Edd’s MANtra: March 19-22: The Week That Was

It never fails. Whenever Javacia and I decide to take a few days off, y’all can’t stay out of trouble. Thankfully there were no deaths in the family (my vacation death toll unfortunately includes Bernie Mac, Teena Marie, James Brown, Nate Dogg and Gil Scott-Heron) but there was plenty of news.

You’d never know we were gone the way the wifey cranked out daily blogs this week – there is no questioning her commitment to Georgia Mae. But here are a few things we missed as we reclined in our spring residence in Louisville (aka, a friend’s apartment).

Lord, when I heard this I yelled and hit the floor like a large, dramatic woman at a funeral. Even after the bank snatched Keith’s home and sold it, the dude still owes ’em $250,000. Poor Keith is now sleeping on a futon in The Sweat Hotel.

We should throw a rent party, like they did on Good Times. We’ll get Johnny Gill and Kut Klose to perform instead of Bookman and Florida n’ friends.

L.A. County Coroner ruled Whitney’s death an accidental drowning, but heart disease and cocaine were also determined as contributing factors. There seemed to be a lot of shock about the cocaine revelation and I’m not sure why. Not be callous, but we all know the kind of life Whitney was living. The revelation shouldn’t be used to discredit Whitney’s immense talent, instead it should be a sobering reminder of how deadly drug use can be.


Teenage Mutant Alien Ninja Turtles

Michael Bay continues the systematic destruction of my childhood with plans for his new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot. No longer will they be teenage mutants, they will be aliens.

Yes, aliens.

Listen, I have no problem with slightly revised origins. The TMNT story has been told to death; it could use a new twist. But Bay is totally changing the entire premise of the franchise for seemingly no reason other than mindless shock value. Bay’s response to critics has been nothing more than a hearty “shut up, you’ll take those Alien Ninja Turtles and like it.” Yeah, that’ll win over the fanbase.

Would you rather see TMNT?

Image via

Or ANT?

Playa please.

And speaking of aliens, R. Kelly has threatened to continue his “Trapped In the Closet” hip-hopera series. He hints that the latest installment will be “out of this world,” so expect little green men to run around with crooked ministers and pimps this time around. Just. Stop.

The original “Trapped” song was actually pretty clever. However, after TWENTY-SOMETHING chapters the storyline has spun completely out of control, much like Arruh’s career. The Pied Piper of R&Pee better stick to inspirational tracks to continue to repair his soggy image. R&B aliens ain’t cutting it.

The nation has been gripped by the case of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. The Florida teen was fatally shot because neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman thought Trayvon looked “suspicious.” As of this posting, Zimmerman still has not been arrested. While I’m proud of the nation for rallying for justice I worry that our focus is being divided. I’ve watched wars of words break out on social media as well-meaning but misguided posters try to paint this as a “white vs black” or “black vs hispanic” issue.

I’m not naive enough to say that race didn’t play a factor in Trayvon’s death. Sad fact: Nearly every black man I’ve ever known has faced some sort of racial profiling by age 21. It’s a sickening rite of passage we all go through. However, Zimmerman’s race has nothing to do with that issue. What Zimmerman did was criminal, no matter if he’s Hispanic, black, white, or an Alien Ninja Turtle. Nor should we point fingers and claim some racial groups aren’t “working as hard” to further the cause as others.

By continuing to build meaningless racial barriers, we’re falling into the same traps that caused this tragedy. Now, more than ever, a spirit of unity is essential.