You Can Get with this or You Can Get With That

It has always been said that nothing good comes from discussing politics and religion and over the next two weeks I am going in at both.  Therefore, as the 9^th thing in my “What Black Should Do Next” series I offer this as particular pointed advice.

All black people need to realize that ALL Republicans are not your enemies and all Democrats are not your friends.  Both the pimp and the trick start off as your friend.  What I mean by this is despite whom side you are on you cannot forget that both can and will play you.

The older I have gotten the less I understand why black people are so loyal to the Democratic Party.  Now before people go and get all salty on me let me state for the record I did vote and contribute to the campaign of Lil Baby Jesus oh I meant Barrack Obama who is a Democrat and in my local election I have voted for and contributed to the campaign of Alvin Brown who is also a Democrat.  However, in my first real election some time where I had the benefit of research and my own insight I voted for John Delaney who happened to be a Republican who I thought was the better candidate at the time.   See what I would like to think is we should be voting for people and not parties, but then again I may be a little naïve about that.
As a point of information more African-Americans went to prison during the Clinton administration than any other time in the history of our country while the Black middle class all but got sent back to the 1960’s during the Bush years.  Therefore, who really deserves your support?  What I would advocate is that we find places in both camps and hold each side accountable for policies that work for the betterment of our collective communities.

Unfettered loyalty to one party over the other has not cut into the double digit unemployment rate that many African-American communities face and I even would propose is that the loyalty we show to the Democratic party has allowed Republicans to all but take us for granted thereby completely ignoring us.  Matter of fact I would suggest you take a look at several of the decisions that have been made by Governor Rick Scott here in Florida that adversely effect African-American communities and tell me if there was more of us on the other side of the track those same decisions would have been made.

Now in no uncertain terms am I suggesting that anyone change parties, I am merely suggesting we need balance and you don’t get that when the majority of Black people are on one side of the political fence.  What I have come to conclude is that politics and parties are really about economics and if you placate enough to the have nots and the really have nots you can have poor people fighting each other about cause that really don’t serve any of their benefits, but as I said earlier when one side is completely begotten to a party it makes accountability on the other side all but gone.

That being said some races and elections are obvious like Barrack Obama in 2008 and Alvin Brown for Mayor of Jacksonville in 2011.  Vision, vigor and vitality for ALL people should win the day and when they do choices are just that simple such was the case with Barrack Obama and should be the case with Alvin Brown and they both happen to be Democrats.

For anyone, Black people in particular any candidate that supports social programs that support the less fortunate, tax cuts for working people and funding for education deserves your support or at the very least your consideration.  Party be damned sign my name by whoever has the aforementioned things in mind because I know more people Black and White who need those than millionaires who need another tax break.

That’s My Truth and I AM Sticking To It I AM

Irvin PeDro Cohen

Down with Brown

I must admit my naiveté when it comes to what makes a Democrat a Democrat and a Republican a Republican or a liberal a liberal or conservative a conservative. I am sure however, about the collective sighing of relief I sense in the people that I have seen and that I have spoken with since last night. Both Black and White rich and poor, young and old for just a moment since votes are still being tallied breathed a collective sigh reminiscent of 2009.  From the white guy dancing his heart away to the older white lady who went into hear Alvin Brown’s our man chant a collective sigh came across the city of Jacksonville, FL and people both black and white breathed a breath of new life into The Bold New City of the South simply by casting a vote.

 
Now this is not an observation of the collective musing of why Mike Hogan did not win the election (I AM pretty sure he is a nice guy), but it is more of an introspective on the enormous amount of pent up tension there is when it comes down to having to choose between electing an ethnic minority candidate, in particular an African-American male and a white candidate, in particular a white male.   See Barack Obama and John McCain and now Alvin Brown and Mike Hogan and you get what I mean.  What both instances have lead me to believe whole heartily is that young people both black and white have collectively taken major steps to move past race while our forefathers and mothers are still shackled by America’s greatest sin.   What WE collectively whether it be consciously or subconsciously have decided is that past be damn we want progressive people leading our country, states and cities and every time WE decided to get involve the unexpected happens. 

May 17, 2011 represented not only a day when Alvin Brown woke up leading Mike Hogan for Mayor of Jacksonville, FL but it said from the trap in Washington Heights to the halls of William M. Raines to the enclaves in Queen Harbor, to the trailer park on the Westside that times have changed and this is not your momma and daddy’s country, city or state anymore.   Last night said that YES YOU CAN with a little help from your friends, of whom some must be white.  Last night reinforced why Ben America, Brad Ingerham, Benn Dodd, Linda Lanier, Pam Paul, Bridgette Murphy, Reverend Gene and countless others are my friends because I have come to understand that I am just one African-American male from the block who has big dreams and only through stretching my ethnic  boundaries can I achieve any of them. 

For those who read this, this is not a testimonial on the greatness of our newly elected Mayor, because there is much work to be done on his part and only time will tell if he warrants such good measure and judging from the attacks on the current President he will have to be not just good, but GREAT. However, the spirit of accomplishment and the age old idea of breathing symbolizes a collective mind state of we are moving forward. It also recognizes on my part Alvin Brown and May 17, 2011 means to so much to many. I can only imagine what September 22, 1862 meant to my ancestors as it outlawed slavery and the collective sigh former slaves gave off once it was ingested that we were free, because last night at about 11:30ish I heard the same sigh from all parts of town in particular the Northside and Eastside.

I AM Irvin PeDro Cohen and this is My Truth

For People 40 and Over…

I recently read a blog on one of my favorite Blog spots (Very Smart Brotha) and it was so inspiring that I decided to compile my own list of things that people over 40 people should and should not do.  Some of the things may be offensive, but please know that they were all given in a spirit of love.

1. If you are 40 and over and considering getting a tattoo and the only place left on your body is your hands, face and neck by all means please don’t do it.  You are not a rapper and a big tattoo on the aforementioned places is not a good look when you are trying to explain to an employer why they should hire you or bidding for services if you are an entrepreneur.
2. If you are 40 and over and still have not become the rapper you set out to be in your teens or early 20’s let it go.  No one is going to party with someone who they can call daddy or mamma.  Just think Pants on the Ground and you will see just what you will look like (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkeAzqhlkNk).
3. If you are 40 and over and the only thing of value you have are your rims on your car or your chain around your neck I have to ask where are your priorities?
4. Ladies if you are 40 and over and you still think you need a thug in your life then get over it.  He probably wants your daughter and if you don’t watch out she probably wants him to.  Look at her teacher.
5. Men if you are 40 and over and you still think you are a thug, let it go.  Ain’t nothing cool about carrying the mantra of being a thug and you have kids in school.  What is the message you are sending to  them when their daddy is an unemployed, tattooed up, weed smoking dude, who stands on the block screaming he is gangsta bout his.
6. If you are 40 and over and you and your teenage son or daughter are going to get tatted up together that’s not a good look.  What next piercings or maybe even the sharing of the same mate.  At some point there has to be some distinguishable lines between you and your child.
7. Ladies if you are 40 and over and your man departs for a jail bid every few years let him go.  No man 40 and over should make a habit of going back and forth to jail or prison.  At some point you have to demand he make a choice, you or the block or the dudes in the joint.
8. If you are 40 and over and live anywhere other than New York and don’t own a valid driver’s license shame on you.  At some point it is not a good look for really grown people to have to bum a ride to get from place to place.
9. If you are 40 and over and live at home with your parents you should immediately be put out.  The only exception is if you are in transition, which only last for no more than 12 months.  There is nothing ok about bumping into your dude’s or lady’s mom in the middle of the night during a bathroom run.
10. If you are 40 and over and still mad at some of your high school classmates for what they did during high school I will pray for you because at some point you have to get over it and move on.  They probably don’t remember what they did and if given the chance they might even say they are sorry and offer to buy you a drink.

Bonus:  If you are 40 and over you no longer get to sit on the fence.  Make a decision and move forward I along with everyone else will continue to love you regardless.While most of this is meant to be a tad bit humorous the reality of it all is that it comes from a place where these are choices and actions many people make on a daily basis.  Therefore, take with a grain of sarcasm, but use as a guide post if you are faced with any of the above decisions.

I AM Irvin PeDro Cohen and That’s the Way I See It

A Letter To The Children In My Neighborhood

From my porch I am offering up an apology to my younger brothers and sisters. An apology that is long overdue and as an alumnus, a resident, a neighbor, a beneficiary and a caring citizen I am offering you my deepest apology.

I apologize for leaving you a community where hope seems to be sucked away as if a straw was inserted into the very core and a deep breath was taken out of the cup. I feel your pain when you look at your neighborhood and the number one growth industry is churches and car washes. How can you aspire to be great when your reality is more in line with the movie Scarface? I know I should have stayed so that you too could have seen what success looked like, but I was convinced that the ice was colder in Baymeadows and Mandarin. Also, it was closer to work.

I apologize for giving you a restless child called hip hop and insisting you raise it all alone as if you knew what to do. After all you were raised by a single parent and I should have taken the lessons learned from that and been more involved. However, my quest for the American Dream of bigger and more of what was bigger made me look the other way when I saw you going the wrong way. Now my righteous indignation has me wondering why you just won’t pull your pants up and why every woman has to be a bi***. It’s my fault. What did I think was going to happen when I left you with no direction because I wanted to “get paid?”

I apologize for leaving you a city in particular that continues to overlook your needs so much so that drugs and violence have become a part of your everyday lives. I know that if those who have the power to make a difference continue to overlook your needs it won’t be long before your rage shows up at a Mandarin and Bartam High football game. All I ask is that you just bear with me. Although, the afternoon games are just a short term solution to maintain the tradition until we can get it right.

Finally, I assure you it is one Jacksonville and your feelings of being left behind I don’t take for granted. You are being thought of and I assure you that progressive leadership for our community has been born and is on the way. Some of us are working on your behalf to assure you a future where no longer will name sake be enough, but merit, intelligence and continuous work for our community get you a title of School Board Member, City Council Member, State House Rep, State Senator or even Congress Member. 

Heaven Help Us

Whenever, I personally broach the subject of church I always feel compelled to offer the fact that I am the grandson of a Bishop and the grandson of a longtime Deacon.  I am also the cousin of several and I mean several pastors as well as a tithe paying every Sunday going church member.  Matter fact in terms of my own church credentials I find a surreal pleasure of going to church on Sundays and if my schedule permits I often find myself at midweek meditation.   Therefore, my critique of the church comes from a place of both love for the institution and the service it has given to our community and a level of disdain for what it has become in terms of that same level of service to those very same communities that have turned pastors in millionaires and churches into franchises for both Jesus and Heaven Inc.  With that in mind I offer you this point to ponder. 

In the pre Civil Rights era churches were the bedrock of the black community. The social, economic and spiritual well-being was at the heart of what they did and by in large our community was better for it.  In the post Civil Rights era a lot of churches have morphed into major corporations disguised as churches and Jesus and heaven and all that comes with it is the product.  Therefore, all black people should immediately realize what their place of worship is and act accordingly.  No disrespect to the men and women of the cloth that I have grown to respect, but there is a distinct difference between pastor and CEO and very few people can be both. 

In my scholarly work surrounding my dissertation I have had the pleasure of reading countless hours of research surrounding the Black church, what it is, what it ain’t, does it even still exist and in this day and time is it still even relevant.  While I won’t engage you in the gory analysis of the aforementioned let’s just say in my humble opinion yes it still exist and its relevancy is at best TBD.  However, I would suggest that our expectations of the church have shifted from one of both social and spiritual to one of merely spiritual.  In the earliest of times the Black church was the source of Freedman societies and benevolent societies, which served as the lynchpin for helping African-Americans get acclimated to their newfound freedom and even get adjusted to life in the North during the Great Migration.  Transition to the Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) and the Black church was once again the catalyst for social change.  All of this happened while still not losing site of the teachings of Jesus Christ. Matter of fact an entirely new theology was born out of the Black church called liberation theology (See Dr. James Cone).  No matter the denomination or the convention the Black church was at the forefront of battling for human equality. 

Transition to today’s spiritual landscape and the church’s dual role as both social agitator and spiritual way shower is about as big of a myth as Osama Bin Laden was hiding in a cave in Afghanistan. The gap between the needs of the African-American community and what we can expect and should expect from the Black church is widening everyday, yet there are more places of worship than any other time let alone anything else within African-American communities.  I have often suggested that the number one growth industry in the African-American community is church.  Yet our expectation of both the institution and the men and women who head them are either very small or none existent.  Am I suggesting that every pastor leading Black churches be Martin Luther King Jr. or Dr. Joseph Lowery obviously no. Even during their days they were met with criticism and resistance from the clergy within the African-American community.  However, what I am suggesting is that if you have the same expectation for your pastor as you do for your company’s CEO when delivering the company’s annual report then you don’t have a church you have a business you go to. 

The last thing communities that are suffering from double digit unemployment, high dropout rates, increasing incarceration rates, an ever increasing HIV and AIDS rate is a great weekly speech.  We need men and women of the cloth to stand up and speak out and be the CHANGE communities of color need.  I will caution you though this might impact your, Rolex watch, Mercedes Benz, tailored suits, gated community home, private schools for YOUR kids, your jet setting and all the other luxury items “God” Inc. has so conveniently blessed you with.  I’ll end with the words of Speech from Arrested Development:

            Sitting in church hearing legitimate woes.
            Pastor tells the lady it’ll be alright.

            Just pray so you can see the pearly gates so white.

            The lady prays and prays and prays its everlasting

            There’s nothing wrong with praying, it’s what she is asking.

She should be praying for changed circumstances, but church doctrine suggest she simply cope

Instead of concrete social transformation too many content themselves with emotional release through worship

But shouting only makes them lose their voice.

Again no disrespect to all the Rev. Dr. Bishop, Apostle, _____________(inset name here), CEO’s that may read this, but we have created a theology around God hooking people up and not in an emotional or socially transformational way, but in a way that leads to mo money, mo money, mo. 

This is my truth and I AM sticking to it.