Sammy Sosa: Negro, Por Favor!

I was going to leave this one alone, but I just had to say something after reading this tripe from Sammy Sosa:

We send only our best wishes for you to stay young long after the tubes of anti-aging cream are squeezed dry.

That's what all this silliness is about, folks -- a harmlessly vain Sosa feeling as equipped as Kevin Gregg for the late inning of life.

Years in baseball's spotlight damaged Sosa's ego more than his skin. The skin-lightening product Sosa is believed to be putting on his face twice a day is best known throughout the United Kingdom for its anti-aging effects.

So the creepy picture of Sosa at the Latin Grammys looking like the latest addition to Madame Tussauds wax museum has little to do with too much day baseball at Wrigley Field. Sosa's explanation to a Hispanic TV show that he needs the special cream to combat "playing at 1:20 p.m. in Chicago for 19 years," frankly seems, um, beyond the pale.

(Source)

Negro, por favor! We all know exactly why you picked that cream. Anti-aging my ass.

This summer I was a staple at the pool, and I sure did get a shade darker. Tan lines were in full effect for my high school reunion. The contrast was pretty damned amazing, making even a Mr. Slim, who basically cooked like bacon, stop and pause.

I understand that the brother may have gotten darker after playing in the sun for so long, but I'm not buying that as the reason.

First, he has a conk (relaxer) in his hair. If he doesn't, he sure does try hard to straighten it. Second, he's eschewed his natural eye color for contacts. It appears as though he can't leave home without them, and now this.

WE DON'T BELIEVE YOU! YOU NEED MORE PEOPLE!

It's sad more than anything and telling that no matter how rich and famous one might be, colorism is still a real bitch. Money can't buy you love...or even love for self.

Besides, what does he need anti-aging for? Black don't crack, son!

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Joy Bryant Loves Her Weaves

If I retold this, I don't think I'd do the fuckery in this post much justice. So for your perusal:

National Real Hair Day? I missed that one...In fact, on National Real Hair Day, I was calling Extensions Plus in L.A. to make sure they had enough of the 20” "relaxed roots" texture hair that I love oh so much (and that keeps selling out like crazy!), and making an appointment to get my hair, I mean, my weave, hooked up.


So Tyra, while I didn’t take part in your observance, I just want to say: "WOW!" You are such a brave woman for breaking the chains that bound you since your teenage years! What courage that took, for you to expose yourself to millions of people! Such fearlessness!

Oh, how I wish I had the guts to do that. I guess I’m much too much of an insecure, self-loathing Negro for all that self-acceptance foolishness.
I’m glad we got down to solving the mystery of what’s under your lace-front, though. I mean seriously, it was "THE" question that has perplexed the world over. And now we see that there’s a beautiful head of hair underneath it all, hair that was surprisingly relaxed and ready for the world. Whodathunkit?! If I had the same length and fullness of hair that you have, I might take my weave out too.

Ha!!!! I’m just playing! Even if I DID have your "real" hair, I’d still be wearing a few tracks or clip-ons up in there.

Why?

Because I’m straight weave fo life, kid!!!

Ima ride ride wit this weave, die die with this weave!!

Let me break it down for you:
See, I loooooove taking new hair out of the bag, combing through it with my fingers, holding it up with my two hands, and burying my face in it. Mmmm, mmmm, mmm! Nothing like a new batch of zig-zag curly to get your self esteem out of the dumps!

The feeling of getting my hair, I mean, my weave done over. I feel human again. I feel sexy. I feel powerful. It makes me feel...it makes me feel...it makes feel like a natural woman!!!

I can be whatever, whoever I want to be with the stroke of a sewing needle...

With long brown tresses and a tan, I’m Pocahontas, 'cause I got Indian in my family. With easy waves, I AM bohemian rhapsody goddess personified. And now that I got blond highlights! What!? I know I look like Beyonce! You can’t tell me nothing! Uh oh, uh oh...

And then I looked up from my computer, and caught a glimpse in the mirror of my head minus the long weavy locks. I looked crazy! Awww hell naw! I looked over at the new batch of hair sitting off to the side waiting to join forces with me. Damnit, I’m trapped, I thought to myself. I can’t let it go. I am powerless over it. Just when I think I’m done, it pulls me back in!

Now I guess I can get help for my self-loathing addiction.
I can learn to accept myself in my entirety. I can emancipate myself from that which keeps me locked-up. I can embrace the natural state of things.

Yup, I can do all of that…

But don’t hold your breath!

Hi, my name is Joy, and I’m a weave-a-holic.

If this was an attempt at being tongue in cheek or sarcastic, it failed. It wasn't funny and it was really quite sad.

Pocahontas? Wow....

See, Joy knows that there's something wrong, but she's put a positive spin on it. She's trying to make it funny! Lighthearted! What she does, however, is highlight just how insecure she is and how much she needs some White or Indian woman's hair for validation, self-approval and security in herself and her looks.

See, this is why I rail on people who take on her tone of "Oh get over it! It's just weave! We should be able to wear our hair as we please! It's nothing more than a look!"

No, it's NOT. No one has ever argued that a black woman cannot wear her hair as she pleases. That's stupid. We have, however, shot down ignorant ass excuse after excuse, lie, deception, misconception and half-truth in the name of integrity. Integrity to our hair. I've said it before, and I will say it again. Intentionally seeking to minimize the hold relaxers, weaves and Eurocentric beauty standards have on black women is ridiculous and it's just plain wrong.

How can we deny this cult of ignorance? Joy Bryant could be the poster child for it, if her post is legit.

More women supported her stance than not, and that was even more frightening.

The fact is when you NEED the weave to feel better about yourself, you probably need a whole lot more than weave to fill that abyss growing in your heart.

source)

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Race Based Assumptions About Me (or Anyone) Shows Your Ass

Where do I begin? I was absolutely flabbergasted today at the level of ignorance some people display based on their own race based mischaracterizations about me.

See, this is why people go off and say, "Oh, I can't do (this) because I'm (insert race here)?" Because of the two people I had to deal with today.

Let's start of with "ignorant hair girl" (IGH). I'm standing outside, on my break, when IGH (who is white...*le sigh*) comes out and starts talking to me about things I don't really care to talk about. I, personally, don't go out of my way to talk IGH because she tends to overpower the conversation, and won't really let you finish. That's fine...for her. I can overpower any conversation because my voice carries (a plus while in the military), and there aren't many males or females who can really speak over me when I get going. But guess what, though? I don't DO that because I have "home training." I will let the other person finish, in hopes that some of my "home training" will rub off on them.

*le sigh*

She goes on and on, and somehow the conversation got onto hair. That tells you how much attention I was paying, because I can't really tell you how we got there. We talked about hats. And I mentioned that I will miss wearing hats often because my hair is getting longer and it's harder to wear them. She commented that black "girls" can't really wear hats because our hair gets all messed up and kinky. I'm thinking, "Is she really saying this shit to me? I have a BLOWOUT afro today." I tried to use my class and refinement to help her refine her thoughts. Nope! It was what it was. She didn't get the cue. I explained to her that it's easier to wear hats while natural, except for maybe as it grows because of hat head. She would not HEAR it.

She then stated that after a while my hair won't grow anymore and that I'll need to start putting weaves and extensions in it. She said this in a matter-of-factly/judgmental manner. It's almost as if the whole weave thing was disgusting to her, but it was what it was because our hair simply won't do without it.

I told her that last year, my hair was longer to my shoulders and it will continue to grow. I explained that it may seem that our hair is slower to grow, but that it does. She quickly dismissed herself for a meeting with someone. I guess....

I was not about to have a conversation with this person about hair. I was not about to spank her verbally because for one, I was caught off guard at her nerve. I admit I was incredulous, but halfway through, I realized I wanted to hear more because it amused me. Yes, I like to watch people show out and show their ass. It makes me laugh. It's also lik doing recon to me. Good to know what the ignorant are thinking. It's the "mean girl" in me, and she definitely provided fodder for many "mean girl-isms". Next time I see her, and that's if I feel like gracing her with my company, I won't be so kind.

I try not to be mean to people, and avoid confrontation, because I have been told that I was cold, mean and cut to the bone when angered. I don't like to be mean, hence avoiding confrontations. However, she's on my list of people that need to get verbal swords should they open up their mouth to me about my prerogative, or anyone's for that matter, again.

Listening to her talk about weaves and shit killed me. I was thinking, "Girl, I don't care, though" the whole time. I am NOT going to get a weave for length. My hair WILL grow and she'll have to grin and bear it.

My advice to people out there like her, should you be reading this, is don't comment on another race's hair if you don't know what the hell you are talking about.

As for non-curlies, speaking on natural/curly hair, you may think you know about black hair, especially natural, but you don't and as such, you should shut your mouth to prevent yourself the embarrassment of having people secretly think you are an ignoramus. This goes out to relaxed sistas who only ever bitch about curlies/nappies/kinkies and our profound love for our hair. Furthermore, while long, flowing hair seems to be the standard within certain demographics, including my own racial diaspora(unfortunately), I'm not impressed with it.

I look crazy with long hair (unless it's corn-rowed) and I'm not interested in straight, flowing hair down to my back. The shit is overrated first of all. Locs I can work with, but Beyonce/Tyra hair? Miss me with that... Not EVERYBODY wants to follow Western beauty ideals. I want to follow MY beauty ideals. Does it mean I won't ever change it up? Nope. But I don't NEED to and I don't want to right now. I just don't see it happening in the foreseeable future

The second comment today came from someone who invited themselves into my conversation with someone else. We were talking about dancing and music, and he indicates that he's not interested in music, except for big band and swing. That shit is right up my alley! I tell him that I do too, citing Ella Fitzgerald as my favorite, with Louis Armstrong a close second. I also mentioned that I liked Louis Prima and Frank Sinatra (the man!). Naturally, I like many more artists in that genre (Nat King Cole, for one). He builds up the gall to tell me he didn't think I would like that kind of music.

WHY? My friend has seen my playlists and corroborated that I have many kinds of music on there. He was surprised.

What would give anyone the impression that these are things that I don't like? Is it a personal thing? Or perhaps it's their low expectations that someone matching my description would like anything but rap and hip-hop.

This can be frustrating, and I know I am not the only one who deals with this. However, it's been something that's been bothering me and affecting me for years. This is another reason why I started AfroEccentric.

I used to just be quiet, and listen, but I am getting too old for this, and I'll be damned if people go unchecked for their ignorance and misconceptions. That's not fair. Those things used to cut. Those words had me thinking that something was wrong with me, and that I wasn't representing myself well.

Fuck that! I am representing myself just fine because I am being true to me. I ain't hard to find, and my quirkiness and unique personality shows. Several of my close friends know this, so if they can get it, I know it's there. People need to stop concentrating on others' skin, and get to know them better before assuming that they know what they want or like.

Several years ago, I had someone tell me, "I couldn't stand you before, but when I heard you were into Depeche Mode (a favorite band of mine), my opinion of you quickly changed." For years, I wrestled with this comment and my response. I was younger, and still needing at least some measure of approval from people. I felt complimented, but as time passed I asked myself, "Why did he assume I didn't? What did I do that would make him not like me? I was just being me."

This guy was an asshole anyway, dating and playing mind games with my almost 10 years younger roommate, so I should've laughed in is face. Fact is, I didn't do ANYTHING. I've always been warm and goofy, looking to make others laugh. I've also been very self-confident, yet timid, which some people thought was me being "conceited." I just find it difficult to speak to people at first. I hide, often finding shelter in a book. Once out of my shell, I'm an extrovert, and that took practice!

He was never justified in "not standing me" and quite frankly, he was too stupid and too dumb to not be blinded by his own preconceived notions to see me for who I really was.

These people need to be stopped dead in their tracks because words can and do hurt. I'm older now, so the asshats' opinions I deal with these days don't bother me anymore. Usually, they don't have much going for them in the way of charm, grace or intellect in the first place. What does bother me is the fact that in 2009, some people still haven't grown the hell up. I've always said I don't like the whole "politically correct" bullshit. I do expect, and deserve, common courtesy.

The buck stops here, and it should stop with you too. You don't have to get stupid. You don't have to act out. Cut like a sharp knife. The sharpest, and best knives, are so efficient that when they cut you, you don't know it until after it's too late, and the blood has started to flow.

They don't have permission to make ignorant assumptions and go unchecked anymore. They don't get to do that. Simply saying, "That's racist" doesn't work either. That's way too reactionary, even if it seems justified. Simply asking them, "Why would you think I wouldn't like (insert subject here)? I'd love to hear it. I am intrigued," or "What makes you think I need (insert bullshit advice subject here)? I guess, I don't follow your hypothesis."

This goes for anyone of any race, creed, religion or orientation. Ignorance knows no bounds.

When they start stammering their foolishness, they'll realize that they are being rather illogical and hopefully learn better.

I'm sorry, I'm not into mental exhibitionism. If I want to see asses, I'll hit up the strip club. Until then, I'm just going to start using some verbal swords...

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Is This Racist? Watermelon Soda's Controversial Image

I just would love to have been part of the marketing and advertising meeting that spawned this.

"So we have this watermelon soda we'd like to sell. We're thinking some cool imagery would sell it. Something different..."

"Watermelon, eh? How about a black girl, with big pink-ish lips eating a watermelon? Reminds people of the good old days? Idyllic times."

"Whoa! It might be racist."

"Hell, let's put a white kid on the other side and it will be TOTALLY okay. Then, no one can accuse us of racism."

"WIN! Let's do it!"

Is that how the meeting went? I mean, I have nothing.

Do you think this is racist?

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Is This Racist?

I spotted this t-shirt at Tripleta, which appears to be a Puerto Rican company.

My first thought is "WHAT THE FUCK?"

If this isn't a new age interpretation of Mammy, I don't know what is.

This is definitely inspiring my post on black caricatures in the United States versus abroad, like Latin America.

I will be honest, not all caricatures offend me. It depends on where it's from, because culturally it has a different meaning for each country. With that said, this is DEFINITELY irritating and offensive, even if it's from Puerto Rico.

Que porqueria de caricatura!

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Skip Gates Isn't a Jungle Monkey! He Just, You Know, Acts Like One!

As I play this video, Mr. Slim is in the background poking fun with, "I call ALL my friends jungle monkeys!" and "Your Honor, this is unfair! You guys are racist!"

"You guys are discriminating against me cuz I'm white! I'm a banana eating jungle monkey too!"

If you watch this video, you will see why he was saying that because they are trying to pull the wool over our eyes.

See what I told you all? That beer summit didn't do much. Obviously Barrett didn't get the memo.

Oh, and Justin, you're not fooling anyone, darling. Grow a pair and admit that what you said was racist.

All talk, and no nuts.

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Ghetto Baskets?

(Spotted at ByronCrawford.com)

I admit I laughed at the Arbor Day part. Click here to check Ghetto Baskets out.

May I just ask, WHY anyone would come up with this? From what I see, it appears to be more of a class issue than race issue. Thoughts?

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Is This What Hip Hop Has Become?

Millionaires - Just Got Paid - Director's Cut


So I'm getting on Myspace and I see this crap. If you go to the Millionaires' page, you will see pics of these young ladies with bottles of cheap wine, beer and other assortments of firewater. I can't...

I get a Beastie Boys-with-tits-and-ovaries vibe from these girls, but not in a successful way. Besides it's been tried. Anybody remember The Donnas? Yeah, I didn't think so.

If black female rappers like Trina and Lil' Kim can barely score big talking about the same crap: sex, come here and sex me down, you man-whore you, then why do these girls feel they can get away with it?

Okay, so let's say I give them a pass. I like a little male objectification ever so often (Hello, Salt 'N' Pepa "Push It" and "Shoop"), but the problem with this is they look like Cheapside Whores circa 1700. It doesn't work that way!

It takes a certain swagger to pull off that male objectification thing. Janet Jackson, Fox Boogie and Lil' Kim all had those back in the day. Hell, Madonna had it back then, and kind of has it these days when she wants to. When these female artists changed their game up to being more on the "I will do anything for you baby" kick, they lost that mojo and the game ate them up. You can't objectify men while BEGGING for their attention.

They aren't fooling anyone. In the real world, if they are drinking that much and that wasted, they'd probably be waking up the next day, butt naked with a bed sheet glued to their back (Oh, and it's not Elmer's glue either).

To their credit, they are keeping it Asher Roth real. They are not making pretenses to be black, so that helped.

I'm not checking for them at all.

Now, where is my Salt 'N' Pepa cassette?

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Random Acts of Niggatry: T-Pain's "Big Ass Chain" Takes The Whole Damned Year!

(photo courtesy of missinfo.tv)

WOW!!!

Here's what T-pain had to say according to Miss Info:

“10lbs. 197kts. Very very real I don’t know what fake feel like.$410,000. Hola señor recession proof. With 32 cars.Oldest child 5 and already got 4 million in her own account.I dont do dumb shit like this till I know the fams good. So don’t judge me frm what I buy.Judge me frm what I do.Cuz it’s so many artists that put themself before their family.but thanx yo -

*blinks twice*

WHAT? Why? I don't... *sigh*

I have so many questions. Why does the chain have to be TEN pounds? TEN, GREGARIOUS POUNDS, WHY? Couldn't he have invested his $410,000 in something else? I also love the fact that he touts around that he is RECESSION proof, when most of his fans are NOT and are trying to make ends meet. Marie Antoinette BE damned.

So he acknowledges that this was and is dumb. That's a start I guess....

But what he fails to realize is plenty of other artists had riches too, until their projects were no longer backed by labels or accepted, and then cars started getting sold, bank accounts raided to pay lawyers and accountants and hell, even the IRS.

I am "glad" that he is putting his family first before indulging in himself, but unfortunately, he is setting his kids up for failure. Way to teach your kids to be fiscally idiotic and spoiled. Without your UN-recession proof patrons, you would not have any of this shit.

Folks, Mr. Slim and I have talked marriage. You know what I told him? I want MAN-made diamonds, anything that isn't a real diamond. Any stone that funds DE BEERS, or any other diamond company and continues to put money in the pockets of tyrants, will not be on my finger. I don't care if he gets me cubic zirconia or Diamonique, I refuse to have real diamonds on me because they are just not that serious for me. I will be fine. I do that because I cannot justify my own greed unwittingly being part of any blood diamond trade.

This is what I have to say to T-Pain (I will translate):


"How much for those diamonds?" Huh, T-Pain?

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I'm Getting Banned... Oh Well!

In a recent post at What About Our Daughters, I read through countless defeatist comments about divesting from the black community. I think the word was used wrong in many contexts (who the HELL wants to live in a crime-ridden area with an abusive boyfriend?). It was simply called SELF-PRESERVATION. Some folks, however, went the extra mile.

From Khadija:

(3) Divestment also means relationship freedom for Black women. Currently, most Black women are restricting their dating and marriage choices to an ever-dwindling number of (increasingly low-quality) Black men. [The self-defeating "nothing but a Black man" mindset.] Black women’s quality of life has dramatically declined because of this “nothing but a Black man” mentality.

Yeah. White guys? This would be the kind of woman you run from. I do not deny that we are seeing far too many "low quality" black men getting attention, but I've been seeing just as many LOW QUALITY black women too.

Then this "gem" from the resident white guy who pretended to give a shit.

Khadija [How Ironic], you got to be one of the clearest thinkers I’ve run across. Takes courage to be so direct, truthful and honest. You shot that donkey between the eyes!
I was going to make the same point you did about how you girls (black females) are about 2+ decades behind on this, but thought that might be really misconstrued. Glad you nailed it. Your “brethren”, black males, knew the walls of racism had come down so far 30+ years ago that they could fu%k/spawn with/date/live with/marry/have real families with white/asian/latino/whoever they wanted. (As an aside, it the weird cynicism of this horrid subject, their girls, the daughters of white women, became “black” standards of beauty, i.e. Beyonce, Halle, Mariah, etc. Wow. Don’t hate me on me for saying it, but ever heard the term “you been done played”?)

I'd say they definitely got played.

Here's MY response. I had to catalogue it on the internets because "Big Brother" is watching, and would naturally delete it. Megalomania be damned!

Uh, Me I Guess,

You’re comments are questionable at best. I cannot believe so many people are so blind that they cannot see this “entity” insulting them.

Uh, Me, I don’t know what your life experience is but there ARE black communities. Apparently, they just aren’t African American. I have Caribbean Ancestry. All of MY fondest memories are of living in a mostly black community. Moving to the states was a huge wake up call because African Americans have lacked unity and cohesion since they fell for white, liberal paternalism decades ago.

If my boyfriend, and he’s white, ever said anything like this, I’d kick him the hell out because someone like that is not with me nor after my best interests. They’re out to possess me and make up for whatever racial issues/insecurities they need to work out. I question you and your motives for being on this site.

People like you are not new, so I can’t blame you. You prey on black people who LET you prey on them. I must commend you on your smooth tongue. You play well.

This is one case where I’m going to let it be known: do not lump all black people into a group. We are not all alike. Every Black community that I have been a part of (Panamanian, Hispanic or West-Indian) has been positive and loving. Every last one. So you’re “mythical” comment? Yeah, please be sure to address the African American branch of the diaspora, because apparently there never was a “community.” I’m sorry none of you got to experience what it’s like to be in a black community (with diversity as well). It’s fun, it’s happy and it’s wonderful. My childhood was like growing up in Mayberry. There are a vast number of issues, but having been a third world country, we learned to depend on each other and take care of one another. We have no choice. Out of that necessity survive together, something truly wonderful happened: A COMMUNITY was formed.

And you all can spare the “But this is the problem with (insert country) here.” I know them well. Seeing as how we are talking about COMMUNITY, this is what I am referring to. I am not making these places out to be heaven on Earth, but speaking honestly, I haven’t had a greater sense of community anywhere but there.

And did any of you notice that this gentleman called you “GIRLS?” I think I may be the youngest on this board and I am 27 years old. Really?

I have no words.

Seeing as how I am going to be banned, peace, love and blessings. I can NO longer patronize a site by black women who would let any man, ESPECIALLY a white male, call them girls and let him get away with it because their eyes are seriously covered by scales. God bless you all.

And Khadija,

Proverbs 16:18

Black people better wake up. Some of these bloggers graduated from the Ann Coulter School of Pandering.

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Awesome Parenting!

It's fairly safe to say that women need to wake the hell up from this haze they've been in. There is nothing empowering about this shit whatsoever. Teaching your daughter to turn tricks on a pole for money is a great big FAIL in the book of FAIL.

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What's With Our Kids?

I ask because of this article about a teenage boy who planned to bomb his school. Thank God his parents were actually attentive and they checked his journal and had serious concerns after some ammonium nitrate was delivered to their home. GOOD for them!!!

I say that because I am so tired of hearing about these disgruntled kids and young adults killing and injuring people with their family being completely oblivious to what was going on.

I know we will not always know what's going on in our kids lives, but to be completely oblivious to the torment in the child's life is hard for me to swallow. A child who is hurt or hurting probably isn't going to smile in your face and be happy as all hell then turn around and go into their room and brood over how screwed up life and the people in it are. That just seems unlikely to me.

Sure they could've found out earlier, but at least they put two and two together. Some parents of these crazies don't even manage to do that, even when it's staring them dead smack in the face and screaming.

The reason why 18 year old Ryan Schallenberger wanted to blow his school and classmates to smithereens was because he felt like he was cut a raw deal, so therefore they needed to be dispatched. I can't say I haven't been there. I was picked on myself and I thought about how everyone in school needed to go straight to hell for ignoring the bullies bullying me or being the bullies. With that said, I realized that life was going to go on and that things would get better because school doesn't last forever. My mom may have been hard to approach about this stuff, but she always told me that applying myself in school would yield great results. Guess what! They have!

It starts early. My oldest is in daycare and he gets teased. I can't fix that, even if I do want to roll up to the school with a belt in my hand and a bad attitude for the kid or kids doing it. What I can do is ask questions about his day, SHOW that I really do care about what he's going through, even if I have adult problems to worry about, and be a shoulder for him to lean on. What's more, is I can tell him that it will BE OKAY.

We won't always keep these kids from doing crazy things, but maybe because the style of parenting has become so ambivalent in the U.S. our kids are feeling like nobody cares.

It's a terrible feeling to think that nobody cares.

What do you think? Has our parenting in the U.S. changed so much that it's conducive to these types of attacks?

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Is This Our Future?

The video below is heartbreaking. It's damned near devastating to be honest with you. I saw the video at Crunk & Disorderly and couldn't believe my eyes. I get the feeling--I hope anyway--that the little girl at the computer is actually the little sister of the harridan dancing like she's in heat. I hope...

Is this our future? By all regards the "girl" dancing is most likely a Generation X byproduct. I'm an '80s baby and that's bad enough. We felt the pain of Reagonomics and we experienced the results of the '60s and its free love mantra first hand. If we thought society had seen the end of days then, we were wrong. This girl is going to grow up in this day and age and she's probably going to become a parent. Unless the grace of God steps in to give her some common sense and self-respect, her children--and dare I say we--are proper fucked.

Pardon my language, but I don't believe in candy coating the gravity of the situation.

If she is representative of our future, I am disappointed in what we've done as a society. I know her parents may have contributed to the huge decline in self-esteem that she obviously has, but there was a time when girls like this kept their dirty laundry inside. We certainly didn't celebrate it.

How times have changed, huh?

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Boycott MobileRingDownloads.Com And Pass The Word Along!

Here's a sample of my scathing letter to the monkeys running around MobileRingDownloads.com:

Good Day,

I am writing to you in regards to yet another one of your internet ads. This particular ad is absolutely asinine and offensive in every sense of the word. Last I checked, we lived in the year 2007. Whether or not you are hip to modern science and anthropology is not of my concern, but before you go about using such vile and racist images of Africans in your ad, you may want to make sure that you are using images that are CORRECT and not incorrect and quite ignorant. Should you need some assistance in figuring out why, I will provide you with the following link:
http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/cartoons/
http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/news/jimcrow/index.htm

You will find that the picture YOUR marketing department chose to use is definitely classified in said link and is racist and just childish.

You have recently come under fire before for unsavory images of rappers and now this. It is plain to see that you have NO idea what you are doing and all I can ask is that you get with the times. In case you need simplification: NO Africans don't have pink or red lips, they don't have chicken bones through their noses and their hair doesn't grow out into a huge, cone head shaped afro. And considering they've lived amongst rhinos for centuries, nay, millenia, I would dare say that they probably know better than to stand in front of one, no?

Until this has been removed, I will notify everyone in my blogging audience to boycott MobileRingDownloads.com. After all, who needs to buy rap ringtones from racists?

Have a good day,

Kalash
HappyNappyHead.blogspot.com

F*ck that. I'm not going to let this slide because there's no reason to. I have no problems depicting Africans but they'd better get it right. This is obviously not a depiction of Africans, but a racist depiction of Africans.

Some people will say it is small and trite. They are ENTITLED to their opinion. But same way they are entitled to theirs, I am entitled to mine......and I will voice mine until I can't voice it anymore. The image used is a representation and reminder of just how people think of an entire Continent of people who have been contributing to civilization for years.

The weak-minded and/or the miseducated will say that it's a problem with the person who takes offense. I say "go to hell" to those people. That's being kind. Multiculturalism is fine and dandy, but when you put on the blinders to reality and don't find offense in something that is clearly meant to misrepresent an entire group of people, I have questions and concerns. I don't have rose-colored glasses on and perhaps that's why I see things for what they are.

To email these idiots hit them up at: info@mobileringdownloads.com

Teach 'em! Tell 'em how you really feel!

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Sometimes Dirty Laundry Needs Some Airing Out: Why I Support Hot Ghetto Mess On BET

According to Eurweb.com, people are livid that this show will be aired. In fact they are so outraged that two advertisers have pulled their ads (one of which is State Farm) and a petition online has received 2,000 signatures.

“Hot Ghetto Mess” is adapted from the popular Web site HotGhettoMess.com, which features photos and video footage of random African Americans engaged in behavior or dressed in attire considered embarrassing and socially unacceptable.


A DVD documentary was also released based on the 3-year-old Web site, which comes with the tag line “we got to do better.” BET’s version – due to premiere July 25 at 10:30 p.m. with host Charlie Murphy – will feature a mix of viewer-submitted home videos and BET-produced street interviews that show blacks in unflattering situations that typically illustrate the excesses of so-called hip-hop culture.


The Viacom-owned network and Jam Donaldson, creator of the Web site and an executive producer of the series, say the featured photos and footage are intended to encourage black Americans to question its standards.


BET president of entertainment Reginald Hudlin asks: "Is my goal to discuss these issues in a format and context that makes people who don't watch the channel comfortable or do it in a way that engages the 18- to 34-year-old viewer and makes them really think about these things?"


Critics like 25-year-old Chicago college student Latrice Janine believe BET’s intentions will be lost on its core audience. She launched an online petition against the show that has collected more than 2,000 signatures.


"Maybe after Don Imus no one seems to have a problem with this kind of thing anymore," Janine tells AP. "I still do. I may not stop Viacom from doing this on television, but it's an effort to let them know the days of sitting quietly are gone."


Another pool of criticism has come from What About Our Daughters?, a blog and audio podcast addressing depictions of black women in popular culture. The site has targeted advertisers that appeared on a BET.com Web page advertising "Mess," including AT&T Corp., DaimlerChrysler and Target.

I don't think this is entirely fair. I think that the show and BET are being used as scapegoats and I won't be a part of the lynch mob. I know you're asking "since when are YOU a friend of BET, Slim?"

Well I still find BET disgusting and I know for a fact that they are doing this show for ratings, money and/or prestige. They damned sure aren't doing it to be a great cultural voice for African-Americans. I mean look at all of the rest of their programming. Positivism? Never that! But I do believe that this show needs to be aired.

I think for a long time now we have become complacent. I think we have lost the fight for dignity our often maligned and mistreated ancestors stood and fought for, even at the risk of their own lives. We can now drink from the water fountains, ride anywhere in the bus and eat at any restaurant (for the most part) we want. Yet I find a tremendous amount of our youth don't thirst for water, they thirst for sugary drinks and liquids that help contribute to the obesity rate affecting African Americans; most of our youth set up shop at the back of buses to be "cool."

Hell if Janine is so angry about the description of black women, why hasn't she started petitions for 95% of the programming on BET???? Where was the outrage when they aired cooning, shucking and jiving in the countdown of the 25 best freaks? What about the whoring on "College Hill?"

The other day my brother was walking home from a friend's house and someone called him a n_gger and another slur. My brother paid no attention to the other slur, he paid attention to the "N" word. Needless to say he knocked the guy out, but why have we become complacent when racism has, in my humble opinion, become more dangerous as a result of the "subtle bias of low expectations." More and more I notice that some non-blacks are MAD as hell that some of these things happen when we have so many opportunities.

Before those who hated blacks were racist for no reason at all. They could not justify their cruelty or their ignorant ways. Now some of us give them good reason to be racist, at times fueling the fires dangerously. Some of us, like my brother are just minding our own business and living our lives, and we get dragged in. It reminds me of a police lineup where only one person is guilty but until proven so, everyone has to be rounded up if they were close enough to the perp.

This is where I get mad. I saw this coming when I first landed in the States in 1992, but it gets worse each day. I get mad because I don't conduct myself in a manner that's deserving of someone's racism or misogyny based on my race but I get lumped in that lineup. I then have to prove myself, clawing like a crab at the bottom of a barrel trying to get to the top, to be different from those of my people who have squandered their opportunities hoping for a handout or some more sympathy from an already tired white hand. And many of us feel this way.

Hell yeah show it! And I will be watching to see if it is as bad as I suspect. I hope not but somehow I am not all that hopeful.

I'll close with this. When I was 10 years old, many of my American schoolmates, primarily black, teased me for having my hair done naturally. They also teased me, akin to the way white children would have teased a black child in the Jim Crow South, that my lips were big, my hair was nappy, etc. Things that were inherently black! In any case, one day my mother who was vexed brought out the artillery. At that time I wanted to hate my features mind you. The artillery was a book on Marcus Garvey. I voraciously ingested and digested his story like a vulture does carrion. It was then that I snapped and realized that at the end of the day my ancestors stood for something. How dare I hate my features or myself to conduct myself in a manner unbecoming? I strayed occasionally in high school. Hell I was growing up, but I came back to the right path. I follow it today.

Maybe this show can help someone, anyone snap too.....

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