Manns Medium

Many of you probably have not yet heard Bill O’Rielly’s rant about why Trayvon Martin lost his life on that cold and rainy night in Sanford Florida.   O’Rielly believes that it had nothing to do with race but everything to do with wearing a hoodie.   To thse who know better, that reasoning sounds niave and childish but to those who are like minds of O’Rielly it sounds quite possible if not extremely true.   So what can we do to provide them with a much deeper understanding?   Some, including our president Barack Obama, say it’s time for a nationwide honest conversation for others like Chris Hayes; it may be time to ask “what’s the matter with white people?”   We are beginning to have that conversation now and I stand here to try and answer Chris’ question. What’s the matter with white people?   The same thing that is a problem for all races of people, nothing.   There is nothing wrong with white, black, or brown people except we all fall into on...

To some the Jon Stewart Bill O’Rielly debate about the rapper Common being invited to the poetry night at the White House was a lesson in futility, it presented more to me. It was an encouragement to me to see two different views presented by two different people and personalities.   They both presented their points and counter points in a civil and adult manner.   Even though neither was willing to give any ground and to a few it may have seem to be a waste of time, I say that it was not. If one paid true attention to the way each presented his case and how the other responded, it should have shown us that a real debate does not have to result in harsh words or disrespect of the opposition.   It should have shown us that just because a person disagrees with your position that alone does not make them an enemy nor does it make them one that you must convince.   What is should show is that it provides you with a person whom you can actually learned from and educate...

Joe Pompeo penned an article titled How Fox News is fueling the Common non-controversy in which he reports that “It began with a single post on The Daily Caller, the first to draw attention to Common's participation in the poetry reading organized by First Lady Michelle Obama. The conservative website ignited the blaze by noting that the Chicago-born rapper--real name Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr--" is quite controversial, in part because his poetry includes threats to shoot police and at least one passage calling for the "burn[ing]" of then-President George W. Bush ."   From there, the furor migrated over to the airwaves of Fox News, where the right-wing outrage of pundits like Sean Hannity helped fuel a vigorous churn of blog posts, online video embeds--and retorts from talking heads on the left, like Comedy Central host Jon Stewart.” My only question is if this is all you have to keep your people heated about President Barack Obama, then you must be missing ...