“You take out the issue of white women and replace it with the issue of religion. That's my story!” - Muhammad Ali, after seeing The Great White Hope
There are so many victims of time and circumstance in my country's history, but it really seems like young pugilists from certain racial and socioeconomic groups seem to constitute an inappropriately large amount of this group.
Mr. Jack Johnson of Galveston had fist-related acumen, was of African descent, and enjoyed the fleshly delights of the prized white female. Since it was the early 1900s, this meant that things would not turn out well for him. Back then, my people held some truths to be self-evident, including that all men are created equal, except if it's a black man who makes white men look bad by ripping the heavyweight championship out of their hands, and then that same black man pours lemon juice into their facial cuts by having sex with white ladies.
But over the years, there's been a swelling of good intentions among good people who've noted the injustice in sending Johnson to prison on some Mann Act charges. We all want Johnson to receive a presidential pardon--last year, I was amazed to find out that John McCain was a major supporter in this movement. We're still waiting; it's in Obama's hands now. And I'm proud to say that almost all the skinny bearded young white men who live in my neighborhood have heard of Johnson, thanks to that Mos supergroup and the popularity of his likeness on t-shirts. The one above is the best I've seen yet (even though that collar is so high and weird--but maybe it's just this particular photo), and part of the profits from its sale goes to PBS for the funding and production of wonderful things like the annoyingly prolific Ken Burns' documentary Unforgivable Blackness.
[Cool Hunting]
“Swishas and Dosha.” Because I had to post a Texas song, because that chorus, oh that glorious chorus!, and because of Bun's punch your mouth and knock out the taste part.
Coma Cinema - “Sucker Punch”
mp3.
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