Black women, I love you! But you say some of the silliest things sometimes.
As a safe, secure, sane, and competent Black man, I want to say that I love black people so much. I really love black women. I love Black women so much, that I hope to someday meet a Black woman who would accept me as an intelligent, articulate, college educated black man who does not have any tattoos, has never had any children out of wedlock, nor has ever been involved in a domestic violence situation. Moreover, I would love be accepted by a black woman who does not mind me being proud of being black and one does not have a religion or one who does not attend nor belong to anyone’s church.
Well, according a recent poll conducted by the “Washington Post” with 2000 Black women surveyed and 800 of them interviewed, the Black women polled stated that they preferred religion over romance. Many of us would assume that this could mean that, according the poll, Black women would rather cuddle up with an idea/philosophy or the memory of a supposed dead man (that most would refer to as Jesus Christ) than be with a real, alive Black man. Hey, I just read the poll.
Last year, blogger and authoress, Deborrah Cooper, www.askheartbeat.com wrote the explosive article, “How the Black Church Keeps African American Women Single and Lonely,” peoples’ opinions varied all over the place. However, quite a few readers felt that this was not true or way too over the top. Well, according to this latest poll in the Washington Post, Ms. Cooper not only touched a nerve. It sounded like she hit the nail right on the head. LOL! Look, Sistas. We have got to get past this damn religion. It has killed us a community/race for too long. What is it so deep about a shallow philosophy like Christianity that keeps so many of you from even using your intelligent minds when it comes to love and finding the right man for you? Back in the day, Church and religion had its place. A woman used to be able to run across a man in church who believed the same way she did when it came to religion. Now, most or more than the majority of Black men are not in the church, therefore not a part of any religion. That should tell you something.
I find it alarming that so many Black have stated that they would rather be love with a mythical dead man and dead philosophy than stand up and face the reality of going out in the real world getting the man of your dreams by becoming the woman in his reality. Loving this Jesus figure is fine, I guess. However, when you can’t separate fantasy from reality, you only hurt yourself. Saying that you would rather have a flawed religion than a nice healthy romance with a nice healthy man is not even a statement that a person who is presumed to be intelligent would make.
I am led to believe that the black women who answered this way in the poll are probably tired and frustrated by their inability to obtain that healthy, wholesome romance with a real person. Pretty much like the women who would rather get fake and unnatural sexual pleasure from a battery operated dildo, than from a real man with a real penis that is operated by the motion of strong and repetitious hip thrusts. There is no greater love than between a real man and a real woman. Ladies, Religion can’t keep a burglar away. Religion can keep you warm at night in the winter. Religion can’t look at you at tell you just how beautiful you are in the morning. Religion can’t bring you beautiful flowers when you get home from work ‘just because.’ Religion can’t tell you that your cooking was excellent last night. Religion can’t do a lot of the wonderful real things that a real man can do. Most importantly, a religion never has and never will get you to a heaven after you die.
As a man, I would never choose the fake over the real. Romance is not dead. It is just sitting there suspended in time and space, waiting for this generation of potential lovers to pick up where our elders left off so long ago. Sadly, many of us are just scared. We are scared of putting ourselves “out there” and possibly getting rejected. Hey, if you never go through being rejected, how would you find the one that is right for you? Using religion as a safe alternative to being rejected is a cop out. Fellas, Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and you already know what that is all about. Now that so many Black women have made their preference for religion over romance publicly known, it looks like this year for Valentine’s Day, Christmas, and her birthday, her gifts should include, a picture of the blonde, blue-eyed Jesus, a Bible (Kings James version), and a MLK church hand fan. LOL!!
Washington post article
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/survey-paints-portrait-of-black-women-in-america/2011/12/22/gIQAvxFcJQ_story.html
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
No Redtails movie for me, THANKS.
I want to officially congratulate all of you (particularly Black folks) who gave “back to black” this weekend by proving to the racist white/Jew-ish ran Hollywood establishment that you can spend money. LOL!! I think it was already made clear by past and recent economic statistics that Black people love to shop and spend money. We are serious when it comes to being top consumers in this country. We seem to get some sick joy out of making others rich and even richer. Yes. Your consumer spirit was well tapped into this weekend by the Hollywood marketing machine. It is quite sad because they did not even have to try anything new or different to get our money for this particular movie. They used the same ole, “Hey Black people, here is your chance to prove how valuable you are to a racist system.” Meaning, they used the same psychology of Jim Crow that many blacks fell victim to back during the days of segregation, including the Tuskegee Airmen.
Ok. Here is how black people were suckered into doing stupid things under guise of fighting for freedom, while actually committing psychological suicide under a system that WILL NEVER see them as equal. Since, we refused to follow the blue print for actually gaining freedom like all the other races, we took short cuts. The Tuskegee Airmen thought if they could prove to racist America that they could fight in their war, America would somehow treat them as equals. WRONG! When they got done fighting their little hearts out in WWII, they returned to this country still viewed and treated like Niggers! While they risked their lives in Germany fighting for the lives of Jews and free whites back in America, their own people were still being lynched and Jim Crowed to death.
This past weekend was no different from the misguided actions of the Tuskegee Airmen during the days of Jim Crow. Supposedly intelligent people, who seem to still be taking the shortcut to freedom, packed the theaters this weekend to see a movie THEY SAID would not be funded, produced, and distributed because it was a so-called black movie. That statement alone should have woke some people up or at least raised some eyebrows. Next, the person who made this announcement was none other than George Lucas of Lucas Films, LTD. I don’t think that too many black people know who George Lucas is so please allow me to give a brief bio of George Lucas. Ok. George Lucas is the owner, producer/director of the billion dollar Star Wars franchise. He and Steven Spielberg also collaborated on the ET and the Indian Jones franchise. Now, I know a lot of you flocked to the movie theaters this past weekend with the sincere belief that we were somehow furthering a black cause or helping to get unknown black history out to the masses. Well, sorry to burst your bubble. That story has already been told. I saw it on HBO a few years back. It was alright.
Lucas was not doing anybody (especially black folks) a favor when he financed the movie. A man in business never spends money without the expectation of a return on his money. I can’t believe that so many supposedly intelligent black people in the media and in society fell for that old statement of Hollywood not wanting fund or distribute this movie. George Lucas is Hollywood! HE is one of the major players in Hollywood. He flat out lied and we fell for it. We fell for it because we absolutely refuse to accept the concept of doing for self. Marcus Garvey had a newspaper with the readership of about one million black folks worldwide without the use of the internet or the financial backing of any major white news paper back in the 1930s. So, why is it that we still depend on Jesus, I mean, whites to save us or to tell and distribute our damn stories in 2012? I just don’t get it.
Again. The same old story. Whitey gets a pat on the back from black people and the world for using his white influence under the system of white supremacy to throw Negroes a bone. Directors like Spike Lee, Bill Duke, and John Singleton just to name a few have all tried to create movies that told our stories, American stories, but fell short because of the Hollywood wall of hate whenever it came down to getting decent financing and proper distribution to be able to appropriately tell our stories to the masses and I am not talking about comedies and stupid buddy movies. So, whenever it came to these particular Black directors, we hardly ever supported any of the quality movies they attempted to bring to us, such as Rosewood, Malcolm X, and Miracle at St. Anna. So now, that the white billionaire has pulled some strings on his own behalf, it was time to rally up the Negro populace to help him make his money back for supposedly doing us a favor. I don't think so.
George Lucas can afford to write as many checks as he wants. He is a billionaire. Black people helped him to become this wealthy tycoon. I am just waiting the day when will stop taking these short-cuts to freedom and independence and begin to do what Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, and Elijah Muhammad tried to teach us before the onslaught of the integration propaganda became too cemented in our psyche. Freedom ain’t free. If you rely on others (especially your former enslavers/oppressor and current systematic tormentors) to tell your stories such as the Tuskegee Airmen movie, two things will always happen. 1. The truth will be compromised. 2. They will make themselves look worthy of redemption after never having to pay for the wrong they committed against a person or a people.
Finally, if George Lucas is still in mood of spending money on history when it comes to blacks in this country, I have two suggestions…How about putting100 million dollars behind another movie with Tuskegee in the title like the “Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment” or 100 million dollar behind the truth how AIDS/HIV was actually created and why. It can be called, “The Global 2000 Report on the depopulation of people of color.” While I am at it, I have to suggest to him about putting 100 million dollars behind a movie that goes into deep into the Jew-ish participation in the American slave trade.
I know its wishful thinking. Hell, even George Lucas knows that the Black masses will not go to the movies to see anything like what I suggested even if he suggested it himself.
We will get it one day I hope.
Ok. Here is how black people were suckered into doing stupid things under guise of fighting for freedom, while actually committing psychological suicide under a system that WILL NEVER see them as equal. Since, we refused to follow the blue print for actually gaining freedom like all the other races, we took short cuts. The Tuskegee Airmen thought if they could prove to racist America that they could fight in their war, America would somehow treat them as equals. WRONG! When they got done fighting their little hearts out in WWII, they returned to this country still viewed and treated like Niggers! While they risked their lives in Germany fighting for the lives of Jews and free whites back in America, their own people were still being lynched and Jim Crowed to death.
This past weekend was no different from the misguided actions of the Tuskegee Airmen during the days of Jim Crow. Supposedly intelligent people, who seem to still be taking the shortcut to freedom, packed the theaters this weekend to see a movie THEY SAID would not be funded, produced, and distributed because it was a so-called black movie. That statement alone should have woke some people up or at least raised some eyebrows. Next, the person who made this announcement was none other than George Lucas of Lucas Films, LTD. I don’t think that too many black people know who George Lucas is so please allow me to give a brief bio of George Lucas. Ok. George Lucas is the owner, producer/director of the billion dollar Star Wars franchise. He and Steven Spielberg also collaborated on the ET and the Indian Jones franchise. Now, I know a lot of you flocked to the movie theaters this past weekend with the sincere belief that we were somehow furthering a black cause or helping to get unknown black history out to the masses. Well, sorry to burst your bubble. That story has already been told. I saw it on HBO a few years back. It was alright.
Lucas was not doing anybody (especially black folks) a favor when he financed the movie. A man in business never spends money without the expectation of a return on his money. I can’t believe that so many supposedly intelligent black people in the media and in society fell for that old statement of Hollywood not wanting fund or distribute this movie. George Lucas is Hollywood! HE is one of the major players in Hollywood. He flat out lied and we fell for it. We fell for it because we absolutely refuse to accept the concept of doing for self. Marcus Garvey had a newspaper with the readership of about one million black folks worldwide without the use of the internet or the financial backing of any major white news paper back in the 1930s. So, why is it that we still depend on Jesus, I mean, whites to save us or to tell and distribute our damn stories in 2012? I just don’t get it.
Again. The same old story. Whitey gets a pat on the back from black people and the world for using his white influence under the system of white supremacy to throw Negroes a bone. Directors like Spike Lee, Bill Duke, and John Singleton just to name a few have all tried to create movies that told our stories, American stories, but fell short because of the Hollywood wall of hate whenever it came down to getting decent financing and proper distribution to be able to appropriately tell our stories to the masses and I am not talking about comedies and stupid buddy movies. So, whenever it came to these particular Black directors, we hardly ever supported any of the quality movies they attempted to bring to us, such as Rosewood, Malcolm X, and Miracle at St. Anna. So now, that the white billionaire has pulled some strings on his own behalf, it was time to rally up the Negro populace to help him make his money back for supposedly doing us a favor. I don't think so.
George Lucas can afford to write as many checks as he wants. He is a billionaire. Black people helped him to become this wealthy tycoon. I am just waiting the day when will stop taking these short-cuts to freedom and independence and begin to do what Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, and Elijah Muhammad tried to teach us before the onslaught of the integration propaganda became too cemented in our psyche. Freedom ain’t free. If you rely on others (especially your former enslavers/oppressor and current systematic tormentors) to tell your stories such as the Tuskegee Airmen movie, two things will always happen. 1. The truth will be compromised. 2. They will make themselves look worthy of redemption after never having to pay for the wrong they committed against a person or a people.
Finally, if George Lucas is still in mood of spending money on history when it comes to blacks in this country, I have two suggestions…How about putting100 million dollars behind another movie with Tuskegee in the title like the “Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment” or 100 million dollar behind the truth how AIDS/HIV was actually created and why. It can be called, “The Global 2000 Report on the depopulation of people of color.” While I am at it, I have to suggest to him about putting 100 million dollars behind a movie that goes into deep into the Jew-ish participation in the American slave trade.
I know its wishful thinking. Hell, even George Lucas knows that the Black masses will not go to the movies to see anything like what I suggested even if he suggested it himself.
We will get it one day I hope.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
A Letter from a son to his Religious mother.. "I have had it!"
I ran across this letter that was written by an adult son to his mother who is a minister at her church. It sounds like he has had enough of her using religion to control him and to make him feel guilty about not being a Christian. I loved the letter when I read it. I could not have spoken the words in the letter any more clearly if I were to address Black people as a whole about religion and Christianity. When I read the letter, I relived the freedom I first experienced when I first denounced religion and Christianity as a young man of 13 years old many years ago. It felt good. I felt a sense of independence when I walked away from the mental and emotional burden of organized religion.
Check out the letter below and let me know what you think.
Mom:
You know that I love and respect you. I thought really long and hard about what you said to me last night. I have to be honest with myself. I have to be honest with you. I'm not buying it... I have lived under someone’s control my entire life. I have done what others told me to do my entire life. I have trusted people that I shouldn't have, just for them to flip the script on me. I'm really sick and tired of people using God as a crutch to control. I'm sick of people using God as a mechanism for fear. I'm sick of people using God to get the results that THEY actually want because they may not agree with your lifestyle. Everything I have done and not done has been because of God. When you want to live to your full potential, haters stop you and say God doesn't want you to do that. Anything involving control, staying poor, following a leader instead of being your own leader is what I get from these so-called Christians nowadays.
What equates a Christian? Acting a fool in church with your best suit on? Babbling in tongues with no interpreter? Gossiping with the "chuuch folk"? Wanting to be seen? Being effeminate? Let me tell you something. I'll respectfully pass on it. I've seen it all before. How many times do you think I've shouted and acted a fool JUST BECAUSE it got me the attention that I longed for from you and Dad??? Hmmmmmmm? No more! No more will I be afraid of idle threats that Christians throw at me. No more will I be hindered by bogus religious beliefs and fears! Black people are scarred by religious beliefs all the time! I'm just one who overcame my fear and decided to live.
No one will manipulate me again. No one will control me.
I don't trust the words of humans; I trust ONLY the words of God. If He ain't tellin' me Himself, then I ain't buying it. He is God after all, isn't he? Then why would He tell you something when He knows that I am diligent in my prayer? I get really wary when people tell me "God told me to tell you." I've heard many so called Christians say that, and it’s always been a deception of control revealed in the end. I AM NOT A CHRISTIAN. Just because a person calls themselves a Christian, doesn't mean that they fit the description.
People have forgotten how to be Christ-like. As far as Black Christians go, we are the most confused people on the planet. Don't believe me? Look at what's been going on in our Black Churches today. But I'm the one who’s wrong, and nothing is going to work for me until I "surrender?" I "surrendered" a long freaking time ago!!! How come it’s working for the snakes, perverts, money mongers and liars that I see in the pulpit? Pulpit pimps! All anybody says about that is "They'll have their day." I DON'T WANNA HEAR THAT B.S.!! I agree with you when say that people are waiting on me. They are waiting to hear how religion basically ruined and scarred my life. And I'm gonna make it known that you don't have to live in fear like I did my entire life. Living a big lie as if I'm just not good enough. NOW THAT'S A LIE FROM THE PIT!! I AM GOOD ENOUGH JUST THE WAY I AM! I know you may be angry, but I don't care.
It’s MY LIFE, and I spent a lot of time dedicating it to God, and for what? For people to continue to ASSUME, that I'm this big time sinner because I'm different? Because I believe in something different than the stuff that we were forced fed as children???? People always want more and more out of you, but never take the time to look at how far you've come already. Black folks, especially. "God said this, God said that" and have no freaking clue the torture and struggle that it took for you to improve to where you are, and that is a reproach! I'm not going to deal with it anymore or be controlled or enslaved by human words. It doesn't matter who it’s from.
The next time God gives you a message for me, you tell Him this for me, "You are the Lord our God. I believe you can do anything, including telling my son, Derek, yourself."
With love, (sorry Mom, you may be upset, but I'd rather deal with that than continue to lie to myself)
Your son. Pray for me...
Check out the letter below and let me know what you think.
Mom:
You know that I love and respect you. I thought really long and hard about what you said to me last night. I have to be honest with myself. I have to be honest with you. I'm not buying it... I have lived under someone’s control my entire life. I have done what others told me to do my entire life. I have trusted people that I shouldn't have, just for them to flip the script on me. I'm really sick and tired of people using God as a crutch to control. I'm sick of people using God as a mechanism for fear. I'm sick of people using God to get the results that THEY actually want because they may not agree with your lifestyle. Everything I have done and not done has been because of God. When you want to live to your full potential, haters stop you and say God doesn't want you to do that. Anything involving control, staying poor, following a leader instead of being your own leader is what I get from these so-called Christians nowadays.
What equates a Christian? Acting a fool in church with your best suit on? Babbling in tongues with no interpreter? Gossiping with the "chuuch folk"? Wanting to be seen? Being effeminate? Let me tell you something. I'll respectfully pass on it. I've seen it all before. How many times do you think I've shouted and acted a fool JUST BECAUSE it got me the attention that I longed for from you and Dad??? Hmmmmmmm? No more! No more will I be afraid of idle threats that Christians throw at me. No more will I be hindered by bogus religious beliefs and fears! Black people are scarred by religious beliefs all the time! I'm just one who overcame my fear and decided to live.
No one will manipulate me again. No one will control me.
I don't trust the words of humans; I trust ONLY the words of God. If He ain't tellin' me Himself, then I ain't buying it. He is God after all, isn't he? Then why would He tell you something when He knows that I am diligent in my prayer? I get really wary when people tell me "God told me to tell you." I've heard many so called Christians say that, and it’s always been a deception of control revealed in the end. I AM NOT A CHRISTIAN. Just because a person calls themselves a Christian, doesn't mean that they fit the description.
People have forgotten how to be Christ-like. As far as Black Christians go, we are the most confused people on the planet. Don't believe me? Look at what's been going on in our Black Churches today. But I'm the one who’s wrong, and nothing is going to work for me until I "surrender?" I "surrendered" a long freaking time ago!!! How come it’s working for the snakes, perverts, money mongers and liars that I see in the pulpit? Pulpit pimps! All anybody says about that is "They'll have their day." I DON'T WANNA HEAR THAT B.S.!! I agree with you when say that people are waiting on me. They are waiting to hear how religion basically ruined and scarred my life. And I'm gonna make it known that you don't have to live in fear like I did my entire life. Living a big lie as if I'm just not good enough. NOW THAT'S A LIE FROM THE PIT!! I AM GOOD ENOUGH JUST THE WAY I AM! I know you may be angry, but I don't care.
It’s MY LIFE, and I spent a lot of time dedicating it to God, and for what? For people to continue to ASSUME, that I'm this big time sinner because I'm different? Because I believe in something different than the stuff that we were forced fed as children???? People always want more and more out of you, but never take the time to look at how far you've come already. Black folks, especially. "God said this, God said that" and have no freaking clue the torture and struggle that it took for you to improve to where you are, and that is a reproach! I'm not going to deal with it anymore or be controlled or enslaved by human words. It doesn't matter who it’s from.
The next time God gives you a message for me, you tell Him this for me, "You are the Lord our God. I believe you can do anything, including telling my son, Derek, yourself."
With love, (sorry Mom, you may be upset, but I'd rather deal with that than continue to lie to myself)
Your son. Pray for me...
Bullying at school is no cause for committing suicide. Real parental intervention is the solution.
What's up with the bullying at schools today?
I have not commented very much on the bullying issue because I guess that I have been in total shock/disbelief or just did not give a damn. Is it me or has today's society raised a generation of pussy-ass kids? As a child, I grew up in the 'hood' of north Memphis, Tennessee. I went to public schools that were centrally located in inner-city neighborhoods. Children bullying and teasing each other for the clothes they wore and shoes they sported on their feet was almost a daily occurrence. Your parents were even made fun of if other children found anything that could be considered weird about them. However, I can rarely recall a kid bringing a gun to our inner city school to shoot up the place or commit suicide because of being bullied and teased for being different. Even if a bully threatened to kick your ass at the end of school, you would somehow convince your teacher to let you leave class just a few minutes earlier so you could get a good head start home before the final bell rang that ended school for the day. Also, if you were bullied on the school bus, a parent or an older sibling waited at the bus stop where you and the bully both got off to kick the bully's ass. This experience taught the bully that you, the person being bullied, were not along. You had back up. Back then, after you confronted the bully, he/she usually became one of your closest friends for life.
We all knew or either learned that in order to get rid of a bully you had to stand up to the bully the same way he/she was antagonizing you. If the bully was teasing you or "Checkin" you about the clothes you wore to school, you checked him back, but it had to be funny and consistant. I was kind of funny, but very consistant. LOL! If you made the crowd laugh at him loudly, he would move on to some one else. Next, if your bully pushed you around, meaning got physical with you, you got physical with him. You ran home crying maybe once. The next time, you stood toe to toe; win or lose. You always won when stood up regardless of the outcome. You see. The bully thrives off of fear. When you showed the bully that you had, had enough, he backed off. Sometimes, when the bully was bigger than you, well, we got help. Our families (parents, siblings, cousins, friends, etc) got involved. When these people got involved, playtime was over! However, if you were in a situation where your support system was not around, you got help from a rock, a brick, a bat, a stick, a broken bottle on the street, your book bag, a belt buckle anything you could get your hands. When all else failed, you ran home for your life that day. However, the next day you were prepared.
This nonsense going on today is a total mess.Today, kids are committing suicide rather than stand up to a bully. Can you believe this? What a cop out? They even need support groups for being bullied now! Amazing! When I was a kid and a teenager back in the day, we had too much fun at school to want to kill ourselves over being bullied. OUR support group was our families and friends. They supported us by joining us in beating the bullies asses after school. All of this took place in the 'hood' and most of us are still alive today in our late 30s and early forties. What in the hell is going on now? This has to be some integration, suburban bullshit!
Today, kids in the 'hood' don't get down with bullying. Hell, even the gay students in our 'hood' schools back then did not tolerate being bullied. You could call them a faggot or make fun of them for being gay maybe once or twice. However, If you thought you were going to make a school career out of "messing" with them because they were gay, your bubble was quickly burst. They not only told you off (finger snappin, head twirkin and all) they all also kicked your ass in front of the entire school. Every male student knew that it was not cool to get your ass kicked by a gay student at school. So we pretty much left them alone. The gay students in my school existed on their own terms with very little resistance from other students. Yes. They were gay, but they did not play. They were respected. Of course, every once and a while some dooffus who just did not give a damn would attempt to viciously tease or verbally attack one of the gay males in our school. He would first be "read" his rights either in the hallways, the gym or the school cafeteria, wherever the attempted bullying would take place. As usual, the dooffus would get angry after being humiliated by the gay student want to become physical. So, he would get his ass handed to him either in the cafeteria or in front of the school, in front of all the students gathered around for the fight, after the 2:15 bell rang for us to go home.
My heart goes out to the young people who have so far killed themselves because they were bullied. However, I think today's solution for ending school or even neighborhood bullying is all wrong. The anti-bullying PSAs don't work! Movies and commercials about the effects of bullying are non-effective. These suburban parents need to get their heads out of their asses and go up these schools with bail money in the bank with fists a- swingin! I guarantee this will slow some of this bullying down. Next, stop babying these children. Teach them to protect themselves. A bully does not care about your child trying to reach him/her intellectually or therapeutically. He's a bully and your child is not a therapist! Teach your child to kick his bully's ass! Period. Also, teach your child how to "play the dozens" or check. This is how we survived in the 'hood.'
I was always a small child. Hell, I even looked like a toddler in elementary school. I knew when I arrived to junior high school that I could not be bullied. I was too little for this kind of pressure! If I were to have even allowed one bully to mess with me in the 7th-8th grades, the rest of my school years would have been disasterous. So, I nipped the bullying issue in the bud as soon as it came my way. I want to take this time to pay tribute the weapons I used back in the 80's to get the few bullies I had off my back. Thank you afro pick with the Black fist in the middle. When I stabbed that one kid in the chest.. he never bothered me again. Thank you bat and handful of salt. The salt blinded him temporarily as I popped him about three times over the head with the base ball bat. Thank you cup of boiling hot water. This kid was hiding on the side of my house waiting for me to come outside so he couldjump me. I flung the cup of hot water out the door and down his back. He ran yelling and screaming down my driveway with steam coming from the back of his very hot and wet shirt.
Finally, thank you to the pair of Traxx tennis shoes that I wore in the 8th grade. These sneakers had cleetes at the bottom of them. One forceful swap across the face of this bully (which left cleete marks and dents in his face) not only got the bully off my back, but I also gained a new friend for life. Some reading this post may not agree with the methods I used and many other children used back then to end bullying in our lives, but it sure beats suffering in silence to the point of wanting to kill myself the way that so many children in the suburbs today have obviously chosen to do instead of fighting back to back their lives. Fighting back sure helped me and hundreds of others to be here today healthy, happy and bully free. :)
I have not commented very much on the bullying issue because I guess that I have been in total shock/disbelief or just did not give a damn. Is it me or has today's society raised a generation of pussy-ass kids? As a child, I grew up in the 'hood' of north Memphis, Tennessee. I went to public schools that were centrally located in inner-city neighborhoods. Children bullying and teasing each other for the clothes they wore and shoes they sported on their feet was almost a daily occurrence. Your parents were even made fun of if other children found anything that could be considered weird about them. However, I can rarely recall a kid bringing a gun to our inner city school to shoot up the place or commit suicide because of being bullied and teased for being different. Even if a bully threatened to kick your ass at the end of school, you would somehow convince your teacher to let you leave class just a few minutes earlier so you could get a good head start home before the final bell rang that ended school for the day. Also, if you were bullied on the school bus, a parent or an older sibling waited at the bus stop where you and the bully both got off to kick the bully's ass. This experience taught the bully that you, the person being bullied, were not along. You had back up. Back then, after you confronted the bully, he/she usually became one of your closest friends for life.
We all knew or either learned that in order to get rid of a bully you had to stand up to the bully the same way he/she was antagonizing you. If the bully was teasing you or "Checkin" you about the clothes you wore to school, you checked him back, but it had to be funny and consistant. I was kind of funny, but very consistant. LOL! If you made the crowd laugh at him loudly, he would move on to some one else. Next, if your bully pushed you around, meaning got physical with you, you got physical with him. You ran home crying maybe once. The next time, you stood toe to toe; win or lose. You always won when stood up regardless of the outcome. You see. The bully thrives off of fear. When you showed the bully that you had, had enough, he backed off. Sometimes, when the bully was bigger than you, well, we got help. Our families (parents, siblings, cousins, friends, etc) got involved. When these people got involved, playtime was over! However, if you were in a situation where your support system was not around, you got help from a rock, a brick, a bat, a stick, a broken bottle on the street, your book bag, a belt buckle anything you could get your hands. When all else failed, you ran home for your life that day. However, the next day you were prepared.
This nonsense going on today is a total mess.Today, kids are committing suicide rather than stand up to a bully. Can you believe this? What a cop out? They even need support groups for being bullied now! Amazing! When I was a kid and a teenager back in the day, we had too much fun at school to want to kill ourselves over being bullied. OUR support group was our families and friends. They supported us by joining us in beating the bullies asses after school. All of this took place in the 'hood' and most of us are still alive today in our late 30s and early forties. What in the hell is going on now? This has to be some integration, suburban bullshit!
Today, kids in the 'hood' don't get down with bullying. Hell, even the gay students in our 'hood' schools back then did not tolerate being bullied. You could call them a faggot or make fun of them for being gay maybe once or twice. However, If you thought you were going to make a school career out of "messing" with them because they were gay, your bubble was quickly burst. They not only told you off (finger snappin, head twirkin and all) they all also kicked your ass in front of the entire school. Every male student knew that it was not cool to get your ass kicked by a gay student at school. So we pretty much left them alone. The gay students in my school existed on their own terms with very little resistance from other students. Yes. They were gay, but they did not play. They were respected. Of course, every once and a while some dooffus who just did not give a damn would attempt to viciously tease or verbally attack one of the gay males in our school. He would first be "read" his rights either in the hallways, the gym or the school cafeteria, wherever the attempted bullying would take place. As usual, the dooffus would get angry after being humiliated by the gay student want to become physical. So, he would get his ass handed to him either in the cafeteria or in front of the school, in front of all the students gathered around for the fight, after the 2:15 bell rang for us to go home.
My heart goes out to the young people who have so far killed themselves because they were bullied. However, I think today's solution for ending school or even neighborhood bullying is all wrong. The anti-bullying PSAs don't work! Movies and commercials about the effects of bullying are non-effective. These suburban parents need to get their heads out of their asses and go up these schools with bail money in the bank with fists a- swingin! I guarantee this will slow some of this bullying down. Next, stop babying these children. Teach them to protect themselves. A bully does not care about your child trying to reach him/her intellectually or therapeutically. He's a bully and your child is not a therapist! Teach your child to kick his bully's ass! Period. Also, teach your child how to "play the dozens" or check. This is how we survived in the 'hood.'
I was always a small child. Hell, I even looked like a toddler in elementary school. I knew when I arrived to junior high school that I could not be bullied. I was too little for this kind of pressure! If I were to have even allowed one bully to mess with me in the 7th-8th grades, the rest of my school years would have been disasterous. So, I nipped the bullying issue in the bud as soon as it came my way. I want to take this time to pay tribute the weapons I used back in the 80's to get the few bullies I had off my back. Thank you afro pick with the Black fist in the middle. When I stabbed that one kid in the chest.. he never bothered me again. Thank you bat and handful of salt. The salt blinded him temporarily as I popped him about three times over the head with the base ball bat. Thank you cup of boiling hot water. This kid was hiding on the side of my house waiting for me to come outside so he couldjump me. I flung the cup of hot water out the door and down his back. He ran yelling and screaming down my driveway with steam coming from the back of his very hot and wet shirt.
Finally, thank you to the pair of Traxx tennis shoes that I wore in the 8th grade. These sneakers had cleetes at the bottom of them. One forceful swap across the face of this bully (which left cleete marks and dents in his face) not only got the bully off my back, but I also gained a new friend for life. Some reading this post may not agree with the methods I used and many other children used back then to end bullying in our lives, but it sure beats suffering in silence to the point of wanting to kill myself the way that so many children in the suburbs today have obviously chosen to do instead of fighting back to back their lives. Fighting back sure helped me and hundreds of others to be here today healthy, happy and bully free. :)
Happy Birthday, Dr. King! Oh yeah. Thank you for Nothing!
The Dr. Martin Luther King Holiday is upon us again and the annual hypnosis of integration is being infiltrated with the use of mindless birthday celebrations and remembrances all across the country even as I speak. People are still moaning, “We shall overcome” and chanting, “I have a Dream!” Well, I am not one who has ever gone along to get along or who has followed anyone’s crowd. This year is no different. Every year for the past 20 years or so, I have asked myself, “When are supposedly intelligent people (Black people) ever going to snap out of this hypnotic state, this deep psychological sleep?” Every year I get same answer, “Never!” This year is no different.
I want to personally thank Dr. King for being the so-called drum major for peace and integration. I don’t really blame him and his predecessors like A. Phillip Randolph and Roy Wilkins for the idea that they came up with which they honestly believe would free Black people from white hatred and white supremacy. When I look back in history, Black people in this country were treated less than human who were forced to live under the brutal laws of segregation and a consciousness of white superiority that justified (in the minds of whites) the mal treatment of our people. However, in that same history book I read where other people were oppressed too. But the difference in the solutions to the oppression varied. Native Americans, under the threat of attack from the majority of this nation’s first presidents like George Washington and Andrew Jackson, chose to fight off the attackers rather than integrate with their pending oppressors and fall for their broken treaties. Even though they lost a lot of their people in battle, they fought to the death for their right to be free and to maintain their culture that was granted to them by God. I respect that.
The white Jew-ish people who were being killed and oppressed by Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party chose to fight rather than integrate with the enemy and oppressor of Jew-ish people. You have never read in history books nor will you ever see a movie produced in Hollywood that shows a Jew dating and marrying a Nazi to gain freedom. Integrating with Nazis was not even considered an option as a path to freedom for all Jews back then and even now.
The Japanese during WWII, rather than give into American oppression, fought and died for their freedom and independence. They even used kamikaze fighter planes, where the pilots loaded the planes up with explosives and purposefully flew into enemy warships in the ocean. They were not playing. They understood the concept of freedom not being free.
So, now you have black people. Still in 2012 fighting for freedom and equality with our historic and current oppressor. What is it that Jews, Japanese and Native Americans understood about the power of independence from your enemy and the importance of maintaining race and culture that was completely lost when it came to African Americans? We have prayed. We have marched. We moved next door to. We have sex with. We have married. We have had mixed babies with. We go to church with. We have done all of these things that we were convinced by Dr. King and other leaders in the Civil Rights Movement and we are still oppressed.
All I know is when I read up on the days of segregation in this country, we did not have much economically I guess, but we had black owned businesses. The family had fathers and mothers in the home. Single motherhood was not an issue. Black boys were protected more. Black girls were protected more. We had real churches. We had a thriving community. We had a love for our race and culture. Most importantly, we had a deep love for education and striving for excellence was a no-brainer. Since we were not legally allowed to be a part of the so-called American infrastructure as a people, we turned to each other for all of our needs and wants. WE were self-sufficient. WE were a nation within a nation.
Now, since we have integrated instead of fighting like other intelligent groups of people to become independent of the oppressive system of white supremacy, we still face racism in this society such as unfair mortgage lending practices and neighborhood political districts being drown down racial lines to the advantage of the dominant culture. There is a shortage of fathers in the home. There is an overflow of Black males in the prison system, but a lot of empty seats in college classrooms. The Black family has been reduced to 34 year old grandmothers with a daughter who usually a single mother. We are only 12, maybe 13 percent of the population, but statistically we top the list of prison incarceration, divorce, and the contracting of HIV/AIDS. Black boys are now being suspended at a higher rate this nation’s public schools and are even being given harsher punishments for misbehavior than their white male counterparts. Now, so many Black girls’ self-esteem is so low that they have resorted to using their bodies as a means to an end economically. The morals that we once coveted as a people went away along with our racial pride and sense of culture when Dr. King and many others chose to use integration as a strategy to freedom.
I can go on and on about this reality, but I won’t because it’s like beating a dead horse. Maybe one day we will wake up from this nightmare and get on the path of actual freedom and independence. Maybe we will finally understand that no people in history have ever achieved freedom and independence from a wicked oppressor by marrying him, praying for him or praying sitting next to him. Well, I hope this day comes soon. Our children can’t wait any longer for us to stand up like men and women.
I will say this for Dr. King. He did wake up. However, when he woke up and realized that he had made a huge mistake and that Malcolm X and Marcus Garvey both made good points about being separate and doing for self, the eternal damage was already done and the assassin's gun was already cocked, loaded, and pointed at his face before he could tell the rest of us how sorry he was for unknowingly leading his people into burning house.
Dr. King, I know you meant well, but thank you for nothing.
I want to personally thank Dr. King for being the so-called drum major for peace and integration. I don’t really blame him and his predecessors like A. Phillip Randolph and Roy Wilkins for the idea that they came up with which they honestly believe would free Black people from white hatred and white supremacy. When I look back in history, Black people in this country were treated less than human who were forced to live under the brutal laws of segregation and a consciousness of white superiority that justified (in the minds of whites) the mal treatment of our people. However, in that same history book I read where other people were oppressed too. But the difference in the solutions to the oppression varied. Native Americans, under the threat of attack from the majority of this nation’s first presidents like George Washington and Andrew Jackson, chose to fight off the attackers rather than integrate with their pending oppressors and fall for their broken treaties. Even though they lost a lot of their people in battle, they fought to the death for their right to be free and to maintain their culture that was granted to them by God. I respect that.
The white Jew-ish people who were being killed and oppressed by Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party chose to fight rather than integrate with the enemy and oppressor of Jew-ish people. You have never read in history books nor will you ever see a movie produced in Hollywood that shows a Jew dating and marrying a Nazi to gain freedom. Integrating with Nazis was not even considered an option as a path to freedom for all Jews back then and even now.
The Japanese during WWII, rather than give into American oppression, fought and died for their freedom and independence. They even used kamikaze fighter planes, where the pilots loaded the planes up with explosives and purposefully flew into enemy warships in the ocean. They were not playing. They understood the concept of freedom not being free.
So, now you have black people. Still in 2012 fighting for freedom and equality with our historic and current oppressor. What is it that Jews, Japanese and Native Americans understood about the power of independence from your enemy and the importance of maintaining race and culture that was completely lost when it came to African Americans? We have prayed. We have marched. We moved next door to. We have sex with. We have married. We have had mixed babies with. We go to church with. We have done all of these things that we were convinced by Dr. King and other leaders in the Civil Rights Movement and we are still oppressed.
All I know is when I read up on the days of segregation in this country, we did not have much economically I guess, but we had black owned businesses. The family had fathers and mothers in the home. Single motherhood was not an issue. Black boys were protected more. Black girls were protected more. We had real churches. We had a thriving community. We had a love for our race and culture. Most importantly, we had a deep love for education and striving for excellence was a no-brainer. Since we were not legally allowed to be a part of the so-called American infrastructure as a people, we turned to each other for all of our needs and wants. WE were self-sufficient. WE were a nation within a nation.
Now, since we have integrated instead of fighting like other intelligent groups of people to become independent of the oppressive system of white supremacy, we still face racism in this society such as unfair mortgage lending practices and neighborhood political districts being drown down racial lines to the advantage of the dominant culture. There is a shortage of fathers in the home. There is an overflow of Black males in the prison system, but a lot of empty seats in college classrooms. The Black family has been reduced to 34 year old grandmothers with a daughter who usually a single mother. We are only 12, maybe 13 percent of the population, but statistically we top the list of prison incarceration, divorce, and the contracting of HIV/AIDS. Black boys are now being suspended at a higher rate this nation’s public schools and are even being given harsher punishments for misbehavior than their white male counterparts. Now, so many Black girls’ self-esteem is so low that they have resorted to using their bodies as a means to an end economically. The morals that we once coveted as a people went away along with our racial pride and sense of culture when Dr. King and many others chose to use integration as a strategy to freedom.
I can go on and on about this reality, but I won’t because it’s like beating a dead horse. Maybe one day we will wake up from this nightmare and get on the path of actual freedom and independence. Maybe we will finally understand that no people in history have ever achieved freedom and independence from a wicked oppressor by marrying him, praying for him or praying sitting next to him. Well, I hope this day comes soon. Our children can’t wait any longer for us to stand up like men and women.
I will say this for Dr. King. He did wake up. However, when he woke up and realized that he had made a huge mistake and that Malcolm X and Marcus Garvey both made good points about being separate and doing for self, the eternal damage was already done and the assassin's gun was already cocked, loaded, and pointed at his face before he could tell the rest of us how sorry he was for unknowingly leading his people into burning house.
Dr. King, I know you meant well, but thank you for nothing.
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