Rantings of a Creole Princess

Real Bronx Tour - Look! Poor People!

What say YOU?  

Bronx Tour Company Drops Pitch to See a Real Ghetto

Would YOU have paid to see how REAL poor people in New York live?

 

SIP:  *sigh*

Morehouse Graduation Picture

President Obama spoke at Morehouse's graduation this past weekend.

His speech was so personal and profound that I sent it to all the males I love.

It was pouring raining.

When you look at this picture what are YOU thinking?

Obama stresses personal responsibility to Morehouse graduates

 

 

Should you change your "ghetto" name?

Don't start any nonsense with me about the word ghetto.  I just thought it was an interesting topic and article.  What say you?

I Hate My 'Ghetto' Name. Can I Change It?

What say YOU?

  

Metro Police Investigating “N” Word Fight, No Charges Yet

SIP:  o_0 to errybody.  

To the woman who called him the F-word.

To him for calling her the N-word.  

To him calling her the N-word on a train full of Black people who probably ONLY heard him use the N-word.

To the person recording.

To him for knocking the phone out of the person's hand.  

To the people who jumped him.

To the commenters on YouTube.

The Republican "We Want Black Friends" Tour Comes to Howard University!

Rand Paul bringing his message to Howard University

SO EXCITING!

SIP:  

Hey!  I guess since the Libertarians don't mess with him anymore...HIM NEEDS NEW FRIENDS.  :)

Insults and Injuries

A Black man calls a Gay White man the F-word that is a gay slur.

The Gay White man calls the Black man the N-word.

Are they even?

Or, in your mind...is one worse than the other?

What's YOUR first thought?

What say YOU?

Hmmmmm...What say YOU?

Ads in New York to prevent teenage pregnancy.  

What say YOU?

What do YOU see?

Question...

Does stuff like this outrage you?  16 year old White model bronzed up on the cover with the title African Queen.

From SIP: SHIT I HATE!

A GOTDAMN ALL BLACK PARTY TO CELEBRATE BLACK HISTORY MONTH!

I SWEAR FO' GOODNESS!  I HATE SHIT LIKE THAT RIGHT THERE!

What say YOU?

From one of the Tribe...

Those of you who have children, how are you teaching them about slavery and Jim Crow? It's much harder than I had imagined it to be. I tend to teach emotionally charged stuff in a just-the-facts manner. That seems to work very well with sex, not sure if it will with history. My son is working on a report on Mary McLeod Bethune. And he wanted to know why she had to start a school for black girls. Maybe I'm neurotic, but when I explain about segregation I don't want him to think it came about because of anything black folk did. So I explain it in economic terms as well. How do y'all handle it, and especially for those with older kids, what have been your outcomes?

*sigh*

So...dude has a couple of lines in a new song which say he's going to “pop a pill” then “beat that p*ssy like Emmett Till.”

Too disrespectful or simply a continuation of his disrespect?

Dear Black People:

Have you been accused of not being BLACK enough in the past couple of years?  Now...I'm not talking about back in the 70's or 80's or 90's mind you...I'm talking 2010 - present.

Apparently Black Men Don't Like "Scandal"

I've been kind of oblivious to this and spent some time yesterday reading the different articles about it.  Seems as though a Black woman having a thing for a married White man is a major no-no to Black-men-representatives and other Black women watching the show and empathizing with Olivia are all kindsa "White man's whores."

*YAWN*

It's television.

Television is make believe.

I figure the same ones going in on it were of the same caliber of people who criticized "The Cosby Show" because it was a "fairy tale" in their opinion.

*YAWN*

Okay...let's move on.

I'll tell you my problem with "Scandal" cuz yeah...I have problems with it.  Not with the show being on...but with what Olivia is doing cuz you know...I know her in my head.  LOL!  I am disappointed in her personal life same as if I'd be if I knew her in real life and knew she was boinking a married man.  I'd be all like...GIRL!  YOU'D BETTER FOCUS ON THAT FINE AZZ SINGLE SENATOR WHO WANTS YOUR COCKEYED AZZ HELL!

I didn't watch it last night because The Robinator is sick and we were watching "Downton Abbey" and he was all comfortable and whatnot and I didn't want to rock his boat cuz seriously...dude is cranky when he's sick.  I'm finished watching it now and last night's episode just left me with a big old UGH in me.  I mean...Olivia ain't shit you know?  Seriously...she ain't shit.

But  it's television.

Television is make believe.

I know this.

I respect this.

The level of drama I've seen makes me anticipate the show all week until I just can't take it anymore.  I mean..we all know Olivia's comeuppance is coming right?  And we all want to be there when it happens.

I was listening to a segment on NPR recently and Jimmie Walker basically stated that stuff with Black people in them don't get made cuz really...nobody feels like dealing with all the bullshit complaining folks do about the damn shows.  I've been thinking a lot about that.  

MARTIN: Did people ever confront you when you were out and about, you know, at the time, to say, we don't like your portrayal? Did that ever happen?

WALKER: I think now that the Internet is out, there's always going to be people who don't like you. And I think what happens is it also is reflective in black TV shows and movies that you're not going to get any more of those because of the constant complaining and moaning and groaning, as you know, in the commercial television and radio industry. The point is to make money, and therefore, the networks themselves have stopped doing any ethnic shows because they don't want the aggravation.

MARTIN: Interesting.

WALKER: So I don't think...

MARTIN: So you think, in a perverse way, it actually inhibits more diverse content because people don't want the headache?

WALKER: Without a doubt. You'll see - because what'll happen is any minority character you see on a show now is always the police commissioner, the head of the hospital, the school superintendent. Those kind of people, they don't invoke followings. The people that are going to get attention are the wacky guys, the Cramers, the Charlie Sheens of the world. Those are the people that are going to get that sort of attention and eventually become stars. You'll never see a black Will Ferrell. You'll never see a black Adam Sandler, because black people aren't allowed to play those kind of roles.

I always say you have to be the person who takes the pie. If you're not willing to take the pie, you're not going to be noticed.

From:  Dyn-O-Mite! Comedian Jimmie Walker Talks Showbiz

I wonder what these Black men who hate the show would think about "Downton Abbey" cuz BAAAAAAAAAAABY...now that's some scandalous mess right there!  Oh...and I LURVE IT!  

What say YOU?  

 

Quentin Tarantino and Nichole Galicia - W Magazine

What say YOU about this picture from "W Magazine?" http://cocknbull.tumblr.com/post/40633225860/misscontraption-deliciouskaek

No Show for Shawty Lo

I know I'm throwed off because I had to stop the video when the reporter said the name of the show so I could straight up HOWL.WITH.LAUGHTER!

Okay...okay...whew!  Back to the vid-yo.  Yall know I don't get down with CNN (#STILL.MAD.BOUT.BLACK.IN.AMERICA.BULLSHIT) but I did watch this:  "No Show for Shawty Lo"

What say YOU?  Will you sign a petition?  What do YOU think about what the guest had to say?

Jemele Hill = CLASS.ACT!

Jemele Hill Racist Letter: ESPN Personality Tweets Racist Complaints From Listener

*sigh*

I just saw this and yeah...wherein this might be the true feelings of many...this sort of rhetoric does nothing.  

Absolutely nothing.

*sigh*

Change?

What say YOU?

Some Fans Calling for Boycott of New Denzel Washington Movie

"This is my Black friend Barb."

I'm watching "The New Adventures of Old Christine" and Christine just said that.  It made me laugh because Christine was all nervous with the person she was talking to and it made her blurt that out cuz she was uncomfortable.  

Then I wondered how I would feel if one of my White friends introduced me that way.  

Hmmmmmm...

How would YOU feel if a friend introduced you by pointing out the obvious like that?

"Why I left the GOP" by Jeremiah Goulka

Yall!  

THIS ARTICLE IS AMAZING!  I truly hope you make time to read it and we can discuss.  

Love,  Monnie

Why I left the GOP

I grew up in a rich, Republican household, but after Katrina and Iraq, I realized my priorities were out of order

BY JEREMIAH GOULKA, TOMDISPATCH.COM

 

Dating, Black Men and the Future Stay-At-Home Mother...

I had a conversation with a male friend at an event recently about stay-at-home wives.

Which, for the most part, I am.

He asked me if I always wanted to be a stay-at-home wife and I said I always wanted to be a stay-at-home mother and wife.  I told him how we set up our life so that we could have all the pieces in place in order to raise a child or children the way we wanted to and, when that didn't happen, I went with my Plan B.

So...he asked if I'd told The Robinator that I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom prior to our getting married and I told him absolutely.  We'd discussed it from the very beginning when we talked about what we wanted out of life so yeah...he knew.

He then told me that if Robby had been a Black guy...we probably would have stopped dating immediately after making that known and, if most Black women who want to be a stay-at-home mom were smart...they'd keep that to themselves until after the wedding and she was good and pregnant.

Ummmmmm...erra...

I was deep into a dirty martini so I asked him a few questions a'la Ms. Smart to get him to continue to talk.

And talk he did.

Basically he stated that ain't no Black man looking to take care of a grown azz woman who is capable of working and that if the man has to go out and work...the woman has to as well cuz it ain't cheap living in the world we live in and unless the man was big time wealthy...it's not something he could even consider in 2012.  He said Black men aren't wired for the possibility because life will always be more of a struggle in their minds.

I shut him down, of course, because I know more than a few stay-at-home moms.  I conceded that for certain men PERIOD...this may be true but not to loop all Black men into this way of thinking.  I also let him know that I'd dated Black men exclusively prior to Robby and all the guys I dated knew this and it wasn't a deal breaker.

This conversation came up again recently with a couple of female friends and they, surprisingly, agreed with my male friend.  Someone even said, "Bring that up on a date and rest assured...it will be your last date or a big azz argument for sure."

It was also stated that a black man wouldn't automatically think this way if the woman they were dating was White because they have this Madonna image of White women which doesn't extend to Black women.

Hmmmmmmmmm...

SIP:  Are you going to tell them that you stopped talking after that tidbit?

Me:  They probably already know.

So yeah...what do YOU think?  Have YOU ever had this conversation with a man?  What did/do they say?  Do YOU think you should keep this kind of information to yourself?

Those of you who are stay-at-home moms and wives...was it a conversation prior to your getting married or did it just happen organically?

 

Bill Maher on Voter ID Fraud

What say you?

What say YOU?

Whose turn was it to watch Uncle Joe?

Biden tells African-American audience GOP ticket would put them "back in chains"

What say YOU?

 

SIP:  Didn't I TELL yall Uncle Joe was going to bring us joy!

 

Thoughts?

Let African Athletes Represent Africa and Black American Athletes Represent America

 

Question...

"I'd go back to the 50's in a heartbeat! We didn't have sex, drugs, pornography, or OBAMA!"

How would YOU respond to the above statement made by an elderly White woman?  What do you think it means when a person says they'd like to go back to the 50's?  

Hmmmmm...Aurora Murders

I've read a few things about the shooting in Colorado which have me really thinking.

Folks are saying things like...the media's description of the killer has been completely different and, even thoughtful and respectful, because the killer was White.

I've seen a couple of meme's which say something like...

If the killer had been Black the media would describe him as a "violent killer probably on drugs."

If the killer had been Latino the media would describe him as "probably an illegal immigrant who shouldn't be in the country in the first place."

If the killer had been Muslim, the media would describe him as "a terrorist and there are probably more like him here."

But since the killer was White, he is described as "a PhD student with good grades."

They also state that had the killer been anything BUT White...he would have been killed.

Have YOU seen these too?  

What do YOU think?  Be honest...do you feel like this too?

Anybody want to discuss this?

An Open Letter to Black Women

 

"Soul Food Junkies" by Byron Hurt

"Soul Food Junkies" Official Teaser (2011) from Byron Hurt on Vimeo.

This documentary is pretty awesome and I truly hope you get to see it. If you hear about it...go see it.  GO.SEE.IT!  And take your entire family and tell all your friends.  It's so compelling and enlightening.

'LIKE' the fanpage for information on future screenings.  Soul Food Junkies on Facebook

Pastor Freddie Haynes...YESSIR!

Did yall read this?

Exercise benefits black girls less than whites, study shows

 

SIP:  It's not just Black women anymore...it's lil Black girls now too.  LET'S START CHIPPING AWAY AT THAT CONFIDENCE AND SECURITY EARLY!!!!

*sigh*

Coon School

Back in the day I used to hear adults say certain behavior was obviously learned at coon school because it's nothing that people could pick up through osmosis.  

I never paid much attention to it then cuz I knew to stay outta grown folks conversation if I didn't want to get backhanded in the mouth.

There were coonasses and coons and they all must have gone to coon school.  And...from the way folks fixed their lips when they referred to either one...I figured out that neither was NOTHING to aspire to be.

People fighting in the middle of the street?

"Where they get that from?  Must be coon school cuz that isn't anything you learn just living."

Child failing in school but wearing all the latest expensive clothes?

"Where they get that from?  Must be coon school cuz that isn't anything you learn just living."

Drag racing in pickup trucks along the levee drunk with a tailgait full of drunk friends at night?

"Where they get that from?  Must be coon school cuz that isn't anything you learn just living."

An old sofa in the yard and folks sitting out there chilling?

"Where they get that from?  Must be coon school cuz that isn't anything you learn just living."

And I DISTINCTLY remember things starting to take shape for me in my brain as to what would be normal and what wouldn't be based on what I deduced the definition of coon school to be.

As I get older I realize that a lot of the stuff I was taught isn't necessarily the way I should think but I had so many years thinking that way...it's seriously second nature I guess.  I'll think it but, with maturity and my own sense of self, I consider if my thoughts are too harsh and wonder how I could look at the situation differently.  And...even as I think I'm growing every.single.day...I still run into situations where the first thing that pops into my head after I witness something REALLY janky is..."He could be the dang DEAN of coon school."

*sigh*

Did you have the same kinda "messages" growing up?  Was there a unique distinction made as to what was and what wasn't appropriate for you to do?  Even if it was subtle?  Do you find that you sometimes think in those terms even though you try your best not to?

Are we all inappropriately stereotypical in our minds when it comes to our own, personal SELF INTEREST?

On Fat Black Women...

http://55secretstreet.typepad.com/revenge_of_the_curves/2012/05/why-black-women-are-fat.html

Black People Meet Scenario

By all accounts you're pretty normal as it compares to your family, framily and friends.

Someone tells you that you're NOT normal per se because you've never "for real struggled" in their eyes.

How do you respond to that?

Do YOU know more Black people who've had the media's version of the "traditional Black experience" (Precious, Boys In the Hood, etc.) or do you know Black people who have had what WE consider normal lives as Black people?

As diverse as Black people are...does it frustrate you when folks try and put you in a box?

 

Well...then there's that...

http://educatedcoon.com/2012/04/22/fuck-steve-harvey/

What say YOU?

   

This was introduced as art.

This picture is of the Minister of Culture of Sweden.

Is it art to you?

If you really think about it...you kinda come away with the thought that the cake woman is being genitally mutilated right?  Right.  

But again...can art be found in such?  Are cries of racism unfounded in this instance?

Minister in 'racist circumcision outrage'

 

Convo on my phone...

Someone was telling me about their new baby cousin, the child of her cousin and his wife.

Her:  They mixed up like yall but opposite.

Me:  Huh?

Her:  She's the White one.

Me:  *crickets*

What in the world was I supposed to say to that?

Black on Black Crime

This Black woman told me that Black people don't usually like her.

I wasn't in the mood for conversation so I kept it moving.

Now I'm sitting here waiting on someone and, for whatever reason, that popped into my head. (Does that ever happen to you?  Like...completely random ish just pops into your brain for no reason WHAT.SO.EVER!!!!!)

What do YOU think she meant by that?

The Racial Draft

 

I remember watching Dave Chappelle's show and CRINGING the whole time.

Was it funny?

Yes.

And, we now know...it was groundbreaking in the way he approached race relations by really pointing out some seriously ignent ish.

When he quit  his show I was one of those disappointed but I understood where he was coming from when he broke it down.

I GOT IT.

See...he was counting on the world at large being more like the one he lived in.  Where his friends, of all skin colors, were smart and funny and knew the skits came from a place of HUMOR trying to dispel ridiculous stereotypes.  He never banked on so many people not being smart and really believed a lot of that stuff so it was funny cuz to them it was TRUE.

I was at a party recently and someone was about to have another piece of cake and then thought better of it out loud.  She said she'd better not have that last piece because she had to get on a plane the next morning and didn't want to be farting like them White people do on planes.

Many within hearing distance of her laughed and then someone said, "Yeah...you know White people know they get their fart on."

SIP:  Cuz Black people don't fart right?  Witcha simple azz.

It was such a simple thing to say to illicit a laugh and she got one.  Humor at the expense of majority race...no harm, no foul.

Except it is.  And that's where the problem lies.  Too much small shit gets a pass that it becomes the norm to be divisive.  

I'd already developed a bad taste in my mouth for the person who said it so I didn't say anything.  Someone next to me surprised the crap outta me by whispering, "So Black people don't fart?"

And I laughed at SIP's shock and clinked glasses with her.

But see what WE did there?  We should have said that out loud and not simply dismissed old girl and let her continue on.  Even though it wasn't some BAD thing said about White people like.  It was a small thing.  A SIMPLE THING.  Even though it was stupid.  We should have SAID something out loud to let our displeasure be known.

It has to EVENTUALLY start with US.

Individually.

I can't tell you how many times someone has said to me, "Robby ain't White.  He's one of us.  I never even think of him as White."

SIP:  But he is.  

I've often wondered if people that say that actually THINK about saying it before they say it and about what it means to THEIR way of thinking?

Just because you've actually been to his home and sat and had a beer with him or dinner with him and talked to him and laughed with him or watched golf with him or he's helped you out with something does NOT negate that he's White.  

It simply means you've been close enough to HUMANIZE him.

He's no longer, "White people" cuz in the mind of most, "White people" needs to come with a caviat.  A warning.  A reason to be your most formal in order to interact with them.

Did anyone besides me and Tiffany In Houston read this article?  National Review Writer Pens Racist Screed: ‘Avoid Concentrations Of Blacks,’ ‘Stay Out Of’ Their Neighborhoods

Dude wrote it as a bit of "social commentary" in order to keep White children safe.

(10a) Avoid concentrations of blacks not all known to you personally.

(10b) Stay out of heavily black neighborhoods.

(10c) If planning a trip to a beach or amusement park at some date, find out whether it is likely to be swamped with blacks on that date (neglect of that one got me the closest I have ever gotten to death by gunshot).

(10d) Do not attend events likely to draw a lot of blacks.

(10e) If you are at some public event at which the number of blacks suddenly swells, leave as quickly as possible.

(10f) Do not settle in a district or municipality run by black politicians.

(10g) Before voting for a black politician, scrutinize his/her character much more carefully than you would a white.

(10h) Do not act the Good Samaritan to blacks in apparent distress, e.g., on the highway.

(10i) If accosted by a strange black in the street, smile and say something polite but keep moving.

(11) The mean intelligence of blacks is much lower than for whites. The least intelligent ten percent of whites have IQs below 81; forty percent of blacks have IQs that low. Only one black in six is more intelligent than the average white; five whites out of six are more intelligent than the average black. These differences show in every test of general cognitive ability that anyone, of any race or nationality, has yet been able to devise. They are reflected in countless everyday situations. “Life is an IQ test.”

I was discussing this article with someone and read it out loud to them over the phone.  They burst out laughing.

SIP:  Da hell is funny?

Person:  Shit...he ain't saying nothing I don't do myself or I wouldn't tell MY kids.  Not necessarily about Black people but about certain types of Black people.  I wouldn't live in an all Black neighborhood cuz I'd never be able to sell the house and when "yo' cousins" show up...yeah...that's a sign to get ghost and hell...didn't Marion Berry just win something else?  I wouldn't live somewhere up under him for nothing in the world and you the only person I know who be giving people a ride off side the road.

And I heard my father's voice pretty much knowing he'd say some of the same things.

Many of you can probably say the same of someone in your world or...maybe you'd even say some of those things yourselves.

But when this dude says it in an article, for all the world to see, with his White privilege...it's a HUGE problem.  The shit is racist.

Me:  Did you see Mary J. Blige's commercial?

Friend:  Yeah...Burger King know they were wrong for racist azz shit.

Me:  Whta are you cooking for dinner?

Friend:  Well...now I have a taste for fried chicken.

SIP:  I like tacos...

Folks have yet to explain to me that whole debacle.  I mean...I love the hell outta chicken.  See...when I saw the commercial I thought the BRAND was beneath Mary J.  I mean...she's MARY J. BLIGE.  If she chooses to lend her name to a product by getting paid to do so...I would have thought she'd be a bit more discerning as to the PRODUCT.    Next thing I know...Burger King is RACIST!  

DA HELL??????

Maybe it's just me though.

One of the greatest things I love about my husband is that he humanizes EVERYONE specifically.  He makes his determination on whether or not you're a good person or someone he should deal with a certain way once he's met you.  If my husband doesn't like you it's not because of anything that has to do with anything other than who you are as a person SPECIFICALLY AND AS AN INDIVIDUAL and...it's usually because the person is ignorant and/or racist.

I love that he is capable of that cuz I know I'm not.  Sure...I'm better than a WHOLE LOT of the people...but yeah...no...I haven't done away with a lot of the fugged up ish I learned growing up in the South.

I don't know where I'm going with this piece.  I just know that  George Zimmerman is still a free man without ANY charges and it really has messed my head up A LOT as it relates to race relations.  Like...I'm all sensitive and shit.  

And I'm on a plane and need to get up and go to the bathroom so I can pass some gas.

Cuz Black people fart on planes too. 

Any thoughts on any of this would be greatly appreciated.  I'm hoping SOMEBODY out there knows how to put all of these thoughts into perspective for me.

Good Question...

Problem or progress? White student leads black club at N. Virginia high school.

 

Ignorant Azz Piece of NOTHING!

I can't stand people like this.  Seriously.  

What say YOU?

White Hispanic

I was reading an article the other day about the Trayvon Martin case in which George Zimmerman was described as a White Hispanic.

It took me by surprise because I've never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever heard that term before.

White Hispanic.  Hmmmmmmm...

Have YOU ever heard the term used?

What are your thoughts on it being used in conjunction with this tragedy?  

Hmmmmm...

What do YOU think?

Yesterday I got slightly annoyed with a "friend" who said something along the lines of...nobody wore hoodies when my cousin got killed so pardon me if I'm not moved to do the same for Treyvon.  

I don't really get down with the person like that so I didn't say anything.

Then a real friend said something along the same lines and we discussed it and I've been thinking about it ever since.

What do YOU think about what they said?  Do you think it's a fair complaint or...does one not have a thing to do with the other?  Just because folks are being activists regarding one murder...does it REALLY say they didn't "support" justice when it comes to other murders?

I Am Trayvon Martin

o_0

Exclusive: Seller of Controversial Anti-Obama Sticker Says It's Not Racist