What Year Is This?

Isn't it 'funny' how some conversations are timeless. Things just do not change as rapidly as you would think. While browsing the news on msn.com, I noticed a category called "Race in America." The article begins with a description of a lawyer, who is garrulous and talks with his hands. He is 6' 7" tall and black. 'Many people find him threatening. He works hard to prove otherwise.'

And right there, I'm lost. Why is he threatening, because he is tall, his profession, no because he is a black man. His very being is threatening. It does not matter that he is intelligent, accomplished, just that he is black. I would say his height adds to it, but that is such a small issue that it really is a non-issue. He could be 4' 8" and still be 'threatening'. But my question is why is he the one who has to work hard to prove otherwise.

Yes I know that he has to make a living, may have to wine and dine clients or the boss, but they are not saying he is inarticulate, crass, bigoted, or anything except black and male.

No, I am not some Pollyanna who was unaware how difficult it is to walk around in this world. I live in beautiful "copper tone" skin that the world translates as otherwise. It is just frustrating. Infuriating. It makes me want to scream and cry and throw things. But, that would just mean that the stereotypes about my skin are true, wouldn't it. Oh, it is so confining to live in skin that defines without ever saying or doing anything. It is a damnation to the rest of the world. And, if one should dare express an honest and well-earned frustration about the absolute unfairness of it all, then it means you have too much rage and must calm down. It is never viewed as a fair and understandable reaction to an unfair and irrational assumption that is shoved down your throat, day in and day out.

Why should I have to keep a smile plastered on my face because I don't want to be viewed as an angry black woman? To be frank, there are days when I get angry. Not everyday. Not always. It is not an indictment on every other black person just because I may challenge you for some bullshit that you try to shove down my throat because you are ignorant. How is it OK to lump people together.

I love in the suburbs. I am brown-skinned with long (beautiful) dreadlocks. Today, I went to the market. When I walked in the 'store security' officer was staring at me. Not, 'hey, good evening', but 'oh, look, here come the usual suspects.' I was in the store for about 20 minutes when I made it over to the lotion. Who comes into the aisle, very interested in toothpaste but 'Officer Friendly', I just looked at him like he was nuts. I continued to hunt and gather, and remarkably, he decided he did not need toothpaste just as soon as I left the aisle.

BULLSHIT.

Whatever, he thought he was looking at, I am not it.

What an asshole.

ASSHOLE.

Whatever. I hope he doesn't get hurt by the real thing one day, obviously he hasn't a clue what to look for. It's sad for us all.

I guess in his mind dreadlocks don't say taxpayer, but that is just too bad for him. I was hoping he would say something to me. But he thought he was being intimidating.

I work with 'da po-lice', I am not easily intimidated.

Maybe I am supposed to put on a nice blond wig before I go shopping.

I guess it just proves that you cannot change human nature. People will always look down on others to make themselves feel better.

What year is this?

Peace.

Inhumanity: A Prayer

I received an email with a picture of a famished toddler in Sudan struggling to make it to food, with a vulture some yards behind her,waiting for her to die. The point of the email was that we cannot ignore the plight of others. After the photo it had a supposed diary entry that seemed too contrived so I decided to look for information on the photographer. The photographer, Kevin Carter only scared off the vulture after waiting to get a perfect shot, he did not help the girl. Kevin Carter won a Pulitzer for this photo, and a few months after receiving the award he committed suicide.

I understand that for a photojournalist there is a fine line they must walk. Often they are witnessing history. Do you get the shot or do you intervene? But we are all human first. I do not fault him for getting a heartrending shot. The fault is that he did not see his subject as human, just as a shot. The fault is in not reacting to that which is heartrending. If you see her struggling to get to food that just might keep her alive another day, would you turn your back to her and leave her to muster the strength on her own?

My focus is not on Kevin Carter, he has been dead since July of 1994. The point is to look at it, frankly and honestly. What could you do to help her if you were a witness to her struggle? Can you even see her as being just as human as you? Would you help your daughter, niece, cousin, sister, a stranger? Is she less worthy of life because of where she was born, because of the color of her skin, because she cannot call out to you?

Bless us all. I pray that I never walk by someone who is mustering their last to just get through the day and fold my hands rather than offer some help. I pray that I am aware enough to see.

Lord, Please bless us all.

Peace.

Tom Delay...

I borrowed this from Carlagirl.net

http://www.campusprogress.org/features/838/in-his-own-words

King Kong ???

Before I start, I am not being paranoid, racist, or inflammatory. I don't think a movie is just a movie when there is such a racist vein, that saying 'vein' is an insult to the intelligence.
Are they serious? Just in case systematic racist agendas aren't enough, let's re-produce one of the most blatantly racist movies ever: King Kong. You know the one where the Virginal White Woman goes off into the jungle among savages and they fall in love with her. They are so in love that they know for sure that the Big Black Jungle Ape is gonna go 'bananas' for her. He's so gone for her that he gets lured out of his element, where he is trapped, kidnapped, and then lynched, er, conquered. The Virginal White Woman is saved from the Big Black Jungle Ape and place back upon the pristine pedestal she deserves.
So, black men, understand, the white woman will be your undoing. You will die if you tread those waters.
White women, you can't go playing in the jungle, you'll become soiled. We cannot stand for that.
Black women, surely you know that you could never be what a white woman is to the world. Look at the hold she has over all mankind.
White men, take back and keep control of your women.

We don't need this kind of crap. It is bullshit. It is unnecessary. We should be beyond this, but then again, why not go back into the jungle. If the film makers go into space, they just come back with Jar-Jar Binks. The bull just never ends. What year is this?

What the hell am I thinking?

You know what, I guess I have to take off my rose colored glasses and just chill. I want to be like GW. No, I am not going Republican, and I have no desire to become a cocaine sniffing idiot. I want to be just damned ruthless. Chris Rock said that GW is straight gangster, and he's right. I mean, this little swaggering brat, went to war without the backing of anyone in the world. After all, Saddam tried to kill his Daddy. Yes, Great Britain came along for the ride, but after Tony Blair's arm resembled a Monterey Cypress. He was then used as an example for the rest of America's friends. So, Georgie had a trantrum, bullied and got his way. He lied, cheated, and no one's gonna do a damn thing to him.
I mean these bastard watched people drown for days in New Orleans and waited for 5 days before they decided to help. Hey, fuck 'em, they're not republicans anyway (there aren't any poor republicans)! Then they remind Georgie that he IS the President, and it looks bad that the government watched all those people drown and starve. So Karl Rove had the brilliant idea for him to go to the undestroyed part of town and use lots of resources to light the pretty park and show Georgie strutting around. I guess our heads are supposed to screw off.
And about his boy, Karl Rove, who acted like a bitch by exposing that CIA operative. Why did he do that. Because her husband had the integrity to tell the world the truth about Georgie's Revenge War, and what happened to Karl as a result? He's in charge of the reconstruction in New Orleans. Doesn't sound like Georgie is planning on cutting him loose anytime soon. So all of America, and the rest of the world, is theirs to rape and rob and pillage. I wonder if Cheney is going to talk Karl into steering one of those contracts Haliburton's way? It's just a thought.
These mo-fos are a trip. I think we all got shit wrong. This do unto others, and turn the other cheek shit is out the window. I wanna be like Georgie. I wanna be straight gansta.

Peace.