To the 30% of You'll That Haven't Died Off...Yet.

I have been telling Black people for a long time that no matter what we do to better this country there are still a good majority of you'll (well I think its actually a smaller portion as more of you racists continue dying off..wooh-hooh) that will always consider the people who physically built this country as perpetual outsiders and yourselves as the rightful inhabitants of these United States of America. After all isn't that why history was "reworked" so that it favored the white race as the best thing to happen to the Americas;-).

That wonderful racist vitriol (you know like the word Ni**er) that always sits perched on the tip of your tongues just waiting for the opportunity to let it roll [leaving way too many of us Black people ready to fight] has me thinking about the quality and longevity of our relationship. I have to be honest and say that it is rather sad that after well over 400 years of us getting to knowing each other so up close and personal that Ni**er is the best that you've got...but hey...a well-rounded education hasn't really been a primary concern for a lot of you.

We are in the 21st century and there is a problem that I do have to make you aware of and that is the fact that we (Black people) aren't going anywhere. You'll have had well over three centuries to work this race based stupid shit out for yourselves but you're still lagging. Are we not trying to be helpful with your process as only we can in showing you what is possible by getting the first Black President elected. Get over it already! You people (If I may borrow one of your expressions) have continued to pass down to your generations the ridiculous idea that because our melanin levels are different that you are better.

I am just going to offer a little friendly advice. You should probably stop raising your clans to be racists-in-training because...well...time is moving on very quickly and soon you will be the minority (oops sorry, I know you'll don't like that word being applied to you) compared to those who actually do have common sense. Oh yeah right...education...education...education hasn't been a very big priority for many of you. So, to those of you that are receptive and want something more from your life (because it is past time) you have to step outside of your comfort zone and take the steps necessary to help yourself by pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps.

Well as long as those straps stay on your boots that is... because we wouldn't want you'll to get hurt out there in these different times and all.

Religious Pillaging in the Black Community

First, I know that a good majority might be against what I am about to say and even if that is the case it will not stop me from saying it.

What good can be said about a religious black community that exploits and forsakes its people after all that we have already been through in this country?

I don't even begin to think that all--spiritual leaders, pastors, preachers, ministers-- whichever title is used are all indulging in this but far too many are and it makes me sick. I have always been told to believe nothing without questioning everything about it first and religion is no different in my opinion and as a matter of fact I think that it is one of the most important things to question if we are using it to guide our choices in life.

Growing up in the church and being told the same thing that I am sure a great deal of us were told about reading the words in the bible "Study to show thyself approved..."(2 Timothy 2:15). We are often told these words and with being told these words, to me, it means questioning the very words that are written and the spoken interpretation of the words that so many seem to take at face value from the mouths of these "religious" orators. When questioning these words or the people interpreting these words for the masses those doing the questioning are often made to feel guilty for doing so.

I believe that there is a God. I don't necessarily believe in everything as it is written because there have been far too many times that it has been proven that the Bible and history have been adapted to fit the teaching of religious doctrines of any and all religions to suit the purpose of those doing the "teaching". By no means do I believe that I have it all figured out but I do know how to think for myself and question those things that I don't think are right.

The millionaire pastors and their flock of believers...

Please tell me why these pastors of these megachurches (do I really need to name them) are allowed to profit off of their congregations and no one questions the fact that in the true essence of what God believes this would be considered wrong! How does it seem right that a pastor can become a multimillionaire off of a congregation that has so many people suffering personally in it. There are people that walk into these churches and view these "pastors" on television in their designer clothing and they barely have shoes on their feet thinking that if they just give enough they will be saved. It makes me sick.

Should the pastors be cared for by the congregation it serves monetarily... I don't see anything wrong with it... but what about the excess that exists in it...whatever happened to the pastor living in home owned by the church and receiving a income and stipend to care for his family while he is pastor?! His true calling is helping those less fortunate through the word of God. Instead we have these pastors who are making are making ridiculous amounts of money while so many in their congregation continue to suffer...giving their last to the church that seems to not always give a great return on that blind faith! Too many are suffering.

What happened to building the black community instead of watching it falter.

We have a black community that is dying because we have so many pastors that refuse to speak on issues that are destroying the Black community (HIV/AIDS, unplanned pregnancies, child abandonment, fatherless homes) as if speaking on these issues poses harm to the community rather than being a benefit to rebuilding it. Religion in the Black community that used to be a source of strength has now seemed to create a culture of the blind leading the blind. It makes me sick to see that so many people will uphold these religious leaders as if so many of them will always do what is right because "they" are the only ones that have been chosen by God. Need I remind anyone of the risk in putting anyone on a pedestal! We have so-called religious leaders falling off those pedestals everyday and yet people still continue to do it. SMH

Speak up and allow accountability to be a requirement in your search for religious leaders/orators to help you in your search for answers in the world we live in. To take on the great task of helping people find their way in the world means being accountable for it!

How many of these religious leaders that are preaching do you think have actually received formal theology training instead of "honorary degrees"?

Caster Semenya's Privacy Invaded for Sport

She is who she was created to be and had no choice in it as did none of us. And whether she is in a track suit working her ass off kicking up dust for her followers to choke on or in a dress on a magazine cover done up to embrace society's definition of femininity... she is who she was born to be Caster Semenya of South Africa!

The intimate details of an 18 year old's privacy has been desecrated and for what?! At the age of 18 most are still trying to find their way in life in order to figure out who the are, what the want to do and who they want to be and this young lady is thrown out to the public by wolves who could care less about the damage they cause a young person by invading and then displaying the private details of her life for all to see. It is absolutely sickening.

This young woman has found something that she enjoys and is very good at and these people want to destroy it. Wow. Just Wow. How often are young people told to find what they love to do and to give their all to it to achieve success in life. I guess that commitment to success in life only matters if you're not an exceptional South African competitive runner named Caster Semenya.

Everything that has happened to Caster Semenya since her privacy was invaded by the media and corroborated by the IAAF in regards to this testing has been deplorable. I find it very difficult to believe that this information could not have remained undisclosed and left up to Miss Semenya to divulge IF SHE CHOSE TO. And my disgust with these people in the IAAF has little to do with them choosing to have this gender testing (which is a highly sensitive matter) done because Miss Semenya has graciously agreed to it. My disgust with IAAF, the media and the other ilk involved is the attempt to destroy this young woman privately and publicly by revealing something so extremely personal about her person to the world before she has even had a chance to become who she is meant to be. EPIC FAIL!

The Truth Shall Set Us Free: Updated

Here we go again with no one in MSM or on some blogs wanting to call what Joe Wilson did when he yelled "you lie", in the confines of Congress, during President Obama's speech to the nation an act of disrespect soaked in the racism of the Confederate flag that he loves and all that represents for his kind because he [Joe Wilson] grew up being swaddled and cuddled in it by those elders [you know the racists] growing up. I don't usually like to blame everything on racism but in this case I WILL because that is what I believe bore his strong tainted indignation to do what he did.

Anywho... this post is not dedicated to that fool Joe Wilson (who should lose his reelection bid if constituents know how to do right by themselves) but to all the Black journalists, Black bloggers and non-black bloggers who feel the need to remain politically correct when addressing ANYTHING that is racially or possibly racially tainted. Why??? We can have a discussion about what we may think, right. That is supposed to be the foundation of having a dialogue that benefits all points of view?!

Remaining PC in these situations means that you want me to remain silent thereby showing sensitivity to a culture, system or person that could give a damn about reciprocating by being sensitive to our culture, our system, our person. In my previous post I spoke on this very idea that some Black people feel gagged and bound and try and tiptoe around the actual TRUTH of the blatant and disparaging differences made when it comes to the discussion of racism by not choosing to blowing the lid off the topic in public.

Lately we have wingnuts, crackpots, racists being able to speak out and receive soft glove consideration because they are wingnuts and crackpots. Just one problem with that...these wingnuts and crackpots are raising children to be wingnuts and crackpots so this cycle of believing that you have the right to debase another human being because of race doesn't stop.

What these wingnuts and crackpots don't obviously understand [because they are wingnuts and crackpots] is the fact that to teach your children to disrespect authority means that you are teaching them that you will become 'fair game' in that thought mentality if it serves your child's purpose. "Duh", as my daughter says, "why would parents do that because it doesn't allow the kids to learn to think for themselves".

DING, DING, DING! "Pumpkin (yes that is what I call my beautiful baby) because to allow their children to learn to think for themselves would be too great a risk because the world is changing and it terrifies them that all of the unnecessary hatred based on race, culture and social standing that they were fed from generation to generation could disappear".

The world still has a long way to go but I do believe it is changing when I see my daughter and her friends of all racial, social and economic backgrounds! Black people need to do their part and stop thinking that they can sit back and wait for it to happen. How do we do that, you ask? We do that by taking control over our lives as individuals by getting and as a people by getting EDUCATED because knowledge really is power which will create fabulous opportunities for ourselves and our communities!

Black People!!! Look around you, find a mentor and read books [education doesn't have to be "formal" for everyone] because Black people have contributed a great deal to this world that we live in and can continue to do more but only if we know the history of greatness of what we did before we came to this country and what we did after coming to this country.

Unacceptable. Unacceptable. Unacceptable. There is no excuse to sit back on our asses to wait "our turn" trying to be a part of something that isn't automatically inclusive of us in a manner that doesn't require us to integrate and ASSimilate into "white culture" compromising our identities which most certainly leaves behind who we are and what we uniquely offer that can enrich ourselves, our communities and the world!

The Fashion Industry's Mission to Destroy the Black Woman With Our Help

Hattip to Womanist Musings for the above photos

When I first viewed these pictures I will admit that my head almost exploded and if not for all the cursing that allowed some of the heat to escape it would have happened. If Black women don't understand by now then these pictures should make it perfectly clear that the "white" fashion industry has NO RESPECT for the Black woman because they willingly obliterate our image, with our assistance, by always choosing to portray the Black woman as an animal or fetishistic other! Pictures like these and others is why I say that they have our assistance in portraying us in this manner because we are choosing to be in the photos that perpetuate the BS.

Black women are we so desperate that no matter how our image is depicted as long as it's depicted, it's okay?

I hate to say it but I think that we have been maligned for so long in society that far too many of us have begun to think that something is better than nothing as evidenced by the abundance of repugnant images of black women in all forms of media. Now, I realize that women on a whole in society are sexualized but that is not what this post is about and also no other woman on the face of this earth is as demeaned by society as the Black woman.

Naomi Campbell has spoken out about the discrimination that exists for black women in the fashion industry but she chooses to pose for this picture portraying the Black woman as the animalistic other.





Then there is this photo of Lil' Kim that of course I found disturbing due to the sexual nature but also for the fact that the Louis Vuitton logo displayed over her body to me depicts the same sickening idea of Black people being owned like "chattle"--a slave to the label if you will. WTH?!


I'm not done...I have seen several sites say that these pictures of Rhianna are beautiful (really)...how? All I see is the same ol' shyt when Black women are portrayed on film of any kind. We are the mammy, the sapphire, the jezebel, the animal, the sexual exploit or the abused. The fact that Black women would choose to pose for these type of photos is beyond me. For all of those thinking that I am taking these objectifying pictures of Black women too seriously, I would like to say that you are lost and not taking these heinous depictions of us seriously enough!

Do you see any familiar patterns in these "beautiful pictures of Rhianna?

Our reactions to anything in this country as a people is not the same as our "white" counterparts because after our ancestors were brought here against their will in chains--treated as less than human-- why should they be! To react the same as the "white" woman who has always been placed on the proverbial pedestal whilst we continue to be subjected to all types of indignities... would be choosing blindness instead of seeing what is really happening.

"Artistic" is a word that is thrown around all the time when "they" and even some of "us" try to explain these depictions of our image in this manner. HEAR ME WELL...Artistic applied to the image of the Black woman in these type of photos is NOTHING GOOD! Not in our society.

Our white supremacist society WILL NOT willingly portray Black people as equals worthy of the same respect that they bestow upon themselves! Please wake up and realize that until we take control of our image we will forever continue to be maligned by a society that would choose to demean us in any way that it can.

Black people we grew up knowing that there is always a difference made when our 'white' or 'near-white' counterpart does anything...so why would we behave as if the fashion industry would be any different because that industry has already confirmed that they are not. Black women will never be seen in the same light as white women or other non-black women unless we stop allowing the foolishness of our image being hi-jacked and displayed in a negative manner with our willing participation.

These excerpts are from a 2007 NY Times article.

“Years ago, runways were almost dominated by black girls,” said J. Alexander, a judge on “America’s Next Top Model,” referring to the gorgeous mosaic runway shows staged by Hubert de Givenchy or Yves Saint Laurent in the 1970s. “Now some people are not interested in the vision of the black girl unless they’re doing a jungle theme and they can put her in a grass skirt and diamonds and hand her a spear.”

Agents blame designers for the current state of affairs. Designers insist agents send them nothing but skinny blondes. Magazine editors bemoan the lack of black women with the ineffable attributes necessary to put across the looks of a given season.

“You want to sell the model on the basis of her beauty, not her race,” said Kyle Hagler, an agent at IMG. Yet when he sends models out on casting calls based on what he terms a “beauty perspective,” omitting any mention to potential clients of race, “You always get a call back saying, ‘You didn’t tell me she was black.’”

Oh, In case you were wondering, 2008 and 2009 were no different in the fashion industry. If we want the years that follow to be different we have to be different. Because the status quo is a sad and pathetic state of existence.

As a Black woman in today's society I would rather be considered enigmatic and allow them nothing than to be portrayed as a tragic caricature of my divine self.

No! Please, Don't. Why???

What you see in the picture above is quite sad really. There are women all over the world spending too much damn money to reclaim a youth that is NEVER coming back so why not grow older gracefully! And then you have the likes of Diddy obviously having the same 'hold on to my youth' cryout with this new mess group he has created.

“Dirty money is not about no drug money, illegal money, or anything negative,” Combs explained. “Dirty money is a look, a sound, a movement, [and] a crew.

Besides the obvious lack of attention paid to grammar...this statement doesn't seem to ring true considering a 40 year old grown ass man is dressed as if he is getting ready to rob a bank with his not one-but-two Bonnie ride-or-die chicks at his side. SMH

For my new album Last Train to Paris, I wanted to do something refreshing, something unique, something forward for myself as an artist…I’m a team player. I wanted to tell a love story…I couldn’t just tell the male’s point of view.”

Ehhh! Refreshing, Unique, Forward...uhmmmmm...not seeing it considering the ghetto hood mentality is already heavily 'in effect' with the bunch of ig'nant Lil, Initial and Fashion Label monikers that are--good and plenty--in today's music (much to my horror) scene.

The time comes in all of our lives when we have to grow up and put away childish things...Diddy now is the time.

Maia Campbell, Mental Illness and the Black Community

I know by now that most blog surfers and tweeters have come across the video--that will not be posted here--of actress Maia Campbell. Let me first say that I think that the deplorable comments that are coming from people and most especially Black people about this young woman and her obvious serious health issue is completely unacceptable. There are times that media sources will talk about an entertainer's life in an extremely invasive and insensitive manner because they are considered public figures and societal trends make it seem okay to do so and while it may seem okay...it's not and this time isn't any different.

Maia Campbell is the daughter of author BeBe Moore Campbell and has apparently suffered with mental illness for several years. She is a human being that is obviously in desperate need of help NOT disgrace. In the blog entry, Trend in Truth: The Real Maia Campbell Story written by Robin Caldwell she gives a human aspect to this story and more insight into Maia Campbell's struggle as well as helpful information and sites for understanding mental illness.

I know the pain of dealing with a family member that has a mental illness but it is an "undiagnosed" mental illness, and it continues to be undiagnosed, because they can't be forced to seek help unless there is an act of violence. Mental illness is a struggle for not only the person but for the family because there is no way to help them unless they actually 'believe' that they need help and actively seek it.

There are times when it is difficult to get your loved one to seek the help that they need because you have family members who are in denial because they enable the person or in denial of the illness for fear of what acknowledgment would/could mean to them or the family.

Damn, Black people are extremely skilled in denial when it comes to taboo subjects and diseases that plague are community!

I admit that my youth and inexperience with this health issue had me in denial for a good period of time because I was so clueless as to WHAT was actually happening. I thought mild depression maybe or just too much stress. Never did I think that it was anything as severe as what it is. I accept it now and I have no illusions about what is actually happening to my mother and even though she remains undiagnosed I continue to persevere by loving her without fail, praying for her and encouraging her to seek help. She is one of the strongest people that I know and the person that has had the most amazing influence in my life and I will continue to fight for her for as long as it takes.

SILENCE is the worst thing that has happened to the Black community...please no more silence...speak out and help where you can!

Let It Go: Functionality Doesn't Exist in the Dysfunctional

This post was inspired by a conversation with a nurse in my doctor's office that was having a rough day.

Relationship advice is a tough thing because you run the risk of being blamed if the advice doesn't work. You must first and foremost realize that your happiness and completeness will be drawn from you (who you are) and not from someone else. I don't give the kind of advice that is about 'what to do to keep him/her', 'how to keep him/her happy in the bedroom' or even 'how can I find out if he/she is cheating'. I will give advice (only when solicited) on how to move on from a relationship when it is has ended especially if children are involved.

There is no excuse for parents (him/her) to not behave like mature adults when the relationship comes to an end because you have child(ren) people! No child needs to watch their parents behave like asses which makes the kids lives miserable all because you can't move on. Now I know that there are circumstances out there that are of a more serious nature that could involve violence (I am not speaking on those relationships except to say that you need to seek help and get the hell out). I am speaking on the relationships that have to do with adults not being able to let go of a bad relationship because they think that there is nothing else after the end of the relationship or they believe that their is some sense ownership of the other individual.

I speak from experience...because I have a daughter from a relationship that ended. The relationship ended for an array of reasons but the main one was that we really weren't good for each other because we wanted different things in life and nothing makes those differences painstakingly clear like bringing a life into the world! So, I/we decided to end the relationship but LOVE THE CHILD and there are no regrets about that decision. I won't lie and say that the situation doesn't have its ups and downs but the most important aspect--our child's well-being--makes those ups and downs extremely tolerable. My daughter's father and I have a great friendship because we respect each others right to happiness in whatever form that may be as long as we put our child first!

Parents must remember that it is not about you and your hangups, hurts or wrongs. You could hate the very site of the other individual (which believe me happened to me in the very beginning--it's alright you're entitled to that emotion--but it can't touch the kid).The child's relationship with their other parent should be based on their relationship with the other parent and not your damaged history with that parent. You must see past that and see that person as the other half of the beautiful creation that is your child because without them that child doesn't exist. It takes work but it is possible if people get over themselves and realize that life goes on whether we choose to get on board or not.

Make the trip worthwhile for yourself but most especially for your kids!