really couldn't.

But Pudgy Blonde doesn't want to come to the stage. She just wants to stay in her seat, which is not the object of this particular exercise. Audience Warmer Dude even tells her if she comes to the stage, she can get a t-shirt or a shot. Not bad, right? She's still protesting. He puts a mic in her face and she's sounds spacey. He even asked her if she was high.

"High on life!" she said.

OK, nutbag. Audience Warmer Dude decides to let her tell her whack-ass joke anyway. The joke? What does orange juice and a blonde have in common?

Concentrate.

Um, yeah.

Even worse, she stumbled through the "joke." Didn't get the punchline quite right. Audience Warmer Dude told her the joke was terrible. Master of the obvious.

On goes the show. We're about halfway through and Kimmel is airing one of his bits with Uncle Frank and Guillermo, Kimmel's parking lot attendant and a character on the show. By the way, I almost wanted to slide Guillermo the number for the EEOC. He's funny, but he's kinda coonin' and setting brown folks back. He's a Mexican Amos. or Andy. Step N' Fetchit. He needs to see Bamboozled.

Anyway, as the bit is airing, Pudgy Blonde jumps up out of her seat, runs toward the stage and lunges at Kimmel! Talk about random. She's yelling, "Jimmy, I want to get out! I want to get out! Something bad is going to happen here!"

Kimmel, the professional that he is, doesn't break a sweat. Although, I'm sure he was praying that old girl's psychotic episode ended before he had to come back live to the show. Security nabbed her before she actually got to him. OIH -- Only in Hollywood. Oh and, Ray Liotta is officially a fossil.

Anyway, the best way to experience L.A. is on great hook-ups. We got a couple hook-ups after Kimmel. My boy got us into Les Deux. Another guy got us to VIP. No paying. No waiting. That's how you got to do it.

I'm such an asshole now that I can't wait in lines at club anymore. Got to get a great time and table for the restaraunt reservation. Life's too short to be spent waiting. Besides, I'm too friggin' impatient.

Many adult beverages were consumed between Kimmel and Les Deux. It free dranks in Kimmel's green room and we took full advantage. Even did it ghetto style and double-fisted chardonnay. At Les Deux, it was Patron, Guiness, and Belvi. We were indeed feeling it when we got to the drunk bus, aka our limo. Yeah, no B.S., we had a limo. But not on purpose. We were supposed to get a plain' ol towncar, but the driver said he HAD to bring the limo instead. Who are we to argue?

We stumbled in and I told the driver we needed food. Any food. I'm sure I didn't sound that coherent, but this is my story, so I tell it how I want. The driver took us to this place called Tommy's, hopped out the car and said he'd take care of us. I think he could tell we were bliz-asted.

He came back with two double chili cheeseburgers, fries and cokes. That shit was like LIFE. I don't think I ate it. I inhaled it. Probably took 30 seconds. Next thing I know, it's a wrap. I hear a knock on the window and the driver saying, "ladies, ladies, we're here." Yep, me and Brown Shuga straight passed out. But hey, that's why we got the drunk bus to begin with, right?

Oh, about that car accident: Guy in BMW hits girl in Jeep, who hits me and Brown Shuga. Minimal damage. No one was hurt. Actually, I was in an accident with two of the coolest people ever. We even posed for pictures in front of dude's banged-up Beemer (Brown Shuga's idea).

Good times.

A Quickie...

I know I'm waaaay late to the scene, but the other night I finally watched Fight Club all the way through.

Ummm.....what da fugg was that movie about?

I'd seen in it in bits and pieces, but that movie is absolutely ridiculously. Not in a bad way. In a it-gives-me-the-creeps-and-makes-me-feel-slightly-uncomfortable way.

Ed Norton has been off the scene for a minute, but I forgot how much he's that deal. Ever see American History X? Movie still gives me the chills and it's best script Guy Torre will ever get his hands on. Ed was just as strong in Primal Fear and 25th Hour, a completely overlooked masterpiece by Spike Lee. Also, it gave me another reason to hate Rosario Dawson's horribly beautiful ass.

Anyway, Fight Club was just freakin' bizarre. A psychotic rage against the machine orchestrated by a mentally ill sociopath. I hate movies that, at the end, I wonder...am I supposed to enjoy this? If I don't get this, does it make me stupid? Am I supposed to get deep and contemplative about this? Am I supposed to come up with a new meaning of life after this?

Felt the same way after I saw Monster's Ball. Was I supposed to find it depressing? Moving? Raw? Gritty? Was I wrong to laugh at the fat kid the whole movie? Should I not have found humor in the fact that you just can't make Halle Berry look ghetto?

Fight Club was weird.

Getting Ready For Homecoming

After lunch today, I decided to go this nail shop near my house because they had a manicure and pedicure special today for $27. I know, ridiculous.

I never been to this place before. Just passed it a couple times. As soon as I walked in, a middle-aged Chinese woman asks me what I want. The special, I say.

"You getting ready for homecoming tonight?"

Homecoming? Um, no. Whose homecoming? I was thinking maybe she meant the university, which is about 20 minutes from my house.

"High school homecoming," she said. "All the girls have come in today to get their nails. You want school colors on your nails?"

Lady, I am not in high school. But it's cute that you think so. I graduated from high school 15 years ago.

"You look young," she said. "Your shape. Your face. You look young."

At this point, I didn't know if ol' girl wanted to do my nails or make out with me. But like any woman, I'm a sucker for a compliment, particularly one that takes some mileage off the odometer. And in this case, after I'd wolfed some fried fish, green beans, rice n' gravy, cornbread and yams...yeah, I was loving hearing that I wasn't looking like a heifer.

Anyway, it got me to thinking about how you get the pick-me-up in the most unlikeliest places. And even if ol' girl was doing it to get a phat tip, it worked. She got a 30 percent hook up.

The Light-Skin Woman Is Always In

Gotta share a funny thought about this before I delve more deeply into this issue.

Since I'm from the D, where this light-skin party was supposed to take place, a friend sent me an e-mail entitled, "defend your city."

To be honest, I really couldn't. Theme parties in the D go on all the time. There is the infamous white party. The gator party (as in those who wear gators get in free). The Hennessy party. So us having a light-skin party is not a shock. We would throw a baby momma with a bullet hole party if it gave us a good excuse to gig, wear our gators and tangerine suits. It's just how we do.

Anyway, I responded light-heartedly to my boy. "OK, but my man did say he planned to have chocolate and caramel parties in the coming weeks," I wrote. "He was trying to be inclusive."

His response: "Uh huh. Sadly, the night of the chocolate party won't no dudes be there. Light skinned girls will be in style forever. Even longer than Air Force Ones."

That's a pretty long time.

I'll submit the colorstruck issue, which has resurfaced because of the controversy surrounding the light-skinned women party, is strictly one-sided. Black men don't have to deal with the issue within their own gender. Black women just want black men to have some sense and a job. We can't afford to get picky about coloring. In the 80s, thanks to cats like Al B. Sure, El Debarge, Ozone, and Chris Williams, having a light-skin, curly-headed man was like having a pair of Jordans. Now, I don't know if it was Tyson Beckford, Malik Yoba, Big Daddy Kane, or whoever, but then it was all about the bald-head, chocolate man. It ebbs and flows.

But, when it comes to black women, the skin color standards are strict and prickly. Some black men make their tastes very obvious. Let's look at the glorious world of sports. I rarely see a professional athlete married to a dark-skinned blak woman. It's usually a woman who is either light-skinned or a combination ethnicity. The new hotness is to have a black and Asian woman (see: Kimora Lee) or a Latino woman (see: Kobe Bryant). Women, unfortunately, behave no better than the men, hating on skin color of other black women. Thinking more highly of themselves because they are a certain shade.

When I see things like this light-skinned party and listen to the ensuing debate, it's amazing how the oppressed begin to take on the traits of the oppressor. The colorstruck issue has been around for a long time, and you could argue intelligently it was, like most things, a product of a slave system that sought to divide black people. The moment the slave master figured out he could create division by letting light-skinned slaves stay in the house and keeping the darker ones out in the field, it set forward a chain of events and attitudes among blacks that obviously remain an issue.

Not A Good Time To Be A Rapper

Let's just say that if catching cases were a college course, T.I. would be a 4.0 student.

He's that good.

His latest drama unfolded a couple of hours before BET's hip-hop awards show, in a Walgreen's parking lot. The ATF took down T.I and friends, accusing the rapper of trying to buy a machine gun and silencers through his bodyguard. Not a good situation for a guy who was convicted of distributing cocaine 10 years ago and has possession of ecstacy and numerous probation violations on his resume.

Maybe you think this is just another, young, knucklehead rapper, but trus', old cats who should have far better sense are caught up in the matrix, too. Diddy went Tyler Durden in a New York club, supposedly over an ex-girlfriend. Diddy got into an argument with Steve Acevedo -- news reports dropped the name like we should all know who that is, though I don't -- about an ex and things jumped off. Sounds like one of those situations where Ace stepped to Combs, like, "man, she said you didn't even hit that right." FIGHT! Besides, you guys know he's all emotional since him and Kim Porter broke up for the fifth time.

Anyway, what stands out to me in both cases is the poor decision making. The trauma affecting black males doesn't discriminate between old and young, rich or poor. We can play these as isolated cases, but the truth is that even the celebrity cases are a pulse point of the community at large.

T.I. fans might as well brace themselves because bruh is going to jail. For awhile. That he's been denied bail lets you know how it's laying. Police raided his home and found even more weapons. Like I said, a very big no-no for a convicted felon. My ghetto Spidey senses tell me based off the number of weapons the ATF seized from his home, that he was busted because his bodyguard was trying to buy a machine gun and silencers, it sounds like T.I. is still riding the White Horse. Or, at least selling it.

In general, I am always fascinated and frustrated by people who have grand opportunities and means, but treat it so casually. T.I has no earthly reason to have a gun. None. He has a bodyguard. He has a career. Whatever reason he has to be strapped, it's a bad reason. Especially since it's AGAINST THE LAW for him to own a weapon in the first place. If he's still in situations where he feels he needs to have a gun, he is effectively in the wrong place.

It's no different with Diddy. This man is easily worth a half a billion. Today, he is expected to turn himself into the New York police department. If you have half a bil', you and police department should only go in the same sentence if you're buying one.

They say money doesn't make you smart, but why shouldn't it? It's human instinct to protect what we don't want to lose. The two things human beings are most protective of are means and freedom, yet people with both jeopardize them routinely. If you come from a bad place and get to a good place, what is it in you that draws you back to what you most tried to escape?

"Hip-Hoppers" Don't Shoot Themselves, White Folks Do

This is why I became extremely worried when my neighbors, an elderly white couple, told me they watch Fox News "all the time."

Fox News host John Gibson was discussing the school shooting in Cleveland and because the school is majority black, Gibson wrongly assumed the perpetrator was African American. In fact, Gibson went so far as to label the shooting -- four kids were shot -- a "classic hip-hop shooting."

Ding, ding, ding! John Gibson doesn't know black people AND he's a racist.

Before even addressing the blatant racism associated with Gibson's remarks, can we have a lighthearted, keep it real moment about black people, crime and school shootings?

If Gibson knew anything about how WE DO, he should have known from jump white people were somehow involved in the Cleveland situation because it was a national news story. Black kids get shot at school all the time. Black kids are perpetrators in school shootings almost as much. But rarely does it ever generate the discussion, headlines or media onslaught that happens when whites are either victim or predator. Bands of psychologists don't appear on CNN trying to figure out what's wrong with the kids when LaRonda catches a bullet. They just figure we're animals and that's how WE DO.

It's always funny when these things happen because white folks always act in disbelief when one their own does something outside of the white success model. It's like, "No way could Little Johnnie snap and kill 34 people. I don't care how many diaries he had that said, 'I'm gonna shoot 34 people.'"

Black kids rarely shoot in spree form, anyway. Well, not like that. We might shoot up the club, but shooting up the school in this fashion just isn't how it goes down. Not to be ignorant, but we know how to target who we want to shoot. More than likely, if we shoot multiple people, all those people were the intended targets OR it's a situation where a stray bullet found some unlucky soul. Besides, much of the killing we commit is strictly a bread and meat issue. As in we have neither, so we turn to street life to get it. The constant pressure of being black far supercedes us having any psychological meltdown because we're not popular at school and kids are mean to us.

Anyway, as you might have figured out by now, the Cleveland kid who shot up the high school was white. But instead of just capsizing his ignorance for the day, Gibbons continued to spread more racist venom once he was told the shooter was white.

"Hip-hoppers do not kill themselves," Gibson said on his radio show. "They walk away. Now, I didn't need to hear the kid was white with blond hair. Once he'd shot himself in the head, no hip-hopper."

It gets better, though. Then the new Professor of Negro-ology stated:

"I know the shooter was white," Gibson said. "I knew it as soon as he shot himself. Hip-hoppers don't do that. They shoot and move on to shoot again. I know there's a few of you who want to call me racist. But when you do, remind -- let me remind you, African-Americans are dying in major cities because people won't face this problem."

Racist? Why on Earth would we ever think that you, John Gibson, noted Negro Social Scientist and Keen Observist, are a racist?

The way Gibson made it sound, it's as if packs of black folks carrying Jay Z, Nas and Fidee CDs were roving the streets and shooting people as soon as they stepped outside of their doors. Certainly black-on-black crime is an issue, but it's got more to do with the fact that fools is hungry, not because of the new Kanye cut. And before Gibson airs anymore of his views on black life, maybe he should also realize the no. 1 consumer of hip hop -- and therefore the highest number of hip hoppers -- are white kids, who like their mommies and daddies, limit their view of black people to entertainment.

Hey, but at least Gibson gave hip hop some credit. It's the downfall of America, but at least "hip hoppers" don't commit suicide. What a positive.

By the way, WTF is a "hip hopper?" And why is that when white folks have little knowledge of something associated with black culture, they come up with some cornball ass description of it?

At Fox News, it's always a treat to see white people who likely have nothing more than surface relationships with black people chime in on our issues. They are almost always wrong and almost always racist.

John Gibson is one of those "big dummies" Fred Sanford used to rail about. Whenever something like this happens, it makes me think of Ice Cube's classic CD, "America's Most Wanted," specifically that song that begins: "A message to the Oreo cookie: Here's what they think about chu..."

Did We Fail?

Kinda amped and sad right now because I just watched something powerful.

Don't know how much you all are peepin' HBO in the post-Sopranos, no-Wire (yet) era, but I just watched the documentary, Little Rock Central: 50 Years Later.

Honestly, it made me cry. It just showed in startling detail the ignorance, poverty, hopelessness, and defeatism that is gripping the black community. Most poignant statement in the documentary: "Martin Luther King Jr's dream has become a nightmare."

DAYUM.


The documentary was basically about how despite the huge advancement made by the Little Rock 9 -- the group of African-American students who integrated Little Rock Central High School in 1957 -- the high school remains segregated ecomically, socially, and of course, racially.

Black teachers and students functioning in today's Little Rock described the high school as two high schools in one. White kids make up the majority in Advanced Placement classes and student government. They dominate all the successful outlet and are taking full advantage of all the successful resources.

Meanwhile, the black students, who are on average reading nearly three grade levels behind the white students, makeup the majority of the special education classes, remedial reading and the level of apathy they feel regarding their own lives is unreal.

Sociologists and other academics have debated about whether or not poverty is a disease. I don't think there is any question that it is. I grew up poor, on welfare and was raised by a single mother who did what she had to do to get food on the table.

The only reason I didn't wind up like some of the kids featured in this HBO documentary is, despite our sometimes grim financial circumstances, my mother refused to allow poverty to chip away our pride and self respect.

Unfortunately, that isn't happening in most poor black communities. Poverty has seized the self-esteem, ambition, drive, pride and respect of the people, turning them into lifeless, hopeless beings that promote failure and mediocrity at every turn. Kids no longer desire to leave their situations behind, but to stay in them and raise future generations that behave just like them. During this one telling moment in the documentary, one of the few black girls in the AP classes said that most of her friends wouldn't even take the AP test or investigate taking AP classes because they associated moving up to AP as leaving their own behind.

"You stay where you're comfortable," she said.

This documentary reminded me of a study done not long about the differing levels of self esteem between black and white kids. Of course, the disparity was amazing. Black kids don't feel that good about themselves, and white kids do. And, why should black kids feel any differently? Mass media has convinced them their only worth is entertainment or sports. A white person that flips on the TV sees they can be anything they want to be, from drug dealer to doctor to university professor.

I know I'm rambling here, but over the last few years I've really started to question whether integration was a good idea. When black people were forced to operate and live among our own, there was a deeper sense of harmony, racial pride and respect. We were all we had, so we had to get along.

Now that we are consumed with fitting in and attaining success in the mainstream, our values are displaced, we routinely sell out our own to acquire material things that are idolized by the mainstream, and the racial pride we once thrived on is no longer there. Our picture of success is a mainstream picture, whereas it used to be a community one.

So I have to ask: Did We Fail?

Tiki To Black Women: I Really Ain't Feelin' Y'all

Call me paranoid, but I'm always somewhat leery if a black man makes a production out of being with a non-black woman.

It's not that I have a problem with interracial dating, but I do find it odd when a black man, in subtle and not-so subtle ways, announces: HEY Y'ALL, I REALLY DON'T LIKE BLACK WOMEN.

Tiki Barber, pro football player turned pundit, told Wendy Williams he ain't feeling the sistahs.

Well, sort of. Tiki is married to an Asian woman, and when Wendy, the notorious gossip hound, ribbed him about it, Tiki tried to 'splain himself by saying that where he grew up there wasn't a lot of black women. You know, the whole, they-weren't-around-so-I-had-no-idea-what-I-was-missing argument.

There is just one, teensy, tiny problem: Roanoke, where Tiki grew up, is 25 percent black.

Now, I got no problem with Tiki for who he's married to, but he sure seems to have a problem with it. If he didn't want to date black women, he just didn't. That's his choice. But if you are going to marry outside of your race, you don't need to make a show of justifying it. If you are, that only communicates to me that deep down in those places you won't talk about, you feel a little bit guilty about your choice of mate.

During this interview with Wendy, Tiki went on to try to "prove his blackness," by telling her his Swahili name. He also made sure to mention he was married to an Asian woman, that way Wendy and the rest of the black folks listening could see that while he wasn't married to someone who was black, he was at least still dabbling in the minority family.

Thanks, Tik-ster, we needed that. Now when we all convene for the next Fate of Black People annual meeting, we will be sure to take you off the sellout list.

Not Quite Done With This One Yet

You know, I thought I was done with Isiah v. Anucha, but a conversation with my girl, Show, made me realize I had some excess feelings about this case.

In case you hadn't heard, Anucha whupped Isiah in court, costing the Knicks about $12 milllion. Hey, for $12 mil, a brotha can pinch me on the ass, call me this, that and the otha, tell me HO WHERE DA REPORT AT...but cut that check.

I THINK I'm kidding.

Anyway, what this case has brought to light is the sexism that remains a vibrant force in the black community. So many black men think that Isiah was railroaded, that Anucha should have just taken one for the team, and don't understand one of Isiah's most egregious errors was trying to run the executive office of the most storied franchises like Re-Ro's Chicken Shack.

There seems to be this unwritten code in the black community that says black women should accept subpar treatment from black men when it furthers "the race." If a black woman has to be harassed on her job on a daily basis so this foolish black man can stay in power, then so be it.

A lot of black men also believe calling black women certain things and relating to them in a frank, sexual manner is just "how we do." We are officially keeping it wrong. Damn that Isiah was inappropriate and unprofessional, Anucha should have given him a free pass because he was black.

For real?

Black folks desperately need to confront our "free pass" mentality. We've gone through a lot in this nation and outside of it, and because we have, we seem to think that we should be able to get away with whatever. We should be allowed to be disrespectful, immoral, tasteless and crude because .... well, the white people are.

The SO (Significant Other) brought up a very salient point when we were discussing this issue at length.

"Why do black people always bitch about how the white man is treated but as soon as we get into trouble we want to bitch even more because we're not treated like them?" he asked.

Good question. As a people, we rail about inequalities and inequities, yet we are equally offended if we are not put in a position where we can benefit from inequality and inequity. We know the damage inequality and inequity does, so why are we forever trying to profit from it?

As for Isiah v. Anucha, instead of asking why she's trying to "bring down" a powerful black man, why aren't black folks pummeling Isiah for trying to "bring down" a sista? They're both black people who have become very successful in their respective fields. No doubt that she has had to go through as much, if not more, than Isiah to gain entrance into a New York boardroom. So what makes Isiah's experience and accomplishments worthy of protecting, but not hers?

A lot of black pundits and black people have been silent about Isiah's wrongdoing because they don't want to "go after" the brotha. Meanwhile, this sister has felt little support from her own community and she's THE VICTIM.

On another topic, yet still related, Isiah v. Anucha sort of picks at the black cultural issue of how black men and women relate to another overall.

Too many black men feel as if it's OK to disrespect black women. All day long, black men are innudated with images of black women acting ho-ish in videos, they are innudated with songs that celebrate demonizing and degrading black women, and this directly coincides with how black men approach and talk to black women out in the street.

I can't tell you the number of times that a black man, thinking he was being cute, has said something overly-sexual and out of pocket upon first approach. Grabbing your ass in the club. Telling you they want to have sex with you before they can even find out your last name. Dry-humping you on a dance.

Black men have been programmed to be sexually aggressive. And unfortunately, black women have been taught to respond and accept that aggressiveness.

All of this is embroiled in the Isiah v. Anucha dynamic. It's a teaching tool. Wish we'd learn from it.