I have to be honest. Morning radio on the Power stations sucks without the Star & Bucwild Show. Don’t get me wrong. I still strongly support the decision to fire Star. My beef is that his replacement, Big Tigger, is the exact opposite as a host: uncontroversial, unintelligent, and uninteresting. I understand that the powers-that-be wanted a big name to replace Star so that they could retain their hip-hop fan base but they could have done better.

My best guess is that, in a few weeks, the folks in the corporate office will realize that their 5 million listeners are nodding off like heroin addicts. Once that happens, I hope that they replace him with a smart comedian.

“Mornings with Chris Rock.” I like the sound of that!

Just as Black people were celebrating (for good or for bad) Ray Nagin’s narrow mayoral re-election victory, another political scandal erupted in Louisiana. This past weekend, Congressman William Jefferson (D-La.) was swept into a major corruption scandal.

As part of an investigation of bribery and wire fraud, FBI officials conducted a weekend raid of Jefferson’s congressional offices. The raid was a followup to a series of recorded calls between the congressman and an informant in which they discussed a possible $100,000 payoff for Jefferson’s help in a Nigerian business venture.

Authorities claim that they have video footage of Jefferson in July 2005 accepting cash in a leather briefcase and putting it in his car. The next month they searched Jefferson’s home and found $90,000 in cash wrapped in aluminum foil inside the freezer. The $100 bills found in his freezer had the same serial numbers as the bills in the briefcase that he had previously accepted.

How does Jefferson explain his actions? He doesn’t.

Although he insists that there are “two sides to every story”, the congressman refused to answer questions about whether or not he took a bribe. Instead, he focused on the illegitimacy of the search itself, accurately noting that it is the first congressional office raid in history. He also promised that he would seek re-election.

While some have viewed the Jefferson’s post-raid actions as foolhardy (i.e. “they make him look guilty”), the decision to sidestep questions about his culpability reflect a keen understanding of African American political culture. By focusing on the fact that his investigation was unprecedented and, by implication, racially prompted, Jefferson is able to invoke what Katheryn Russell-Brown calls “Black protectionism.” Similar to the circumstances of DC mayor Marion Berry and Philadelphia mayor John Street (who was innocent), the Black public will likely focus on the corruption inherent in the FBI investigation rather than the allegations against Jefferson in order to shield him from public criticism.

If the cases of Berry and Street are any indication, Jefferson stands a very good chance of being re-elected. Not in spite of the controversy, but because of it.

On Saturday, Barry Bonds caught Babe Ruth’s career home run record. As expected, his milestone was met with mixed responses. While some viewed it as a remarkable accomplishment, others saw it as a low point in baseball’s storied history. As one commentator put it, the primary posterboy of American sport had finally been supplanted.

My question is, why are we spending so much time talking about Babe Ruth? The last time I checked, Hank Aaron was baseball’s homerun king. The fact that much of the American public hasn’t accepted this fact makes it easier for me to understand some of the anti-Bonds rhetoric that pervades much of current discussion.

On another note, watch how the public is quickly turning away from Bonds career homerun chase and focusing on Albert Pujols’ attempt to catch Bonds’ single season homerun record. It seems that baseball would love nothing more than to have someone other than Bonds’ hold its most revered title.

Last week, new White House Spokesman Tony Snow drew heat from the African American community for his use of a questionable term. In response to a question, Snow offered the following:

“Having said that, I don’t want to hug the tar baby of trying to comment on the program, the alleged program, the existence of which I can neither confirm nor deny”

In response to a follow-up question, he offered:

“Well, I believe hug the tarbaby, we could trace that back to American lore.”

Unfortunately, an investigation into American lore exposes a history of using the term “tar baby” to abuse, discredit, and disparage Black bodies. For many Black people, particularly those of a darker hue, the term triggers memories of childhood teasing (from white and black people) and years of unmerited self-hate.
Of course, Snow and many other Whites have argued that they had no knowledge of the term’s racist past. Conversely, many Blacks are likely unaware of the term’s meaning within the Western literary tradition as “a very troublesome situation, especially one that is difficult or impossible to get out of.”

This situation reminds me of another incident where David Howard, a staff member of Washington, DC Mayor Anthony Williams, was forced to resign for using the term “niggardly” in a private staff meeting. While groups like the NAACP demanded his firing, others (correctly) pointed out that the term niggardly has no etymological link to “nigger.” Although he was quickly rehired, the controversy around the bounds of “political correctness” (I hate that term!) persisted.

I agree that Howard’s use of niggardly, as well as Tony Snow’s use of “tar baby”, reflect ignorance rather than ill will. Nevertheless, they also demonstrate the wages of white privilege, as neither had to consider the ways that non-Whites may be offended by their quasi-malapropisms.

Today marks the 81st birthday of Malcolm X.

More than 41 years after his tragic death, we are still feeling the pain of his absence. Despite the endless string of so-called leaders who followed him, none have matched his level of service, commitment, sacrifice, vision, and discipline. Malcolm’s willingness and ability, particularly during the latter part of his short life, to recognize the significance of global human rights struggles helped to expand and improve the focus of our local struggles. His growing recognition and public critiques of American capitalism helped us to understand the complexities of racial oppression and neo-colonialism. Also, Malcolm’s personal development from street hustler to hero, as documented in his classic autobiography, has been a blueprint of possibility for generations of young black men.

Today, we honor his memory and legacy. May the ancestors be pleased with him.