RANDOM MUSINGS ON A FRIDAY the 13TH

Black Man is Card Carrying Member of the KKK

Yes, it sounds like a Dave Chappelle sketch, but check out this article from Utah's Deseret News. It's all real--and on the up and up.

How to Celebrate the MLK Holiday

Martin Luther King Jr. Day hasn't caught on yet in America. It's still a new holiday and while, yes, many Americans remain racist in their thinking, that's not why this holiday remains a poor second cousin to President's Day in most people's mind. It's lots of little things, like the fact that it just doesn't trip lightly off the tongue. (I suppose we could call it, Happy MLK Day.) It's hard for department stores to promote sales for the 3-day weekend--after all, Martin Luther King Jr. is not exactly a symbol, nor was he a proponent, of rampant capitalism. Many Americans are still "shopped out" from the Christmas shopping frenzy. And when one tries to think seriously about King, race relations and his famous "I Have A Dream" speech, it's hard not to be overtaken with a certain sadness for opportunities lost and roads not taken as a nation. One wonders what King would say if he were alive today and witnessing the carnage of the Iraq War (Aaron MacGruder of The Boondocks takes a satirical stab at that question in his special King Day episode on Sunday night).

My humble suggestion is to thank Stevie Wonder for working so hard to get you the day off (if you have it--about a third of American corporations do NOT give their employees Martin Luther King Day off), and if you haven't seen them, watch Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing and Malcolm X on DVD. Not only are they the best movies the talented Lee's ever made, but they will entertain you even as the provoke thoughts about what it means to be Black and deal with racism and inequality in the Land of Opportunity.

Then on Tuesday, you can go back into work and find a way to stick it to the Man!

Safety Dance

Amusing true anecdote from my g.f.--speaking of the Man, she got an email that her boss wouldn't be in today and she was so happy, that she started singing and dancing to Men Without Hats' classsic 80's song, "Safety Dance" (don't ask why that song popped into her head). She was dancing right into the shower when, unfortunately she slipped right between "a-a...f-f" and the rest of it and bruised her hip.

The moral of the story is: do not do the safety dance while in the shower. Or something like that.

Have a nice holiday. Next week, I'll get back to my 2005 lists. In the meantime, Peace...