CW Political and Social Thought

Black Identity, In Progress

Ok, so it’s obvious that my African American identity means a lot to me. It has never meant so much to until college. For a long time I thought that it was because of the hostile environment here at UVa against students of color, but I have realized that it was not primarily that. I believe that I have developed my African American identity because I have entered an environment where I have never been around so many people that were so unlike me. That does mean more whites, but that also means more other kinds of people. For a Black person (of my type), it becomes extremely difficult to fit in. Since there is such a large population here, social interactions among members of groups become more important. For a person like me who is very individualistic and independent, the dynamics of a large school become overwhelming. If you are not a part of some organization, then you’re socially isolated. I attempted to do several organizations where I could exercise my independence and demonstrate my talent, but none of them work out. Several of those attempts failed because people were judging me (or my friends) based on my skin. I tried to write for the school paper, but that just ended in failure. I tried to try out for a debating society, but that was a failure. I wanted something intellectual and creative. For a Black student on Grounds that is hard to come by. So I have resorted to working on my African American identity, which is my own little intellectual and creative project. I have realized many things. I guess these pillars would sum up the basis of my work.

BASIC ASSUMPTIONS AS A RESULT OF MY IDENTITY CRISIS

1) Black students are offered a white-slice-bread version of Black history. It lacks the wholesome content of a proper nutrition fit the Black soul. The nutrients that it does have are artificial and hardly feed us, as our minds have become numb and ignorant from the onset of starvation.

 

2) We, who have been put on the floor to be walk upon, cannot simply wish our condition to change. We must take proactive measures to reassert our peoplehood and reclaim our destiny. And when we live to tell the story, we are not to refer to ourselves as former rugs, former mats, former carpets, or any other name. My great-great-great was no carpet! We are the proud Black Bodies and Minds that Change North America and the World! 

3) Above all, an intellectual strand common and embraced by all Blacks. Not just one that says “We Have Overcome, Now Let Us Go to Church!” but one that says “The Fruit of Our Past is Bountiful,
but the Harvest of Tomorrow Will Last Us Forever!” We can’t get an intellectual movement aside from religion because Black folk don’t have enough unity. They barely have enough unity in the various denominations. Partly, it’s because we are broken into so many fragments. Why do we have so many churches! Don’t we see that we can’t get anything done because we don’t know ourselves! We go to churches with as few as 10 people! Why?!

Preface to a Critique on Popular Black Thought

I do not break from my critical assessment of and engagement with white privilege because I have to or am expected to distance myself from my fellow African Americans whom I seem to share little insofar as cultural and broad interests. In fact, that conclusion cannot be further from the truth. I am embarking on this campaign because it completes my full critique on white privilege. White privilege could not have become what it is without the acquiescence and authority of Black people.

I have harsh words for Black Americans who turn away from their history or who chose to engage with that history only when it fits their idea of what Black is. In so many respects, Black people are still suffering from the oppression of slavery. We dare not pick up a book for fear that we will know more than we should. We dare not give attention to Black scientists, doctors, innovators, and pioneers for fear that we would lose the license to play the victim. We dare not assert our peoplehood for fear that we might have to stop making excuses and get a backbone. We dare not demand better schools for fear that we will actually have to be accountable for what our children learn.

Black people, we are wandering mindlessly in a world of whiteness. We have become too complacent, willing to accept their power position in these United States. White people would like you to believe that this is their land first and our land second, so their history books will not tell you of Gabriel (? – May 1539) who was a North African and first person of the Old World to encounter the people of today’s American Southwest. Or Cesar (c. 1682- ? ) an African or Caribbean-born medical practitioner of primitive pharmaceuticals in the American colonies. “Cesar’s cures became well known and were also published, probably near the time of his death, in 1789 at Philadelphia, and in the 1792 Massachusetts Magazine.” There is so much that we are not taught in school about OUR history. Ask yourself if you’ve heard of any of the following people…

Robert Duncanson?

Edward Bannister?

Madame Sissieretta Joyner Jones?

Edmonia Lewis?

Kerry Marshall?

Elijah McCoy? (This guy is “The Real McCoy”, no joke)

Leontyne Price?

Constance Motley?

Black people we have to gird up our loins. We have to realize that we have suffered massive damage to our psyche at the hands of generation after generation of racist whites. The experience has been so overwhelming that we have now retreated at the expense of being disconnected from ourselves. White privilege is so strong because we have become passive and ignorant. Yes ignorant! Some of us haven’t even heard of or care to know of Miles Davis, Bessie Smith, Alvin Ailey, or countless others. We need to rise up out of the ashes! We see so much dead and destruction around us and in our history that we think we are dead. We are as alive as the morning sun. We are as full of potential as the evening star! We think that we can’t possibly get White people to see themselves, so we throw up our hands. We ought to have enough chutzpah to stand up for ourselves. If they refuse to give our history importance, we need to write about and engage with our own history! We are our own saviors!

Preface to a Critique on White Privilege

To be sure, I am not a racist. I do believe that White Americans have to come to terms with the reality that they have over-represented themselves in almost all aspects of American life. They have deliberately, and in some cases, unknowingly continued to spread a message of white supremacy by inundating us with a culture that places Whites at the top of a pecking order. They not only suggest that their education, their health, their interests are paramount, but attempt to employ any means to justify why we other minorities are simply not as equal.

A general reading of American history will reveal a United States of America that never attempted to create a genuine democracy, until recently. For the most part, the democratic ideals that we associate with the Founding Fathers, the Constitution, and Declaration of Independence have been taken out of context. The country that supposedly set up a just and fair government, only recently took adequate steps to ensure that citizens could actually vote without interference. The history of the United States is not a story of a nation that principally believed that people should be free and equal and simply got lost in trying to make it happen, rather it is the story of a nation that never understood what equality meant. It is the story of a nation that was backwards. It is the story of a nation that has always felt insecure and paranoid about being infiltrated or thwarted by some threat; British, Spanish, French, Indians, Slaves, Imperialism, Communism, Terrorism. It is the story of a nation that was deeply racist, so racist that it has no problem accepting that African Americans are inferior in intelligence, skill, motivation, etc. The reason why no person would dare teach a history like this to the kids of our nation is because that would have to make us accountable for present grievances that so many African Americans have.

The history is told as if the nation knew the right way, but just needed to find it. No! White Americans set this history up so as to make themselves look like they always believed in freedom, human rights, and equality. They set the Civil Rights Movement as the time when everything was set back in order, and everything that followed the 1960s as the tightening up of some loose ends. This is a misinterpretation. We are in a period now where White Americans have thrown a loaf to us, but kept the jam. The sweet stuff! The stuff that separates us from them. Here I am talking about white privilege, which is not white racism. White privilege is a social order where whites protect white supremacy by branding everything they can as “American” (i.e. “white”) so as to leave little room for other groups to create their own parallel social orders.

They despise those minorities that attempt to create their own parallel social orders because they realize that this could mean that their privileged position is jeopardized. Not only might it become the case that we all are awaken out of our hypnosis, but that we might just challenge whites for a share of the pie. That we might ask for better schools, an independent party, an independent history, an independent way of life, and an independent mindedness. Now, for something that you won’t find in your history book.

The greatest fear that America has ever faced is of the Black person. From the beginning, white men feared that Black men would steal their wives, or better yet rape them. White families feared that Black women would poison their foods. White people feared that Black people could be just as capable as they were. They feared that being Black was not a mark of inferiority after all. They feared that the Black person, if given the vote would permanently change politics and hold the balance of power in their hands. They feared that Black people could be so powerful if only they could unite. They feared that they would have to reevaluate their commitment to American idealism if Black people managed to find a way to get on their feet. Above all, they feared that Black people could end up better off than them. That’s now why they are crying “reverse discrimination”. That’s why they see Black women on welfare as social parasites because they want to continue to believe that they are ultimately better off than Blacks. They want to place their faces on as many screens and billboards as possible so that we buy into their perverted reality where they have to be in charge. They want to be stingy when it comes to money for the poor, public education, and cultural activity, which would especially benefit the status of Black people, yet expend billions of dollars on foreign wars fighting for the freedoms of other people. They will risk American solider's lives for a group of people that have historically meant less to them, but will not use troops to secure polling stations for African Americans who changed their diapers, washed their dirty drawers, burbed their babies, serve them their food, shined their shoes, picked their harvest, work under them in low paid jobs, and generally has not asked for much.

To be sure I am not a racist, I am a racialist.

Critique on White Privilege, Part 2

"...it appears to me that America has become like the great city of Babylon,...her right hand supports the reins of government, and her left hand the wheel of power and she is determined not to let go her grasp"

~Maria Stewart, February 27. 1833

I have embarked on these series of essays because I have come to a realization that no book, no lecture, no Black parent, or Black boy would dare to repeat. The United States of America is an apartheid nation where African Americans are systematically denied the full and complete privileges enjoyed by White citizens. We African Americans have to go to their schools, read their books, study their histories, live in their worlds, speak their language, honor their customs....But whatever happened to OUR history books! Of course, they are out there. I know of many, but do they enter into our white schools? We cannot deny that Whites have set up institutions in a way that glorifies their race and all of its so-called achievements  and set themselves apart from  other minority groups. They create rules and procedures that guarantee that Whites will have the advantage in an accelerated (advanced-track) education. They guarantee that even educated Blacks will be hard pressed to understand that African American history is just as comparatively influential and important. Because they create our history books, they are able to turn our history upside down. They portray our ancestral family as lap dogs who turned over during slavery, instead of a people who were in a constant state of rebellion.

They make Nat Turner's rebellion as exceptional in the conduct of slaves, but what their books will not tell you is that slave rebellions were happening all the time. By one count, there were at least 250 rebellions throughout slave history. What they will not tell you is that African American slaves...Let me just say that I hate the word slaves. It suggests being dormant, obedient, and mindless, as I have and will argue, this is not the case for American enslaved people...developed their own culture and way of life. While they were "being a good little slave" in the field and in the kitchen, they were inventing, revolutionizing music, and carving out a place for themselves. Contrary to popular belief, African American enslaved people  developed and nurtured a culture of their own. While the history of slavery is filled with obedient slaves, there are far more instances where slaves maintain their integrity, dignity, and grace. One reason why white historians are not adequately equipped to give us our history, is that they cannot deem what is important. How many history books talk about free Blacks in the South during the antebellum period. They don't talk about the lives of these free Blacks, who made up a substantial percentage of the Black population in the South, because giving African Americans some historical agency would threaten Whites' privilege, which rests on the assumption that they are "everything and (have) accomplished everything worth while". What bothers me beyond no other is that even African Americans who have gained the confidence of presidents have no place in white history. Here, I think of Booker T Washington, A Philip Randolph, and some others whose names escape me.

I even think about Hollywood, a supposed liberal hotspot. Do they not care that Blacks need a film culture like Whites. Are they not bothered that Blacks are not seen in more leading roles? Do they not care that movies with an all- or mostly Black cast are not particularly successful because they are generally limited to DVD release?! Of course they aren't! White people are incredibly successful at securing a world for themselves and want us to feel privileged to be in it! I am tired of this! Good save their race!

Critique on White Privilege, Part I

     The most alarming defect of American democracy is that moderation of the majority becomes ideologically foreign and practically undesirable. Democracy in this form does nothing to abate white privilege, which at its meekest, takes insufferably large measures to hog the limelight of mass media. Sadly, the smaller groups of the United States have become too accustomed to depending on white privilege. The absence of a separate and continuous nationalistic thread substantiates this claim that the perpetuation of white power and privilege is highly favorable even for the masses of men and women who hold self-affirming beliefs that they are distinctively different.

The dependence on white power and representation in all forms and extensions of entertainment, politics, education, business, television, music (less so), and even pornography must be confronted by an equally opposing set of beliefs and forms that asserts self-actualization, that raises the position of those autonomous agents, and provides means to sustain this campaign.

The perverse pervasiveness of white privilege, I understand, is hardly comprehensible even to a critical eye, yet its manifestations confront us daily. I note especially in the media. The representation of smaller groups is hardly a social value beyond the tokening of Black sidekicks, Brown house servants, and Asian place fillers. There is no genuine effort to empower minorities with the same level of advantage. The Great Emancipator Marcus Garvey put it best. “Reason dictates that the masses of the white race will never stand by the ascendancy of an opposite minority group to the favored positions in a government (based on) the will of the majority.” I desperately desire that this endeavor and the many to follow may plant the seeds of rebellion. Lord knows we need it!

Part Two: Why Hate in Any Form Is Not Ok! The Gay Bashing of Michael Sandy

Since the last time that I placed an entry here, Michael Sandy passed away. Some days ago, he was taken off of life support. As many expected, he would not live for very much longer. Why must someone die for us to quit the hate! I can't help but to think of the Civil Rights Movement. I am taking a class with the incomparable Julian Bond, so I understand the importance of violence in motivating people to do something they would not do otherwise. I hardly believe that African Americans would have garnered the support of other African Americans and Whites had it not been for the scenes of violence against African American that were broadcast on millions of American televisions. Why is violence a function of social change? We sympathize with victims only when they become victims. Shame on us.

       Michael Sandy (1977-2006)
                  Victim of Gay Violence

Why the Michael Sandy Story is Getting Little Coverage

Reason 2: The Perpetrators Were White
I hardly care that some people think that race is irrelevant in the murder case of Michael Sandy. The fact of the matter is that he was spotlighted on the Internet and lured to a location where he was not only robbed but obviously violently and fatally beaten. So we ask ourselves the question, Why isn't the media covering this story? But first we have to understand that the news stories that we see and read are the result of deliberate decisions. The reason why ABC News or any other news covers John Mark Karr and TomKat's Suri is based on a calculus that would keep ratings high and interests peaked. Therefore, the absence of a story is also the result of a deliberate decision, especially when the story has received so much attention in the blog world. One reason why this story is being ignored is because those white men making those decisions do not favor a news story where white men are portrayed as vicious and violent beasts, particularly when a  Black man is on the receiving end. In this case, they can't add some legitimacy to the violence by introducing the police factor. Usually, white violence against Black men comes in the form of criminal-policeman. The police as an authority figure diminishes the impact of violence in our mind, in a way justifying the use of force. White people are scared of the racial implications of this story. It seems to suggest that they are not only anti-Black, but anti-gay.

For the last fifty years or so, white people have been trying to run away from their "former" image as racist and violent bigots, so how much would this story do to expose the truth that that have only given a half-hearted effort?

Whites will readily admit that they are not racists, but secretly protect their right to advance white supremacy. They will discuss states' rights as a constitutional issue, and while it is, they know that they really want to run unchecked; undermining others' right to life and freedom in order to privilege their own. They dare not challenge the notion that they are ultimately in control of the United States. They dare not challenge the notion that they have set up a social and political order that puts them in a privileged position, while minorities are stuck scratching at the walls of opportunity. They dare not think that they have failed in significant ways to secure American ideals of freedom, opportunity, and democracy. What is American democracy when politicians are reelected time and time again?

What is American democracy when no African American has been elected to the Senate from a Southern state since Reconstruction?

What is freedom when poor Blacks, (and poor whites may I add) are given few chances to end the cycle of poverty. While White people would like to believe that they have given us a nation where "all men are created equal", this is far from the case. Our democratic and social ideals are far from being reached. It must start with ending white privilege in all forms.


To Be Continued...

Has Jackson Become the White Woman He's Always Wanted To Be?

I was just browsing around the Internet when I discovered this picture of Michael Jackson dressed as a woman. Well, at least that's what people are purporting to say in this picture taken in St Tropaz, France. I don't know if this is him, though it looks a hell of a lot like him, nevertheless it's entertaining.

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Part One: Why Hate in Any Form Is Not Ok! The Gay Bashing of Michael Sandy

I think that it's awfully strange that the story of a young Black man getting gay bashed is receiving a lot of coverage on the Internet, but little in the mass media.

Reasons Why the Michael Sandy Story is Getting Little Coverage

Number 1: The Victim is a Black Male. How many examples can we think of where a Black man has been the victim of an assault not involving the police. We all know about Rodney King. We all know how he fled from the police, but what about a case where an innocent Black man is the victim of random and deliberate act of violence. There was Katrina, but that was, more or less, a random and violent act of nature, not man. I think that anyone will be hard pressed to come up with an example where a Black man, minding his own business, is attacked and beaten. "The reason is because men and especially Black men are most often portrayed as perpetrators of crimes, so when we learn of examples where a gay Black man is helpless against three white males that does not seem to make sense to us." I myself asked why couldn't this Black man beat their white asses? I failed to consider one thing. Not all Black males are as capable and impenetrable as the media and society would lead us to believe. Here I consider a range of Black men in film.

Denzel has played some pretty tough men. In fact, it seems that the only men he plays are tough as nails. When I think of Training Day, I instantly think how this film may be contradictory to my central claim. Then, I remember that the film relies on our assumptions about Black men, and men generally, for its effectiveness.

 

Boris does not seem to be the tough-type that is common to mostly all the characters that Denzel plays, but you  need only to consider one thing. What does muscle definition suggests about toughness? Indeed, the trend for Black males to have big defined muscles sends a message to us that these men and the characters that they play are sufficiently capable of protecting themselves.

 

We see with Will Smith, as with Boris Kodjoe, that even if you don't exude masculinity and toughness like 50 Cent or L.L. Cool J, there is a tendency to compensate for those deficiencies in other ways. For Boris, it is packing on the muscle. For Will, at least in MIB, it's a gun. I just saw another movie with Will Smith called I, Robot where he carries a gun practically throughout the entire movie.

    People, there are consequences for the films and other media that we watch. In this case, one begins to understand manliness as a function of toughness in some form. Whether it is big muscles, guns, or violence, these types begin to inform our understanding of men, especially Black men. We have to see that when Black men are placed as lead characters, they often appear as gun-toting violence-inducing characters. Here, I am thinking of Wesley Snipes in the Blade trilogy, Will Smith in I, Robot and Men in Black movies, Denzel Washington in John Q, Training Day. These films are significant in that they are big budget films that attract a diversity of audience members. Other lesser known films that feature Black men as sensitive, upright, and righteous are not given as much attention. I doubt many people saw Best Man, The Wood, Breakin' All the Rules, or Two Can Play That Game. Then, when Black men do appear as "normal", it's for characters that lack serious importance as "black characters". While I love Donald Faison (especially in "Waiting to Exhale") his role as Chris Turk on Scrubs is a perfect example. When Black men are cast in more sensitive, less confrontational roles, their Blackness is diluted, so that the influence that they might have on our understanding of Black men is limited.

Ask Yourself. Which Image is More Frequently Used? And Why?

                                      Or                           

Rap-Spouting Bandanna-wearing "Thug"      Scrubs-wearing hugging-prone doctor

To be continued...

Credits: http://www.keithboykin.com/arch/2006/10/13/report_michael_1

Fact or Fiction? Two Gay U.S. Presidents

Have Americans Unknowingly Elected Two Gay Presidents?I

I have known about rumors of Lincoln's homosexuality for sometime now. Ever since C.A. Tripp wrote "The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln" in 2005, I have held steadfast onto the belief that homosexuality was more rampant in nineteenth century life. How soon we forget that since in those days, "gay" did not exist. This absence of a gay class, if you will, allows for people to live out a homosexual lifestyle without attracting unwanted hostile attention. In the twentieth century, the development of a social class of "gays" has made gays susceptible to attack and spotlighting. I was looking around the Internet and to my astonishment, Lincoln is the not the only president whose sexuality is in question.

President Lincoln 
"While he may not have been gay, Lincoln did share a double bed with an attractive younger man, Joshua Fry Speed, for four years. Certain homosexual writers state outright that Lincoln was bisexual, but there is no actual evidence to this effect other than assumed innuendo and wishful thinking. And the men gave each other advice with regards to their women problems."
www.rotten.com

In 1990, gay activist Larry Kramer has claimed that he has uncovered new primary sources which shed fresh light on Lincoln's sexuality. This includes a hitherto unknown Joshua Speed diary and letters in which Speed writes explicitly about his relationship with Lincoln. These items were supposedly discovered hidden beneath the floorboards of the old store where the two men lived, and are now are said to reside in a private collection in Davenport, Iowa. The Capital Times newspaper of Madison reported some alleged quotes of the Speed material from a public reading Kramer gave: "He often kisses me when I tease him, often to shut me up. He would grab me up by his long arms and hug and hug," and "Yes, our Abe is like a school girl." Kramer has yet to publish any of this material for critical evaluation. Carl Sandburg in The Praire Years (1926), part of his six volume biography of Lincoln, made a clear homosexual allusion when he wrote that Lincoln and Speed had "a streak of lavender, and spots soft as May violets." www.wikipedia.org

President Buchanan
"For many years in Washington, D.C. prior to the presidency, James Buchanan lived with William Rufus King, who was earlier Vice President under Franklin Pierce in 1853. King was referred to by Andrew Jackson as "Miss Nancy" while Aaron Brown called him "Buchanan's better half." Buchanan actually wrote long, intimate letters to King.

There were many rumors at the time that Buchanan was a homosexual. He is, after all, the only president to never marry in his life. But whether or not he was a homosexual continues to be a point of heated debate between historians. (Steve Tally discusses King and Buchanan's relationship in more depth in his book Bland Ambition: From Adams to Quayle--The Cranks, Criminals, Tax Cheats, and Golfers Who Made It to Vice President.)"

"Some historians have speculated that King may have been homosexual, and that he had a long-term intimate relationship with President-to-be James Buchanan (it is not disputed that the two lived together for 16 years in Washington). It is also said that King's detractors in the Senate referred to him as "Aunt fancy" and "Miss Nancy" (both language referring to homosexual men in the nineteenth century). The theory is controversial and a source of debate among Buchanan and King historians. Historian and author James Loewen is one of the theory's better-known proponents. Presidential historian Michael Beschloss when asked by C-SPAN founder and host Brian Lamm if the United States had ever had a gay president responded that the term "gay" was a twentieth century construct. Undeterred, Lamm rephrased his question, asking if the nation had had a homosexual president. Beschloss replied that it appears Buchanan and King may have been homosexual." www.wikipedia.org

"I will tell you a Joke about Jewel and Mary 
It is neither a Joke nor a Story
For Rubin and Charles has married two girls
But Billy has married a boy
The girlies he had tried on every Side
But none could he get to agree
All was in vain he went home again
And since that is married to Natty
So Billy and Natty agreed very well
And mama's well pleased at the match
The egg it is laid but Natty's afraid
The Shell is So Soft that it never will hatch
But Betsy she said you Cursed bald head
My Suitor you never Can be
Beside your low crotch proclaims you a botch
And that never Can serve for me"

 ~Abraham Lincoln (as teenager)
 

The Black Bitch: A Familiar Character Type

I Played the 'Black Bitch' on T.V..... 



These women all played the "Black bitch" on television. It's not the case that these women are genuinely angry, hostile, and rude, though the way they come across on television, it would be hard to argue otherwise. It's the case that they fit a mold that is often cast by producers et al to attract bigger ratings. I have tried to ignore it. I have tried to say that this is not what is going on, but the frequency with which I am seeing this character type is alarming, especially on America's Next Top Model. The sequence goes like this...

1) Find an unsuspecting Black female 

     2) Provoke her by doing something insulting

       3) Encourage other contestants to be hostile to her

           4) Make the Black female feel alone and unwanted

               5) Force the Black female to act out against the situation

            Get Black female to play  the role of Black bitch!

I have seen this scenario time and time again. Producers zoom in on a situation that involves a Black female and a white female (usually). They don't want either contestant to make the disagreement to appear racial, but they clearly play on our understanding of race. Those producers know that the Black female is often caricatured as bossy, pushy, and rude. They also know that white females often come across as harmless and innocent victims. These types have a long history. Does this image ring a bell? I was prepared to rant on about how many white women think of themselves as Scarlett O'Hara, a helpless victim in a world of chaos and abusers, but I'd rather not. I just think it's so funny that "Gone With the Wind" is the favorite movie for most of the white girls in one of my classes.

I am not saying that this is the only character type for Black women. I am just saying that this is an intolerable use of a character type because I cannot recall a more negative type for a racial/gender combination. It is unfair that Black women get treated this way, too often unsuspectingly. I believe that what is not helping to alleviate this situation is that Black people enjoy Black females being portrayed as Black bitches. Fo r Black people it does not involve acting out in a way that is rude and bossy, but it involves acting out in a way that challenges authority, "sets the record straight", or "stands up for what is right". I don't disagree that there should be a variety of "roles" for Black women, but that when those roles are misinterpreted by a large percentage of Americans as being a poor reflection on a race and subset of that race, that "role" should be abandoned. I am sure that there are unacceptable "types" for white people, but that is of no concern to me right now. I believe that we must take this type as a clear indication of modern racism and eradicate it.

The Newest "Bitch" on the Block

Monique Babblesworth of ANTM serves as the most recent example. 

Keith Hamilton Cobb: Tall, Dark and Handsome

As you may know or may not know, I am a BIG fan of Noah's Arc, which, by the way, has just finished its second season. You can find it on iTunes, if you don't have Logo. My favorite character is Quicy who is played by Keith Hamilton Cobb aka Mr McDreamy. To be honest, I am also in love with Junito played by Wilson Cruz, but Keith gives takes the masculine factor up a notch, if you know what I mean. Not only is he damn attractive, but he is the nicest guy you'll ever meet. I am talking about the character, mind you. It's so easy to conflate the character and the person playing that character. In any case, I just love him. It's a shame that Noah is so freaking idiotic that he dumps Quincy! Geez, I can't take Noah's immaturity/idealism/ shallowness anymore. It's really working on da nerves. I have to say that I have a love-hate relationship with the whole show. It's terrible acting and we all know it, but it's so Sex and the City (Don't know why I use this analogy seems fitting though I can't stand the show) that I can't help but to watch. It lures me and if I resist, I feel guilty and hypocritical. Yeah I probably have some issues. Anywho, here are some selected questions from an interview with Quincy aka Keith Cobb from keithboykin.com.

BOYKIN: Tell me, have you watched the show this season, and what do you think about it?

COBB: I’ve seen very little of it because I don’t have a TV in my house…I watch films on my laptop and that’s about it. I got to see a little bit of the episodes when we were looping…but any feedback or exposure to it has come from people out in the world calling to say I’ve seen the show.

BOYKIN: Have you ever played a gay character before?

COBB: No. I can remember doing scene study work from college in plays, things like The Normal Heart...[but never on TV or film].

BOYKIN: Do you think there’s a stigma in Hollywood for actors who play gay roles?

COBB: I’m sure there is Keith, but I don’t give a shit. There’s a stigma for everything if you look for it. I’m too fucking tired…I’m just acting. I’m acting. And I’ll act anything if there’s some depth to it, something to explore, some payoff.

In terms of my personal growth as a performer, as a person, there’s a stigma playing anything. There’s a stigma playing soap operas. There’s a stigma playing action heroes…So how much do you care is always the question. Is the work good?...Is there service in it? This show has been greatly appreciated by the community it serves..and the character as well…given that, how much should I care about the stigma in Hollywood?

 

BOYKIN: You’ve been quoted as saying that it was very easy to kiss Darryl Stephens, who plays Noah. Was that an accurate quote and what did you mean?

COBB: He’s beautiful. He’s lovely. Look at him. When I go to work in this venue as an actor I have to find in the same way I would about any character what is the same about that character and me….I’m looking at this person as the object of my sexual and emotional attraction, and any other attraction perhaps…and they offered me…they could have given me some actor who was uptight, unprofessional, smelled bad…All I was saying is that he was easy to be attracted to…the person he is on and off set..the way he carries himself..his general beauty…it’s not a hard leap to make. I’ve played romantic relationships with women in my life that were more difficult because they just weren’t showing up in the same way, or they weren’t nice people, or they were more concerned with something other than being in the scene.

 

BOYKIN: I know it’s an old question, but what made you cut your locks?

COBB: I had been wearing them from in LA from 1996 until 2003 and it was the only way any one knew me. And I had been in

Vancouver

…and I thought when I came back I needed to look more like something people wanted to hire. And I don’t know if that made a difference or not. I miss them...

(For those who would like to know what he looked like.)

BOYKIN: And last but not least. I do a series on my web site called "My Favorite Things." Can you tell me five of your favorite things?

COBB:

1. the plays of William Shakespeare
2. long coats
3. classical music
4. Montgomery Clift

5. available and kind hearted people

 

Why American Society Would Like You to Believe Black People are Undeserving...

Today's Washington Post features a story of a Black woman named Camille Senn who received a full-time salary for four years despite the fact that she generally stayed on leave. She said that in those four years she continued to be affected by the stress from abrupt changes in her schedule and derogatory language used towards her. For four years, the police department paid her a tax-free salary, which eventually totaled $58,124 per year. I am astonished that a person could accept money despite the fact that he or she does not deserve it. Moreover, I am perturbed that the Washington Post is promoting this idea that Black people are lazy and are just looking to take advantage of the system. We all are familiar with the rumors that Black women on welfare lay on their assess or, more accurately, their backs, all day doing nothing but having kids. While some certainly make no effort to get off of welfare, it is unfair to characterize an entire group of people as shiftless, lazy, and unmotivated. We have to understand this situation for what it is.

American society would rather see Black people, and especially poor Black people, as idle leeches than as victims of a social order that limit Black people’s range of achievement and potentiality.

 

                           

 

They would rather see poor Blacks as victims of their low expectations, then victims of our expectations. Generally, we don’t expect much from poor Blacks, besides the ever-so-often token Black boy or girl. I was one. What we really need to do is invest more into our education system. What we really need to do is provide healthcare to our poor families. What we need to do is give our poor Blacks some hope, instead of insult and despair. Hurricane Katrina taught us that the consequences from stigmatizing the poor will come back with a vengeance. We are already seeing a growing gap between the rich and poor. The gap is not only widening in income, but in opportunity.

Oprah: Open, Honest, and Real

I love Oprah. My obsession with her is almost idolatry. I obey her commands as if they were the gospel. In fact, I recently changed my eating regiment based on a show she did on foods that we should abstain from. I got rid of all the high fructose syrup stuff. Did you know that your tomato sauce likely contains high fructose corn syrup! Also, check your yogurt! I also have stopped eating sliced bread. White bread is an absolute no-no, but I have decided that whole wheat bread isn't worth my trouble either. I am currently attempting to transform my lifestyle especially in the area of food and exercise to get my weight down. I am not terribly overweight, but unnecessary pounds really show on my frame. I don't have much muscle, so any extra seems to become fatty tissue. Back to Oprah, I feel like I have grown up with Oprah though she is 30 years my senior.

I wanted to show this interview because Oprah is more candid than I have ever seen her.

She talks about feminism, Black men, friends...and life lessons. This clip is a limited chance to a glimpse into her mind. She's a fascinating person, but regardless how much we think we know her, there are so many layers to her. I believe this clip is from the early 90s once she has finished her work with Brewster Place. Bill Bonds was a news anchor for WXYZ in Detroit. You will know that Oprah takes a likening to his questions.

And Republicans Think Gay Marriage is The Problem?!

Critique on 'Personal Value'; Man is God (Or, More Accurately, God Is Nothing More Than a Reflection of Man's Imagination, Deference, and Powerlessness)

To you, I pose this question. How do you calculate your personal value? Or rather, I should start with this question. Do you calculate your personal value? I hardly think that the latter question is much interest to us because there is no one in the world that does not understand their value as a function, in part, by what they own and acquire. Here it is important to make this distinction because some assets such as religious beliefs or knowledge that comes from academic inquiry can neither be bought nor sold. So I ask once again, How do you calculate your personal value? I think that many college-educated Americans would say that their value is, in part, derived from their status as  college-educated Americans, knowing, at least presumably, more than less educated Americans. I fear that those same college-educated ones will say that their value is dependent on their religious assumption that they are children of god. Let me just say that “God” does not exist. He is a figment of our imagination.

We ourselves are god. We have the capacity to render moral judgments. We have the capacity to exercise justice, demand love, and punish waywarders. So how foolish of us to think that the powers we confer upon god are powers that are our own. Personal value in terms of religious idealism of person is irrational.

We are not children of god. God is our child...

though a child we let run and often ruin our lives. So while we think that personal value may have no meaning besides in a religious sense, personal value in a religious sense is a fraud. Instead of giving Man his freedom, his livelihood, his agency, religion robs Man of his sense of self. Man is God. What is unfortunate is that Man degrades his own personal value by putting faith in some extraterrestrial entity of nothingness. By doing this, Man admits that he is unable to give the world what it really needs, an irreligious system by which man will have the incentive to do good and not evil, to give and not take away, to love and not hate. By refusing all gods and all religions, I refuse to debase my personal value. I am Man and a man who will seek truth and justice that I may spread life unto this world. To be continued...

Senator Obama, A Return to Getting Things Done

Senator Obama is not wasting any time as the junior senator from Illinois. His "Google for Government" Act was recently signed into law and would make it possible to allow Americans to search for government grants, contracts, insurance, loans and financial assistance through a database of information. On top of this, his new book has hit the stores. In it he discourages partisan politics as it only poses a threat to sensible and responsible government.

"I find it hard to shake the feeling these days that our democracy has gone seriously awry," he writes. "What's troubling is the gap between the magnitude of our challenges and the smallness of our politics the ease with which we are distracted by the petty and trivial,..."

Is he right? Has politics become a circus melodrama in which substantive needs are ignored, while the minor and periphery issues are brought to the fore? Well, I don't know about that. The government has tried to move on Social Security reform. Certainly, they failed, but nevertheless it was a move on an important issue. The Congress has given hundreds of millions of dollars to localities to protect their infrastruture from potential terrorist attacks. The Congress has also moved to provide the necessary protective gear to our soliders abroad. I think that what is more important for us to realize is that Congress is not addressing enough priorities. What about education! What about health care! What about job security! What about measures to limit the impact of natural disasters! The government wants to impress us by doing something on a few issues, but I am not swayed by their lousy job. They are needing to run the second largest world economy, provide for the third largest population, so of course selecting a limited number of issues is insufficient! It's no reason that they have time for over six weeks of vacation or have given themselves over four raises in the past six years. Their main priority is not our well-being.

Black Leadership in Action, Julian Bond on Homophobia in the Black Community

Now Julian Bond is a man with integrity! He is the chairman of the NAACP and he is choosing to openly criticize Black Americans for their homophobia, which is to blame for Black people taking their sexual feelings and habits underground into dangerously harmful worlds. The consequences of which put Black women as the highest infected group in terms of new victims and Black urban gay males as the highest concentration of infected victims. He talks about his position in the October issue of The Advocate. Here's part of that interview.

What are you doing to address homophobia among the black population?
I look at the women's movement, the movement of lesbians and gays, the Hispanic movement, the Native American Movement- all these movements say they took their cues from the African-American civil rights movement. But in this case, the African-American movement against AIDS in taking its cues from the gay movement, hoping to adapt some of the militancy, some of the tactics, demonstrations, and protests.

Is it a matter of more black men needing to come out?
I can't help but think that if more closeted gay people would come out of the closet and take claim of who they are and their identity, this situation would be immeasurably eased. At the same time those who are out need to take a more active role in organizations like the NAACP and let members see that they are ordinary people.

only search Mal A La Tete

Let's See Here....Repair Levees and Save Lives or Build a Fence and Destroy Lives?

  I am appalled at the most recent antics of Congress. Now, both the House and Senate have approved a 700 mile fence along the border with Mexico, though that fence would not even cover half of the 2000 mile border. It is estimated that the measure will cost over a billion dollars. Let's see here. One billion for a fence that probably will do little to keep emigrants out of the US. Two billion for every week we are in Iraq. And we are risking hundreds of thousands of lives by building faulty levees. Our government does not have their priorities in the right place. Instead of extending a helping hand to Mexico to build its economy, we are building a fence to force a much needed labor force to stay in Mexico where they are likely to live in intolerable poverty and attempt repeated  escapes to the US. I believe that war is not the answer. I believe peace is the answer. I believe that the best way to demonstrate commitment to people is to demonstrate that their immediate needs matter more than ideological wars of words. I believe we have to divert our attention away from war and terrorism. We ought to pay more attention to education for the world's children. We ought to pay attention to world basic health care. I think we ought to create an international environment where countries have an incentive to cooperate. This President is not doing that. We all regret the lives that were lost on 9/11, but we should never be afraid to point out the misguided direction the President is taking us. Instead of increasing legitimacy in and authority of international bodies, Bush has decided to take on the power of emperor. Chavez of Venezuela in his UN speech spoke about how Bush is conducting foreign policy as if the US was a colonial power of the early twentieth century type. Chavez is many things, but on this he is absolutely right. The US has not come to grips with the fact that it cannot operate by the same rules that it did when it emerged from WWII. It cannot mingle in countries' affairs without international authorization. It cannot rodeo about unilaterally. It must learn that international politics is no longer about making war, but about making peace, making lives better, and making the world more secure. The US must realized that its citizens deserve nothing less. That its citizens should not have to watch other countries being liberated with its elections deprive some citizens of the right to vote or some people the right to have food, shelter, and clothing.

Credits http://www.boston.com

What a Naughty Republican!

Is this the new face of pedophilia?

Well, not really. Old white men have long been the face of pedophilia in our country. From Catholic priests to Internet predators. This time it is different though. That image has extended to the area of politics, which could have drastic consequences. Since the era of Gingrich Republicans, the Republican Party has taken undue pride in being the party of the supposed moral majority. They have claimed that Democrats are a people of deviant moral character who are ultimately bend on transforming the traditional fabric of American life, however they could not have expected the most recent case of child abuse to come from a member of their own party. Mark Foley recently resigned over sexual explicit messages he sent to male pages. House pages are high school students who work for congressmen. According to ABC News, here's some of the content that Foley wrote to the young man.

"Do I make you a little horny?"

"You in your boxers, too? ... Well, strip down and get relaxed."

When told that the pag