Gone But Not Forgotten

Recently, we lost two great entertainers. Bernie Mac and Issac Hayes. The past two night at home, instead of watching the Olympic coverage some random athletic event like Rhythmic Gymnastics or Handball that most Americans careless about, I spent my evening watching Larry King Live's tribute to Bernie Mac on Tuesday and a Concert Documentary in remembrance of Issac Hayes on VH1 Klassik on Wednesday. Both were in a way reopened my eyes about how those we admire and appreciate, we should give them praise while they are here, not just when they are gone.

What I hope my generation understands is the impact both had on us. With Bernie Mac, if some were to utter 'the King of Comedy', you immediately think of the late Bernie Mac as one of them. If you as any 80s baby 'when did Bernie Mac let the world know he was here?' If any of them answer with some thing other than Def Comedy Jam, smack them in the face for me...PLEASE! I mean really, what 80s baby can forget "...I aint scared of you muthaf**kas!". The next week at school everybody was saying it. Then who can forget "Dolla Bill." The Player's Club may not have been a critically acclaimed, Academy Award winning movie, but the perfomances within the movie are one of a kind. And no one can say that Bernie Mac didn't own every scene he was in (insert link to You Tube) for that movie. Or many of his others for that matter. Then his TV show made you, the viewer, feel like you were sharing the same living room. As time passes, we'll all realize what the comedy world lost last Saturday.

Shortly after dealing with the shock Bernie Mac, the news hits the wire that Issac Hayes passes away. Some will say he was a bit "quirky" in his later years. Much of that viewpoint can be attributed to his connection with the Church of Scientology. But, irrespective of whatever his religious beliefs were, the man was truly something to behold. You do realize we are talking about "BLACK MOSES," SHAFT('...ya damn...shut cho' mouth!) well at least the man responsible for the music. For the younger crowd, they may relate more to the man who provided the voice for "CHEF" on South Park. I mean who can forget the brilliance of "Chocolate Salty Balls"? That has to be one of the best songs written for a cartoon...EVER!

The documentary was called Wattstax. It was filmed shortly after the Watts riots, at the Los Angeles Coliseum. Not only was it a great documentary about the concert itself, but it really showed just how big of a star Issac Hayes was in his time. The music he made wasn't only musically relevant, but more importantly it was socially relevant. I'm sure many of the hip-hop community know the impact that his music had on hip-hop, but I'm sure there are far many more that don't realize just how much his music has been sampled for much of today's rap/hip-hop.

These two men will be missed greatly. They will be missed by their families, their friends, their colleagues,their fans. But the comedy and music industries will miss their contributions just as much, if not more.

My fellow (African/Black) Americans...

I have a problem (many in my inner circle probably won't argue with that statement. Ha!). My problem isn't with me personally, or anyone personally. What, or shall I say who I have a problem with is "US" in general. And for those not of the "darker" persuasion, "US" = Black/African Americans.

Recently I had a conversation with some friends and we got to talking about something or the other and in the context of the conversation one guy says '...I fit the description, and I deal with racial profiling (discrimination) everyday!' To which I took some issue with. I mean really do we actually face it everyday? This ain't the Jim Crow Era!

Yeah, yeah...I know I'm looking at this in the literal sense, but what I'm getting at is that we use this generalization way too much. There is no possible way anyone can tell me they deal with racism on a daily basis. Reality is, people in general basically do just about the same thing each day; particularly Monday through Thursday. Go to work, eat lunch, work some more, go home, eat dinner, go to sleep. Feel free to insert a racial profiling incident or some racial discrimination in there somewhere if you truly want to believe it happens everyday, but trust me, it doesn't happen as often as we'd like to believe.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of instances of racial profiling and discrimination on a daily basis. However, 100% of blacks in America don't have to endure it every day, every hour, etc. I know you're probably saying, 'but don't we all endure some type of indirect racism each day?' Yeah, whatever...that's not the point. What I'm talking about is blatant racism that we think we experience daily. The bottom line here is that we need to exercise a little bit more caution in how many times we throw out the race card.