The Homework Club

Last week my two daughters came home with 4 more kids in tow. When I asked why all of these children had followed us home from the bus stop they told me, "Well, we've started a Homework Club daddy!" So, I went along with it. I figured I could help the other kids do their homework along with mine seeing that I never really have any trouble when it comes to my daughters doing their homework.

So, it's Day 6 of the Homework Club and I'm at a loss for words. Either the system and/or the parents are failing our children, the boys in particular. When they come in, my girls get to work and need very little, if any help at all. I'm not saying that to brag, just for comparison. My neighbor's daughter comes in and does her work pretty independently as well. Except she's a bit of a "know it all" and tries to finish before everyone else only to have me go back over it and point out several mistakes that she's made. But once I get her to slow down, she's good. But the boys...Oh! My! GOD!!!! Please know that this isn't to put these kids down, but I just feel like I need to share this because I'm at a crossroads.

I have a 3rd grader who can't spell four letter words like, from, what, this, make, etc... When I say he can't do it I mean what he writes down when asked to spell these words is not even close to the actual word. He wrote "wasi" and "farati" for "what" and "from". There is a list of 10 words and those were the closest he got to being correct because he actually used the right letter to start the words. Now, I know many highly educated men and women who are terrible spellers, but they usually spell things phonetically even if they are incorrect.  Boys are usually good at math, at least early on they are. But, out of 20 addition and subtraction problems using only single digit numbers, he answered 2 correctly and they were 2+1 and 1+2. It has been known for a while now that prison corporations use data from third grade reading and math assessments to determine where they will need to build their prisons in the future. I can only wonder why he has been allowed to make it to the 3rd grade with such limited learning.

Then, there's his little brother who is in 1st grade and cannot formulate a sentence using the words, "at", "in", "ran", "dad", etc... Notice, I didn't say write a sentence, I'm talking about just coming up with one like, "I am AT the store." My 1st grade daughter on the other hand, comes up with and writes her own sentences, so I spend my time trying to help him because she knows what to do. Since he doesn't know how to spell the words he wants to use in his sentences after he finally comes up with them, I write the sentences down for him and have him copy them onto his paper. I would have made him write the sentences himself but after he wrote 5 straight sentences that didn't contain a vowel, I knew that wasn't an option. He really struggles just to copy the sentences down because he still has trouble just writing the letters freehand. He seems to have a better grasp on math though.

Finally, there's a little boy who is in kindergarten. His homework consists of writing his name, the alphabet, and numbers 1 through 10. He just sits there and scribbles on the paper until I make him some traceable worksheets to follow because he can't write his letters freehand. However, he knows everything there is to know about a Nintendo DS. The two 3-year-old boys that I homeschool everyday can write letters and numbers after they practice by tracing them first.

One thing that all these boys have in common, with the exception of the 3-year-olds, is that their behavior charts from school are terrible. The charts use the colors from a traffic light to indicate the child's behavior that day; green means good, yellow means they had a few issues that needed to be addressed that day, and red means they were off the chain. They each usually have yellow or red on their behavior charts. I'm not sure if their lack of understanding the grade level concepts comes from the behavioral issues or if the behavioral issues stem from their lack of understanding the concepts.

At the end of each Homework Club session, I give their parents a report on what they had for homework and how they did on it. I let them know if they understood the work or if they need more practice. But shortly after they go inside, they are back outside playing, even on the days that I tell their parents that they need more practice. I'm starting to ask myself, "If they don't care, why should I?" I really don't want to give up on these boys, but when I allowed my daughters to start their Homework Club, I had no idea how poorly these boys were performing in school. In retrospect, I guess that's why their parents were in such a hurry to send them over. These boys are all well below grade level and I don't know if that's the system's fault, their parents' fault, or a combination of the two. I want to continue helping them, but I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew. Their parents are my neighbors and I don't want to offend them, but a hard conversation needs to be had and it needs to be had pronto!

What should I do? Should I just discontinue the Homework Club and tell the parents again that their children need more help than I can provide? Should I just continue to do the Homework Club and just keep giving the parents the reports and let them decide to handle things the way they see fit?

Why I Wasn't Offended By The 'Harriet Tubman Sextape'

OK, alright I get it.  The Trayvon Martin case has brought about a new sense of awareness for Black people across the country and race matters aren’t being taken as lightly as they had been in the past. Some people would say that we finally woke up. But, does that mean we can’t laugh anymore? Does that mean that comedians must now censor their material so as not to offend the newly awakened Black person? I mean, this isn't the first time a comedian or a comedy sketch has spoofed slavery. Why now is this such a big deal?

Did I find it funny? Meh, not really. But that’s because the jokes were telegraphed, meaning I could see the punchline coming, I knew exactly where they were going with it. So to me, it wasn’t really funny. But I didn’t necessarily find it offensive either. Over the years several well known comedians have spoofed slavery and made light of black stereotypes without any backlash. Some comedians have literally made a living off of talking about how stereotypical black folks do things.

Steve Harvey and Nephew Tommy have a regularly running bit, or at least the last time I was a listener of his show they did, where they both play slave characters and make a mockery of slavery and not a single ounce of backlash has made it to the mainstream and become a large public outcry. Hell, we've done it on The Green Chimp Show where we have spoken in a slave-like manner with what we perceived to be slave vernacular. Maybe it shouldn't have been done, but the reason that they did it and thought it was going to be funny was because of all the other times it’s been done and people laughed at it.

People are saying that it endorses “rape culture” but in the same breath will tell their daughters that a wet coochie and a dry purse don’t match. You didn’t see a rape take place in the video although the actress portraying Harriet did allude to it. What you saw was something that Black women and women of other races alike have championed for years and that’s use what you got to get what you want. She was using her feminine wiles, if you will, to manipulate “massah” into allowing her to start the Underground Railroad. Now was it historically accurate? Of course not! But is that a requirement for comedy? Does a comedy sketch have to be historically accurate? Does a movie that is set during the time of slavery have to be historically accurate? If so, then why didn’t D’Jango get this much backlash for portraying a goddamn slave cowboy who single handedly took down an entire plantation to rescue the love of his life? Hell, Roots wasn’t even as historically accurate as it could have or perhaps should have been. Many of its scenes were watered down and romanticized so that the viewing public could actually stomach it. So is slavery a taboo subject to spoof? Because it hasn’t been until now. I understand that we want to preserve the integrity of what happened during slavery and we don’t want anyone discounting it and the horrendous acts that occurred during that time, but do we really need to be focusing our energy and efforts on that as much as we need to be focusing on what is happening to us right now today? As far as we all know, Harriet Tubman never willingly had sex with a white slave owner, and given the fact that she and all white slave owners are dead, she never will. But what is happening and will continue to happen unless we take action is the slaughter and criminalization of our young Black men. Be honest, when is the last time you’ve sat down with a young person or any person for that matter and had a real discussion about slavery and the impact that it still has on us today? I’m not talking about telling a kid that white people treated Black people badly and made them do all their work for free. I’m talking about something meaningful that could make them see just how deeply slavery has affected Black people. And where the hell was all this outrage when Texas was changing the definition of slavery in its textbooks?

Let’s not be fooled, this video did not sway anyone one way or the other who had already felt a certain way about Black folks or slavery. We have bigger fish to fry.

Let’s break this down, because there is some comedic and intellectual value to the video. First of all, it is set in 1851 and the guy has a video camera. So that disarmed it for me right there and allowed me to see it as an attempt at comedy. Not only were there no video cameras at the time, but him making a sextape pokes fun at this era where sextapes of famous people or infamous people are always leaking. Then in his very first exchange with Harriet, the man with the camera says something very profound that I think was lost on a lot of people because they went into watching the video already anticipating something offensive. But what he said was, “I’s tired of all this unpaid, highly skilled labor that I’s put forth, just so our future children can have no benefits and still have to deal with racial inequalities 162 years later.” In that one sentence he dispels the myth that all slaves did was plow the field and pick cotton and touches on the reality of Black folks today. Not all slave labor was just unskilled labor that just anyone could do. Slaves were used for more than just toting that barge or bailing that hay. They were carpenters, blacksmiths, silversmiths, and quite ironically locksmiths. They were also engineers and inventors but most would never be given credit for their inventions because a white man would steal them and claim them as their own. In the last part of the sentence he says, “just so our future children can have no benefits and still have to deal with racial inequalities 162 years later.” Now if you can’t see the profundity in that then I don’t know what else to tell you. Because 162 years after the time this video was set which was 1851, is 2013 and aren’t we still dealing with racial inequalities? So let’s not totally discredit the video, that one exchange in my opinion says that the intent wasn’t to be disrespectful. It was an attempt at humor which ended up amounting to coonery and buffoonery not unlike any of the other stuff that we see on TV that has a Black cast (i.e. Reality Shows). Where is the outrage for reality shows that cast aspersions on Black people? If it’s OK for you to be enthralled with Love and Hip Hop, R&B Divas, Married To Medicine, and all the other crap that is shown on a weekly basis that makes Black folks look like idiots, why can't I laugh at this video?

I've seen some people say, "If a White person had made this video we would be marching up and down the streets". That may be true, but I also say if Dave Chappelle had made this video we would all be on the floor crying laughing and reposting and retweeting the link until it went viral.

I truthfully don’t think Black people are as offended by it as they say they are. I think it’s just indicative of how many Black people still worry about how White folks see us. They’re worried that a White person might see the video and think something negative about Black people. NEWSFLASH: White people who think negatively about Black people were already doing so, this video didn’t create any new negative thinkers. Just like a video depicting Black folks in a positive light wouldn’t convert anyone who thinks negatively about Black people. It’s also a response to Russell Simmons going so hard at Don Lemon for his idiotic ass comments and then allowing this to be posted to his site. I’m sorry but I can't help but to think that the outrage is disingenuous.

Black people have a tendency to deify our prominent historical figures, which is peculiar seeing how much Black folks love them some church. I'm pretty sure the bible says something about there only being one God, and you would think Black people would know that as much as people quote scripture on Facebook and Twitter. Yet, Dr. King, President Obama, Harriet Tubman and a few others have still managed to make it to "God" status. Harriet Tubman was a person, a supremely extraordinary person, but a person nonetheless.

Just like Harriet said, she freed thousands of slaves and she could have freed more had they known they were slaves. Don’t be a slave to group think. Don't allow your outrage to come from the fact that everybody else is outraged. I personally wasn’t offended by the video because I saw it as an attempt at comedy and I refuse to allow the masses to make me change my sensibilities because somebody doesn't know how to take a joke.

That's my take on it. I could be wrong...but I doubt it.

Good Old Bill Cosby

Hmph... I see Good Old Bill Cosby is pandering to get himself into massah's good graces again. I don't disagree with everything he said in the latest "Black folks have to do better" rant that has been attributed to him. But he left out quite a few other contributing factors to the plight of Black people in America, especially as it pertains to education. He doesn't talk about the lack of funding for resources that aren't being channeled to inner city schools (that they blame on lack of census data), or racially biased standardized testing, or the school to prison pipeline. He dare not speak on "white privilege" or the fact that teachers who teach in suburban districts make far more than those who teach in the inner city.

 I agree that it is past time for us to stop "Blaming the White Man"; but only for the things that "The White Man" doesn't deserve blame for. We can't pretend that America, in its current state, and with its ugly history aren't partially to blame for the socioeconomic disparities between Black and Brown people and White people here.

Look around you. Look at yourself and your friends and family who get up at the crack of dawn everyday and bust their ass to make a living for their families. Look at how they do everything they can to make upstanding citizens out of their children. Then look at where they still are; toiling at the bottom of someone's corporate ladder despite going back to school to get more and more degrees to appease society's need for documentation of commitment.

Don't you find it peculiar that everyone keeps saying that the playing field has been leveled but you and your team can't seem to get out of your own end-zone? If it were simply a matter of wanting better and doing better, I have no doubt that the vast majority of us would have already reached the promised land. Don't be fooled into thinking that it's just that easy. There are any number of systematic obstacles both old and new in place to keep you backed up against your own goal-line. Sure, there are some who have managed to traverse the obstacle course. But the problem lies in them making it across mid-field then never looking back to make a block for those left behind.  So it's not just the poor and uneducated that need to do better. Those that have experienced some level of success need to do better as well.

Guys Just Want to have Fun

I've heard it said that women don't like for men to have fun. I have even experienced what seemed
like behavior to validate this assertion before. What is it about men having fun that seems to not sit well with women? Is it the notion that men can't have fun unless there are women around, specifically women other then their woman? Do women secretly want to be their man's "mother"? What do you think about curfews in
relationships/marriage? What do you consider a "decent" time of night for your man to come home after hanging out with the guys? What can happen at 4am that can't happen at 11pm?

The reason I'm asking is that men respond to logic. The overused buzzwords like childish,
immature, irresponsible and disrespectful get tuned out because we've heard them over and over
again. If women are going to be so dead set for or against an action then they need to present a
logical explanation as to why it is either right or wrong. Simply adding a "label" to a behavior
doesn't resonate with men. Tell us in real words why it's unacceptable and watch the behavior
change. I'm not trying to make women seem silly or petty. I'm simply saying, think about why the
things that bother you, bother you. Then make a truthful declaration to your man about it and watch him change the behavior. If it's, "I believe you get horny around 3 in the morning and when you are drunk and horny I don't know if you will remain faithful", then say that. Or whatever it is, say it. I've been married going on 15 years. When I'm going to hang out with certain friends, my wife says, "OK, I'll see you tomorrow.". Because She knows I'm probably not going to come in that night and she isn't going to feel like coming to pick me up at 5am. If all of the bills are paid and all of the household duties are taken care of, how it that being irresponsible? Here's where you say, "Because it just is". and that's when men tune out. I"m just saying. I'm not trying to debate you, I'm trying to put you up on game.

God Damn the NRA!

When I woke up at 6:30 this morning to get my girls up for school, I walked into their room and saw them sleeping so peacefully and decided to just let them sleep. I initially chalked it up to me not feeling like getting them dressed and going down to the bus stop. Giving them days off like this are very rare for me because I'm a strong believer in kids getting a good education and being in school everyday. Now, in light of the horrific tragedy that happened at the elementary school in Connecticut, I'm sure I know why I received the message to keep my babies (one of whom is in kindergarten) near me this morning. Some of you might say, "But D, that was in Connecticut, not Georgia. How is that relevant?" To that I'd say, and I'm sure all parents and many others who are reading this will agree, it might as well had been in Georgia and at my children's school because of the sense of loss and grief that I feel right now for those children and others that were so senselessly murdered at that school, as well as their families. 

On ballots all across the country in this past election and elections over the past several years, there have been measures to vote on amending the Constitution to include or exclude Gay Marriage; something that if allowed wouldn't kill 30 people all at once even if Frank married Bob 30 times over. As a matter of fact it wouldn't kill one person. But we refuse to take a long hard look at the Second Amendment, or the right to bear arms. If this tragedy isn't the eye opener we need to take a look at this, then I don't know what is. It's easy to say we don't need more gun control, we need more idiot control. But, I submit that we need more of both, and we need it in a hurry! God Bless the families of all affected by this horrendous act and God bless everybody that's reading this right now.

Well, that's The Green Chimp's take on it...what's yours?

An Open Letter From A Dad To The School System

Dear Public Schools, Specifically Black Schools:

Fathers who are involved in and care about their children's educational experience actually do exist! I know you may not see many of them strolling through your halls, but we're out there. And we demand to be respected as part of our children's educational process. I'm so damn tired of being discounted and having the fact that I exist taken for granted by schools.

I know it may be hard to believe, but some of the students at your school actually DO come from two-parent homes. Even when they don't it is down right disrespectful of you to assume that the custodial parent is the mother or that the father isn't involved. I know, I know, it's mind boggling and mind blowing for you to have to fathom that there are actually involved dads, single dads or even stay at home dads out there, but nevertheless they do exist.

It amazes me how a woman can walk into a school's main office and say, "Hi, I'm here to pick up my children." and suddenly the children are produced and handed over to her without any hesitation; never knowing if she is authorized to take those children out of school or have contact with them. But let a man walk into that same office and say, "Hi, I just received a phone call saying that my child was sick. I'm here to pick him/her up. Here's my I.D." and suddenly a tribunal that could rival the Spanish Inquisition starts to take place. "What color are your child's eyes?" "How many braids does she wear in her hair?" "Is his hair wavy or rough looking?" This all takes place despite that man's name being on every document at the school and him being in attendance at all school related functions (PTA, Parent-Teacher conferences, Bring Your Parent To Lunch Day, Just Because Day, etc, etc...).

Look, I get it. You want to make sure the children are safe. I'm all for that, but don't act like they are somehow less safe if their father comes to pick them up than they would be if their mother came to pick them up.

This may or may not be being taught in your schools, but it takes both a man AND a woman to make a child. If you don't know that, then you don't deserve to teach a dog to bark, much less deserve to be teaching the future of this country and the world.

Signed,

How The Hell Are You Going To Call Me And Tell Me My Child Is Sick And Needs To Be Picked Up And Then Be Surprised That I Show Up To Pick Her Up?

Damn Fool of the Week: Dear Mr. Eastwood

As we all may or may not know, The Democratic National Convention kicks off next week in Charlotte, NC with several guest speakers slated to appear. It will be interesting to see how they respond to the things that were said at the Republican National Convention this week. I'm particularly interested to see how they respond to the damn fool known as Clint Eastwood.
If you don't know what happened, here's the gist of it. Eastwood came out as a surprise speaker at The Republican National Convention with an empty chair and proceeded to pretend to speak to an invisible President Obama in a very disrespectful and degrading tone. He even went so far as to pretend that the invisible President used the F-word twice during their exchange.

As bad as that was, what really set me off about his whole appearance was when he said "We own this country", while pointing at the people in the room and it was received with thunderous applause.

The question I have for you Mr. Eastwood, is Who is the "we" you were referring to when you said "WE own this country"? Is it the descendants of Native Americans whose ancestors were here first and doing just fine living off the land until the Europeans showed up and pilfered its resources?

Or is the "we" you were referring to the descendants of slaves who were forced to come to this country and work, yet politicians so conveniently keep lumping them into their "we are a nation of immigrants" rhetoric?

Who exactly is the "We" Clint? 

Is the "we" the 23 million unemployed Americans who can't find work because President Bush allowed so many of our jobs to be outsourced to other countries? And not only did he not  try to stop it, but he gave the companies tax breaks that did so.

Or is it the 50 million uninsured Americans who still don't know if they will have healthcare coverage because The Republican controlled House has voted on 31 different occasions to repeal the Affordable Healthcare Act but not one single time on President Obama's jobs bill?

Maybe it's the 46 million Americans living below the poverty line. Or the 40 million Americans who decided that rather than continue to toil in a broken educational system that is more concerned with standardized test scores than they are with children actually learning something, they'd try it on their own and are now relegated to minimum wage jobs that don't even come close to making ends meet. Children aren't standardized so why should their tests be?

Is the "we" you're referring to, the children and families of the men and women who died serving our country in Iraq and Afghanistan? Undoubtedly WE have ALL made sacrifices of blood, sweat and tears for this great country of ours. So before you go throwing the word "we" around as if it pertains to some elite exclusive club, make sure it's understood who the "we" you're referring to is. Better yet, instead of using an empty chair to mock and disrespect the office of The President of the United States, why don't you put it to its intended use and sit your ass down?
 
You have always been a talented actor, but now you're a bit long in the tooth and maybe senility has reared its ugly head or perhaps all of the roles you've played all came out at one time during your speech in some kind of twisted Sybil sequel, who knows.

But, there's no wonder "The Outlaw Josie Wales". You'd Wail too if every time you drove your "Gran Torino" through Arizona, some big "Dirty, Harry(hairy)" cop stopped you and asked you for your papers. And while Mitt Romney may have a "Fistful of Dollars", "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" of it all is that most Americans are struggling just to earn "A Few Dollars More". Until you realize that, you and that empty chair can take a leap off of "Coogan's Bluff" and take "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" AKA Romney and Ryan with you. Please know that the Democrats and Oprah are going to turn you "Every Which Way But Loose", so you'd better apologize "Any Which Way You Can". When you decided to do that speech you put yourself "In The Line Of Fire" and for your antics you will be "Unforgiven". Your shenanigans certainly made a "Sudden Impact" but definitely not in the way that Mr. Romney might have hoped. So, perhaps you should drive your "Pink Cadillac" back across "The Bridges of Madison County". Because if you have any thoughts or inclinations that the Republican Party is going to have your back on this, unless you have a "Million Dollar Baby", you can "Hang 'Em High"!

So go ahead Clint, make all of our day and stop being a damn fool.

F*** Your Football Team!

I wrote and read this on The Green Chimp Show today:

Dear Penn State Apologists and Sympathizers,

At some point you have to stop being a fan. You have to stop being blinded by the school’s colors or deafened by the team’s fight song. You have start looking at situations for what they truly are.

Some people have the audacity to decry the sanctions that the NCAA imposed on Penn State as unfair, extreme or biased. Some even dare to call the decision made by collegiate athletics’ governing body, knee jerk and media driven; when in fact, that couldn’t be further from the truth. 

First off, the university hired its own investigator to get to the bottom of a scandal that rocked Penn State and agreed to accept any sanctions that were meted out by the NCAA. Secondly, because of certain rules and regulations set forth by certain government bodies, the media’s hands were tied when it came to properly describing the heinous acts carried out by convicted child rapist and former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. The media was forced to use words like oral sex, fondle, masturbate, molest, and sexual intercourse. So perhaps, many of you didn’t quite understand the severity or how heinous these acts were.

Well, I’m not governed by those same entities on this show and I feel like it’s my duty to describe in layman’s terms for those who possibly have the vocabulary of a brick, what Sandusky did, AND what the school’s president, vice president, athletics director and beloved and legendary head football coach turned their backs to for nearly 15 years.

Jerry Sandusky fucked little boys in the ass! He jerked and sucked their dicks. He lathered himself up with soap and rubbed his dick all over little boys’ bodies. He put his finger up little boys’ assholes. He groped little boys’ testicles. He forced his dick into little boys’ mouths. All the while, President, Graham Spanier, Senior Vice President, Gary Schultz, Athletics Director, Tim Curley, and Head Football Coach Joe Paterno, worked to cover it up in the name of protecting their beloved Nittany Lions football program.

You see, they were blinded by the school’s colors, they had allowed themselves to be deafened by the team’s fight song and they let this monster ruin life after life after life, year after year after year.

If you can’t see what’s wrong with that, and you still want to sympathize with Penn State, then I can’t help but to believe that you’re either apt to do the same things to little boys as Sandusky did, or you’re willing to cover them up like so many others did. Either way, you don’t deserve any sympathy when you’re caught up in something like this and neither do they. 

What if this were your kid?

Signed,

Fuck your football team, I got kids motherfucker!

Why Penn State Deserves The NCAA Sanctions

Every year before, during, and after the college athletics season there are allegations swirling about how some student-athlete at some major school received improper benefits. Inevitably people start to speculate as to what the penalty would or should be if it's determined that the allegations are true. Depending on their allegiance to the school in question or its rival, people either call for harsh, tough sanctions or leniency. It is all subjective in the end because we all know that the NCAA isn't the fairest governing body in sports and and can be supremely hypocritical at times.


Typically, the kind of infractions that the NCAA metes out punishment for involve a student-athlete receiving money or something in-kind as an incentive to attend a certain school or as a show of appreciation from boosters. Many times this can include selling of memorabilia to a die-hard fan with deep pockets and influence in the surrounding community. Other times, these infractions occur when the student-athletes get what is commonly known as "the hook-up". Things ranging from free tattoos to the use of a car from a local car dealer without a car note to pay. They can be things as simple as being flown to a game and given tickets by a former teammate who is playing at the next level. 


Some instances that most people are familiar with are the "death penalty" that SMU received in the 80s, where their entire football program was shut down for a year by the NCAA and for another year by the school itself for participating in what was basically a "pay for play" scandal. Many local businessmen and government officials contributed to what amounted to a payroll for SMU football players and when the NCAA got wind of it they doled out the harshest penalty possible...the death penalty. In addition, to the program being shut down for a year, SMU lost several scholarships and post season privileges. Another pretty infamous scandal involved former NBA and University of Michigan standout, Chris Webber along with 3 other players receiving money while playing at The University of Michigan.  The scandal cost Webber his All-American 1993 honors, Robert Traylor his MVP awards in the 1997 NIT and 1998 Big Ten Tournament, as well as Louis Bullock's standing as the school's third all-time leading scorer and all-time leader in free throws and Big Ten all-time 3 point field goal leader. When Reggie Bush was found to have received improper benefits in the way of his parents being given a house during his time at USC, the NCAA imposed sanctions that included stripping 30 scholarships from the school, vacating wins, and a a 2-year bowl ban among other things. Bush even felt pressure to return the Heisman trophy that he earned on the field to the Heisman Trust. He eventually caved to the pressure and returned the award. Most recently, the Ohio State University football program came under fire from the NCAA for players receiving what amounts to "the hook-up". Coach Jim Tressel was given what amount to the death penalty for coaches, a 5 year "show cause" sanction where any school who wants to hire him has to show good reason why he should be allowed to be there coach and would face severe penalties if Tressel were to violate NCAA rules again because he turned his back to the players' activities.


You can add all of those scenarios up they still wouldn't compare to the egregious violations that took place at Penn State. Why? Because the only people who were involved in those scandals were student-athletes (who should be payed anyway) and boosters who have more money than they know what to do with. No one was hurt by their actions. However, when it comes to Penn State there were several people who were hurt physically and emotionally; namely the little boys, now young men who were sexually assaulted by former Penn State defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky.


What Sandusky did to those boys was not only perverse and disgusting, it was also prolonged. Sandusky molested and assaulted boys over a 15 year span, and officials at Penn State, including famed football coach Joe Paterno, knew about it. Not only did they know about it, they took measures to cover it up in order to protect their beloved football program. They showed little to no regard for the young boys lives who were being violated and ruined by Sandusky.


Recently, Penn State removed Joe Paterno's statue from outside Beaver Stadium. In addition, the NCAA levied severe penalties against the school and its football program which included a $60 million fine, bowl bans, loss of scholarships, 5 years of probation and vacation of all wins from 1998-2011. AND THEY DESERVED EVERY BIT OF IT, if not more. 


For those who believe that things should have stopped once Jerry Sandusky was convicted, I say there would not have been a scandal were it not for the football program. Had Jerry Sandusky just been a professor or somehow employed by Penn State otherwise, I'm sure those that knew about his actions would have reported them immediately to the authorities. But, sense  he was connected to their football program they chose to cover it up and turn a blind eye. I wish the NCAA had stripped them of the program for a year or two to make them get their priorities straight.


God bless the young men who endured this horrific act and all those like them. Life is bigger than football and the NCAA showed that they understand that with their sanctions against Penn State today. They don't always get it right, but today they did.


Well, that's The Green Chimp's take...what's yours?


submitted by D. Wright

Why Reading Is Fundamental, Especially For Fundamentalists

So I happened to be perusing the Internet and came across the "Brainstorm" blog in The Chronicle of Higher Education. The blog written by Naomi Schaefer Riley was entitled "The Most Persuasive Case for Eliminating Black Studies? Just Read the Dissertations." Please pay close attention to the "Just Read The Dissertations" as it will be very relevant later. In her post Riley says that the dissertations being offered by graduate students who were featured in the site's piece entitled, "A New Generation of Black-Studies Ph.D.'s", were "a collection of left-wing victimization claptrap" and that the best thing about them was that they won't be read by many people. She goes on to attack some of the students individually about their dissertations. In fact, she calls La Tasha B. Levy's efforts to examine black Republicanism a work of "sheer political partisanship and liberal hackery". Riley also completely dismisses Keeanga-Yahmatta Taylor's work entitled, “Race for Profit: Black Housing and the Urban Crisis of the 1970s.” as a belief in a government conspiracy to promote single family homes in black neighborhoods after the unrest of the 60s. She specifically calls into question Taylor's assertion that,  “The subprime lending crisis, if it did nothing else, highlighted the profitability of racism in the housing market.” Riley rebuffs this by sarcastically suggesting that the white people who lost their homes as a result of sub-prime lending were "collateral damage".

During her vitriolic and uninformed blither she even makes mention of the "black president" as if to suggest that that should be enough evidence that there is no need for black studies and black people have arrived by writing, "black studies today seems to rest on the premise that nothing much has changed in this country in the past half century when it comes to race. Shhhh. Don’t tell them about the black president!" Click the link above, I can't make this kind of stuff up. She closes her balderdash with this sentiment, "...there are legitimate debates about the problems that plague the black community...But it’s clear that they’re not happening in black-studies departments." Then she dares to write, "legitimate scholars find solutions to the problems of blacks in America. Solutions that don’t begin and end with blame the white man.".

As a ray of hope for our society she was bombarded with criticism for her nonsensical tirade from people who commented on her blog. However she wasn't rattled by the comments. In fact, she found it necessary to write a response to the response that she had gotten. In her response she admits to not having read the dissertations and that she doesn't hold an advanced degrees herself. How utterly arrogant is it for her to make such brash statements about the works of Ph.D. candidates, when she didn't read the works nor holds any advanced degrees herself?

Perhaps, the riposte from the students who's program of study and diligent works she so critically, blindly and unapologetically bashed will give her a clearer understanding as to how ignorant she really is. If you hold you breath waiting on that to happen, I hereby absolve myself of any liabilities. The response to her nonsense is a far better read than the malarkey she let drip from her fingertips. So, click the link and enjoy reading them smash egg into her face.