Spoiler alert if you watch Fargo the tv series.
I just finished binge watching Fargo the tv series and I enjoyed it a lot. Season 4 starred Chris Rock as a 1950 black gangster in Kansas CIty. Yeah, I know....Chris Rock, huh? A huge departure for him and it was hard to get the image of Pookie from New Jack City out of my mind. That said, at the end SPOILER ALERT, the Italian mafia in KC after a war against the Italian mafia and a war Chris Rock's character thought he won, the new mafia head basically took half his shyt and said bow down. How? Chris could kill him he said but he's fighting a national coalition of Italians. Chicago, NY, Philly, etc, are all part of the same team and they will just send 'wave after wave' if you kill one of them.
We can say whatever about the old numbers runners, heroin dealers, etc being bad for the community but its better to have the devil you know than be run by the devil you don't know. I've read many accounts of how the mafia took over numbers in Harlem, and Chicago among other places. As if there was nothing we could do and I disagree vehemently.
The mafia could take over these black rackets because black people were off code. The black racketeers all did some good within the community. It may not justify the damage but a whole lot of them did a lot of good. There is a guy named Pee Wee Kirkland, Harlem heroin legend, who was called the Bank of Harlem because you could go to him if you were in dire straights. If a mother and her kids were being evicted from their jewish run apartment, he gave them the money. If someone was in the hospital and couldn't pay the bills, he gave them the money. All of them did that because they were from that community.
The black numbers were the most lucrative of any community. It made more money that any. In fact, a few of them owned some of the Negro League baseball teams, they were that rich. The mafia killed off the black gangsters and brought in their own black front person. However, that would never work if the black masses refused to buy from them. Everyone knew the mafia took over. It would never work if the people said no. But they did. So, you might say they had no choice, right? They did. Let me give a reason. While the Italian mafia was at its height in NYC, Chinatown had their own rackets. Chinatown had the same numbers rackets, opium, loan sharks, etc. They made millions. Why didn't the Italian mafia take them over? They couldn't. The Chinese weren't ever going to do business with anyone who wasn't Chinese. The Chinese operated in cities where the mafia was, NYC, SF, Chicago, LA, and were not messed with and it wasn't because they were tougher. Again, the mafia knew that no one in Chinatown was gong to take a loan, buy a number or drugs from anyone but another Chinaman.
Same with the Russian mob. The Chinese, Russians and others only f*ck with you on business when they want and its mutual partnership. Our problem was we didn't do that.
In Chicago, there were different numbers rackets. The mob was picking them off one by one. One of the brothers who was most about that life told the other brothers, lets band together and fight them as one. Chi town folks will know about a neighborhood called Bronzeville. The others were seeing it as 'his problem' and not theirs and it was too little too late at the end. The mob took over a business that was buying buildings, funding students, etc, in our own community. The mob had a commission and worked things out, we fought each other and would not work together.
Did you know that there were different Negro baseball leagues? People think there were one. No there were a few different leagues. Instead of banning together and making the MLB have to include us before they get a Jackie Robinson and other, we actually let them have them free in order to have blacks play. We had all the cards. We had the best talent. The white boys who had the ABA got included in the NBA because they acted as a unit. If the Negro leagues first got together as one, eventually in the mid to late 60s when baseball was expanding we'd have a few black owned teams included in cities the MLB didn't have a team such as Kansas CIty and Atlanta and Minneapolis. At one time the Pittsburgh negro team had more people at their games than the Pittsburgh Pirates.
It's why I hope the internal beef stops. We are on our way but we'd be much better along if Dr. Umar and Tariq/TBA weren't beefing. Or Bey and Tariq or whomever. I believe we'll still get to our goals but it will be slower with the beefs.
I just finished binge watching Fargo the tv series and I enjoyed it a lot. Season 4 starred Chris Rock as a 1950 black gangster in Kansas CIty. Yeah, I know....Chris Rock, huh? A huge departure for him and it was hard to get the image of Pookie from New Jack City out of my mind. That said, at the end SPOILER ALERT, the Italian mafia in KC after a war against the Italian mafia and a war Chris Rock's character thought he won, the new mafia head basically took half his shyt and said bow down. How? Chris could kill him he said but he's fighting a national coalition of Italians. Chicago, NY, Philly, etc, are all part of the same team and they will just send 'wave after wave' if you kill one of them.
We can say whatever about the old numbers runners, heroin dealers, etc being bad for the community but its better to have the devil you know than be run by the devil you don't know. I've read many accounts of how the mafia took over numbers in Harlem, and Chicago among other places. As if there was nothing we could do and I disagree vehemently.
The mafia could take over these black rackets because black people were off code. The black racketeers all did some good within the community. It may not justify the damage but a whole lot of them did a lot of good. There is a guy named Pee Wee Kirkland, Harlem heroin legend, who was called the Bank of Harlem because you could go to him if you were in dire straights. If a mother and her kids were being evicted from their jewish run apartment, he gave them the money. If someone was in the hospital and couldn't pay the bills, he gave them the money. All of them did that because they were from that community.
The black numbers were the most lucrative of any community. It made more money that any. In fact, a few of them owned some of the Negro League baseball teams, they were that rich. The mafia killed off the black gangsters and brought in their own black front person. However, that would never work if the black masses refused to buy from them. Everyone knew the mafia took over. It would never work if the people said no. But they did. So, you might say they had no choice, right? They did. Let me give a reason. While the Italian mafia was at its height in NYC, Chinatown had their own rackets. Chinatown had the same numbers rackets, opium, loan sharks, etc. They made millions. Why didn't the Italian mafia take them over? They couldn't. The Chinese weren't ever going to do business with anyone who wasn't Chinese. The Chinese operated in cities where the mafia was, NYC, SF, Chicago, LA, and were not messed with and it wasn't because they were tougher. Again, the mafia knew that no one in Chinatown was gong to take a loan, buy a number or drugs from anyone but another Chinaman.
Same with the Russian mob. The Chinese, Russians and others only f*ck with you on business when they want and its mutual partnership. Our problem was we didn't do that.
In Chicago, there were different numbers rackets. The mob was picking them off one by one. One of the brothers who was most about that life told the other brothers, lets band together and fight them as one. Chi town folks will know about a neighborhood called Bronzeville. The others were seeing it as 'his problem' and not theirs and it was too little too late at the end. The mob took over a business that was buying buildings, funding students, etc, in our own community. The mob had a commission and worked things out, we fought each other and would not work together.
Did you know that there were different Negro baseball leagues? People think there were one. No there were a few different leagues. Instead of banning together and making the MLB have to include us before they get a Jackie Robinson and other, we actually let them have them free in order to have blacks play. We had all the cards. We had the best talent. The white boys who had the ABA got included in the NBA because they acted as a unit. If the Negro leagues first got together as one, eventually in the mid to late 60s when baseball was expanding we'd have a few black owned teams included in cities the MLB didn't have a team such as Kansas CIty and Atlanta and Minneapolis. At one time the Pittsburgh negro team had more people at their games than the Pittsburgh Pirates.
It's why I hope the internal beef stops. We are on our way but we'd be much better along if Dr. Umar and Tariq/TBA weren't beefing. Or Bey and Tariq or whomever. I believe we'll still get to our goals but it will be slower with the beefs.
