This is an old piece I had to bring back for the sake of topic…

Tommy Davidson is a man mostly known for being a comical socialite.  Through acting and stand-up, Tommy Davidson made himself known as one of the top comedians throughout the country.  From In Living Color, and progression to the big screen in movies such as Ace Ventura, Strictly Business, Booty Call, and Juwanna Mann, he became a popular figurehead in the art of comedy.  He remains to be an active actor on and off the screen (i.e. in voice-overs for his cartoon show The Proud Family).

What many don’t know about him is how well-informed he is of history… true history.  The history that isn’t written in public school books.  The ones you have to have the patience to understand and the expansion to accept as truth when its proven.  Below is an interesting encounter he has while schooling the interviewer on a few ancient facts…. take a gander and pop a line after the bubble for some rare knowledge…. and if you find yourself interested, I dare you to learn more!

5th Element

Never would I have EVER known the intelligence of this comic had I not stumbled across this video.  Tommy Davidson is known for his early work on In Living Color, and feature films such as Ace Ventura, Booty Call, and Juwana Man, plus I still enjoy him on The Proud Family which is a show I haven’t been able to give up, even as I embark upon 20 years…

It wasn’t until recently (since this video) that I have began looking at comics by-way of their knowledge, and how they choose to present it to us… Granted, some do not present it at all, but if you look through the works of Paul Mooney, Richard Pryor, Dave Chappelle, Martin Lawrence, Bernie Mac, and so on and so on, they’ve taught me a thing or two about life and the realities it presents. 

I was surprised after initially watching this video, because of the amount of knowledge Davidson possesses, but after some time, I found it only fitting… Mind you, some ideological and spiritual divides could create a different stance on the topics he speaks of, but it may be due to my upbringing the ease that I find in believing it all.. plus… it’s all been written.  do your research… enjoy.wonder.investigate.

  more about “5th Element: Tommy Davidson drops… …“, posted with vodpod

For the first edition of 5th element, I would like to bring into conversation the Somalian/Canadian rap artist K’Naan.

On the recent, heavily publicized altercation with Somalian “pirates,” he has spoken out about issues that have not been addressed such as the following:

He also wrote a piece on the subject that was printed in URB Magazine:

Why We Don’t Condemn Our Pirates in Somalia
By K’Naan , URB Magazine.

Can anyone ever really be for piracy? Well in Somalia, the answer is: it’s complicated.

Can anyone ever really be for piracy? Outside of sea bandits, and young girls fantasizing of Johnny Depp, would anyone with an honest regard for good human conduct really say that they are in support of Sea Robbery? Well in Somalia, the answer is: it’s complicated. The news media these days has been covering piracy in the Somali coast, with such lopsided journalism that it’s lucky they’re not on a ship themselves. It’s true that the constant hijacking of vessels in the Gulf of Aden is a major threat to the vibrant trade route between Asia and Europe. It is also true that for most of the pirates operating in this vast shoreline, money is the primary objective. But according to many Somalis, the disruption of Europe’s darling of a trade route is just Karma biting a perpetrator in the butt. And if you don’t believe in Karma, maybe you believe in recent history. Here is why we Somalis find ourselves slightly shy of condemning our pirates.

Somalia has been without any form of a functioning government since 1991. And despite its failures, like many other toddler governments in Africa, sprung from the wells of post-colonial independence, bad governance and development loan sharks, the specific problem of piracy was put in motion in 1992.

After the overthrow of Siyad Barre, our charmless dictator of twenty-some odd years, two major forces of the Hawiye Clan came to power. At the time, Ali Mahdi, and General Mohamed Farah Aidid, the two leaders of the Hawiye rebels were largely considered liberators. But the unity of the two men and their respective sub-clans was very short-lived. It’s as if they were dumbstruck at the advent of ousting the dictator, or that they just forgot to discuss who will be the leader of the country once they defeated their common foe. A disagreement of who will upgrade from militia leader to Mr. President broke up their honeymoon. It’s because of this disagreement that we’ve seen one of the most devastating wars in Somalia’s history, leading to millions displaced and hundreds of thousands dead. But war is expensive and militias need food for their families, and Jaad (an amphetamine-based stimulant) to stay awake for the fighting. Therefore a good clan-based Warlord must look out for his own fighters. Aidid’s men turned to robbing aid trucks carrying food to the starving masses, and reselling it to continue their war. But Ali Mahdi had his sights set on a larger and more unexploited resource, namely: the Indian Ocean.

Already by this time, local fishermen in the coastline of Somalia have been complaining of illegal vessels coming to Somali waters and stealing all the fish. And since there was no government to report it to, and since the severity of the violence clumsily overshadowed every other problem, the fishermen went completely unheard. But it was around this same time that a more sinister, a more patronizing practice was being put in motion. A Swiss firm called Achair Parterns, and an Italian waste company called Progresso, made a deal with Ali Mahdi, that they could dump containers of waste material in Somali waters. These European companies were said to be paying Warlords about $3 a ton, where as in to properly dispose of waste in Europe costs about $1000 a ton.

In 2004, after Tsunami washed ashore several leaking containers, thousand of locals in the Puntland region of Somalia started to complain of severe and previously unreported ailments, such as abdominal bleeding, skin melting off and a lot of immediate cancer-like symptoms. Nick Nuttall, a spokesman for the United Nations Environmental Program, says that the containers had many different kinds of waste, including “Uranium, radioactive waste, lead, cadmium, mercury and chemical waste.” But this wasn’t just a passing evil from one or two groups taking advantage of our unprotected waters, the UN Convoy for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, says that the practice still continues to this day. It was months after those initial reports that local fishermen mobilized themselves, along with street militias, to go into the waters and deter the Westerners from having a free pass at completely destroying Somalia’s aquatic life. Now years later, that deterance has become less noble, and the ex-fishermen with their militias have begun to develop a taste for ransom at sea. This form of piracy is now a major contributor to the Somali economy, especially in the very region that private toxic waste companies first began to bury our nation’s death trap.

Now Somalia has upped the world’s pirate attacks by over 21 percent in one year, and while NATO and the EU are both sending forces to the Somali coast to try and slow down the attacks, Blackwater and all kinds of private security firms are intent on cashing in. But while Europeans are well in their right to protect their trade interest in the region, our pirates were the only deterrent we had from an externally imposed environmental disaster. No one can say for sure that some of the ships they are now holding for ransom were not involved in illegal activity in our waters. The truth is, if you ask any Somali if they think getting rid of the pirates only means the continuous rape of our coast by unmonitored Western vessels, and the production of a new cancerous generation, we would all fly our pirate flags high.

It is time that the world gave the Somali people some assurance that these Western illegal activities will end, if our pirates are to seize their operations. We do not want the EU and NATO serving as a shield for these nuclear waste-dumping hoodlums. It seems to me that this new modern crisis is a question of justice, but also a question of whose justice. As is apparent these days, one man’s pirate is another man’s coast guard.

K’naan is a Somali-Canadian poet, rapper and musician.

Blow that Bubble, or Make It Pop

What’s Your Thoughts Lads&Gents?