Hey Everybody, It’s the top of the month again and time for your mighty might Muse and Whirled Retort.

Greetings from Austin, Texas where we are i the middle of a little ice storm.

Power’s been of for about two days here and I am writing this on an iPad plugged into a cigarette lighter. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not whining. I’m grateful to have a device and a cigarette lighter, I’m just describing.

Paul and I are hoping to do a little tour in April from Texas to points east and north. Say, Austin Houston, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Pensacola, Tallahassee, Gainesville, Atlanta, Athens, Asheville, DC, and Philly. Could that work for you? Gotta a place? Maybe a house concert? Drop me a line, let’s make this thing happen.

At the end of the newsletter there will be some more chit-chat about other goings on and how you can support me and this news letter and my weekly live stream.

Till then, It’s the top of Black History Month, so this one is one I don’t want to put out there - but after the events in Memphis I have to. Here it is! Since the dawn of email every month your

M.U.S.E. .A.N.D. .W.H.I.R.L.E.D. .R.E.T.O.R.T.

February 01, 2023

Austin, TX

The Race Problem

By Chris Chandler

People say

we have a race problem in this country.

I say yea,

it is a race problem because YOU call it a race.

It is a race problem

because ya start off one group of

people 20 miles behind the starting line

and call it a race.

And as soon as they start to catch up,

ya slap on a fashionable set of leg irons

and still call it a race...

It’s not a race problem.

It is a problem with the race.

You wonder why impoverished youth will kill each other

over a pair of running shoes?

It is because you call it a

race.

But I say this is not a race - because the world is round -

and if it were a race who ever is in first place is slightly

behind the guy in last... and if I were you I would be

looking over my shoulder...

My Name is Tyree Nichols.

My Name is George Floyd

My Name is Amhaud Abrey

My Name is Oscar Grant

My name is Michael Brown

My Name is Rodney King

Can’t We all just get along...

Stick and beat the hell out of each other?

It’s not a bad apple, it is exactly the kind of apple that

falls from a very bad tree.

You say there is a race problem I say there is a problem

with the Race. All over the country the poor are

disenfranchised by persistent redistricting - known as

Gerrymandering.

When I look at a congressional district map

in this country,

it looks like a giant Rorschach test.

And when I look at that Rorschach test,

I see nothing but a giant Col Sanders

standing next to a tiny Uncle Ben

and an even tinier Aunt Jemima.

It is not a race problem, it is a problem with the race.

The state of Mississippi

has forty percent black population

yet eight percent of it’s elected officials are black.

You do the math.

And don’t get me started about voter suppression, I’m

from Georgia, and my Name is Stacey Abrams

It is not a race problem. It is a problem with the race.

If it is heritage not hate,

how me just how much heritage you have by...

being a southern gentleman .. and

apologizing.

Being a southern gentleman is the only part of my

heritage I don’t hate...

I am southern, too.

My ancestors too fought in the Civil War.

I know first hand we have a long tradition in the

south of... surrendering...

So come on... Let us take those

confederate monuments down!

Let us be gentleman about it.

And while we’re at it, Hey Austin!

Let’s change our name.

I mean Stephen F Austin wasn’t just a slave owner,

he was a slave trader,

a trafficker.

He made a fortune off of it.

Is that what we want to name

our state capital?

It’s Not a race problem, it is a problem with the race.

You know as well as I do...

if it were 300 armed black people

storming the capitol on January 6th

with automatic weapons...

The one thing we’d have is...

gun control.

If you want real gun control in this country,

the way to obtain it

would be to form

“a well regulated militia”

of poor people!

protecting themselves against the thievery of the rich.

But as long as it remains

poor people killing poor people for chump change,

they’ll let you keep your guns.

But I don’t follow your logic on gun control.

Isn’t an armed street gang

a lot closer to a “Well regulated Militia”

than a neighborhood watch group?

My Name is...

Trevon Martin

It’s not a race problem. It is a problem with the race.

One in three black men will wind up in state or federal

prison - one in twenty-five whites will go there -

and of those whites

that go to prison seventy-five percent live under the poverty line.

Make sure you curb your dog, people gotta sleep on

these streets...

Today in America, we have a greater income gap than

there was in South Africa at the heart of apartheid...

And that income gap has grown by forty percent in my

lifetime.

People of color are seventeen times more likely to be pulled over

ARE fifty times more likely to have their car searched

and are one hundred percent more likely to be afraid for

their life when they are pulled over.

We are moving backwards as The Supreme Court

demolishes the voting rights laws we fought so hard for during the civil-rights-era.

It is not a race Problem.

It is a problem with the race.

It is not a black problem or a white problem,

it is a class problem.

But systemic racial prejudice

has kept far too many blacks below the poverty line...

So that it is not just a class problem...

It is an American problem.

But ladies and gentleman...

I have a dream!

I dream of a day...

when a man is judged by the contents of his character....

...and not the content of his wallet.

It is not a race Problem.

It is a problem with the race.

**********

Since the pandemic started, I have been doing a live stream, and I am still doing it. I do it on FaceBook and then add them to my YouTube Channel.

If you would like to see it live and play along at home go to www.facebook.com/chrischandler.org

Or check out my YouTube Channel

https://youtube.com/@ChrisChandler

If you can afford to support me (I could use it - I am not playing out as much as I once did, and i wanna keep going. Gotta keep going. Gonna keep going.

Patreon is the best way. Just a couple of bucks a month haley’s so much!

HTTPS://www.Patreon.com/TheChrisChandlerShow

You can also just - I dunno buy me a cup of coffee via the virtual tip jars of PayPal or Venmo.

WWW.PayPal.com/PayPalMe/baldchandler

WWW.Venmo.com/TheChrisChandlerShow

and AGAIN!

Paul and I are hoping to do a little tour in April from Texas to points east and north. Say, Austin Houston, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Pensacola, Tallahassee, Gainesville, Atlanta, Athens, Asheville, DC, and Philly. Could that work for you? Gotta a place? Maybe a house concert? Drop me a line, let’s make this thing happen.