Well, the NBA draft has come and gone and again….my Knicks have surprised me with the only pick they had this year. Not knocking the european player, or the link he has with our new coach, but #1 he’s not been scouted as much as the other picks who were of equal or greater draft value, #2 we are in restructuring mode. We need real help. I just don’t know if this kid is that impact, team-changing player the Knicks need.
We’ve already got plenty of young talent on our bench that we’re using… wrongly. I mean Wilson Chandler, Randolph Morris, and this is just from last year. Agreed, Marty Collins needs to wake up a lil bit and play ball, but that may not be entirely his fault. Reynaldo Balkman needs to spend some gym time shooting mid range and practicing to finish at the rim because with all his energy and great defensive play, his liability at the offensive end gives the other team reason to play off him and use that man as an extra defender on our more offensive threats.
We as Knicks have one great liability as a whole however and its not a 20/10 player, it’s not lack of leadership on the court, it’s us. Our biggest issue facing the New York Knicks is how we treat and look at our team, and how our team lost the meaning of being a Knick.
Would we ever have booed a Patrick Ewing-led Knick squad? Hell no. As a matter-of-fact, when the Knicks were led by head coach Hubie Brown and they had players like Rory Sparrow, Trent Tucker and Bill Cartwright at the center we were a “bottom-tier” squad and no boos.
Today’s Knick fans have forgotten “the dunk” the “four-point play” and all of the spirit of Madison Square Garden. In turn, the Knick players have forgotten heart. They have forgotten that before the 90s seasons, we hadn’t seen true success in the playoffs since 1973. Knick players are playing for a paycheck and nothing more.
Stephon Marbury is no leader. I don’t care if his contract is up next year or in 10 years. He’s been a Knick since 2000. His being from New York should have spoken volumes to that true Knick tenacity but alas, our hopes of continuing in the traditions of Pat Riley and Jeff Van Gundy have been dashed. We’ve had 5 coaches in 7 years. We’ve traded away Antonio McDaniels & Nazr Mohammed (who have since gotten rings), We have dead weight on our roster that is almost impossible to move. We are “still” waiting for Eddy Curry to decide to be a beast in this league but his work-ethic (or lack thereof) keeps us wishing this big 7 foot ‘tough guy” would just trade away…
Our team has given us nothing to support, and so we have no support left. We’re still New Yorkers, and still Knick fans as I’ll always be. But it has becoming increasingly hard to watch a lazy, no heart having squad wear the same uniform as Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Patrick Ewing, Dave Deboucher, Bill Bradley, Mark Jackson, Bernard King, Rod Strickland, Larry Johnson, Anthony Mason, Marcus Camby, John Starks, Latrell Sprewell, Charles Oakley…
So I hope this draft pick helps. But Knicks… you need more than draft picks, “elite” players or blockbuster trades. You simply need to watch game films from the 70s, 80s and 90s… understand what it means to BE a Knick before you dive into the uniform.
We love you, why don’t you love us back?
That’s right I’m a fan, ya’ll… if you agree let me know, if you think we need more, let me know, if you can put these words in front of a Knick so they know how the fans feel, do it, and let us know what they say. Some how, some way, we need to get to these players and let them know “why” we disapprove, not just that we do. Booing doesn’t work. What will?
Last night, Senator Barack H. Obama won the Democratic Nomination for President of the United States of America. This is the first time in Black American History that one of our brothers have been *this* close to leading the country.
In thinking of this great achievement and milestone, it begs me to wonder. I wonder if (whether he wins or loses the race) we as a people will continue to cut each other from the knees, will we continue to let pettiness keep us short-sighted or will we as a community become one again.
Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, our younger generation galvanized itself as a community. We had leaders, both political and religious. Societies were created (Nation of Islam, Nation of Gods and Earths, Black Panther Party, The National Black Caucus, The NAACP etc) in which we as a people could feel some sort of comfort in knowing WE HAD A VOICE, AND WE WERE GOING TO HAVE OUR SAY.
Since the 70s however, our culture as Black Americans was whitewashed (for lack of a better term). Somewhere along our way, we changed our focus from setting up our culture and our societies within the American infrastructure to melding with the infrastructure all together. Thus attaining a sense of equality unheard of just a decade or so prior.
So, if we successfully assimilated into the American system, why has it taken so long to be recognized that we have the ability to make some of the most important decisions ever?
That being said, we also lost a lot of ourselves and who we were in this country because of the conforming issue. The things that made Black beautiful are the very things our culture is missing right now.
So I ask you, Are we ready to reclaim who we were and our Black American culture? Are we ready for Black to be beautiful again? IS this the second renaissance? Or will we continue to assimilate so much that we lose our Black culture all together?
Are we there yet? Or are we still in a fight?
Amadou Bailo Diallo (September 2, 1975 - February 4, 1999) was a 23-year-old immigrant to the United States from Guinea, who was shot and killed on February 4, 1999, by four New York City Police Department plain-clothed officers: Sean Carroll, Richard Murphy, Edward McMellon and Kenneth Boss. The four men fired a total of 41 rounds. Diallo was unarmed at the time of the shooting, and a firestorm of controversy erupted subsequent to the event as the circumstances of the shooting prompted outrage both within and outside New York City. Issues such as police brutality, racial profiling, and contagious shooting were central to the ensuing controversy.
The shooting took place at 1157 Wheeler Avenue in the Soundview section of The Bronx. The four officers involved were part of the now-defunct Street Crimes Unit. All of the officers were exonerated by jury trial of any wrongdoing.
Phillip Pannell was an African American teenager killed by Police Officer Gary Spath in Teaneck, New Jersey on April 10, 1990. Pannell was fleeing police when he was shot; Spath was later charged and acquitted on charges of manslaughter[1]. The case created controversy over the issues racial profiling and police brutality.
Rodney Glen King (born April 2, 1965 in Sacramento, California) is an African-American motorist driver who, in 1991 was stopped and then beaten by Los Angeles Police Department officers (Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, Theodore Briseno and Sergeant Stacey Koon) after being chased for speeding. A bystander, George Holliday, videotaped much of the event from a distance. Part of the video was broadcast around the world and shows four LA police officers restraining and repeatedly striking a black man, while four to six other officers stand by.[1] There is no part of the tape that shows Mr. King attacking the officers, as some have claimed.[2]
The resulting public outrage raised tensions between the black community and the LAPD, and increased anger over police brutality and issues such as unemployment, racial tension, and poverty in the black community of South Central Los Angeles. The four officers were tried in a state court for using excessive force, but were acquitted. The annoucement of the acquittals sparked the 1992 Los Angeles riots
(from Wikipedia.com)
While Hillary is fighting to become the first woman president, Tamar Manasseh is fighting just as hard to break another barrier for her race and her sex. She is studying to become one of the nations first black female Rabbis.
My Brothers and Sisters,
The “editorial opinion” below was taken from the below link on craigslist.org. Apparently, though skewed opinion is floating around the internet and it is truly appalling to me. Being a black man married to a beautiful Nigerian woman of dark complexion and one who has been raised by a beautiful black American single mother and he who has 2 beautiful sisters find this testimonial to be false and extremely crass.
Unfortunately, due to the immense proportion of our sistren in the adult industry, the amount of single mothers in our culture and the amount of our brethren who date “outside” our culture, could there be any truth to this madness?
Here is the link and the quote. Please let me know what you think.
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/rnr/642308315.html
“There are very few attractive black women to begin with. I am talking about truly black, not red bone or Dalmatians. I mean 90% of the women are bald, have skin issues, have chicken legs with cottage cheese thighs. Very few black women actually look good with a fat ass. The average black woman has to work 10 times harder to look presentable. Otherwise they look like they got dipped into Crisco and just woke up. There is nothing special about a black woman, unless you have a fetish for them.
It may sound racist but even their own males don’t find them attractive. The common answer to that is well black woman are strong and don’t put up with shit. No the real answer is that black women are just not attractive to males, of any race.”
P.Cash
fahthablessed
lawalker0854
