Last night I came across an article that I was so offended by that I reserved comment until I had a full nights sleep. I thought to myself that it was so insulting, so idiotic that it couldn’t be as bad as I was perceiving it to be. I needed to literally go to bed, take a mental break, and come back. That article was Gene Lyons "Obama’s Bridge too Far" on Salon.com. The article, a poorly thought out and terribly executed piece which wasn’t even cohesive as a whole should have been axed in the editorial process. But it wasn’t. Take a look.

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AKRON, Ohio – A Summit County woman will spend 10 days in jail after she was found guilty in a school residency case that could set a precedent for Ohio school districts.

Judge Patricia Cosgrove also placed 40-year-old Kelly Williams-Bolar on two years of probation and ordered her to complete 80 hours of community service.

On Saturday, a jury found Williams-Bolar guilty on two counts of tampering with records. She was also facing one count of grand theft, but the judge declared a mistrial on that charge after the jury couldn't reach a verdict.

"I felt that some punishment or deterrent was needed for other individuals who might think to defraud the various school systems," Cosgrove told NewsChannel5 after the sentencing.

Prosecutors said Williams-Bolar lived in Akron, but falsified enrollment papers in the Copley-Fairlawn School District so her two girls could attend schools for two years.

Prosecutors said the lies cost the district about $30,000. Copley-Fairlawn does not have open enrollment and out-of-district tuition is about $800 per month.

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But this isn't a case of political correctness. This is a case of being racially uncomfortable. 

The idea that the book would be used if it didn't contain the word "nigger" is preposterous. The book, which deals directly with racism, is not better served by erasing the racial slur. The only purpose is to ease the tension that is felt by parents and teachers of students who would read it. To pretend this is for some higher good is to insult the intelligence of the American public. America is a society in which our ugly history is not so far gone as to allow for cold, detached analysis. Because of the mistreatment of everyone who wasn't/isn't white, straight and male, America is constantly defending itself instead of dealing head-on with the wrongs that it willingly played a role in. 

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Follow Elon James White on Twitter! To see more episodes, visit This Week in Blackness on Youtube and GIANTLife.com.

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Follow Elon James White on Twitter! To see more episodes, visit This Week in Blackness on Youtube and GIANTLife.com.

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Defending Obama and the Democrats is hard.

Not because I don't think they've done some good in the past two years, because I do. It's hard because I find myself constantly defending them, even when I'm not ecstatic about what's happening. Don't let my overly public defense of the Democrats fool you; I'm annoyed, tired and frustrated like a lot of people. Yet I don't suffer from this enthusiasm gap that's become all the rage to discuss. My enthusiasm is as strong as it has ever been because my choice is to either be frustrated with the Dems but know that a lot of good will come out of it or let the crazy people win. My issues with the Republicans and the Tea Party aren't simply "a difference in opinion"; I'm overly enthusiastically against what they represent. I was really happy about Obama but my enthusiasm is on overdrive when it comes to stopping the Republicans. 

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The latest This Week in Blackness is titled "Black People and White People Are Different." It's based on the popular style of jokes that permeated the '90s in comedy clubs across the country. You've probably heard some form of joke like, "White people talk like this, black people talk like that." The interesting thing about the video title is that some people will become enraged and yell, "Ugh, you're highlighting and promoting differences between races and this will do nothing more than to continue to heighten the tensions that already exist!" Others will respond with an emotionally flat, "Duh." A weird byproduct of the post-racialization of America is the desire that some have to stomp out anything that sticks out as "other" between the races. When one points out differences in treatment or experiences (like I do, regularly) they're immediately attacked and called a bigot or racist (like, well, here on this site, for example).

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As of late, the sentiment that racism is over has been stated to me or friends of mine in numerous forms numerous times. And, as of late, this hasn't come from other Negroes (which for a brief period in '08 it did). This reoccurring phenomenon has often come from non-blacks in various stages of unrest due to our, ahem, "complaining."

I'm always overjoyed when someone takes my observations about problems in our society due to race as complaining. It makes me feel like they care, you know? They care enough to take time out of their busy day to attempt to make me feel like crap. That's amazing.

You do know that's what you're doing, right? When you start yelling/writing letters about the complaining Negroes it feels like a direct punch at anyone who might have noticed race-based issues in our country. You're not speaking about some nameless dark horde seeking to conquer this nation via government programs.

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White Americans have the legal right to say the word nigger, although they really shouldn't because some white Americans are racist.

Muslim Americans have the legal right to build a mosque in America but they really shouldn't because some Muslims are terrorists.

If Dr. Laura can't say whatever she wants then Muslims can't worship wherever they want. How are these different? 

Interesting argument, right? So how can one condemn Dr. Laura and then argue for the protection of Park51?

 Easy. 



Park51 opponents claim that it's just not right to build an Islamic community center so close to the place where almost 3,000 people died due to Islamic terrorism. This implies some sort of connection between the al-Qaida terrorists behind 9/11, and the folks who want to build Park51. It's the equivalent of not allowing a Catholic church to be built near a boy’s school because of the priest pedophilia scandal. It's a principle in our society that you don't punish everyone for the sins of a small minority.

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White people saying "nigger" while minimalizing the feelings of racism? Even more pleasant. Like a massage. A really racist massage.

The drama that has been this past week's news cycle due to someone simply expressing her right to free speech (if you go by Dr. Laura's resignation interview on CNN) has once again brought race to the forefront of American media. The popular memes of "blacks can say it, why can't whites?" and "No one should use the word!" are running rampant throughout the blogosphere. The underlying uncomfortableness of the discussion of "nigger" being in the everyday American vernacular comes from the underlying uncomfortableness of blacks being in everyday America.

The reason why whites can't say "nigger" is because they (past tense they, relax) used this word when black people were enslaved, beaten and raped for hundreds of years. Then, when blacks were free, whites continued to use the word to highlight that we were not one of them and to clearly articulate the fact that many considered us to be less than human. Just a "nigger."

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Now, we can sit and argue about "what's good or evil" and get our philosophical game on, but that's not my point at this moment. When I speak of good and evil it's a pretty straightforward concept. Helping people? Good. Hurting people? Bad.

This is a simple rule that is often followed when telling stories. I realize in the 14-year-old portion of my brain I'm constantly in some sort of cosmic battle where I represent the side of righteousness against the horde of monsters. This is exactly how it plays out when I'm in line at the DMV. I'm fairly sure Voldemort or Sauron has specifically handpicked these particular workers to conquer my soul. Nine times out of 10 they totally win. But this is also how I approach race and politics.

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Between Pat Buchanan being his usual batshit crazy self, the Sonia Sotomayor confirmation, a Philadelphia swimming club kicking a bunch of young black kids out due to their "changing the complexion" of the pool, and a host of other wacky nonsense I was fairly sure we were living in some of the worst times in the last few years of race. It would take some sort of powerfully magical spell cast upon America for it to become more racialized than things were last year.

Then came summer 2010.

I don't know where to begin.

I honestly have spent most of this summer baffled, confused and insulted by virtually all race-related events/scandals. I'm constantly being told (on the Internet and by Fox News) that I (and most minorities and liberals) am somehow making everything about race. Due to my apparently progressive views I obviously want to demonize working-class whites.

"It's not about race!"

Well, fine. You've convinced me, guys. It's not about race. It's about idiots. Idiots who want to ignore race and history in America. If it was simply about race we could talk about it. We could have this much-requested "national conversation on race with America" so that we could enlighten and move forward. We could share our differences in order to truly see how we are the same and have similar needs, wants and desires.

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First, I have to wake up every morning and say a minimum of 68 "The White Man Is Evil" meditations, which is then immediately followed by my morning run (I have to be in shape ... for the revolution). I take wide strides while listening intently to my Farrakhan and Rev. Wright mixtape. (Yes, there's a mixtape.) Then I come home and sing Negro spirituals to remind myself that slavery happened. That way, when I run into white people (which I try not to, but it happens ... like scurvy), I can be at maximum rage level and can scream at them for all the ills that are within the black community.

Some of you are thinking to yourself, "I knew it." And to that special, very stupid group I say "calm the 'eff down."

People think I'm way more angry than I actually am. Am I annoyed at 95 percent of race and political news that I come across? Absolutely. But I'm not an angry militant. I'm just ... observant. (Black Truth #7) I'm not looking for things to be pissed off about. I have never woken up in the morning and thought, "Ya know what I want? To complain about racism. MAN, that would be awesome."

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Upon glancing at my own complexion, you might not guess that I am the offspring of such a light-skinned black woman. If Harry Reid had met her at the right time he might have tried to get her to run for office. (Dead horse? Still-a-beating.) My mother really doesn't have any traces of a Negro dialect (We all know what he meant) although, on occasion, I'll hear her try to replicate one and it's tremendously funny. She sounds pretty much exactly the same as she does normally, but when she's getting "black" she'll add a "girl" or "chile" to the mix. There was an incident when I was child when my mom was forced to curse someone out and she started her diatribe with "You, sir, are an asshole." Hilarity and amazingly placed F words ensued. 

Joyce Elaine White is a handful and has very strong opinions. Such strong opinions that I took them to be facts. 

Facts about blackness. 

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I'm tired.

And no, it's not because my neighbors think it's a GRAND idea to pace right over my bedroom at 3 in the morning. (Note: If my neighbors happen to be reading this, I do request that you stop. I own a samurai sword. #Truestory) I'm tired because there's only but so much outrage I can have in a seven-day period. I know, I know; I'm a black male and it's a well-known fact that we are terribly angry and quite scary. (Grrrrrr! See? You were terrified.) With the myriad of ridiculousness going on in American politics and race, it's at the point that I can't even muster the energy to scare white women on the NYC subway.

And really, what type of life is that to live?

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You can find seasons 1 and 2 here. Tell us what you think in comments, or follow me on Twitter here.

Keeping it real with Michael Steele

Much ado about Negro

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