White Men Can't Jump

"White Men Can't Jump," filmed in 1992, is a text book illustration of how the races can work together. Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes play a pair of white and black basketball players who team up together and hustle pickup games in the black neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Wesley Snipes, the black guy, says to Woody Harrelson, "white men can't jump."

But Woody fires back at the black guy and says, "You'd rather look good than win."

These short vignettes reveal the complex psychology between the two races in America.

We should all watch this movie again. The other good movie to explain race relations is Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing," filmed in 1989, where Danny Aiello plays the last Italian selling pizza in an all-black neighborhood in Brooklyn. Aiello and his two white sons display a nasty attitude to their all-black customers, who retaliate by burning down their store.

The result? Danny Aiello goes out of business, the young black people have no place to get pizza, and the only people to win are the Koreans who have a grocery store across the street. This movie is an example of how race relations can go badly.

Frog Hospital is teaching race relations now because it has become clear that the General Public needs remedial instruction.

Take Wesley Snipes, for instance, who was recently convicted of income tax invasion and sentenced to three years in prison. We can draw two conclusion from this. One, Snipes is a real idiot. Did he think no one was watching? The second point is that Snipes will do three years in prison because he's black. He gets two years for breaking the law, and an extra year for being a black man with an attitude.

Now, for remedial instruction, we need to point out that Wesley Snipes and Barak Obama are both black men of a similar age, but they are not related and do not even know each other. So if Snipes commits a crime, that doesn't that Obama is also a crook. It doesn't mean that Obama should denounce Wesley Snipes or refuse to see any of his movies.

But there's a reason why white men rule the world -- it's because we know how to keep all our ducks in a row. When a white man runs for President, he knows how to silence any disturbing relations. Presidents like LBJ, Richard Nixon, and Jimmy Carter all had stupid and embarrassing brothers -- who were firmly silenced and kept in place.
That is the natural habit of dominance.

Experienced politicians, like Bill and Hillary Clinton, with their razor-sharp, ruthless skills, know how to put away the old friends from the old neighborhood. They carefully analyze their relations. If you're going to cost them votes, they drop you like a hot rock.

But Barak Obama, being young and green and only slightly corrupted, does not have the ruthless habits of the Clintons. Instead he is deeply conflicted, because he has loyalty and long affection for Jeremiah Wright, and he knows it's wrong to put down his old friend.

And yet political necessity is driving Obama to renounce this old friend.

And, it should be said, Obama has been ill-advised by high-priced political consultants who tell him to act white. "You gotta act white like a white guy, otherwise the white guys won't vote for you."

Hillary knows how to act white, she's inventing new code words everyday, and subtle ways of communicating to her new darlings of the working class. "I'm like you," she says, "I feel your pain," she says.

The breakdown between Senator Obama and his old friend, Reverend Wright, is a sad situation and a personal matter.

Or it would be a personal matter if both parties were white.

But I will repeat my support for both men. Senator Barak Obama will make an excellent President. And Reverend Jeremiah Wright is like a fire in the night.

I love both of these guys. Senator Obama is being knocked around by friend and foe alike and he is not reacting smoothly. That just makes me like him all the better -- because he DOESN'T know how to play the game very well.

That's the whole point of his candidacy

On My Own. The subscription drive has failed. Frog Hospital has plenty of readers but a scant few paid subscribers. I need to let that go. I did appreciate the income I received, but more importantly, my paid subscribers served as an informal board of directors -- people who I answered to, people who backed me up.

But I'm on my own now, and I'm starting to see the good of this -- a chance to try some new things. Frog Hospital will be evolving be your eyes. Be sure to get off the mailing list if you're not enjoying the ride. All you have to do is hit reply, and type "Unsubscribe."