So I’m watching one of the major cable news networks this morning, you know, getting my a.m. dosage of politico speak, when all of a sudden the attention shifts to the political views of none other than 50 Cent. Talk about a moment straight out of left field; one complete with the standard (non-hip hop) media pronunciation of his name, “Fiddy”. For a minute I thought it was some kind of April Fool’s joke. As it turns out, 50, who was a Hillary Clinton supporter earlier on, is now throwing his support behind Barack Obama:

I applaud 50 on the move, however, the really odd (and in some ways interesting) thing about all of this, is the amount major media attention that this story’s received–CNN, Wall Street Journal, LA Times (not to mention, the various media outlets that have mentioned the story during their on air reports). It’s pretty crazy. I wonder though, does this story matter to them because it’s 50 Cent (outspoken, controversial rapper) at the center of it all? Or because it’s 50 Cent (outspoken, controversial rapper and the establishment’s unofficial hip-hop representative) at the center of it all? You have to wonder.

Barack Obama, A More Perfect Union:

I’ve said it many times throughout the current presidential race, but after hearing this speech its become 10 times clearer: Barack Obama is the one! If you aren’t moved by his words, and the way that he so honestly addresses the issue of race in America, then you’re seriously losing. Seriously.

But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America - to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality.

The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we’ve never really worked through - a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.

Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, “The past isn’t dead and buried. In fact, it isn’t even past.” We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.

Read on.