In the late 1970s, a young Jamaican man named Vivian Blake, a scholarship kid from the Tivoli Gardens ghetto of Kingston, arrived in New York as part of a traveling cricket exhibition, stuck around, and began selling marijuana. One of the last great political proxy fights of the Cold War was then unfolding in Jamaica: Both the left-wing party, friendly to Castro, and its right-wing opponents built violent electioneering posses to persuade friendly voters and attack unfriendly ones—800 Jamaicans died. Blake was affiliated with the right-wing Shower Posse. He helped funnel pot and, later, cocaine to the United States and sent guns back home to help the posses intimidate voters. After the election, the new government tried to drive the posses off the island, and many arrived in New York and Miami, fully formed, violent organizations, deprived of their political purpose and looking for something to do.
In 1985, it was still possible to describe crack as confined to three cities—New York, Los Angeles, and Miami. But police elsewhere soon noticed two new phenomena: crack, and the Jamaican gangs who would soon control up to 40 percent of the East Coast market. Blake's posse had built markets in Roanoke and Houston, Renkers Posse ran Philly and DC, and Kansas City and Des Moines were Waterhouse. The early traffic was thus partly a creature of Cold War politics: Blake and his contemporaries built the model for a national drug trade—the overweight, nondescript women couriers, the rented Volvos. After the cops clamped down, they discovered that the Crips and the Bloods had aped the Jamaican model, and taken over.
As yet another sign of just how idiotic our politics have become, when this Supreme Court confirmation circus mercifully concludes next week, I would be interested in a tally of how many times the name "Miguel Estrada" is mentioned. These Republicans are brilliant at spitting out non-sequiturs. This is what happens when the GOP embraces Rush Limbaugh as the standard for Socratic Dialogue.
I hate the fact that the GOP acts as though they never did the exact same thing during the Clinton years that the Democrats did to Miguel Estrada. The current solicitor general, and my former Dean at Harvard Law School, Elena Kagan, was nominated in 1999 by Clinton to fill the *exact same seat* on the DC Circuit that Estrada was later tapped for by Bush. Orrin Hatch, who was then chairing the Judiciary Committee, refused to bring her nomination to a vote, so she never made it to the bench.
Yeah, I'm not happy. Thanks to Mason for his services and all, but I wish he would have done this before draft day. So I'm going to assume this has a lot to do with McNair's death.
The Boldin rumors have been around for a long time; pre-draft, we didn't have the picks to seal the move. It's getting pretty late in the summer, although I find it interesting that no one has acquired him yet, and I think the Cards would be tempted by draft picks or maybe one of Rice or McClain. I don't like giving even one of those guys up though, who knows which McGahee will show up, but chances are, not the Hurricane at this point.
Still, gotta have faith in Ozzie. Unless your Terrell Owens I guess.
Just wanted to thank TNC for some excellent music posted on this blog occasionally. the only reason why i have been listening to TV on the Radio, Sam Cooke at the harlem club square and Passion Pit it because of this blog. Cool!
So I thought I'd give a recommendation: Sam Sparro. Awesome voice considered to be a, "House R&B, Electropop, Electrofunk & Soul Music" artist, at least according to Wikipedia.
Michael Steele asked how he's going to bring diverse populations into the Republican Party:
Steele offered a plan that probably shouldn't inspire a lot of confidence from the GOP: "My plan is to say, 'Y'all come. Cause a lot of you are already here.'"
The man questioning Steele then said, "I'll bring the collard greens." The RNC chair laughed and replied, "I got the fried chicken and potato salad."
Ehhh, I think people are taking that out of context. He was implying some kind of potluck thing, not like he was gonna drive around the ghetto with an ice-cream truck full of fried chicken and potato salad handing out flyers and food on behalf of the GOP.
I dont like Steele's attempt to "blackify" the GOP with condescending street tropes any more than the next brother, but he gets a pass on this one from me.
yeah, I don't know when the next RNC chair elections are, but, uh, I'm guessing Sarah Palin will be ready by then. Not that it'll take much preparation.
Didn't one of the guest bloggers wonder what Bill Clinton thought about gay marriage? Well, typically Clinton*, it's all well and good to be progressive once you're out of office:
Here's a piece no one cared about. Meh, whatever, probably the most enjoyable article I did during my stint at TIME. Premiered a month before I got laid-off. The nail in the coffin? Ya think?
Here's me going after Al. I didn't so much have a problem with him, as I had a problem with media acting like this dude was the go-to guy for everything black.
This was my first real story at time. I was writing for the Business section, a real change of direction for me. At any rate, it's about Wal-Mart's attempts to colonize the inner-city. As much as I enjoyed this piece, I mostly enjoyed going out to Chicago, which is a beautiful, beautiful city.
This a piece I did about the cops just outside our nation capitol, in Prince George's County, a few years back. I wanted to offer a counter to the dumb, conventional wisdom that if you paint your police force black, you could eradicate police brutality. In fact, Prince George's--one of the richest, blackest counties in the country--also had one of the most brutal police force's in the country.
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
The Drug War in Six Acts by Ben Wallace-Wells - MotherJones July/August 2009 :
VIVIAN BLAKE'S WAR
In the late 1970s, a young Jamaican man named Vivian Blake, a scholarship kid from the Tivoli Gardens ghetto of Kingston, arrived in New York as part of a traveling cricket exhibition, stuck around, and began selling marijuana. One of the last great political proxy fights of the Cold War was then unfolding in Jamaica: Both the left-wing party, friendly to Castro, and its right-wing opponents built violent electioneering posses to persuade friendly voters and attack unfriendly ones—800 Jamaicans died. Blake was affiliated with the right-wing Shower Posse. He helped funnel pot and, later, cocaine to the United States and sent guns back home to help the posses intimidate voters. After the election, the new government tried to drive the posses off the island, and many arrived in New York and Miami, fully formed, violent organizations, deprived of their political purpose and looking for something to do.
In 1985, it was still possible to describe crack as confined to three cities—New York, Los Angeles, and Miami. But police elsewhere soon noticed two new phenomena: crack, and the Jamaican gangs who would soon control up to 40 percent of the East Coast market. Blake's posse had built markets in Roanoke and Houston, Renkers Posse ran Philly and DC, and Kansas City and Des Moines were Waterhouse. The early traffic was thus partly a creature of Cold War politics: Blake and his contemporaries built the model for a national drug trade—the overweight, nondescript women couriers, the rented Volvos. After the cops clamped down, they discovered that the Crips and the Bloods had aped the Jamaican model, and taken over.
Ever read Born Fi' Dead by Laurie Gunst? She deals with a lot of first hand accounts of this era. Excellent book.
I'll look it up Juba. Thanks.
Happy Bastille Day Everyone!!!
Obviously, I'd want to second that.
Indeed, Happy Bastille Day!
As yet another sign of just how idiotic our politics have become, when this Supreme Court confirmation circus mercifully concludes next week, I would be interested in a tally of how many times the name "Miguel Estrada" is mentioned. These Republicans are brilliant at spitting out non-sequiturs. This is what happens when the GOP embraces Rush Limbaugh as the standard for Socratic Dialogue.
I hate the fact that the GOP acts as though they never did the exact same thing during the Clinton years that the Democrats did to Miguel Estrada. The current solicitor general, and my former Dean at Harvard Law School, Elena Kagan, was nominated in 1999 by Clinton to fill the *exact same seat* on the DC Circuit that Estrada was later tapped for by Bush. Orrin Hatch, who was then chairing the Judiciary Committee, refused to bring her nomination to a vote, so she never made it to the bench.
Dr. Regina Benjamin - Awesome, or moar awesome?
I thought that this was worth checking out. It's a Philoctetes program on Literacy and imagination.
Interesting stuff.
So...any thoughts on the controversial Citypaper / Marion Barry cover?
Derrick Mason out... Now the Ravens seriously need to find a #1 receiver.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=Ak7MbVrsDkj6chBVxony9SpDubYF?slug=ap-ravens-mason&prov=ap&type=lgns
Yeah, I'm not happy. Thanks to Mason for his services and all, but I wish he would have done this before draft day. So I'm going to assume this has a lot to do with McNair's death.
I thought about that too Dan.
There's already buzz about B'more making a play to get Anquan Boldin.
Can you imagine how big a move that would be??
The Boldin rumors have been around for a long time; pre-draft, we didn't have the picks to seal the move. It's getting pretty late in the summer, although I find it interesting that no one has acquired him yet, and I think the Cards would be tempted by draft picks or maybe one of Rice or McClain. I don't like giving even one of those guys up though, who knows which McGahee will show up, but chances are, not the Hurricane at this point.
Still, gotta have faith in Ozzie. Unless your Terrell Owens I guess.
Wouldnt Terrell have been on the Ravens for McNair's last two seasons there if he had gone along with the trade?
The trade was 2004, McNair arrived in 2005--with TO on the team they probably go to the Superbowl again that year.
*sigh*
TO gets what he deserves I suppose--He'll likely never get a shot at a ring.
*another
Just wanted to thank TNC for some excellent music posted on this blog occasionally. the only reason why i have been listening to TV on the Radio, Sam Cooke at the harlem club square and Passion Pit it because of this blog. Cool!
So I thought I'd give a recommendation: Sam Sparro. Awesome voice considered to be a, "House R&B, Electropop, Electrofunk & Soul Music" artist, at least according to Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Sparro
http://www.samsparro.com/
Michael Steele asked how he's going to bring diverse populations into the Republican Party:
Steele offered a plan that probably shouldn't inspire a lot of confidence from the GOP: "My plan is to say, 'Y'all come. Cause a lot of you are already here.'"
The man questioning Steele then said, "I'll bring the collard greens." The RNC chair laughed and replied, "I got the fried chicken and potato salad."
Ehhh, I think people are taking that out of context. He was implying some kind of potluck thing, not like he was gonna drive around the ghetto with an ice-cream truck full of fried chicken and potato salad handing out flyers and food on behalf of the GOP.
I dont like Steele's attempt to "blackify" the GOP with condescending street tropes any more than the next brother, but he gets a pass on this one from me.
yeah, I don't know when the next RNC chair elections are, but, uh, I'm guessing Sarah Palin will be ready by then. Not that it'll take much preparation.
Didn't one of the guest bloggers wonder what Bill Clinton thought about gay marriage? Well, typically Clinton*, it's all well and good to be progressive once you're out of office:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090720/tracey
*or Democrat for that matter