Black Women Seek Independent Presence from “Freedom” Plaza

Image by Sunset Parkerpix via Flickr. Would Guy Fawkes ban fellow rebels who didn't look like him or would he appreciate their help?

According to a sad piece by author Valencia Mohammed of Afro.com, homeless African-American women at the Occupy DC encampments are receiving no more respect or better treatment than they do elsewhere. You’d hope (if not expect) that at least there could be some end to racism amongst those struggling to survive.

But, this is what keeps us separated as a whole, and delights the NWO power-elite, and keeps things as they are with true “change” being nothing little than cosmetic decade after decade.

Here’s a link to her piece, which is the only one I’ve come across detailing segregation and racism in one of the Occupy groups:

• http://www.afro.com/sections/news/Washington/story.htm?storyid=73651

Related article:

• The 99% Isn’t Me: Being the Minority in the 99% (redsociology101.wordpress.com)

Neo-Soul Artist LadyBoss Responds to Michael Jordan Marrying White Cuban

Image via Wikipedia. Jordan back in the day.Where the white women at?

Well, you can very well expect Michelle Obama to say anything publicly about the trend of black men leaving black women en masse, can you? So, it’s nice that at least LadyBoss, (God Bless her) is going it alone in defending black women as beautiful, worthy, and deserving of love; in a culture still steeped in institutionalized racism.

Much of this current blogging is a result of Michael Jordan announcing his engagement to Cuban model (who looks like she could be half his age or less) Yvette Prieto. Yes, Jordan is old enough to be somebody’s gramps (and we’re sure he is gramps to several kids running around out there by now), but Prieto can pretty much bank the Brinks truck up to her back door now and will certainly never have to worry about every having to work again.

And it’s yet another high-profile black man turning his back on black women in general and choosing to marry “outside his race,” while statistically black women may or may not even know it’s happening. (And of course they know it’s happening. I’m referring to statistics that were cited by Ralph Richard Banks and others repeatedly that black women can date outside their race or sit around and wait for their fantasy man who either ain’t coming or wants to date some white chicks first before calling them).

Yeah, Jordan ain’t all that, but he was once a great athlete and he’s worth enough moola to make him still a major heavyweight in celebrity terms, so for all the kids who idolize him and for anyone looking up to him, he’s irregardless sending a not-too-subtle message that he prefers non-black women.

So, kudos to LadyBoss for having the guts to say Jordan can have a New York salute and that black women still got it going on:

• http://www.blacknews.com/news/ladyboss_responds_to_degrading_remarks_black_women101.shtml

Related articles

• I have always been a Michael Jordan fan until now. (str8media.wordpress.com)
• Michael Jordan to get married again (probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com)
• Michael Jordan Engaged: Yvette Prieto, Model, Says Yes To Bulls Legend (huffingtonpost.com)
• Q&A: OK best web site for a white guy too find and date black women? (datingrulez.com)
• Phenomenal Black Women doing Phenomenal Things–Part I (psychologytoday.com)
• Michael Jordan Is Getting Married Again! (thenewx1023.radio.com)

Rick Santorum Delights Republican Base by Admitting “I don’t want to make black peoples’ lives better.”

Living Ken doll, Rick Santorum(I always mix that name up with sanitarium, but that’s my issue), in an annoying and depressing piece from RawStory.com by Stephen C. Webster got raves for admitting (what to many would be obvious)

Image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr. Um...yeah!! What he said!

that he wishes he could demolish any and all forms of welfare and that he has no desire whatsoever to help black people.

Santorum (for those who can’t quite see this) is obviously perpetuating racial stereotypes that a) black people love welfare and despise work, b) black people are the greatest users of welfare money. Of course, most people with a functioning cerebral cortex understand that a) black people do not all love welfare and shun work, and b) the majority of Americans are white and the majority of welfare recipients are white, not black. So, in saying he would dismantle welfare and not do anything to help black people, Santorum may be charming the pants off of Iowans, but he’s also saying that most poor people in Iowa (of whom there are many) would not get welfare. But since they don’t get that point, they think he’s brilliant and heroic. Oh well. This is also what happens when you systematically dismantle public education, isn’t it?

Well, gold star for Santorum. At least he’s telling the truth about something. Here’s a link to the piece from RawStory.com:

• http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/01/02/santorum-tells-iowans-i-dont-want-to-make-black-peoples-lives-better/

 

Related articles:

Image via Wikipedia. Come to Lilly White Iowa!

• Did Rick Santorum Really Talk About Making ‘Black People’s Lives Better’ With ‘Somebody Else’s Money?’ (mediaite.com)
• Santorum tells Iowans: ‘I don’t want to make black people’s lives better’ | The Raw Story (kaystreet.wordpress.com)
• Santorum in Iowa: We won’t ‘make black people’s lives better with welfare’ (thegrio.com)
• Santorum tells Iowans: ‘I don’t want to make black people’s lives better’ | The Raw Story (therealwithdarylanddevon.wordpress.com)
• Rick Santorum Pits Whites Against Blacks Over Federal Assistance (dekerivers.wordpress.com)
• Santorum targets blacks in entitlement reform (cbsnews.com)

A Look at Why Interracial Relationships Are Expected to Be Between Black Men and White Women

This is an interesting piece on why interracial relationships (or just the term “interracial” alone) conjures up images of black men and white women.

Certainly, it’s true that if you Google the term “interracial” in Google Images, most images will be of black men and white women; and I think part of this is simply because most interracial relationships are between black men and white women. Another part of this seeming puzzle, is that Ralph Richard Banks (author of the much-piloried bestseller “Is Marriage for White People?”) is correct in his reasoning that interracial relationships between black women and white men simply are not occurring at any kind of statistical significance. Statistically, black women are “sitting shiva,” while their mirror opposite in the dating realm takes the lead role in real life, mass media, and apparently public perception.

This piece from BlackYouthProject.com suggests that part of the reason public perception toward interracial relationships (more prominently romantic ones) focus on black men and white women is that mass media depicts images of black men that are positive and upbeat while images of black women in mass media are mostly negative or denigrating.

While it’s encouraging to see black women kicking butt in films such as “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol” and the upcoming James Bond flick (where Ms. Moneypennybecome a gun-toting sista who can hold her own with 007), it’s also true that positive and uplifting imagery of black wome

Image via Wikipedia.

n in mass media dwarf compared to those of black males. So, yeah, I agree with their point, but feel that it’s also just the tip of the proverbial ice-berg.

Here’s their insightful piece:

• http://www.blackyouthproject.com/2011/12/a-look-at-why-interracial-relationships-are-expected-to-be-between-black-men-and-white-women/

Black Women Outpace Black Men in Military Recruitment

Image via Wikipedia. I'm only adding this picture because I couldn't find any of black women soldiers on the WordPress photo finder widget. Really.

This is a kind of interesting piece from the great New York Times on how black women are outpacing black men (and just about every other group) in military recruitment and enlistment; because they want to go to college and they recognize early on that enlisting will help stagger (if not cover) college tuition, provide training, and job experience that they may not otherwise get in a Depression-era economy rife with institutionalized racism and little prospects of improving any time soon.

Given those obvious circumstances, it doesn’t really answer why there shouldn’t be more black men enlisting, since the odds are more stacked against them finding decent jobs or finishing college than even black women….unless you take into consideration that fewer black men go on to college as black women (which is not my humble widdle opinion but fact) so the selling point of help with college tuition is not as great a factor.

Can’t blame ’em for thinking ahead.

Here’s a link to the piece:

• http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/23/us/black-women-enlist-at-higher-rates-in-us-military.html

Related articles:

• Blacks far outpace military’s other female recruits (mysanantonio.com)
• Military Enlistment: Blacks Outpace Other Female Recruits (huffingtonpost.com)
• A Shortage of Eligible Black Men (theroot.com)
• Teaching White Boys to Dance and Other Solutions to the Black Marriage Crisis (crunkfeministcollective.wordpress.com)

Should Black Women Walk Away from “Think Like a Man?”

Image via Wikipedia. Steve Harvey displaying his watery blood-shot eyes and giant horse-teeth.

Umm..let me think about this question posed by the folks at Your Black World.com (http://www.yourblackworld.com/2011/12/14/ybw-question-of-the-day-do-you-plan-to-see-the-new-steve-harvey-film/) for about two seconds here.

Okay. Yes.

The question to me is not whether or not women should see this movie.

It’s a shallow question as to whether or not someone wants to see a formula sitcom movie with an attractive cast or if they have something more productive and enlightening to do with their time and/or want to save $15-$20 bucks for something else. The question should be, why is it not okay for women to actually think like, and be, women?

I don’t know Steve Harvey. Never met him. Never went to any of his shows. Saw him on “Kings of Comedy,” but didn’t laugh at his chitlin circuit jokes. Earthquake and Bruce Bruce were funnier in my humble estimation. And at least they were comedians and not trying to peddle themselves as self-help gurus pushing a meaningless and impossible to fulfill slogan on people.

When you tell women to “Think Like a Man,” you are also telling them that they’re not acceptable as they are. It’s not a cute slogan or catch phrase and it’s not funny. If I had a daughter who was told to “think like a man” by someone, I would tell that person to go talk a wandering stroll off a short Jersey pier somewhere. If someone said that to my wife, she’d tell that person to go set up a picnic in a busy intersection.

I have no reason to believe that Steve Harvey is an expert in relationships or marriage any more than the drunk down the hallway. He’s been divorced and re-married like many people these days, which is no big deal. He has an angry ex-wife (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzX2D0yfDUs) and brother (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvzGX1IHdrM), which kind of lead me to feel he must not know how to do that much better than most people from what I can see in terms of results.

“Thinking Like a Man” might have gotten Steve Harvey a bestseller and a movie deal and got him on talk shows he otherwise would never have been on, but it also got him a resentful ex-wife and brother, and some depressing movie reviews (http://jezebel.com/5867730/think-like-a-man-is-everything-that-is-wrong-with-the-world-and-will-make-you-want-to-stab-your-eyeballs-with-a-fork). The whole “Think Like a Man” concept is wrapped up in egotism and sexism; that women are not good enough and have to think like men in order to be happy. It sounds cute when we live in a shallow and materialistic time, but it’s nothing more than a hollow slogan and (to me) a ridiculous demand.

I say let black women think like women and let Steve Harvey go sell his supper club jokes, strip mall clothing line and whatever else he can hustle. Booyah!

Blacks Need to Reinvent Marriage

Image via Wikipedia. Does Iman know she's ain't supposed to be hanging with Bowie?

Image via Wikipedia. What’s going on here with Bobby D?

According to Dalton Conley, a sociologist and dean of social sciences at New York University, author of “Elsewhere USA,” and writer/blogger for the great New York Times, black people in America need to “reinvent” the institution of marriage.

For many, Mr. Conley is merely stating the obvious, but as a credentialed and professional sociologist repeating what Ralph Richard Banks said in his bestseller “Is Marriage for White People?,” his opinion is just one more in a chorus of informed and educated professors stating that black women remain statistical outliers in terms of turning their backs on interracial marriage as a whole and as a practice while black men leave them en masse.

Of course it’s everyone’s individual right and choice to do with their lives as they please, and if black women in America as a whole wish to remain single that’s fine, as Tracee Ellis Ross said in a previous piece.

Anyway, here’s a direct link to that piece:

• http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/12/20/black-men-for-black-women/blacks-need-to-reinvent-marriage

And here’s a brief redux of Ralph Richard Banks’ comments from his bestseller that’s ticked off so many people, but his comments nonetheless are fairly straightforward, factual, and devoid of opinion:

• http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/12/20/black-men-for-black-women/a-definite-shortage-of-marriageable-black-men

So, what is it that ticks off so many people? That Mr. Banks dares to state the obvious and thereby airs some kind of secret dirty laundry the masses shouldn’t talk about? Is it racism, stigma, or just resistance to logical suggestions at helpful change?

Debunking the Single Black Female Myth

Image via Wikipedia. Black woman with cool tattoo on shoulder. Sweet.

Image via Wikipedia of cartoon sixties sista.

According to a (in my humble widdle opinion) lame piece in the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel online edition, black women might actually be unhappy and defensive about having to be unmarried more often than not and for longer than other women. Go figure!

In his piece the author states that Ralph Richard Banks‘ book “Is Marriage for White People?” has offended some, while causing others to acknowledge the simple fact that black women aren’t getting married like other women are because they’re being left in the dust statistically.

Of course, the author does not take a stand either way, just states that it can be controversial and a big deal to try to discuss the topic (you think!) and you’d better “tread lightly” lest you offend someone’s tender sensibilities (or inability to face reality).

Here’s a link to the piece discussing the “news” that black women just aint’ getting married in the numbers that other women get married at. Hmmm, I wonder why that could be. Well, we better not have an opinion lest someone not like it.

• http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/debunking-the-single-black-female-myth-di3dog1-135485578.html

Related articles:

• Is It Ever Okay to Tell a Sister to Go Kick Rocks?: Black Women and Friendship (crunkfeministcollective.wordpress.com)
• Awkward Black Girl: Do We Ignore Some “Isms?” (blogher.com)
• Myth-Busting the Black-Marriage ‘Crisis’ (theroot.com)
• A Dumb White Guy’s Even Dumber Advice to Poor Black Kids (jeffwinbush.com)
• Is Marriage For White People (theratedt.com)
• A Good Woman Is Hard to Find (ifiruled2011.wordpress.com)
• The future of marriage: Is it dying or just low sick? (minerva5.wordpress.com)
• The Pimp Chronicles: Black Women Pimpin’ Black Women (Shaunie O’Neal Edition) (urbanbellemag.com)
• Black Women Should Look for Husbands Outside Their Race, Author Says (abcnews.go.com)
• For Profit: Black Women……..A Rant (creativelybrownone.wordpress.com)
• Is Marriage for White People? Ralph Richard Banks on the Black Family (healthland.time.com)
• When “you’re beautiful” is no longer just a compliment (sitakali.org)
• Shades of Love (truthseeker411.com)
• Let’s leave black single women alone (thegrio.com)
• Is marriage for white people? (salon.com)
• “All the single ladies” Review of THAT article (thisismysoapbox.wordpress.com)
• Breaking Down the Asian Man Myths (lifebehindthewall.wordpress.com)
• Is Marriage for White People? (thedailybeast.com)
• Are YOU Against Interracial Dating? (mosmalls.wordpress.com)
• Things We Learned On Ladies’ Night (almost30something.com)
• Black Women: The most unmarried group of people in the US (intentious.com)
• Why Black Women Hate Interracial Relationships? (socyberty.com)
• Study Sees Wall Street Pay Tilted Toward White Men (dealbook.nytimes.com)
• Angela Stanley Unpacks Single, Black Female Myths (theroot.com)
• Obesity Less Harmful to Self-Esteem in Black Women (nlm.nih.gov)
• Tracy Ellis Ross: Single Black Women Are Ok (theroot.com)
• Why curvy girls should be proud (thegrio.com)
• Study Shows 60% of Black Females Have Been Sexually Abused By The Time They Turn 18 (dreblacksofresh.com)
• Black Women and Domestic Violence (ssofdv.wordpress.com)
• WATCH: Chicago Radio Host: Black Women On TV Are ‘Downright Embarrassing’ (huffingtonpost.com)
• The Interracial Dating Book for Black Women Who Want to Date White Men (datingrulez.com)

Black Women Get to Kick Fundament

Image by gdcgraphics via Flickr. Naomie Harris looking happy.

Image via Wikipedia. UK actress Naomie Harris looking downward. Maybe her shoes are untied?

I’m not sure if I’m allowed to say…um, you know.. the other word for fundament (or butt), but anyway, there is a cute little encouraging piece out about how Paula Patton gets to go toe-to-toe with Tom Cruise in the latest installment of the Mission Impossible franchise (which is a huge deal obviously since black womentypically do not get to be action heroes and less often get major starring roles in big blockbusters) called “Ghost Protocol.”

Cover of Cleopatra Jones.

The piece elaborates (for those uninformed of history), black women were pretty much banned from action roles for quite some time, with the exception of “blaxploitation” flicks like “Cleopatra Jones” and “Coffee” and “Foxy Brown,” which were titillating and possibly fun (depends on who you ask) but ultimately denigrating.

And then there’s Naomie Harris, a UK actress, who’s been hired to update and revamp the role of Ms. Moneypenny in the upcoming Bond flick. Good for her! Hopefully, she’ll be able to throw a few judo tosses and bullets at James Bond and get a recurring spot. And hopefully this is the start of a trend.

Here’s the link to the full piece from The Grio:

• http://www.thegrio.com/entertainment/black-women-take-the-lead-in-big-screen-action-movies.php

Dreams Do Discriminate: Racial Makeup Mimics Real Life

Image by unNickrMe via Flickr. Nice dream state you got there.

According to a depressing piece in Live Science, discrimination rules the proverbial roost not only in reality but also in dreams, as people who face discrimination probably dream about it (as if living it out isn’t enough), and dreams actually adhere to racial makeups and segregation of areas….so if you live and work in a predominantly white enviornment and are black, well, you’re probably going to dream from the perspective of a black person being surrounded by white people who may or may not be particularly sympathetic toward your life and feelings.

• http://www.livescience.com/17512-dream-racial-makeup.html