Rantings of a Creole Princess

Let's talk about "Black-ish."

I watched "Black-ish" last night along with a whole host of other people it seems:  

TV Ratings: 'Black-ish' Opens Strong, Nearly Matches 'Modern Family'

I have been looking forward to the show since I first heard about it because hey...it was going to be on ABC and they have been known, recently, to have good family sitcoms on lock.  I love me some Tracee Ellis Ross, although, she's mostly always Joan Clayton to me.  (Because I am dumb.  I know, I know but Joan was AWESOME.SAUCE!)  I understood the need for a television show with the premise and I just KNEW it would be done smartly.  I was banking on the "Modern Family" audience to watch the show and hoped that smart writing would start bridging some of the divisiveness we still, amazingly, find so prominently in the world we live in.

Take me for instance.  I'm probably not going to be your best "first Black friend."  I can be rude with it and will often remind you how ridiculous it is that you never had a Black friend before you met me.  I mean hey...I'm FABULOUS but I don't have the lock on being a FABULOUS Black woman.  We're all over.  Now...once I break that down to you we are probably going to be amazing friends and you'll probably be enlightened to just how similar we are even though we have different skin colors.  

Take "The Cosby Show."  See...that show worked so well because well...they were simply a family doing regularly family living that just happened to be a Black family.  Things our families found important made their way into the show without there being a big azz sign pointing out things we, as Black people deal with and consider important that non-Blacks don't deal with.

It just worked, you know?  I remember when Dr. Huxtable was talking about charities once and he said that he had 4 kids in college making them have their own Negro College Fund.  LOL!  That cracked me up.  I remember the episode when it was shared that they had to work twice as hard and we all understood where it went.  It was subtle but I think everyone got it and when Mrs. Huxtable went ANGRY BLACK MAMA on Vanessa that time when she had BIG FUN...oh yeah...we identified with that across the board.

But I digress.

I had some pretty strong feelings about the show last night while watching it and I've been thinking about it ever since.  I understand the job of a pilot and hope to make one myself one day.  It is to grab the attention of the audience and not let it go.  Because of this, pilots tend to be chock full of shocker one-liners, etc.  This pilot was no different so maybe, hopefully, the pilot was just that and the continuing series will be what we all hoped it would be.  I long for a family who looks like me on primetime television, (SIP:  Um...you know half our household is White right?  Me:  Say bruh...you know what I mean hell.) and I had high hopes for this one which was positioned just right for success.  I grew weary of watching Black people stereotype being Black.  I was perplexed as to how that child didn't know President Obama was the first Black president. I rolled my eyes clean up out my head at that severance worthy presentation and when Tracee said "If I'm not Black then someone needs to tell my hair and my azz..." lawd...I poured another half glass of wine cuz it was too late to pour another whole glass.  

And this scene?

KILL.ME.NOW. 

(But that skirt Tracee has on though?  YES.PLEASE!  GIMME!)

All that said, I am looking forward to the next episode in hopes that I won't be disappointed.  I refuse to watch it just because they are Black.  I'm too old for that.  It has to be good too.  

I'm not the audience for reality shows and it seems that's the only place we see Black people these days on television and they are something special I'm told.  I was at a framily's house the other night and "Love and Hip Hop" was on in the background.  I heard someone say something about "I know he ain't my man but..." and I asked them not-so-kindly to turn that shit off until I left please and thank you.  I mean REALLY.

So...what did YOU think?  Be honest.  Did you enjoy it?  Will you watch again?

 

Black People and the Fair Labor Standards Act

In the summer of 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act.  The act didn't give people much mind you...a minimum wage of .25 cents per hour and a 44 hour work week would be considered full-time, oh, and it abolished child labor.  

Even though this wasn't much, people with money fought against it tooth and nail.  In one of the President's fireside chats he said, "Do not let any calamity-howling executive with an income of $1,000 a day, tell you that a wage of $11 a week is going to have a disastrous effect on all American industry."

Sound familiar?

I'm not trying to give you a history lesson here because I'm sure you know about all of this or, I'm sure you learned it in school even if you've forgotten the specifics.  I know I learned it in school and promptly forgot the details once I'd answered the questions on my final exam.

You know...cuz that's how we generally roll.

On Labor Day, you always hear about the Fair Labor Standards Act and how it was the catalyst for the fair labor laws we have today.  As these things go...I generally read something that leads me to something else and something else, yada, yada.  And, as these things go...I realize why my father was so damn militant about what they were teaching me at school.  See...it normally went something like this:

Dad:  Oh...you're learning about the FLSA huh?  Well...did they tell you how that only benefited White people?  

Me:  Um...they didn't really go into it like that I guess.

Dad:  Of course not.  Because they need folks to always feel like they're the blame for their own shit.  Man...them White folks sliced and diced that act up so that they didn't have to pay Black people more.  See...Black people mostly worked in the fields or doing domestic work back then cuz that's all they'd let them do.  Well...even though they agreed that people couldn't live off what they were paying them...they still found a way to give the White people more and keep the Black people down.  They said that if you worked in the fields or cleaned people's homes...you didn't qualify.  And the unions?  Shiiiiiiiiiiiiit...they didn't let Black folks join so the unions ain't help with shit.  You got these White guys who didn't have education now making double what they were making and the Black guys?  Same amount of nothing they always parceled out.  I bet they didn't teach you that up at that school did they?

And then...after dropping his bit of depressing as hell knowledge which showed why he had such a disdain for the people in power...he'd roll off to let you ponder your place in the world.  Or...for a better description...the place in the world you have to fight to get to since it's all set up against you.

My dear old militant daddy.  LOL!

I hope by now yall know I'm not a race baiter.  I don't excuse things that people do just because they are Black.  I'm hard on myself and I'm hard on MY people.  I want us to do well in life.  But I'll be damned if digging around deeper into the history of stuff just really takes a toll on you from time-to-time.  It's like...Black people have always been set up to do the bare minimum of what White people would have the opportunity to do.  And...to this day, most White people won't even acknowledge these types of systematic racial prejudices across the board.  I mean...if people had more money...they'd have more options.  If they'd had more money, they'd have been able to send more of their children to college.  If they'd have had more money, they'd have been better able to become homeowners.  If they'd have had more money, they'd have been better able to maintain their homes and neighborhoods.  If they'd have had more money, they would not have had to find cheap ways to forget that they didn't have more money/options/opportunity/experiences.

Same shit...different day.

If only they'd had more money.

Good morning.  How was your Labor Day weekend?  Did you go to a cookout?

 

SIP:  How in the hell are you going to drop all that there and then ask somebody if they had barbeque?  

Elder Speak

"You can get pissed off about it but what pisses me off more is when Raheem kills Tyrone and it's business as usual.  Twenty-three Black people got shot in Chicago this past weekend and five died.  Yet...everybody is focused on the White man who killed one over yonder in the Midwest.  That right there is the stuff that pisses me off.  They killing each other left and right down in New Orleans too.  You only know about it if you read the Picayune and, truth be told, you tend to start skipping over those stories because they are in the paper far too often.  Same old same old.  Black kid kills other Black kid or two or three of them.  'Cept they are not kids by that point.  They are hardened criminals who are just trying to figure out how to survive in the world they live in and are restricted to by economics and society.  And people, no matter what color they are, are going to steer clear of them and the section of the cities they are restricted to live in by economics and when they are seen in other areas, they stand out.  You know you see them and you know you steer clear.  Doesn't make it right per se...but hey...we're all just trying to survive.  I gave my children and my nieces and nephews some of the same warnings everyone else gives their children and told them who to stay away from and where to stay away from.  You can't make people value what you value.  People got their own way of being and you rarely know the rules unless you were raised that way too so yeah...Well, that's my take on it now let me go.  I have some work to do so get off my phone.  I Love you."

Is this something only an Elder can say in private?  Thoughts? 

Big. Black. Scary.

When I get mad, you can't tell me nothing.  You can't dangle a carrot in my face and think I'm going to take the carrot and settle down somewhere.  See...I expect certain things to be unfair and have prepared myself for disappointments so I don't get that darn mad often...but when I get mad fo' real?  POOT.YOU.

Seems to me, this is what's going down in Ferguson right now.  People are mad.  FO.REAL.MAD.  Not the kind of mad where you can have a good meal and get over it after a back rub...but the kind of mad that will make you skip a meal or two because dammit...you're tired.

I've been watching all of the demonstrations and marches going on all across the country in support of Ferguson with ambivalence because I remember the same demonstrations and marches about Trayvon Martin.  I remember the same going on about Sean Bell and Oscar Grant and I remember it going DOWN-T in New Orleans about the Danziger bridge shootings.  And I read and know of so many more.  I touch base with my loved ones and have the same tired azz conversations with them, the males especially, about being careful and learning to detect danger in the presence of authority.

Street smarts is what they call it.

As a Black woman, I've never really had a bad experience with a policeman.  When I was wrong, I was wrong, but they never acted a fool with me.  Probably because my stature and weight didn't pose a threat to them.

Whenever I hear of police opening fire on citizens I try to always remember that police are people too and, just like you and I, they want to get back home to their family alive as well.

It's got to be hard as hell wearing a gun and knowing that there may be cause for you to have to use it to save your life and the lives of those around you.

Because of this, I was cool with them not releasing the name of the officer involved in the Ferguson murder.  I felt that when the FBI stepped in, all was going to be dealt with properly and that officer would be investigated.  I didn't think releasing his name during the riots was a good idea because I didn't want the blood of his family shed.  I hoped they'd put his people in protective custody while they figured this all out.

I hated watching the video of the young man shoplifting earlier that day.  It doesn't mean he should have been killed, but I just hated watching it knowing what it meant public opinion was laying on him.

And I knew that those who decided to release the video knew that too.

"Look...he stole some cigars earlier that day piece of shit thug!"

Not a good person right?

I had a problem with how long the young man's body lay out on the sidewalk for all to see.  I don't know the proper procedure for these things but I feel like 4 hours was excessive.

I had a problem with, if the young man was really trying to take the officer's gun, and the young man was with his friend, and his friend stayed at the scene...why wasn't his friend questioned and/or arrested?  

Lots of big, Black scary guys around I guess.

Autopsy reports say the young man was shot 6 times.  Twice in the head.  From the front.  

Unarmed.

Big.  Black.  Scary.

Able to kill a man with his very presence.

No weapons necessary.

KILL.SHOT.PLURAL.

I remember the protests of the previously murdered unarmed Black men.  The marches.  The t-shirts.  The hoodies.  The uncomfortably heated conversations with White friends and people you THOUGHT understood but who said shit like...Why was he wearing a hoodie?  Why was he walking that time of night? Why did he...

Big.  Black.  Scary.  Wrong.  Blame.  Victim.  Character.  Assassination.  Assassinated.  MURDERED.

I reminded a White friend this past week of some trouble her son had gotten into when he was 14 and then again when he was 16.  They lawyered up quickly and got him off.  No record.  If he did some shit tomorrow, the news would report that he's never been in trouble.  He's a good dude.  Never did a damn thing wrong.

Money is a great eraser.  The big block kind you used to get for the first day of school.

If a kid without parents with money did the same things he'd done...they'd have a record.  They'd have been sentenced.  They might have served some time.

If that kid ever got murdered by the police...the things they didn't have money to erase would be laid out for all the world to see.

The friend just nodded during my tirade.  See...she's tired too.  And it's easy for her to understand the unfairness  but not really know what to do so she just goes back to doing what she does.  Takes care of her family.  Protects them with all she has.

Same as any mother.

Sometimes...it's too much.

I hope the dust settles in Ferguson soon and calmer heads prevail.  I pray the violence stops before more people are hurt and killed.  March if you want but public perception isn't changing.  What YOU know to be true gains skewed outlooks from others.

Because Black men will always be scary to them.

In my own words: Israel and Palestine

Whenever my baby brother asks me something I can't confidently answer, I get a bit obsessed with finding the right answer for him.  I don't like sound bites and people telling me what the what.  I like to read up on some stuff.  He asked me about the conflict between Israel and Palestine and I only knew what I knew even as what I knew has always felt like an oversimplification of the details.  Being someone with friends whose only criteria is that they are good people...I, of course, have friends who are Jewish as well as friends who are Muslim so I reached out to them for some personal answers.

Truth be told...their answers were the type of which stem from true frustration with a situation that's long past gone too far.  And, as these friends live in the United States...maybe their history on the facts have been blurred a bit simply by living in an area they don't have to worry about the very real violence going down in their Mother country/ies.

And I just really wanted to understand what has been going down over there and why as much as I could. 

A friend told me about this book:  

A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East 7th (seventh) Impression Edition by Fromkin, David published by Holt Paperbacks (2001)

And then...I understood more.  MUCH.MORE.

Pour yourself a glass of water.  This is a long one.

Black Girl...Coming of Age

I was thinking about all of the coming of age movies I really enjoy and then...I could only think of two that were coming of age about a Black girl.  

"Love and Basketball" and "Crooklyn."

Can you think of any additional one?

"I'm Articulate" - TED Talk

Hood Disease?

Inner City Oakland Youth Suffering From Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

 

NBA Race

I know you know what's going on.

What do YOU think needs to happen?  

REALISTICALLY.

Scott Walker and Thomas Nardelli's Nightmare

Yall aren't sleeping on this are you?

THE NIGHTMARE, reproduced in full below, was forwarded in 2010 by Thomas Nardelli, who was Walker’s chief-of-staff when he served as Milwaukee County Executive, to an undisclosed number of recipients, including Walker’s deputy chief-of-staff, Kelly Rindfleisch.

Black History Month Disrespect?

What do you think about posts like this?  Disrespectful?  Or just clean fun?

We're NEVER going to get past racial nonsense huh?

At this point...I don't even see how it's even remotely possible and I used to think we would get there.  My mother thought it would happen in my lifetime.

Guess she was wrong.

What do YOU think?  Do you think it will ever be a non-thing?

Skinny Black Girl on Yoga

I hate yoga.  Like...HATE yoga.  It's too quiet and I think some of the poses do too much.  I'm not a contortionist and I can't play one on tv.  I do yoga poses at home because it gives me a complete stretch but the classes?  No.  I don't like that.  TOTALLY good on yoga classes.  

I DO WHAT I WANT!

So there has been some controversy surrounding what a self-proclaimed skinny White girl felt an overweight Black woman was feeling and thinking during a yoga class.  When I first read it on XO Jane...I straight up said, GTFOOHWTBS and kept it moving.

But the conversation got a bit louder among my peers as everyone seemed to be offended by the self absorption of the poor little empathetic self proclaimed skinny White woman.

Yesterday, I decided to weigh in on one of the conversations on FB about this heffa and well...yall know how I can get when I'm pissed and guess what...I'm still pissed this morning.

What do you tell YOUR kids about Dr. King?

Most of you have no idea what Martin Luther King actually did

War on Black Santa and Black Jesus

13 year old White girl with 2 Black men...

Houston cops cuff 13-year-old white girl, 2 black men visiting city for dance video shoot

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/houston-cops-cuff-white-teen-black-men-visiting-video-shoot-article-1.1535803#ixzz2mVqVptkf

What do you guys think of this story?  I'm discussing it now and I'm confused.  I mean...number one...I want to know why the girl's mom or dad didn't go with them?  I mean...she's 13.  My parents wouldn't have let me travel anywhere with other folks like that without them like that.  But I guess it's different for all folks.

Do you think it was racial profiling or suspicious looking circumstances taken too far by the police?  

Black Filmmaking: The Elephants in the Room...

1.  Those two youngest kids. o_0

2.  Why didn't Julian leave with his wife and kids after she found out about the video?  He just stayed behind?  With THAT kind of crisis going on in his marriage?  SERIOUSLY?  AND WHY IN THE HELL HE SHOWING EVERYONE ELSE THE DAMN VIDEO BUT HASN'T TALKED TO HIS WIFE ABOUT IT?????????

3.  When did they practice the dance routine?  I can see Mia arranging to have matching costumes at the ready...but the dance routine?  That took practice.  When did they do that?

4.  Can we stop with the dating White people jokes already?  It's 2013.

5.  Yall know the fertility clinic wouldn't have put them embryos in without being paid in full first right?  Trust me on this one.

6.  Who is Shelby's baby daddy?  How'd she get on that show she was on? 

7.  They delivered a breech baby.  In a Lexus SUV while speeding.  Oh...and if they were in snail traffic one minute...how did they end up FLYING down a damn near empty interstate the next?

8.  Shelby and Quenton being disrespectful getting busy when they did?

Black Housewife Wig

Found this while searching for a picture of a Black housewife.

Interesting huh?

Bringing All the Boys to the Yard

I was somewhere recently and asked where I'm from.

LOUISIANA IN THE HIZ-OUSE PLAYA!

I shared that I was a PROUD Louisiana girl.

Bethenny sent for Omarosa...and she came...

They both had points.  

But now it has started folks up racially, of course,  asking can White women and Black women be friends?

Bethenny Vs. Omarosa

What say YOU?

12 Years A Slave: Rage, Privilege, Black Women and White Women

Disco Africa Party: Respect Or Disrespect?

Disrespectful?  Can you pay homage this way and it ever be received as respectful?  Can only Black people do this?  What about the last picture?  The guy didn't paint his face...but he put on an afro wig.  You good?

Shopping While Black

Over a decade ago, I was shopping at Filene's Basement on Connecticut avenue.  I'd gone to the men's department and purchased something for Robby and was leaving.  As I was leaving, something caught my eye and I picked it up and decided I wanted to purchase it.  I walked to the counter and saw a cashier I'd become friendly with, started talking to him as I put my item on the counter for him to ring up.

He chatted comfortably with me and then asked what I had in my bag.  I told him it was something for my guy.  He asked if I'd already paid for it.  Confused I said...um...yeah...that's why it's in the bag.

Him:  Can I see your receipt?

Me:  Is that necessary?

Him:  I just want to make sure you paid for it.

I showed him my receipt, paid for my other purchase and left.

I walked back to my office on L street feeling some kinda way.  Filene's Basement had become my go to spot when I went for a walk while at work.  I'd look around to see if there was something I needed to have and then buy it or not if my money was funny.  I knew the guy from shopping there ONLY.  I'd never seen him any other place other than there.  He often complimented my suits or my hair or whatever.  Just seemed to be a nice, good dude.

But that day...he decided that I'd probably stolen something.

By the time I got back to my office I was full on feeling some kinda way.  I called Filene's and asked to speak with a manager.  I told the manager what happened and the manager apologized.  

I didn't feel better.

I called corporate and got the email for the head dude and I sent an email expressing how awful the experience made me feel.  I felt some kinda way...big time but honestly...I think I felt that way MOSTLY...because the dude second guessing me was Black.

In his eye, I probably was only nice to him so I can get away with stealing shit and using him as an accomplish by getting him to ring up my other purchase.  I was hurt about that and dammit...I was mad as shit.  He should have known better.

But honestly...I guess the culture of the retail establishment was such that it was taught to be suspicious of Black people.  

Wait...scratch that.  

Of FRIENDLY Black people.

I received an email back from the person at corporate with a coupon or gift certificate or something or the other.  They apologized, blah, blah, blah.  I'd named names so I'm sure it was brought to old boy's attention.

Not that I'd ever know about it because I never set foot in that store again.

Shopping while Black doesn't happen to me often because I generally go to the same places and deal with the same sales associates so they know me but I know it's never too far behind for some.  I know that I'm probably suspect since, normally when I'm shopping, I'm uber casual wearing good undies, until I walk up to the trusted associate I have a relationship with and I'm deemed "safe."  The last time it DIRECTLY affected me was at New Balance in Chevy Chase a few years ago:  Dear New Balance

I haven't purchased a New Balance shoe since then and wear the ones I already owned sporadically.  

What about you?  Have you been unfairly targeted recently for blatantly obvious reasons?  How did you handle?

What say YOU?

Barneys accused teen of using fake debit card for $349 belt because he's a ‘young black American male’: lawsuit

12 Years A Slave

Robby and I went to see this movie and sat completely captivated from beginning to end.

It was amazing.

Did you go see it?  Do you plan to?

Black / White Friend?

Are you the ONLY friend of a certain skin color to a friend?  Like...if you're White and your friend is Black...are you their ONLY White friend and vice-versa?

Do you find that odd?

Terrorists on 9/11 tried to shut down our government...

...they were unsuccessful.  

But the Tea Party has been successful.

Domestic terrorism with a racist outlook.

They have succeeded in shutting down our government protesting AN ALREADY SIGNED LAW WHICH GIVES AMERICANS MORE AFFORDABLE AND WIDELY AVAILABLE HEALTH CARE.

The Tea Party is America's public enemy number 1.  They need to be stopped.  Democrats and Republicans need to stand together and shut them down.  NOW!  Ted Cruz?  PUHLEEZE!  That man shouldn't lead carnival won fish.

Yall...we have to stop this.  You need to find out what's going on in your state and work to keep them out of office.  We're stuck with some for now...but they will have to be re-elected.  DON'T LET THAT ISH HAPPEN!  VOTE THEIR AZZES OUT WHENEVER YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY!

I can't believe this ish is going down.  I can't believe we are being held hostage by domestic terrorists and folks expect us to negotiate through this ish.  We don't negotiate with terrorists right?  

At least that's what I always thought as an American.

Obama...I need yall to stand oak mighty.  Don't negotiate with them.  THEY ARE TERRORISTS.  Let the American people, at large, finally see those fuckers as they really and truly are.  A bunch of ignorant bullies who only give a damn about what they want, which is NOT what the majority CLEARLY wants.  

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

So...who's been furloughed?  

 

"There would be no trees."

I posted this article on Facebook yesterday and a friend commented with, "There would be no trees."

Students called 'n' word, chased through woods on field trip

Baaaaaaaby...he's so right.  There would be NO trees.

Thees parents complained to the school almost a year ago and didn't even receive an apology so they took it as far as they could take it so it's just now coming out to light.  I'm shocked that they had to take it as far as they did.  And I'm shocked ANYBODY thought this ish was a good idea.  I mean really.  The kids were 12.

Seriously.

I couldn't imagine going through that at 44 let alone 12.

Yeah...there would be no trees.  There would be NO.DAMN.TREES.

What say you?

 

Interesting

What say you?  Of Baguettes and Black Families

Saturday Night Live - STILL NO BLACK WOMEN!

Yall know I don't play the race card cuz it's tacky, overused and seriously...it just isn't needed as much as folks try and whip it out.

I've been side-eyeing SNL for a minute now because of the lack of Black women.  I mean...REALLY!  And they know folks have been criticizing them for their lack of Black women too.  And they announce six new people and not one of them a Black woman?  Five are White men and one a White woman.  

COME ON MAN!!!!!  

Like...dude...SERIOUSLY???????????????????

WHAT THE FUG??????????????????

FUG.YO.COUCH.SNL!!!!!!!!!

AM I THE ONLY PERSON WHO IS PUT OFF BY THIS?  AAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

New Course for ‘Weekend Update,’ and All of ‘SNL’ ‘Saturday Night Live’ Setting Its New Cast

 

Drunk Guy Meets SIP

This summer I was somewhere with some friends enjoying life.  We were sitting near a group of people who were also enjoying life.  One guy was drunk.

And he was already obnoxious BEFORE he got drunk I'm sure.

Drunk guy decided I was going to be his BFF and kept trying to high five me and ish.  I just wanted to have a good time with my friends so I wasn't trying to get annoyed and high fived him.

No biggie.

The ish got annoying.

Quickly.

Funny?

Ask A Slave

August 28, 1963

We all know our history.  We all benefit from it.  50 years ago today, the greatest movement of our day happened.  The March on Washington.

FIFTY years ago.

I have Elders who were there.  I have Elders who have been married 50+ years.  I have friends who are over 50 years old.

50 years ago wasn't that long ago.

And I find that astonishing.

I read an article last week about a family of 25 Black people waiting to be seated at a restaurant. They waited for 2 hours because a patron complained that such a large number of Blacks together was dangerous.

50 years is not a long time.

Thoughts?

Free Boat Trip to Africa

Funny?

Hmmmmm...Scenario from real life...

A single mother shoplifts diapers, diaper rash cream and other things for her children at a major chain.

She gets caught.

She has her children with her.

Police arrive.

She tells them the children's father isn't helping her and she is struggling big time.

The police buy the items for the mother.

The major chain still press charges because it's their policy.

A heartwarming story is written about the police being so nice and understanding.

Folks all over are ooohing and aaaahing about how police aren't bad people all the time.

What do you think about the person who reads the same story and side eyes it because the first thing out their mouth is that it would have gone totally different had the single mother been Black?

Riley Cooper: When keeping it real goes wrong.

Eagles send Riley Cooper for sensitivity training

I canNOT stop laughing at this Riley Cooper mess.  

So...dude used that word and got caught on tape.  Folks were saying it's no big deal, yada, yada, yada.  Michael Vick even came out and was like...dude ain't a bad dude.  Folks on the internet saying he was just keeping it reall and if that's how he felt at the moment so what, blah, blah, blah.

Then yesterday he was at practice...you know...playing football with a whole bunch of Black dudes and NOBODY would stand next to him when they weren't on the field in a play.  Nobody talked to dude.  Didn't look his way.  Just pretended like dude didn't exist.  

They kept it real.

NOW...the team has excused him from practice to attend sensitivity training.  For keeping it real Riley Cooper style even though you play a VERY physical sport for a living with a lot of really big Black guys who are feeling some kinda way about you right now.

So here's what I'm wondering...how are they going to deal with Black football players using it?  what if a Black guy says t in the locker room?  Will he be excused as well?  Can you separate the "way" someone says a word from the actual word in a situation like that which could possibly end the entire career of Riley Cooper?

Has the Eagle's coaching staff opened up a can of worms that can be corralled?  Will this finally be the start of that word TRULY not being used by ANYONE?

WHEW!  THIS.IS.A.MESS!

What say you?

Don Lemon and Black People

Don Lemon is where I'm from.  I'm not talking about Louisiana in general...I'm talking about the small, country town I'm from.  That little dot on the map.  Yup...he's from the same, exact place.  He's seen the same things.  When he goes home to visit his family...he encounters pretty much the same things I encounter.

Apparently Don said some things which offended the hell out of some people recently.  I had to go find what he said, of course:

Hmmmmmm...

Okay...I watched it.  Did you?  What do YOU think about what he said?  Are you offended?  Do you disagree with his comments?  Does he deserve the harsh criticism the Black intelligentsia is slinging his way now while calling him Uncle Tom?  Could it be simply that his words would have been more acceptable had he not tied them to Bill O'Reilly?

Stay Mad Tavis

President Obama Trayvon Martin Press Conference

What say you?

From NPR: Civil War's First African-American Infantry Remembered In Bronze

Civil War's First African-American Infantry Remembered In Bronze

I woke up this morning thinking about this story I heard on NPR yesterday.  It made me proud.  I hope it does the same for you.  

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!

This will help...

Boycotting Florida?

What do you HONESTLY think about the cries to boycott Florida?

SIP DELETES...Hashtag #Trayvon

I did a lot of unfriending on FB since Saturday.  I was slicing folks left and right.  

No tears for thugs?  DELETE.

Using that word I DESPISE?  DELETE.

Talking about rioting and the revolution?  DELETE.

DELETE.DELETE.DELETE.

I didn't want to hear shit.

One young man used the word I despise twice.  All caps.  He was mad and calling for folks to rise up and get mad.

DELETE.

Justice for Trayvon?

Are you watching the trial?  How are you feeling so far?

George Zimmerman's Attorney - Don West and Ice Cream

Apparently Don West's daughter posted this picture to Instagram.  I didn't see it myself, someone posted it and it made me pause.

I've been watching what I could of the trial so far and have been feeling some kinda way about a lot of it and I guess I really haven't been able to put it into words exactly what I feel.

I know I got annoyed at the comments about Rachel Jeantel and folks going in on her vernacular and saying she looked like "Precious."

I thought that was disrespectful given what she was testifying about.  I also thought it was a case of worrying about the wrong shit.

Yesterday the line of questioning about Twitter followers versus people following annoyed me and I guess my general consensus so far is that well...this shit is being taken as a big azz joke to many as well as a way to etch that color line even deeper.

That ice cream picture annoyed me and I feel like it was carefully calculated to draw a line for Don West and anyone looking to hire someone like Don West. He is being VERY clear with his Chick-Fil-A cone. This is all about business. The business of race baiting pays well for some and there are obviously codes and signals necessary to play it well.

Yup. Don West is for hire as are all lawyers. And he wants to make sure specific someones know.

IN MY OPINION.

POC

What do YOU think of the term "people of color?"  Have you noticed it being used more?  

If you were giving a speech which would you use if you were going to say it?

A.  As a person of color...

B.  As an African American...

C.  As a Black person...

Thoughts?

NaBloPoMo: Paula Deen and Butter Chicken

Video of Paula Deen on the Today Show

 

 

What say you?

 

 

SIP: I thought she was going to break out "I believe the children are our future..."

Voting Rights Act Supreme Court Decision

Supreme Court strikes down key voting rights provision

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/supreme-court-voting-rights-act-ruling-93324.html#ixzz2XEwn5lkg

 

Do YOU understand what just happened?

A Missed Opportunity on Racial Preferences

Theodore R. Johnson: A Missed Opportunity on Racial Preferences

What say you?