Do You Think Your Own Thoughts?

Do you know what your thoughts are?  Can you tell the difference between your own original thoughts and thoughts that have been fed to you by the media?  If you haven't noticed, the American  media is conveying and not so subtly I might add  some of the most wicked ideologies, ideals, ideas that we've seen in a while. It seems hell bent on stirring up hatred and bigotry and misunderstandings.  For example: Did  you find yourself agreeing with Pat Robertson's Haiti statement? Did you wonder if there could be something to it? Or do you tend to believe that all whites are racists?  Or do you feel that all blacks are reactionaries? Or do you feel that all liberals just can't get it right, or that all conservatives are self-righteous religious bigots?  Do you think that most blacks speak in a "dialect" and whites dont? Do you wonder why you seldom see any reporting on the rest of the races of people?  Do you watch any of the major cable news networks on a regular basis?  Then very possibly you may be an unknowing victim of the Media machine, which is slapping your emotions, flipping your emotions and rubbing you the wrong way as well as pulling your emotional strings!  It's a very high level of manipulation, people!
Ever since Obama's election, the Media has been in overdrive and is at a fever pitch concerning all the of the STUFF it's reporting!  Are you allowing yourself to be drawn into the sensationalism, even at your own expense?  Are your opinions about people and situations being shifted? Do you feel depressed and out of sorts after watching your favorite cable news station?  Well people, you can just say NO and not turn on the madness!  I have been on a cable news diet for the past 7 or 8 months, and believe me, my stress levels have plummeted, my blood pressure has dropped, and my emotions have mellowed.  I haven't missed out on anything since I stopped consuming all that mess!
I won't say I know all about the machinations of the Media, or that there aren't important stories being told there, but I know that when I look at cable news, the MAJORITY of the time I'm left feeling abused emotionally! I wanted to be able to think my own thoughts, come to my own conclusions about the issues that affect me without the aid of the overly sensational cable news media.  So I decided to just say NO!

Banana Bottom by Claude McKay (Book Review)

I have joined Brown Girl's Reading Challenge and I just finished reading this very delightfully wicked book by Jamaican emigre, Claude McKay.  It's the story of life in the Island of Jamaica at the turn of the century, in Banana Bottom to be exact.  Just how does life flow in the beautiful village of Banana Bottom?  Well, in this very consciously color caste paradise, people are very constricted to their expected "class" levels--the white colonizers on top, the mixed race light skinned folks in the plum civil service positions are next, the brown skinned upper level peasants next in line and the East Indian emigres and the lower class black poor peasants wrangling at the bottom of the totem pole. The Chinese emigres fit somewhere in the middle of it all.  This is the expected flow of things and of life, and is closely followed-- except when it's not! 

There's our beautiful celebrated black girl of the island, Bita Plant, who has returned back home after having been sent to the Motherland of England to be reared in the finer things which are unavailable in Banana Bottom--an education in literature and the arts and etiquette, befitting a young British lady.  That Bita was opportune to get this education speaks to the pious generosity of the Reverends Malcolm and Priscilla Craig, missionaries from the Mother Country who have sacrificed themselves to be amongst the dark natives, teaching and preaching God's Word, doing their best to convert the folks from their naturally backsliding, double minded and pagan ways.
Jordan Plant, Bita father, was more than happy that especially after the terrible thing that happened to his daughter, she now had the opportunity to get a high level education, thanks to the great goodness of the saints Mr. and Mrs. Craig,  and of course he took advantage, and sent Bita away for seven years to learn the finer things.
Now that Bita is back home, how will she readjust to the slow, natural pace of Banana Bottom--to the lilting Negro dialect, to the ways of her jamaican people,  to the islanders general ignorance of the "finer things" such as the Pensees and other treasures of literature?
This book by Harlem Renaissance writer Claude McKay is a emotional rollercoaster of wicked hilarity!  I thoroughly enjoyed his wit and ability to show the inner workings and desires of the human soul.  From the pious Reverends Malcolm and Priscilla Craig, to Bita's father and mother and aunt, from the village gossip, who had the uncanny ability to know a girl was pregnant before she did herself, to Crazy Bow, the mentally unstable pied piper, from Hopping Dick the broke dandy, the Obeah Man, who overcharged the villagers for his "readings", to Squire Gensir, the white man who denounced his connections to the Mother Land to live amongst the natives and absorb their dark mysteries. And for all who just weren't able to fit in their place or who just weren't able, period,-- there was always the purgatory of being banished to Panama to work on the canal!  This book is full and vital with the rhythms of the emotional lives of turn of the century Jamaica!
Claude's ability to capture the deep emotional needs as well as the sublimely ridiculous and juxtapose them, had me laughing in shock one second then dropping my jaw the next! I had to set the book down a few times just to think and laugh at what he had written! He's gifted in seeing through his characters' and into their hearts all the way to the core and beyond!  
Claude McKay, a great writer of the Harlem Renaissance who wasn't properly recognized in his lifetime.

Al Green Wants to Get Next To YOU!

When I was just a youngun' I fell in love with Al Green.  I was probably 11 or 12.  It was my mama's fault.  She was a complete and utter Al Green fiend, nutcase, crackpot!  She wore green clothes in his honor! She simply adored the man.  And as I listen to these following songs, at this time, 35 plus years later, I completely understand why.  Who doesn't know and love him?  He has the most beautiful, soulful voice this side of heaven!  Mr. Albert Greene was born on April 13, 1946 in Forest Park, Arkansas. He was the 6th of 10 children born to his parents, Robert and Cora Greene.  When Al was 10 years old he was part of a group called the Greene Brothers and they toured extensively in the 1950s. 
One day, Al made the mistake of listening to Jackie Wilson in his father's earshot, so he was kicked out of the Greene Brothers group.  This didn't deter Al, since he later hooked up with some high school buddies and put together the group, Al Greene and the Creations, which was later changed to Al Greene and the Soul Mates.  The band had a hit called Back Up Train on the RandB charts, but couldn't follow it up.  Al Greene later met the band leader Willie Mitchell of Memphis' Hi Records in 1969 and was hired first as a vocalist then later signed with his label. 
Mitchell saw the potential in Al and predicted that he'd be successful.  He encouraged and coached Al to develop his own powerful and expressive singing voice and stop copying the styles of his musical heroes, Jackie Wilson, Wilson Pickett, James Brown and Sam Cooke.  Mitchell arranged, engineered and produced Al's songs.  Al's first album, Green is Blues, was a slow, soulful, horn driven, with that famous Memphis style, but was only a moderate success.  The second album, Al Green Gets Next to You, was the massive success that Mitchell predicted.  Lets Stay Together, Call Me, I'm Still In Love With You, and Al Green Explores Your Mind followed and were even bigger! The women were swooning all over America!  There was one woman in particular, Mrs. Mary White, who wanted Al for herself, even though she was married.  And the famous grits incident occurred, where she poured boiling grits on Al while he was in the shower, causing him third degree burns over his back, arms and stomach.  
All of that aside, we MUST admit and concede that there's no one who can beat Al Green's expressive and sensually angelic (?) voice.  There is one who actually had the nerve to try, and comes somewhere in the vicinity--Maxwell, singing Simply Beautiful,  but there's no Memphis Sounds connected with it! Queen Latifah gave it a shot as well.  As for Al's voice,  I could feel it when I was just a child, even though I don't really know what it was I felt.  His awesome voice is Simply Beautiful!!

When other "Minorities" look down on black folks

My son drives a truck and delivers food products to many of the best restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area, some of which are in mostly white neighborhoods and cities.  He comes across his share of racism.  But he understands that not all white folks are racists. As a young black man, he moves around freely. He doesnt let being black hinder him from walking and moving around in all white settings. But he tells me of an interesting phenomenon that he has experienced more than once. 

One time he was delivering to one of those "exclusive" restaurants.  The owner is a fisherwoman and has taken pictures of her catches and have them hanging on the walls of the restaurant.  So my son went to look at one of the pictures.  Now it's not peak customer time so the restaurant is empty.  No one seemed to mind his curiosity except one guy.  This guy was a server or waiter and would be considered a "minority".
My son told me that the waiter looked him up and down as if to say, "What are you doing here, with us? Just leave now"!  The look says, N*****,  you don't belong here with us in this area and at this restaurant.   My son  thought to himself, "I probably make more money than you, and you are looking down upon me?"  The guy took on this "protectionist" mode, against the "big bad evil black man".  This kind of reaction from other "minorities" who happen to work or live in all white settings is both irritating and amusing. It's a very interesting kind of phenomenon, because the person may think that by overreacting to the black person, they earn brownie points with white folks.  I think it's another version of double consciousness.  "At least I'm not this black person here", they may be thinking subconsciously.  Then they make a point to create that false dividing line.  On that day that young man wanted my son to know and feel that dividing line.  It was important and necessary for that young man on that day. We wonder about this type of phenomenon.

 It is a sad thing to live in this kind of mindset. I imagine that there is a lack of freedom therein. Yet many people do. We've all probably seen this type of thing in action before, and have felt the subtle ugliness of it.  When we live in this world as "minorities" then  we feel the need to get someone under our feet.  Black people worldwide are the scapegoats most of the time for this type of thing.  In my humble opinion, I think we can eliminate this kind of racism if we choose not to consider ourselves as minorities, no matter our race or gender.  We all are God's children and none of us are minor in His sight. 

Just Who Is Pat Robertson, anyway?

There has been a lot of talk about the "Pact with Satan" statement of Pat Robertson.  He was refering to the "reason" why Haiti just experienced the devastating earthquake last week. It's sad when a man of God speaks in such an insensitive and distasteful way in the face of such tragedy. To most people, the comment was extremely crass and distateful, and certainly not the kind of statement a pastor should make. Does he really believe this?  If so why?  I suppose one can ponder this.
When I was in church this past Sunday, I got a bit of shocking information from the pulpit about this Reverend Pat Robertson.  It appears that he is a grand scale hypocrite.  When our Pastor told us that it's unfortunate that Mr. Robertson made this "Pact with Satan" comment, because he, himself, is not one to talk about pacts with satan.  We were informed that Mr. Robertson was in collusion with the dictator Charles Taylor of Liberia in a gold mining venture where the dictator would get a certain percentage of the take.
It seems very strange that Pat Robertson can so easily pronounce gloom and doom and the wrath of God on others that are doing nefarious things, and even on innocents victims as those in Haiti, but have complete blinders on when it is himself.  click here, here  and here.
To say the least, I'm disappointed in Pat Robertson and this strange arrangement he made with this well-known human rights violator!  Pat is supposed to be a man of God! How can you make a pact with Charles Taylor?  Supposedly, he didn't know this about Charles Taylor and felt that alot of African countries have a dictator or two. Very interesting. It has been said in psychology circles that people tend to hate certain qualities in others that they subconsciously suppress and hate in themselves.  Maybe this is the reason for Pat's eagerness to call forth the wrath of God on everyone.

Black Princesses and Superheroes and Black Identity

The Princess and the frog has played.  We got our princess, finally, though she was a frog for a good amount of time so I hear. There was a lot of talk about our first Disney princess. Folks weren't too pleased with her. She had too many issues.  But we loved her all the same.
The amount of energy that we put into our first Disney Princess got me thinking about what our childhood perceptions develop into when we watch all of these animated movies and cartoons and not see anyone black in the mix.  It really does have a profound effect on our little black psyches. Just the reaction to the Princess and the Frog tells me this. When I was a kid, I watched my share of cartoons, and the Brady Bunch and the rest of them. I don't really remember if I wondered where the black characters were when I was a kid. All of this reminds me of the time when I would go to the Black Business Expo in Oakland, CA. I went just about every year because it was so interesting to see what my folks were doing in the entrepreneurial world.  This all took place about 20 plus years ago.  But one year when I went, I learned about a very interesting toy.  As I was walking along perusing all of the products on display, there was one booth that was showcasing a black superhero action figure called Sun Man (melanated man)  The dolls were designed  to look similar to all the other highly popular action figures of the time, such as Teen Age Mutant Ninja Turtles which my son was extremely fond of.  So there was Sun Man, in all of his dark wonder glory, and I was looking at him with excitement, and preparing to purchase him for my own son, when a young man about my age at the time, about 27 or so, came along and saw him.  This man exclaimed in a loud voice and became extremely excited!  You can see him reverting to his boyhood as he was admiring SUN MAN in all of his melanated glory!  I was happy for the brother!  Never mind his son, if he had one, he was rejoicing over this new found black Superhero for himself!

 The Superhero didn't have a cartoon and movie and many products to create that desire that's seems necessary for these kinds of toys, but Sun Man didn't need all of that, really. That brother seemed to be making some kind of connection in his boyhood psyche about there finally being a Black Super Hero, SUN MAN!   I halfway believe that if he could have, he would have sat on the floor at the Expo and started playing with Sun Man and begin coming to new conclusions that there ARE black superheros and redreaming his possibilities and coming up with new and better conclusions as a black man here in this USofA!  It's a beautiful thing to rewrite your story in a better light.

I guess that is why the Princess and the Frog was so important to so many of us!

Don't Listen to Rush Limbaugh or those of his Ilk

The Devastated nation of Haiti needs all the help it can get.  We need to be doing all we can to help our brothers and sisters in Haiti.  Send Donations to TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network) http://www.tbn.org/ earmarked Haiti relief and they pledge to use 100% of the donations towards helping the people of Haiti.  They are connected to an organization that is mobilizing to send many pallets of rice and beans and cooking oil as well as other things to the people of Haiti. To my black brothers and sisters blogging:  PLEASE STOP PAYING ATTENTION TO THOSE NEGATIVE PEOPLE WHO SPEAK OUT AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF HAITI!  I've read a couple of reports in my fellow bloggers spots that Rush Limbaugh or whoever is using even this time of tragedy as a negative political platform for spewing their hatred.  Some are making fun of the plight of the Haitian people at this time.  Some are making stupid racist comments.  Why in the hell are you all listening to this bullshit?
Why are you taking space on your blogs to repeat this crap?  Stop talking about those who hate black people and start searching for positive news reports of help that is going forward for the people of Haiti!

People who hate black people are people who hate period.  You arent doing anything good by reporting all the stupid things that they are saying!  You're wasting time by  showcasing those stupid racists ones!!
Please jump off this destructive train of seeking out these negative ones!  Don't even stop to see what they are going to say next!  You already know!  You don't need to put that crap into your spirits! I'm pleading with my black brothers and sisters in bloggersville to completely bypass these negative ones!  When you read their news reports, blog pieces, youtube videos, websites, etc, you further their agendas!  Why on earth would you want to do that?
I don't want to go to your blogs and read this crap!  We don't need to know what these negative ones are saying, because it's so irrelevant to our lives and the lives of the people of Haiti!  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, stop reporting on these fools!!
Go to TBN network to donate!  The wife of the founder has a heart for Haiti and TBN has helped in Haiti for many many years!  I happen to trust them, but I know there are many others helping too!  Just say no to those fools!!

Pray for Haiti!

Everyone with the love of God in their hearts, and those with compassion, please stop what you're doing and pray diligently for the people of Haiti--that many relief people will go to help, that people will be saved, that huge amounts of donations of all kinds will be made, that many churches and secular organizations will mobilize to help in whatever way they can!  Pray! Donate!