Ken J. Makin

This column appears in the April 20, 2017 edition of Urban Pro Weekly.

The idea of “wearing the pants,” whether in the workforce or in a relationship, suggests dominance and executive decision-making.

In other words, whomever wears the pants wields the power. Simple, right?

It is with this idiom in mind that I challenge an idiotic and shortsighted proposal by Augusta (Ga.) Richmond County Super District 9 Commissioner Marion Williams.

Commissioner Williams is leading the charge on a “sagging pants” ordinance, which would ban the practice and possibly lead to fines.

“Your mother, your father and your wife shouldn’t have to ride down the street and look at other people’s underwear when they’re walking down the street,” he explained at a recent committee meeting.

I’ve said a lot of things about this proposed ordinance. I have talked about the irony and the tragedy of a Black commissioner (who also serves as a pastor) who presides over multiple Black districts passing an ordinance that would promote racial profiling. I have also talked about a Black elected official’s most important responsibility, regardless of location or position, should be to improve the economic plight of Black people.

Ultimately, one question keeps coming to mind: “Who wears the pants?”

It’s not the Augusta Commission. If that group, which has a majority of six Black commissioners, wore the pants, they would focus on serving their mostly Black constituency through economics instead of respectability politics. (Respectability politics is the notion that if you dress well and speak well, you will be prosperous and “respected.” We saw how that worked for Dr. King.)

If Commissioner Williams and his Black colleagues “wore the pants,” they would undo the work of the “Gang of Six,” the collection of six WHITE commissioner who, close to a decade ago, greatly cut into city services and made controversial executive decisions without batting an eyelash.

Don’t think for a second that our commissioners don’t know what’s going on in their districts. They know the problems and won’t fix them. Why? Because of fear.

The same thing is happening among our Black pastors. The problems of the Black community are economic in nature and are enforced through White supremacy. Black leaders know this and are scared to challenge the system because the backlash could cost them their livelihoods, and in some cases, their very lives.

Again, we saw how that worked for Dr. King. He was the standard of “respectability politics.” He was gunned down as if he was less than a man.

It is inexcusable for anyone who represents Black leadership – elected officials, pastors and PARENTS – to pass the buck to a supremacist system, chock-full of crooked cops and dangerous legislation. The moments leading up to the type of proposal that Commissioner Williams is presenting are the same type of moments that led up to the “War on Drugs.”

It is shameful that men who campaign on a pedestal of Blackness and campaign on behalf of the “common man” end up being nothing more than carriers of generations of supremacy.

It’s pretty bad when the editorial of a controversial newspaper that has a love-hate relationship with Black folks in Augusta gets it right, and the people’s commissioner gets it wrong:

“While there are decency laws on the books, you can’t legislate dignity or good taste. That comes best from prudent upbringing or creative teaching – not from a police officer.”

The Chronicle gets it and the commissioner doesn’t? Lord help us.

There are two gaps we need to figure out in the Black community AND FAST – the wealth gap and the generation gap.

The wealth gap is an issue of economics. We need more than jobs, we need ways to make money and pass it down to our kids.

The generation gap is an issue of empathy and communication. It’s time out for beating on our kids’ psyches. It speaks to the self-esteem of our entire community that we would rather blame our kids and young adults for society’s problems than to look in the mirror.

We need to do more than tell our kids to tighten their belts around their waist. We need to tighten up when it comes to facing the real issues in our community.

Cam Newton might be the most enigmatic quarterback in the National Football League.

Oh, I’m sure that’s the first time you’ve heard that adjective used to describe Cam. Most of the adjectives used to describe him are generic and uninspiring.

Black. Athletic. Gifted. Fun-loving. Blah blah blah.

We usually don’t go outside of the box with Cam, yet he is as much a complex and conflicted brother as he is a competitive one.

Before Colin Kaepernick took a knee, there was the Cam Newton who proudly declared before Super Bowl 50, “I’m an African-American quarterback that may scare a lot of people because they haven’t seen nothing they can compare me to.”

Then, after he lost the Super Bowl, Cam went the “All Lives Matter” route:

“It’s not racism. Everybody’s entitled to their own opinion,” he told GQ. And when asked to elaborate on his remark about being an African-American quarterback, he added, “I don’t want this to be about race, because it’s not. It’s not. Like, we’re beyond that. As a nation.”

There’s the Cam who, in a span of a few weeks, went from “Black Power Fist” Cam to “unfortunate sexist comments” Cam to Silent Cam.

Personally, I like Silent Cam. That Cam has a Marshawn Lynch type of likability. The kind of anti-establishment likability that common folk love. There’s still an elephant in the room, though (no, not Frank Luntz).

Whether Cam is silent or brash, aloof or “woke,” Superman or turnover-prone Tyrone, one thing is certain:

CAM WILL TAKE HITS.

That may seem redundant in a conversation about football. It is a gladiator’s sport. Football is more than a contact sport — it’s a collision sport.

Ever since he’s taken snaps in Charlotte, Cam has been the most hit QB in football.

Last season, he was blitzed by opposing defense at a rate of 40 percent, highest in the league, according to Pro Football Focus. He was sacked 36 times and hit a total of 93 times.

According to ESPN Stats and Info, Cam has been hit or sacked 922 times since he entered the league in 2011. Seattle’s Russell Wilson is second during that span of time with 615.

Detractors will say that’s because Cam is a dual-threat quarterback, but that’s only part of the story. The other part of that story is that Cam has played behind patchwork, inferior offensive lines for years.

Why haven’t the Panthers invested in offensive line talent, if for no other reason, to protect their franchise QB? (I could ask the same question about Wilson.) Why haven’t the Panthers committed to the two-TE system that yielded 4,000 passing yards in Cam’s rookie campaign and has worked wonders for New England’s Tom Brady?

The truth is, there’s no acceptable excuse. For the Panthers to have such a progressive (and militant) team name, Carolina’s brass is unrepentantly conservative, both literally and politically.

That’s the only logical reason the Panthers continue to surround Cam with subpar offensive linemen, mediocre skill players and a predictable offensive coordinator with a famous surname.

Off the field, Panthers owner Jerry Richardson continues to dig in regarding his opposition of NFL protests, all while assigning a Republican strategist to his star quarterback.  Layers upon layers of conservatism.

Sure, there will be moments (and seasons) where Cam makes something out of nothing. A 15-1 mark that led to a Super Bowl run. A thrilling 33-30 win over the defending Super Bowl champs this season.

Still, as long as Panthers management is willing to let Cam take the brunt of the Panthers’ hits on (and off) the field, we will watch a franchise QB lose his prime, and quite possibly, so much more.

Black superheroes in toy stores have been on the endangered species list for as long as I can remember.

Look, there’s a Falcon! Wait, is that a Karl Mordo on the clearance rack?

Trying to find likenesses of high-powered brothas is like trying to find rare Pokemon.

I know personally because I am, quite literally, that big kid in the toy store. I see aisles upon aisles of Captain America, Superman, Transformers and every other toy under the sun.

Every other toy under the sun — EXCEPT heroes that look like me.

And this is why the revolution will be live.

***

I didn’t understand what or who my father brought home over 20 years ago in a colorful box marked “Sun-Man.” All I knew was that he wasn’t a Ninja Turtle — my toy of choice in those days.

“Who is Sun-Man, anyway?”

Sun-Man was created by a toy manufacturer known as Olmec Toys. Olmec was founded in 1985 by Yla Eason, and at the time was the largest minority-owned toy company in the United States. By 1995, the product line extended to toys of color for boys and girls. With its “ethnically correct” mantra, Olmec was committed to making sure dolls and action figures had appropriate skin tones and facial features to accurate represent the toy’s ethnicity.

It took me a lot of years to understand what my dad tried to do in that moment, but my parents have always been ahead of their time. They didn’t force-feed us “Blackness,” per se. Dad would give my brother and I dope suggestions like BlacFax (think “Trivial Pursuit” for Black folk). Mom would drop off books like “Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World.” My parents helped us to become “woke” even before the term became popular.

A lot of us are already excited for Black Panther because of two incredible movie trailers. In addition to the trailers, I am excited for Black Panther because of REPRESENTATION.

I can already see it by virtue of Halloween costumes. Little black boys can dress up as a superhero that looks like them! As a big kid at heart who still peruses the toy aisle, I think about all of the little revolutions that are going to happen when Black kids see T’Challa on the toy aisle. It makes my heart glad to think about young girls who can pick up a likeness of Shuri or the Dora Milaje.

Why do we need Marvel’s Black Panther? Because cultural revolution can lead to social revolution. Why do we need Marvel’s Black Panther? Because the imaginary heroes of today can inspire the real heroes of tomorrow.

Why do we need Marvel’s Black Panther? Because the revolution is going to be LIVE!

This column appears in the October 12, 2017 edition of Urban Pro Weekly.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way…” — Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

If that doesn’t sound like America right now.

Politically, there are two Americas. Financially, there are two Americas. We are divided and segregated on virtually every level.

No matter how many people throw around the word “unity,” no matter how many folks want to say “all lives matter,” it’s clear that in America (and across the world), all lives DO NOT matter.

Now, some people will say that things are worse now because of the “media.” No, the media is only choosing to make money off of the elephant in the room — racism.

Don’t get me wrong, mass media can aggravate a situation and can co-opt a situation like no other entity. Colin Kaepernick’s decision to take a knee during the course of the NFL last season was a nonviolent protest against police brutality and the treatment of veterans. 

Mass media turned it into a conversation about the anthem and “respecting the flag.”

In the midst of misunderstanding, we see true hypocrisy. I will offer a recent conversation I had with someone about the NFL and Donald Trump:

“I can’t stand (Carolina Panthers quarterback) Cam Newton. He’s a punk. He doesn’t know how to treat women.”

Me: “Would you say the same thing about the President (Donald Trump)?”

“Oh, I love my President. I voted for him.”

Me: “What do you think about how Trump treats women?”

“Oh, Trump knows how to put women in their place.”

I’m not excusing Cam Newton’s comments by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, I would challenge Cam as a Black man to be more aware of his commentary. I also think it’s extremely unfair to hold an athlete to a higher standard than the President of the United States. 

Thing is, that’s the American standard. And true to its name, the American standard is in the toilet.

The American standard has been, and will always be, a standard where whiteness and white supremacy are “excellence” and anything else is secondary. This is why, all throughout the South, we see monuments and dedications to men who lost the Civil War. The Confederacy, in and of itself, is an anti-American idea. Good luck trying to explain that to certain “historians.”

As much as I could rant about America’s racism, her income inequality is what really drives this evil machine. It’s the fact that Blacks and other people of color have been locked out of the “American dream” for generations because they have been denied economic opportunity.

Prosperity Now recently presented some research entitled “The Road To Zero Wealth.” The name is alarming enough, but there is a chart entitled “Median Wealth by Education Level and Race” that is particularly distressing. The chart even shows how far we have fallen behind not only whites, but Latinos.

According to the report, Black people with less than a high school diploma have an average of $5 in wealth, compared to $15,000 for whites.

Surely, Black folk with four-year degrees have it better, right? Sure. Their median wealth is $37,600. How does that compare to whites? It is still woefully short, as whites with four-year degrees have a median wealth of $181,220.

It was the best of times (for white people). It was the worst of times (for Black people). As long as this country is committed to white supremacy and the treatment of Black people as second-class citizens, there will always be a tale of two Americas.

 

Colin Kaepernick takes a knee to protest police brutality, and some folks tell him to “stick to sports.”

Pro athletes address the elephant or the elephants in the room, such as racism and socioeconomics, and some folks tell them to “stick to sports.”

Journalists such as Jemele Hill call out the “leader of the free world” for his compliance with white supremacy, and some folks tell her to “stick to sports.”

When people say “stick to sports,” in my estimation, the message is clear:

“Your entertainment value is all that matters. You can sing, you can dance, you can play sports. That’s all. When you open your mouth to speak about things that make me uncomfortable, I don’t want to hear what you have to say.”

That is, of course, patently selfish.

Still, I wonder how people would respond if an elected official of prominence talked about sports during a political stump speech?

The above commentary just happens to be from President Donald Trump. Why he would feel the need to pander — I mean, campaign, to his base when a possible bid for re-election wouldn’t be on the table for another few years isn’t even the most important concern here.

Where are all of the folks telling Kap, Jemele and pro athletes to “stick to sports”? Shouldn’t they be telling Donnie J to “stick to politics”?

Needless to say, I don’t subscribe to a narrative that says “stick to politics” or “stick to sports.” People are complex. Politics are complex. Hell, life is complex.

I also don’t subscribe to deliberate hypocrisy.

If you run on a platform of “Make America Great Again,” yet you discourage the First Amendment freedoms of athletes (or anyone else for that matter), especially as they speak to deep-seated social issues, you are not only unpatriotic and un-American.

You are on the wrong side of history.

I salute individuals such as Kaepernick, Hill, LeBron James and Stephen Curry for sticking to their convictions. Their sticktoitiveness extends beyond their competitive fire. Alongside Kobe Bryant, these NBA greats not only represent some of this generation’s greatest basketball players, they represent the idea that we should not allow ourselves to be placed in a box because of our profession or what we profess.

Continue to stick up for what you believe in. And keep sticking it to the man.

This column appears in the September 21, 2017 edition of Urban Pro Weekly.

Before I continue talking about the controversy surrounding a proposal to move the James Brown Arena (JBA) to South Augusta, I want to get something off of my chest.

If you saw a story this past week that came out of North Augusta, S.C., about a local man who requested that a post-Confederate monument be taken down at Calhoun Park, that man was me.

I spoke up, with civility and authority, against a moral wrong. I spoke up, with civility and authority, against historical embellishments.

Comment sections, of course, are on fire. That is not relevant to me. What is relevant is the here and now.

It is time for each of us to become more politically aware and active. It is time for us to speak to moral wrongs and community concerns, on every level.

One of the most discouraging things I heard in the aftermath of my commentary in North Augusta was, “We were waiting for someone to speak on this issue.”

I translated that as, “We were afraid to speak on this issue because of the controversy it would draw. We were afraid to speak on a moral wrong because we felt it would inconvenience us in some way.”

It is vital that all of us, and in particular, our elected officials, speak the truth — however inconvenient.

THE UGLY (side of the JBA proposal)

When discussion about the JBA proposal reached its peak in the media/public eye, there was a side story that, for a moment, was pushed to the forefront. It was a story about a fight that happened at the Walmart at Deans Bridge Road.

The fight, of course, was used as an indictment of South Augusta.

And then, a false equivalence happened: if there’s a fight in South Augusta at a Walmart, then a fight can happen at the James Brown Arena if it’s in South Augusta!

That’s more than foolish — it’s flat-out stupid. A fight could happen at the JBA if it’s in downtown. A fight could happen anywhere because that’s the nature of mankind.

Thing is, these types of indictments happen because of inherent racism. There is a stigma attached to South Augusta — that stigma features crime and poverty.

That stigma, for many folks, has a Black face. That stigma is ugly and the folks who subscribe to it have an ugly mindset.

That is just the start of the hypocrisy. Apparently, there was a study done prior to the Mayor’s decision to move the JBA to South Augusta. The study costs $140,000, and it essentially discouraged the move to the Regency Mall property.

Wait, the city cares about studies? I didn’t know that, because there’s a disparity study that’s been sitting on the shelf since 2009 that speaks to discrimination against businesses owned by people of color, as well as businesses owned by women. That study can be found at this address: http://www.augustaga.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2072

One of the findings in the study is that “minorities and women are substantially and significantly less likely to own their own businesses as the result of marketplace discrimination than would be expected based upon their observable characteristics, including age, education, geographic location, and industry. We find that these groups also suffer substantial and significant earnings disadvantages relative to comparable non-minority males, whether they work as employees or entrepreneurs.”

Also, there are concerns about government working behind closed doors. Wait, we care about that now, as well?

Back when there were six white commissioners on the dais, there was a campaign that essentially destroyed city services through privatization. A lot of these meetings allegedly happened “before the meeting,” which is to say when it was time for these gentlemen to vote, their minds (and their plans) had long been made up.

In short, Augusta’s hypocrisy is ugly. In many ways, it is America’s hypocrisy.

It is a hypocrisy that treats Black people as second-class citizens, as if we have no morals or merits.

It is this attitude that erroneously justifies the mistreatment of Black people and expands on already impossible disparities.

We must fight this attitude vigorously and with veracity. We must also understand that the truth doesn’t matter to some people. Those people need to be turned back at every opportunity, and Lord knows, we can’t allow those people to make decisions that will affect the day-to-day decisions of a city, a state, or our country.

This column appears in the September 7, 2017 edition of Urban Pro Weekly.

Aside from talk of hurricanes, both near and far, the most popular story in Augusta these days is about a proposal to build the new James Brown Arena at the old Regency Mall property.

Personally, I think city leaders should move forward with that idea. It provides true economic opportunity to a section of town that has virtually been forgotten.

If only it were that simple.

The proposal has been complicated, not only because of the inner workings of local politics, but also because of details within the proposal that provide more questions than answers.

Taking all of this into consideration, it is time to present the good, the bad and the ugly of the proposal to build the new James Brown Arena at South Augusta.

THE GOOD

Again, building the James Brown Arena (JBA) at the old Regency Mall property provides South Augusta with a true economic opportunity that has not been seen in the area in decades.

Literally every section of Augusta has experienced some type of revitalization — except South Augusta. The Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training Center will be in downtown Augusta, which will only boost an area that is seemingly always under the public eye. West Augusta is flourishing because so much of the area is adjacent to Columbia County. Even East Augusta has the promise of improving infrastructure and gentrification — excuse me, I meant the rise of pricey homes in the midst of formerly blighted neighborhoods.

Meanwhile, South Augusta can’t keep a Kroger, and before you say downtown can’t either, at least it has the Medical District. South Augusta is just a desert.

The new JBA can be the start of something big. It can have an effect from its roots at the intersection of Deans Bridge Road and Gordon Highway, and travel up through Peach Orchard Road, Windsor Spring Road and Tobacco Road.

Imagine a supplementary entertainment facility at Diamond Lakes — something like an amphitheater for outdoor concerts, or a commitment to a huge child-friendly play place that could draw folks from out of town and out of state.

I believe it would all be possible, if it wasn’t for…

THE BAD

The burden of responsibility for the controversy surrounding this proposal rests on the shoulders of one man — Augusta Mayor Hardie Davis.

Mayor Davis has been on the frontline regarding this proposal the entire way, from an email applauding the Coliseum’s (fourth-quarter) decision to build the arena on the Regency Mall property, to holding a press conference at the Municipal Building to talk about the “visionary” plan.

Visionary? Perhaps. Airtight? Unfortunately, no. And that’s heartbreaking.

The city doesn’t even own the land that it wants to build the arena on, which reads like a recipe for failure. It’s reminiscent of the controversy that surrounded the TEE Center and adjacent parking deck deal.

Now, here’s another important question relating to local leadership — where were the commissioners in all of this?

It appears as if they were more than comfortable allowing Mayor Davis to take the heat, which makes sense upon a review of their working history. Commissioners have complained in the past that the mayor worked in a spirit of autonomy and secrecy — “solo dolo,” if you will.

Still, this political climate and ill will does nothing to help the people of Augusta, particularly those in South Augusta. This collective failure of leadership is a bad sign for the city overall.

You’ve read the good and the bad. Now, click here to read the ugly: http://versesandtiles.com/2017/09/22/the-ugliness-of-augusta-and-america/

What’s better than making $600,000 in a “cupcake game”?

Giving your opponent indigestion.

That’s exactly what Howard University’s football team did against the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV) late Saturday night in a 43-40 upset of the Rebels, a final score that is least surprising because Howard’s Bison were 45-point underdogs.

You read that right.

What does that mean? Well, if you put $100 on Howard, you made $55,000. Congrats! And let your boy hold a few hundred dollars.

I heard about Howard’s 21-19 halftime lead and hoped they would make it a game in the fourth quarter. When I saw they were up 43-40 in the fourth quarter with six minutes to go, I went full #HBCULove mode.

A quick review:

Down 43-40, UNLV punted the ball to Howard. The punt was 11 yards, which set Howard up very nicely in UNLV territory. Howard drove the ball to the red zone, then came up with nothing on a heartbreaking fourth-and-1 at the UNLV 2 where Howard running back Anthony Philyaw was tripped before he could gain momentum.

So, this is where UNLV makes their move, right? Nah fam.

Howard’s Tye Freeland makes the defensive play of a lifetime as he chased down Drew Tejchman, whose catch and run would have yielded a 33-yard completion…

Except Freeland punched the ball out.

My orange-and-green Florida A&M loving heart clapped triumphantly as the ref signaled “Howard ball.” Told y’all, HBCU love.

I had to sweat out a few plays, sure. But when the dust settled, the final score was 43-40, Howard, and the Bison pulled off the biggest point-spread upset ever.

Shouts out to all of the Howard players (with a special nod to Caylin Newton, yep, SuperCam’s little bro) and coaches who turned a cupcake game into a cake smash. It’s good to see Black college football turn the tables on their opponents as heavy underdogs every once in a while — and turn back the clock to when the game’s greatest players could be found on Black campuses.

We’ll start with the winners first, because well, they’re winners:

Floyd Mayweather:

Obviously. The Money Team seemingly always wins. He’s been using the same playbook for years as a businessman and as a boxer. First, the pre-fight trash talk. Then, impeccable business savvy. May weather puts his polarizing persona on display — for better or for worse — and then he steps into the ring and shows why he may be the best defensive boxer of all time.

Love him or hate him, he’s 50 and #OH. I hope the plans for a sequel to Coming To America actually happen so that the barbers can come together and argue Money vs. Marciano (obviously PBF).

Oh, and shoutout to that $100 million guaranteed purse.

Conor McGregor:

Look, I know he ran out of gas. I know he got touched up by Floyd. Still, he went 10 rounds and, all things considered, gave the fans more of a show than Manny Pacquiao did. His guaranteed purse is $30 million, which is 10 times more than his previous career high. Conor was already a household name, but now he has crossover appeal. If he plays his “Great White Hope/Hype” role to perfection, you’ll see him all over the place — for better or for worse.

Everyone Who Saw The Fight For Free:

I’m not saying it’s right, but it’s 2017. Paying $100 for a fight isn’t the move in a world with Firestick, Kodi and social media. Sure, it was a hassle to see the fight for free, but you know what? It was also a hassle for folks who paid $100 for a PPV stream. Your patience and persistence was awarded.

Mayweather Bettors/Fight Party Hosters:

Smart money all around. It made perfect sense to bet it up with the guy who NEVER LOST A FIGHT against the guy who barely stepped foot in a boxing ring. If you were really smart, you could have hedged your bets early on with McGregor with your bookie in the event that Conor pulled off the improbable upset. In the meantime, Money May bettors fleeced the Alt-Right — my bad, I mean folks who inexplicably though Conor had a chance.

If you paid $100 to see the fight, but you made your money back plus some change on the side by hosting a fight party — you have experienced a very small taste of the American Dream. Much respect to you.

Floyd, Conor and everyone who saw the fight for free made off like bandits. Goon masks sold separately. Oh, forgot one group:

Vegas:

Because the house always wins.

And now, for the losers:

Manny Pacquiao:

The last time I saw PacMan, he was losing to some guy named Jeff Horn on ESPN. Not Pay-Per-View, mind you. ESPN. (Apparently, the fight was broadcast in Australia and the Philippines as a pay-per-view, which makes everyone who paid for that fight losers by default).

At any rate, all of this hype for Mayweather-McGregor is what should have happened in 2010 or 2011 with a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. Instead, we all settled for the “Fight of the Century” in 2015, where PacMan was past his prime.

In 2010 or 2011, Pacquiao stands a good chance of winning that fight. Now, his 2015 fight has been eclipsed in 2017 by a guy who, again, barely stepped foot in a boxing ring.

T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas:

Seriously though, how in the world are you unable to sell out a fight as big as Mayweather and McGregor? I know ticket prices were high. Still, we’re talking about one of the biggest spectacles in boxing history.

I did my research, though. I found out the general manager of T-Mobile Arena is Dan Quinn.

Yep, he has the same name as the coach of the Atlanta Falcons — yep, the same Falcons that blew a 28-3 lead in the Super Bowl.

It all makes sense now.

Everyone Who Paid $100 To See The Fight:

Word to Nick Nack Pattiwhack: “Oh no baby, what is you doing?”

I mean, you could’ve paid the $20 cover at your local wing spot. Some cover charges went up to $50, and even that wasn’t as bad as the folks who paid a C-note.

Truth is, the biggest fight of the night wasn’t Floyd vs. Conor — the biggest fight of the night was all of the folks who paid $100 and still had to fight with Showtime just to see the stream!

The rest of the world was about to fall asleep waiting on Showtime to clean up those PPV streams just to watch the fight! I would have said Showtime is a loser, but they at least had the juice to delay the fight until they got those streams fixed.

Conor McGregor Bettors:

I know what McGregor bettors were thinking. “We got Trump in office, there have been a bunch of upsets in sports in the last few years, and Conor is the baddest MF in MMA!”

Well, this isn’t the octagon. This is boxing. No takedowns, no holds, no kicks.

You all got suckered. The sparring video(s) should’ve been a DEAD GIVEAWAY!

McGregor was out there flailing his arms like one of those inflatables at used car/lemon lots. He was out there flailing his arms like he lost two arm wrestling contests in horrible fashion. He was out there flailing his arms like he was The Last Airbender. Just terrible.

And this is who y’all chose to bet with?

If Floyd’s nickname is “Money,” your nickname is “Easy Money.”

This column appears in the August 24, 2017 edition of Urban Pro Weekly.

There’s an old saying about the dangers of not knowing one’s roots: “Those who don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it.”

Maybe that’s why, in 2017, America still feels like the Confederate South of the mid-1800s.

Of course, any history book or simple Google search can tell me that the confederates lost the Civil War in 1865. Thing is, it’s hard to tell with all of the confederate monuments and memories in plain sight.

There’s one monument in the heart of downtown, on the 700 block of Broad Street.

Among its lowlights: “No name rose so white and fair. None fell so pure of crime.”

I guess slavery wasn’t a crime, then.

A short 5- to 10-minute trip down the street and across the Savannah River to Calhoun Park in North Augusta, S.C. will take us to another confederate monument. The obelisk in question honors Thomas McKie Meriwether:

“In life he exemplified the highest-ideal of Anglo-Saxon civilization. By his death he assured to the children of his beloved land the supremacy of that ideal.”

It should go without saying that there’s no place in our society today for these racist ideals. Yet here they are, disrespectfully in front of our faces.

When I think about the confederate south, I think about oppression. I think about slavery. I think about the following period of Reconstruction, where Black people still were not able to gain a foothold in society. As a matter of fact, the “hero” Meriwether was honored for his role in what is known as the Hamburg Massacre. The violent tragedy began after a group of white men sought to intimidate Blacks who wanted to vote.

Yep, that’s right. There’s a monument in North Augusta standing as we speak that highlights the confederacy, as well as voter suppression.

Sad to say, confederate ideologies have been in the news ever since a handful of knuckleheads went down to their local hardware or department store and marched with a few tiki torches at the University of Virginia.

One of the few bright sides to that hateful display has been a nationwide response to tear down confederate statues. All over the country, in the light of day and in the dead of night, these participation trophies to honor the losers of the Civil War have been rightfully struck down.

Too bad this hasn’t happened locally.

Now, it’s one thing to be silent on the issue. It’s another issue entirely for a couple of Black commissioners on a majority Black governing board in a majority Black city to make these types of comments.

“You ought to let sleeping dogs sleep,” is what Super District 9 Commissioner Marion Williams said to a local newspaper — a local newspaper that, ironically enough, happens to be across the street from the confederate monument at the 700 block of Broad Street. “When you get that type of conversation started, it doesn’t help. We talk at it, we don’t talk about it” and ultimately, “it’s going to result in some violence.”

Wait, so Commissioner Williams can talk tough when it comes to sagging pants, but he’s as quiet as a church mouse when it comes to confederate monuments? Pathetic.

Super District 2 Commissioner Dennis Williams chimed in as well:

“Personally I don’t have a problem with the monument,” he said. “I understood what the monuments were for – those are symbols of past history and hopefully a constant reminder to our community never to allow our community to get in that type of situation again.”

This brand of politics cripples and discourages the community. If we can’t get Black leaders to speak out against a moral wrong, how in the word can we get them to speak boldly on more complex issues such as income inequality?

It is important for us, at this very moment, to understand what fuels supremacy. In this case, it isn’t just about a culture of misinformation and misplaced glory. It is about leaders with an inferiority complex who feel as if their hands are tied by the confederate ghosts of the past — and the supremacist stakeholders of the present.

Really, the commissioners had nothing to lose. Their voting leads and voting bases are strong. Even with the understanding that most of this putrid monuments are protected under state law, Kennesaw’s local government still made a resolution that challenged the state legislature to allow local municipalities to vote on the monuments.

With all of the racial, social and political unrest in our country, now is the time for leaders, not losers. We need men of courage, not cowards.

When it comes to the ghosts of the confederacy, an old movie quote comes to mind: “I ain’t ‘fraid of no ghost!”

We need the ghostbusters right now. And while we’re at it, we need some myth busters as well.