After countless insults, racist remarks, and insensitive responses to tragedies, popular radio DJ Star was finally fired from his nationally syndicated Star & Buckwild Show. During a tirade against his rival, DJ Envy of New York’s Hot97, Star went way over the top, even by his standards:

“No, let me just touch on this real quick
But there’s a woman out there right now who pushed out a little
lo-mein eater by a DJ down by the sloppy station. I got at this
alleged slut whore, heh, and this little half a lo-mein eater. …
Yes, I disrespected your seed. If you didn’t hear me, I said, I would
like to do an R. Kelly on your seed, on your little baby girl. I would
like to tinkle on her.

“Call the cops”? Nigga, please, there’s no bodyguards. I carry the 9.
Most of the cats that are with me, have felony convictions, they can’t
carry. I’m disrespectin’ your seed. I would like to skeet on the face
of your seed. Now that’s, that’s real talk dawg. You have to come
holla at me now. Call me, I’ll meet you somewhere, but don’t act like
you were waiting in some parking lot with like 50 niggers. Please.

Now, again, to the woman, who carried that little mongrel for 9
months. … I’m coming for your seed. Did you hear me? (*thump, thump,
thump* noise) I want to do an R. Kelly in the mouth of your seed fem?
You holla at me now I’m the easiest man in the world to find.
And my name is The Hater. You holla back now, DJ Envy.

Let me see now, uh, DJ Benji attention! In case you didn’t hear
me, I said, I want to put some mayonnaise in between your baby girl’s
ass crack and take a bite.”

On that same show, he offered 500 dollars to anyone who could provide the name and location of the school that Envy’s daughter attended.

Soon after, City Councilman John Liu and Gia Casey, Envy’s wife, organized a press conference and demanded Star’s termination. After initially only suspending him, Power 105 later released a statement announcing that Star was no longer with the station.

While I’m glad that Star has finally been fired, I’m still annoyed (surprise!). First, the station had no intention of firing Star until other people stepped in and threatened them, proving that the station has no conscience, only interests. Also, why are people so up in arms about this comment (which they should be), but relatively silent about his attacks against women, gays, lesbians, civil rights leaders, asians, latinos, disabled people, overweight people, and dead people? Lastly, if threatening to “do an R. Kelly” on someone’s abuse kids is so over-the-top, why do they still play the music of R. Kelly, who actually follows through on such threats?

After nearly 100 years of misinformation, Booker T. Washington’s true cause of death was finally revealed.

After his 1915 death, a doctor wrote that Washington died of “racial characteristics,” a term that allueded to both high blood pressure and syphilis. Since that time, Booker T. Washington’s life and legacy has been punctuated with doubt and shame regarding his cause of death. For this reason, researchers at an annual medical conference at the University of Maryland examined Washington’s records and determined his true cause of death.

According to recrods, Washington’s blood pressure was 225 over 145(!), nearly double the 120 over 80 that is deemed normal. The results also show that a blood test eliminated the possibility that Washington died of syphilis.

Why does this matter?

On the one hand, it shouldn’t. While there are many reasons for which to critique Booker T., dying of syphilis shouldn’t be one of them. Unfortunately, the politics of respectibility that has governed Black public life contributes to the feeling of shame and embarrassment at the thought that a Black leader would die at the hands of an ostensibly undignified disease. It is the same issue that makes it difficult for Black people to effectively challenge the current HIV/AIDS pandemic. Given this context, it’s no wonder that Black radio jocks like Tom Joyner have been spreading this “good news” all week.
On the other hand, this discovery provides a critical counter-narrative to our collective history. Further, it helps expose the various ways that the act of writing and interpreting history is shaped by our own perceptions, biases, and expectations. Although Washington’s cause of death was in question, many assumed that he died of an STD, thereby reinforcing longstanding (and unwarranted) beliefs about Black male sexuality.

Last week, Bishop Alfred A. Owens Jr., pastor of the Greater Mount Calvary Holy Church in Washington DC delivered a sermon entitled “Fan or Follower!” The premise of the sermon was that people needed to stop being fans of the church and become followers of the righteous path.

As he reached his homiletical climax, Owens called for all of the “real men” in the church to come forward (click here to listen):

“It takes a real man to confess Jesus as Lord and Savior. I’m not talking about no faggot or no sissy. “Wait a minute! Let all the real men come on down here and take a bow. All the real men—I’m talking about the straight men. You ain’t funny and you ain’t cranky, but you’re straight. Come on down here and walk around and praise God that you are straight. Thank him that you’re straight. All the straight men that’s proud to be a Christian, that’s proud to be a man of God.”

According to news reports, many gay men stepped forward out of fear of being “outed” in front of the entire congregation. Afterward, however, many expressed anger at the preacher’s homophobic rant.

Events like these never cease to amaze me. Why do so many Black church leaders, like the ones who protested Coretta Scott King’s funeral due to her support of gay rights, obsess about attacking gays and lesbians in the public sphere at the expense of other issues, such as health care, employment, and police terrorism? My personal theory is that obsessing about gay and lesbian bodies allows many people in the clergy to deal with their own struggles with sexual identity.

Even if one were to agree with Owens’ shortsighted stance on homosexuality it seems highly problematic that a preacher would use terms like “faggot” or “sissy” in a pulpit, as they undermine the spirit of love that should inform even the most fundamentalist Christian’s words and actions. More important, they alienate an entire sector of the church; the very sector that the anti-gay sermon was intended to “help.”
I understand that people in the audience were under social pressure to respond in ways that they otherwise wouldn’t. It seems unconscionable, however, to expect anyone to go to church and have their life, identity, and fundamental humanity called into question every Sunday. For this reason, it is important that gay and straight Christians respond to this and other such moments in an organized and productive way.

This includes engaging in critical conversations about gay Christianity. Too often, Christians immediately concede the illegitimacy of “gay Christian” as a theologically sanctioned identity despite considerable evidence to the contrary. Such concessions only create room for the “love the sinner, hate the sin” discourse that governs many liberal discussion of religion and sexuality. Of course, preachers like Owens may not be interested in such conversation, in which case people (gay and straight) must begin to boycott these churches.

It’s been a while since we’ve had an “Embarrasing Nigga Moment” here in the barbershop. (Un)Fortunately, Charles Barkley has come to the rescue with his recent comments about the $10 million dollars that he’s lost due to his gambling “practices.” (Note: He’s informed us that it’s not a problem!). In all fairness, this is not on the level of Claude Allen or Flava Flav. Still, since his comments reminded me of the infamous Whitney Houston/Diane Sawyer interview in terms of blatant self-denial, it automatically qualifies as an ENM.

In a recent interview with ESPN about his gambling, he said:

“My agent has really worked with me to try to get it where I can go and gamble and have fun… And I’ve got to reach a happy medium because I’ve told all of the people in my life that first and foremost it’s my money…When I gamble I should be playing $1,000 a hand instead of $20,000 a hand, because if I played for $1,000 a hand I probably could lose $50,000 to $100,000 a hand instead of millions of dollars

Hmm. Has he considered trying to win the hands? Maybe this is why he never won a championship. And to think, I’ve been blaming Armon Gilliam and Hersey Hawkins for all these years. This sounds like a problem to me:

“Do I have a gambling problem? Yeah, I do have a gambling problem. But I don’t consider it a problem because I can afford to gamble.”

Right. By that logic, Bill Gates and Oprah could never have any addictions. Hell, Whitney can afford the crack but that doesn’t seem to be the point. Barkley responds:

“If you’re a drug addict or an alcoholic, those are problems. I gamble for too much money. As long as I can continue to do it I don’t think it’s a problem. Do I think it’s a bad habit? Yes, I think it’s a bad habit. Am I going to continue to do it? Yes, I’m going to continue to do it…”

While I appreciate his honesty, I’m a little disturbed about the “I’m rich so I can do whatever” message that his comments send to the young people who follow him. Although he’s known for his public refusal to be a role model, he nonetheless transmits a message of decadance and irresponsibility to people who cannot afford to be wanton in their spending. Even worse, Barkley, like Bill Cosby, will then publicly attack poor Black people for making poor financial decisions.

Beyond Barkley, this raises and interesting issue about our public response to addiction. Should we look at a drug or gambling addict differently if they can afford to support their vice? As long as Whitney Houston can afford her crack, should we not be concerned in the same way that we are when Pookie down the street is selling shoestrings, cheeseburgers, and your DVD player for a hit?

It is also interesting how differently we treat particular addictions. Given the public’s soft treatment of prescription drug addicts like Rush Limbaugh and Patrick Kennedy, and gambling addicts like Barkley and John Daly, it seems that rich people’s addictions are regarded as problems to be corrected. Poor people’s addictions, on the other hand, are not only frowned upon, but seen as reflections of their character, humanity, and potential.

FROM MEDICALNEWSTODAY.COM:

During an epidemic in Nigeria in 1996, Pfizer illegally tested an unapproved drug on children with brain infections, says a panel of Nigerian medical experts. According to the report, published in the Sunday (today) edition of the Washington Post, this violated international law. The report was completed five years ago, but never came out in the open.

It it turns out to be true that a giant multinational company took advantage of, and deceived poor children and their families to do something they would never have been allowed to do in their home country, this was an appaling tragedy.