BOBBEE BEE: THE MANUFACTURED McCain AND THE REAL McCain

The Manufactured McCain and the Real McCain

There’s a real John Sidney McCain III and there’s a fake one, manufactured for the public relations of US empire. Imperial PR needs to justify, even sanctify the ecocidal and genocidal rule of the rich by portraying its servants not as the venal and bloodthirsty thieves they are, but as the brightest, the best, the most noble and deserving among us. The Manufactured McCain whom the corporate media will spend another week on top of the previous one lifting up to the heavens bears only passing resemblance to the real John McCain. The real McCain was no hero. He was a lying, bribe taking, neo-nazi sympathizing politician and war criminal, who served the US empire and himself for all of his long life.

By 1904 the US had coveted Panama, the northernmost province of Colombia for some time. US global ambitions dictated the need for a canal between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The French had already tried to build the canal and failed at a cost of billions in today’s money and 22,000 dead – black laborers recruited from around the Caribbean who mostly perished from disease. When the Colombian government refused to simply hand Panama over on US terms, President Teddy Roosevelt sent down a battleship or two and some Colombians in Washington DC were recruited to declare independence. The US immediately recognized the government of the new republic, which granted Washington the power do do pretty much whatever they liked.



Like the French before them, the North Americans imported tens of thousands of black labors – not their families, only the laborers – from around the Caribbean to build the canal, and they imposed a vicious southern US-style Jim Crow regime upon what they called the Canal Zone. Another 6,000 black laborers and a few hundred whites died building the Panama Canal, which opened in 1914.


The real John McCain was born in 1936 in US occupied Panama, which the empire’s law at the time considered an “unincorporated territory of the US .” That’s why McCain never took part in the Republican birther craze, which falsely claims that Barack Obama was born in Kenya, and why the Manufactured McCain never talked much about his birthplace.

The real John McCain spent many childhood summers at Teoc, the 2,000 acre Carroll County Mississippi plantation which belonged to his great great grandfather Dr. William Alexander McCain.

The antebellum McCains once owned at least 52 slaves who made their masters quite wealthy raising corn and cotton. There are still Black McCains in Carroll County whose ancestors were owned by white McCains with whom they neither claim nor deny any blood kinship. The Black McCains hold a family reunion every other year, and though they did invite Senator McCain he never attended. One of William Alexander McCain’s grandsons made brigadier general in the US Army, and another, Henry Pinkney McCain was a US Army major general. A third of Dr. McCain’s grandsons was Senator McCain’s grandfather, a 4 star US Navy Admiral. His son, Senator McCain's father was also a 4 star US Navy admiral. Their ancestors include officers in the American Revolutions related to the family of George Washington.

Despite the real McCain’s military-aristocratic lineage and those childhood summers on the plantation, the Manufactured McCain campaigning for president in 2000 ridiculously claimed he didn’t think his family had ever owned any slaves. Reporters had to produce documents with the names and descriptions of 52 McCain plantation slaves before the Manufactured McCain acknowledged his family had been slaveholders. “ It makes sense… I didn’t know that,” he reportedly said.

The manufactured war hero VS the real accident-prone pilot.

The Manufactured McCain sometimes called himself a “fighter pilot.” That’s not what the US Navy called the Real McCain. In navy language, fighter pilots are the elite of the elite, the ones who fight other planes in the air. The Real McCain flew ground attack aircraft, which in Vietnam meant bombing mostly undefended civilian ground targets.

The real McCain was a slipshod and reckless pilot who totaled 3 aircraft in incidents where navy investigators pinned the cause of the crash upon lapses in pilot’s judgment, in each and every case contradicting the Real McCain’s official reports of those accidents. A 2008 Los Angeles Times article titled “McCain’s Mishaps in the Cockpit by Ralph Vartabedian and Richard A. Serrano examines the Real McCain’s 3 plane crashes in some detail. Aircraft are not cheap, and it’s hard to believe any military on earth allows pilots with three at-fault plane crashes to keep his wings. That is, unless you’re US Navy royalty, the son and the grandson of admirals. Decades later, as a politician writing one or another version of his autobiography the Manufactured McCain was more truthful, describing a 1961 incident in which he flew into power lines in southern Spain causing a local blackout, as “daredevil clowning.” He managed to bring the plane back to the carrier that time, trailing ten feet of power line, so that didn’t count among the Real McCain’s at-fault plane crashes.



McCain was assigned to Yankee station off the coast of North Vietnam where he took part in Operation Rolling Thunder, the US code name for 31 months of the bombing of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia and killed tens of thousands of civilians at the very least. McCain flew 27 ground attack missions before being shot down in October 1967 trying to bomb a Hanoi power plant. Many have argued that bombing undefended civilian targets is a war crime. That’s certainly the way the Vietnamese viewed the matter, and they subjected the already seriously injured McCain and other downed US pilots to close confinement and torture.

His own mistreatment during 5 years as a prisoner of war was the reason why Senator John McCain would later publicly disagree with 21st century US policy that publicly embraced the idea of torture.

When the Vietnamese discovered that McCain was US Navy royalty, they sensibly offered him early release ahead of pilots captured before him. Just as sensibly, he refused the offer, and the manufactured narrative of John McCain as the heroic prisoner of war began to be established, and since has been added to many times by his own writing and speeches and by others connected to actual events and not. Released after five and a half years imprisonment, he was already a kind of celebrity. McCain remained in the Navy several years after his release. His final Navy assignment was US Navy liaison to the Senate. During this time he divorced his first wife and married Cindy Hensley, daughter of one of the biggest beer distributors in the country. Hobnobbing with politicians and military contractors seemed to suit him, so he left the navy in 1981, as Jeff Gates put, cashing in his war hero chits to start a political career.



The Manufactured McCain: the straight talking war hero as venal bribe taking politician.

While still in the Navy McCain had campaigned for Ronald Reagan vigorously enough to earn warnings from his superiors, and to be a frequent guest of honor at Reagan dinners. He moved to Arizona to campaign for Congress. According to Jeff Gates’ book Guilt By Association: How Deception and Self Deceit Took America to War, his wife received a gift of $689,000 from her wealthy family just before or at the beginning of his congressional run, which probably enabled him to lend his own campaign $167,000.

McCain’s prenuptial agreement allowed him to omit his wife’s multimillion dollar income and holdings from public financial disclosures.
Fresh from his insider stint as Reagan’s favorite dinner guest Navy liaison to the Senate he campaigned as the straight talking political outsider and war hero, winning election in 1982. and again 1984.

As expected, Arizona senator Barry Goldwater, who’d been the 1968 Republican presidential candidate retired in 1986 and McCain won the seat. Among the early investors in McCain’s political career was a Phoenix millionaire Charles Keating who got in on the ground floor.

In 1984 Keating bought a California savings and loan with 26 branches. Under Presidents Carter and Reagan restrictions on how and what savings and loan institutions could invest had been repeatedly loosened. Keating was one who pushed even these limits and purchased legislators by the pocketful to sometimes meet directly with federal regulators to argue his case. The so-called Keating Five were a handful of senators receiving $1.3 million in contributions, of which McCain got $112,000. They met with federal regulators on a number of occasions, and according to one regulator, argued Keating’s case like defense lawyers. Republican John McCain was one of these, along with Democrats John Glenn and Alan Cranston and two others.


A few years later, 1,038 Savings and Loan institutions went belly-up, causing the savings of hundreds of thousand to vanish overnight, and the fund which supposedly insured them unable to cover the losses. The $150 billion savings and loan scandal was the biggest financial crisis in recent history till the crash of 2007-2008 and bribes paid to the real McCain were directly instrumental to making it happen.

McCain was to spend 32 years in the Senate, and became the go-to guy for a galaxy of military contractors, telecoms, Big Ag, Big Real Estate, Big Pharma, Big Energy and more, and the Manufactured McCain ran for president in 2000 and 2008.

From 1992 till weeks before his death John McCain served as chairman of the International Republican Institute, a US government funded organization that interferes in the political processes of scores of other countries, training rebel groups to overthrow inconvenient elected governments, like that of John Bertrand Aristide in Haiti, Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and many others. McCain and the IRI were prominent backers of neo-nazi politicians and armed militia groups in Ukraine who are now part of that country’s army and civilian government. To be fair, the Obama administration and Democrat Hillary Clinton were big backers and enablers of the same forces. After all this is the US, where we do have two government parties to choose from, not just one as in some backward and benighted places. Democrats and many in the so-called resistance are throwing flowers at the grave of John McCain. It’s a bipartisan thing.

During his 32 years in the US Senate, the real John McCain was a consistent warmonger , advocating US military intervention in Africa, South America, Korea, and almost everywhere. He sang “bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran” before a veterans group, and called demonstrators against Henry Kissinger “despicable scum.”

The record of his public calls for coups, invasions, blockades, bombings and assassinations to advance US military and economic domination of the planet is far too long to list..

Bruce A. Dixon is managing editor at Black Agenda Report. He lives and works near Marietta GA and can be reached via email at bruce.dixon(at)blackagendareport.com.

BOBBEE BEE: TOP PROSPECT CHOOSES GRAMBLING OVER BAMA

TOP PROSPECT CHOOSES GRAMBLING OVER BAMA
by eric d.graham

Maurice Robinson, one of the top football prospects in the state of Alabama for the class of 2018, who stands (6-foot-1, 180 pound) shocked the SEC on National Signing Day on February 7th when he decided to attend Grambling State, a historical Black College in Louisana, rather than Nick Saban's Alabama Crimson Tide.
...

Robinson, who threw for 1,686 total yards and 18 touchdowns during his senior season at quartback not only declined offers from the defending National Champions, he also sidestepped other scholarships from Florida and LSU as well- in order to join the "G-Men" of Grambling State, where he plans to play defensive back instead of quarterback this season.

"I saw somewhere where I can be great,” said the 19th best high school player in Alabama.
“I saw a place where I can make a name for myself as well. The players and coaches made it feel like home. I was comfortable there, I like the atmosphere and that’s what convinced me to make the decision to come there.

“It was very important to me. Not a lot of schools had the history of winning like Grambling. Really it was only Alabama and Grambling. I just had to choose which one I wanted to be a part of. I chose the better option.”

While some still question his decision not to join the Crimson Tide, let's not forget Grambling State has a long and strong football tradition,which has produced over 127 NFL football players since 1955. (Fouls and Fumbles) (bobbeethehater.blogspot.com)

ANTONIO STEVENSON NAMED THE NEW HEAD COACH Quality Education Academy

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! TO MY BROTHER ANTONIO STEVENSON FOR BEING NAMED THE NEW HEAD COACH Quality Education Academy
 by Timothy Ramsey

Quality Education Academy (QEA), located in Winston-Salem, NC, is eagerly preparing for their first ever football game, which will be against North Wake High School at Carver High School stadium this Saturday, Aug. 25, at 5:30 p.m. The Pharaoh’s players had their first padded practice of the year last Thursday as they attempt to iron out the wrinkles before game ...day.

The Pharaoh’s are attempting to duplicate, on the football field, the same success the basketball team has enjoyed for years on the hardwood. Head coach Antonio Stevenson says they began their campaign with only four players but now have over 20. They are expecting more players to come out for the team once the school holds its open house.

Stevenson, who played football at Carver High School and was one of the all-time greats and is a Carver Hall of Famer, played is first year of college football at Wake Forest University before transferring to Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) says with the athletes they already have at their disposal, adding 15 more players would put him exactly where he wants to be in year one.
“Administration has given me so much help, guidance and push in the right direction, I have not had any problems getting players out here,” he said. “What I have been concentrating on is turning what I have into what I want.”

“I have a couple of leaders out here and a couple of guys who are trying to figure out what they want to be. I just want us to come out here with a tough spirit and win.
“I feel if a man has passion for what he does, he’s going to be a champion,” Pitts stated. “We wanted someone who was connected to the community, understands our kids and is willing to put the time and work in to be great, and we found that.”

The male students at QEA wear suits every day to class. Stevenson says he received generous donations from Cedric Russell and Bobby Kimbrough to help the young men with their dress code needs.

“They have donated suits, socks and shoes to the kids because they wanted to help and the kids wanted to play that badly,” said (the WSSU Hall of Famer, who holds several defensive records to this day.)

According to Stevenson, (who has coached at Carver, Parkland and Glenn prior to coming to QEA,) the Pharaohs will keep it simple, as far as the game plan is concerned, heading into the first game. He says they will run the offensive and defensive schemes they have been implementing all summer.

Stevenson wanted to give a special thanks to Carol Montague-Davis and Daniel Piggott for allowing QEA to use Carver High School’s stadium for their home games. Isaac Pitts, QEA athletic director, says he would love to have the community come out to support the young men on the field.

 (Source: WS: Chronicles) by Timothy Ramsey(bobbeethehater.blogspot.com)

BOBBEE BEE: FROM THE NFL TO NEUROSURGEON

"Been waiting on this moment since the 5th grade. To be Dr. Myron Rolle. Glad it came today!"

FROM THE NFL TO NEUROSURGEON
by eric d. graham
...
Myron Rolle, who was once considered the smartest player entering the NFL draft in 2010, was drafted by the the Tennessee Titans in the 6th round. But, after only three seasons on the field, he decided to hang-up his shoulders pads in order to attend Oxford University to pursue his dreams of being a doctor.

Now, upon graduating from Florida State, you can now call him Dr. Myron Rolle, who is a neurosurgeon, which is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and surgical treatment of disorders of the central and peripheral nervous system including congenital anomalies, trauma, tumors, vascular disorders, infections of the brain or spine, stroke, or degenerative diseases of the spine.

While a starting neurosurgeon receives a salary of $350,000, six years down the line, the pay will grow to $600,000.

And, according to the Neurosurgery Market Watch, neurosurgeons with six to fifteen years of experience earn a median income of $914,796. (bobbeethehater.blogspot.com) 

13 TAR HEELS IN A HILL OF TROUBLE

13 TAR HEELS IN A HILL OF TROUBLE

The debate continues on whether college athletes should get paid.
 
Especially, with the recent suspension of 13 UNC football players, who were guilty of committing a secondary NCAA violations regarding the sale of team-issued shoes by selling EXCLUSIVE Jordan Brand merchandise, Retro Jordan 3s for as much as $2,500 to Request Boutique, located in Four Seasons Mall in Greensboro and SirCastleTees located in Raleigh, North Carolina
...

Nine of the 13 suspended players will miss four games, the most notable being sophomore quarterback Chazz Surratt, the team leader last season in passing yards, yards per attempt and completion percentage. Surratt has been entrenched in a competition for the starting job with junior Nathan Elliott. by eric d.Graham (bobbeethehater.blogspot.com)

BOBBEE BEE: THE NCAA: THE POLITICS OF CORRUPTION

With the recent scandal involving Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel and the current scandal involving UNC’s Rashard McCants, we, at BlackAthlete.com, felt it was necessary to re-publish this excellent article, especially after NCAA President Mark Emmert was cross-examined for the O’Bannon v. NCAA case on Thursday.

NORTH CAROLINA–(BASN)”In life, never forget the golden rule. Those with the gold make the rules.” The government of the United States should investigate the BCS and the NCAA like it was the MOB.

It should infiltrate it as if it was a Mega Church full of prosperity pimps or a drug cartel.
Why? Because according to certain reports, a university like THE OHIO STATE can make millions of dollars a year while an athlete, like Terrelle Pryor “shamefully” makes $40,000 from signing his autograph on a few sports items, is criminalized and vilified.

While pondering that scenario, one must conclude that the NCAA is a bunch of white collar criminals.

They are, in fact, no different from these corporate CEOs, who make millions of dollars off of cheap labor in “so-called” third world countries. But for some odd reason, the media focuses its attention on punishing those, who commit blue collar “crimes.”

The Blame Game

Therefore, they accuse Reggie Bush rather than USC for the problem.
They blame Cam Newton instead of Mississippi State for the problem.
They punish Terrelle Pryor instead of Ohio State for the problem.

As a result, in the end, they bailout the universities instead of the players like President Obama bailed out the bankers on Wall Street. This is similar to the War on Drugs in the USA, where they lock up petty street hustlers or the small time drug users instead of arresting the big-time drug kingpins.
Former Ohio State (RB) Maurice Clarett confirmed this recently on the Dan Patrick Show when he said, “It’s not a Terrelle Pryor problem. It’s not a Jim Tressel problem, it’s a culture….”
Clarett was correct.

The problem begins and ends with a culture that has been corrupt from the top down, and not from the bottom up.

A System of Pimps and Hoes

To be brutally honest, college athletics is a system of pimps and hoes.

To prove this point, recently South Carolina Gamecocks football head coach Steve Spurrier offered a payment proposal, where the coaches would pay the players $300 a game out of their own pockets.


But many sports analysts felt that Spurrier’s proposal to pay players was simply a clever recruiting tool for South Carolina and the SEC.

“A bunch of us coaches felt so strongly about it that we would be willing to pay it–70 guys 300 bucks a game.”

“This is only $21,000 a game. I doubt it will get passed, but as coaches in the SEC, we make all the money, as do universities, and television. And we need to get more to our players….” said Spurrier, who makes $2.5 million a year not including other bonuses.

If this ain’t a pimp-move, I don’t know what is. The Fear of Socialism in Sports Spurrier’s proposal to pay players, in effect, had a few shrewd capitalists feeling as if he was practicing some weird form of Socialism.

But did Spurrier really want to “share the wealth” like President Obama suggested during his 2008 campaign? According to NCAA President Mark Emmert, Spurrier’s payment proposal would destroy the “sacredness” of college athletics.

“I think paying players by game doesn’t make any sense to me at all.” Emmert said.

“Are you going to pay them for every game they go to, are you going to pay them for women’s volleyball, and why $300, why not $600, why not $1000. If you are just paying them for a game why not $3,000?” he scolded.

“Where do you set that number and why do you set that number? That’s converting student-athletes into employees and I’m adamantly opposed to that and I think that would be the death of intercollegiate athletics.”

Despite Emmert’s disapproval of paying college athletes, he can’t deny the fact that college sports is a big business.

College athletics is a Big Business.

How big a business is it?

According to the dailybeast.com, during the 20 day basketball extravaganza known as March Madness, the NCAA makes $185 million on corporate sponsorships plus $300 million off of NCAA merchadise sales, while $770 million is spend on TV license fees, $613.8 million on television advertisement, and $7.5 million on beer sells.

Seeing those numbers, there is no question, college athletics is a big business.

And to understand the game, just like politics, one must follow the money.

Politics of Corruption

Why? Because there is a Politics of Corruption running college sports.
What do I mean by a politics of corruption?

When you look at the word politics, the first part of the word “poli” which means many.

And the last part of the word is tics, which means a bloodsucker.

Therefore, by definition the term politics means “many bloodsuckers.”

And without a doubt, we all have to agree that the NCAA is sucking the life force of these young college athletes by collecting billions of dollars annually off of their blood, sweat, and tears.
Even though we know that this form of economic exploitation is wrong, the philosophy of college sports of see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil protects this evil empire.

Football Rules

Why? Because there is a code of silence that governs the game.

For instance, you know the old saying, “What happens in Vegas; Stays in Vegas.”

Well, that phrase is a little different in college sports.

The motto for many universities: is football rules or basketball rules.

Therefore, there are no rules.

Why? Because, football is the cash cow.

And you are not going to kill the holy cow, if it is worshipped and viewed as being sacred by the people in order to feed a few hungry athletes hamburgers for dinner.

But this golden calf must be destroyed just like Moses, the Lawgiver, did in the Bible….

In other words, there must be some new laws or commandments to govern this growing entity.


A system driven by greed.
According to Jesse Jackson, of the Rainbow Push Coalition, Capitalism only works if they are checks and balances.

Well, if it is true for Capitalism, it is true for the NCAA.

But this will be a difficult task, because greed drives both of these institutions.

And in a world, where we worship the rich and despise the poor, the rich will always get richer.
Not surprisingly, the NCAA is a microcosm of the macrocosm.

In other words, it is a capitalistic system based off of exploitation, where profit over the people is the law of the land.

Or should I say, profit over the players is the law of the field or the court.

But now this capitalistic system is slowly collapsing, as more universities are being investigated.
And with each investigation, more scandals are surfacing.

Why? Because the NCAA is not a democracy.

It is not governed of, for, and by the people or the players.

It is a plutocracy.

Rich getting richer

A plutocracy means ruled for the rich by the rich.
And a plutocracy’s only purpose is to protect the wealth of the rich.

Therefore, the biggest threat to a plutocracy is for the peasants or the players to revolt against the system.
The sense of rebellion can be seen with the new “one and done” phenomenon occurring in college basketball.

But let’s remember the famous words of Frederick Douglas, who said “Power concedes nothing without demand Therefore, maybe all college athletes should unite, organize and boycott the NCAA and create and articulate a list of demands.

This type of athletic alliance could spark a revolution in college sports like none other and potentially change the way the game is played.

If this happens, then, and only then, will the ball truly be in the hands of the players.

If this doesn’t happen, college athletes will continue to be exploited while the rich get richer and richer.

Eric D.Graham is a graduate of Winston-Salem State University, where he received a B.A. in Mass Communication with a concentration in Radio and Television and a minor in History, with an emphasis in African-American Studies. Graham can be reached at lbiass34@yahoo.com
 

BOBBEE BEE: 40 MILLION DOLLAR SLAVES

THIS SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING FOR ALL HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE ATHLETES: 40 MILLION DOLLAR SLAVES

From Jackie Robinson to Muhammad Ali and Arthur Ashe, African American athletes have been at the center of modern culture, their on-the-field heroics admired and stratospheric earnings envied. But for all their money, fame, and achievement, says New York Times columnist William C. Rhoden, black athletes still find themselves on the periphery of true power in the multibillion-dol...lar industry their talent built.

Provocative and controversial, Rhoden’s $40 Million Slaves weaves a compelling narrative of black athletes in the United States, from the plantation to their beginnings in nineteenth-century boxing rings to the history-making accomplishments of notable figures such as Jesse Owens, Althea Gibson, and Willie Mays. Rhoden reveals that Black athletes’ “evolution” has merely been a journey from literal plantations—where sports were introduced as diversions to quell revolutionary stirrings—to today’s figurative ones, in the form of collegiate and professional sports programs. He details the “conveyor belt” that brings kids from inner cities and small towns to big-time programs, where they’re cut off from their roots and exploited by team owners, sports agents, and the media. He also sets his sights on athletes like Michael Jordan, who he says have abdicated their responsibility to the community with an apathy that borders on treason.

The power black athletes have today is as limited as when masters forced their slaves to race and fight. The primary difference is, today’s shackles are often the athletes’ own making. (bobbeethehater.blogspot.com)

BOBBEEE BEE: PLAYING PLANTATION POLITICS

I work like a slave to become a master” -- Antonio Hardy a.k.a. (Big Daddy Kane)

By Eric D. Graham

NORTH CAROLINA (BASN) -- Despite what anyone thinks, America was built on the foundation of "white supremacy and Black inferiority." Therefore, psychologically, most relationships formed between whites and non-whites are based on a "master-slave relationship."

I see it every year around draft time, whether it’s the NFL Draft or the NBA Draft.

Surprisingly, these two highly-rated televised events look shockingly similar to the slave auctions of the past. For those that disagree or are upset with me for making this obvious comparison, let's not forget that somewhat controversial Sports Illustrated cover with Sir Charles Barkley entitled "Charles Unchained." In which, Barkley posed as a "slave" with chains around his neck, wrist and ankles.

So, as you watch the NBA Draft, carefully observe how all of these Caucasian reporters, agents, PR directors, managers, coaches, executives, and owners start advising Black athletes to smile more, wear this and not that, stop looking so mean and lose the attitude.

Why? Because, they are now official “property” of the NBA. Or, the NFL. Take your pick. The key word is property. And they can be traded like cattle at any time. This scenario raised its ugly head recently on ESPN when they apologized for a fantasy football segment of an auction draft, where black players were sold to mostly white male bidders, which left New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. "speechless" and Golden State Warriors Kevin Durant displeased with mock auction.


This master-slave relationship revealed its self again when Dallas Cowboy owner Jerry Jones
stated that all Cowboys players would stand for the anthem, “toe on the line” or be cut from team— after the NFL voted to “allow” protesting players to remain in the locker room (which has since been tabled). Especially, after super quarterback Dak Prescott agreed with his owner by saying, according to the NY Post by saying, "I never protest during the anthem, and I don’t think that’s the time or the venue to do so...”

“The game of football has always brought me such a peace, and I think it does the same for a lot of people, a lot of people playing the game, a lot of people watching the game, a lot of people that have any impact of the game. So when you bring such a controversy to the stadium, to the field, to the game, it takes away. It takes away from that. It takes away from the joy and the love that football brings to a lot of people.”

Those words have brought Prescott a lot of backlash, including a Dallas artist depicting him on a mural in the “sunken place,” a reference to the main character in “Get Out,” a racially charged thriller movie.

The Branding of Athletes

But, we shouldn’t be surprised. Why? Because, athletes are seen as slaves to the system,” branded" by corporations like Nike, Reebok, Gatorade, Wheaties, and Hanes.

Consider Cam Newton's situation last year in Alabama, where Under Armour apparel had a $10.6 million contract with the University of Auburn.

Under that particular contract, Newton was contractually obligated to wear at less 12 to 15 logos every game.

According to Taylor Branch, an author of the new book Cartel, "Newton had four Armour logos on his helmet, one on each wristband, one on each shoe and one on his head band underneath his helmet."

"This was all specified by the NCAA office. They said they had to be an exact size...” said Branch, a civil rights historian.

"They regulate the commercial side of sports and promote it, right down to the tiniest detail while forbidding the athlete from selling their jersey." 

Yes, these new corporate logos are a new form of branding in this system of capitalistic exploitation, where athletes provide free labor without pay, especially in college.

And even though, we hate to admit it. This system is strikingly similar to the one that help build America.

We Own You

Therefore, if athletes, collegiately or professionally speak out against this injustice or act unruly, they will be "cut," replaced, and even "shipped" overseas for their insubordination. Can we say Colin Kaepernick? Who, despite, doing nothing wrong? Has been “whiteballed” from playing in the NFL for his “stance” against police brutality and the injustice against “Black & Brown” people throughout the country.

Yes, these NBA/NFL owners and general managers have the ability to "kill" careers with the stroke of a pen. Why? Because, the pen is mightier than the sword.

As a result, they begin to braking down these young athletes physically, psychologically, spiritually and sometimes sexually (by commercially putting them in dresses and feminizing them to sell products) as if they were "slaves" who had been traveling in packed slave ships during the Middle Passage before being dropped off in the Caribbean Islands.

Because during these NBA or NFL Combines, they are questioned, provoked, challenged, tested, weighted, measured, humiliated and "whipped" into shape for their personal entertainment.

Let's not forget, what happened to the Dallas Cowboy first round draft pick Dez Bryant during a pre-draft interview this year in Miami when Dolphins' general manager Jeff Ireland asked him if his mother was a prostitute.

But despite all of this probing, these young Black athletes like Bryant must remain calm and never show any sign of anger. 

Keep Them Childlike and Dependent

They, in fact, must continue to smile, bear it, and "take it like a man."

Why? Because, nobody wants to see an angry Black man. Unfortunately for all of these high-paid athletes, expressing any form of Black manhood is frowned upon by league officials.
The league officials unconsciously or consciously like to see their athletes acting childish or child-like. 

In other words, they prefer them to be dumb and dribbling balls or running up and down the court or  field instead of being intelligent business-minded men like LeVar Ball, who took a page out of Stephon Marbury’s playbook of  independence, by expressing a desire to enter into a $1 billion co-branding deal instead of the typical athlete endorsement deal, when he created and manufactured his son’s, Lonzo Ball, the No.2 draft pick of the Los Angeles Lakers’ $495 ZO2 signature Baller Band shoe as well as his own sports agency, Ball Sports Group, which he heads while representing his three sons (Lonzo, LiAngelo and LaMelo) along with Big Baller Media.

They’re not ready for that because they’re not used to that model,” LaVar Ball said. “But hey, the taxi industry wasn’t ready for Uber, either … . Just imagine how rich Tiger [Woods], Kobe [Bryant], Serena [Williams], [Michael] Jordan and LeBron [James] would have been if they dared to do their own thing. No one owned their own brand before they turned pro. We do and I have three sons, so it’s that much more valuable.”


Yes. Ball’s desire to be a game changer in the $7.3 billion shoe and sport apparel business created an uproar in the business world and was faced with opposition from many, including George Raveling, a Black man who is Nike’s Global Basketball Sports Marketing director.

Raveling, in fact, had the audacity to call LaVar Ball “the worst thing to happen to basketball in the last hundred years. Which suggests that, Ball’s decision to create his on shoe was worst than the former Los Angeles Clippers’ owner Donald Sterling’s racism as well as the point shaving scandal that once “plagued” the league alongside the refs betting on games.

Craig Hodges, a member of the Chicago Bulls first two NBA Championship teams, who tried to get his team mate Michael Jordan to do something similar to what Ball is attempting told the Final Call newspaper that “Professional sports is the last true bastion of White supremacy."

“This means being able to own a venue and being able to own a player. I think one of the great things the Balls have done is in somewhat breaking the yoke of White supremacy.”said the sharp-shooting three-point specialist, who many felt was also “whiteballed” by the NBA for his outspokenness and political awareness during his professional basketball career.

“Lonzo Ball is showing a young player a way they can go and do their own thing—go direct to China and get your stuff made.” he continued.
 

“And if another player has the potential to do that, then it’s great. “But this also gives them the potential to stand up and be independent and understand why they have that position, and not because it’s just a phase or a fad that they’re going through. So, if [LaVar Ball] truly does understand what consciousness is and how to work on economic development and the like, then I applaud him.”
 

PLAYING PLANTATION POLITICS

With that said, notice how NBA superstar Dwyane Wade reacted when Commissioner David Stern started pointing his finger in his face during NBA negotiations.

“Don’t point your finger at me, I’m not a child.” yelled Wade.

The Wade and Stern confrontation sparked a controversial commentary from HBO's Real Sports host Bryant Gumbel, who is quoted as saying:

"Stern's version of what has been going on behind closed doors has of course been disputed, but his efforts were typical of a commissioner who has always seemed eager to be viewed as some kind of modern plantation overseer, treating NBA men as if they were his boys. It's part of Stern's M.O., like his past self-serving edicts on dress code and the questioning of officials. His moves were intended to do little more than show how he's the one keeping the hired hands in their place."
 

Remember what I previous stated earlier in this article that all relationships established between whites and non-whites are based upon "a master-slave relationship."

 

Gumbel's commentary highlighted this theory when he called Stern "a modern plantation overseer."

But where have we seen this type of behavior before in the NBA?

Do you remember Cleveland Cavaliers' owner Dan Gilbert's "fathead" remarks toward LeBron James' when he decided to "take his talents “to Miami?

Gilbert's words were so harsh and mean-spirited that they prompted the Rev. Jesse Jackson, of the Rainbow Push Coalition to say, "His (Gilbert's) feelings of betrayal personify a slave master mentality. He sees LeBron as a runaway slave."
Jackson's statement, of course, upset a few white reporters and caused a slight uproar in the sports and entertainment world. For instance, TMZ's Harvey "I am a Lawyer" Levin replied "that is absurd...come on."

As Levin smirked at Jackson's slavery comparison, one of his paparazzi storm troopers made the sarcastic joke, “You know the difference between a slave and Lebron's situation ......about 65 million dollars," which drew a few chuckles in the room.

Here is another classic example of that superior attitude, in which, they try to interpret our emotions and downplay our opinions on situations that affects us. I, however, suggest that they all read "40 Million Dollar Slaves" by William C. Rhoden.
 

“Blacks are concentrated on the playing field, not in the front offices and earning millions weakened athletes and they shied away from social causes for fear of losing their wealth,” Rhoden explained at a journalists’ roundtable in Washington, D.C. in September. “White people tell you when it’s safe and you can protest within this box.”

After reading "40 Million Dollar Slaves", hearing Gilbert's rants, analyzing Colin Kaepernick’s protest plus analyzing Gumbel’s lastest commentary, maybe they will see things a little differently.

Eric D. Graham is the author and alter ego of the infamous BASN character "Bobbee Bee".

BOBBEE BEE: PARKING LOT PIMPING: THE CHURCH OF CAPITALISM

“Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes.They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. (Jeremiah 23:16)

PARKING LOT PIMPING: THE CHURCH OF CAPITALISM
by eric d. graham

With the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, the Black Church went from preaching a "Black Liberation Theology to a Prosperity Gospel, which systematically seduced or hypnotized poor people to give their hard earned money with hopes it would reap them large sums of money in return. However, most of them ended up paying for the lavish lifestyles of pimps in three piece suits, who drive expensive cars, live in large mansions, and fly private jet planes.

The cult classic Car Wash, which was part of the blaxploitation dramedy of the 1970saddressed this issue along with several of topics with the character Daddy Rich played by Richard Pryor, the pastor of The Church of Divine Economic Spirituality, who preys on the economic depression of the ghetto with promises of prosperity while mocking Abdullah's "red, black, and green" Revolutionary dream. Notice, Antonio Fargas, who plays a transvestite in the movie, which shows the feminization of the Black male image ( 1Corinthians 6:9 ).

Remember, there is nothing new under the Sun. Plus, in the Age of Donald Trump, the church of capitalism has replaced the real purpose the Black Church.

So, Never forget, that Dr. King stated in his sermon(A Knock at Midnight-If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority. With that said, will you put your cross before the flag. Or, the flag before the cross. Does your church have a pulpit or a stage, which you sing and moonwalk around real issues that effect Black community (bobbeethehater.blogspot.com)

Cheerleaders with a collar: An open letter to the Black preachers stunting for Donald Trump

Dear Colleagues in Christ:

With heartbreak, yet hope, we reach out to you in the name of our Lord and Liberator, Jesus, the Christ. It was unsettling and upsetting to witness the meeting with you, our moral leaders, and one of the most amoral persons to ever occupy the White House in the name of discussing prison reform.

We are sure it must have been intoxicating to walk the corridors of power and sit at the table of governing authority. Unfortunately, those precincts of power have been infected by white supremacy and moral bankruptcy. Dr. Cornel West is correct, “we are in the spiritual eclipse of decency, honesty and integrity,” leaving our nation in the chaotic shadows of emboldened racism, ugly xenophobia, predatory patriarchy and unvarnished greed.” 

Given your proximity to power and your “seat at the table” in this toxic, political climate, it’s painfully disappointing that instead of being prophetic clergy persons you became presidential cheerleaders. We could never imagine the eighth century prophets cheering the kings of Judah and Israel who were in similar political climates. We know John the Baptist wasn’t content to cheer Herod on and express his gratitude and honor for a seat at the table, declaring that Herod was the most “pro-Jewish king in our lifetime.”

We need not remind you of the posture of the Prince of Peace, our Savior from the streets, when He stood before Herod and Pilate. He didn’t even pray for them. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was quoted yesterday but not emulated. Dr. King had a seat at the table at the White House, but he brought the menu of a civil and voting rights agenda to Presidents who transformed the nation.

It was errantly exclaimed that “this is probably going to be the most pro-Black president that we’ve had in our lifetime…” Were the fumes from the intoxicating toxins that strong? Was he being pro-Black while building his political platform as the number one purveyor of birtherism, which was fueled by racism? Is it pro-Black to label Black NFL players protesting racial injustice in the criminal justice system you were there to reform, “SOBs?” That’s what your pro-Black president did. Was he at his pro-Black finest and most eloquent when he referred to countries of color as “s-hole countries?”

Was he being pro-Black when he equivocated during the white supremacist rally and violence in Charlottesville, that left one person dead and more than a dozen injured, declaring there were “very fine people on both sides?” Was he pro-Black when he appointed a white supremacist, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions (who was deemed too racist to be a judge by a bipartisan panel and Coretta Scott King) to serve as Attorney General? Did your cheerleading blind you to the fact that the policies of Sessions contradict and overrule the prison reform you were cheering for? Attorney General Sessions wants to stall a federal review of police departments where racial profiling, excessive use of force and racially discriminatory police practices have been exposed.

During the Obama Administration (who was disparaged during the meeting to the delight of 46-1), the Justice Department began 25 investigations into police departments and sheriff’s offices and resolved civil rights lawsuits filed against police departments in more than 15 cities. Sessions is stopping and reversing these investigations and consent decrees. Were you cheering for Trump and this Justice Department to continue to ignore the broken body of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, the last gasps of Eric Garner in New York, the slain body of Michael Brown in Ferguson, the aborted life of Tamir Rice in Ohio and so many others? Are you cheering for his “law and order” dog whistle calls that encourage over policing and underserving of our communities? You do know his attorney general also has plans to restart the “War on Drugs,” which was really a war on Black and Brown communities!

We are sure you recognize the importance of judicial appointments in criminal justice and prison reform. The president you cheered for contradicts real reform with his appointments of judges. While purporting to be concerned about prison reform and the negative effects of mass incarceration on communities of color, Trump’s actions demonstrate a blatant disregard for the welfare of people of color by pushing judicial nominees with disturbing records on racial equity issues into lifetime positions as judges, which will have ramifications in the lives of people of color long after he has left the White House. Of the 87 judicial nominations Trump has made, 80 are whites who have made careers in undermining civil rights, while only one is African-American.

We understand that the stated intent of the White House has been to focus its criminal justice reform efforts on improving re-entry, rehabilitation and workforce training programs. That’s nice, but if you have a room filled with spider webs wouldn’t you clean the webs AND remove the spider? You cheered him on for removing a few webs, but you didn’t prophetically challenge him to remove the spiders of sentencing reform, ending the money bail system, profiteering from prisons, and the caste system who author, Michelle Alexander insightfully deconstructs in her 

book, “The New Jim Crow.” One of the biggest and most venomous spiders is the school to prison pipeline that begins with expulsions of Black and Brown children from school. Expulsions push our children into juvenile court systems and they commence their passage through the pipeline to prison.

Since you’ve been selected to serve on the front-lines of prison reform, as your colleagues, who have been doing this work and fighting to eliminate the spiders of injustice, we would be remiss if we didn’t give you resources for your new assignment. We encourage you to read the aforementioned, “The New Jim Crow.” And Paul Butler’s, “Chokehold.” He documents and declares how police officers, politicians, and ordinary people are afraid of Black men. The result is the chokehold: laws and practices that treat every African-American man like a thug. The former federal prosecutor shows that the system is working exactly the way it’s supposed to. Black men are always under watch, and police violence is widespread—all with the support of judges and politicians.Add to your justice edification Bryan Stevenson’s “Just Mercy.” Stevenson is a gifted attorney who is engaged in the work of criminal justice reform and testifies that mercy can be redemptive and offers a challenge and tools for fixing this broken system that has resulted in destroying lives, dismantling families and devastating our communities.

Our beloved colleagues, the leader of the free world you met with has a contagious narcissism that has given him a Messiah complex. Please remind him of the first-person pronouns that saturate the model prayer, “Our,” “us” and “we.” No one can overhaul the criminal justice system alone. Remember the wisdom of the Apostle Paul, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.” The flowering of criminal justice reform will require all of our hands for this great work.

Our dear colleagues, the man you met with yesterday during his divisive and incendiary campaign asked the Black community repeatedly, “What do you have to lose?” In less than two years we’ve lost a lot and you have become his cheerleaders with a collar.

We are praying for you. We invite you to join us in dialogue that will prophetically challenge the poison of Trump’s politics, while we work to develop our underserved communities. We are called to speak truth to power. May God give us the courage and power to tell the truth.

Peace and Power