The news this week that the famed Marching 100 band from Florida A&M University has been suspended throughout the 2012-2013 academic year has completely thrown me for a loop.  I admit that the band needed to be punished for its actions internally and externally.  And that is exactly what has happened!    Internally, the band has been suspended by President Ammons  for the last six months following Robert Champion’s death.  Externally, 13 band members have been criminally charged in the hazing death of the FAMU Drum Major.

We must have faith in the criminal justice system even though it is a reach for most of us who know that justice is not blind when it comes to black Americans.  Lady Justice might be blind but someone has certainly placed weights on the scales that do not favor us.  Herein lies the problem.  Who exactly at FAMU is calling the shots?  President Ammons must surely know that the FAMU football team is only partly the draw when it comes to our gridiron contests.  I will state unequivocally that most of us that attend FAMU football games do so with the intent to see the Marching 100 perform.

While it may be true that FAMU is not known primarily as a halftime show; it is a university that on a year to year basis produces the highest number of baccalaureate degrees amongst  African-American students.  And this is where my problem with Ammons comes into play.  I don’t understand who it is that is whispering into his ear that this is the appropriate course of action.  The Marching 100 is an instrumental recruiting tool that must not be abandoned because someone outside of the FAMU community said that it must be that way.  Are we going to run our institution or capitulate to those whose only agenda is not in the best interest of FAMU?

We must let the criminal justice system run its course and let them determine the guilt or innocence of those charged.  From my understanding, the State has a really weak case and will try to consolidate those with fringe charges against those with more severe charges.  That’s unfortunately how the system works.  Those who are guilty will be judged as such.  I have empathy for the Champion family but i also have empathy for the hundreds of members of the Marching 100 who had nothing to do with the crime.  And I still maintain my belief that Mr. Champion knew what he was getting into when he walked voluntarily onto that bus.

What happened to him should have never happened. The punishment must fit the crime.  And the punishment has already exceed the crime.  As a friend has already stated that there was no punishment when FSU coaches coached a black man to his death at two a day practices in 100 hundred degree heat. I’d call that hazing….  But then again, I’ve already stated that the weights have been placed on the scale underneath Lady Justice’s blindfold.

Photo via Artizans

One reason that I know that Heaven does not exist is because of the lack of calls from angels using their cell phones from Heaven.  Now, they say that you can’t take it with you; however I know that there has to have been some enterprising brothers or sisters that would have taken their cell phones with them on that journey into the afterlife.  If not that, some poor misguided loved one would have slipped their i-Phone into the casket of their dearly departed in hopes of getting some late night tips to come on home sometime in the future.

But there haven’t always been cell phones.  So what is the deal with those in Heaven that don’t know anything about technology?  Well, I always thought that they would sneak into an office and use one of God’s land lines to call home.  Who amongst us haven’t made a long distance call from work back in the day?  You know, before cell phones were in vogue…  But, alas, the phone has not rung.

So today, I was really wanting to talk to my father.  He’s been dead for a long time now.  I just wanted to know if they had nightclubs and beer in Heaven. I dialed God’s phone number, Jeremiah 33:3 and asked to speak to Gomez, or Emory Earle Hardy Jr.  And wouldn’t you know it, I was place on hold and then transferred to an automated menu where I had to press one for Christian or two for Pagan…

For some reason that I will never understand, I was transferred to extension 666…. The voice went from an indifferent white woman to the voice of my long since departed father… He said to me, Nick, do whatever you want to do, but all of the interesting people that have ever lived, are all with me!

I am so going to extension 666….

Photo via The Arizona Republic

Religious freedom my ass… The assault on women’s rights is so laughable that each and every Republican who voted for the Blunt/Rubio amendment should be voted out of Congress when their time comes. I am so glad that it was defeated yesterday.   This amendment served two purposes; the first, to eventually repeal Roe vs. Wade, the second, to weaken The Affordable Health Care Act.  The very idea to allow insurance companies to determine what they will or will not pay for is ludicrous.  I’ve never met an insurance company that wanted to pay any claim.

Let’s touch on two topics regarding the Catholic Church!  Both are Church Dogma that serve insidious purposes.  First, is “chaste” amongst the Catholic Clergy.  The only reason that Catholic priests are not allowed to marry or have sex is because the early Church did not want claims against its property by the offspring of its Priests.  What has that line of thinking gotten us?  An international child abuse sex ring spanning centuries.

The second reason is contraception.  Why would the Catholic Church endorse a policy of contraception when that policy means fewer Catholics?  The Pope wants all the tithers that he can get.  What has this line of thinking gotten us?  The likes of Rick Santorum and his 187 children that will propagate this outdated line of thinking for centuries to come.  We don’t need 20 children anymore to work the farm…

The Constitution of the United States of America, as far as I know, does not make any exceptions for religious liberty.  As long as no law makes a direct attack on religion, there is no legal argument to be made against Obama care and his insistence that the insurance companies foot the bill for contraceptives.

How ironic is it that the Republicans will fight tooth and nail for you to be born, and then have no regard for you once you get here.  The hypocrisy  is not lost upon me, and neither should it be upon you…

I am so happy to live in a country where these arguments can be made and won or lost in the halls of Congress.  But more so, for a President, that is not afraid to do the right thing.  Every woman in America should support a man that has their best interests in his heart.  For you to do otherwise, I have a choice adjective for you…

Under any other circumstances, I would unequivocally state that the most disgusting food on the face of the earth would be Kentucky Fried Chicken’s faux bowl of mashed potatoes and the questionable gelatinous brown shit that sits on top of it , and passes for what we call gravy.  But today, the circumstances have changed…

As you all know, I am following the path of my nephew Devyn, who was shot in the head, a victim of a senseless crime that has not yielded one person anything other than grief.  Devyn was shot behind the ear and the bullet traveled in a downward trajectory resulting in the loss of multiple teeth and requiring that his jaws be wired shut.  In the few weeks since this tragedy happened, my nephew has not complained about anything except the one thing that all teenagers complain about, food, and how hungry they are!

Today, Devyn went to the doctor’s office and took a test that they call a “Barium Swallow.”  This test entails testing the patient with a solution containing Barium sulfate.  This solution is ingested by the patient and then tracked by x-rays to track its progress through the esophagus and the stomach.  To make a long story short, Devyn, just got a free pass to put a hurting on a whole lot of restaurants and I intend to take that journey with him… Soft foods only boy!

So, today, after getting the clearance from his doctors, Devyn decided to get some mashed potatoes from K-Fried and I an not taking issue with his culinary choices.  Eat all the mashed potatoes from Kentucky Fried Chicken you want.  I’m not sure that they have any nutritional value, but hopefully, they’ll help you to gain back some of the weight you’ve lost.  Bigger, after all, is a part of your motto…

Bigger – Better – Stronger!

First and foremost, I want everyone to know that this tribute to my nephew Devyn is not about anyone or anything other than him.  This whole endeavor is about making him whole and restoring him to the young man that we all knew and loved before his tragic accident!.  For some reason that I cannot explain, whilst in the middle of starting this blog, Devyn and my cousin Leah showed up at the house.  I’ll get back to that a little bit later…

I want to thank my fiancee’ Stephanie Lewin, who put together the Devyn: Bigger, Better, Stronger blog.  Not only did she write it, she did all of the logistical work to get it up and running and set up the donation page.  And for that, I am eternally grateful and appreciative.  However, Stephanie is not a product of FAMU and the way that we do things.  I don’t hold that against her, however, I hope to give her a softer edge…

I am not running a Super Pac here, my only intention is to help offset some of the costs that Karen may incur commuting between Tallahassee and Tampa for Devyn’s bi-monthly trips to Tampa to see his doctors.  President Obama is going to be fine and I hope that the same generosity that you show to his campaign that is in your hearts, you can show to mine.  I am not asking for a thirty second sound bite on the telly but in help getting thirty miles down I-10.

We’ve received a few donations thus far and that is a good thing.  What we must keep in mind is that although we are doing everything in our power to help my sister and her family is this…, there are four younger children whose lives we are not trying to disrupt.  Three of the four are involved in advanced soccer programs and all are being recruited by these programs to participate on the next level.

When Devyn walked through the door, I immediately stopped doing what I was doing on the computer and went to give him a hug.  I am not talking about the quick dap and faux hug that brothers give each other these days but the full blown hug that I gave him the same day that he came home from his first day of  Kindergarten.

For the first time since his shooting, I saw him laughing and smiling as much as the wires in his mouth would let him.  My heart pounded with pride and joy.  We all felt that the young man that left us in triumph, who came back to us in tragedy, has shown us all, that no matter what, that the will to live and succeed will never be trumped by those with lesser values….

Thanks for teaching me something!

Sometime after 8:00 a.m. today, Jonathan Edward Murphy and Glenn Leonard Davis will enter into what I like to call “The End of Your Fucking Life as You Knew It!” day.  These are the two punks that tried to murder my nephew Devyn and any sympathy that I might have had for these two ne’er do wells can be found in the dictionary somewhere between shit and syphilis…

Both have been charged with attempted first degree murder and under Florida Law will be subjected to the 10-20-Life law.  Which in my current state of mind is much too lenient.  I am vehemently opposed to capital punishment and I thank everyone and everything that Devyn is still with us.  I couldn’t fathom the thought of  going through decades of dealing with something we are so desperately trying to put behind us.

For Mr. Murphy and Mr. Davis, I can’t worry too much about their fate right about now.  I only hope that they recognize the gravity of their situations and make their decisions accordingly.  Perhaps, in time, we will be able to forgive them.  And by time, I mean sometime in the future when Newt Gingrich is president and we visit our relatives on the moon colony.

These two men conspired to take Devyn away from us for momentary gain.  What they took away from me is my capacity to forgive.  So, today, when the judge reads the charges against these punks, and they think that they can game the system; I look forward to the day that I can sit in the courtroom and hear the jury deliver a guilty verdict.  And from there, the day that they are sentenced to spend their youth and hopefully a large portion of their adulthood in prison will I only begin to think about forgiveness.

Devyn, justice starts for you today!

Two things that made her the greatest of all time….. first,

last,

There will never be another Mezzo Soprano like you again.  When I think of you, only word comes to mind.  Effortlessly!  That’s how you did it!

I cannot attribute this photo.  Taken from the web!

One of the things that have been on my mind the last several months is the senseless death of FAMU Drum Major Robert Champion.  I wanted to comment on this issue earlier but several events have transpired in my life that have prevented me from doing so.  First of all, I’d like to thank Brother Chuck Hobbs who posted this article from The Orlando Sentinel on his Facebook  page which did a sensational job reporting on this story.  I don’t feel any remorse for canceling my subscription to my hometown newspaper The Tallahassee Democrat.  Worst newspaper ever…

I want to keep this short and sweet.  To Dr. Julian White, Director of Bands at Florida A&M University, I wholeheartedly apologize for calling for your firing.  Clearly, the evidence points to you doing everything in your power to curtail hazing.  The unfortunate thing about the matter is that no matter what those in power do to curtail the practice of hazing, the responsibility lies with the actual members of The 100 who seek to enthrall us every week when they take the field.

I have read ad nauseam the musings and opinions of those who think that they speak for the majority as if they were some kind of expert on our culture and would speak as if their words were etched on The Ten Commandments.  To Dr. Na’im Akbar, shut the fuck up!  Your analysis seems to suggest that people of our color cannot handle and should not be given the power for self determination. Herein lies the problem…

The strong will always prey upon the weak.  Robert Champion was set to become the head drum major next year.  He could have left it there and set the example for the rest of the band to show them that you can achieve whatever you want to by sticking to your own guns.  However, for whatever misguided thoughts that he may have had, he didn’t need to get on that bus that would eventually take his life.  Acceptance by fools is no acceptance at all…

No matter how this incident has hurt our university, we will prevail!  Bullies have been picking on the weak since time began.  Only when the weak stand up to the bullies and say no more of this shit, will stupid shit like hazing end.  If you are a lamb, it will be to your advantage, not to walk with lions.  Mr. Champion, you may have had the heart of a lion that day, but you should never have trusted them…  May you find the acceptance in the next life that you didn’t find in this one…. Hubba!

“There are only two ways to live your life.  One is as though nothing is a miracle.  The other is as though everything is a miracle.” – Albert Einstein

I have not always been the evil Atheist that some people make me out to be.  In fact, I was indoctrinated into religion at an early age by my grandmother Thelma Clarke.  Thelma, or T.C. as we like to call her, made it her business to see that her grandchildren were raised as good little Episcopalians.  Every Sunday, my brother, sisters, and I served Christ as acolytes, singing in the children’s choir, and attending Sunday school.

It was during these Sunday School classes that I was first introduced to the concept of miracles.  Dictionary.com defines a miracle as:  an effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause.  Supernatural is used usually as an euphemism for God.  Along my own personal journey through this short thing that we call life, I came to be a skeptic of miracles and the supernatural.  For me, logic and reason control my thought processes.  I have to be able to see and touch something in order to believe that it exists.  If you will, I need empirical evidence…

That was until today when Devyn walked across the threshold and I was able to touch him and hug him for the first time since his shooting.  It was in that instant that all of T.C.’s making me go to church came back to haunt me.  I was at once grateful for the turn of events that allowed Devyn to come home.  I am talking about the incompetence of his attackers and grateful for the angle of the bullet that entered his head.  Logic tells me that he is fortunate to be alive because of his will to live and the way that the event unfolded.

What I am having difficulty with is discounting the prayers and well wishes of all of you that have come to support Devyn and my family as we deal with this tragedy.  I can’t very well tell you to take your “God bless you and your family” and that “We are praying for him” and tell you to blow it out of your asses because I don’t know if it was that, in effect,  that saved him.

There is no proof that God exists or does not exist! I suspect that this argument will continue when we have all ceased to exist.  The only thing that I know is that when I saw my nephew today, I was overjoyed and filled with a feeling of love that I didn’t know that resided within me.  Was it just life playing  itself  out?  Or was it just a miracle?

Today, I don’t care what anyone believes.  Be it in a supernatural being or a miracle that brought Devyn home or a total act of randomness of the physical  universe is irrelevant.  I am a happy man!  This is a time for celebration.  Whether his being home is a miracle or just plain fate is a debate for someone who gives a shit.  And right now, I dont…

P.S.  While Devyn is growing stronger physically, we have yet to discover the psychological issues that he will have to deal with.  As always, the family continues to appreciate your love and support.  We will continue to update you with Devyn’s recovery!  Peace and love to all!

I’ve done a bit of reminiscing today about the fives years that I lived in New York.  Living in New York is at worst, dodging all of the tourists looking up and ogling all of the tall buildings.  At best, if you are into the arts such as I am, it is the American version of Mecca!  I was so fortunate to work for a company named Group Sales Box Office.  The mission of this company was to provide discounted theater tickets to school and civics groups of ten or more people who wanted to come experience the offerings of Broadway!

One of the perks of working that job is that I got to experience everything that Broadway had to offer for free.  Not only did we do Broadway tickets, we handled all of the theme restaurants such as the Hard Rock Cafe…  Who could ask for anything more than free food and drinks and then a show afterwards?  Myself, and a wacky cast of coworkers would do our best to put those restaurants out of business.

Okay, so you’re probably asking yourself where is Nick going with this column.  I am here to bring to your attention to a novel written by Victor Hugo called Les Miserables.  In the business, we just called it Lay Miz.  Anyway, the principle character is Jean Valjean,who rises from a bread thief to become  a very prominent man who is ruthlessly hunted by a French police officer, Inspector Javert bent on bringing Valjean down.

Valjean has adopted Cosette, the daughter of the deceased Fantine.  Cosette falls in love with Marius who is severely injured in the French Revolution.  Upon discovering Marius, Valjean launches into “Bring Him Home!”  Which is the song that made me think again about my nephew Devyn!  Please, bring him home…