RUN out and buy this Sista's book. Not because she is a sista, but because it's a book worth reading. Then pass it on to anyone you know, especially our younger generation.
Cupcake had a hard life, but who hasn't? Thing is, she overcame. She found her mother's dead body when she was only 8 or 9, was sent to foster care and left to their abuses, ended up gang banging and using every drug imaginable and she made it out and all the way to her JD ( Lawyer). This book is about overcoming obstacles and I swear to you, if there was hope for that 8 year old child, there is hope for you too.
Will post more later...have to do the real gig now and get some work done.
Friday, May 26, 2006
Monday, May 15, 2006
You aren't Black enough unless you are Black like me.
That was the actual conversation that I had recently on a new message board that I joined. The message board audience is Black folks. Not some, not most, but Black people. I say this because there was even a thread dedicated to whether or not Whites should be allowed to join. Welcome to America. You do it to us and sooner or later we will do it to you.
See, I don't subscribe to that philosophy. All the while I'm sitting back enjoying the Immigration debate, eating my popcorn watching the politicians dance, I'm thinking it's all about fear. White people are afraid of that crystal globe they live in, that most refuse to even acknowledge they live in, somehow tumbling to the ground and crashing into 1,000 shards of glass that cannot be pieced back together. It's a fear driven rebellion.The bottom line is that it's a mentality of " I don't want you to come in here and replace me or treat me as I have blindly or not treated other people in the past".
This issue always comes up when conversations of Reparations come up. No one wants to cough up an extra 10 cents on their tax dollar to live up to a promise made to the descendants of slaves. The stand by is "Well, my grandparents didn't own slaves," or "But, my ancestors immigrated here. They weren't a part of that." It's funny because everyone jumps up and down proudly to say their ancestors fought in the Civil War--or any other--but they refuse to take responsibility for the fall out. A fall out that they actively play a role in through White privilege. Yep, another topic that I'm too tired to explain. The bottom line is that though you may not call someone the Nword, you may not tell someone they cannot have a job because of the color of their skin, you may even be a card carrying member of the NAACP ( but, I doubt it) but everyday you participate and accept the benefits of White privilege. You cannot help it...or can you?
The truth is that you can, if you will walk away from avoiding White guilt, step away from the will to use the term Race Card and examine the concept. There is a great piece that I've often shared on Message Boards by joan olsson called "Detour Spotting, for the anti-racist". I'm telling you, I love this piece. Read it here:
joan doesn't spell her names in capitals because she's a fem and saying something to the establishment. Anyway, read it and see if you can't spot just about every White person that claimed they were color blind. It floored me because they were all accounted for in her account.
So back to the story at hand...on White websites, I'm the Angry Black woman, a myth I've already debunked. On this website, I'm labeled a White sympathizer. How twisted is that bullshit? All the while I'm in agreement and sharing my thoughts, respectfully, I get called names regularly and have one particular fleck of dust on my jacket that doesn't know his/her own hypocrisy from their stank breath. It's ridiculous actually, yet I keep going back for more. LMAO! I think it's hilarious and sad in the same breath.
Most of the people on this site are of the consensus that ALL Whites are evil. While I will admit that even I consider most White people to be oblivious to their own White privilege and their own ignorance regarding race, evil? Nope. Wouldn't be me painting a picture of everyone with that same broad stroke. For the simple reason that I wouldn't want it done to me. I don't subscribe to the "You aren't Black enough unless you are Black like me mentality." I think that creates a bunch of wackos singing the same tune with little understanding of the lyrics. I don't play it on the White side, so why would I play it on the Black side? I wouldn't. I don't play elementary school yard games. I don't give a damn if I'm picked last for Red Rover. I am intelligent enough to make a game of my own and I can play all by myself. Happily! At least I know I make sense to me.
See, I don't subscribe to that philosophy. All the while I'm sitting back enjoying the Immigration debate, eating my popcorn watching the politicians dance, I'm thinking it's all about fear. White people are afraid of that crystal globe they live in, that most refuse to even acknowledge they live in, somehow tumbling to the ground and crashing into 1,000 shards of glass that cannot be pieced back together. It's a fear driven rebellion.The bottom line is that it's a mentality of " I don't want you to come in here and replace me or treat me as I have blindly or not treated other people in the past".
This issue always comes up when conversations of Reparations come up. No one wants to cough up an extra 10 cents on their tax dollar to live up to a promise made to the descendants of slaves. The stand by is "Well, my grandparents didn't own slaves," or "But, my ancestors immigrated here. They weren't a part of that." It's funny because everyone jumps up and down proudly to say their ancestors fought in the Civil War--or any other--but they refuse to take responsibility for the fall out. A fall out that they actively play a role in through White privilege. Yep, another topic that I'm too tired to explain. The bottom line is that though you may not call someone the Nword, you may not tell someone they cannot have a job because of the color of their skin, you may even be a card carrying member of the NAACP ( but, I doubt it) but everyday you participate and accept the benefits of White privilege. You cannot help it...or can you?
The truth is that you can, if you will walk away from avoiding White guilt, step away from the will to use the term Race Card and examine the concept. There is a great piece that I've often shared on Message Boards by joan olsson called "Detour Spotting, for the anti-racist". I'm telling you, I love this piece. Read it here:
joan doesn't spell her names in capitals because she's a fem and saying something to the establishment. Anyway, read it and see if you can't spot just about every White person that claimed they were color blind. It floored me because they were all accounted for in her account.
So back to the story at hand...on White websites, I'm the Angry Black woman, a myth I've already debunked. On this website, I'm labeled a White sympathizer. How twisted is that bullshit? All the while I'm in agreement and sharing my thoughts, respectfully, I get called names regularly and have one particular fleck of dust on my jacket that doesn't know his/her own hypocrisy from their stank breath. It's ridiculous actually, yet I keep going back for more. LMAO! I think it's hilarious and sad in the same breath.
Most of the people on this site are of the consensus that ALL Whites are evil. While I will admit that even I consider most White people to be oblivious to their own White privilege and their own ignorance regarding race, evil? Nope. Wouldn't be me painting a picture of everyone with that same broad stroke. For the simple reason that I wouldn't want it done to me. I don't subscribe to the "You aren't Black enough unless you are Black like me mentality." I think that creates a bunch of wackos singing the same tune with little understanding of the lyrics. I don't play it on the White side, so why would I play it on the Black side? I wouldn't. I don't play elementary school yard games. I don't give a damn if I'm picked last for Red Rover. I am intelligent enough to make a game of my own and I can play all by myself. Happily! At least I know I make sense to me.
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