Not So Random Thought, #1: The Black Elderly: How to Care For Them

In my last blog regarding the Black clergy, I mentioned building our community. I decided to do some brainstorming, and was able to come up with a taste of what we can create.

It is ideal to keep our elderly at home and take care until they die. But thanks to our busy lives, it may not be likely for a lot of us to do it. As a result, we keep them in nursing homes. Unfortunately, nursing homes can be dreary and be seen as a place to die.  

As we build up our own communities, we should definitely keep the elderly in mind. My suggestion is building nursing homes that look like small towns. Include shopping, movie theatres, grocery stores, restaurants, etc. Have it ran by personnel who are trained to deal with issues like dementia and alzheimer's. This can make it easier for you to visit your loved one, and it'll still allow them to keep their freedom. The grandkids won't be bored and tired of visiting. It'll be like a night on the town for the whole family, and they can get the care they need at the same time. If the home is made affordable for the family, then it can be a really good option. This is where the church comes in again. If the nursing homes could work with Medicaid/Medicare to provide medications, then it would lessen the financial burden on those who have paid for the home in the first place. And if your elderly member receives SNAP, then the grocery store could take full advantage of that. As a result, you get cheap accommodations, and independence for your loved one.

This is just a start. There are more ideas to come.

The Kyle Jenner Challenge << My take on the matter.

So I saw this thing called the ‪#‎kylejennerchallenge‬. It's a method that allows a person to plump up their lips by sucking on a shot glass or something similarly shaped to the point of bruising themselves. I have to say something about this because I remember White people making fun of those with "big" or "thick" lips. In fact, they also made fun of women with big butts. The women they talked about were Black. And now, they're clamoring to get big butts and lips in order to achieve that look. In fact, when Angelina Jolie got popular, folks were saying how beautiful her lips were, but would twist their faces up in disgust whenever they saw those same lips or butts on Black people.
I just find it interesting how trends are mostly started BY Black influence, but the Blackness is never appreciated in its original form. That seems to go for ALL American art, fashion, etc that started through Black people.
I'd like to take the time to let people know (I'm sure quite a few of you already know this, so I'm probably preaching to the choir at this point. ) that Blackness is NOT a commodity

Where Do We Go From Here?

Thanks to the events leading up to today, I have wondered where do we go from here, and how do we get there.  First we must realize what we are fighting against. I've come to the following conclusion:

We are up against an unethical immoral people consumed with money and power. They will do ANYTHING for it, which includes enslaving people, committing genocide, etc while creating laws to protect themselves, and they will stop at NOTHING in order to maintain the status quo. They control the police,politics and the media. 

It seems that people speak of unity, but we want to work within a framework that doesn't have us in their best interest. If it did, then we wouldn't be where we are right now. Cliquing up with organizations will not fix this. I feel this was the same mistake that was made during the Civil Rights Movement. 

From where I'm sitting, that movement only got us jobs, and I still get looked at funny for sitting in the front of the bus. And even when we go to job interviews, we get discriminated based on our names,addresses and whether or not a Black woman has natural hair. I've even heard of natural women wearing wigs to job interviews just so they could get that job. What kind of progress is that? Sure, we make a bit more money at the expense of something, but monetary progression alone seems a bit non fulfilling. 

How can one exist in a country that was never EVER meant for them? Aside from withdrawing our money from it, and re directing where it goes, we still pay taxes. I believe we must figure out what we need to do to get out of this situation we are forced to be in.

I'm working on coming up with solutions, but they will not be posted for obvious reasons. Until then, we'll see. 

Raven Symone: Girl Bye.

Okay, I saw the following interview where Raven Symone told Oprah that she didn't want to be labeled or seen as African American or gay. She said she wanted to be considered "human who loves humans". She also mentioned who she identified herself with: Caucasians, Asians, etc. Aren't those labels as well? But after that interview came out, she had to back peddle and say that she never said she wasn't Black, but she didn't want to be labeled as "African American." See, she wants it both ways. She wants to label people and not have them label her. A person can't claim "universal" in a country that refuses to recognize people who look like her as human and treat them as such. If a person has to put race behind everything in order to seen as human, then it really says a lot about so called humanity. That's why I am not here for Raven Symone's argument regardless if a celebrity says it or not.  And let's be real here, if something discriminatory should happen to her, she'd be the first to say it's because she is a Black Gay Woman.

All I can say is "Girl Bye!  And before you do, please GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE WITH THAT BULLSHIT!"

Random Encounters While Black

Why come (and I have to say it like that), every so often, I encounter a White person who feels the need to speak to me in a really fake impression of what they think is African-American vernacular? They either do it among their friends whenever they see a Black person, or when they speak to me. Who told them that this was necessary? Where did they get the idea that this was okay? I've stopped them on several occasions and I asked them about it. They say something to the effect of, "I'm getting on your lev-el." as if I would have no way of understanding them if they didn't talk like that. On several instances, I had to straight up tell them that they look really dumb when they do that because they are implying that Black people can't possibly understand what they say unless they talk "like that". I told them that I find it patronizing, and if they want to say "Hi" to me or have a conversation, then they should just do it instead of hiding behind racist tropes and acting like something they saw on the television. Besides, talking to Black people like that is sooo dated and tired. Learn to communicate with people and do it without attempting to mock them.

Long story short, if anybody who isn't Black decides to read this, I have a public service announcement for you. If you feel the urge to "talk Black" around a bunch of Black people or one whom you think is "cool", please Get The Fuck Outta Here With That Mess. It is not "cool", "comforting" or acceptable to anybody. Also, if you are reading this while Black and you are involved in a situation like this, you especially need to Get The Fuck Outta Here With That Mess. don't let that mess slide. It will never be cute or endearing. 

That is all.

The Hate That Hate Produced- My attempt on taking a 'stab' at Black on Black Crime

Lately, I've been reading a lot more than I have in the past. I average on reading and completing four or five books a month. My latest book is Richard Wright's Uncle Tom's Children. I was reading the chapter called "Big Boy Leaves Home", which follows four young boys that skipped school to swim in a local lake. They took their clothes off for a quick dip, then all of a sudden, a White woman appears. They were startled, and wanted to get their clothes. They were debating on whether they should stay still and try to hide or grab their clothes and get out of there. The main character who goes by the nickname of "Big Boy" decides to grab his clothes, and he is spotted by the woman. Big Boy tries to calm her down by saying that he was just trying to get his clothes. She screams and a man appears (later mentioned to be her husband). The man has a gun, the boy and the man wrestle, which results in two out of four of the Black boys getting killed by the White man. The boy involved in the struggle manages to kill the White man with his own rifle. Panic ensues, and the two remaining boys run home. The boy involved in the scuffle ran home and explained the issue to his parents. The boy's father is initially upset because the boys were supposed to be in school. The parents enlist in the help of the preacher and a neighbor. They devise a plan to hide the boy so he doesn't get lynched later. The family gives the boy in distress some cornbread to take with him, and the boy hides. The sun sets, and he hears some noise. His friend is in the distance, however the boy in hiding hears voices. It's the White mob. The mob discusses their hatred for Blacks and how all of them in "this country" should be killed. A White man bragged about how they thought they found "one" and how they burned a shack and drove a "nigger woman" out of it, how they set it on fire, and that one particular mob member should have been there to hear her "holler". They discuss in detail about what they will contribute to the hunt. One person brought a pillow for feathers, another person offered gasoline, if needed. They start singing a song that starts with "We'll hang ever nigger t' a sour apple tree." They discover the hidden boy's friend who happened to be lurking in the darkness, and they proceed to tar, and feather him. Once that was complete, they cut up the body for souvenirs, and then burned the body.


I had to stop reading for a while.


I thought about what drives people to do these things. I began to get enraged, I made up my mind that some of these people are empathy-less monsters incapable of having human emotions, and a rational thought process. I also thought of Black on Black crime, and how every so often, I get the joy of hearing the following paraphrased mantra, "We no longer need the KKK to kill Blacks. They do all of the work for us."


Let that marinate for a bit.


I also hear people constantly holding up Black on Black crime in order to excuse killings of Blacks by Whites. I have asked people why it happens, and I always get this as an answer: Hate is taught in the homes of Blacks, and they are the most racist people in this country (North America).


I ask, Why is hate taught in the homes of Blacks, and why are they the most racist in the country? I either get no response, or I get something to the affect of, "They don't know any better." or "That's just how they are."


Think about that for a second.


Here you have a race of people who were treated like shit for many many years in various ways based on skin color, by another group of people who have their minds made up that they are the superior people out of all of the groups. They were denied jobs, spat on, fed scraps, paid close to nothing for their hard work while working for that so called superior group (and that's when it was no longer fashionable to not pay them at all), referred to as "beasts" at a certain point in time, they have been denied the opportunities to get loans with decent rates to start businesses, or buy houses, they have been told to die for a country that treats them like second class citizens, they have been killed or beaten to teach others who look like them to not "step out of bounds", which could mean looking at a "superior" person in the eye, not using Mr. or Ms when greeting them, not taking off their caps in elevators, and not kowtowing to them in general. They have been basically told that their life isn't nor will it ever be worth anything unless they kowtow well "enough", and "enough" is used subjectively. Needless to say, those people are going to have a major inferiority complex and will take it wherever they go, and they will pass it down from generation to generation regardless of where they choose to take up residence. In laymen's terms, "that shit will follow them wherever they go, no matter what they do." And folks have the nerve to be angry with them for that?! << GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE?! ARE THEY REALLY THAT DENSE?!


Some Whites want to be mad, dismayed and hurt because they can't walk in the Black neighborhoods because they are White. They want to dismiss the feelings of Blacks because "That was a long time ago, and that you should get over it already, because we gave you jobs, and food stamps." They want to say that, "Some people just can't appreciate what they were given, and they don't want to thrive and grow because they are lazy."


They want to blame Black on Black crime because they fail to see where it came from. Where did the idea that a Black life wasn't worth anything come from? How did that idea get there? Blacks have made strides to do better, but people will commit crimes against each other no matter where they live. Add poverty in the mix and it's a recipe for disaster regardless of said ethnicity. Do a google search on "Appalachian hollers" or visit any trailer park in North America for instance. You'd find the same things, but no one is attacking these people in these areas. The media only attacks Black people. Why is that?


I suspect some pretty strong denial, cognitive dissonance, willful ignorance, and who knows what may be to blame. Now before you sit up and say that I hate White people, and call me racist, you have it all wrong. I hate what the hate produced. I am aware of where it came from and why it exists amongst Black people. I hate seeing Black people kill each other. I hate the fact that a person can't just come home from work without worrying about getting hit by a stray bullet from some kids who managed to get their hands on some guns because they were spoon fed by the media on glorifying guns based on good ol' American culture enjoying its God given right to bear arms again. I hate that some Black people treat those who look like them like crap (especially in majority White states) based on skin color as if they never saw a mirror or their own reflection in their lives. Stockholm syndrome is in full effect, y'all. I want to know what we are going to do about it and how we are going to help each other understand the who, what, when, where, why, how, and the which-es, regarding it.


I think that's my blog for the week. We'll see what happens next.

The Hate That Hate Produced- My attempt on taking a 'stab' at Black on Black Crime

Lately, I've been reading a lot more than I have in the past. I average on reading and completing four or five books a month. My latest book is Richard Wright's Uncle Tom's Children. I was reading the chapter called "Big Boy Leaves Home", which follows four young boys that skipped school to swim in a local lake. They took their clothes off for a quick dip, then all of a sudden, a White woman appears. They were startled, and wanted to get their clothes. They were debating on whether they should stay still and try to hide or grab their clothes and get out of there. The main character who goes by the nickname of "Big Boy" decides to grab his clothes, and he is spotted by the woman. Big Boy tries to calm her down by saying that he was just trying to get his clothes. She screams and a man appears (later mentioned to be her husband). The man has a gun, the boy and the man wrestle, which results in two out of four of the Black boys getting killed by the White man. The boy involved in the struggle manages to kill the White man with his own rifle. Panic ensues, and the two remaining boys run home. The boy involved in the scuffle ran home and explained the issue to his parents. The boy's father is initially upset because the boys were supposed to be in school. The parents enlist in the help of the preacher and a neighbor. They devise a plan to hide the boy so he doesn't get lynched later. The family gives the boy in distress some cornbread to take with him, and the boy hides. The sun sets, and he hears some noise. His friend is in the distance, however the boy in hiding hears voices. It's the White mob. The mob discusses their hatred for Blacks and how all of them in "this country" should be killed. A White man bragged about how they thought they found "one" and how they burned a shack and drove a "nigger woman" out of it, how they set it on fire, and that one particular mob member should have been there to hear her "holler". They discuss in detail about what they will contribute to the hunt. One person brought a pillow for feathers, another person offered gasoline, if needed. They start singing a song that starts with "We'll hang ever nigger t' a sour apple tree." They discover the hidden boy's friend who happened to be lurking in the darkness, and they proceed to tar, and feather him. Once that was complete, they cut up the body for souvenirs, and then burned the body.


I had to stop reading for a while.


I thought about what drives people to do these things. I began to get enraged, I made up my mind that some of these people are empathy-less monsters incapable of having human emotions, and a rational thought process. I also thought of Black on Black crime, and how every so often, I get the joy of hearing the following paraphrased mantra, "We no longer need the KKK to kill Blacks. They do all of the work for us."


Let that marinate for a bit.


I also hear people constantly holding up Black on Black crime in order to excuse killings of Blacks by Whites. I have asked people why it happens, and I always get this as an answer: Hate is taught in the homes of Blacks, and they are the most racist people in this country (North America).


I ask, Why is hate taught in the homes of Blacks, and why are they the most racist in the country? I either get no response, or I get something to the affect of, "They don't know any better." or "That's just how they are."


Think about that for a second.


Here you have a race of people who were treated like shit for many many years in various ways based on skin color, by another group of people who have their minds made up that they are the superior people out of all of the groups. They were denied jobs, spat on, fed scraps, paid close to nothing for their hard work while working for that so called superior group (and that's when it was no longer fashionable to not pay them at all), referred to as "beasts" at a certain point in time, they have been denied the opportunities to get loans with decent rates to start businesses, or buy houses, they have been told to die for a country that treats them like second class citizens, they have been killed or beaten to teach others who look like them to not "step out of bounds", which could mean looking at a "superior" person in the eye, not using Mr. or Ms when greeting them, not taking off their caps in elevators, and not kowtowing to them in general. They have been basically told that their life isn't nor will it ever be worth anything unless they kowtow well "enough", and "enough" is used subjectively. Needless to say, those people are going to have a major inferiority complex and will take it wherever they go, and they will pass it down from generation to generation regardless of where they choose to take up residence. In laymen's terms, "that shit will follow them wherever they go, no matter what they do." And folks have the nerve to be angry with them for that?! << GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE?! ARE THEY REALLY THAT DENSE?!


Some Whites want to be mad, dismayed and hurt because they can't walk in the Black neighborhoods because they are White. They want to dismiss the feelings of Blacks because "That was a long time ago, and that you should get over it already, because we gave you jobs, and food stamps." They want to say that, "Some people just can't appreciate what they were given, and they don't want to thrive and grow because they are lazy."


They want to blame Black on Black crime because they fail to see where it came from. Where did the idea that a Black life wasn't worth anything come from? How did that idea get there? Blacks have made strides to do better, but people will commit crimes against each other no matter where they live. Add poverty in the mix and it's a recipe for disaster regardless of said ethnicity. Do a google search on "Appalachian hollers" or visit any trailer park in North America for instance. You'd find the same things, but no one is attacking these people in these areas. The media only attacks Black people. Why is that?


I suspect some pretty strong denial, cognitive dissonance, willful ignorance, and who knows what may be to blame. Now before you sit up and say that I hate White people, and call me racist, you have it all wrong. I hate what the hate produced. I am aware of where it came from and why it exists amongst Black people. I hate seeing Black people kill each other. I hate the fact that a person can't just come home from work without worrying about getting hit by a stray bullet from some kids who managed to get their hands on some guns because they were spoon fed by the media on glorifying guns based on good ol' American culture enjoying its God given right to bear arms again. I hate that some Black people treat those who look like them like crap (especially in majority White states) based on skin color as if they never saw a mirror or their own reflection in their lives. Stockholm syndrome is in full effect, y'all. I want to know what we are going to do about it and how we are going to help each other understand the who, what, when, where, why, how, and the which-es, regarding it.


I think that's my blog for the week. We'll see what happens next.

Bill Cosby- I'm Going In

Every so often, I come across this quote from Bill Cosby:

Timeline Photos

BILL HAS GONE AND DONE IT AGAIN... 

They're standing on the corner and they can't speak English. 

I can't even talk the way these people talk: 

Why you ain't, 

Where you is, 

What he drive, 

Where he stay, 

Where he work, 

Who you be... 

And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk. 

And then I heard the father talk. 

Everybody knows it's important to speak English except these knuckleheads. You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth.

In fact you will never get any kind of job making a decent living. 

People marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an Education, and now we've got these knuckleheads walking around. 

The lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal. 

These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids. 

$500 sneakers for what? 

And they won't spend $200 for Hooked on Phonics.

I am talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange suit. 

Where were you when he was 2?

Where were you when he was 12? 

Where were you when he was 18 and how come you didn't know that he had a pistol? 

And where is the father? Or who is his father? 

People putting their clothes on backward: 

Isn't that a sign of something gone wrong? 

People with their hats on backward, pants down around the crack, isn't that a sign of something? 

Isn't it a sign of something when she has her dress all the way up and got all type of needles [piercing] going through her body? 

What part of Africa did this come from?? 

We are not Africans. Those people are not Africans; they don't know a thing about Africa ..... 

I say this all of the time. It would be like white people saying they are European-American. That is totally stupid. 

I was born here, and so were my parents and grand parents and, very likely my great grandparents. I don't have any connection to Africa, no more than white Americans have to Germany , Scotland , England , Ireland , or the Netherlands . The same applies to 99 percent of all the black Americans as regards to Africa . So stop, already! ! ! 

With names like Shaniqua, Taliqua and Mohammed and all of that crap ......... And all of them are in jail. 

Brown or black versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person's problem. 

We have got to take the neighborhood back. 

People used to be ashamed. Today a woman has eight children with eight different 'husbands' -- or men or whatever you call them now. 

We have millionaire football players who cannot read. 

We have million-dollar basketball players who can't write two paragraphs. We, as black folks have to do a better job. 

Someone working at Wal-Mart with seven kids, you are hurting us. 

We have to start holding each other to a higher standard..

We cannot blame the white people any longer.' 

~Dr.. William Henry 'Bill' Cosby, Jr., Ed..D. 

WELL SAID, BILL

It's NOT about color...

It's about behavior!!!

By: Diznee

---------------------------------------------------------

Every time I see this, I ask myself, "What kind of person would send this? Why do they feel the need to post it?"  Well, instead of ignoring it, I decided I'd go in on the subject. I posted this article and followed up with the following: 

Bill Cosby is right to an extent. He comes from a different era. Sure, it's fine to speak slang, but there is a time and place for it. Surely, a person can not work for a Fortune 500 company and not know how to communicate in a professional manner. No matter how you slice it, no one, and I mean no one in America speaks "proper English", unless they are a tourist from overseas, lol. And as far as naming your child goes, there are some very strange names out there, and unfortunately one must take that into consideration when living in The States, especially if you are Black. A person's name has the potential to make or break them no matter how qualified they are. 

Regarding the comment about "all type of needles (piercing) going through her body, and "What part of Africa did this come from": There are many parts of Africa and various tribes in the world who have piercings and various adornments on their body. I feel some research is in order.

Millionaire football players who can't read: The United States of America has an education system that has been broken for a very looooong time. Couple that with the antiquated idea of the American Dream, which is the idea that anyone can 'make it big' in the country regardless of education, and the results are the highly paid (and often uneducated)athlete , movie star or musician. Never mind that the school athletic departments have been getting funded before anything else, and schools are lauded for their athletic department because it is one of the main money makers for the school. This is why the sport stars are glorified so much that they get paid like that while the person with the PhD can't make enough to feed themselves or their family. This is not a new concept. Like it or not, that IS American Culture in a nutshell. It is why rappers spend so much time writing about riches, sex and material posessions. It is also why people are willing to go into bankruptcy in order to look like they can afford big homes, several cars, boats, RVs, etc. It is the reason why people have six hundred dollar cell phones, and two hundred dollar cable bills, and they are up to their ears in credit card debt. Honestly, I feel that Bill Cosby fails to see the big picture. No one is blaming white people. The stuff he mentioned pertains to American culture. Recently,"reality" TV shows called the following: "16 and Pregnant", "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" have popped up. I watched previews and pieces of the episodes only to be appalled by them. America rewards stupidity. It always has been and always will be, and that goes back to when Bill Cosby was a kid. Shows like Amos 'n' Andy , and I Love Lucy were just a couple of shows that rewarded stupidity during his day.  Don't get me wrong, I was one of the people who watched The Cosby Show and A Different World religiously. I grew up watching Fat Albert, and I am grateful for his contribution but I'm afraid he has selective memory, and will not recognize ALL of America's shortcomings, how they got there, and how long they have been there. His generation and the ones before have FAILED to recognize what could happen, and now the chips have fallen where they lay. However, as time goes by, I think there are some of us who see the problem and are actively working to rectify the situation. But it's a long and lumpy road to hoe. Instead of complaining, one must be solution oriented.

 Regarding the piece written by QuestLove. He is an educated and highly paid musician, but he still can't escape the treatment he received in the article. Chris Rock is a highly paid comedian who has made it known that he only has a GED (it's the alternative to a high school diploma for those who have not completed high school) and NO one, I mean NO one who is white would want to trade places with him, and he's RICH! If I could speak to Bill Cosby, I'd point out both situations described in my post and I'd ask him, "So which one is it Bill"?  With all due respect sir, get the fuck outta here with that mess.