'A Big Cat Who Can Bob & Weave With the Best'
Here, News & Notes editor Christopher Johnson weighs in on today's interview with martial artist Imani Lee.
Imani Lee, (left), punches Rick Cheek, (right) at a K1 bout.
Courtesy NapkinNights
I saw Imani Lee fight this summer in Vegas. It was "The Battle at Bellagio" -- an elimination K-1 event that brought some of the sweetest fighters I've ever seen into the ring. Boxing is cool, but I'm all about the kicks. So the Muay Thai and karate elements got me excited.
Imani caught a bad break when his opponent kicked him in what I think is medically termed "his business." Imani doubled over (you would have, too), and the other guy got in a cheap shot that made the ref call it.
Still, I was interested in Imani's story. Because there were only a few brothers doing this K-1 thing, and Imani is a big cat who can bob, weave, jab, and roundhouse with the best of them.
I tracked him down in Los Angeles and went to interview him at the Hollywood Gym.
What I didn't expect was the big, gentle mama's boy that I got to sit and talk with for about an hour on the edge of an empty boxing ring. And by mama's boy, I don't mean he's soft. Imani just adores his mother, as you heard if you checked out the piece. And she inspires him.
We talked about his training regiment. He works harder than just about everyone I know -- everyday in the gym, lifting, drilling, sparring, running, and probably doubling over in exhaustion every now and then.
I got tape of some of his training. When he kicks the bag, it sounds like gunshots. When he threw those same kicks at his opponent's thighs in Vegas, they were withering. He's also focused on his diet. Imani is on a mission to become K-1 champion. If he happens to not make it, it will not be because he's not physically there, or emotionally driven like a Mack truck.
I'm a martial artist myself, so it was cool to talk with Lee about avoiding distractions, finding passion in training, about riding the ups and downs of progress, and about being too hard (and too easy) on yourself. And, about how to take getting the crap kicked out of you.
I also have a mother who isn't feeling so good. And, Imani and I are both East Coast transplants living in L.A. So we had a lot to build about. Plus, I like talking to black men with singular passion. It inspires me to keep my hands up and keep fighting.
-- Christopher Johnson
Geoffrey Bennett
8:15 PM ET
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11-20-2007
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Can the Death Penalty Save Lives?
iStockphoto.com
Two professors from Pepperdine University say "yes." In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal (and cited in articles, including this one from the Chicago Sun Times) the professors said that every inmate executed helps deter 74 murders the following year.
The Pepperdine study comes as many states have imposed a de facto moratorium on executions. This is due in part to a pending Supreme Court case on lethal injections, with some critics calling the form of death "torture."
(Our forthcoming interview with Barbara Becnel, the editor of Stanley "Tookie" Williams' autobiography, Blue Rage, Black Redemption, touches on that issue. Becnel says of witnessing Williams' execution, "Stan had been slowly tortured to death.")
Today we spoke with two professors who both study the death penalty.
Cass R. Sunstein is a law professor at the University of Chicago. In 2005, he co-wrote a paper that said, "capital punishment may be morally required, not for retributive reasons, but rather to prevent the taking of innocent lives."
Nonetheless, he didn't completely endorse the study. Professor Sunstein said that "the number they give is way out of line" and called the results "extreme."
We also spoke with Justin Wolfers. He's an assistant professor of business and public policy at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
From his perspective, the research was politicized. In his words, "It's no coincidence that it was published in the Wall Street Journal, which has a very political editorial board."
He went on to argue that states that do not have the death penalty have similar cyclical rises and falls in murder rates, and that in Canada, which does not have the death penalty, murder rates rise and fall on similar cycles.
What do you think? Could the death penalty deter crime? And if it does, is that the main reason the laws should be upheld?
Farai Chideya
3:45 PM ET
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11-20-2007
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Companies Profiting from Gang-Related Clothing?
“'They are knowingly selling this garbage and contributing to the dangerous culture of gangs in poor neighborhoods.' -- New York City Councilman Leroy G. Comrie, Jr.”
News Headlines: Nov. 20, 2007
Talk About It:
New York Times (Blog): Hearing Planned on Gang Insignia on Clothing -- "Are apparel manufacturers and retailers deliberately selling sports-themed clothes with gang colors and symbols? Two white Yankee caps made by the New Era Cap Company were wrapped with red and blue bandannas -- colors associated with the Bloods and Crips -- and a black Yankee cap was embroidered with a crown, symbolic of the Latin Kings."
Is this a matter of retail companies trying to stay ahead of trends, or a deliberate mass-marketing of gang culture?
Nation:
AP: New Orleans, State to Pay $3.4M Racial Discrimination Judgment
Christian Science Monitor: Why L.A. Police Nixed Muslim Mapping Plan
L.A. Times: Gap Seen in GOP Candidates' Healthcare Proposals
Washington Post: For Democrats, Iowa Still Up for Grabs
New York Times: Drop in Test Scores Linked to Decline in Reading
World:
Voice of America: Nigeria Rejects U.S. African Military Command
New York Times: Baghdad Starts to Exhale as Security Improves
People:
Fox News: Will Smith: Scientology Is Like The Bible | Read Article
L.A.Times: Donda West's Doctor Discusses Her Death
AP: Judge OKs New Defendants in B.I.G. Suit
Op-Ed:
Jermaine Dupri: Good Album More than Just a Collection of Singles
Clarence Page: Black Leaders Define Hate Crimes Too Narrowly
Geoffrey Bennett
11:23 AM ET
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11-20-2007
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