Who am I?

That depends on who you ask and how much time you have. In short, I am who I am and will be who you want me to be. Don't judge me though because nobody is perfect. I know your not supposed to answer a question with a question; that's not what I'm doing. I am also not allowing you to fit me into a mold, narrowly defying my existence. Unfairly basing your definition of me on what you see or your understanding of what you think I do or don't believe in.

U see I can’t allow you to arrive at a summation defining my very being anymore than I can define myself. It's not that I don't have an answer to your question, or that I don't know "who I am".

I am William DeWayne Booker II.

Clynell's baby. Big DeWayne's carbon copy. Traci & Erika's little "Big" brother. Proud uncle of Tevin & Tyler. 1st cousin of Curtis, Tina, Wayne, Pat, Kim, Brian, Vina, Charles, Camara, and dozens more. The nephew of a couple dozen. Grandchild of Doris Ann, William Howard, Rosa & Ulysee. I am a Booker as well as a Parson, a Westbrook, and Jasper.

But of course that's not the answer you are looking for.

I am what I think. Therefore I manifest in the physical as the sum of my thoughts. I am a consequence of my actions, which come from the heart. My heart which is actually my brain. Forming my beliefs, my values, my morals. Forming my understanding for this inexplicable thing we call life.

I am alive. I am alive and living in the flesh physically and mentally sound. I am alive and live now without fear of death because finally I understand my immortality.

Without fear of death different than when in my younger days and during recent tribulations I believed and acted in a manner that would appear as though I walked with danger, seducing my demise, thinking with sound mind but choosing a course of action defiant of fear in the physical sense and often times narrowly escaping the inevitable.

My body will break down one day, subsequently being offered to the earth with a formal and somber last viewing of my body in the physical form. The difference between then and now is that before I was not afraid to die because I was afraid to live. This thing we call life was to confusing. Nothing made sense. But now it does.

I will never die for the reason that your read this. So long as this is published on a blog or website of mine or in print. Regardless if I have children or not. Who I am will live on forever.

Eternally existing so long as you read me and your understanding of my words which are a result of my thoughts. Thoughts that come from my heart which is actually my Brain. With all its complexities, transgressions, and metamorphosis.

But impossible to determine with any finality, so long as my Bizzie Brain dances on.

Hillary’s latest blunder

So now Hillary wants to reference Robert Kennedy's assassination as her reason to stay in the race she has already lost? Like maybe somebody will make good on the threats she's been hearing about? She is taking drastic measures, and trying to ignite something at the same time? The fact she even said that seems like enough to charge her with a crime. Inciting a riot. That's actually a charge.

She doesn't need to remind us of the racial hatred, bigotry, pessimism, and fear that are already giving us a flash back to the 60's!!

That's how selfish of a person she is. To get in the White House Hillary Clinton is willing to tear the country apart.

She would rather see America implode, than prosper.

Is that the person you want running the show?

Mynamar

"We have demonstrated in crises around the world ... our logistical capability to get humanitarian assistance quickly in to the people who need it," is a quote from a top diplomat trying to get aide workers into Mynamar to help hundreds of thousands of citizens in distress. Reading the papers and watching the events on the news have got me thinking. What type of government would allow people in such need and without life's most basic needs like food and water, to starve and remained stranded? It's been said the government is doing so only to suppress certain ethnic minorities. After the tsunami hit Asia the U.S. was doing air drops in two days. America along with the U.N., Red Cross, and many other countries have offered help but the government won't except. Want kind of country, leaders, and citizens would allow something like this to happen to there own?


Oops...................................I think I just started typing before I thought about what I said. I was not going to post this but after some thought I guess I might as well. The quote that starts of the posts. Is from Shari Villarosa, the top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar.

Maybe the government in Mynamar has the same agenda as the Bush Administration does. Although America did start doing air drops after the tsunami in two days. Help didn't arrive in New Orleans after Katrina for a entire work week. Bush did a fly over in Air force 1 a few days after and then came back later, but only after TROOPS, not aide workers, arrived to take some pictures with a couple black people for the cameras then talked about pledging money that still hasn't arrived.

Maybe if the New Orleans police chief had gotten on TV saying it was terroists talking on cell phones, Bush would have moved quicker.

Mid West Earthquake

Who thought there would be an earthquake in the Mid-West of this magnitude? I mean of course they have been talking about it for a long time but they also scared us into stocking up on water and canned goods for something called y2k also. They once told us that "Killer Bees" from Africa would come and swarm the entire continent.

This was not the big one but I think it should be enough for us to rethink a few things. The first time an Insurance Broker mentioned earthquake insurance to me I laughed out loud and thought she was joking. Once I realized she wasn't I was rather offended. I thought maybe she was under the impression that I was a sucker or that I would be easily persuaded. I didn't get the coverage and luckily for me it didn't end up costing me in the end. Unfortunately everybody wasn't as lucky as I.

Insurance is something that nobody ever wants to purchase. We always think it's a rip off. Then berate some customer service rep for telling us there is nothing they can do because we don't have coverage.

So worst case scenario is that you pay for something you don't need. I'm sure we could all look around our house, driveway, kitchen, and many other places to see that it won't be the first time.

If you scared go to church

In the days, weeks, and months after 9/11, our country was together like no other time in my lifetime. Regardless of how you felt about our policies, foreign or domestic, most of us felt like somebody had to pay. I am very critical of our country and its policies past and present, but I felt about 9/11 like I feel about Hiroshima & Nagasaki. Killing "civilians" , and calling it an act of war, is a dishonorable thing to do especially in the name of religion. I think it contradicts the fundamentals of its purpose.

Barack Obama is showing us how far away we are from were we were then. His most recent comments are truthful, just like his speech in response to the comments of his former pastor Jeremiah Wright. People are voting on things that they should not be. People want things to change but they let politicians, the media, fear, insecurities, and self serving beliefs punch the ticket for them at the polls. Then they talk about how little politicians do.

The truth hurts. We all know something true about ourselves that we don't want to admit. We all know things that are fact yet we dismiss them as theory, speculation, or pure fiction.

So for this election if you want to continue to hear what is easier on the ears then you should not vote for Obama. But if you're not scared of the truth and of the changes that we all know we need to make, then vote for Barack Obama.

"We the people, in order to form a more perfect union."

The fact that Barack had to give this speech is proof that this country is not as far away from our "past" as some of us think. This has been an amazing campaign. A race about race. Hillary started crying to get votes. Bill Clinton sold out on Black America to try and win South Carolina, and failed. Republicans are running around trying to tie the man to Islam and play off of two of white Americans biggest fears. Black Men & Terrorism. Have you noticed the amount of "high profile" black men getting indicted on federal charges over the last 18 months or so? Nothing new about that but it seems like they have been working extra hours to get us on TV lately.

This is nothing new and nothing that is going away anytime soon, if ever. That doesn't mean we should throw up our hands and say "oh well". If we look at what Barack is going through and start to focus on the negative then we loose. If we look at what Barack is going through and focus on the positive then we win. Most of us didn't think we would see this in our lifetime. What we are seeing is proof that regardless of what we may face, we can do whatever we want.

We as do need to deal with the issue of race in this country, but we as Black people can't do it from the sidelines.

By dealing with the issue head on, we actually stand to improve the view of our country around the world. Maybe we can stop people from wanting to kill us? Maybe not? Either way, the fight isn't over until "we" quit. We may not be at the summit of this huge mountain that Dr. Martin Luther King dreamed about reaching, but we are far from the base.

President Obama!!

Say what you want about his message. The truth is the truth. Senator Barack Obama is an inspiration to us all. You don't have to be black to be inspired by him. Chances are regardless of your race you didn't think he had a chance one year ago. I know I didn't. I figured that he would do ok and even do well enough to pick up the job as Vice-President. Boy was I wrong. This is a great time for our country. This could very well be a sign of things to come. A glimpse into the future while turning our backs on our past.

Obama Wins Wis. Primary, Hawaii Caucus - Los Angeles Times

I just can't believe Bill & Hillary Clinton

I know politics are politics and it’s a dirty game. I understand that to be president most will do anything to get there. However, Hillary Clinton’s comments about Lyndon B. Johnson and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. are inexcusable to me. What Hillary fails to realize is that Dr. King and many others did not fight and die for the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. When that bill passed it didn’t change racism in America. Racism didn’t change in 1965 with the passing of the Voters Rights Act and it still didn’t change when they passed the Civil Right’s Act again in 1968.

Hillary behaves as if racism was over with in the 1960’s. If that is the case, then why are there so many black men in prison today? You could say that it’s because they broke laws and you would be correct. But the fact that black men go to prison quicker and for longer periods of time than any other race is proof of only one thing. Racism, the foundation on which this country was built, is still very real today.

I am most disturbed by the fact that I have never heard anyone say the things Hillary said about Dr. Martin Luther King and Lyndon B. Johnson. I am an 80’s baby born at the end of the Carter administration. In all of my years on this earth I have never heard those remarks made before. I even asked some of my elders who where coming of age in the 1960’s South and they have never heard comments such as those made by Hillary.

Hillary and Bill are playing a dirty race game and they’re trying to unify white people into getting behind them. I think there trying to get white voters to see that Barack Obama is like Dr. Martin Luther King. This will backfire on them, because they know there is nothing wrong with being compared to a man who is worthy of sainthood. However, they are doing it to spin the election into a discussion on race. That is slimy and they should be ashamed.

The dream that Dr. King talked about has not been realized. The dream is still a dream. Bill and Hillary are afraid of being on the losing end of that dream when Barack Obama is sworn in as the president of the United States of America.

Bob Johnson & Hillary Clinton make an odd couple

The fact that Bob Johnson is supporting Senator Clinton for president does not come as a surprise to me, nor does it offend me as a black man supporting Senator Obama. The fact that all African-Americans are not supporting the Senator in the upcoming election doesn’t bother me. As I have said before, I was not a supporter of Senator Obama until I read his most recent book and then took time to find out more information about the issues that he is most concerned with. Anybody who thinks that all black people think the same way and share the same political views has their head (or ass) in the sand. Black people in America come from many different backgrounds and have different views on religion, family, education, crime prevention, AND politics, among other things. So in light of this, I’m not mad at Mr. BET for supporting Senator Clinton. That is his right as a citizen—who hasn’t been convicted of a felony—to support whomever he chooses.

However, what I find offensive is the fact that he would defend comments, made by Senator Clinton, that are a direct slap to the face of Martin Luther King Jr., his message, and the civil rights movement.

What makes it worse, is Mr. Johnson’s ambiguous reference to either Senator Obama’s days as a high school student who experimented with drugs or to his days on Chicago’s Southside as a community organizer and civil rights lawyer. Mr. Johnson put his foot down his throat (again) when he later attempted to clean up his comments by saying that he was not referencing the drug experimentation. I don’t know why he thought his later statement would make things sound better. Maybe he was motivated to “clarify” after the backlash he received and the fact that the Clinton’s planned to use Mr. Johnson to help win South Carolina, which they did not.

Attacking a man in his forties for things he did in his teenage years is ridiculous. A black man attacking another black man for his work in civil rights and the community is inexcusable, to say the least. The comments that Mr. Johnson made turned out (in my mind) to be worse than the comments made by Senator Clinton (Saying that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would not have seen his dream come through if it were not for Lyndon B. Johnson.) I have news for Senator Clinton, Dr. King’s dream has not been realized. Bob Johnson is proof of that.

Case-in-point, we are talking about Mr. BET here. The same man that brought us BET Uncut. This show served as an introduction to black strip clubs for those who have never been. He’s also the same man that was presiding over the only black-owned cable channel (at the time) when they fired Tavis Smiley and canceled BET News. Those were two platforms that could have been used to uplift black people and show the world that we are not all as we are portrayed in mainstream media. The fact that Bob Johnson made those comments should not come as a surprise to anybody. His comments were really disappointing and I hope that the black voters in South Carolina were not buying into his message.

The Clinton's are falling

When Senator Barack Obama first announced he was going to run for president, I did not jump onto the bandwagon. Senator Hillary Clinton was getting my vote, and that was it. I hadn’t learned much about Senator Obama and even though he was gaining a support base that no one predicted, I thought that he would have a better chance of making it to the White House as Vice President to Senator Clinton.

I have since come to not only support Senator Barack Obama, but I am a huge fan of his and have been inspired like never before. The recent comments made by the Clinton’s have caused me to view them in a new light. They now strike me as regular politicians and I question whether they haven’t been that way all along. They were adept at positioning themselves as progressive politicians, tired of the status quo. Now I believe that we (Blacks/African-Americans) have been getting a good, old-fashioned political song and dance from some of the best status-quo politicians of all time. Well, kudos to them for fooling me and countless others, and kudos to Senator Obama for showing us the difference.

How could Senator Clinton possibly say that Lyndon B. Johnson deserves more credit than Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for civil rights progress? Yes, President Johnson did pass a few bills that had the words “civil” and “ rights” in the subject lines (i.e., the Civil Rights act of 1964, the Voting Rights act of 1965, and the Civil Rights act of 1968). He also did these things during a time when our country was seemingly not far from an all out repeat of our first civil war.

How hard did President Johnson work for civil rights before regular citizens starting organizing to demand basic human liberties? Where was President Johnson when those people were being degraded and killed? Was he walking the same path as Dr. King? Was he risking his life, and those of his family, for civil rights? Senator Clinton’s comments, combined with former President Clinton’s later comments, could very well cost her the election. One must wonder why two people with so much experience at campaigning would steep so low and make a poorly veiled, underhanded attack on Senator Obama while insinuating that he is no Dr. King. There actions smell of fear and desperation.