So, how exactly do I feel about the Academy Awards Show I watched last night?
Between beating my head into the desk attempting to find humor in the cliche-esque punch lines of Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, and hoping, yes hoping some sort of line would get crossed in the dialogue regarding Gabourey Sibide. Much of my viewpoint on this whole topic is biased, as for any American Black it should be. The highest honor for most actors and actresses is the Oscar. I have heard that the trophy called “Oscar” is supposedly representative of the Kimitian (Ancient Egyptian) God Ptah, not sure how that would correspond, but hey…whatever, right?
What I do know is that images play a strong part in the minds of people. Gabby is not going to be known as the articulate and bubbly young sister who struck it big in her first movie. She will be known as the fat black girl who ran out of the scene with a stolen bucket of chicken. I am happy for Monique’s win. I was a little disappointed at her lack of understanding. Her comment to the Academy was “…that it can be about the performance and not the politics…” Possibly.
If Mo’nique was playing the role of Dr. Mae Jemison’s mother, or possibly the mother of Sista Souljah, or better yet if she was playing the role of Fannie Lou Hammer-then I would say the politics had changed. Winning the Oscar for playing the role of a trifling, loud, fat black woman in the ghetto who is blaming her daughter for losing her man, dropping tears in the cued scene, asking, “Who’s going to love me…?” is not a change of politics. It was Mo’nique herself that evoked the name Hattie McDaniels.
I was blessed to watch a one woman performance of the life of Aunt Jemima. The stereotype of the aunt or mammy caricature seems to persist throughout history no matter how many real or fictive character types are created to outshine this monstrosity. Hattie McDaniels wins the achievement award for playing the role of the aunt/mammy caricature in “Gone with the Wind”. A great role to model, the aunt jemima role actually begun during the minstrel show days, and was immortalized in advertising by the Davis Milling Company, and they even hired a former slave, Nancy Greene to portray a real live “Aunt Jemima” for events such as the World’s Fair. Thus Hattie McDaniel’s Oscar winning performance was actually the reenactment of a Minstrel performance. And this is who our great and talented Mo’nique chooses to evoke. Thus in 2010, it could be argued that we are still wrestling the images that extended directly from slavery, and the caricatures invented during slavery to help promote it to northerners who had no clue as to what was actually going on in the homes of slave owners. It was slave propaganda. And regardless who promotes it, or who wrote it, Precious the movie, doesn’t move itself too far out of my “slave propaganda” radar.
Am I happy that Gabby didn’t win? I’m sort of satisfied. The young lady has a bright and rewarding career that I pray is not stained by this unfortunate “break”. I suppose a whore in a strip club who is allowed to perform next to a widely establish porn star would be greatly appreciative of any “break.” I suppose an upcoming star would be greatly appreciative of any chance to sit in the company of stars who have sold themselves for the privilege to be judged by the academy. I suppose.
I learned a long time ago that the winners of awards are usually never the “people’s champions”. And like Puffy/Puff Daddy/P Diddy/The Guy who snitched on Shyne for saving his punk ass life once said, “Don’t worry if I write rhymes, I write checks..” I suppose the money matters that much, and since money is power, and politics is the study of power distribution, I’d say my premise stands. And Mo…I love you sister…but it is always the same old politics…
So, where does religion begin to fall in place with politics? I was initially shocked when i read Chancellor Williams state that even the Kimitians(the ancient Egyptians) used religion as a tool for control. Over my many years, I have been baptized and taken the kalima shahada, fasted for three days, and have experienced a few initiations into religious systems. Fortunately, I’ve never had to bear having either of my limbs hacked off for a belief.
While most of us are simply challenged because of our beliefs, in Nigeria there is a violent outbreak of religious intolerance. According to a local human rights activist Gregory Yenlong, “Fulani herdsmen…They attacked those villages and killed well over 300 people..” Witnesses mention that one victim was less than 3 months old. It weakens my soul to read these words, and realize that a cities of black people are going to war with each other over beliefs that were established by other ethnic nationals to buttress their political cohesiveness.
The acting president Goodluck Jonathan has sent in the military to attempt to stave off the violent turmoil, but his authority is still in question in that land. It is not certain whether the violence will be quelled but my spirit is with those unable to believe as they choose without bearing upon themselves horrid examples of a people blind with religious fervor and no hope for humanity.
I was watching Bill Maher’s Real Time on HBO this morning. Although I am often offended by his off color remarks with regard to race, and his undercover Jewish habit of thinking because he is having sex with black women he is given the right to speak about black people in an often too blunt manner, I still tuned into the white camel nosed comedian while giving his notoriously uncomical monologue. Later in the show I was blessed with a jewel from the mouth of swine. The greasy political one-liner stated that the Pentagon shooter, John Patrick Bedell was an internet conspiratorialist.
Now it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch for me to accept the shock spot of the desperate clown, except that HBO’s jester was borrowing sound bites from CNN. CNN is supposedly an objective news source, but with republican sponsored advertisements disparaging the Health Care Bill being presented by the president of the United States, Barack Obama, and the Democratic Party. Now what I want to explain is what is supposed to be the difference between the right-wing and the left wing, left to center, and right to center.
Bill Maher’s supposedly represents himself as leftist. In the United States, “left” is more a political stance that attempts to improve the conditions of the middle class. The Right is the part of the political spectrum that symbolizes the ideas of the rich and the status quo. The major ideas of the right are rooted in the preservation and extension of the “American Idea”, and in many ways the White US American, or Old US American way of expanding the market through genocide and cultural imperialism. The Right is the political stance most represented by Fox News anchors and conservative radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage and Glenn Beck. Although these are all extreme examples, they are the voice of the visible media conduits of these political wings, or spectrums.
Center, as one might guess, is the place where policies and stances on issues get balanced and interchanged. Barack Obama is a left to center president of a country that is right to center. Capitalism is a conservative state of mind that employs military means to expand markets that benefit the status quo while objectifying the working class. The observative political scientist needs to understand that the basis of all political decisions in this country is weighed heavily against a very rightist base of economics and social system. The average US K-12 student is highly seeped in a belief that if you work hard, you will achieve financial stability and possibly financial comfort. The student is socialized to believe that if anyone does not possess particular material possessions or a certain type of job, then it is their fault. These types of people, for some reason, lack the ability or motivation to be mobile in this country and they are a burden on the “taxpayer”. This is often an immature political and socio-economic viewpoint that lacks to consider the actual lack of laissez-faire as the government offers loans and grant subsidies to business ventures without the rightist stigma placed on the citizen. Laissez-faire is the political ideology and state of affairs where the government is supposed to allow entities involved in business ventures free reign from government regulation. But as we all have seen this administration continue the practices of the former with regard to the billion dollar bailout of corporate and banking interests. the same interests that buttressed the decline of the US economy to begin with.
The question becomes if we are such a centered nation, at what point does Republican and Democratic interest become divergent? Bill Clinton and Barack Obama both received campaign donations from Bill Gates, as did George Bush. Bill Clinton opened more prisons during his administration than any other president in history. Bill Clinton created a bill that hinders anyone convicted of drug trafficking from receiving financial aid from the government. Two very obvious attacks on the poor. This is supposedly left wing behavior, and a liberal stance. Even Barack Obama displays a right wing ideology when making statements regarding the poor that the poor have to work their way up like everyone else. Well, not quite Mr. President, seeing that your administration has helped bankers and corporations survive financial setbacks that would have surely sent them to the asking about how many stamps they get monthly on their EBT card.
From the point of view of the citizen, the question you need to prepare yourself with is where do you stand on certain issues. If I was living in a country that was administrated by American Blacks than my stance on most issues would be considered right wing, highly nationalistic. Even in the US, I would have a difficult time placing my take on issues on the spectrum. I don’t support abortion, but I don’t think abortion should be a question of legislation. Well, I should say, I don’t think the US government should have any say in the matter. This is the type of analysis you should begin in your own thinking.
I’m actually on vacation at the moment, but I suppose there really is no such thing as that for a blogger. I’m sitting in the Memphis terminal watching the newscast from CNN, and they are discussin “fright wing” as another white terrorist opens fire outside the pentagon. An excuse is being developed, a ruse of sorts. According to John Avlon, the irs building crash dummy and the shooter outside of the pentagon are being profiled as conspiracy theorist who have gone too far. More specifically, Avlon links the white terrorist to the 911 truthers movement.
This could become dangerous as the questioning of government and administration with regard to events and coteries may cause you to be profiled as a threat. While 11 more airports are getting full body scanners to arouse airport security across the land, white terrorists are being diagnosed as mentally disturbed internet conspiracy theorist. It wouldn’t be to much of a stretch to expect a public backlash and reaction from those who are made privy to this information. It would almost seem as though there is a campaign to shut down sites that promote documentaries such Zeitgiest and other works. Could that be possible? I meann why not just say these white guys are terrorist, if they were any other race they would be every sort of political beast…
In the aftermath of the University of California at San Diego terrorist concern, “noose-gate”, the state of California has more than one problem with its institutions of higher learning.The students across the state of California, in a grand show of solidarity, began to hit the streets to protest a 33 percent increase in tuition. In the same state the spawned the protests of the sixties, and gave birth to the west coast office of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, working class and poor college students are once again being called upon to defend human needs from human’s greed. Today is a Day of Action to Defend Public Education.
As the president of the United States, Barack Obama laments the need for productivity and the need for higher education, his words sink like human excrement to the ground as those of us who are actually attempting to walk the path of the intellectual are being bombarded with impossible colleges prices. Students are expected to study hard enough to make 4.0’s while working two jobs, and many taking care of other responsibilities besides themselves. The price of education continues to rise, while the value of the bachelor degree and master degree are losing traction. The well to do are once again given an advantage in this country while the working class is being forced into substantial debt attempting to live the American Dream.
Where is the advantage of this? What has the value of the US taxpayer’s dollar become? Where is the Robin Hood of this era to take from the rich and give to the poor, the same way that the government has taken from everybody else and given it all to the bankers and corporations? While Maddoff is sitting in federal prison, the predatorial lenders are still flying private jets sipping chilled glasses of Sherry. I guess it isn’t what you do, but who you do it to.
No taxation without representation. Where is the representation for those students across the country out tonight forced to represent them? Where is the education president at? Where is the country of democracy on this issue of educating the masses in order to have an informed public?
I want to give a special mention to all the protesters who have gone out to demonstrate the evils that men do in this country. Who have bonded together in civil demonstration, to plea to the world, “Why are they being fleeced of their pursuit of happiness?”
To those three who were arrested outside Hunter College…
To those five who were arrested in California outside of the Capitol for protesting the budget cuts…
To those students who attempted to take the seventh-floor of Hunter…
To those students who walked out of class at the New School and New York University…
To the students who hit the streets to voice the pain of a dream being deferred by the bottom line, at over 100 California colleges campus…
To all the students around the world, but especially those who are standing strong to protect our duty to be educated as the president of the United States might say…
YOU HAVE MY UTMOST RESPECT. I AM HONORED TO SEE THIS DAY…
“After revolution has failed, all questions must center on how a new revolutionary consciousness can be mobilized around a new set of class antagonisms that have been created by the authoritarian reign of terror.” – George Jackson, “Blood In My Eye”
I was involved in two conversations today that caused me to realize that many of us are not using the dictionary. Both conversations surrounded the misuse and misunderstanding of the word ‘politics’. As I was trained to say during my days as an activist, ‘politics’ is the ‘who, what, where, when, and how of power.’
‘Politics’ is a study, a STUDY, of the activities of those who we allow to have influence over us. Politics is not Obama becoming president, but simply an element with which we study when studying the political science of the society of the United States of North America. Politics is simply a label we used when referring to power plays.
Many have said to me that politics is a scam. I have to rebuttal and say that the use of power in many situations is based on gaining the confidence of the many with less than honest dealings. But politics itself, is simply a study and reference to those behaviors. The use of the term as a specific activity is wrong, and we all should be ever mindful of how we use words.
I have even been involved in conversations were people have told me that I need not be concerned with politics and focus on Jesus. Jesus according to the bible was a political entity. According to the bible, Jesus was against the status quo who used religious and spiritual terminology and institutions to gain power and influences. To say that I shouldn’t focus on religion as opposed to a myopic focus on Jesus is to show one’s lack of understanding. Politics is a term that reflects something that is embedded into every social relationship known.
There is politics in the father reigning over his household. There is politics in my typing that last statement. There is politics in the woman who uses her body to persuade a man to pay her bills. There is politics in that last statement. The play of power is within every social activity and should be considered as such. The failings of the American Black are irrevocably tied to our inability to understand that particular nuance.
Politics is not just democrats and republicans. Politics is also schools being closed down in order to build entertainment facilities. Politics is not just Health Care Bills. It is also more churches and liquor stores in the American Black community than institutions of learning controlled by American Blacks.
The terms “democracy”, “socialism”, “fascism”, and “capitalisms” are only terms used to situate nuance when discussing politics. Politics is a higher framework that includes all forms of human behavior with regard to influence and power over other humans. It is simply a study of the manipulations and systems of leadership that humans have used over time, and are using now.
So, I was on the phone writing a post in memopad, when I was told that wordpress had an app for BB. Oh really? I thought. So I’m just testing this app out, while my media law instructor is making me feel like charlie brown…
The social contract is taken for granted. You are born into
citizenship like american blacks were born into slavery, and now many poverty. There was no
choice in that matter. The minute one comes out of the womb in this
country, and the doctor smacks their bottom, and pink or blue blankets
are ruffled through-the socialization process has begun.
Due to the tacit nature of the social contract, the education system
of the US hurts its agenda. I believe that Barack Obama, in his
elitist thinking has failed to understand that much of the money that
flows through the black community is driven by the current of black
businessmen who dropped out of high school. That seems to be possibly
the very reason they were able to do it:their socialization wasn’t
completely channeled through a process that makes people conform to
the criteria of a class based economic system.
What Obama is really saying when he speaks to his room of elites, but
country of undereducated, when refering to “dropouts” in his
paternalistic “they live shattered lives”, is that they live outside
of the system. Obama mentions that these “dropouts” live on government
assistance, and Obama is one of the architects of the bailout, where
the college educated rich who robbed and shattered not only the lives
of the middle class, but the country itself- where given government
assistance. And still are.
What Obama wants and the rich in general, is to produce more workers.
More workers makes the corporations stronger. The education system is
apart of a social contract, that many of sign just by being born in
this land. A social contract that asks you to pay taxes, but schools
that don’t teach students how to file their own taxes without the aid
of digital applications or H&R Block. A social contract that states
that you have to support the government financially, but you aren’t
allowed full transperancy of military acts, yet you can be wire
tapped. A social contract that states that ignorance of the law is no
defense, yet high schools don’t require more than a civics class,
nothing that delves deeply into the true nature of law and what
precedences have been set.
I am pleased the President has set his sights on education, and has helped to provide over 43,000 new jobs in that field. However, I pray that he understands that a high school diploma has lost much of its value, and many have found self-sufficiency without it. If we truly want to improve the knowledge base of the country, we would either finance Harvard educations for everyone who seeks one, or extend high school educations to include a college level curriculum in all public high schools. I am for extended week schools, even reducing the time spent away from school during the summer time. I would also support extending public education past the senior of high school, possibly making it two to three years longer.
We hold the taxpayers and hard working citizens of the country accountable to a social contract that imposes responsibilities that many have not been prepared for. In this present social contract, those citizens are led by members of society who stigmatize them based on elitist standards. The elected leaders of the hard working use the tax money to finance the very corporations and institutions that make it difficult for the working class to achieve those same said standards. Many in this country are high school dropouts and are able to provide, and sometimes have to dropout in order to provide.
Please, Mr. President, get real. Change the system, stop playing the same blame game as all of your predecessors played…
While perusing the morning’s bits and digits on the various sources of information I use to keep abreast of the current flow of national and international events -simply put, I was reading my iGoogle page- I came across the story of the strong students on the campus of the University of California San Diego. These students were terrorized by the startling discovery of a noose laying on a library table. The student’s Black Student Union organized hundreds of fellow colleagues and called for the university to be shut down. The righteously indignant warriors of social change held down the fort of the college’s chancellor’s office for an outstanding 6 hours(source here). Unfortunately, the student’s organized and civil display of unrest with what would be that campus’ third outrageous sentiment of racial terrorism would only be rewarded with a suspension of the female white(American) terrorist from the campus( source here).
For those of you who have been following this blog and those of you who know me a little more personally, I used to be mister fuck college, and mister college ain’t teaching me shit. Pardon my United States of American. These days of course I can always be found either defending my reason for attending and pursuing further degrees, or encouraging others to make the jump. As a college advocate, I am extremely disturbed by this slap on the wrist. A noose is not a political statement that should be protected by the US Constitution. It should immediately alarm the campus that something dreadfully dangerous could happen, and the local authorities should be called in to investigate, not campus police. No disrespect to public safety officers on campus’ across the land, but I mean charges of terrorism should be filed.
As your President Barack Obama fills my ears with his sugary words of education and his commentary of how high-school dropouts live shattered lives, I’m wondering how people of campus terrorism and trauma will live. The schools of the USA are shattered already, Mr. Obama. You can’t buy a decent education without worrying about a high-strung professor killing you, some guy with social disorders shooting you, or finding a damn noose on a library table. In the American Black community, children are herded through metal detectors and yet there are more cases of white mass homicidal attacks and suicides than in most urban school yards. I’m glad that over 41,000 education jobs have been created from the stimulus money, but I hope those educators and members of the operations of schools live to enjoy a healthy career.
While I am profoundly grateful for the students who have contributed to black history while the dumb cow on CNN keeps mentioning that they “should be celebrating black history..”(white folks…I promise y’all, figure it out…the next crew is being raised by the educated, the enlightened,the and war scarred…). Obviously, America has failed to realize that their terroristic behaviors are atavistic, and need to be monitored, and the history of the American shows a pattern of behavior that is remarkably savage in light of their great contributions to technology. The inability to defer anger and murder/suicide is a dangerous cultural paradigm and should never be taken lightly by anyone who finds themselves surrounded by Americans. I would would raise the American White Terrorist level to red, but there has never been anything but a severe risk of terrorist attacks from the American white since Columbus the Killer arrived.
While this country is trying to make “Fat” the new “nigga”, Americans are still, as always, the old terrorists.
Friends, what made me think of that as a topic of discussion…? Geezus kirist. Alright, let me dig in…
I’m in college with a buddy of mine I’ve known for over twenty years now, and I willingly admit, that he is my friend. He someone that dislikes seeing me in pain, but will not allow me to bring him in mine as he assist me in my road to recovery. He has his expectations, but never have the expectations come between the bond. He knows I’m human, and he understands that as a person, I have to fulfill obligations across the board. He understands that at times I can be a half-ass brother(hahah), he seems to be alright with that. A friend doesn’t have to be a crutch, and often they shouldn’t be. Too often in my life I have associated with those who have sought to assist me with their ass to kiss.
I was asked about relationships, and in my mind, a committed…COMMITTED relationship between a man and a woman should be a friendship. There should be a sharing of common interests and pursuits so that when the road gets forked, the two don’t seperate but can cohobarate to achieve a higher level of commitment. In hollywood and Hip-Hop”wood” we see the image of the institution of marriage meaning nothing more than a comfortable arrangement to unite bank accounts. The relationships don’t last long, and some of the ones that I’m thinking about that do last for decade or two(damn…crack is a helluva drug…) don’t seem to end well. I understand the need for practical actions and decisions in a capitalist society. We all should be striving for a higher expression of economic independence and self-suffiency, but I don’t recommend pimping yourself to someone for life. I’ve heard it said several times,”Obligation kills desire.” And once you are obligated to someone you only desire for money or sex, well…I hope the court and attorney fees don’t hurt the children’s college fund.
In the Us American Black community and culture, especially among the young ladies, it has become popular to say,”I don’t have friends,I just have associates.” I’m not the world’s friendliest character, but I know that without those that I can call on in times of desperation and grievous turmiol…I might not be here to type these words to you.And please don’t misread me. I’ve been robbed by people that I considered trustworthy, I’ve seen what envy does to your closest intimates. I know how cold the metal of betrayal feels when it is being stabbed into your back. Yet, I have decided that a person is not an island, and it helps if the bridges that bond us are securely established through a certain dedication to the ideal of friendship.
I’d like to hear your thoughts on friendship, as I know that it is one of those phrases that we all have a tendency to define differently.
THE BETTER YOU
DONATE HERE: