15 MAY 11: He Likes Me, He Likes Me Not

Sleep time on Friday nights tends to be easy for me. But last weekend, I didn't sleep well on Saturday night at all. I personally think it was more due to the blog topic than the extra cup of diet cola I had near bedtime....

SUNDAY SOAPBOX: I was concerned about the nature of last Sunday's message from a civil rights activist, and how he might take my response. The answer came quickly - and much to my surprise, it cheered me up....

Richard,

It was an NAACP press conference, but other groups were involved in the reconciliation effort. I was talking about credit where credit was due. The men and women who decided to come together for the good of this city deserve the credit and the effort deserves much praise. Not simply the news conference deserves praise, but the people, the effort, the example and accomplishment. My criticism of you was that you could not find it within yourself to do so, as opposed to how critical you have been of civil rights activists and social justice advocates.

I do not know what black journalist you are referring to in Columbus that wrote about Georgia State NAACP President Edward DuBose's purple suit, but that could have been way before I came on the scene. Who knows? All I can say is I do not recall ever seeing Mr. D. in a purple suit. He might have several. If wore a purple suit to council or anywhere else, I wondered why it would be funny.

I am sure Courier publisher Wane Hailes appreciates your suggestion about reviewing rappers. I do not know about anything about the Courier reviewing "big local concerts," and it certainly seems I do not know as much as you do about these things. Maybe the Courier has a rap reviewer or big local concert reporter I have not met as of yet.

Could be one.

"C.A. Hardmon may have overlooked the fact that I've also used items from white rights activist Michael Weaver as joke material [16 Jul 10]. "

I do not know what you mean by items per se, but you seem to be alluding to the color of our skin when you say chocolate milk. The "chocolate milk" comment is nothing I think you it was necessary to apologize for nor did I ask you to apologize. You are running a humor blog as you have said. I simply brought it to your attention because I thought you might explain it.

I will say as an African American when you first see it in writing and you know the press conference we held that day was about a very serious issue and what we considered to be an injustice, it does really jump out at you. However, if I thought you were a racist I would call you one. I have no problem doing that when I have compelling evidence. Case in point, with all I said during the "white tablecloth issue" I do not think I ever called the Chamber president a racist.

Racially insensitive is one thing, racist is another - although racist are deliberately racially insensitive and offensive. I may not like the way you characterize us and challenge you, but I never called you a racist or ask you to apologize for anything you have said on the blog.

I accept what you say when you tell me you are into humor. I do not have to always like it or agree with it, but freedom of speech and the freedom to disagree are what help make this country great.

You have a lot more courage than a lot of others around here. You dish it out but aren't afraid to take it by letting a person have their say, even when the person submits lengthy response such as I do. I have to respect that. The Courier follows that same policy, which is a good thing. Your blog and the Courier mirror each other in some ways. The Courier has gone as far as to allow one of writer Laura Lowe to harshly criticize me in one issue for attacking Pops Barnes and calling myself Brother Love. I guy like me has to admire that hutzpah. When Wane Hailes surprised that way, I knew I'd be with the Courier for a long time.

Have fun, Richard. The people enjoy what you do. I like a good fight, a tough debate, and a worthy opponent so I'll pop up on you from time to time with a challenge. In my line of work I am a bit more serious than you are, but don't take it personal.

You are grammar police, fashion police, and a poker playing comedian. You are doing a h**k of a good job.

Again I am very sorry I missed you at the April 26th NAACP press conference. We will bump into each other one day at some event.

Until then, keep up the good work.

God bless,

Brother Love, Director

Grassroots Unity Movement for Change

Whew - I think I'm off the hook for at least 21 more days.

I've come to expect C.A. "Brother Love" Hardmon to be stone-cold serious in his messages and overall writing. So when he wrote last Sunday about my "ill-informed opinions" and not "personally caring" for what he's doing, that stung. Paul Olson kicked me out of his campaign office last November, but he didn't go that far.

I certainly felt an obligation to attend the late-April news conference with Mike Gaymon and African-American leaders. I dared to bring up the "tablecloth joke" here last December, then asked Gaymon about his actions in January. For all I knew, Gaymon might have stomped out when someone asked a tough question -- and the only one who asked questions during the news conference was I.

Writing a humor blog about topics in the news can be a delicate thing. It's especially true in a city such as Columbus, where racial sensitivities are never far from the surface with any issue. If I tried to repeat some of Mike Epps's recent jokes from the Civic Center here, I shudder to think what the reaction would be -- even before Epps sues me.

But my main goal is to write a humor blog - not really get into "a good fight" or "a tough debate." If I wanted those things, I'd attend Phenix City Council meetings a lot more often.

And what do you know - the latest issue of The Courier shows the tabloid has a new Entertainment Editor. Putting a toy crown on his head on Page One doesn't quite rival Carolyn Hugley being declared "Queen of the Legislature," but it's a start.

We have one more Sunday message, which has nothing at all to do with this....

Hey Richard, just ran across this on ebay and I immediately thought about you.

Thank you for doing that! But I clicked on the link too late Saturday night to make a bid for a 1988 Kansas Jayhawk basketball button. In fact, no one bid on it - which shows the cloud still hasn't lifted from that team.

My old alma mater won the NCAA men's basketball in 1988. But so many questions surfaced about recruiting violations that I never put a championship bumper sticker on my car. Come to think of it, I also never sent a "victory gift" to the Alumni Association.

I went back to Kansas, dear old Kansas, where our hearts are gay on vacation a couple of weeks after the final-round win over Oklahoma. Perhaps the student body was concerned about the recruiting rumors as well, because I bought a championship T-shirt at the Student Union for half-price. [True!]

While I still wear the 1988 title T-shirt, I still haven't pulled my 2008 Kansas championship T-shirt out of a storage bag. Don't ask me why. I guess I'm waiting for it to replace a worn-out shirt in my rotation -- and a long-sleeve shirt from big bad Texas is getting awfully close.

SCHEDULED MONDAY: I find a supermarket checkout rule-breaker. What should I do?....

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