http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Aug/03/en/hawaii708030313.html
I actually printed the article last year and was going to blog on it then. However, I was distracted by other issues then. But I saw the printed copy of the article again, and now I'll comment on it
But 1st, this is how O-shen describes his song "Neva Seen a Ghetto"
'NEVA SEEN A GHETTO'
"In a lot of American hip-hop, everybody tries ... to talk about how where they come from is so rough and so poor and so rugged. In my opinion, nowhere like that really exists in the United States (compared) to what I've seen in other countries.
"A lot of these people that come (from) places they call ghettos are delusional. They don't know what a real ghetto is. They need to travel outside of the United States and see real poverty. ... The standard of what is called a ghetto in America wouldn't be called a ghetto somewhere else. In other countries, ghettos are where people lean some tin against a tree with a side of the house being a tarp. Here in America, we'd call that (being) homeless."
I expressed something very similar on Ka Leo back in 2001. I discussed the "rich-poor gap" in the US. I mentioned that the USA got the richest poor people in the world.
http://media.www.kaleo.org/media/storage/paper872/news/2001/11/01/Editorials/U.s-Not.Best.But.Better-2806056.shtml
I pointed out that the housing projects in Kalihi (where I grew up), people might be struggling to pay the bills, but they have things people in other countries don't have. Even in those housing projects, they got TVs (some of them hooked to cable), stereos (some with very loud bass), microwaves, ovens, refrigirators, running water, telephones (nowadays, they got cell phones) and beds.
However, this one guy I call the Hissy Fit King (real name: Tobin Jones) went all ballastic on me!
http://media.www.kaleo.org/media/storage/paper872/news/2001/11/05/Editorials/Letters.To.The.Editor.11.05.01-2806085.shtml
This Hissy Fit King also taunted me on myspace that he's been to more places than I did. (how would he know?)
Did Hissy Fit King ever visit Mexico?(and a few hours in Tijuana doesn't count) I DID!
While in Mexico, I visited Guadalajara, Mexico City and Oaxaca! I took the 3rd class bus ride from Mexico City to Oaxaca, and along the way I've seen rural poverty!
In Mexico City, my dad's childhood friend lived right near the airport's runway (you'd need earplugs there) I've seen urban slums there!
These slums in Mexico make South Central LA (I've been there too) look good in comparison!
While South Central LA isn't the ideal place to live, it doesn't erase the fact that many Mexicans & Central Americans rather move there than stay home!
While South Central LA was once known as the "land of African-American poverty", it is now mostly Latino. (Crenshaw & Baldwin Hills are still mostly African-American, but Compton, Watts, and Inglewood are now mostly Latino)
Why is that?
Because many African-Americans can now afford to live in the suburbs. Many former South Central LA residents moved to middle class suburbs in Riverside.
But Hissy Fit King gets bent out of shape when I mentioned that people have moved up the economic ladder in the USA, even non-whites. If that wasn't true, those African-Americans would've been stuck in South Central LA. And that neighborhood would've still be 80% African-America as it was when the NWA members were little kids!
Even the Latinos are moving up. My uncle once lived in Inglewood (considered part of South Central LA, even though it's not within LA city limits).
In fact, he was living there during the infamous 1992 riots. I still remember the 1st day of the riots, he called my home. I was 5th grade, just came home from school (it was about 3:30 Hawaii Time when he called) when he mentioned about fires in the neighborhood. My brother came home right after, I mentioned about the phone call, and my brother already knew about the riots.
However, now my uncle lives in Highland Park, a middle class Latino neighborhood near Pasadena.
Even places like San Fernando Valley and Orange County, once known as European-American middle class suburbs, now have a large Latino population. Those areas are still middle class, just more brown in it!
I know, Hissy Fit King would claim the LA riots is proof that USA is soooooo bad!
Yet, when I pointed out that there were racial conflict in France as well, Hissy Fit King went ballistic again
My article pointing Europeans aren't more open-minded than US Americans!
http://media.www.kaleo.org/media/storage/paper872/news/2003/04/01/Editorials/Trend.Of.European.Bigotry.Lacks.Respect-2802986.shtml
Hissy Fit King's pro-France hissy fits
http://media.www.kaleo.org/media/storage/paper872/news/2003/04/09/Editorials/Letters.To.The.Editor-2802801.shtml
Yet, look what happened a few years after I wrote about the issue.
In 2005, there was a racial riot in Paris, in which those of Arab & African ancestry rioted after a police brutality case.
Here was my commentary on those riots
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2005_11_01_archive.html#113158519574206143
The LA riots happened in 1992. The Paris riots happened in 2005.
So that means the Paris riots was more recent!
Yet, Hissy Fit King was upset that I claimed economic progress, and he ranted that there's still poverty & racism in the USA
Yet, Hissy Fit King was upset that I pointed out the same conditions existing in France!
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So why am I still writing about Hissy Fit King. Those who say "let it go", you probably have ZERO clue about what it's like to be smeared on your college's newspaper and on the Internet!
Civil disagreements is one thing! Hissy Fits and Temper Tantrums (Tobin Jone's tactics) is a whole different story!
Even though I am bigger than Hissy Fit King, I never did anything violent to him when I had the chance. I am a non-violent guy and I am able to restrain myself!
I contacted him on myspace earlier this year on civility, he responded back with another Temper Tantrum. If that's how he reacts, I'm just going to continue to vent my frustrations on my blog. I can't hold it in and I got my freedom of speech!
Hissy Fit King got his freedom of speech. SO DO I!
