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.

FOX News says Santa is White: The Christmas Edition

I'm sure you have heard about this already, but according to Fox News, Santa is White, and so is Jesus.  Everyone was outraged, and it even prompted a teacher in New Mexico to tell a child that they couldn't come to school dressed as Santa because he is White, not Black (who received paid leave for the incident btw).

All I could think of is "Ovvv Course.  Fox News would say something this ignorant, so why are people truly upset?  This country has marketed a White Santa Clause from Day. ONE.  Jesus has been depicted as a blonde haired, blue eyed man in various forms of the media as well.  See, with Fox News, one could expect racist stuff like this to spew forth from their mouths. It is their rule of thumb to twist the viewers minds to fit their agenda. Their job is to tell the viewer what to think and how to act.  It's like getting dismayed when someone announces that water is wet.

And this teacher is straight up ignorant. So what if a kid wanted to wear a Santa hat and beard. He's just getting into the spirit while the magic is still in him.  Now thanks to this fool, the kid will remember when he was told that his race doesn't allow him to wear whatever he wanted. Good job Albuquerque! But waaaaiiiit. Christmas is a time of year for everyone to enjoy.  It isn't about race, it's about faaaamily.  Let's just be haaaapy!  <Get the fuck outta here with that mess.

But wait, let's pretend Santa is indeed "White" for a second.  This guy has the luxury of being able to travel around the world and delivers toys to children by climbing down the chimney, and makes appearances in all of the malls across America.  He lets them sit on his lap and he talks to them to see what they want for Christmas. He's doing a service for all of the kids by making sure they are happy, right?  He's rich enough to purchase all of those toys just so he can give them away (face it, you and I both know that Santa didn't have his elves make that PS4 or the NES you received when you were little). Let's look at this closely:

1. He likes children enough to ask them to sit on his lap so they can talk to him
2. He buys them gifts so they will like him
3. He enters your home through a chimney.

Now, I always thought there was something wrong with the idea of Santa:

First of all, that fat fuck is NOT going to get through anybody's chimney no matter how greasy he is. Second of all, why do parents hand their children to this strange man posing as a person who would bring them happiness. To me, this sounds like how pedophillia begins. And he wants the kids to sit on his lap?!  Really? Really.
Third, he gets into everybody's house while the kids are asleep, and then eats your food.  People know damn well they wouldn't want me coming up in their house, chilling and eating stuff, and then leaving something behind. This sounds like breaking and entering to me.  Now I'm not the brightest crayon in the box, but something tells me that I would get arrested and or shot if I did that.

So this guy has the privilege of:
1. Entering the homes of strangers and eating their food with no recourse
2. Allowing random children to sit on their laps while the parents allow it, again, with no recourse
3. Having enough money to buy gifts like that.
4. Traveling around the world

Last time I checked, if I bought a lot of gifts for kids, and made it known, folks would question where I got the money to do so.  But since "Santa" has money, and has the ability to do all of these things, it's okay.  Hell, I can't even go shopping for anything without White parents frantically warning and grabbing their children while telling them to stay close to their parents as soon as they see me coming.  They don't even want me thinking about speaking to their children, especially when they say something first.

Whoa...

Maybe Santa IS White for real, I mean he has all of this privilege that I couldn't dream of having even if I wanted it.

They can keep Santa and have him for themselves. If I had children, the last thing I'd want is them fantasizing about a gift giving pedofile.

Oh, if you are already familiar with my blog, you may have an inkling on how I feel about Jesus so I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

Whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year, I hope you have a good one.  As for me, I'm just waiting for this tragic ass year to be over.

That is all.

I Don't Understand Why (insert racist thing) is Racist, Why don't You Clue Me In? < Are you for real?

 0_____O < Insert giant side eye here.  Here's why:

Every so often, a White person will ask this question in some way shape or form, and they never cease to amaze me. I decided I'd write a default response:

I think it's crazy for Black people to have to be their teachers on this subject. Why do we need to teach grown ass adults about how to act around different people and races? This is something they should be conscious of. They are the ones who spread the idea that America is a melting pot and that we should all get along. It is up to them to act like they have some sense, and learn on their own. They can google everything under the sun, so why is it that when something racist pops up they want to ask us what the problem is? Did their google ninja skills all of a sudden fail to function? Are their fingers broke? I think not. They need to be accountable for their actions, and stop using other races as a scapegoat for their fuck ups (for lack of a better phrase). That means no more saying things like, "But my Black friend said..." or" I'm 1/16th Cherokee" or "Why do Black people get to ..." and so on and so forth. Stop the foolishness and be accountable for their actions and stay out of Black folks's business (I'm looking at those who always want to say, "But black on black crime....but statistics, but numbers..." and other various talking points and confirmation bias based data, they may want to present to state their so called case. And stop with that oh so convenient, "But we're all American" mess, when they sit up there and want to talk about "Black on Black crime, but never refer to crime committed by Whites as "White on White crime" because then and only then crime is treated as a default or American problem", and crime by Blacks is some mystical phenomenon that must be shamed ,scrutinized, and looked at with disdain. Stop following up with paternalistic tripe whenever pretending to open up dialogue pertaining to Black issues. Long story short, we are not their teachers, and we can't expect them to learn anything about us and how things are when they can't even begin to accept the what when where why and how things got to be the way they are. They better read some books, use their google fu and do real research instead of coming up with voyeuristic things to stroke their own ego and confirm their biases and for gods sake take responsibility instead of blaming everybody else and telling them stuff like "get over it" or "everyone doesn't have the same opinion as you" after they don't like what is said when their questions are answered.

Usually, the response goes:  That's bullshit and you know it. You're racist and you people are impossible. You should be thankful you're brought into this country. It's the best country for your people, and if you don't like it, you should go back to Africa. I'm sure they'd take you.

Really?  Really. Are you sure you want to take the argument there? Naw, I take that back. I read this article that eloquently explains what White America has been feeling as of late. The title leaves much to be desired, but they wrote nothing but truth. For those who don't really like to read and want the TL;DR version of the article in question, I'd like to say : GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE WITH THAT!  Reading is something that is required  when a person has a computer or tries to communicate by using one. People have time to look up things like "What Does The Fox Say?", and shit like this  but don't have time to find out the answers to their questions?!  That's very telling indeed.  If one is actually willing to seek that knowledge, they will do what it takes to learn it, but I'll go ahead and humor folks and post the short version:

Long story short,  they refuse to recognize the accountability of their great grandparents for losing the farms, or making it so minorities would end up taking their jobs, I mean, that's what they voted for, and because of the treatment of Blacks by their ancestors for so long, the so called minority would probably be of no threat to them because they would be doing their own thing away from Whites. But no, they had to keep those Blacks under their thumb by any means necessary, and now things are the way they are because of that. I'm going to say that maybe they should have educated themselves and voted accordingly instead of voting based on party. Maybe they should have read their contracts carefully before signing up for those loans. Maybe they should have worked harder to pay them off. No one told them to take the shortcut and sell their land to pay off the debt. It's called fiscal responsibility and accountability folks! The rest of us are fiscally responsible and are accountable for what we spend and what we do, so why do they think they can get a pass? Plus the media who happens to be controlled by people like them were also telling everybody that having 2.5 kids was the "ideal' for the American family while others were making babies. This unsolicited advice was given for a very long time, I might add, so it isn't our fault that they blindly followed it. Now they are in the minority, so what do they think would happen next over a couple of years? They can't blame other minorities for their loss in income. They need to take a good hard look in the mirror, and look at what their actions have caused them over the years. 

That being said, They ought to face it, America is the country where they can exercise their freedoms more than every other country and they pay the least amount of taxes when compared to those in the European union. And since the Native Americans were there first in the US, newsflash, Whites don't own it, as much as they want to think they do and cry about what they see themselves entitled to.  If they don't like it they can leave or just shut up and deal with it. /s

What? they mad? To be continued...

Random Thought #3

Ok, I thought I'd come back again with another random thought. My mind is usually pretty busy and in between my rants and raves about all of the stuff you find here, sometimes I draw parallels to various things. Some are funny, some may be need to drawn out using discussion. Speaking of such, I've got two thoughts to bring to the table. I'll have to preface this one by saying that just because I thought about it and put the ideas together doesn't mean I believe it. I'm just pointing out the double standard here:

Calling all Muslims terrorists and hating them based on their clothes (burkas) and what extremists have done is crazy. Using that logic*, Black people should hate all White people because klansmen were White, and they committed atrocities based on religious beliefs. Therefore, White people look like klansmen, and all of them must be terrorists.

Again, please note, the key words in the observation are "USING THAT LOGIC". The last thing I need to do is argue with somebody who failed to fully read what I'm saying here. That being said, here is my other random thought in reference to the idea of Christian heaven:

I wonder if there are mansions in the Christian version of "heaven" and if I get there and end up with my own mansion, who is going to clean all of those rooms, and why is the ideal lifestyle in heaven the same as a rich person on Earth? What would a dead person do with the "riches" they get in heaven? Is there a shopping center up there or something? Does heaven have a "maintenance crew"? Is heaven really a gated community that people have been paying "homeowner's fees" for whenever they attend church? 

Maybe somebody can answer the second one for me, however I encourage dialogue for both thoughts. What do you say about these thoughts of mine? Could there be any truth to them?

Rachet Behavior Assigned Solely to Black People?! << I Know They Didn't!

First, lets take a look at some of the various definitions of the word, "ratchet".  I was under the impression that it came from a rapper by the name of Hurricaine Chris back in 2009, but I found no actual definitions that traced it back to him even though that's where I thought I first heard the term.  However, I did find two interesting  definitions, listed on a blog which explored where the writer thought it came from. The blogger mentions that it may be possible that the first use of the word came from a character in the book "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest". The character's name was "Nurse Ratchet". For those who hadn't read the book or need their memory refreshed, Nurse Ratchet was described as not a very nice woman. She was cold, calculating, manipulative, and controlling especially when things didn't go her way.  Some may go out of their way to describe her as a "bitch" but I'll get to that term a bit later.

The second idea the blogger had was that it came from the word "wretched", which can be described as deplorably bad , miserable or distressing.  It seems that the author was on to something here.

I looked a bit further and I couldn't help but start to see a pattern. Urban Dictionary.Com, Ny Mag.com, YahooAnswers, all imply that ratchet is a term meant to be applied to "ghetto",or "urban" people,(read Black people) in particular.  When I saw that, I said, "Get the fuck outta here!". One must not simply deem a whole section of people as "ratchet" just because the term was heard in a couple of songs by a particular group of people within said group who coined the term to describe generally tacky behavior. If all Black people are ratchet based on that, what does that make everyone else?  The real difference is what each sub culture calls this type of behavior, and how it is presented. For example, many movies have been centered around that behavior. Some television shows often have mean girls (or women in this case) nicely tucked into the story to keep things going.  In these cases, we are likely to watch these kinds of shows and are quick to give the character with ratchet behavior the title of "bitch" if she's a woman, or "mean girl" if she's not classified as a woman yet. Do we go around and label all women in the subculture represented here as ratchet ass females, or ratchet hoes? No, they get to be called mean girls, or bitches. And what about the guys? If they are ratchet, we call them douchebags, assholes,dicks (see 2nd definition) or alpha males. Don't front like this behavior is not celebrated in America by one sub culture of people verses the majority.  Not taking the time to look at both sides of the coin in attempts to demonize an entire culture is ratchet in itself.  America as a whole LOVES that crap. Why do some people reward this behavior? Why does the ratchet person get rooted for in the movies by some people? Why are people getting rewarded with the chance to be on a reality tv show with the promise of fame and money as long as they act as sorry as possible?  Why do we have ratchet cartoons? I can't act like I'm not guilty of enjoying a bit of ratchetness, in fact, that cartoon I listed is something I watch in small doses when I'm in the mood. Others watch Family Guy, South Park (which has some good social commentary sometimes), and many more. I just find it very interesting when Black people came up with the term, all of a sudden, all Black people get assigned to being ratchet.  Get the fuck outta here with that.

Not only can ratchet behavior be celebrated on TV, but it is also lauded as a sign of leadership in some circles (hence the alpha male title).  I already mentioned the Washington Post article  about what happens when mean girls grow up. The article also points out ratchetness in the work place and how the behavior may not necessarily be a bad thing. Let's be honest, we have all had a boss or co workers (male or female) who acted crazy from time to time. That behavior may include passive aggressiveness, snarkiness disguised as sarcasm,general bitchiness, and quite possibly verbal abuse. Last time I checked, that kind of behavior makes for a caustic workplace environment, and yet, some people can still get ahead using those tactics and are seen as straight forward, assertive and bold.

Maybe it really isn't like that for some people. Maybe we can blame their ratchet behavior on genes rather than poor parenting. Maybe they had O.D.D as kids and didn't grow out of it. Maybe we can come up with all kinds of euphemisms to describe otherwise tasteless behavior while ignoring the fact that it exists in this country. This way, we can sit on our high horses and call every Black person ratchet all day and every day while turning a blind eye to The Dunkin' Doughnuts incident sort of thing, this lady going batshit crazy over Obama's re election, the Huntington Beach Riots, the entire cast of Jersey Shore, Lindsy Lohan, Cory Monteith's death, and Heath Ledger's death. But waaaait. Celebrities don't coooouuunnnt. They're entertaaaaainers, and some of them are troooooubled. It's really haaaard to be a star. They have so much pressure put on them and some handle it better than others.  <<Get the fuck outta here and tell that to Whitney Houston especially after reading all of the comments on any article pertaining to her eventual death after the discovery of her drug use that was strewn all across the internet. Let Amy Winehouse know about it also. I guess she was different since people judged her anyway because she was White and from the UK. I just never heard anybody refer to her as ratchet.

That is all.

N!ggA vs N!ggER --Aw Lawd! Not This Again :(

I usually don't follow anything sports related at all, but this ended up in my feed. The wide receiver for the Eagles by the name of Riley Cooper was at a concert and he said "I'd fight every n*gger here" while being on camera.  Apparently he was upset because the Black security guard would not let him go backstage. Check the clip and notice how he was called out by emphasizing the e-r at the end of 'n*gger'.

Lets back up for a minute and examine the situation closely:

He was at a concert

He wanted to go backstage and was upset because the Black security guard (who was doing his job, by the way) wouldn't let him go. 

Sure, many people will look at the video and say, "Oh, he's just drunk..bla bla bla...", but let's look at what's going to come out of this situation.

I anticipate a whole lot of people who are going to say things like "Well, Black people say it all the time in their music and around each other, so why can I say it?"  The rebuttal usually goes something like this: That word was used to demean and dehumanize Black people for centuries. That word was accompanied by lynchings, rape, shooting, and various other methods of legalized torture inflicted upon Blacks for many years. For Blacks to take the word and use it themselves while denying the usage for any other races was supposed to be a symbol of power. This is followed up by: Well if you didn't want anyone else to say it, you shouldn't have brought it back. That word would have been forgotten and never would have seen the light of day <<<GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE WITH THAT BULLSHIT!  Here's why:  That word is spoken in many many households. I'm not saying that it is spoken in every household, whether Black, White, or in between, but I'm speaking overall and in general.  That word was not said in my household growing up regardless of whether there was an e-r or an a at the end of it. My family members (immediate and non immediate)  have never talked to each other like that. We don't even curse around each other. So for someone to tell me that Black people say it all the time in their homes and everywhere else is generalized trash. We are not a monolithic people, where if you see one group of Black people doing something, then you must safely assume that all of us are doing it. <<Using that logic, I could safely say that all Whites must be Klansmen, because I've seen the documentaries.  I could sit up here and say that Johnny Rebel, David Allen Coe, Ted Nugent and Rush Limbaugh are their culture and that all White people are like that. But guess what? I'd get accused as racist and narrow minded if I actually believed that, now wouldn't I? 

Anyway, here comes the next rebuttal: "I can say anything I want and if I want to say that word, then I should be able to because of Freedom of Speech".  Well, go ahead and say it then. Just make sure it's done in the blackest cities and streets in The States and see what happens. I bet they won't do it. They'll just stick to saying it around the only Black person at the party, or or in a classroom setting, or behind closed doors, or one on one with the Black person, or once they feel they know them well enough and feel "comfortable" around them, or if they are "approachable" looking, or blasting it out of their vehicles because they claim to like rap music, or while hiding behind an online profile, or drunk, or ...ok, I'll stop now. ;)