How To Get Away With Murder

Somewhere in the mind of a sane individual the idea of morality is at least a present concept. For some that just does not exist. A few days ago America’s poster boy for its very own version of “How To Get Away With Murder” George Zimmerman, re-tweeted a graphic picture of his victim Trayvon Martin; an unarmed black kid he gunned down 3 years ago.

The Image: graphic photograph of the deceased boy at the scene, used in the trail which Zimmerman was acquitted of any wrong doing. Twitter removed the image after a few days of the disrespectful mockery of an innocent life lost.

In disbelief Zimmerman went on a racist fueled twitter rant posting images made about him by the public, threatening his life, or bashing his image, and asked twitter how come they have not removed such images as well. He actually believes that it is OK for him to boast about his slain victim’s death.

He is one of many individuals in this country that have been acquitted of any wrong doings in the case of young black men being murdered. From the late 1800’s to now there seems to be little difference in the judicial system in the prosecution of these sorts of killings. Whether the accused is law enforcement or average citizens, Justice is rarely a word used in triumph for the families of the victims. I just want to let the idea that is at work here set in for a moment, and be a testament that we still have a lot of work to do in this great nation of the “free”

Rapper Talib Kweli; who is very vocal in black issues tweeted: ” George Zimmerman is online posting pics of Trayvon Martin’s dead body right now. Let that sink in America. #blacklivesmatter “

We’ve Moved! Introducing HAZIETHOUGHTS.COM

We’d like to welcome you back to our roots with haziethoughts.com, but we’d also like to welcome you into our new home. We reupholstered, revamped, and re-cultivated the very things we stood for and provide when we started this thing 4 years ago and we’re excited, even thrilled to be back in our element.

6 Successful Black Businesses You May Not Have Known About

It’s often been called the agenda of the western world to under-educate its people on the vast accomplishments of African Americans. Fortunately it is my agenda to do just the opposite. Around the world African Americans, and African immigrants alike have had influence over every aspect of business, culture, and over all life as we know it today. So it should come as a shock that the overwhelming amount of success stories are under reported, and rarely discussed and acknowledged right? Maybe not so much considering this is America and the rules are a bit different here.

Nonetheless today I have decided to highlight six successful black businesses that you may not have known about. And what better than to start pre-MLK, after all our youth can only name a few heroes outside of him, and that is a disservice to their over all scope of possibilities manifested from Role models.

To begin this illustrious list i’l start with the oldest of the lot:

1. The African Insurance Company (1810)

The first African American insurance company in the Unites States opened in Philadelphia. It was formed to give Blacks another option besides the Free African Society (The first Black mutual aid society in Philadelphia)

Unfortunately the company could not sustain after 1813 due to not being able to attract a significant customer base. Nonetheless, AIC would eventually serve as the blueprint for successful post-Civil War insurance companies owned by Blacks.

Founder: Joseph Randolph

Year: 1810-1813

2.  C.R. Patterson & Sons Company (1900)

The first African-American owned automobile manufacturing company.

Founded by Charles Richard Patterson, an escaped slave from Virginia settling in Ohio; he and J.P. Lowe formed the company as partners. Both were in the carriage manufacturing business

The first Patterson-Greenfield car debuted in 1915 and was sold for $850. With a four-cylinder Continental engine, the car was comparable to the contemporary Ford Model T. The Patterson-Greenfield car may, in fact, have been more sophisticated than Ford’s car, but C.R. Patterson & Sons never matched Ford’s manufacturing capability. Eventually, Ford, Chrysler and other companies would out produce C.R. Patterson, so they switched gears focused on buses and trucks. The company came to an end in 1939.

Founders: Charles Richard Patterson. Pictured above; his son Frederick Patterson with one of the first Automobile models (unfinished).

Year: 1915

Waka Flocka Flame Gives Us the Real

Wooh, Waka Flocka Flame gives one of the realest most in depth interviews you’ll ever see from a rapper. Waka speaks on why Donald Trump shouldn’t be President (best point I’ve heard from anyone) why there’s no art in hip-hop and his growth as a 29-year-old man. Applaud Waka and all the men and women standing up for the real.

Anything Can Happen At The Rodeo

After countless shows and networking with all the need to knows in the rap game, Rodeo arrives. 4 long years coming, it finally sees day light. I believe Travis has been waiting for this since his Lights Out video. I believe his fans have been waiting for this since Owl Pharaoh; “Sin City” if they were really bout it, bout it.

The show kicks off with an introduction from TIP, better known as T.I. Instantly giving the album a southern hip-hop feel, also paying homage to Outkast via KiD CuDi. Allowing you into his mind, he creates his own Atlantis. On the first half of “Pornography” it’s clear he lives in fantasy. On the second he confronts his self, speaks on relevant subject & tells consumers this is just the beginning. Inviting Quavo back into his world, they compile the wonderful two-song record “Oh My Dis Side“. During ‘Oh My’ Travis is taking us through Jacques’ world. Backed with vocals from Quavo, he continues feeding us that imagery with ‘Dis Side’. Quavo closed out the record with some A1 ATL seasoning. Spilling over into “3500“, Future & 2 Chainz make way into the show. Getting a sensational verse from Future Hendrix and one from 2 Chainz that is effortlessly 2 Chainz with a tad bit of Tity Boi, Travis decides to highlight the life. The life he is trying to life comfortably. Many “Wasted” nights that you don’t remember while sipping that Pimp C & toting that Juicy J. TIP comes back to the stage. Substantially highlighting the moment where you test out all that you have be preparing for.

Viola Davis: Recognized and Recognizing

Viola Davis, an award-winning, phenomenal, Black actress, made history at the Emmys last night by being the first Black woman to win the Lead Actress in a Drama Series category. While she was up against a slew of amazing actresses —- Claire Danes in Homeland, Taraji P. Henson in Empire, Robin Wright in House of Cards, Elisabeth Moss in Mad Men and Tatiana Maslany in Orphan Black — Viola Davis took home the gold and made sure to leave behind words just as golden.

Davis proves herself to be regal in her elegance during her accepting of this award, and bold in her choice to speak on the elephant in the room as she looks out into a predominantly white crowd. We all know that Black women are lacking recognition in areas that they are undoubtedly present in, but those that speak on it are those that act as catalysts for it to happen. From quoting Harriet Tubman, to acknowledging every hardworking Black actress in the crowd, Viola made sure that recognition would not be absent at yesterday’s awards ceremony and for that we say thank you and many many congratulations.

Monday Funnies

It’s a slow, semi gloomy Monday. So here’s a video that I hope picks up your spirits.

Also, Fetty Wap is quite the historian according to gramps.

A representative conversation on the tensions between Africans and Black Americans

My favorite thing about the relationship with the writers at Hazie Thoughts is that there is no such thing as a “touchy” subject. There has always been an open invitation to any type of conversation, everything qualifies. So recently, an old friend of mine brought this article asking Black Americans to stop appropriating African culture to my attention, and I think that while it had a lot of value and overall valid points, it was unsettling for me. I decided to hit Chuck up and ask his opinion on a lot of the things I have wondered about the relationship between Africans and Black Americans for some time now. Since he’s African (Chuck’s family is from Ghana, just like the models in the picture above) and I’m Black American, I felt like we could have a really fruitful and mutually respectful conversation. We did.

Chuck: What do you think about Africans asking Black people to stop appropriating their culture?

Taylor: Um I don’t think I completely understand the tension between “Black Americans” and Africans because I feel like there are Black people, like myself, who genuinely desire to be rooted in where our ancestors come from. There are also Black people who like to make the choice of distancing themselves from Africa for whatever reason, which I admit is odd to me, but they don’t represent all of us. You know?

At the Night Show

 

 

The first time I ever heard this song, I declared it the greatest song ever. A few months later, I basically feel the same. Here’s the video for Travi$ Scott single, Antidote.

Lil Dicky – $ave Dat Money

 

I love Lil Dicky and you should too, did I mention he’s a pretty good rapper, enjoy!