Religious Roots

I've found myself in several discussions about religion lately and they've been pretty interesting. I have friends that practice different religions (Christians, Muslims, Hindus) agnostic and the ones that are spiritual.When people ask me what religion I am I say i'm spiritual with a Christian Hindu leaning. lol I can't deny those Christian roots.

I was born into a Baptist family. My father is the pastor of a Baptist church and i've spent most of my life attending various Baptist, AME Zion, AME and the occasional Church of God in Christ (C.O.G.I.C.) and Pentecostal church. I know scriptures pretty well and am very aware of church protocol. I say i'm spiritual but my Christian\Baptist upbringing is still a part of my life. I go to church a few times a year. I still fast for Lent. I hardly talk during service for fear of the TSA I mean ushers coming over and pulling my ear lol. And I still know most of those good ol hyms.

Anyhow with all of this i've never been baptized. My friend and I were talking and somehow it came up and he just stopped and looked at me.

Friend: Have you been baptized?

Me: no

F: *blank stare* what? How is that possible. You know the only way to the father is through the son. Girl, God doesn't even know you

M: Dude I know the scripture. I just haven't.

He said this to me in a joking way but I could tell he was definitely serious and believed what he was saying. This was interesting because he is one of the friends that defines himself as Agnostic. He grew up Catholic taught Sunday school and the whole nine. But since he was about 17 he's claimed he's agnostic and doesn't know or deny there's a God and doesn't agree or believe with all Catholic Dogma and often jokes saying bury him in shorts and a t-shirt b\c he doesn't want to be overdressed when he arrives in eternity. Yet he was lecturing me about the importance of being saved to ensure my eternal resting place. I wonder how many other people are like him? How many are like me? We identify ourselves one way in terms of religion but our thinking and actions on certain things are dictated by the religions we have stepped away from.

I find it interesting when people like Bill Maher (who grew up Catholic) say they are agnostic and chide those that are religious. Religion is quite powerful. We may think some people's religious practices are silly or impractical in modern times but for some reason or another it is hard to break away from. Think about it. If you grew up in a religious household\family how much of your time has been devoted to instilling the principles and practices of said religion in you. When I was young every Saturday my parents and I would go to my grandparents house and have family Bible study. My grandparents mostly listened to gospel music. I was in the choir (so rehersal was 2nd and 4th sat.) and on the praise dance team, not to mention there was Sunday school. Thats several hours of my week that was devoted to learning about and practicing Christianity for like the first 13 years of my life. There's no way I can throw all that knowledge\info away. It is definitely part of my life. Religion can dictate every part of your life if you've been taught that way. It dictates dating, sex, some of your money, time (for prayer worship, and charity work), your relationship with the "unbeliever" marriage etc...

How many of you are religious? If you've moved away from the religion you grew up as, have you completely shed your religious past? Would you date someone that's not as religious as you?

Ignoramos

Last night I was talking with a male friend and somehow or another intellectuals were mentioned. The convo went like this

Him: I'm highly intellectual. Wouldn't you agree?

Me: ummm if that's what you believe

H: You don't think i'm intellectual

M: I don't think you're stupid and you definitely know some things

H: What do you rate my intellect on a scale of 1-10

M: I don't like this question. are you prepared for the answer

H: Go ahead tell me

M: a 5 or 5.5

H: You've gotta be kidding

M: *Silent*

If you have to ask if someone regards you as an intellectual chances are you are not. Why in sam-hell would he ask me that? I wasn't out to break him down or anything like that but it needed to be done. I usually let fools ramble on and on and let them keep making a fool of themselves. But, last night he was getting way too condescending. He thought because I was quiet "see you can't refute my argument. clearly your lack of comments shows i'm right. just admit i'm more intelligent than you". And that is the comment that made me have to check him. How dare he challenge me. (Satya has slightly masculine ego...perhaps i got it from my father hmmm). I don't think i'm a genius or anything like that. I think i'm as intelligent as most college grads. I don't feel the need to flaunt what I know about a subject in front of someone who doesn't nor do I say things to get attention and have people tell me "you're so smart'. Its not necessary. Stop trying so hard

But if you're feeling bold and decide to challenge me directly bring it. So basically I had to shut him down and by the end of the convo he was telling me that he didn't appreciate me putting him down and belittling him. Don't start no stuff, won't be no stuff. So now I shall present a list of the some ways to know whether or not you're an intelligent

-If you ONLY read Hip-Hop magazines, hood books, and comic strips. you're not an intellectual. Broaden you're horizons (note the emphasis on ONLY)

-If you can only converse about one topic with ease and knowledge, you're not intelligent. You should be well versed in many areas. It should be anything from English lit. classics to chopped and screwed to the latest movies to events in history to the latest technology.

- If you cannot answer questions about an argument you are making, you're not an intelligent. Don't make an argument if you can't defend\answer questions about it.

-If you ask someone are you intelligent, you're not

- If you try to change the meanings of words to express what you're saying, you're not very bright

-A final note, Just b\c you graduated form college doesn't mean you're intelligent. I know some college grads that make scratch my head sometimes

I know there's more but i'll stop here. Go on add to the list. What are some ways to know whether or not you're intelligent

Dastard

Michael Steele is a punk plain and simple. Ok let me behave like an adult. He is not a good leader. He needs to accept his new position and assert himself.

On Saturday Michael Steele appeared on D.L. Hughley's show "DL Breaks the news". During the interview Hughley called Rush Limbaugh the "de-facto leader of the Republican party". Steele seemed agitated by this comment and responded by saying ""No he's not. I'm the de-facto leader of the Republican party... Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer... his show incendiary and, yes it's ugly" I saw the show when it aired and thought to myself maybe Steele does have what it takes to revamp the party, he's got balls for calling Limbaugh what he is, an ENTERTAINER. And claiming his authority over the party. I actually applauded him. I think too many Republicans have been afraid to call Rush on his B-S b\c they fear the backlash from him and listeners. Rush's listeners are the problem child of the party. They want to sustain "the core Republican principles" and have no desire to recruit "others" into the party. The fact is Republicans have to redefine their core principles and start recruiting "others". I would suggest they direct effort toward the Latino demographic. They're the leading minority (in terms of population)and most are pretty religious. True they're Catholic, but they both love Jesus. If they could tap into just 25% of that population it would make a huge difference for the party. But I digress.

Surprise, surprise today when I was watching the news and saw Steele apologized to Limbaugh. He said, "My intent was not to go after Rush - I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh...I was maybe a little bit inarticulate. ... There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership". What a punk &%^#$... I mean what a coward. Steele is an elected official and he needs to learn quickly how to assert his authority. The chairman of any political party is indeed the de-facto leader of said party. The RNC "provides national leadership for the Republican Party of the United States of America". Steele was elected the chairman of the RNC and is therefore the de-facto leader. I can't believe Steele apologized. He must grow a set quickly because he is going to have to step on a lot of "grass roots Republican's" toes to change the direction of the Republican party and make it a viable party again.

So we know how much Limbaugh loves attention. Here's a little of what he had to say about Michael Steele, ""Michael Steele, you are head of the Republican National Committee. You are not head of the Republican party. Tens of millions of conservatives and Republicans have nothing to do with the Republican National Committee...and when you call them asking for money, they hang up on you."

Are you all surprised by Steele's apology? Any Republicans out there believe that the Republicans and the RNC are two separate entities?

Body art and Piercings

According to various articles and news reports i've seen, tattooing and piercing has been on the rise in the past 20 years. It's often cited that tattoos and piercings used to only be associated with biker clubs, thugs, and military personnel. I guess that is somewhat true. When I was younger I had a friend that lived near a local motor cycle club and the members were extra tatted and pierced up. And there were a few OGs in my hood that had a few tatts.

In the past 8-9 years i've noticed everybody and their mama, literally has tattoos and or piercings. This older lady at my home church showed me her new tattoo in the bathroom (why I have no idea). I've seen older folks getting new tattoos and piercings in shops pretty regularly. What's up with that? I can understand the current generation (35 and younger) getting inked up but what with the older folks? Is it an attempt to recapture their youth? Or have they always wanted one and never had the balls to do it. I've seen older folks with some questionable tattoos. When I got my first one this older woman (probably early 50s) was getting a tatt of cherries with a mouth behind it...WTH? why are you getting that @ 50ish? Another time I saw a 40 something woman getting her name on her arm... WTF? At 40is you still don't know how your name looks? If you're older at least get something tasteful.

I have two tattoos (the picture @the top is my first one) and 2 piercings besides my ears. I think my tattoos are tasteful and they actually mean something to me. But, my tatts are pretty hidden. People at my job have no idea. I like that. at work i'm a cool very corporate looking lady and in the evening and on weekends I'm a 20 something with ink.

So what do you all think about tattoos and piercings? Are they a turn-on or turn-0ff? Is there a such thing as too many tatts or piercings? What do you have pierced or inked on you?

How the...

I realize I'm about two week late but had to post on this.

Have the members of PETA lost their minds? How in the world could "rational" human beings think it is OK to dress up as the KKK outside of Madison Square Garden to protest the American Kennel Club (AKC)? PETA alleges, "Like the Klan, dog breeders who subscribe to the AKC standards are all about the sanctity of “pure bloodlines.” There is absolutely no comparison. NONE! Animals are not equal to humans. I don't think animals should be abused for sport but they are not people. Animals do not have rights! Meat is not murder!

How could they possibly compare the way the KKK treated Blacks to the way the AKC treats dogs? Let's give a brief recap of the KKK shall we. Let's see a group of white guys decide that they are part of the Aryan race and only want to live amongst their kind. They dress up in white sheets and in the middle of the night decide to attack Negroes. What exactly do you mean by attack? Glad you asked. Well they would bomb your house and or car. While your wife and children were there. But wait that was too nice for the Negroes. They would take a black man castrate him, lynch him, and then burn him, as his family watched in horror. "Let the family live" onlookers shouted, so the Negroes would never forget and tell other blacks so they would learn their place. They would also rape a black man's wife and hold him down and force him to watch. The killing of Negroes was even a family outing. There are several reports of "fine" white families packing a picnic basket and going to see a Negro get lynched. These crimes that the Klan committed openly were rarely even addressed by local police departments or elected officials.

In 2009 so far we have witnessed the police kill an unarmed man in CA. In NY police officers sodomized a young man in a subway station, and the NY Post put out a racist cartoon. Let's give a brief recap of police injustice in the past 10-15 year. Let's see there was Abner Louima. A young man that was sodomized and brutally attacked in a police prescient bathroom. There was Amidou Diallo. The young unarmed man that was shot at 41 times because police believed his wallet was a gun. And let's just end with Sean Bell. The young man who was gunned down by police hours before his wedding b\c they believed someone in his crew had a gun. With all of these things happening PETA is worrying about "animal rights"? They can keep that. I'll think about the injustice of a "pure blood dog" when spending in "urban" schools is equal to spending in suburban schools, when racial profiling is no longer the accepted social norm by police forces, and when minorities and whites are charged for the same crimes equally.

*Side note- I think I may go out and have some Kobe beef and veal this week

Confused?

"Oreo, Sellout, or lost. That's what they call me. But why?

They say I don't act black enough, but what is acting black?

Do I have to speak improperly or act ghetto to be black?

Do I have to watch B.E.T all day and keep my sneaker game tight to act black?

Should I be politically and socially unaware?"

-Satya

That's a little excerpt from a poem I wrote in high school. Throughout H.S. I was called all the names mentioned above in addition to boughie. I was on the school's moot court and mock trial team. Junior year I was a grade senator and senior year I was the Vice President of student government. I was always pretty articulate and grew out of my "hood phase" fast. All these things I guess led to me being called an Oreo. (My HS was 60% Latina ,28% black, 6% Asian ,3% White and 3% other)

Why do some black people associate possessing the social graces, speaking proper English, and good grades with acting white? Why can't it just be dag she's on point or he's the sh*t. According to Dr. John Agbu some black kids have dumbed themselves down because they fear their peers will say they are "acting white". It appears this is a phenomenon is the black community. I was friends with Asian kids in HS and you can believe me when I tell when they did well in school no one said they were acting white. Has this happened because we as a people have lowered our expectations?

A few times in some of my classes some of my peers tried to question my "blackness". They'd ask me what rapper I thought was the best, who the current tracks that were out, who was on the cover of the latest Source or XXL, what videos were on 106& Park etc... And I would think to myself what kind of fuckery is this? No one ever told me you had to pass a test to be black.

As a result of not really being understood or accepted by my black counterparts in HS I began to dislike young black people. When my peers began calling me an Oreo or mocking my amazing performance of soliloquies in English class I would respond with an off the wall comment about how I didn't like their kind anyhow. Funny thing is I would be insulting them and they didn't even realize it. I'd call some Jigaboos, porch monkeys, i'd talk about them being inferior b\c of their small brain size etc... (I learned about eugenics early on b\c my older cousins went to HBCUs and studied race). Was this nice? Not at all. It took a while but I've grown out of this phase. I had to make it to college to meet other black people like me.

With that said, we as a people need to raise our expectations of each other. Excelling in school is not acting white. It is called being a good student. Speaking proper English does not mean you are white, it means you are literate. So I know most of you that read here have heard of the "acting white" phenomenon. What do you make of it? Has your blackness ever been questioned?

Female Sexuality

Last week over at Threewaystotakeit.com Seattle Washington and Slim Jackson wrote a post about Homosexuality and the Black community http://www.threewaystotakeit.com/homosexuality-black-community/ ( It was a very good post check it out). This post reminded me about a presentation I did sophomore year of college on Black sexuality. Today we'll take a look at Black Female Sexuality.

Throughout the course of American history several myths have been created about blacks. One of the most damaging myths in my mind is about Black female sexuality. For centuries the black woman has been labeled as overly sexual and loose. In Deborah White's book Ar'n't I a Woman: Female slaves in the plantation south, she pointed out that the idea that black women were "exceptionally sensual" started when the English went to Africa to buy slaves. They saw the women semi nude (due to the warm climate) and automatically assumed the women were loose. Additionally, Europeans didn't understand "African cultural traditions, so that polygamy was attributed to the Africans uncontrolled lust, tribal dances were reduced to the level of orgy..." (White p.37).

These ideas came with the English to the "new world" and went even further once slavery came to fruition in the U.S. Black women's sexuality became a regular conversation piece in the Antebellum south. There are accounts of slave masters saying they could hardly go go anywhere without a Negro woman looking at them with lust in their eyes. They also allege that force was never needed to to sample the black woman's goods as she was a Jezebel and always ready for sex; In fact, some believed the black woman manipulated them and got them into bed. (This is also in White's book)

So that's a brief history lesson on how the myths started and became a part of American culture.

Why is this relevant? I'm glad you asked. These American ideas about black sexuality have shaped and and still do heavily influence black sexuality today. Because blacks were seen as heathens, whorish, loose moral characters Blacks tried their best to disprove white America's allegations. Black people adopted extremely conservative attitudes about sexuality. This conservative\puritan mode way of life and thinking was in large part promoted by church to show whites that blacks were the opposite. Keep your skirts down and your pants up became the motto.

White mentions in her book that as a result of the stereotypes placed on black women two images emerged, Jezebel and Mammy. Church I'd like to talk to you all about Jezebel (lol j\k). the image of the black woman as Jezebel real. She is the overly sexual black woman in movies videos and sitcoms. On the TV show Girlfriends Lynn and Tony were the Jezebels. Both paraded men in and out of their life and had many lovers. In the movie Two Can Play that Game with Vivica Fox, Gabrielle Union plays a character Connie that is the Jezebel. Everything about her in the movie oozed sex and she was known for sleeping her way to the top. In Luv and Basketball Gabrielle Union's character was the girl that"sent her coochie by mail'. Bad Boys II Union's character was the sexy bait to catch the bad guys... wait side note, why is Union the Jezebel in so many of her roles? Robin Givens as Sunshine in Harlem Nights (she was the girl who had good p*ssy), Willona on Good Times, Clark in Mo Better Blues and the list goes.

After reading several books and articles on black female sexuality I started wondering whys black women's sexuality so complex?If you're sexually free the older generation and church calls you Jezebel. If you're a good wholesome girl that has decided to save yourself for marriage you're a prude and undesirable. What gives? Are we still trying to fight off the myths? Why is "sex" still a taboo topic in black households? Especially for couples or parents that have daughters

What's your take on black women and sexuality.

Black Sitcoms

What the heck happened to black sitcoms?

There was Julia staring Diahnn Carroll in the 60s. The Jeffersons, Good Times, Sanford and Son, Different Strokes in the 70s. Amen, The Cosby Show, A Different World, Family Matters, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, 227 in the 80s. Roc, In Living Color, Arsenio Hall, Martin, Sister Sister, Moesha, Girlfriends, Living Single in the 90s. Where have all the good shows like this gone? I can't name any decent black shows that came out in the 2000s that are on the level of the previously mentioned shows... wait My Wife and Kids is the exception. Ok wait there were a few more decent shows One on One and All of Us, but I don't think these two shows were the caliber of the others either.

During the 90s there was a a black sitcom on nearly every network...positive black shows. What happened? To be honest I have no idea. I'm actually quite disappointed that there isn't a wide variety of black shows to watch. I found it pretty inspiring to see examples of black love, success, intelligence, and sense on community on television. It saddens me to hear young kids in the hallways of the school I work in dumb excited (dang that's mad old) to talk about the previous nights episode of I luv New York, Hell Date,Real Housewives of Atlanta, Bad Girls club etc... but, the same students looked at me like I was crazy when I told them to watch Queen on TV One... I digress. I'm not saying all black shows need to be serious and intellectually stimulating but can we have some positive shows again?

I miss 90s tv sitcoms dearly. The cool theme songs (Fresh Prince and Living Single in particular), actual story lines, seeing the characters interact with each other, bringing light to social issues(A Differenet World and Roc) Dam they just don't make good tv like they used to. What are your favorite shows form back in the day (black, white, Latino, whatever)? Why aren't there good black sitcoms anymore?