Holy Mackerel!

If you read nothing else this month, read this article.

Now, let me tell you something about my generation of black Americans. We are the inheritors of "the Deal" forced upon the entrenched white social, political, and legal establishment when my parents' generation won the struggle for civil rights. The Deal: We (blacks) take what is rightfully ours and you (the afore-described establishment) get citizens who will invest the same energy and dedication into raising families and working hard and being all around good people as was invested in snapping the neck of Jim Crow.

This piece is causing heads to explode over at Huffington Post. It's the most powerful thing I've read in quite awhile. Prepare to be shocked. Oh, let me save you the trouble: Spliff: A spliff was, originally, a Jamaican term for a large cone-shaped smoking device carved of wood and packed full of cannabis (possibly mixed with tobacco leaf (fronta) or pieces, as per one's taste). Eventually rolling papers replaced the solid cone. Outside of Jamaica, the word has diverse meanings. The marijuana cigarettes are now more often referred to as joints.