The Deck Part 43 (Independence and Freedom)

We sit here on the deck after a much needed 5 days off from work before Prime Week. I took a small social media break also. Let's dive in and not just the pool. 

7on7, Braves, Knicks, racism, next 36 days, Spud, pools in bigger cities

I get so tired of not only white privilege but the blatant racism. My people and DEFINITELY myself have educated you all on systemic racism and our struggle for 6 years now. At this point if you know me and still fail to see this, it's a choice. Again I'm tired and the justice system is far too unfair on Black folks. The evidence and metrics are there. Reading is fundamental and all one has to do is read to listen and understand, not read to react. I do not pretend to fully understand another culture or females. Please don't act like you understand my lifetime struggle or think I'm not seen as a Black man in society.  I am biracial, I know exactly who I am. I have to move accordingly and advocate for the Black experience though. 

7 on 7 tournaments in high school football have really heated up over the past decade. Speaking of things, concepts I cannot understand is this. Maybe because I'm old sure and a purist of football. I realize the game has changed in rules, speed and conditioning development due to full adoption of the spread offense and compensating for lack of hitting and tackling drills. I'm good with 7on7 tournaments, weight lifting meets, lineman camps and the like. What I'm not good with are fans/parents treating them like they're games. They are not, sorry. They are glorified, extended spring practices/mini camps. I do love getting the teams together and building that camaraderie, seeing other schools, etc. But competition, winning trophies? Nah man you just won a backyard two hand touch football game. You didn't win an actual football game and let's not forget what the actual sport in real time stands for. 

I am soo happy, proud and elated that my New York Knicks FINALLY broke the 53 year championship drought and are NBA world champions. I don't care how they did, if the NBA is rigged or not. The universe came together for long time Knicks fans like myself. Last Saturday hanging with friends all day and watching the Knicks close out that championship was one of the best days of 2026 thus far. 

On that note, all the small dogs on 260/270 are now gone in under a two month span. First Roxy, then Bud and now Spud. Those dogs really gave me comfort and emotional support when I needed it. Although one of my best friends has a Jack Russell terrier, I didn't realize how much I liked them until now. I still thankfully have my cat Mosey. It goes back to a saying I heard years ago about us as humans being a dog's entire life. 

People talk and get outraged about all of of the annexing, small town growth and such. My question is why don't these cities have more local pools? I'm a country boy and I'm a huge fan of creeks, rivers and swimming holes. Sometimes when I'm out, I would like a good public swimming facility to go to. I have friends and families with pools (and even a neighbor). However they work full time during the day, have lives. The Y is pricey but I may have to go that route for my water therapy. 

Ok now we are what I call the 36 days of independence and freedom: the stretch between my dad's birthday (June 17) and my mom's birthday (July 21). In between are Juneteenth, Father's Day, the 4th of July and my birthday on 7/11. Many are choosing to celebrate one but not the other. To me, that's fine.  America turns 250 years old this year and I live in walking distance of the very grounds the Revolutionary War was won on. Many Blacks take issue with that. I have a podcast episode already about that. In short, you don't have Juneteenth if America isn't free from Great Britain. It took far too long for Blacks to be free from slavery, that's a fact. It's still okay to celebrate being in America and love your culture.  Good grief Charlie Brown!  

Ok I may not be back onto the deck until after the 4th of July ironically. Please enjoy celebrating independence, freedom or whatever else these next two weeks. That's your choice and the purpose of having frredom. 

The Deck Part 42 the ✊🏾Cookout!

Back from Washington, DC, back on the deck for ya guy. This is not talking about cookouts but it is cookout season. At black cookouts, the conversations can get serious. This will be one of those deck roundtables

More racism/system imbalance

Racial boycotting

Small town growth issues

I needed to get away for a few days and I'm grateful my company did that for me. Between the young lady in Shelby and of course young Cyrus getting shot and his Asian murderer getting away with him, I am emotionally drained. It's always tough to be a person of color in this country. It's even more tough and traumatic seeing stuff like this continue to happen. That's why we as a people must continue to vote, run for these offices, have our REAL IDs (trust me on this one), have meetups and roundtables with your elected officials. This especially holds true at the local level. It's not always about Republican and Democrat either. We need folks in office that are going to stand for equality and not nonsense. I'm just tired man, so tired. 

Now of course we have come with boycotting. This is now boycotting Asian services (nail salons, restaurants, etc). Ok whoa, whoa, WHOA!!! Now if this was similar to the NFL or the recent DCEU boycott then yeah that's different. We cannot cancel ALL Asians for the behavior of one. I'm all about uplifting the Black community but canceling an entire culture for the behavior of one? Nah I'll sit that one out. What I won't sit out our boycotts period. Someone told me the DC boycott is a trap door and that boycotts are rarely effective. Since when? Let's go back to nearly a year ago when Cracker Barrell tried to change their logo. See how quickly that was halted. Other boycotts that have proved effective are Papa John's, DirecTV, and currently Target. Google is free, AI is so reliable. It's hard to make you feel welcome to the cookout when not only do you make statements like this, you can't back them up. 

I'll save some iPhone nonsense I saw for another day. Meanwhile,...

Data centers and even a 1.2B dollar company that's coming to Blacksburg and Cherokee County is causing problems. Up to 400 new jobs will be created but much of the old guard is mad. Now I've watched this happen in Rock Hill and Fort Mill. All growth isn't good growth and I'm very skeptical of data centers. However, when resources and jobs are created, it benefits even a small town. Residents are more likely to pour back into the town when they have reason to and don't have to drive to the next largest city.  I remember just in the 80s we didn't have to go to Spartanburg, Gastonia or Rock Hill often, not even for work. The textile mills provided stable employment and more small businesses were around. How many would rather live near their jobs while paying lower taxes and have more businesses closeby? Don't thikn too hard now. 

Ok this is an action packed month and I nearly forgot it's also Men's Mental Health Month and Black Music Month