Guest Columnist at Black Men In America.com

Keith Olbermann's Video Commentary On The Shirley Sherrod Controversy Is A Winner

What's Going On?: A Tribute To My Friend Marvin Gaye

By Harold Bell

�Mother, mother there are too many of you crying, brother, brother there are far too many of you dying. We got to find a way to bring some loving here today, war is not the answer�Whats� Going On�

Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield were far ahead of their times when it came to message music as it related to the plight of America�s down-trodden. The word genius does not do either justice.

Marvin�s masterpiece album �What�s Going On� did more to expose racism and social injustice in America than any march, demonstration or documentary. Curtis Mayfield�s music messages were equally as important.

Oscar Brown Jr., Gil Scott Heron, Curtis and Marvin were the �Original Rappers.�

I met Marvin in the early 50s at Mount Airy Baptist Church in NW Washington, D. C. My Great-Grand-Father the Rev. Alfred Johnson Tyler laid the first brick and helped to build the church in 1893. My Great-Uncle the Rev. Earl Tyler and Marvin�s father were friends.

Marvin was singing in his father�s choir and they were the guest choir at the church on that Sunday. When he first saw me his eyes got as big as flying saucers. I new Marvin�s secret. He was a street corner messenger of Do-Wop. I would often see him singing under the street lights in my NE housing project. This type of street corner harmony was not allowed in the Gaye household.

Marvin�s Do-Wop group was very popular and performed at my alma mater Spingarn High School�s annual Spring Festival talent show. Parkside resident Robert Neal and Lincoln Heights resident Billy Bess were a part of the group.

Marvin and I had a lot in common, he had a church background. He caddied on the weekends at Indian Springs Golf Course in a Maryland suburb and I caddied on the weekends at Burning Tree Golf Course in Potomac, Maryland. He had always wanted to be an athlete and I always wanted to sing. It was wishful thinking by us both.

Our encounter was like �What�s happening man?� He gave the signal by putting his finger over his lips meaning �Don�t say anything about me doing Do-Wop on the street corner.� I read him loud and clear.

After church we enjoyed Sunday dinner together in the downstairs dinning area. We talked sports the entire time.

During our high school days he always wanted to talk about ball, but I never ever saw him play pick-up ball on any city playground!

Marvin attended Cardozo High School at that time and I remember asking him why he had not tried out for the team. His response, �My parents won�t sign the permission letter.� I told him my mother would not sign the same letter either but I forged her signature. He wanted to be an athlete in the worst way.

During Marvin�s Motown singing career he could often be seen hanging around and working out with the pro teams of his adopted hometown of Detroit. The Detroit Lions (NFL), Detroit Pistons (NBA), Detroit Tigers (MLB) and the Kronk boxing gym. He would work out on the heavybag and speedbag. Sometimes he would spar with Thomas Hearns and Hilmer Kenty. These were some of his favorite hangouts. He was living out his athletic fantasy.

Marvin grew up in northwest section of Washington, DC and I grew up in the northeast section and we were like passing ships in the night after that church encounter.

Several years later my family moved to 58th and Blaine Streets NE, another housing project on East Capitol Street. My next encounter with Marvin would be on those same NE streets.

I was headed out to school one morning and waiting at the bus stop was Marvin, once again the shout-out was �What�s happening man?.� I remember saying �What are you doing out here man, you are a long ways from home?� He said �I am just staying with some friends for a minute.� The friend was Peasie Adams. Peasie lived down the street from me and she baby sit me when I was just a puppy in Parkside.

He said he was on the way to the golf course to see if he could pick up a few dollars. I found that rather strange since this was a school day. Marvin had moved in with Peasie because of some conflict with his father which he never elaborated on. As I was getting off the bus at 24th and Benning Road, his last words to me were �I am thinking about joining the Army and if not I will see you around.�

In the meantime, Marvin had disappeared and I would later discover he had joined the United States Air Force.

I remember Marvin as a quiet and thoughtful brother who loved to laugh, but always seem to have a lot on his mind.

In 1957, I was coming into my own as an all-around athlete at Spingarn High School and I started to smell myself (I began to think I was �all that� and a bag of chips). I played football, basketball and baseball. I drove my coaches and teammates crazy because I had troubled understanding it was about the team and not Harold Bell.

I was not a great athlete as some would claim but I wanted the ball when the game was to be won or lost! I took the risk of making or missing the shot that was my competitor side.

My baseball coach Dr. Leo Hill kicked me off the team my junior year, Coach Dave Brown (savior) locked me in the bus at half-time of a football game during my junior year and basketball coach Dr. William Roundtree said �No Mas� in the middle of the season during my senior year.

I would steal home with the ball game on the line, take the last shot to win or lose the basketball game and demanded the ball be thrown to me regardless of the double team!

I took the same risk when I hosted and produced �The Original Inside Sports,� my radio talk show in 1972. Inside Sports set the standards for radio and television sports talk shows in America. Every talk show now aired has copied the format of �The Original Inside Sports.�

Marvin Gaye had those same characteristics as an artist he took risk that others dared not take in the music industry (Curtis Mayfield was the exception). Motown founder Berry Gordy refused to release �What�s Going On� because he thought it was too radical!

In 1958, I was going to hell in a hurry just as my Brown Middle School Principal William B. Stinson had predicted. One night I was hanging out on the corner of 7th and T Streets at the landmark Howard Theatre when Marvin appeared out of nowhere. I joked that someone had told me he was in jail. His response, �Almost, the U. S. Air Force but I am getting paroled.�

He wanted to hear about what was happening in my life. I tried to put on a happy face that I was doing well too proud to say �Marvin my life is in shambles.�

The truth was that my mother had just had a nervous breakdown and had to be institutionalized. I was sleeping in my Aunt Doretha�s car and playing musical chairs in the DC Public Schools. I had just transferred from Spingarn to rival Eastern after getting kicked off the basketball team and graduation was not looking good.

After that sighting Marvin and I lost contact with each other for another decade. The next thing I knew his career had taken off (Moonglows) and again we became like ships passing in the night. We would run into each other occasionally while he was in town to see his family. He was much like me a mommy�s boy. He would later tell me his mother was the only thing that really brought him back to DC.

Marvin kept a low profile when he was in town but he never let success change him. He stayed close to family.

He would always say to me, �Harold we have got to get together the next time I am in town.� We would exchange numbers but we never called each other. I would always hear after the fact he was in town, but I never took it personal that he didn�t call.

It always looked to me he went out of his way to say �I have not forgotten.� There were also the �he said, she said� rumors about him and his father having major problems.

In 1971, I had done my college tour and was playing semi-pro football and had received a Presidential Appointment. I was using my White House contacts to open a Half-Way House for juvenile delinquents on Bolling Air Force Base, the first of its kind in the nation. Around that time Marvin had released �What�s Going On.�

I was so proud of the brother I called the Motown office in Detroit and left a message congratulating him. The song hit close to home it reminded me of our early struggles and little had changed. It was still an uphill battle.

In 1972, Marvin came home to perform at the Kennedy Center. Petey Green, the legendary radio and television personality and I managed to work our way backstage to say hello. The first thing he said when saw me was �Now you are a politician, I am looking for you in the NFL and you show up at the White House. I still love you anyway.� We laughed and hugged and he moved on to the next group of well wishers.

I remember going to Detroit in August 1980 to cover and watch Thomas Hearns knockout Pipino Cuevas to win his first title. My first call was to an old friend Wayne Davis. Wayne worked as an undercover agent for the FBI and hailed from Newark, New Jersey. We met on the streets of DC when I was working as a �Gang Buster� for the Roving Leader Program under the DC Recreation Department.

We became fast friends and stayed in touch even after his job moved him from one city to another. His brotherly advice and wisdom helped me out of some tight spots on the mean streets of DC. If one public official had heeded my advice �The Bitch would have never sit him up.�

Wayne�s final destination was Detroit, Michigan, where he became the first black to be named Director of the FBI Field Office. When I got the hotel he picked me up and took me on a tour of the FBI Office. This was a brother who kept it real and never forgot who he was and where he came from.

I called Marvin and invited him to join us on the tour but when I told him we where going to tour the FBI Building and who Wayne was he begged off and said laughingly �They might keep me. I will see you guys tonight.�

It would be in Las Vegas in September 1979 Marvin would surprise me at a weigh-in for Sugar Ray Leonard. The fighter Ray was facing was undefeated, Andy Price was owned and managed by Marvin.

Marvin was riding high and talking shit that his fighter was going to knock Ray out. He even said, �Harold after Andy knocks out Sugar Ray you can come and work for me.� We laughed he was in such good spirits. He loved being in this element. After the ceremonial weigh-in we made plans to meet for breakfast after the fight and hang out for a minute together.

With all of his success Marvin was still a loner there was no entourage or groupies following him around. The night of the fight Marvin was scheduled to sing the National Anthem. That would be his highlight for evening. Sugar Ray knocked Price out in the first round. Marvin was stunned and so was the crowd in attendance. I figured Ray would beat Price but I never expected a first round knockout.

Marvin�s next move surprised me further. He found me at the press conference and said �Don�t forget we are having breakfast in the morning.� I could see he was hurting and embarrassed by his fighter�s performance but he wanted me to know breakfast was still on. Marvin was still for real and had a heart of gold.

We had breakfast the next morning in one of Caesar�s Palace�s restaurants at 10:00 am. It would be close to lunch time when we finished talking about DC and how far we both had come from the East Capitol street projects.

We laughed about him hearing me on radio one Saturday evening as he was headed out of town and how proud it made him feel. He again brought up seeing me on television at the White House with President Nixon. He said �I could not believe my eyes.� It was then I told him I was seriously thinking about running for the DC City Council seat in Ward 7 where we once lived. Marvin�s response was �If you feel it do it and if I can help just call me. We need our own people in office.� He said, �Harold I have traveled the world but it is nothing like home and family.�

I reminded Marvin in Vegas about the Detroit trip and my conversation with him, he said �Harold I don�t even remember talking to you and I thought I made the fight. I was probably in my other world.�

There were two things we never discussed, his drug problem or his strange relationship with his father. The topics were never broached, I didn�t do drugs and I had no relationship with my father. Case closed.

After breakfast he invited me to attend a Diana Ross concert with him later that evening. We met in the hotel lobby for the first show and Marvin had an usher take me to a seat right in front of the stage. He disappeared after giving me his numbers where I could reach him if I needed him.

I thought he had left the theatre until midway through her show Diana said �I want to introduce my baby who has joined us this evening.� I was looking for her to introduce one of her children, when she said �The one of a kind Marvin Gaye.� Marvin was standing in the back of the theatre in a corner by himself when the spotlight found him. He received a standing ovation.

Once I got back to DC I called to thank him for his hospitality he had shown me in Las Vegas. He said �It was about time my brother, I also enjoyed the quiet time we spend talking about our hometown. By the way I am getting out of boxing, this shit is too hard� we both laughed. That was the last time I spoke with him.

I will never forget where I was when I heard that Marvin�s father had shot and killed him in Los Angeles. I was driving on Southern Avenue in southeast Washington, DC listening to WHUR Radio. There was a news flash that said �Marvin Gaye shot and killed in Los Angeles.�

I was on the way to Southeast Community Hospital. My brother Earl a 16 year veteran of the DC Police Metropolitan Department had been involved in a head on collision on the way to work a week earlier and the prognosis was he was not expected to live.

Now I am getting more bad news that Marvin was dead. I pulled off to the side of the road and cried for several minutes until an ambulance siren brought me back to reality. Marvin�s father had made himself, the judge, the jury and the executioner.

�Brother, brother, brother, everybody thinks we are wrong, but who are they to judge us simply because we wear our hair long. What�s going on?�

Frank Williams: When Nice Guys Don�t Finish Last!

By Harold Bell

Former fiery and controversial major league baseball manager Leo �The Lip� Durocher was once told by a reporter that he would win more games if he was nicer to the umpires and his players, Leo�s response, �Nice Guys Finish Last.�

Leo never met Frank Williams. Frank never finished last in his life. He was a class act as a father, athlete, coach and teacher. Unlike former NBA player Charles Barkley who never wanted to be a role model,

Frank relished and loved the idea of being a role model to his two daughters Ryann and Randi and to the hundreds of student/athletes he touched during his short coaching and teaching careers.

If you met Frank Williams and you didn�t like him it was a good bet you didn�t like yourself. He led by example on and off the basketball court.

He was a product of the DC Public School system where he excelled as an outstanding basketball player at Coolidge High School and later as a starting guard at Howard University.

Frank was a devoted teacher, coach and father who instilled in his students the importance of receiving an education, working hard and being a leader in the community. Throughout his childhood, these ideals were fostered in Frank by his parents and teachers in the District of Columbia Public Schools. Eventually, they would become the focus of his work with young people and lead him to a life dedicated to serving others.

It was never about him even when he won the city championship. He was a guest on my talk show Inside Sports and all he could talk about was the contributions of his players and the support of the Coolidge High School family. He even praised his beaten opponent. I was impressed because we were living in �The Me Generation.�

Frank Williams understood that when you help others you help yourself. Some folks just don�t get it.

Throughout his life, �the pigeon toed ball handler and flashy playmaker� was known as a hard worker and an excellent teacher of the game of basketball. During his tenure as the head basketball coach at Calvin Coolidge High School in Washington, DC, 95% of his students attended college and went on to serve the community in a variety of capacities.

For Frank, this was more important than any of the other honors bestowed upon him. In May of 1987, at the age of 43, Frank lost his life to brain cancer. There is some truth to the saying �the good sometimes die young.�

His hard work and devotion to his student/athletes was never more apparent than when a who�s who of the DC basketball community came out and paid their last respects to him at his home going service. It was one of the hottest days of the month and you could hardly move in the sea of people who lined the block where his services were being held.

His colleague, community advocate and native Washingtonian, Sam Newman, said it best, �Frank Williams epitomized all of the characteristics outlined by his family for successful awardees-success on the field, exhibit strong leadership qualities, a commitment to education and serving the community. I had no business on a basketball court but got to know Frank, well, while playing football with a group of guys calling themselves The Wild Bunch during the early 70s. Frank�s commitment to be one of the best on and off the field was readily discernible. The scholarship Fund and the Two-Mile Walk are fitting tributes to a fine and devoted teacher, coach, father, husband and a friend to all.�

Frank�s legacy was honored through the naming of the Frank R. Williams Activity Center at his alma mater, Coolidge High School, and inductions into the D.C. Coaches Association and the Howard University Athletics Hall of Fame.

On Saturday May 15, 2010 the Frank Williams Scholarship fund will sponsor a two-mile walk at his alma mater Coolidge High School.

His wife, Helen Williams, and daughters, Ryann and Randi, started the Frank R. Williams Scholarship Fund, Inc. to share his ideals with future generations of student athletes.

The mission of the Fund is to provide financial support to Calvin Coolidge High School (Washington, D.C.) senior student athletes who are seeking higher education. Awardees must display success on the field, exhibit strong leadership qualities and a commitment to education as well as servicing their community. Instead of being like Mike be like Frank Williams.

For more information on how to participate in this worth while endeavor or to make a donation follow the link to frwsf@frwfund.com and keep hope alive for some child who does not wish to finish last in the Game Called Life.

A Mixed Bag: Devil, Angel and Mayor!

By Harold Bell

In the month of April I watched three friends of Kids In Trouble, Inc., and Inside Sports profiled on local and national television. First there was former boxer Dirrik Holmes and singing phenom Stacy Lattisaw stories aired on Fox TV 5 News. On Sunday April 25^th Dateline NBC spotlighted Mayor Dave Bing and how he plans to save his �Dead On Arrival� adopted hometown of Detroit.

All three stories are the spiritual rewards of people reaching out to help others. In the 70s and 80s Dave, Stacy and Dirrik were all affiliated with Kids In Trouble and Inside Sports. One was a kid in trouble, and the other two were just reaching out and back to help kids in trouble.

Back in the day (any time before the 90�s) a do-wop vocalist group out of Washington, DC calling themselves The Clovers released a classic titled �Devil or Angel,� which inspired the title for this story.

The interviews on Fox 5 television with Dirrik and Stacy brought a smile to my face and memories of days gone by. The Dateline story on Dave Bing made me a proud mentor and friend. In the 70s and 80s Dirrik and Stacy were at the top of their games and professions and Dave was an NBA All-Star.

Inside Sports was the #1 sports talk show in DC and Kids In Trouble, Inc., was the #1 community based youth advocate group. The two programs were the first to encouraged pro athletes, entertainers and radio and television personalities to get involved to help improve the plight of inner-city children.

Celebrity tennis and golf tournaments and fashion shows sponsored by Kids In Trouble, Inc., and Inside Sports evolved from the two programs. Dirrik and Stacey were two of the program�s fashion show models and Dave reached back to take several kids in trouble to his basketball camp in the Pocono mountains in Pennsylvania. All three were the faces of hope for Kids In Trouble.

Other personalities and participants included Red Auerbach, Earl �The Pearl� Monroe, Sonny Hill Adrian Dantley, Sam Jones, Austin Carr, Adrian Branch, Len Bias (NBA), Roy Jefferson, Freddy Scott, Tim Baylor, Doug Williams (NFL), Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard (Boxing), Johnny Gant (Boxing), Robert Hooks (Actor), Martin Wyatt, Fred Thomas, Paul Berry, Maureen Bunyan, Jim Vance (TV Media), Donnie Simpson (Radio), John Thompson (Georgetown U.) and the list goes on and on.

WETA television producer Jacqueline Toldt produced �Washington in the 70s� during Black History Month 2010. The show was misleading in that it had nothing to do with Black History. In fact, it appears that she made every effort to exclude Black History.

Ms. Toldt must have had her head in the sand. The content of the show proved she knows nothing about �Washington in the 70s.� Anyone living in DC during that era (black or white) was aware that the Nation�s Capitol was known all over the world as �Chocolate City.� It was never mentioned during the hour long program. The impact and contributions made by the above personalities were never cited.

How could you be in DC during the 70s and not know that WOL Radio was the flagship station with WHUR running a close second with �The Quiet Storm� radio show host Melvin Lindsey? WHFS FM in Bethesda, Maryland was not even on the radar screen.

How could you not know that Kids In Trouble was making a difference all over the city with Washington Redskin players Larry Brown, Roy Jefferson, Harold McLinton and Ted Vactor? Warner Wolf (TV 9) and Harold Bell ruled on air sports talk in the 70s!

It looks like the only qualification to be an Executive Producer at WETA is to have a driver�s license! She is further proof we must keep our own history.

In the 70s, Dirrik Holmes and Sugar Ray Leonard were the darlings of amateur boxing in the DC area. Dirrik was a champion right out of the box. He won the Junior division of the Golden Gloves in 1969 his first year on the boxing scene for the Kentland Boxing program. He then moved from Kentland to the Palmer Park, Maryland program.

His success led his friend and now boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard to join him on the team. Ray�s brother Roger Leonard was also a member of a program that was considered one of the best in the country. Dirrick and Roger were considered the best boxers on the team during that era, but Ray was coming on fast.

According to boyhood friend Irvin Millard the workouts between Sugar Ray Leonard and Dirrik Holmes were toe-to-toe knock down and drag out classics. There were many times Dirrik gave better than he received. There was little or no animosity or jealousy among the fighters during this era. They were just two great competitors who were close friends in and out of the ring.

Dirrik was riding high after winning a Gold Medal at a pre-Olympic tournament in Montreal in 1975, but his life would never be the same after the 1976 Olympic trials. He would make a bad decision that would turn his world upside down.

The name Charles Mooney an Olympic hopeful will forever be etched in the mind of Dirrik Holmes. Dirrik would lose a controversial decision to Mooney leading up to the U. S. Olympic Games in 1976.

The devastating lost to Mooney still haunts Dirrik today some 34 years later. He keeps the photo that shows Mooney looking like the loser that he was but miss guided officials gave him the decision anyway.

One bad decision would lead to another. The next bad decision by Dirrik was of his own doing and would cost him 23 years of his life in jail. He turned to drugs after losing to Mooney and the drugs would become his sparring partner, trainer, friend and his biggest opponent.

In the meantime Dirrik along with Ray got involved with Kids In Trouble and Inside Sports via celebrity fashion shows.

The lost to Mooney was nothing compared to watching his close friend and sparring partner Sugar Ray Leonard go on to win a Gold Medal at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. Sugar Ray�s boxing success would lead him into the boxing Hall of Fame and Dirrik�s boxing failure would lead him to jail.

Sugar Ray Leonard had his own problems after his fairy tale win in Montreal. On his return to his home in Palmer Park newspaper headlines screamed and read �Sugar Ray Leonard has baby out of wedlock with high school sweetheart.� Ray hid in his home for weeks and refused to come out until I went over and coaxed him out.

Dirrik problems led him to drugs and he became a kid in trouble. He had a flair and confident air about him and he took pride in being one of the fashion show�s top dressers. In 1983, all hell broke loose when I heard he had been arrested and charged with attempted murder and armed robbery in Clinton, Maryland. I called his friend and promoter Nat Williams and he confirmed the story. I felt responsible because I never saw it coming.

He was found guilty in 1984 and he would spend the next 23 years in jail, 5 of those years would be served in the Maryland Penitentiary in Baltimore, MD and 18 years in the Maryland Correctional Center in Hagerstown, MD. Baltimore and Hagerstown are in the top ten of the worst penal institutions in America. He has really been to hell and back.

The sentence never made sense to me. I have seen some first degree murder convictions and the accused were never given half the sentence Dirrick was given for attempted murder. This is known as Just Us and Justice in America�s judicial system. Money buys Justice and a court appointed attorney buys jail time for Just Us.

Black men in America make up over half of the inmate population and we are only 13% of the entire population! America has the highest prison population in the world and black men are the backbone and foundation of the penal system.

Dirrik wants to try to save kids in trouble by giving advice and teaching lessons in the Game Called Life using boxing as a vehicle. He does not want children to experience the hard knocks that await them in the criminal justice system. He has already been there and done that. There are not many of us who could survive 23 years in two of the toughest prisons in America. His story can save lives.

He believes by going up stream to fish the children out he will save and catch more children than having to wait to fish them out at the river�s end. Dirrik says, �We must be more about prevention instead waiting around and re-acting after the fact.�

Long before Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson and Rihanna there was Stacy Lattisaw. She was a star at the tender age of 10 and at the age 12 she had signed a recording contract.

She was never a kid in trouble thanks to her two parents (Jerome and Saundra Lattisaw) who had her back. Jerome and I grew up together in a housing project in Northeast DC called Parkside. Stacy�s success never carried her far away from the NE community her father grew up in just to the other side of the railroad tracks by choice.

Jerome and Saundra are the prototype parents who are missing from our homes today, parents who have their children�s best interest at heart. Stacy has found peace of mind in the spiritual sounds of gospel music. Stacy�s first big hit was �Let Me Be Your Angel� and she has been that and more.

Dave Bing grew up in a tough Northeast DC neighborhood and barely escaped the pitfalls (drugs and jail) of many of his friends. Today he is the Mayor of a city in crisis but he thinks he can make a difference and bring a dying city back to life. His task can best be described in basketball terms, he is driving to the basket and there is Bill Russell on one side and Wilt Chamberlain on the other! Don�t count Dave Bing out. He has always found a way out of no way.

Dave, Stacy and Dirrik are role models in the Game Called Life. They are reaching back to help others in their own way---each with the style of a champion.

KIT Celebrity Fashion Show: Stacy and Dirrik

Dave Bing and Harold Bell

My Love/Hate Affair With My Country

By Scottie Lowe

I am to be counted among the small percentage of the population who harbors a simultaneous deep love and a heart-wrenching disappointment with my country. I can�t say that I hate my country by any stretch of the imagination because I adore the people, places, and events that have shaped my identity but to suggest that I have a God-Bless-America-Of-Thee-I-Sing blanket patriotism would be disingenuous as well. I love my nation but I see her flaws and shortcomings. I do not hate my country but I hate some of the aspects of it that taint its supposed greatness. I see myself first and foremost as a citizen of the world; my life and my story are reflected in the eyes of people from all around the globe. I�m not of the belief that man-made borders make the particular land I was born on more sacred; more deserving of peace, or that this soil somehow grants its inhabitants greater rights than any other human being. I can�t wear red, white, and blue colored glasses and wrap myself in Old Glory, blinded by visions of apple pie and baseball that distract me from the harsh realities of this country�s past, and present injustices.

I live in a country that I willingly acknowledge affords me personal freedoms that I take for granted every minute of every day. I love that I have a constitutional right to practice any religion under the sun in this country. Hell, I can create my own religion, recruit members, and be tax-exempt in this country if I so choose and it�s perfectly legal and I don�t have to worship in secret or fear late night storming paratroopers arresting and torturing me for my beliefs. I detest the fact that the commonly held perception is that this is a Christian nation and that oppressive, repressed, and tyrannical religious zealots have decided that their moral misinterpretations of the bible are the standards by which I should be judged. The only voices considered valid in discussions of faith are those who claim that Christianity is the only, true, and right religion for America and that the vast majority of my fellow citizens have no respect for my first amendment rights to religious freedom.

I love my country and the unparalleled sense of community and togetherness that arises when we face collective tragedy. I also love that I can speak my mind without fear of prosecution. I hate the fact that when I use my God-given common sense, logic, reason, research, and information to suggest that there are factors that surround September 11th that don�t add up, I�m persecuted and labeled a lunatic, conspiracy theorist, and unpatriotic. I will never forget the innocent lives lost on that fateful day but I don�t think those lives have more value than those lost during Hurricane Katrina or those lost en masse anywhere else in the world for that matter. I mourn for the families of those that died, and even those that survived but I recognize that millions upon millions of enslaved Africans who were kidnapped and enslaved and brought to this country have no monument, have no movie, no lobbyists in Congress, have no yellow ribbons on SUVs for their loss of life, liberty, and their pursuit of happiness.

I feel safe in knowing that I have the right to own a gun to defend myself even though I have not even the tiniest inkling to do so. Gun violence has proven itself to be an epidemic in this country and radical militias are plotting at this moment to kill people like me because their particular brand of patriotism deems me expendable in their pursuit of a purer nation state so that safety seems a tad bit misplaced but I accept that I have the right to bear arms. I�d much rather live in a nation where differences are celebrated and respected, where people can live comfortably in their own skin without the need to try to control, dictate, or annihilate anyone who makes them mad or disagrees with them. I understand that there are nations in this world where I couldn�t even express my displeasure without imprisonment or worse so for that I love my country.

I appreciate the fact that I can live freely as a woman in the United States without fear of having my genitals mutilated, state sanctioned rape, or being considered a second class citizen just because I possess a uterus. I�m troubled by the fact that I can�t turn on the television or radio without being insulted or denigrated for my gender. I hate the fact that misogyny is a multi-billion dollar form of entertainment in this country.

Unlike some other places on earth, I have the right to love anyone I desire, regardless of their gender here. Regrettably, I don�t have a right to marry whom I choose because some people believe that I will infringe upon their heterosexual rights if I do. I�m not gay. I�m not even sure I will ever have an overwhelming need to get married again. I just can�t stomach the fact that a country that proclaims to want the tired, poor, and huddled masses from all over the world doesn�t have tolerance and acceptance for our very own neighbors who want to share in a committed, loving relationship with all the benefits and privileges thereof. The very same people who claim that homosexuals are immoral and promiscuous are the ones who are working to ensure that they can�t ascribe to matrimonial monogamy. It�s difficult to understand why in this great land, we can�t live and let live.

I feel incredibly blessed to live in a country where I have a right to choose what to do with my reproductive body. Right to lifers in this country not only want to take my ability to control my body away from me, they also want to ensure that my child and I won�t have access to adequate affordable healthcare, housing, education, and opportunity. Their concern for my fetus ends when I give birth. Then, it becomes their mission to see that I�m denied every social benefit that ensures the well-being of my offspring and the community at large. It�s precisely that hypocrisy that infuriates me about the USA.

There can be no question that the U.S. stands alone as the richest, most alluring country in the world. People from other nations see this as the Promised Land. It�s here they want to move and migrate in order to realize their dreams of wealth and prosperity with vision of streets of gold and the land of milk and honey. My country has laws in place to ensure that I don�t have to toil in a sweatshop for a month and only bring home $7.00.   The United States protects my rights if I�m injured on the job, if an employer harasses me, if I lose my job, and when I retire. The people of the United States, a very large portion of them rather, want to demonize people who come to this country in pursuit of a better life in this country. The disdain and hatred for undocumented workers, who work in jobs no one else would want, who receive a mere pittance in exchange for back breaking labor, and who have no rights as even human beings let alone employees is was makes me ashamed of my country. With all the wealth, with all the resources this country has, the greed and selfishness of people who think there isn�t enough to go around and who actually feel justified in their beliefs that we should build a wall to prevent people from having access to providing for their families is despicable.

I love that here in America I have access to museums and libraries and some of the best educational institutions in the world. I am incredibly blessed by the fact that my friends are from virtually every corner of the globe; I belong to a community of activists and artists who are passionate about fighting for justice, diversity, and truth. As an American citizen I can vote and participate in the political process however liberal my agendas. I hate that my ancestors had to shed their blood and in many instances, give their lives in order for me to be a part of that process. My heart soars that I could be a part of an election in a country with such an odious history of racism elected an altogether brilliant man of color to this nation�s highest office. I hate that racism is at the core of the right-wing criticisms against him. I love that I reside in a country where the freedom of speech is protected. I hate that Fox News isn�t seen for the hate-filled, racist, liars that they are and shut down with public outrage and a demand for more fair and accurate reporting.    I love the sweet summer peaches of Georgia and the electricity of New York City at 4 a.m. I love the heartbeat of Washington D.C. and the shrimp etouffee of N�awlins. The music and culture of Miami�s Latino population infuse me with vitality and I�m equally moved by the traditions and food of the Chinese people of San Francisco. There�s nothing better than waking up on a brisk Chicago spring morning and going running by the lake. I love the Midwestern fields flowing with amber waves of grain and the purple mountains with their majestic views of my homeland, I love the Redwoods, the Grand Canyon, and the flowing Mississippi River. I hate the fact that the indigenous people of this land have been marginalized and disenfranchised with the acts of genocide that have been ignored and erased from the history books. I love Florence, South Carolina where I would go in the summer and spend time with my cousins and get bitten by mosquitoes the size of quarters and eat the best food I�ve ever tasted at The Thunderbird Inn.

I hate the projects of the inner cities where people are piled on top of each other like rats with no plan to provide them with affordable, decent housing, as if they deserve to live like that simply because they are poor. I hate the segregation of the south where Blacks are kept in their place with imaginary boundaries and intentional mis-education. I hate that the soil of the south is stained with the blood of my ancestors who hung from the trees like strange fruit for the entertainment of others.

I love my country because it is my home. To be born in this time, in this place is to be considered fortunate. Simply because I am a United States inhabitant, I know that my voice has a greater opportunity to be heard and, moreover, respected around the globe. Listening to the American art forms of jazz, the blues, and Negro spirituals soothes my soul. If only they weren�t born of the horrendous history of chattel slavery that has been sanitized to appear little more than a mistake and not one of the most egregious acts of terror against humanity that it really was.

Our founding fathers saw fit to ensure that each and every person born in this nation had the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The irony that plagues me is that during that very time individuals with beautiful black skin were considered 3/5ths of a human being, little more than animals, who labored to make this country the wealthiest in the world. I want desperately to love my country because it is the bastion of principles that it proclaims. Oh were it truly the land of the free and the home of the brave with liberty and justice for all. Sadly, they are empty clich�s. Injustice reigns freely from sea to shining sea based on race, gender, income level, physical ability, age, and sexual orientation. I can�t, in good consciousness, give my unconditional love to a nation that perpetuates wars on concepts where innocent people are victims of capitalist agendas but I can love the potential for my United States of America, a beautiful jewel with flawed facets, to live out its mission so that all its children might be one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Scottie Lowe is an author, activist, and she is also the creator of www.AfroerotiK.com.

Being A Thug Is Too Expensive!

By Nadra Enzi aka Capt. Black

A favorite dead horse is deglamorizing thug behavior. It's tiresome seeing folks shovel themselves into the criminal justice system and afterward cry foul. Never saw the benefit of badly playing hands dealt from marked decks. Giving ourselves felony records and vacuuming money into correctional coffers is too costly. Instant access via crime information databases tells the tale too quickly. Simply, most low income people can't afford to be thugs. Memo to thugs: step your game up to Wall Street status and ride from there.

Moral arguments to the side ( risky proposition ), the economic burden of criminal conduct should be stressed more. Especially in a down economy where jobs are few and far between. Self-employed folks should be acutely sensitive to how much crime costs. Ethical considerations are still paramount but many seriously heed the siren call of dollars and cents.

One misdeed allows police agencies; detention centers; judges; prosecutors; judges; defense attorneys; probation; parole; counselors, etc. to reach into your pockets- over and over again. Years worth create crime-induced poverty in turn producing vicious circles of continual offense. More offenses breed more financial penalties. Sympathy wanes against such self-destructiveness as community stakeholders cluck " You should've known better. " The more Old School dismiss them with a hissed "Negro please! " One segment of Black America stares in shock at crime dramas that is life for inner city residents. A noteworthy clich�' is we're not a monolith. Black folks who don't live urban thug culture are as confused by it as White peers across the railroad tracks. Practitioners of Black Dignity are frightened by this berserker mindset. The more activist become mentor and promote social programs. The rest hope and pray the 'Hood won't make their families headline news. As a group we're at the unenviable juncture where urban thugs scare us just like they terrify White folks. This sad state of affairs costs us immeasurably.

Being scared of ourselves proves being a thug is simply too expensive. Economically and culturally.
NADRA ENZI AKA CAPT. BLACK promotes crime prevention and self-development. www.captblack.info and www.blogtalkradio.com/nadraenzi.

A Roar and a Message to a Tiger on the Prowl!

By Harold Bell

The legendary golfer Arnold Palmer warned Tiger Woods early in his career �If you can�t stand the heat get out of the kitchen.� During a golf outing, Tiger complained to Palmer about the demand on his time from the fans wanting autographs and media requesting interviews. He said, �The fans and the media are becoming a little too much for me, I want to be normal.�

Palmer paused and looked Tiger right in his eyes and said �Son if you want to be normal give all the money back and play golf on the weekends with your buddies.�

Tiger, you never took Palmer�s advice to give the money back. Instead of signing autographs and giving interviews, you took on another role that had nothing to do with golf. You became �Playboy Tiger Woods� playing every waitress, cocktail hostess and whore on the pro tour you could find.

You started your own hotel match play, titled �Tiger�s All Hoe Tournament.� Your entry fee requirements were blond hair and blue eyes. The hoes that didn�t make the �cut� were a darker shade of pale, wore a weave, afro, or a wig. Artificial contact lens was allowed if they met all the other requirements.

I find it rather ironic that as the month of February comes to a close you chose to make your entry back onto the national stage. February is designated as �Black History Month� but according to you, you are not Black.

Tiger, you appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show several years ago with your late father Earl and declared that you were Cablinasian! You explained that you wanted to honor both your father�s heritage (Black) and your mother�s heritage (Asian) and that is where you lost me. Tiger, growing up, I was told that having one drop of black blood made you black in America!

Your father Earl taught you a great deal about the game called golf but he forgot to teach you about �The Game Called Life.� You have an identity problem and I think it would be a great idea to schedule a counseling session with Motown legend vocalist/poet Smokey Robinson. Smokey appeared on Def Comedy Jam several years ago and his oral presentation of the origin of man titled �Black & Proud� is a classic and a masterpiece. Check it out you might learn something about Black History.

Smokey�s American History lesson and poem should be required learning for every elementary, middle school, high school and college curriculum in America. If you are a insecure black brother/sister or in the mode of Russ Limbaugh I think it is best you bypass this history lesson. Your �Plantation Mentality� will not allow you to absorb the learning curve.

Tiger, your mother is Asian and she is covered in your new found definition of black in America. Smokey Robinson asked: �Who sits around and comes up with these different names for us anyway.� It looks like you are one of those persons.

Your father was black but what does Cablinasian have to do with being black? In a state of confusion I opened up the Bible of the spoken word, Webster�s Dictionary. I found the following definition for the word Cablin �A savage and deformed slave in Shakespeare�s Tempest!� WOW!

This definition alone makes Smokey Robinson�s message a must see and hear. Michael Jackson said it best �It makes no difference whether you are black or white.� Tiger, you need to hear Smokey, please click on link below. http://www.openentrance.com/2008/03/13/smokey-robinson-on-def-poetry-jam/

Tiger, after you have finished your session or sessions with Smokey, you will need to follow-up and meet with black golfing Angels and legends like Jim Thorpe, Calvin Peete, Charlie Sifford, and Lee Elder hopefully they can better express what Arnold Palmer was trying to explain to you earlier. Tiger those golfing Angels kicked down the doors for you. They were the pioneers who made the million dollar jackpots and endorsements deals possible for you to live like �The King of Golf.� From a black prospective, the legends �have been there and done that.� Their stories need to be told 365 days of the year. It is a history lesson that you need to learn badly.

Tiger, we cannot continue to blame whites solely for the racist environment of America. They don�t have a copy right on racism. We have blacks in our community who could give Rush Limbaugh a run for his money. If someone would provide the media with a snapshot of the guest at the Summit, you would see that you have an identity problem. I saw one black face in the room. It is often said �A picture is worth a thousand words.�

Shortly after you were exposed and went into hiding, your friend and partner in this charade TNT NBA color analyst Charles Barkley gave you a �shout out� during half time of a game. He said �Tiger, give me a call if you need to talk---your friends are here for you� with friends like Barkley you don�t need golfers like Fuzzy Zoeller.

In the meantime, I am thinking your wife Elin has put 2 + 2 together. Your close friends Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan were not seen at the Summit as friends or media guest. I am betting that she has agreed to stay and try to make the marriage work with the stipulation that you kick friends like Barkley, Michael and your caddy Steve Williams to the curb. She knows that they were a part of �The Boys will be Boys Network� they help cover-up the hoe charade. She will never feel comfortable around them again.

Your coming-out party and what it accomplished from my vantage point; you dug yourself into a deeper hole. Your feeble efforts to try to explain the bruises on your face came from the car accident and had nothing to do with Elin was pathetic. No one believes the story that your wife was using the golf club to break out the back window of the truck to rescue you. I thought the attempt to cover-up the beat-down was the worst part of your speech. Tiger, someone once said, �Its best to be thought a fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt.�

The first question someone from the media would have asked you, if you had allowed questions, is �Why was Elin trying to use the club to breakout the back window of the truck out when you were seated in the driver�s seat? Tiger, you can�t insult people�s intelligence, especially, media people.

You made a big mistake when you made the Summit �Invitation only.� Tiger, you played right into the media�s hands.

The Governor of South Carolina Mark Sanford, John Edwards (former Presidential candidate) and you have made tabloid media outlets sales sky rocket (sex sells and sleazy sex sells better). The Enquirer Magazine and the television show TMZ are now considered a part of mainstream media. They were not invited to the Summit and are now feeling like �second class media outlets� a big mistake.

Main stream media for too long has protected the deviant behavior of super star athletes, politicians and entertainers. Time has brought about a change and the internet is everywhere. The Enquirer and TMZ TV is no longer the Rodney Dangerfield (I get no respect) of the news media. If the Enquirer wins a Pulitzer Prize they could have the last laugh.

Your attempt to tongue lash and talk down to the media for their blanket coverage of your home, children�s school and following your mom was ill-advised and not well thought out. Your prepared statement should have added �Pretty Please� to its content when you addressed the media. You showed no humility or respect for what they do. They report the news and you are a part of the news, whether it is good, bad or indifferent. Your Tiger Woods� controlled media days are over.

The first mistake you made in this charade was running off and hiding like a coward. The second mistake was you hid out too long. Tiger there is an old saying, �If you are going to play, you must pay.�

You are not the first superstar married athlete to have a mistress in every port. Your friend Michael Jordan�s female conquests are legendary in NBA circles. Michael is now a minority owner of the NBA Charlotte Bobcats and looking to become its owner in the near future. His divorce from his wife was Page One tabloid material. Remember, Wizards� owner the late Abe Polin hired him to save his struggling NBA franchise? Michael breathed new life into the team and made a ticket to a Wizard�s game the hottest ticket in the NBA. He revived downtown business for DC and for his efforts he was fired and run out of town. He has recovered and moved on.

Muhammad Ali had women following him around the world and back just to spend a night or day in his bed. If you think the skies around the Chicago Airport are busy with planes in a holding pattern trying to land, you should have seen the women in the hotel lobbies where Ali was staying during his career. They were also trying to land---in his bed.

Ali despite suffering from Parkinson�s disease is celebrating 50 years on the world stage and he is still one of the most popular athletes in the world. People were willing to ignore or look the other way when Ali�s eyes were roaming from one woman to another, I wonder why? Could it be that Ali was a �Touch & Feel� superstar athlete that never placed himself above the boxing fans or everyday people?

Remember President Bill Clinton? He was one of the most powerful men in the world the President of the United States? In a time period between November 1995 and March 1997 he and White House intern Monica Lewinsky had an intimate sexual relationship in the White House. This was not Bill�s first sexual conquest while holding public office and his indiscretions put his wife Hillary in �The eye of the Tiger� I am sure Elin can relate. You both have a lot in common, he was the most powerful politician in the world and you were the most powerful athlete in the world.

Tiger, much like you many of President Clinton�s colleagues and enemies were happy that he got caught with his pants down and had to face the music. I know pro golfer Fuzzy Zoeller is somewhere celebrating your fall from grace with a fried chicken dinner and watermelon on the side! He still has not gotten over you winning your first Masters Golf Tournament. Fuzzy, didn�t see you as a Cablinasian, he saw you as a �colored boy� who had just walked into his living room without an invitation. I would bet if you drove pass Fuzzy�s home there is a replica of a black jockey in his front yard and a direct line to Rush Limbaugh.

The lies and sounds President Clinton made when he got caught were not music to our ears. He lied, lied and lied, but the most famous lie he told was �I did not have sex with that woman.� His sexual encounters with Monica almost cost him the Presidency.

Tiger, remember when Washington DC Mayor Marion Barry got caught trying to get his pants down and smoking crack cocaine in a downtown DC hotel? His famous last words were �The bitch set me up.� Mayor Barry served time in jail and returned to DC and was voted back into office as the Mayor of the Nations Capitol. He is now a sitting DC City Councilman and the bitches are still sitting him up.

Tiger, if Jordan, Ali, Clinton and Barry can bounce back what is stopping you?

After the Summit I spent hours reading and watching the experts analyze your speech and many were clueless. Most (75%) would swear the prepared speech you delivered was not sincere. I am trying to figure out how they could have reached that conclusion when they readily admit that they don�t even know you.

Tiger, my advice, your priorities should be your marriage and watching your babies grow. You are financially secure enough to vacation all over the world with your family when ever the mood hits you. See that your kids are home schooled and make sure you are around to see that they avoid the outside distractions that might stunt their growth. Spend more time working with children at your foundations. Surround yourself with children because they are more forgiving than adults. This is the one and only way to take charge of your life again on your own terms.

Your return to play tournament golf any time soon would be a disaster. You wouldn�t have any control. The only thing a golf course can offer you is another major win, two-dollars more and another ego trip. I don�t think another win, dollar or ego trip would be worth the lost of your family. Time is on your side and so are Golf�s Angels. They can give you the reality check that you need.

Tiger, my advice to you is to check your ego at your home front door, ride off into the sunset and tell everyone to take their golf clubs and stick them!

President Obama and Black Male Starvation

At some point during this Bush-Obama non-economy I just went on automatic pilot, like many others. Friends tease me about being a survivalist but it was just dress rehearsal for this calamity. While always knowing how empty rhetoric about opportunity and prosperity was in zip codes like mine, when the door slams shut this soundly for so long it really brings truth home. Starvation became a daily personal companion. I took in someone who was evicted and shared what little I had with him. Black male starvation particularly seems a dominant feature of this cycle. I didn't know electing one Black president man meant millions of others had to go hungry. Guess his Black voters missed the fine print. So here we are no closer to jobs or contracts than under Dubya. It seems Black men en masse are being punished by the free market because, ironically, a majority of White people put Obama in the White House. I guess the market is only free so long as one of us isn't living inside 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.? That's why his victory has always rung so hollow because brothers always get lost in the shuffle. This time it's even worse than usual, which is pretty bad.

Obviously he isn't the author of this crisis but I wonder does he think about us while dining at state dinners? Do the homeboys even rate a second thought as five star meals are served? Does the president realize many brothers either eat canned food ( heating contingent upon ability to pay electric bills; rent; mortgage, etc. )  or try to hustle up a McChicken sandwich at the neighborhood McDonald's? This non-economy has all but relegated Black men in cities like my home town to refugee status, only nobody is coming to the rescue. Worn out after countless job searches for non-existent employment; burned out by endless proposals ignored, unemployed; underemployed and self-employed Black men are going under for the last time in droves and I honestly wonder if the Brother-in-Chief cares? A McCain Administration with this attitude would face politically selective rioting in the streets.

My stomach and those of Black men locked out of jobs and contracts aren't politically choosy. I didn't vote for him so I have the empty pleasure of seeing my suspicions come to pass. Mr. President, Black men are starving more under your watch than during those of any reactionary predecessor from either party. We didn't starve like this from Nixon's " benign neglect " or Reaganomics. The first Bush term actually saw income tax rebate checks which he thereafter vaporized along with the Clinton budget surplus funding them.

If Black male starvation isn't a national priority just let us know- at least some of us will still be around to hear it.
NADRA ENZI AKA CAPT. BLACK promotes crime prevention and self-development. http://www.captblack.info and http://www.blogtalkradio.com/nadraenzi

COMMUNITY QUARTERBACKS!

By Lavada Starr

Harold Bell loves to say, �My heroes were black women. They could not run the 100 meters in 9.0, throw a football 75 yards in the air, hit a jump shot at the buzzer or hit a homerun 400 feet, but they were Super Stars in the Game Called Life.� The heroes; were his grandmother and mother affectionately known as Grandma Bell and Mommy B, his presence hero, his wife, Hattie.

December of 2010 will mark forty-two years of marriage and forty-two years of playing Santa�s Helpers for needy children, a trend now copied by every community activist, radio, television and print media outlet in America. It all started in Washington, DC with the Christmas Bells, Hattie and Harold.

In the mid sixties Harold worked as a �Neighborhood Worker� for community oriented United Planning Organization. His co-workers and partners were the infamous H. Rap Brown and legendary radio personality Pete Greene.

In 1967 Petey came up with an idea of giving away Thanksgiving baskets. He wanted to give them away to senior citizens. Harold says, �Petey had a white friend and businessman at the Florida Avenue market in NE Washington, D. C. He wanted to give away fifty turkeys for the needy. Giving away Thanksgiving baskets during the holidays would later become another National Media tradition. The tradition got its start in the Nation�s Capitol with Petey and Harold.

On the weekends Harold was a wide receiver for the Washington Redskins� minor league football team, the Virginia Sailors.   His teammate, Jim Gray a graduate of Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina said, �He could catch a football and raise hell if you didn�t throw it his way. Harold stayed in hot water with Head Coach Billy Cox. His talk back attitude got him benched time and time again but when we needed the clutch catch, Coach Cox would holler, �Harold Bell get the hell in there.� They won several Minor League Championships.

In 1967 the DC Recreation Department hired Harold away from the United Planning Organization for its elite Roving Leader Program. The Roving Leaders worked the playgrounds, streets and in schools in the inner city. Where there were �At-Risk Children� Harold was there. One of Harold�s assignments was the Cardozo/Shaw Community where he met Hattie who was teaching at Cardozo High School.

That same year gun violence at Harold�s alma mater Spingarn High School got his undivided attention. He was assigned to the school by the Roving Leader Program to try to figure out a way to quell any further violence. His friend and NBA Hall of Fame player and Spingarn alumnus Dave Bing was a rookie playing in the 1967 NBA All-Star Game in Baltimore. He went to Baltimore and asked Dave to travel to D. C. after the game to speak to the Spingarn student body. The day after the game Dave walked into the Spingarn auditorium to a standing ovation. His words of wisdom brought the unrest and violence to a halt. Dave Bing a native Washingtonian is now the Mayor of his adopted hometown--Detroit, Michigan.

The summer of 1968 will forever be etched in Harold�s mind. He remembers exactly where he was when all hell broke loose after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. He was standing on the corner of 9^th & U Streets North West with his co-worker NFL Green Bay Packer Hall of Fame player, Willie Wood. During the off-season Willie returned home and work as a Roving Leader. He remembers as soon as the news broke on the streets about the assassination, Willie said, �I think we got trouble.� His prognostication would be an understatement.

During the riots Harold teamed up with his mentor and friend the late DC Superior Court judge (then U.S. Marshall) Luke C. Moore. They walked shoulder to shoulder in Cardozo/Shaw the hardest hit area of the city. Harold says �I still find it hard to believe there was only one lost of life during the riots. In hindsight, he credits the late Mayor Walter Washington for standing up to FBI Director J. Egar Hoover. Mr. Hoover wanted to call in the Army Airborne with orders to shoot on sight. Mayor Washington said, �Not in my town.�

1968 was a good year for Hattie and Harold, after the riots they were married and became a �Youth Advocate Team.� They founded Kids In Trouble and their first project; �The Hillcrest Children�s Center Saturday Program. The facility was located in the heart of the riot area. Hillcrest was under the umbrella of Children�s Hospital and served as a residential treatment center for emotionally disturbed children during the week. The facility was equipped with an indoor swimming pool, and indoor and outdoor basketball courts. On the weekends the facility was closed down until Monday morning. There was unrest among neighborhood children who had no access. They resented the facility being in their neighborhood and not having it open to them.

The Hillcrest Children�s Center Director, Dr. Nicholas Long asked for meeting with Harold who had become a community legend. Dr. Long suggested that he take over the facility on weekends and open it to neighborhood children. Harold for one didn�t think it was a good idea because he was usually traveling on weekends playing football. Hattie, the voice of reason and compromise thought they should think it over before saying �No.�

In August of 1968 the Hillcrest Children�s Center Saturday Program opened its doors to neighborhood children and the rest is Community History.

The first Kids In Trouble toy party was held at Hillcrest Children�s Center Saturday Program. The site was chosen because the Shaw/Cardozo community suffered the most damage during the riots. The only organization doing anything similar in the community were the United States Marines. They were giving back toys to the community they collected from the community! Toy drives for Needy Children are now a National media tradition.

In an effort to get tutors and mentors for the Saturday program they reached out to Howard University and D. C. Teachers College (University of the District of Columbia) but got no response. They then contacted a Seven Day Adventist Church in Tacoma Park, Maryland. White high school students were later bussed into the inner-city every Saturday to tutor the children. In 2010 high school and college students are now given class credits for volunteering in the community. It all started in Washington, D. C.

In 1969 Harold and Hattie found and coordinated the First City-wide DC Public Elementary Schools athletic program while working out of Harrison Elementary located one block away from the Hillcrest Children�s Center Saturday Program.

In the summer of 1969 something unusual happened right in front of Harold Bell�s eyes. President Richard Nixon was touring the riot scarred area of Shaw/Cardozo. Nixon during his Vice-Presidential days in the fifties was a �Golf Duffer.�   He played on the weekends at the all-men exclusive Burning Tree Golf Course in Bethesda, Maryland, a suburb outside of Washington, DC.   Harold was Nixon�s caddy. During those days he was a three sport athlete at DC�s Spingarn High School, also the school of choice of NBA of Hall Fame basketball players Elgin Baylor and Dave Bing. The common denominators were their coaches, Dave Brown and Rev. William Roundtree.

President Nixon�s tour caught Harold and the community by surprise. Nixon�s exposure to black folks and the inner city were thought to be non-existent. Harold�s cousin Charlita Billingsley encouraged him to write a letter to the President reminding him of their weekend golfing days at Burning Tree Golf Course. He did and one week later Harold and Hattie received a letter from the White House inviting them to lunch.

He later accepted a Presidential appointment making him the first Black to head a Domestic Actions Program for the Department of Defense. In 1970 he founded the first Half-Way House in the Nation for juvenile delinquents on a military installation at Bolling Air Force Base in South East D. C.

In 1970 the Bells teamed up with Washington Redskin players, Pittsburg native Larry Brown, Roy Jefferson, Harold McLinton and Ted Vactor. They invited the players to join them at the Hillcrest Children�s Center Program on Saturdays and to work with them at �Bolling Boys Base.�

The rest is NFL history. Larry, Roy, Harold and Ted became the �First� NFL players in the league to come into the community as a �Team� and work to improve the lives of inner city children. Dave Bing, Willie Wood and Larry Brown cared long before the NBA and NFL.

In 1972 Larry Brown led the Redskins to the Super Bowl and on the way he led the NFL in rushing. He was named the league�s �Most Valuable Player.� The legendary comedian Bob Hope on National television presented Larry with a check for $5,000. The check was for winning the NFL MVP. Larry donated the check to the Hillcrest Children�s Center Saturday Program.

The �First� NFL Community service television promo was taped at Hillcrest Children�s Center Saturday Program. CBS taped Larry Brown and Harold McLinton teaching water safety to inner city children.

Lonnie Taylor was a Saturday Program benefactor went on to become the Chief of Staff for Congressman Jack Buechner (R-Mo.). This appointment made him the first black Chief of Staff for a white politician on Capitol Hill.

Lonnie wrote a letter to Harold after encountering him at a luncheon on the Hill saying, �Dear Mr. Bell: It was great seeing you at Secretary�s Jack Kemp�s address sponsored by the Heritage Foundation.   As I stated then, as a former resident of the 14^th and W Streets area, I owe you many thanks for the things that you did on behalf of the city�s youth. Believe me; Hillcrest Children�s Center Saturday Program often brings back fond memories. You should take pride in the fact that your example of selflessness continues in so many of us. Thanks for all you have done and all you do. Sincerely, Lonnie Taylor.�

Congressman Louis Stokes (D-Ohio) said, �Harold Bell is exceptional among the youth of his own generation in his dedication and commitment to the youth of the present generation. He never forgot who he is and where he came from.� Complete story was entered into the Congressional Record 1978.

In 1972 he was invited to co-host a sports talk show on Saturday afternoons with Pittsburgh native and WOL Radio DJ legend Bobby Bennett.   In 1973 with Bennett�s blessings Harold went out on his own. His critically acclaimed sports talk show �Inside Sports� was heard on W-O-O-K Radio changed the way America listens, talks and report sports today. He went beyond giving scores and injury up dates. He played message music, wrote commentaries and held monthly media roundtables with local and national sports media personalities.

Harold gives credit to his wife for coming up with the unique title of �Inside Sports.� He says �She thought of the title one night sitting at our dinner table. I was sitting there writing the format up for my first show and in a half jokingly manner I asked her what should I call my new show? She said, �Inside Sports without looking up from her plate.� I said how did you come up with that title? Her response was �the athletes are always telling you what is going on behind the scenes you have information others don�t, Inside Sports sounds about right to me!�

In 1978 a writer by the name of John Walsh who wrote for the Style section of the Washington Post hijacked his title and went to New York City and created the magazine �Inside Sports.� Now it is �Inside� the NFL, NBA, NHL, WWF, NASCAR, Tennis, Major League Baseball, Inside Washington, etc. it all started with Hattie Bell at a dinner table in DC in 1973. He says, �I should have Trade marked the title as my lawyer had advised.� John Walsh parlayed the hijacking into a stellar career with ESPN television and ESPN Magazine.

Harold�s thirty-five + year career has spanned the DC radio market his shows were heard also on AM stations WOL, W-O-O-K, WYCB, WUST, WINX, WPGC and WPFW 89.6 on the FM dial and now the World Wide Internet (Google Harold Bell Inside Sports.com).

When former Washington Post and Sports Illustrated media critic William Taaffe heard �Inside Sports� in 1976 he wrote, �Lets say it right at the top: Inside Sports is a jewel of a program---easily the most reflective and provocative radio sports show in Washington. Its guests actually say something. The other shows are bland in comparison.�

Washington Times sports columnist Dick Heller says, �Harold Bell is the Godfather of sports talk---the good kind.�

In 1975 Harold broke sacred ground again when he became the first black to host and produce his own television sports special on NBC WRC-TV 4. The show aired in �Prime Time� 3:30 pm preceding the Washington Redskins vs. Oakland Raiders NFL game. �The Greatest� Muhammad Ali was his special guest for the show. Ali said, �Harold Bell and I have a lot in common. He to has persevered and stood fast for the principles in which he believes.�

He coined the phrase �Every black face you see is not your brother and every white face you see is not your enemy.� He credits the support of the all white students from the Seven Day Adventist Church, and men like; Red Auerbach, Angelo Dundee, Richard Nixon, Strom Thurmond, Jimmy Connors, and Bert Sugar for inspiring that phrase.

The professional athletes, and sports personalities who have benefited from Harold Bell�s works and words of wisdom or him standing up for them when they could not stand up for themselves reads like a Who�s Who.

They include; Jim Brown (NFL), John Thompson (Georgetown University), Willie Wood (NFL), Earl Lloyd (NBA), Don King (Boxing), Sugar Ray Leonard (Boxing), Dave Jacobs (Boxing), Michael Wilbon (ESPN), Adrian Dantley (NBA), Adrian Branch (NBA/ESPN), Cathy Hughes (Radio & TV One) and the list goes on.

CBS Sports NFL studio host James Brown once participated as a guest on Inside Sports and modeled in Harold Bell�s Celebrity Benefit Fashion Shows.   He said �Harold Bell has always been a voice for people who don�t have a voice. He has always called them as he saw it and that was an inspiration and motivation for me and a lot of other Afro-American broadcasters.�

Harold says, �The sacrifices made by Wendell Smith and Sherman Hill (confidant of Jackie Robinson) of the Pittsburg Courier and Sam Lacey of the Afro-American newspapers has been lost on today�s writers and sportscasters. Smith, Hill and Lacey through out their distinguishing careers were denied their rightful places at Sports Media tables and Press rooms.�

The slave master mentality is still evident in the black community when you look at the recent trials and tribulations Tiger Woods and Gilbert Arenas. Their acts are the type that keeps our minds in chains.

Despite those who have forgotten, Harold and Hattie continue their work in the schools and streets with inner-city children.   He says, �We love young people, and we will not follow the path made by others, but we will go where there is no path and we will be a light. One of the easiest things to do is help people when you have money, try helping someone when you are broke. That is the real test.�

Muhammad Ali�s business manager Gene Kilroy recently said, �Harold if you were white you would be a millionaire.�

Harold says, �There is no shame in being black in America and there surely is no shame in being poor anybody can sell out!�

In 1999 Eastern North Carolina had its most devastating flood in history. The Bells gathered their friends and Celebrity Sports personalities at historical Union Station in DC and coordinated a toy and clothing drive for residents of the hardest hit areas.

He hopes and prays that the tragic earthquake in Haiti brings us all together as people of the World. We must remember these are the same Haitian boat people America turned back from our shores. Harold says former Presidents George Bush, Jr. and Bill Clinton got it right this time when they agreed, �It is time to put politics aside and help people.�

Washington Post columnist Colby King and television political commentator says, �Harold you are a blessing to us all.� The best way to describe the contributions made by Harold and Hattie Bell is through an editorial once written in the now defunct Washington Star newspaper, it read �No one is indispensable, but there are some people more necessary than others. Harold and Hattie Bell are two of those people.�



Photos (From left to right) Photo #1: The Bells and Santa�s Helper Superbowl MVP Doug Williams, Photo #2: Muhammad Ali and 3^rd wife Veronica with Harold, Photo #3: The Bells at the Nixon White House.

Lavada Starr is a celebrity publicist based in Kansas City, Missouri. She also represents professional athletes. She can be reached via e-mail at sportsinadress@yahoo.com.

Read Washington Post columnist Colbert King's article on Gilbert Arenas at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/08/AR2010010803378.html

MEDIA COVER-UP: GILBERT THROWS HIMSELF UNDER THE NBA BUS!

NBA Commissioner David Stern suspended the Washington Wizards� star player Gilbert Arenas indefinitely. In a statement released immediately after the Wizards defeated the 76ers, he said �Gilbert Arenas is not fit to play in the NBA.� The suspension came after Gilbert admitted to bringing four guns into D. C. from his home in Virginia. He stored them in his locker in the Verizon Center.

I am sure the Commissioner was convinced to make a statement and decision after seeing a picture of Arenas pretending he was firing guns at his teammates as they broke the huddle in his last game in Philly.

Gilbert first claimed the guns were brought into the city to protect and keep them out of the reach of his children. The story didn�t hold water and he then said he brought the guns into play a joke on a teammate. NBA Commissioner Stern evidently didn�t find anything funny about his behavior.

The teammate Javaris Crittenton is rumored to have threatened to shoot Gilbert in his surgically repaired knee for an unpaid gambling debt. Gilbert later took the guns out of his locker and laid them out in front of Javaris� locker with a note that read �pick one.�

It could get worst if the Wizards and the Commissioner decide that Gilbert Arenas is in violation of the NBA�s Collective Bargaining Agreement. The agreement has a clause that prohibits players from bringing guns into the workplace and if that is the case his contract worth over 100 million dollars could be worthless.

In 1997 the NBA Washington Bullets moved from Landover, Maryland (Capitol Centre) to downtown Washington, D. C. One of the first things owner Abe Pollin did was run a contest among fans for a new name. He thought the name Bullets had a negative connotation. He detested guns and violence.

The Nation�s Capitol was ranked near the top for a city of its size in the country for gun violence. D. C. was considered one of the most dangerous places to live and visit during that era. The new name, Washington Wizards was born.

Gun violence in the Nation�s Capitol in December 2009 was at its lowest in 45 years, according to the city�s latest stats on violent crime. One death by gun is one too many.

December 2009 was a tough month for the Wizard�s organization. First, the November 24^th death of owner Abe Pollin still hung heavy over the organization. New Coach Flip Saunders and his staff were trying to find a way to finish off opponents in the 4^th quarter. The Wizards would play great basketball for three quarters against the NBA�s best, but would self destruct in the closing minutes.

The more I watched the Wizards and examined their personnel I was convinced that they were definitely play-off contenders. The �Big Four,� Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamieson, Brendan Haywood and Caron Butler were a solid foundation that the organization could build on. The additions of 10 year veteran Mike Miller, Randy Foye and the late acquisition of up-tempo guard Earl Boykins made for a strong bench and the play-offs a reality.

From visual appearances it looked like Gilbert Arenas, the face of the franchise was making a successful adjustment after missing the better part of two years because of injuries. He seemed to accept the role Coach Saunders had mapped out for him. When on the bench he became a cheerleader for his teammates.

The gun issue turned out to be much bigger and more serious then many thought. Gilbert�s nonchalant attitude didn�t help and now Javaris� role has taken on a life of its own.

There were witnesses during the locker room showdown between Gilbert and Javaris. According to the witnesses Javaris pulled his own weapon and added a clip of ammunition and cocked the gun.

The media�s role I find very puzzling are the �Beat Reporters� from the daily news outlets who travel with the team on the road and are in attendance at every home game, but still some how missed the gun story. The story broke in the New York City media!

Michael Lee, Wizards� Beat Reporter from the Washington Post calls himself a �Wizard Insider.� In a recent column he had to quote a story from Yahoo Sports.com as it related to Arenas and guns in the Wizards� locker room. Mr. Lee needs to shed his pom-poms and short skirt or join the Wizards cheerleaders. He gives �Inside� a bad name.

The members of the Comcast television sports crew do not have a clue and they are the blind leading the blind.

Columnist Tom Knott covers the Wizards and writes for the now cancelled sports section of the Washington Times but he missed the story completely. He had plenty of company with know it all columnists like Michael Wilbon (ESPN) and Dave Aldridge (TNT) who are paid to know it all but missed the story that was right there under their noses. It all sounds like a typical �Media Cover-Up.�

Former Washington Post writer Aldridge was heard on the Tony Kornheiser (overrated) sports talk radio show saying, �The Washington Post had the story but told their writers to sit on it.�

This was a typical response and cover-up mentality of the Washington Post Sports Department. This knee jerk response and cover-up dates back to Sports Editor George Solomon.

I was there when he tried to cover-up the Sugar Ray Leonard infidelity and drug abuse story of the legendary fighter. I was there when he tried to cover-up Georgetown Coach John Thompson�s under the table financial deals with sports agent David Falk and slot machine deals in Las Vegas. I was there when he tried to cover-up Falk�s dipping into the bank account of NBA Hall of Fame player Adrian Dantley to the tune of several million dollars. The more things change the more they remain the same.

I will bet you a dime to a donut that Wizards� television play by play man Steve Buchantz and color analyst Phil Chenier were aware of the chaos taking place in the locker room. I would excuse them because they are family, and loyalty is expected. I would have a problem if Phil did not make an effort to take Arenas aside to discuss the matter. His status as a former player and color analyst were all the credentials he needed to qualify him for a word with the Franchise Player. He had an investment.

The late owner Abe Pollin must be looking down in disbelief because he drew the line when it came to this kind of behavior from his employees. I clearly remember when he owned the Washington Capitols� hockey team and several of the players that included the team�s leading scorer were sent packing after a wild raunchy night of partying in Georgetown.

Remember Bullet star players Chris Webber and Juwan Howard and the wild party they hosted in the millionaire estate community of Potomac, Maryland? When the newspaper accounts of the party had cleared the dust Mr. Pollin had shipped Webber and Howard out to teams, I have now forgotten.

The Washington Post had all of its available writers, bloggers and columnist on alert on Wednesday January 6, 2010. On page one Mike Wise�s column was titled �Dear Gilbert, You�ve really blown it now.� On page 2 there is a guy by the name of Dan Steinberg with a column titled �The Sideline.� He compares the statement issued by the law firm hired to represent Arenas to his tweets on Twitter. On his twitter page Gilbert puts his foot squarely in his mouth and makes the case for law-enforcement.

On page 8 Michael Wilbon teams up with Rev. Al Sharpton who called on NBA Commissioner David Stern and black leaders to come down hard on Arenas. Rev. Al�s says, �The NBA needs to stand up and send a strong message by dealing with this situation.� He claims there is a culture of violence being perpetuated in professional sports.

A culture of violence is being perpetuated in professional sports? What about violence being perpetuated in our streets and schools?

Rev. Sharpton has his priorities a little twisted when it comes to violence in America. If violence is cut-off in our communities the violence will be automatically cut-off in professional sports. David Stern does not need advice from Rev. Al on how to handle violence in his small world of the NBA. He is in more control of NBA violence then Rev. Al and black leaders are of violence in our community. This was nothing more then another �Media Sound Bite� for Rev. Al and his next political platform or radio show.

The hypocritical part of this cover-up is Michael Wilbon and his partner Tony Kornheiser later that same day on the ESPN PTI comedy hour. There was Michael asking �Where was Wizard�s GM Ernie Grunfeld and why didn�t he suspend Arenas earlier?� I returned to his column and found there was no mention of Grunfeld�s role!

Ernie Grunfeld did exactly what was he was suppose to do to protect the Wizard�s family and his position. He kept it quiet and hoped things would blow over.

The media is the checks and balances for the fans and reading and listening public. They depend on us to keep them up-dated. There is no-way I could be a �Beat Reporter� and not know that there was something wrong going down in the Wizard�s locker room.

John Jenkins is the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Glen Arden a suburb in Maryland. He is one of the most respected ministers in the country. Pastor Jenkins has been the Chaplain for the Washington Wizards for the past three seasons. He says, �Professional athletes are under extreme scrutiny and pressure from their adoring fans and the media. There are times when they don�t know who to trust. I have found most to be really engaging and down to earth and others are hard to get to know. Like most successful people in society, some handle success and others let success handle them. My advice, lets not judge Gilbert Arenas, but let�s pray for him and his family.� That sounds about right to me.

Photo credit: Jesse D. Garrabrant/Getty Images

THE BLIND SIDE: THE AMERICA BEAUTIFUL!

By Harold Bell

The Michael Oher story �The Blind Side� is considered one of the most inspiring motion pictures of the year. The movie is based on the life story of a young black high school athlete who is one of twelve children from a single parent home. He had been in and out of nine different schools and it looked like he was going to hell in a hurry. Michael was 6�2 and 350 pounds looking for somewhere to explode.

Tony Henderson is the story�s unsung hero. He was Michael�s Youth Club Coach and mentor. He put Michael in place for success. It was Henderson who noticed that the big guy was heading for trouble in the mean streets of North Tennessee.

Michael lived in a housing complex called �Hurt Village.� Coach Henderson, on a visit to Briancrest Christian, a private high school to enroll his son, carried Michael along with them. The school�s coaches watched as Michael played basketball on the outdoor court and realized that the 6�2, 350-pounder, with the nimble feet could be a great athlete with unlimited potential.

Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy are the well to-do white family who adopted the poor black kid Michael Oher from �The wrong side of the tracks.�

The Tuohy�s two children attended the school. The daughter Collin was a cheerleader and she and Michael became great friends. The movie has so far grossed more then 150 million dollars with the sky still the limit.

There is also controversy surrounding �The Blind Side� and the movie �Precious.� �Precious� is the Oprah Winfrey/Tyler Perry produced movie based on a black obese young girl who is abused by her mother and father. She is pregnant with her father�s second child.

Some blacks are angry because the Tuohy family is white and are being spotlighted for the role they played in the rags to riches success of Michael Oher. Michael was a first round draft pick of the NFL Baltimore Ravens and is now their starting �Blind Side� tackle. He received an 8 million dollar signing bonus.

Blacks are also angry because the movie �Precious� portrays and spotlights the all too familiar negative side of the black community.

To some extent I agree. Much too often the negative side of Black America outshines our positive side in today�s media.

The recent ESPN 30 on 30 documentary of the untimely drug overdose death of Maryland University basketball star Len Bias is a good example. The documentary was mostly a fabrication surrounding his life and death. The story was given credibility because there were interviews with sports media personalities who never really knew the young man or the mean streets of D. C. that he played in after dark.

Let us not forget the Rayful Edmonds video documentary promoted on the front pages of the Washington Post. Rayful was a notorious drug dealer whose drug empire resulted in the deaths of too many young people to count. The silence in media and the black community as it related to those atrocities was deafening.

�The Blind Side� and the ABC TV 20/20 story can claim three success stories and lives possibly saved. First, there is Michael Oher, and actor Quinton Aaron who player Michael in the movie. Last but not least is 17-year old O. C. Brown another North Memphis high school athlete whose story strongly resembles Michael�s.

I remember several years ago there was a run on white folks adopting black children. The outcry that came from the black community----you would have thought they were kidnapping the children. Black organizations and individuals were getting court orders to stop the adoptions. They didn�t want to adopt the children but didn�t want them adopted by whites.

We continue to get angry and look for love in all the wrong places. �The Blind Side� is definitely a love story in every sense of the word. It should not make any difference if it is White Love or Black Love the bottom line is L-O-V-E! We are in short supply when it comes to love in the black community we should embrace it when and where we can find it.

There is something wrong going on in our black community, we don�t want to reach back and pull along our own and get angry when others do! When we finally �Make it� we act like we got there by ourselves.

We always want to hear the truth when it is bad about someone else but we never want to hear the truth when it is bad about ourselves.

Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy and their two children welcomed Michael Oher into their home. Director John Lee Hancock picked Quinton for the �Blind Side� lead role and Memphis family Mike and Billie Ray and their two children adopted O. C. Brown.

Quinton had been waiting for over a year to hear from movie Director Hancock about his audition for the part. His mother who pointed the �Blind Side� audition out to him on the Internet, died while they waited. He was out of work and just two days from being evicted from his apartment in the Bronx in New York City when he got the call that the role was his.

The people responsible for the success of all three of these black young men associated with the 20/20 story and the movie are all white. My question: �Where is the beef?� They should be given a standing ovation!

When is it okay to watch little children die in our streets? When is it okay to have our children hungry and homeless? The Tuohys and Rays put their money where their mouths were and have saved a child�s life.

The Tuohys could have cared less whether Michael became a professional football player. They were preparing him for the most important game being played in the black community �The Game Called Life.�

When Leigh Anne was asked by the 20/20 commentator why she would take on an awesome task like Michael, her response was �It had nothing to do with how big he was or the color of his skin, he was a child that had a need and that need needed to be filled.�

I know it is difficult for most of us to understand young men like Michael Oher, Quinton Aaron and O. C. Brown. You would have had to walk in their shoes to understand their plights.

I saw one newspaper headline that read �The Blind Side: Where Would Black People be Without Big Hearted White People?�

Actress Sandra Bullock plays the role of Leigh Anne Tuohy, when asked about what she thought of people saying that the movie points out stereotypes she said, �Anyone who says something like that obviously has not walked on the other side. If your money has religious, culture and color boundaries, you are not using your money in the right way.�

She is absolutely right there are many color, culture and money barriers in the black community. There are black folks who don�t like other blacks and therefore don�t like themselves. Let me say this again, �White folks don�t have a copyright on racism in America.�

Country singer Tim McGraw who plays the role of Sean Tuohy says �This is a great feel good story and right now in America we need all the feel good stories that we can get.�

Back in the day I was going to hell in a hurry. My Brown Middle School Principal William B Stinson predicted to my mother, I would not live to get out of high school. Thanks to my Spingarn High School Coach and mentor Dave Brown I made Mr. Stinson out to be a liar. I was not Tiger Woods but I am Michael, I am Quinton and I am O. C. I have been there and done that.

Michael, Quinton and O. C. are great examples of the many jewels and rare gems of humanity found in inner-city housing projects all over America. They are descendants of Kings and Queens and not hoodlums and thugs. They are a credit to their race---the human race.

In the black community if you stand up to be a man and tell the truth without fear, you are stereotyped as a �Trouble maker, Agitator and the Last Angry Man.� I stand accused. If it comes down to choosing between a movie that inspires and uplifts my community and a movie that drags my community down, I am choosing the uplifting movie every time.

I thank Tony Henderson (Dave Brown) for making the movie and the Tuohys possible. He was the first to take Michael into his home. He could have easily left Michael on the mean street corners of Memphis to fend for himself. Mr. Henderson was on the scene of the potential crime long before anyone else and we should not let Michael or anyone forget that. We forget easily in our community.

We are all in this together. The world is a much better place when we work together. �Blind Side� 4 stars!

GEORGE MICHAEL: CHRISTMAS 365 DAYS OF THE YEAR!

By Harold Bell

Television sportscaster George Michael literally took television sports to unparalleled levels with �The Sports Machine.� The show aired on Sunday nights and made George a media icon. George Michael died in Washington, DC on Christmas Eve of Leukemia. He was 71 years old.

The show was so big it was syndicated in over one hundred markets and several foreign countries.

When George made his television debut in the 80s as the sports anchor at NBC WRC TV 4 I was holding court on Inside Sports on at W-U-S-T Radio. My show was the number one listened to radio sports talk show in the metropolitan area.

George Michael and I met shortly after he arrived in town by the way of a telephone conversation in the early 80�s. He was one of the biggest �Homers and Cheerleaders� in local sports. If you played for one of the local pro teams you could find George cheering you on during his local 6 pm and 11 pm newscast on NBC WRC TV 4. Frank Herzog of TV 7 (ABC) was a close second in the cheerleader category.

One year the Washington Times newspaper ran a poll asking, �Who was the biggest sports media cheerleader in local media?� I was asked to participate.

My pick was George and I was quoted saying, "The only things missing from George Michael's sports shows are pom-poms and a short skirt." Several days later I received a telephone call at W-U-S-T Radio after I my evening sports report. The General Manager Lou Hankins stuck his head into the studio with this big smile on his face and said �You have a fan on line two.� This was nothing out of the norm. I often stayed around to take calls after my shows. There were some folks who could not get through to me on the weekends because of the backlog on the telephone lines.

The voice on the other end asked, �Is this Harold Bell?� I said �Yes sir.�

The next words out of his mouth were �This is George Michael. Where do you get off calling me a cheerleader?� He caught me completely by surprise. I had to sit down. After several minutes of the back and forth debate I said, �George look up the definition of cheerleader in the dictionary and you should see your picture.� He hung up the phone.

George never made a guest appearance on Inside Sports and I was never invited to be a guest on �The Sports Machine.�

George and I had a lot in common, he changed the way people watched sports on television and I changed the way people listened to sports talk on radio.

George Michael unlike other local media types who used Inside Sports as a springboard to their 15 minutes of media fame didn�t take my putdown personally. A couple of years later he mailed me a check for Kids In Trouble, Inc., with a note saying, �Harold you are doing a great job in the community with our young people. Please keep up the good work I hope this check can help you to help some child.�

George had surprised me again and proves my theory and how I closed out my talk shows with the following reminder: �Every black face I saw was not my BROTHER and white face I saw was not my ENEMY!�

The death of George Michael allows me to take a look at Christmases past. He understood that Christmas in my community has to be celebrated 365 days of the year and if there is to be progress �Sitting on the fence playing safe and �Player Hating� does not bring about change.�

It was just last year around this same time Hattie and I celebrated 40 years of marriage and 40 years of Christmas Toy Parties and declared this would our last toy for tots drive. Evidently, we lied.

On Christmas Eve and all through our house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. My wife Hattie and I had just arrived home from a night of playing Santa�s Helpers for the 41^st year.

When we started this endeavor after the riots in December 1968 I never envisioned I would be married 40 years and the toy party would endure for 40. All the glory and success goes to God and to Hattie T.

For 40 years we averaged 100+ elementary school children per toy party. The benefactors attended schools in Maryland, Virginia, the District of Columbia, and as far away as Atlanta, Georgia and North Carolina.

Once safely in our apartment I heard the sounds of my computer saying �You got mail.� I reluctantly sat down at the computer to catch up with the day�s e-mails.

I was exhausted but I was energized by the thought of the parents whose faces lit up when they saw us at their doors.

The first e-mail I opened said, �Harold, I have a check from Mike and Sheryl Wilbon for Christmas gifts for the children�.where can I send it? Mike wants to get it to you as soon as possible.�

Thanks�.Happy Holidays!

Amy

I want to thank Mike and Sheryl for the thought but it was Christmas Eve and we had parked the sleigh and Reindeer for the year.

Mike Wilbon is a sports columnist for the Washington Post and now a star of radio and television sports talk media.

Mike, before becoming a high profile journalist remembers when the media and the NBA didn�t care. He remembers the late Harold McLinton, Larry Brown, Roy Jefferson and Ted Vactor of the Washington Redskins and Willie Wood and Dave Robinson of the Green Bay Packers as Santa Helpers. They were Kids In Trouble and the NFL�s first pro athletes to reach back.

Super Bowl MVP QB Doug Williams later joined the team and played Santa Claus for the Kids In Trouble toy party. Now the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, etc have all become Santa�s Helpers in every franchised city in America.

Local radio and television personalities became Santa Helpers; Jim Vance, Paul Berry, Fred Thomas, Max Robinson, Bill Raspberry, Petey Greene, Martin Wyatt, Lark McCarthy, Maureen Bunyan, Renee Poussaint, Donnie Simpson, Bobby Bennett and John Turk. DC Superior Court Judges the late Luke C Moore, Harry T. Alexander, Harold Green, Ted Newman, Eugene Hamilton and Henry Kennedy Jr. were often seen bringing toys and joining the festivities at the Foxtrappe Club and other hot spots around town.

Judge Kennedy�s first date with his now wife of at least 30 years was at a Kids In Trouble toy drive party at the Foxtrappe.

Mike remembers I was there to protect him from �The Player Haters and coaches� he would often encounter during his early years.

His busy schedule has also allowed him to forget. For example; when I reminded him of a check he promised to send to Kids In Trouble several years ago he thought he had mailed it to me!

Mike is not alone in the hectic world of sports media, James Brown (CBS) remembered and forgot at the same time. He remembered when he told Washington Times columnist Dick Heller �Harold has always been a voice for people who didn�t have a voice. He has always called them as he saw it. He has been an inspiration and motivation for me and a lot of other black broadcasters.�

He forgot when he didn�t keep his WORD during NBA All-Star weekend in DC and when I asked him why he had never sent a kid to camp or brought a toy for a needy child in his long association with Kids In Trouble, Inc?

His response, �I did make a donation to your program when I was with Xerox Corporation.� He was with the Xerox Corporation 30 years ago and even then it never happened!

Kenny Roy is a native Washingtonian (Xerox Executive) and former legendary athlete at DeMatha High School and Maryland University. Kenny was the only one in the corporate office who supported Kids In Trouble, Inc.

Maybe it is something in the water or the food that is served before the game in the pressrooms. It seems most of these guys exit with a case of amnesia and it seems to help them maintain �The Plantation Mentality.�

Mike Wise a columnist and sports talk show host for the Washington Post sent me and e-mail after I disagreed with a column he had written on the late great Washington Redskin Sean Taylor. It said after he disagreed with my commentary �If you could forward me the address, I�ll figure out some kind of toy donation or something.� Famous last words!

One NFL sports columnist e-mailed me and said, �Harold I want to make a donation to your program this year I need your address.� Christmas has come and gone, maybe he meant Christmas 2010?

I called another sports columnist and sports talk show favorite asking him to make an inquiry for me as it related to some kids. After several attempts (e-mail, cell phone) I placed a call to his mother asking her to let him know I was trying to contact him. His mother and late dad had been big fans and listeners of Inside Sports (back in the day). They were also big Redskin fans and kept plugging and reminding me that their son was a sports writer in Texas.

During my conversation with his mother she said something to the effect about how busy her son was and that struck a nerve. I thought to myself �when I was the only brother with an on air sports talk radio show in the 70�s I was never too busy to return a call.� I was never too busy to have her son on Inside Sports when he was just a struggling writer. Now that I need a favor and he is a national media personality �he is too busy?�

Then there is another local brother who is now a national columnist and sideline reporter whom I asked to do me a favor and verify a situation that might help some kids. I never heard back from him. That in itself is a sad commentary in this time of technology (e-mail, text, cell phone, Twitter, Facebook, etc.). Come on Man!

There was also a problem with Nike which I will take an in-depth look at a later date!

The unfortunate death of George Michael allows me to look back at Christmases past! This year�s Santa Helpers included Richard Evans (DC Recreation Department), Kevyn Whitaker (DC Businessman), Nellie Lee (DC Businesswoman) Christina Henderson (The Little White House) and friends in spirit but who wish to remain anonymous.

Hattie and I thank you and George Michael for understanding that, �It really takes a Village,� Happy New Year.

The Day Jim Crow was thrown for a Lost

In September 1954, the school year opened under a Supreme Court desegregation decision that found most D.C. school classrooms still segregated. By December 1954, however, integration had come to the Nation's Capital in a way the Supreme Court could have never imagined.

That was the month in which segregation died-not in a school building- but on the grassy field of Griffith Stadium on December 4 when the Catholic League champion, St. John's, played the D.C. Public High All Stars for the City School Boy Football title.

It was the first time in Washington history that a racially integrated high school football team had ever taken the field.

The game was hard fought with outstanding plays and players on both sides of the ball.

It ended in a way as if the Almighty had written the script: The winning touchdown was thrown by the best quarter back from the then-white Interhigh Division I, Dan Droze of Anacostia High School to the best end from the then-black Interhigh Division II, Dave Harris of Cardozo High School. It was salt and pepper; vanilla and chocolate- a triumph of ability and racial progress over the artificial barriers of race.

Dec. 4 was also a special day for me because I happened to be there at Griffith Stadium to witness that electric moment. It was a day, however, to root not only for the Interhigh squad, but for fellow Dunbar High school classmates who were all stars on the team, and who are being honored today: John Simms, who played end; and Frank Sullivan who played guard.

Sims and Sullivan were not THE only all stars participating in the historic Catholic-Interhigh Championship game.

THEY were also named to the prestigious All-Metropolitan team in 1954. That was an exclusive roster of football players selected from teams not only in Washington but nearby Maryland and Virginia as well.

And they weren't alone in their distinction as outstanding Dunbar athletes. They were joined on the All Interhigh Division II squad by their teammate Alphonso Brooks who played center at Dunbar.

It would take two years before I made Dunbar's football team, earning my letter in my senior year, and that was as much for longevity as for ability.

I was only a player. Today, we are honoring heroes-genuine trailblazers, and men of enormous distinction.

They stepped forward in a year and at a time when our future, the city's future, was uncertain.

And they showed us what could be. Frank Sullivan, John Simms, and Alphonso Brooks showed the way. John Simms was a 6'1, 152 lb senior who wore number 38. Dave Harris weighed all of 170 lbs.

Frank Sullivan, who wore number 40, must have been the smallest guard to have ever donned a football uniform. Much the same goes for Alphonso Brooks.
Dunbar's biggest player that year was George Tarrington, and he weighed about 217 pounds.

But from where I sat in 1954, they were all giants. They still are today. Congratulations.

Written by Colbert I. King to Harold Bell in the form of a letter for the Kids In Trouble, Inc., fundraiser. Mr. King attended Dunbar High School, Class of 1957 and is the winner of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for commentary. Colbert noted that he would gladly trade the prize for a spot on the 1954 All Inter-High team.

A Tiger�s Tale: Par For The Course

By Harold Bell

December 8, 2009

When folks were trying to define Tiger Woods� race during the early stages of his career, he denied that he was a black man and said he was Cabilnasian.

I completely understood his premise of not wanting to overlook his mother�s Asian heritage. There were many in the black community who took his denial as a put down to black people. There is nowhere in his new identity �Cablinasian� that identified him as being a black man.

We all understand that he had a black father and Asian mother. It was not like Tiger had not known racism during his early years. He clearly remembers the bigotry he and his father faced while trying to play on public golf courses around military installations they lived on.

They were not discriminating because he was �Cablinasian,� discrimination often surfaced because they were black men.

I knew he was headed for trouble when he first announced he was �Cablinasian.� He was denying he was black despite having a black father. Tiger had forgotten the unwritten American rule that says, �One trickle of black blood makes a man or woman totally black.�

I could not find a definition of �Cablinasian� in Webster�s New Collegiate Dictionary but there was a definition for Nigger. The definition was, �a member of any dark-skinned race---usually, taken to be offensive.�

Could this be what Tiger was trying to run away from? Trying to outrun racism in America is like trying to outrun the morning sun.

Tigers� �transgressions� with what now looks like an army of cocktail and restaurant waitresses around the world could be the beginning of his end.

There will be no sponsors jumping ship immediately because Tiger is still their meal ticket.

Golf and chess each are mind games and the mental toll on Tiger maybe his undoing.

The legendary golfer Arnold Palmer offered Tiger some sound advice early in his career when he was just a struggling millionaire. He confessed to Palmer �I am finding it difficult to deal with all this adulation, signing autographs, press conferences and members of the media.�

Arnold�s response was, �Tiger if you find all of this too difficult to deal with I suggest you give all the money back and become a weekend golfer with your friends. No one will notice you then.�

Arnold Palmer was one of the most accessible legends of golf. He would sign autographs for fans until the sun went down and never saw a press conference or reporter he did not like. He and Muhammad Ali were two of a kind.

Tiger has let success handle him and he has not handled success. He has a lot in common with today�s New Jack City pro athletes. It has been all about �Me and me!�

Tiger�s �transgressions� have taken on a life of their very own. He has become welcome comical relief for every late night comic including CBS host David Letterman. It was just several weeks ago that Letterman was walking around in Tiger�s shoes.

The tabloid newspapers and television entertainment shows (Access Hollywood, TMZ, Entertainment Tonight, etc.) are having a field day and can�t get enough.

When I said it maybe Tiger�s beginning of the end has nothing to do with his physical attributes while performing on the world�s pro golf courses. The big test is how well his mental health holds up.

The bigots will be awaiting his every turn which should be nothing new to him. He receives more death threats than any professional athlete. The haters will be on the golf course testing him with all kinds of mean shouts and insults as it relates to his �transgressions.�

The haters will be hard for security to identify because they will be dressed as normal people without their hoods and robes.

The question will be, how much can Tiger�s wife and kids take, especially, the kids?

There are thousands of young people around the world that idolize Tiger. What kind of message does his bad behavior send to them? Kids forgive easily, but adults can be ruthless.

I remember when Sugar Ray Leonard thought he was coming home to a hero�s welcome after winning the Gold Medal at the Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada. His then future wife Juanita was pregnant and carrying his baby. The Washington media discovered his transgression and gave him a welcome home he would never forget.

You would have thought Ray had just been added to the FBI�s Most Wanted List. The Washington media crucified him.

Sugar Ray Leonard refused to leave his house for days.   He had lost all of his self esteem. His trainer, Janks Morton and my friend the late Melvin Jackson came to the Anacostia Tennis Courts in Southeast DC to ask me to try and talk some sense into him. Ray and I had a unique relationship at that time and I successfully talked him out of the house.

I convinced him to go to several elementary schools with me in the DC metropolitan and talk to some kids about his Olympic boxing experiences (with his Gold Medal around his neck). On Saturdays he would co-host Inside Sports, my radio talk show.

He slowly regained his self esteem and the rest is boxing history. When it came to transgressions Sugar Ray could give Tiger a run for his money.

Washington Post columnist Michael Wilbon wrote a column last week titled �The Company Tiger Keeps.� I hope Michael was not trying to justify Tiger�s behavior because if he were he came up short.

In the column Wilbon pointed to other famous American athletes that had traveled the same path as Tiger, like Babe Ruth, Joe Louis, Joe DiMaggio, Muhammad Ali, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Tom Brady and Alex Rodriguez.

Wilbon wrote, �Whispers and innuendos followed Ruth and Louis. TMZ and US Magazine stalked Tiger Woods. So what?

The bottom-line is fans and today�s adults could care less. TMZ and US Magazine care because the more sleaze, the more viewers and readers and sex is still the best seller in America.

The company Tiger kept was Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan. It has been said �Birds of a feather flock together.�

The black caddy has become an endangered species on the pro tour since the players have to share a percentage of their winnings with their caddies. The players now hire members of their family to carry their bags. The caddy of color has slowly disappeared.

My high school teammate and college roommate Richard Hansberry once caddied on the tour and was the Vice-President of the Black Caddy�s Association. He said Tiger would not even speak to the black caddies.

Tiger�s first caddy Fluff was white and when he fired him he never auditioned or sought a black caddy to replace him. Did anyone notice that all of his female �transgressions� looked like his wife Elin?

Something is wrong with this picture! It would make sense that if he was going to have an affair he would have found someone who had as much to lose as him. Proving again, money does not make one smart.

Charles Barkley got it right and the monkey off of his back early, he told the world �I am not your child�s hero or role model, if I am something is wrong with you.� Charles knew eventually his life style of women, booze and gambling, would knock on his door and it did. NBA legend Michael Jordan was well known for his transgressions and they eventually cost him his marriage.

Patrick Ewing�s former wife Rita was heard on a news talk show saying the NBA promotes sexual misconduct. She said, �I attended a seminar for players and their wives one year and the players were encouraged to use condoms when having sex! Wives were not permitted to travel on the road and therefore made sex a Free Fall for the players.�

Rita told the interviewer, �No pun intended, but Tiger�s behavior is par for the course.�

If you don�t think Tiger�s behavior is par for the course you need to take look at this web page: http://afieldnegro.com/photos.html. I knew we had a problem but I didn�t think black men had just given up on black women.

If you think people really care about the sexual appetite of the rich and famous, let me prove my point that they don�t.

When DC Mayor for Life Marion Barry claimed �The Bitch Set Me Up.� He was caught on camera trying to smoke cocaine through a pipe. A little birdie warned him he was being set up but he didn�t listen.

Marion served jail time for his transgressions, and on his release he rode back into DC with a hero�s welcome. He won another term as Mayor and is now a DC City Councilman with more added transgressions.

Let us take it up to another level with President William Jefferson Clinton. When he was caught with his pants down in the White House Oval Office with a female aid under his desk giving him a massage, folks easily forgot. The former President now travels the world charging and making millions of dollars for speaking engagements.

Tiger�s transgressions will not be that easily forgotten. His road back to respectability will be difficult because so many of his colleagues have been waiting for his fall from grace.

His golfing friend who introduced him to his wife was heard to say �I wish I had never introduced them. The next time she should use a driver on his head instead of an iron.� I would love to be a birdie in a tree when these two meet at the next tournament. This is one of Tiger�s tales that has no end in sight.

Footnote: Tiger�s mother-in-law who traveled from Sweden to comfort her daughter took ill after her arrival. She was rushed to the hospital and was released after eleven hours.

Publisher�s Note: The Urban Dictionary defines �Cablinasian� as follows: A term Tiger Woods himself made up honoring his mother as well as his father and all of his cultural heritage. Tiger is far ahead of his time in asserting that he does not need to deny any part of who he is or where he came from to satisfy others need for him to think and act a certain way just because of the color of his skin.

The Two Faces Of Abe

By Harold Bell

Abe Pollin

In Washington, DC on Tuesday November 24, 2009, the sports world lost a sports superstar who never hit a game winning basket at the buzzer, kicked a winning field goal as time expired or hit a walk off homerun to win the World Series. His name was Abe Pollin and his uniform number was No. 1. He was the owner of the NBA Washington Wizards.

I became familiar with the name Abe Pollin when he brought a struggling Baltimore Bullets franchise in 1964. One of the NBA�s superstars during that era was a young athlete out of Spingarn High School in Washington, DC. His name was Elgin Baylor, he was known to Washingtonians as �Rabbit.� He was the only excuse we needed to travel to Baltimore to watch a losing Bullets team.

The one-on-one battle between Elgin and Gus Johnson of the Bullets made the ride from DC up the Baltimore/Washington Parkway worthwhile.

My co-worker at the United Planning Organization and later legendary radio personality Petey Green and I could not wait for the next home game. The games were classics, especially after the arrival of Earl Monroe.

Abe Pollin and Wes Unseld

When Mr. Pollin signed �The Pearl� in 1967 and Wes Unseld in 1968 to play along side Gus Johnson, the Bullets became The Original Show Time of the NBA. The Lakers� show time with Magic, Kareem and Worthy were �Second Banana� to these guys.

Dave Bing (Detroit Pistons) and Earl arrived on the scene at the same time. I was in NBA Basketball heaven. They completed my NBA connection.

The �Triangle� of Elgin, Earl and Dave made destination Baltimore an Easy Rider. Elgin and Dave were Spingarn alumnus and we shared a special kinship (we were coached by the same coaches). Earl and I were alumnus of Winston-Salem State College in North Carolina. It was there I met him on one his visits to the campus in 1963. We both played for the late legendary basketball Hall of Fame coach Clarence �Bighouse� Gaines.

If there was any doubt that Mr. Pollin created The Original NBA Show Time all one has to see is a video of Wes Unseld retrieving a rebound and tossing one of his patent outlet passes to Earl and then join Gus on a fast break to the basket. The fans would be standing on their feet holding their breath expecting the unexpected. Would it be a rim shattering dunk by Gus or a no-look pass from The Pearl? They were a sight to behold.

When Mr. Pollin moved the team to Landover, Maryland in 1974 I was just entering the world of media as a sports talk show host with �The Original Inside Sports.�

In many of the stories written in newspapers and the repeated discussions of Mr. Pollin�s legacy on talk shows, the one word that seems to dominate the stories and those discussions---is loyalty.

When I think of loyalty and Mr. Pollin�s, I think of Landover, Maryland in 1974. The move started a divorce that was heard around the NBA, Pollin vs. Monroe. There would be no out of court or on the court settlement. Earl would take his ball to New York and Mr. Pollin would take his team to Landover.

Mr. Pollin�s boyhood and close friend Hymie Perlo once said to me �That was the worst basketball decision Abe ever made.�

Earl Monroe revolutionized how the guard position was played in the NBA. He brought showmanship and moves to the basket never before seen in pro basketball. When we talk about �Great Athletes� I define their greatness by how they changed the rules and the way the game is played. Earl changed the rules and the game.

Their split was about money, Earl�s contract was up and he was looking for a long term deal and a raise. Abe Pollin didn�t think Earl was worth the time or the money he was asking for and they went their separate ways.

Earl left for the New York Knickerbockers and got the money he thought he deserved and a NBA Championship. In discussions with Earl about his Bullet departure, loyalty was not one his favorite words. He would often say, �Going to New York was the best decision I have ever made.�

The divorced left a bitter taste in Earl�s mouth for many years. He is still the most popular player in the history of the franchise.

Mr. Pollin realized he had made a mistake and that was one of the reasons he summoned him back to Verizon Center last season. It was there Earl and Mr. Pollin renewed their vows kissed and made up. The Wizards retired Earl�s number during a welcome back home ceremony.

When Mr. Pollin moved the Bullets to Landover in 1974 there was a double standard established at the media press table. There were some who ignored it and others who only dared to whisper about it.

When I took my seat at the press table the seating arrangement made me wonder why was there Brown vs Board of Education, marches on Washington and Selma Alabama, assassinations of Martin Luther King and the Kennedy brothers, three little girls blown up in their church. Why black and white civil rights workers were lynched fighting for the civil rights of us all?

I refuse to allow myself to feel like a second class citizen all over again.

I thought of putting my own life on the line during the 1968 riots. Here we are in 1974 and white media was seated to the left of midcourt and black media was seated to the right of midcourt. Something was wrong with this picture!

During the 1974 NBA season I established the first monthly Media Roundtable at WOOK radio where my sports talk show Inside Sports was aired. The participants included Dave Dupree, Bill McCaffrey, Ed Frankovich, George Solomon, Ed Brown, Sonny Hill, Elmer Smith, Bill Rhoden and a host of other contributors.

It was on one of my shows where the idea was hatched that Ed Frankovich and I would change seats at the next Bullets home game.

The next home game was against the Golden State Warriors. I remember Warrior Coach Al Attles and I meeting under the basket just before the game started. I told him what was about to transpire and he said, �Be careful� and he went back to his seat on the bench.

The sit-in took place quietly and without fanfare. A new seating chart was posted a week later and a new era in media relations had emerged at the Capitol Centre.

Mr. Pollin�s loyalty was tested again in 1975. Boston Celtic great K. C. Jones was fired after he coached and led the Washington Bullets into the NBA finals against The Golden State Warriors. The Warriors were coached by Al Attles, making this the first time in NBA history two black coaches had met in a Championship game. The Warriors swept the Bullets in four straight games and K C Jones was later fired. All the blamed should not be laid at the door of Mr. Pollin. Several of K. C.�s closest backstabbing friends helped expedite his exit.

I remember former player Carlos Terry who was destined to be an impact player for the Wizards before a knee injury ended his career. Carlos was a Winston-Salem State University grad and played for Bighouse Gaines. Coach Gaines asked me to keep an eye on the big fellow and help him navigate the deep water in DC.

Carlos and I became good friends and he joined the team of Kids In Trouble, Inc to work with at-risk children. He was a great young man with a big heart. His teammate Rick Mahorn was a bad influence. Mahorn was a country boy who got blinded by the bright lights and big city and became a NBA bully and a �City Slicker.�

DC is a small town and my community is even smaller. It is hard to keep a secret if more then two people know the secret.

Carlos picked up a couple of bad habits hanging out with Mahorn, I diplomatically pulled him aside one night after a game and told him to be careful of his after hour hangouts. He said �thanks, no problem.�

After his knee injury and cutting his ties with the Bullets, Carlos became depress and drifted off. I would wake up one morning to hear the news via radio that he had been killed in an automobile accident on the beltway. Reports were that he had fallen asleep at the wheel.

Coach Gaines called me several days later saying �Carlos� family don�t have the money to bury him.� I asked Coach to let me check around for some resources. My first call was to the Wizards� GM Bob Ferry and explained the family�s dilemma; he said �Harold let me get back to you.� I am still waiting for him to get back to me.

Thanks to Coach Gaines and Carlos� college family and friends, the funeral proceeded. I traveled to his hometown, in Lexington, North Carolina to speak on behalf of Kids In Trouble, Inc., at his home-going. I don�t recall seeing anyone from the Bullet�s organization in attendance�loyalty.

Mr. Pollin hired native Washingtonian Eddie Jordan to coach the Wizards on a handshake. Eddie rescued the franchise and took them back to what had become Never-Never Land, the NBA playoffs. The team excelled for 4 straight seasons. His reward, he was fired last season--loyalty.

Ironically, Eddie Jordan is now the coach of the NBA�s Philadelphia 76ers and they were in town to play the Wizard�s on the eve of Mr. Pollin�s death. Eddie always a class-act said, �I am appreciative of the opportunity Mr. Pollin gave me to coach in my hometown, it has been the highlight of my basketball career.�

One year ago Tuesday on the eve of his death Mr. Pollin raised eyebrows when he sent MJ the man known as Michael Jordan packing back to North Carolina. He fired MJ from his duties as Vice-President of basketball operations. MJ helped turn a financially down and out franchise into a money making Cash-Cow.

He returned to his �Comfort Zone� the basketball courts of the NBA to sell out crowds making ticket scalpers some of the most sought after guys in Chinatown. On game nights the restaurants were suddenly full before and after Wizard�s games. Mr. Pollin an astute businessman and suddenly a magician pulled a rabbit out of the hat. The rabbit was Michael Jordan. He later did a Bugs Bunny and said to MJ and his fans �That�s all folks.�

It is here that I think Mr. Pollin gets a bum rap as it relates to the dismissal of Michael Jordan. I blame MJ and his agent David Falk for allowing Michael to make a business decision with a businessman without having anything in writing! This was business and it had nothing to do with friendship.

Mr. Pollin never forgot the put down by Michael at an owner�s meeting before a threaten strike by the NBA players. Mr. Pollin questioned the selfish and greedy motives of the players, Michael�s response, �Mr. Pollin if you can�t stand the heat get out of the kitchen.�

I have read the stories and heard the so-called experts talk and discus the legacy of Mr. Abe Pollin. The only one that made any sense was Michael Wilbon. His column in the Washington Post �A man who reached out to others� was very compelling.

Michael�s column taught me two lessons in one. His column gave me an inside look of a very complicated man who reached back and gave unselfishly to others. Whether, he gave back because of family pain or a guilty conscience, only he knows. The second lesson was when Michael challenged this giant of a businessman on two business decisions that he thought the columnist knew nothing about. Mr. Pollin thought the columnist should concentrate on keeping scores of games and batting averages of athletes----because business was out of his league.

Mr. Pollin, the multi-millionaire and giant businessman took out an ad in the local newspapers including the columnist�s paper saying in so many words �Mind your damn business.�

Several years later the columnist�s advice would prove him to be right, the story could have ended right there, but Mr. Pollin swallowed his pride and invited the columnist to the groundbreaking ceremony for the new MCI Center. This was the same downtown location that the columnist had advised Mr. Pollin, �If the Bullets are going to remain viable they need to move to downtown DC.�

This gesture along with the move to bring Earl Monroe back home told me lot about Mr. Pollin. He was man enough to say �I was wrong.� This is a lesson that we all can learn from, never be too tall to say �I made a mistake.�

Mr. Pollin made his share of mistakes that included, Earl Monroe, Red Auerbach, Arnold Heft and others that we will never know. But he was human and we all make mistakes.

Winning or losing I must admit Mr. Pollin and I were like ships passing in the night. We would sometimes nod our heads at each other and sometimes we would look right through each other.

I was holding Mr. Pollin responsible for the inconsiderate acts of a few when he had a full plate.

In the final analyst, Mr. Pollin�s cup was half full and half empty. We all should live to be so lucky.

I was especially proud to see three young men in attendance at Tuesday night�s game who have been touched by Kids In Trouble, Inc. and Inside Sports. The three are now making their mark and making a difference as sports journalist on the national scene, Michael Wilbon, David Aldridge and Kevin Blackistone.

I discovered that I can still learn from them. Through them I learned a lesson taught in a great man�s death that he cared long before Harold Bell and the NBA.

Mr. Abe Pollin------1923-2009 when two faces in Washington, DC, was better then one.

Harold Bell is the Godfather of Sports Talk radio and television. Throughout the mid-sixties, seventies and eighties, Harold embarked upon a relatively new medium--sports talk radio with classic interviews with athletes and sports celebrities. The show and format became wildly popular. Who better than Harold Bell to put together classic interviews with his legendary celebrity friends.

WHEN WE WERE KINGS

GIANT FOOD and PNC BANK INVITES YOU TO A KIDS IN TROUBLE, INC., BENEFIT RECEPTION and SALUTE TO THE 1954 D.C. HIGH SCHOOL ALL-STARS, DC PUBLIC SCHOOLS and ST. JOHN�S HIGH SCHOOL.

TEAMMATES DAN DROZE and DAVE HARRIS: WHEN SEPARATE WAS CONSIDERED EQUAL IN AMERICA!

By Harold Bell

In Washington, DC in 1954 there were two important Supreme Court decisions reached on the same day in May. The decisions were Bolling vs. Sharpe and Brown vs. Board of Education. The two decisions changed how public school education was practiced in America.

Dwight D. Eisenhower was the President of the United States and Earl Warren was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

The lead plaintiff attorney on Bolling vs. Sharpe was George Edward Hayes. The case was argued on the 5^th Amendment (Equal Protection Clause), thus setting up the theory of �reverse incorporation.�

The lead attorney for the plaintiffs in Brown v Board of Education was future Supreme Court Justice, the great Thurgood Marshall. Mr. Marshall graduated first in his class from Howard Law School in 1933. In 1934 he became the lawyer for the Baltimore Chapter of the NAACP.

The Supreme Court ruled that �separate but equal� public school education was unconstitutional. The court ruled that public schools could never be truly equal with blacks attending one school and whites attending another. This would be Mr. Marshall�s battle ground and field of play.

If attorney Thurgood Marshall had been a NFL quarterback, a three-point shooter in the NBA or a Designated Hitter in Major League Baseball he would have no peers. He won 29 of the 32 cases he argued before the Supreme Court. Mr. Marshall was a Superstar in �The Game Called Life.� It is the only game being played in today�s America where the title of Superstar really counts.

If Black America is looking for a hero and role model we have to look no further than Thurgood Marshall, He literally set the bar of how we should measure our heroes and role models in our community. We should be able to go to Webster�s Dictionary and look up the definition of �unselfishness� and see his picture.

When the Supreme Court finally rendered a decision in 1954 declaring segregation in America�s schools unconstitutional, Archbishop Patrick O�Boyle picked up the ball and ran with it.

The Archbishop played a significant role leading up to the decision that would set the stage for the 1954 All-Star game. He implemented a follow-up action plan. He authorized a scrimmage between all black Armstrong Technical High School and integrated Archbishop John Carroll High School. Carroll had ONE black player, but had several black students enrolled at the school.

The scrimmage took place in August, 1953. The Coach for Carroll was George Washington University legend and NFL Hall of Famer Tuffy Leesmans. The Armstrong High School football coach was the equally talented Ted McIntye. Willie Wood was only a sophomore but he was all over the field. His greatness could not be denied. He would go on to become an NFL Hall of Fame player for the Green Bay Packers.

The real star of the scrimmage, however, was �Red Mike� Hagler who went on to become a star running back at Iowa. He played in two Rose Bowls (1956-1958) for legendary Iowa Coach, Forrest Evashevski. In the second Rose Bowl he scored two TDs. The second TD was a spectacular weaving 66 yard inside reverse. Mike would end his football career playing semi-pro football in New Jersey. He was definitely a legend in his own time.

In 1954 the two All-Star football teams met at old Griffith Stadium in Washington, DC.   The number one ranked, undefeated and favorite was St. John�s. The DC Public High School All-Stars were a collection of black and white players. The white players were from Division One (Anacostia, Coolidge, McKinley Tech, Western and Wilson ) and had 22 players named to the team. The black players were from Division Two (Armstrong, Cardozo, Phelps and Spingarn) were represented by 11 players.

There was a joke going around during preparations for the game that Division One coach Stewart thought it best to select twice the number of white players in case trouble broke out. The fight odds would be 2-1 (separate but equal).

This was the first ever integrated high school athletic contest played in Washington, DC. There were close to 9,000 fans in the stadium to witness this history making athletic event.

Dave Kane is a native Washingtonian and a 1960 graduate of DeMatha High School. Dave played wide receiver and safety for the stags. He was in town recently to meet with players who played in that game. His brother John was a running back and scored the only TD for St. Johns in the 1954 All-Star game. His father was the team doctor.

Mr. Kane is exploring the possibilities of making a documentary film of the historical event. During his visit to DC from his now hometown in Phoenix, Arizona he met with several players who participated in that game.

The interested parties met at the home of Chink and Gladys Hawkins in Upper Marlboro, Maryland a DC suburb. Gladys is the sister of former Armstrong High School and NFL Green Bay Packer hall of fame player Willie Wood.

The DC Public High School All-Stars in attendance were George Carlos, Olin Robinson and Charlie Queen (Spingarn), Willie Wood, and Lowell Wheeler (Armstrong), Frank Sullivan and Alphonso Brooks and John Simms (Dunbar), Kenny Dunlop (Cardozo) Willie�s close friend and jump shooting basketball teammate Frank Smith was also in attendance.

There are so many stories and twist and turns that came out of this game there is not enough time and space to list them all.

For example, the lead plaintiff in the 1954 Bolling v Sharpe was Spotswood Bolling. He was my high school basketball teammate at Spingarn. The legendary DeMatha High School basketball Hall of Fame coach Morgan Wooten was an assistant football coach at St. John�s.

Coaches Sal Hall and Biff Carter, Cardozo and Phelps respectively, were assistant coaches for the DC Public Schools. Mr. Hall was one of the greatest football minds to ever come out of DC. Kermit �Zu Zu� Stewart of Anacostia was chosen to be the Head Coach (separate but equal).

The offense installed for that game was the Single Wing the same offense run by the Anacostia High School football team. The best way to describe the Single Wing offense is to watch today�s NFL�s version of �The Wild Cat Formation.� It is used by several NFL teams. The quarterback is missing in action.

The best player on the field that day was Armstrong QB Willie Wood. He never got a chance to take a snap from under the center, but his presence was felt that day. He was all over the field again. He played defensive back, ran back punts and kick-offs. The final score 12-7 was misleading.

Everyone to a man (player) says �If Willie had been the quarterback that day it would have been no-contest.�

Enter Dan Droze and Dave Harris forever linked together in Washington, DC sports history.

Dan grew up in SE and Dave in upper NW, Shaw/Cardozo (inner-city), they were two players from two completely different worlds only separated by the color of their skin (separate but equal). The All-Star game practices were held at Western High School in upper NW, DC (Georgetown). They had exactly one week to install an offense and defense for their opponent St. John�s.

I recently met with Dan Droze and Dave Harris the two heroes of the game at DeMatha High School in Hyattsville, Maryland. This was the first meeting between the two All-Star teammates since the game 55 years ago.

Dan and Dave agreed that things went pretty smoothly and there were no signs of racial tension or envy and jealousy among the players (Player Hating). When they walked on the playing field at Griffin Stadium on December 4, 1954 everyone was on the same page and they had one goal----beat St. John�s.

The game was a hard fought contest and the outcome was not decided until the closing minutes of the fourth quarter. St. John�s had the proverbial �Home Field Advantage.� The DC All-Stars were penalized 7 times for 35 yards and according to the game officials St. John�s played a perfect game resulting in no penalties (separate but equal).

Dan (first team All-Met) was a starting running back in the Single Wing offense and Dave (first team All-Met) was a starter at end. Dave played both ways on offense and defense. Dave was also a track star at Cardozo with lightning speed.

There was less then 5 minutes left in the game when Coach Stewart got smart. He decided to throw the ball to someone other than his Anacostia receiver Ed Vincent who had dropped and early TD pass from Droze.

December 4^th was Dave Harris�s birthday. Little did Dave and his teammates know it would a birthday long remembered in the annals DC high school sports.

With less then 5 minutes left in the game St. John was leading 7-6. Dan got the play in from Coach Stewart to throw a �Down and Out� pass to Dave Harris. Dan took the snap from center and 30 yards down field he spotted Dave cutting to the left corner of the end zone. He threw a perfect pass and with two defenders draped all over him, Dave made the catch to remember. The final score was 12-7 and the rest is history.

The black and white players would leave the field and return to their own little worlds. It would take 55 years for the stars of the game to meet and cherish a memory that would be etched forever in their minds.

Dan would travel down infamous �Tobacco Road� to Chapel Hill, North Carolina to play for the legendary football coach Jim Tatum. Dave would travel to the University of Kansas for a culture shock. Dave�s first day in class he looked like a fly in a cup of milk. He would make the adjustment when he met another Jay Hawk student/athlete �The Greatest� basketball player ever, Wilt Chamberlain. Wilt and Dave would go on to become great friends.

Dan would later become my teammate with the Virginia Sailors (minor league team for the Washington Redskins). Dave Harris has been my hero since �The Catch.� I would follow him to Griffin Stadium the next year as a freshman receiver for Spingarn High School. Ironically, we would meet Cardozo High School for the DC Public High School Championship. We had upset a great Armstrong team 13-7 with their legendary QB Willie Wood to earn the right to play in the game.

There would be no fairytale ending for me, because I was benched for discipline reasons (academic). I was lucky to be in uniform. My savior Coach Dave Brown taught me an early lesson, no one is indispensable.

I watched my teammates tie Cardozo 0-0. Cardozo was chosen to play in the City Championship game because of a ruling based on something called �Penetration.� The Cardozo team crossed our 50 yard line more times than we crossed theirs.

The great players who participated in that that 1954 All-Star game played a role in my spiritual and mental development as a young athlete. Names like, Olin Robinson, George Carlos, Bill Mayor, George �Nochie� Green, Jessie Saunders, Charlie Queen all played for Spingarn. William Peasy Jordan and Thomas Sumlin played for Phelps.

I would sit on �The Hill� after school and watch them practice. I attended Brown Middle School located on the same block as Spingarn and Phelps High school. These guys were athletes from my own neighborhood and school community. I grew up in the same NE housing project (Parkside) as Sumblin and Saunders. They treated me like a little brother and they led by example.

I admired Willie Wood, Dave Harris, Frank Sullivan, Alphonso Brooks, John Simms, Lowell Wheeler and Kenny Dunlop from the stands. Dave and Willie would later become loyal friends and mentors.

Dan went on to have a successful career as a Financial Investment Banker, and has been married to his wife Rose Mary for 44 years they are the proud parents of four, two daughters and two boys. The daughters are housewives Stasia and Desma and the boys are Drew (Computer Programmer) and Derk who graduated from GWU and played pro soccer in Chile and Denmark.

Dave had a successful career in Pharmaceutical Sales. He has been married for 50 years to his lovely wife Theresa and from that union they have 3 boys and a girl and 4 grandchildren. His son Erik is a graduate of the Naval Academy, David Jr. is a West Point graduate, Dr. Keith Harris is a graduate of Brown University and his twin sister Kim is graduate of Maryland University.

If there are two families in who should write a book on successfully raising children in America, meet Mr. and Mrs. Danny Droze and Mr. and Mrs. Dave Harris.

Despite segregation, the DC Public Schools made a unique mark in American public high school sports history. Armstrong and Spingarn High Schools are the only public school system with bragging rights of having 4 athletes in the NFL and NBA Hall of Fames. Armstrong NFL inductees are Len Ford and Willie Wood and Spingarn NBA inductees are Elgin Baylor and Detroit Mayor Dave Bing. This story makes it hard to tell who was black and who was white, but Dan and Dave proved we might have been separate but we were equal.

The Bridge: The Lie of A Post Racial America

By Darryl James

            President Barack Obama did not speak it first nor proclaim it to be in place.

There has been talk of a �Post-Racial� society, but simply put, it is not yet here.

And it can not be here when racist groups are sprouting all over the nation to oppose President Obama�s very existence as President and when the right wing extremists go out of their way to oppose the President in ways that have simply never been seen before.

We are not talking about opposition to the President�s platform, but opposition to things that the President, frankly, has not even presented.

Are the times really different from when dumb ass Georgie was President? No! Is the job of President different? No! Has the structure of the government been changed? No! Is Obama acting without the support of the Legislative branch of government? No!

So, if there are no real changes in the job of President or in the structure of government, we have to ask the question: �Why so much opposition to President Obama?�

The answer is simple: He is a Black President.

While it is beautiful that he was elected by a cross-cultural constituency, it is ugly that there remains a vigilant element in our society that will not allow anyone to move beyond race.

I believe that same element employed the �Post-Racial� argument to avoid having to deal with the persistent inequities in both the public and private sectors and to avoid the fact that we are perhaps more focused on race now than we have been in a long time. And we are focused so, simply because many nutty whites in America can not accept that the leader of the free world is a Black man.

But the propaganda of the �Post-Racial� lie has been pervasive�so much so, that many nutty African Americans believe in the illusion of inclusion, accepting the false premise that the rise of one man has erased four hundred years of racial preferences and racism, the vestiges of which can still be found in every corner of a society that is hardly �Post Racial.�

The biggest problem is that some of us who believe that we have �arrived,� have merely bought into the empty promise of America�the illusion of the melting pot and the reward for pretending that there are no racial barriers and that hard work and education are always rewarded for everyone.

The belief in this illusion is the intrinsic barrier between open and honest communication with the youth, because they are still wise enough to know that there is a problem. Some of them embrace that problem as a reason to work twice as hard, while some of them embrace that problem as a reason to give up.

We do the youth a disservice by lying to them about America being �Post Racial.�

Some of us lie to them by claiming that there is no real struggle based on the color of our skin.

We lie by telling them that the color of our skin never held us back and never really made a difference at all.

We lie and tell them that we excelled because we were simply hearty and smart individuals who embraced the American dream.

You see, by embracing the illusion of inclusion in America and the �Post Racial� lie, we set up a roadblock to understanding. Without the illusion and the lie, we could understand ourselves and others better.

Without the illusion and the lie, we would all be forced to admit that schools in predominantly Black neighborhoods remain severely underfunded.

Without the illusion of inclusion and the �Post Racial� lie, we would have to admit that the preparation for a better life is less sturdy than in other neighborhoods.

And by making these admissions, we would have to say honestly to our white counterparts over lunch, or golf, or cosmopolitans, that America is a dirty bitch, which would make us stand out, God forbid, and have to carry that damned �troublemaker� badge that our forefathers and foremothers carried, but that many of us so timidly shy away from.

You see, Negroes who promote the �Post Racial� lie are unwilling to admit that their benefits in life are the direct result of compromise, which has little to do with those people on the bottom who face welfare, gang warfare, drugs, alcohol, racial profiling and hatred from some of those above them.

The problem is that after the Civil Rights movement, some frightened Negroes were deathly afraid of having to do any real work for the race, having become comfortable with taking the benefits earned on the backs of many, while pretending that their progress is all about the individual.

What we are dealing with is the same attitude felt by the country Blacks when intermingling with the city Blacks, which isn�t really a Black thing, but cuts across all color lines, as city whites neither have any real desire to interact with their rural brethren who they view as less civilized. Part of the inheritance of integration is that now, many citified Negroes take on that same attitude about their brethren in impoverished areas of the same cities.

Because finally, for the first time since our arrival from slavery with the empty promise of freedom, a generation of Negroes has abdicated their responsibility of breaking through and going back to pull up others.

This abdication of responsibility is why we see gangs swell, even following concerted efforts to abate their activity, as if breathing�in with a breath of swelled membership, and out with the deflated exhalation of unsustainable efforts from those around them, but not many above them.

And, with such an abandonment of those at the bottom, why wouldn�t the newly arrived Black intelligentsia feel uncomfortable dealing with the truth about the first Black President�s existence?

The truth is that we have the potential to be harmed as much as healed.

And, we can be harmed if we continue to lie about being �Post Racial� instead of working to actually become �Post Racial.�

Honestly, we have a great deal to lose if we fail to act properly while we have a Black President.

With the lie of a �Post Racial� America, it is easy for rabid racists to advocate for the ignoring of need in impoverished communities.

And with that Post Racial� lie, it is easy for silly Negroes to speak for the Black impoverished, claiming that they are just too lazy, or too weak, or that they only want ipods and sneakers�using these claims as excuses for refusing to assist or to even send assistance, which would be a loud and ringing admission of the true connection that they are simply ignoring for the benefit of their white friends who are really unconcerned.

Rather than doing any real work, or really, rather than admitting that they are one generation and a few paltry decades away from such an existence, today�s disconnected Negroes would rather claim to be �Post Racial� than to do any real work.

But the lie of a �Post Racial� America is so damaging that it will actually prevent us from ever becoming anything but a nation which deals with much of its domestic affairs based on race.

Darryl James is an award-winning author of the powerful new anthology �Notes From The Edge.� Now, listen to Darryl live on BlogTalkRadio.com/DarrylJames every Monday from 8-10pm, PST. View previous installments of this column at www.bridgecolumn.proboards36.com. Reach James at djames@theblackgendergap.com.

RENAISSANCE MEN: DR. PURVIS J. WILLIAMS AND RALPH VINCENT CHASE

By Harold Bell

Spingarn High School the pride of Benning Road in the NE Washington, DC corridor lost its first Principal Dr. Purvis J. Williams on September 5, 2009. Dr. Williams was 102 years old. He was the school's principal and the heart and soul of Spingarn for two decades.

During his tenure as principal he affectionately singled out his disrupted students as "Bums and Bummerettes."  We usually heard our names called during the morning announcements over the school's public address system.  Some of those Bums and Bummeretts can be found among the Who's Who in education, medicine, law enforcement, politics, media and professional sports.

The Who's Who include, teachers, principals, University President, Police Chief, medical doctors, a Mayor, radio and television talk show host.

Dr. Williams is the only public high school principal in America who could have claimed two of his student/athletes in the NBA Hall of Fame (Elgin Baylor and Dave Bing).

From 1952 until 1972 Dr. Williams called the plays and was the undisputed leader at Spingarn High School.  He made sure his students had the best teachers the system had to offer.  He hired only professionals with Master Degrees.

Each teacher was a role model who was respected by the student body. The support team of nurses, janitors, school cafeteria workers, volunteers and beat cops were all respected and important part of his team. They saved many lives---including mine.

Dr. Williams was a man of integrity and had great pride in being a black man in America.

He refused to serve as "Colored Superintendent of Schools" in Washington, DC. He was nobody's token negro.

He was born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia. He received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts Degrees from Howard University.

He cared deeply about the welfare of every student attending Spingarn.   I had problems my senior year and went astray after being kicked off the basketball team.  Dr. Williams, Officer Ray Dixon and Assistant Principal William T. Davis tried to talk this "Bum" out of transferring to another school. I transferred anyway.

Three high schools and Twenty years later I coordinated and hosted a thank you tribute to Dr. Williams and the Spingarn faculty. The tribute was held at Mingles Restaurant in downtown Washington, DC. During the festivities Dr. Williams came up to me with his hand out and said "Thank you Mr. Bell I was worried about you there for minute." He had not forgotten and neither had I.

He made my day! I was happy that I had not turned out to be a real "Bum" and I think he was to.

On October 4, 2009 one month later a student/athlete by the name Ralph Chase followed his principal in death.  Ralph was a native Washingtonian and a Spingarn graduate. He grew up in the NE Benning Road corridor in a unique public school setting.  In his neighborhood there were 4 schools that sit on a hill. They were Charles Young Elementary school, Brown Middle school, Phelps Vocational and Spingarn High Schools, all located on the same NE street and corridor. There is no other school setting like it in this city and probably no other like it in America.

I met Ralph in 1956 my freshman year and his senior year on the Spingarn football team. He was the starting center on a very talented team. I looked up to him because he was a little guy like myself. All my friends made a big deal about my size when I decided to try out for varsity.

Ralph played one of the most demanding positions on the team, nothing started until he snapped the ball. He was the center of attention and a quiet leader, he led by example and always with a smile.

He helped lead Spingarn past Armstrong High School and its star quarterback and future NFL Hall of Fame player, Willie Wood. We beat them 13-7 and the victory earned us a berth in the DC Public High School Championship game. The title game would be against Cardozo High School at RFK Stadium. We tied them.

0-0 but lost the game because they crossed our 50 yard line more times then we did theirs.  I thought, what away to start out your freshman year in high school. I really enjoyed the ride.

After graduation Ralph moved North on up the Baltimore/Washington Parkway to attend Morgan State University on a football scholarship. His new teammates looked at him like he was joking when he told them he played center. Their mistake, they judged him by his size without knowing his heart. His warrior mentality would carry him through 4 years of college as the Morgan State Bears' leader by example.

That same warrior mentality would later make him a legend on the streets of Baltimore.

Ralph was hired by the Baltimore City Bureau of Recreation and Parks after his graduation and honorable discharge from the United States Army. He worked his way up the ranks with hard work and dedication. He started out with the position of Recreation Leader he was soon to become a Street Club Worker (similar to the Roving Leader Program for the DC Recreation Department).

He was renowned for for his ability to communicate with and positively influence young men in the communities of Baltimore. His interventions prevented many from becoming involved with gangs and negative lifestyles. We often talked shop when we encountered each other in Baltimore or alumni functions in DC.

Ralph lived in Baltimore for 50+ years but he never forgot his Washington roots and we never forgot him.

On Saturday October 10, 2009 many of us drove to Baltimore to say goodbye and pay our last respects to a friend, student, classmate, teammate and neighbor.

In attendance was his Spingarn homeroom teacher, Dr. Theodore Hudson, his neighbor, friend and teammate, Andrew Johnson, friends and classmates, Leonard Mills, Charles Evans, Chuck Cephas, Bobby and Adelaide Thompson, George "Dee" Williams, Arthur Davis, Claudett Elder and Johnny Morgan.

Dr. Purvis J. Williams and Ralph Vincent Chase were Renaissance Men. They really tried during their lifetime to make children first. They must be turning over in their graves as their beloved high school is almost half empty and run by a principal who speaks very little english. Add the spectacle created by Mayor Andrian Fenty when he hired a Korean female to oversee a predominantly black school system with no credentials and background to do so. The recent firing of 229 teachers and staff by school Chancellor Michelle Rhee has disrupted the entire system. The bottom-line who really cares, "They are just children and don't vote" according to NFL Legend Jim Brown.  Thanks, Dr. Williams and Ralph for caring.

Ralph V. Chase Sr., Stadium Manager

By Frederick N. Rasmussen

October 10, 2009

Ralph Vincent Chase Sr., a former Baltimore City Recreation and Parks official who had been manager of the old Memorial Stadium, died Sunday of heart failure at Sinai Hospital.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/obituaries/bal-md.ob.ci.chase10oct10,0,6789549.story

Visit http://www.baltimoresun.com.

Rep. Charles Rangel and Radio One COO Alfred Liggins

CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS WEEKEND: SIGHTS and SOUNDS OF BLACK FOLKS IN TROUBLE!

By Harold Bell

First, there was the public National Town Hall Meeting on Thursday September 26^th titled, �Economic Recovery & Opportunity� The Private Sector Panel and The Public Sector Panel participants were too many dubious characters for me. For example, the notorious Alfred C. Liggins III, Chief Operating Officer/President of Radio One, Inc. was a member of The Private Sector Panel.

In May 2007 the Washington Post in a front page story and in a column in the Business section read (on the same page) �Losses and Static For Radio One and A Payoff That�s Off the Dial.� The stories exposed the mother and son team of Cathy Hughes and Alfred Liggins running a Ponzi scheme on Radio & TV One shareholders (owned by Comcast).

The story reported Radio One had lost $18.3 million in the first three months of the year. The company�s stock price closed at 86 cents. In the meantime, Radio One�s Board of Directors was awarding Cathy and Alfred compensation packages.

According to the Washington Post, Cathy, as Chairman of the Board had no clear defined executive responsibilities, but would still receive an annual base salary of $750,000, along with a potential bonus of $250,000. Compare that with a 2006 salary and bonus of $560,000.

Alfred had a base salary of $573,370. In 2006, he earned a bonus of $468, 720 for turning in the worst financial performance in company history. The board determined that Alfred was so valuable and essential that his base salary had to be increased to $980,000 with a potential bonus of another $980,000.

Moving to The Public Sector, we find ranking Black Caucus member Congressman Charlie Rangel (D-NY). He is serving his 19^th term in office. Mr. Rangel is the first African American chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. The committee has jurisdiction over taxes, social security, pensions, international trade and medicare. Guess who is in tax trouble with the IRS and exposed for running a rent scam out of his Harlem district with hidden off shore bank accounts? The Town Hall Meeting should have been titled �How to Steal from black folks and get away with it!� Bernie Madoff is in some jail cell smiling.

Someone reminded me not to miss the One-on-One commercial free interview with Radio One�s Joe Madison and NFL Legend Jim Brown. My response, �If I wanted to hear and see a cheerleader and a ego tripping running back I would go out to FEDEX Field on Sundays and watch the Redskins.�

Then there is Michael Baisden known as �The Bad Boy� of talk radio�s evening drive heard in 173 cities across America (WHUR Radio in DC). His talk show format is similar to the format of the late great talk show pioneer, Petey Green and The Original Inside Sports. Petey was my mentor and partner in the community.

Mr. Baisden was in D.C. to promote his radio program by sponsoring a boat ride on the Potomac and a Ladies Only Tennis Tournament at Watkin�s Park in Prince George�s County Maryland.

Brenda Gilmore and Derek Colbert, President and Vice-President of the USPTR respectively are legendary for their work with youth. They coordinated the event for Mr. Baisden. Derek is a certified instructor for the Prince George�s Tennis & Education Foundation. He has coached and taught tennis all over the Washington metro area, using tennis as a vehicle for young people. Derek and Brenda have touched hundreds young athletes giving them an opportunity to take their games to the next levels (high school and college). Derek considers me as a mentor.

When I received the call from Derek saying �Harold, Michael Baisden the radio personality is hosting a tennis tournament for Ladies Only here at the park, if you are not doing anything come on out and give us some play.�

I very seldom if ever listen to talk radio but I have caught Mr. Baisden�s show while riding with my video/photographer Michael Lucas who seems to enjoy his format.

To me talk radio no longer has the spontaneity. Every show seems to be rehearsed. The host has a producer that takes his calls and screens them (what is your name, where are you calling from and what is the topic?). I took calls on the fly and enjoyed not knowing who was calling or their comments or questions.

I never hung the telephone up on a listener because they disagreed with me as I hear some talk show host do. I would say, �You got 60 seconds and I have to take the next caller.�

Mr. Baisden is known as the �Bad Boy� of talk radio. I was known as �The Bad Boy� of sports talk radio during 80s and 90s and I still don�t have a cut card when it comes to community fraud. With that common denominator, there have been segments of Mr. Baisden�s show that have held my interest. He does not seem to duck the issues.

Sometimes it is best to listen to people from a distance than to see them up close and personal. What you hear and what you see can be totally different. Too often they become disappointments---meet Michael Baisden.

Like most radio personalities with talk shows he is a know it all and has a BIG MOUTH (the kettle calling the pot black). The difference, I was a community personality long before I became a radio personality.

One of my �pet peeves,� are media and sports talk show personalities who become experts on the community after they become �on-air� personalities. Check their track records in the community before they got on the air.

Jonetta Rose Barras, is a columnist for the Washington Examiner newspaper. Ms. Barras wrote a column on Monday September 21, 2009 leading into Caucus Weekend titled �Mission Accomplished,� as it related to DC Mayor Adrian Fenty. I challenged her observation with �Accomplished for whom?� I wanted to know when she became an expert on politics in the DC community. Her response, �I have been covering D.C. politics for over 20 years and I started two non-profit organizations.� WOW!

I said to her, �I have never heard of you. When did you become an expert, before or after you became a media personality?� She responded in kind, �I have never heard of you.� I immediately e-mailed her the link to my web page. She e-mailed me back saying �It is time for me to move, I have no time for ego-trips.� I think that was her way of saying �I surrender.� Mayor Fenty�s disapproval rating in the black community along with his school Chancellor Michelle Rhee is close to 60%. Ms. Rhee just fired 229 teachers. The students have taken to the streets and said, �Enough is enough.� Mission Accomplished?

Back to �The Bad Boy,� while the teams of women were being picked to play Mr. Baisden I picked up a racket to help warm him up. I introduced myself as a member of the press (Inside Sports with business card). He claimed he knew all about my show and enjoyed the segments.

I was also wearing my Congressional Black Caucus issued press credential. I made it clear that I would like to interview him at the conclusion of the day�s matches, he said no problem. I then moved to the net to referee.

Michael Baisden�s tennis game is mediocre at best but he has only been playing 6 months so I gave him some slack. When the players finally took the court I noticed his partner was a young man and definitely not a woman. His tennis partner was one of the center�s best young players, Temple University grad Gary Tobias (a ringer).

Mr. Baisden made it perfectly clear �I did not come out here to lose.� I have seen his kind they will win at any cost.

When Brenda tried to throw former pro tennis great Zina Garrison (wearing high heels) into the mix Mr. Baisden and his young partner beat her and her partner in a tie-breaker (9-7). It was all in fun. Zina was a good sport.

As the program closed out Brenda relieved me of my referee duties so that I could get in a few licks with Mr. Baisden. We played a 6 game set and my partner and I lost 4-2. I missed a couple easy volleys at the net that could have made us a winner. I was satisfied with my performance after such a long layoff.

I then followed-up my request for an interview and his response �Let�s do it on the way out.� No problem. Once outside he pretends to be in a hurry and changes his mind. He says �I don�t do impromptu interviews� and then directs me to make an appointment with one of his gofers.

I am standing there looking at this brother who seems to think he is the late great Ed Bradley (60 Minutes) but he is really nothing more then a black man with a talk radio show in black America.

Michael Baisden is one of the best examples, why Black America still finds itself slowly moving to the back of the bus. We continue to be our own worst enemy. When I was the outspoken voice of sports talk radio I gave everyone an opportunity to interview me and an opportunity to be a guest on my show. That guest list now reads like a Who�s Who in radio and television media.

What Mr. Baisden is doing someone else has already done. I paved the road for media in the community that he now travels.

The following Monday I am riding with Michael Lucas and I remind him to not forget to turn on the Michael Baisden show. I am interested in his update for the caucus weekend.

He opens the show blasting the Redskins for losing to the hapless Detroit Lions (rightfully so). He continues his tirade on how the DC area had a bad weekend that included him beating tennis pro and legend Zina Garrison. He goes on to brag about how many people he has helped and how much money he has!!!

On his flight out of Washington he claims to have encountered former Dallas Cowboy running back Emmitt Smith and his wife on the plane. Emmitt looks to be asleep as he passes by but his wife waves a hello. He goes on to tell his audience that Emmitt was only pretending to be asleep because he saw him talking to his wife after he was seated. Mr. Baisden then trashes Emmitt and says �I hate the Dallas Cowgirls and I hope they lose every game.� Sounds like hurt feelings to me!

During his show he calls a brother in Memphis, Tennessee who has been perched on a rooftop for close to a week trying to raise $30,000 to help at-risk children in his community and school. Mr. Baisden pretends to be outraged and surprised that the brother had been up on the roof for a week and had not been able to raise the end of the needed monies ($700). He then pledged the $700 to get the brother off the rooftop, but someone beat him to it. He then promised the brother he would be booking a flight to Memphis to speak to the kids at his school. Something did not sound right to me about the broadcast. It sounded like a set-up!

I decided to check this brother out and see if I could uncover the real Michael Baisden.

First, I checked with the folks who helped coordinate the tennis outing at Watkins Park to see if he had made a contribution to their non-profit Tennis and Education Foundation.

He left D.C. without making a donation but promised to comeback and help with a fundraiser! If he has so much money as he bragged about on his show, why not write a check for $50,000 to the Tennis & Education Foundation? The program is a tax deductible non-profit 501c3 organization, making it a tax write off for a rich brother like him. Something is wrong with this radio show and picture!

I then decided to check him out further in his hometown of Chicago. The Black Star Project is a Chicago based organization that is doing great works with trying to save our children. The CEO Phillip Jackson and I started to NETWORK about three years ago. Last year Mr. Jackson invited me to participate in a Media Roundtable Conference Call to give statistics on youth violence here in the DC Metropolitan area.

Mr. Jackson has challenged the powers-to-be from �Homeboy� President Barack Obama, Oprah, Mayor Daley, Jesse Jackson, etc to help stop the flow of our children�s blood in the streets of Chicago. Mr. Baisden along with the other so-called concerned powers-to-be have acted like �The Three Little Monkeys,� hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil and read no evil.

The Chicago Sun Times and the Chicago Tribune have published several timely articles on the plight of the Black Star Project and its courageous CEO Phillip Jackson. One recent column questioned the priorities of President Obama and his wife Michelle a native of Chicago. They boarded a plane along with Oprah and a cast of stars to travel to Sweden to make a bid to bring the Olympic Games to Chicago in 2016.

In the meantime young people�s blood is flowing in the streets like water!!! Michael Baisden didn�t make the trip but was still missing in action. When I asked Mr. Jackson about �The Bad Boy�s� contributions to The Black Star Project, he said, �He mentioned the Million Father March on his program once.�

The good news is that after returning home from Sweden and losing the bid to bring the 20016 Olympic Games to Chicago, President Obama is sending his Attorney General Eric Holder and others to Chicago to meet with Mayor Daley to discuss youth violence in the streets of Chicago. Mr. Jackson should be at the table.

Mr. Baisden was heard to say on his nationally syndicated radio show �I had no idea all this violence was going on!� The blind continues to lead the blind.

The Bridge: The Obama Conundrum

          By Darryl James

I said it during the presidential campaign and I said it when Barack Obama was elected.

His election will be used to polarize a nation, rather than unite it.

Although more of us are smarter and beyond racism than we used to be, there are still corners of racism that will hold on with tooth and nail to a world they are comfortable with.

That world is a world where Blacks and whites are bifurcated in language, culture and living quarters.

And the conundrum Obama represents is both good and bad.

It�s good because Obama�s existence is forcing racism to be played out in the most public manner possible on the world stage, which means that more people with open minds and hearts can see how ignorant and ugly racism is and so move away from pretending that it does not exist.

It�s bad because all of the venom held by the confused angry racists is beginning to boil to the surface once again.

Those of us who paid attention and who have working brains understood the schism between the young progressive whites who supported change and the backwoods redneck dirt farmers who refuse to move beyond outdated ideas of Black people.

And the dirty, dirty media plays a great role in fanning the flames by overemphasizing and beating discussions to death.

But what all of those things create is an atmosphere where the entire world can see that America is still very much focused on race and racism. No matter who denies it or pretends that it isn�t a major issue, America is not �Post-Racial.�

This nation has made a major symbolic move, but it is still sullied by the angry jackasses who are driven by their hatred.

Most of the anger stems from the same place that always provides anger�the pain of lower and middle class white America.

The recession hit the nation hard, but was taken more to heart by whites than any other group. This group traditionally holds the belief that they are more American than anyone else, and accordingly, should benefit more and suffer less.

Unfortunately for them, the current tide of change did not discriminate and ravaged communities all across racial lines. That ravaging has left many whites angry, feeling desperate and looking for someone to blame.

Ushered into the White House on a tide of desired change that followed changes in society, particularly the nation�s demographics, President Obama is now the icon for change, and for many angry, frightened whites, the icon for all that is wrong with America.

His iconic existence facilitates the anger of those angry whites who ignored the eight years of wanton warfare and economic depravity waged by George W and facilitates singular focus on the rapid changes sought by the nation�s first Black president.

Hiding behind Obama�s pursuit of health-care reform, frothing racists claim that Obama will usher in socialism and dictatorship and so liken him to Adolph Hitler, of all people.

But anyone with a working brain can see the opposition is more directed at Obama the Black man, and not really at any policy.

A cursory examination of Obama�s health care policy pursuits reveal distortions and outright lies by opponents who clearly oppose the man and not the policies.

These same people show up to rally against health care plans as well as Obama�s bailout programs, which curiously extend on the bailouts Bush initiated.

After all, where were these people when Bush was grinding the nation and the world economy into the ground?

Curiously silent.

So, it confuses me when I hear anyone�Black, white or otherwise�refer to America as �Post-Racial.�

From what I can see, race and racism are in the forefront like never before.

And really, that�s part and parcel of the Obama Conundrum.

While the first African American President represents change, to some Americans, he also represents everything that is wrong and ugly about America.

He represents change because a great deal of people of all colors had to come together to get him elected. Frankly, many of us never thought we would see the day.

But he also represents everything wrong and ugly, for the throngs of stupid Americans who have begun to raise him as a scapegoat for all that has gone awry, using his image to fill the rosters of hate groups and to fuel hateful racist activities, while claiming that there is no more racism because of his election.

As for the Blacks who are raging against Obama, they are no different than the bonehead Negroes who opposed Dr. King and who supported Reagan and both Bushes. These self hating ignorant Negroes come out of the woodwork in order to disagree with things that frankly, don�t exist.

However, it should come as no surprise to anyone that whites at the lower end of the economic strata would start to show their racist stripes. These are the same people who have traditionally promulgated racial strife.

And, if we take a look at who voted for Obama (younger whites) and who now believe that they are under siege (older whites), we begin to understand why racial strife is re-emerging.

Our current economic climate has been harsh to older white men who have seen their unemployment rate hit nearly twice that of the national average, while Blacks and Hispanics have not even come close to setting records.

To the frightened, angry white man, people of color are to blame, particularly those Black people who �took their jobs.�

Of course no person of color has literally taken the jobs of older white men. This is simply the code of the racists who want to lead the white brigades against the men of color who now have the potential to make them the real minority and, in their minds, take over the country with the election of a Black president.

And of course they are speaking and acting in code. The strongest taboo in America is to admit to racism. America has spent more than forty years denying that the vestiges of racism have a strong toehold on pockets of the nation.

But what else would explain the upsurge in hate groups and the sudden widespread interest by older whites in the minutia of national policy?

It�s like watching a sporting event where one team scores, yet the announcer says that the other team is playing hard and leading the game.

We saw this with the beating of Rodney King, where an entire nation and a jury refused to see the beating of a Black man by a group of white men.

It�s an ugly game of smoke and mirrors.

The nation is being polarized and the first Black president is being stuck right in the middle of controversy that he did not create and is not addressing.

The same groups of people who coalesced around Obama to put him in office will have to continue to stand together even as they are being pulled in many directions by fractured interest groups.

They must deal with some confounding puzzles.

In order for the nation to become truly �Post-Racial,� it must finally deal with its racist legacy.

That�s a major part of the Obama Conundrum.

Darryl James is an award-winning author of the powerful new anthology �Notes From The Edge.� Now, listen to Darryl live on BlogTalkRadio.com/DarrylJames every Monday from 8-10pm, PST. View previous installments of this column at www.bridgecolumn.proboards36.com. You can reach James at djames@theblackgendergap.com.

Inside Scoop: The Real Barack Obama Revealed!

By John F. Wasik

Socialist. Communist. Hitler. Racist. The Joker. Has any president in recent memory been called so many names so quickly in his tenure?

It took a second term for George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon to achieve pariah status among their detractors. President Obama is getting the primary-schoolyard name-calling treatment in his first eight months.

Yet I predict President Obama will defy all of these malicious and ridiculously undeserved labels to achieve something few maligned chief executives have been able to accomplish: He will establish social capitalism as a new guiding political philosophy for the world�s largest economy.

If Obama succeeds � and I believe he will � he may be able to diffuse the tired old monikers of liberal, socialist and centrist. Put those stickers in a drawer. They don�t precisely describe Barack Obama.

As I discovered in researching my book The Audacity of Help: Obama�s Economic Plan and the Remaking of America (www.audacityofhelp.net), President Obama has espoused a hybrid political philosophy. As a student of history, I�d say he�s closer to Teddy Roosevelt than Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Yet he�s got a �Green Deal� working instead of a �Square� or �New� deal.

Like Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt, President Obama is keenly aware of history and is a man of his times. Unlike his Square and New Deal predecessors, though, Obama has professed no desire to break up corporations or take them to court � even when you can make a strong argument for reducing the size of the largest financial service companies.

Inheriting the worst debacle since the Great Depression, Obama has chosen the path of a social capitalist. He has laid the groundwork for government being a responsible steward. Not interested in nationalizing anything, he wants to bolster banks to make them healthy then move onto other national priorities.

As part of his Green Deal philosophy, clearly economic growth is more important than controlling boardrooms and executive compensation. This is his University of Chicago intellectual background speaking.

President Obama told CNBC he has a �strong inclination� against a second stimulus package, although he�s hoping that the first stimulus plan can spur private-sector jobs in roadbuilding, green energy, broadband, electrical grid modernization, high-speed rail, medical research and thousands of other projects throughout the country. Some of those promises have come to fruition, but a long-range plan on infrastructure repair and development is necessary if we�re going to compete with China and the rest of the global economy.

If anything, the Obama stimulus and budget plans have provided significant but not overly generous seed money for all of these areas in the hope that private industry will replace the nearly 7 million jobs lost since the recession began in December, 2007. As such, in terms of sheer dollars, the Obama Administration (particularly the Department of Energy) has become the largest venture capital entity in the country.

If Obama was a true socialist, he would have broken up the strangleholds that major insurers have in most state and local markets in health insurance and reduced the size of the largest banks � or taken them over. Even his financial services reform proposal pretty much leaves powerful insurance companies alone, even though their abuses in health-insurance claims, annuity and securities sales have been profligate.

Refocusing on the economy, Obama is hewing close to his blueprint for financial reforms to save capitalism from itself.

Keep in mind that other than the disappearance of Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Countrywide Financial, Washington Mutual, Wachovia Securities and dozens of smaller banks, little has changed on Wall Street.

The biggest banks got bigger (Bank of America, Wells Fargo, et al). The government has veer from the �too big to fail� philosophy, which means we could have another global meltdown again. Nevertheless, Wall Street likes the deregulated status quo and is lobbying intensely to kill financial reform.

�I don�t think they�re going to succeed in killing it,� Obama said bravely of his effort to push through financial reforms. �I�m going to stop them from killing it.�

Yet Obama�s social capitalism will prevail because wiser global financial forces will demand it. We�ve already seen the devastation of unfettered free-market capitalism. Just look at the 1870s, 1890s, 1929-41, 1974, 1999-2002 and the disaster last year. The next global iceberg collision will make 1930 look like a Disney musical.

While I�m not sure booms, busts and bubbles can be managed, we can certainly devise better warning systems and investor safeguards. No matter what you call Obama, here�s his most boiled-down mantra: Protect the weak from the ravages of greed. In the words of T.R, �bully� to that.

Author Bio

John F. Wasik, author of The Audacity of Help: Obama's Economic Plan and the Remaking of America, is the author of twelve books, including The Cul-de-Sac Syndrome and The Merchant of Power. He speaks widely and writes a weekly Bloomberg News column that reaches readers of five continents and which earned him the 2009 Peter Lisagor award for journalism. He lives in Chicago.

For more information please visit www.audacityofhelp.net. Click here to read Gary Johnson's book review of The Audacity of Help: Obama's Economic Plan and the Remaking of America.

RACISM IS A SPORT IN AMERICA: EVERYBODY PLAYS!

By Harold Bell

Congressman Joe Wilson�s (R-S.C.) recent outburst on the House floor is just the tip of the iceberg of racism in America. He yelled �You lie� during a speech by President Barack Obama as he tried to explain his position on health care reform to Congress.

Former President Jimmy Carter said, �The outburst by Joe was based on racism and rooted in the fears of a Black President.�

I totally agree some white folks in America just won�t get over the fact that a black man is the President of the United States.

The white media is leading the charge. You can count on one hand the Talking Heads on cable television when discussing the President of the United States who will use words like �Mr. or President.� You would think they were talking about one of their drinking buddies at the local bar.

Racism is a lot like alcohol, people can usually hide their true feelings until they have had one too many drinks. The alcohol gives them a comfort zone to be who they really are and the truth comes to light. Racism has that same intoxicating effect.

For example; friends and family defending the actions of Joe Wilson were heard to say �There is not a racist bone in my dad�s body he does not even laugh at distasteful jokes.� Alan Wilson is an Iraq veteran and is running for the office of State�s Attorney.

Former South Carolina Democratic Chairman and long time friend Dick Harpootlian said, �I think Joe�s conduct was asinine, but I think it would be asinine no matter what color of the President. I don�t think that Joe�s outburst was caused by President Obama being African-American. I think it was caused by no filter being between his mouth and his brain� that is the effect racism has on a true racist.

I would like to make one think perfectly clear about racism in America white folks don�t have a patent on it, some of the biggest racist in America are black. The list is too long for me to name all of them.

In many cases we are our own worst enemy. This is true of those who are black and think they have made it in America because they have two-dollars more than their brothers and sisters. They often refuse to reach back and pull someone else along. They are too busy being �Exclusive instead of Inclusive.�

Essence Magazine in its August 2009 issue published a story titled �Black Women behaving badly.� The story revealed the back stabbing and petty envy and jealousy taking place in the Boardrooms of Corporate America, Hollywood studios, on Capitol Hill, beauty parlors and in black families among sisters and brothers. It is no different among black men. It is an all too familiar story.

Where do our black children look for their heroes and role models in a Racist and Player Hating America?

NBA pioneer and superstar Spencer Haywood once told me �If a child has to look beyond his dinner table for his heroes, they are in trouble.�

NBA Hall of fame player Charles Barkley once shouted for everyone to hear �I am not your child�s hero and if I am you as parents are doing a piss poor job in raising them.�

This column was inspired not only by a guy named Joe, but by a recent e-mail I received from a friend. Attached to the e-mail was a video of a young man making a presentation during Black History Month 2008. Johnathan McCoy looks to be 10 years old.

His presentation was related to the black community�s disparaging use of the N-word. He reminds the audience that they are descendants of Kings and Queens and they are not economically, politically or socially disenfranchised as some would have us to believe.

He closed the program by singing his version of the Negro National anthem, �Lift Every Voice and Sing.� My friend was really and truly inspired by little Jonathan�s presentation and performance and I was also.

She said, �This young man is awesome. He keeps hope alive.� I thought to myself �One out of two ain�t bad.�

It should not be some LITTLE Jonathan�s responsibility to keep hope alive it should be some BIG Jonathan's keeping hope alive.

In 2009 our children are looking for us to lead them and not for them to lead us.

There are blacks in positions of leadership who are making it very difficult for our children to see blacks in leadership roles. For example: The Nation�s Capitol is the SEAT of power in America.

We have a Black President and Black Mayor sitting in those seats but DC still has one the worst public school systems in America. A black President may be new to the landscape, but we have had black Mayors and a non-voting representative in Congress for decades and nothing has changed for our children.

Washington, DC has one of the worst public school systems in America. What makes it even more difficult is that black children across the country are dropping out of school at alarming rates (50%).

The Black President and Black Mayor see their kids off to the best schools Monday through Friday. In the meantime inner-city children whose parents are not the President of the United States and Mayor of the Nation�s Capitol attend the worst schools. Leaders must lead by example!

How many times have you heard a politician use the sound bite while running for office �Children First?�

To make sure our children continue to fail the Black Mayor hires an Asian woman by the name of Michelle Rhee to head a predominantly black school system.

Ms. Rhee had no administrative background experience on her resume. The Mayor tries to hide her lack of experience and skills by naming her to a newly created position titled �Chancellor.�

The Chancellor�s duties, reminds many of the duties of �The Turk� one the most feared men in the NFL during the pre-season. He receives the names of the players cut by the coach and hand carries them the pink slip. Players are often found hiding in their closets and under their beds when he knocks on the door. Ms. Rhee strikes that same kind of fear among DC school teachers. She is known as �The Hachett Woman� of the DC government (closing schools and firing teachers).

Ms. Rhee recently passed the pink slip and removed the black Principal at all black historical landmark Spingarn High School (total enrollment 2 Hispanics). She replaced him with a Hispanic principal who can barely speak English.

We at (Spingarn alumni) sit on the sidelines and act like the �Three Little Monkeys.� Hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil.

I wondered where the Spingarn Alumni was during this upheaval. Probably some where having a party over here and picnic over there!

Historical Langston Golf Course sits directly across the street from Spingarn. As a youngster growing up and going to school on the 24^th Street Benning Road NE corridor I watched Legendary black athletes like boxing champions Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Robinson play golf at this historical landmark. Pro golfers like Charlie Sifford, Lee Elder, Jim Thorpe and Jim Dent made the course their home away from home. Jim Dent still stops by when he is in town to give golf clinics for the children.

Long time black residents and golfers have successfully segregated themselves from the golf course. They can be found hanging out there Monday through Friday but disappear as the weekend approaches! Asians, Hispanics and white golfers take over the course on the weekends, is this Volunteered Slavery?

In my life time I have been an eyewitness to the march across the Selma bridge, three little girls blown up in church, the lynching of Emmett Till, civil rights activist Medgar Evers shot down in his driveway, the bodies of three civil rights workers found in a Mississippi swamp, the assassinations of a President and his brother, Martin Luther King, and Malcom X. And we are still singing We Shall Overcome and trying to keep hope alive?

Did those brave men and women sacrifice their lives to watch a black Mayor hire a white female police chief and her second in command a white female. He hired a Hispanic to lead the DC Recreation Department with an interpreter by her side--"No speak English!"

Mayor Fenty does not have one black woman or man heading any department in his administration. What was once �Chocolate City� is going vanilla in a hurry. The new flavor of the Fenty administration is vanilla.

The DC City Council is the worst I have ever seen, it is the blind leading the blind. They can�t even see the Washington Metro Rail system needing an overdue overhaul from top to bottom. Instead of them saving lives before the accidents and crashes, they are seen at the crash sites pulling the bodies out after the fact, over and over again. GM John Catoe and the Metro Board allow bus drivers to have three major accidents a year before they are suspended!!!

In Prince George's County, Maryland, County Executive Jack Johnson and State�s Attorney Glenn Ivey are just as bad or worst. They recently claimed they could not find the murder of a young black man who was executed KKK style (broken neck) in an Upper Marlboro jail cell. His cell was in a secured part of the facility with guards and cameras. There is something is wrong with this picture!

Last but not least are �The Pimps in the Pulpits� of our churches. They are like roaches, once they gain entry they are hard to get rid of.

Churches are the NEW liquor stores in the black community. There is now one on every corner and business is so good some pimping preachers have two churches.

Have you checked out your church lately, I checked out my church?

My great-grandfather laid the first brick to build Mt. Airy Baptist Church in 1893. The historical landmark is located at North Capitol and L Streets in NW Washington, DC.

The Bell family is no longer involved in the day-to-day activities of the church. Bell family discord is the primary reason. When my great-uncle the Rev. Earl Tyler died we allowed one pimp after another to take over.

Several years ago one preacher and several deacons were seen on the television evening news being led out of the church in handcuffs.

I recently attended Mt. Airy for a funeral and discovered little has changed. The church has a new pastor by the name of Rev. Larry B. West. He is a slick talking pimp in the making. Someone needs to tell him, �It is best to be thought a fool than to open his mouth and remove all doubt.�

There are still too many of us talking Godly but not acting Godly---meet Rev. West.

Black folks are still looking for love and God in all the wrong places.

Racism, Joe and the man in the mirror continue to be our biggest enemies.

"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do and say nothing.--Albert Einstein

About the Author