EVOLUTION
Wow, life so very chock full of drama personal and otherwise, stayed in bed until close to noon Saturday I was so wiped out and even then, ventured outside my blankie with extreme reluctance.
Choppy rewind: Eric Holder in a speech honoring Black History Month accuses the U.S. of being a ‘nation of cowards’ for not discussing race enough.
Honestly, I find our Attorney General quite good looking – love his laughing eyes, that dark ‘stache and the way he wears a tie and jacket. But that remark was a boisterous power chord without music to follow.
All Americans seem to discuss is race. The commentary is non-stop and mostly grudge driven. For instance, if one more black woman tries to bond with me by referring to white women as if they’re some radioactive force that must be controlled, I’ll jump screaming off the nearest cliff.
The problem seems to be that there are no clear guidelines for what healthy discussions about race are. I would say NO discussions about race are what I look for day to day. I prefer taking people one at a time and am always invigorated by those I meet who don’t follow the script.
On the subject of ‘the script,’ the Bullet Proof Weave story that emerged mid-week never mentioned race, yet seemed to have no function other than to question black female beauty. Surely, in a trigger happy nation like ours where guns are in such abundance, people survive being shot at every day.
But for some reason, a black woman’s scalp was suddenly being shown over and over inviting viewers to step right up and take a peek at the monstrous mechanics of her hair. It’s a real downer when the news has the same circus bark as The Maury Povich or Jerry Springer show. Had little time to process how to respond to the leering anchor people on Eyewitness News in New York reporting this trash with the controversy over the New York Post cartoon raging, however.
I don’t see the point in accusing The New York Post of being racist. It’s a Murdoch creation like Fox News designed to be just that. All the hurt feelings and shock that The Post could print such a thing struck me as dumb.
What I did relate to was singer, John Legend putting companies who advertise with the Post on the spot by asking them to not run ads in the paper as well as refusing interviews with Post reporters and encouraging other entertainers to do the same.
Perfect. The Post has been a dying paper for a while and will regret publishing that cartoon because of threats to its revenue stream far more than black people sobbing and putting on temper tantrums about how hurt we are and vulnerable our feelings.
From Rush Limbaugh to The New York Post, the voices of the Republican party continue to broadcast fear of the future. That’s why the right wing fantasy of a chimp being murdered is so symbolic.
The planet has evolved without anyone’s consent. The future is a force of nature – and it’s coming no matter how much they try and shoot at it.
Tags: Barack Obama, blacks, evolution, New York Post, racism
February 23rd, 2009 at 1:46 am
King Kong,Cheetah,Mighty Joe Young,Curious George,Planet of the Apes,
28 days later, A.I.D.S,Darwin, The N.Y. Post’s “face eating chimp”.
For such an intelligent animal, it sure gets a bad rap!
Talk about guilt by association. Tiger’s in Drew Hamilton Projects! D.M.X.’Starved pitbulls!A drug addicted 200lb chimpanzee eats a woman’s eye’s +face.
Preserve whats left of the wild,leave the animals there.
Boycott circus’s that exploit animals,Boycott companies that use animals
for research,Boycott fur, consider a vegan diet…
Boycott All companies advertising in the N.Y. Post.
“You are what you eat” Same can be said for Chimps..
February 23rd, 2009 at 11:01 am
Well, I’m no vegan and never will be one :-). However, there is much to be said for the rape of the natural world. Have you ever considered that we humans are apart from all other bilogical beings on the planet? Do you know of any species that rapes the earth, uses more than they need or respects and lives in harmony with their surroundings. I sometimes wonder if we are of this planet. People talk about “aliens”, well perhaps we are the aliens and the reason we fear being invaded by such is that we know what the consequences can be. Oh well, enough of my musings.
The NY Post has been a dying publication for so long that it is a wonder that it still exists. I guess it is being proppped up by Murdoch’s billions so that those who spew hatred can have a forum.
I just wanted to make one more”race” comment. I went to see “Platanos and Collard Greens” this weekend and, being Puerto Rican and having been married to an African-American woman, I found the play to be thought provoking, funny and inspirational. I learned so much about why we Latinos, especially Domicans and Puerto Ricans, seem to always deny our Africanness. I now know that it was the colonial Spaniards and, in Brazil, the Portuguese, that separated us. The fact that the Dominicans share the same Island as the Haitians yet are not connected with each other makes me wonder whether any race will truly get together. Being a hopeful romantic I hold out that hope that we will one day truly live in “One world”.
Okay, have I created enough tributaries off the main stream that Jen has created? LOL.
February 28th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
I couldn’t agree more. The Post never disappoints. Though even I was taken aback when in the same week as the aforementioned racist cartoon, they put the image of Rihanna’s beaten face on the cover…twice. As a 44 year old woman, I look at that singer and see a child. She was at her most vulnerable point, and put on display for everyone to see and it bothered me. But really, it was a two for one special for the forces of racism. They featured a black woman on the cover in a terribly vulnerable position, and everyone knows (including my biracial daughters) that a black man hit her. It was a win-win for the Post, and few folks even mentioned it.
Speaking of plays, as the previous comment did. Lynn Nottage’s Ruined, about women in the Congo is a must see here in NYC. http://www.mtc-nyc.org/current-season/ruined/index.htm