Right now, I need to talk to the Bible Belt African American family. I'm not excluding others from this conversation, it's just that the Bible Belt is the reality that I know and can comment on. Family from other parts of the country, if you want to weigh in on this, go ahead and do so. Also keep in mind that I am a post-post-post young adult. I am post-Civil Rights, post-feminism, and post-Reaganism.
For the past month of Sundays, my pastor has preached a series of sermons called, "From the Crumb to the Loaf." His question is, why are we settling for crumbs when Jesus promises the whole loaf? Why are we taking humiliating words at a crumby job from crumby bosses that we hate to buy crumby cars and clothes to put in our crumby houses? Why are we staying in the same crumby neighborhoods, marrying crumby people, and raising crumby kids? His theory is that we are afraid and full of fear. We stay at those jobs because, either for fear of failure or fear of success, we are afraid to do otherwise. Why tangle with the devil you don't know when you know how to deal with the one you do?
These sermons have at once inspired me and terrified me. They have put my mind at ease but have put my faith in my people ill at ease. These sermons have answered many questions, and have caused me to raise questions that I so badly wanted to bury.
What my pastor did not mention, is an economic factor. For many African Americans, moving up into the middle class is new. Having nice homes, cars that run, being able to buy whatever out of the grocery and clothing stores is a new thing for them. For the first time, being able to live like many white Americans have always lived leaves one feeling new and satisfied. It's good to make a little economic progress. Right?
But what about the spiritual? What about our souls? Better yet, do Black people even believe in God any more, or have we surrendered our faith to the man-made, Bitch-goddess of material success? For those of you getting angry at this post, you have to remember that I grew up when people were killing each other for a pair of Jordans, and that Jordan never even acknowledged any of this.
In order to keep receiving a pay check so that we can pay mortgages on overpriced homes, do we keep quiet when injustices are directed towards us and our people? I have seen this happen in all levels of the educational system. In fact, we may take it a step further and tell our children that they can't go to college, and discourage our own boys.
Do we let supervisors talk to us like children or pets, and treat us like we don't have the common sense of a dog, and continue to say, "I know who I am at the end of the day. And my bills are paid, so they doesn't bother me?" How long will it take for the condescending attitudes to bother you? Can you look in the mirror and not be bothered after swallowing a humiliating remark from a supervisor? At your job, do you feel the need to compete with younger people, and make them feel bad? They are half your age, the Bible said you should be teaching them, not competing with them. So if you are a middle-aged worker, why are you jealous of somebody who is probably younger or the same age as your children? I can't tell you how many of my friends get harassed by folk who should be teaching them and passing the torch. What are we doing instead, Baby Boomers?
Women, are we going to subscribe to a gold-digger mentality, and continue to latch onto others when we can go to school and major in anything we want? In case you don't know, doctors and lawyers bring home as many trophy wives as athletes. Are we going to raise another generation of Black children to be dependent upon Section 8, food stamps, and Social Security disability benefits? Does nobody see anything wrong with making a child pretend to have ADHD or some other mental disability for $350/month? What's $350/month, when you could push that child into a liberal arts college or a trade, and that child could stand to make $350/day/week, according to his/her career choice?
And church folk...Why have we turned our faith into a cash cow? Why is Black America still struggling when we have more megachurches than football stadiums? Especially here in Memphis...why is Hickory Hill fastly becoming one of the most crime-ridden sectors of the city when there are two megachurches within five miles of each other? Why are more us becoming homeless with nowhere to go when some our churches can house thousands of members at a time? Why do we continue to attend church? Why do we need $1000 suits on to be in church? Why do we have to be dressed to be blessed? Why do we shout on Sunday and sang that we trust in the Lord, and let a supervisor half our ages treat us like children because we are scared to venture out for another form of employment? Why do we say we are God's children, and then are overcome by the devil spirits of fear and material acquirement? Don't get me wrong, we need money to survive in this world. Nobody wants to be in a state of discomfort, either. But when does it go beyond being comfortable? How low are we stooping for extra money? How much of ourselves are we willing to sell or betray Christian, black folk?
In short, my pastor's sermons have forced me to ask, are we an amoral people? Do we trade in God for the almighty dollar? Do we let all of the rights and priviledges that people have marched and died for slip away for a couple of extra cents to the hour? Is the prospect of having a big, showy, overpriced home and car worth crippling our children? We are failing to teach our children our own history, and for what? If you have moved from the farms of Mississippi to the ghetto of Detroit, have you really made any progress? Or, have you just made lateral movement? If you gave up 10 acres of land that your family owned in Alabama for apartment rent in Richmond, what have you accomplished? Is it safe to say that you've moved backwards for the sake of being able to look down on your country cousins, make a few jokes, and call them "Bama?" Are we returning ourselves back to slavery? Are we trading rurual slavery for urban slavery? Are we doing it on a volunteer basis?
Oh, yeah, 29.9% on a maxed out credit card is slavery! And you know what the worst part is, we are destroying our children, families, and futures for trinkets. What's a pair of Jordans or a new set of rims compared to the rest of our lives? Have we traded in our walking by faith for cheap trinkets? Let the rappers tell it, we got cars, clothes, and 'hos, but where, Black America, where are our souls?
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton Supporters, and white feminists
It has come to my attention that many Hillary Clinton supporters say that they will vote for John McCain instead of Barack Obama. They were so loyal to Hillary Clinton, that they just cannot support Barack Obama.
At first, it puzzled me...I didn't know why these women would rather vote for an old, Republican man who is only going to repeal the rights that women have fought for and won even further. Then, as if a light had been turned on, the thought hit me. These hard-line feminist will not vote for Barack Obama because he is Black. He is Black and that's why they won't vote for him. Again, they would vote for a white woman, but not a Black man who is sure to help them. Don't forget that the man is Black, and these feminists would rather vote for a white man who will hurt than a black man who will help them.
Yes, my dears. Some of the same women who complain about women being oppressed are also racist. They want the same privileges and treatment as white men, and are ready and willing to oppress others once they receive them. Just think about it...In many slave narratives, it has often been said that the slave mistress was much more harsh than the slave master. Just think of the progress that could have been made in this country if white women would have reached out to their sisters of color rather than protesting out of fits of penis envy.
That is why black women have never been on board with white, feminist philosophy. Judging from the angry phone calls to C-Span on the first night of the DNC, we never will. One phone caller said that she simply cannot vote for Obama because of the church he attended for 20 years, and the racist rhetoric teached there. She all but said that she cannot vote for a black man who is not ashamed of being black.
As I fell asleep last night, I thought about white, middle-class feminism throughout its history. Why should a black woman jump on board with white feminists when she probably scrubbed floors for one. While her white female boss complained about being barred from the board room, the black maid probably longed for fair wages and a day off just to see her own children. While white women complained about unequal pay, Black women had to worry about her white female boss checking her every day to see if she's stolen anything. Black women raised white women's children, and for a pittance of what they were worth.
Is it any wonder that black women looked at the earliest feminists and asked what the fuck they were talking about(literally, some black academics asked that question)?
As a black woman, my suspicions about most white, middle-class feminists have been confirmed. Forget feminists...They don't stand for us and won't fight for us when it comes to race. We'll stand by our man! We'll vote for him because he is not afraid of strong, career-minded women. He respects us, and I have never heard him call his wife a cunt -like John McCain has.
Again, forget feminists. Forget feminism. Sisters, stand by your man. Vote Obama. He'll be the president to further advance women's rights.
At first, it puzzled me...I didn't know why these women would rather vote for an old, Republican man who is only going to repeal the rights that women have fought for and won even further. Then, as if a light had been turned on, the thought hit me. These hard-line feminist will not vote for Barack Obama because he is Black. He is Black and that's why they won't vote for him. Again, they would vote for a white woman, but not a Black man who is sure to help them. Don't forget that the man is Black, and these feminists would rather vote for a white man who will hurt than a black man who will help them.
Yes, my dears. Some of the same women who complain about women being oppressed are also racist. They want the same privileges and treatment as white men, and are ready and willing to oppress others once they receive them. Just think about it...In many slave narratives, it has often been said that the slave mistress was much more harsh than the slave master. Just think of the progress that could have been made in this country if white women would have reached out to their sisters of color rather than protesting out of fits of penis envy.
That is why black women have never been on board with white, feminist philosophy. Judging from the angry phone calls to C-Span on the first night of the DNC, we never will. One phone caller said that she simply cannot vote for Obama because of the church he attended for 20 years, and the racist rhetoric teached there. She all but said that she cannot vote for a black man who is not ashamed of being black.
As I fell asleep last night, I thought about white, middle-class feminism throughout its history. Why should a black woman jump on board with white feminists when she probably scrubbed floors for one. While her white female boss complained about being barred from the board room, the black maid probably longed for fair wages and a day off just to see her own children. While white women complained about unequal pay, Black women had to worry about her white female boss checking her every day to see if she's stolen anything. Black women raised white women's children, and for a pittance of what they were worth.
Is it any wonder that black women looked at the earliest feminists and asked what the fuck they were talking about(literally, some black academics asked that question)?
As a black woman, my suspicions about most white, middle-class feminists have been confirmed. Forget feminists...They don't stand for us and won't fight for us when it comes to race. We'll stand by our man! We'll vote for him because he is not afraid of strong, career-minded women. He respects us, and I have never heard him call his wife a cunt -like John McCain has.
Again, forget feminists. Forget feminism. Sisters, stand by your man. Vote Obama. He'll be the president to further advance women's rights.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Urban blight and Moral Depravity
I am from Mississippi. Mississippi. A Mississippian. I am from America's ideological toilet. Everybody everywhere in this country has the luxury of saying, "At least we're not Mississippi." No matter how bad things are in surrounding states and in other regions, everybody gets to feel a little better about themselves, thanks to Mississippi. The bad things, I mean the really, really bad things, are Mississippi. Number one in poverty, obesity, sexually transmitted diseases, teenage pregnancy, disabled persons, and unemployment. Mississppi. Dead last in education, college graduates, creation of new jobs, and anything else that is good. Mississippi. Sung about. Talked about. Laughed about. Laughed at. Even I joke about it. I say that I feel safe from terrorism in Mississippi. Nobody cares enough or thinks enough about it to blow it up!
Everything that is bad, the things that constitute the oh so hard, ideological, and omnipotent turds of an otherwise perfect society, is foisted upon Mississippi. These float down stream, and all that Mississippi doesn't get, New Orleans does. After they are flushed down the river and into the ever-receiving Gulf, these things are forgotten about by America. You think I'm playing? You think I'm bitter? When was the last time you heard any politician or public figure mention rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina for the Mississippi Gulf Coast community or the Greater New Orleans area?
That brings me to my next point. When you are from Mississippi, you expect everywhere you go to be better. The people are supposed to be more liberal in their thinking. The homes are supposed to be nicer. The roads are supposed to be smoother. The food is supposed to taste better because there is a bigger variety. Everyone is supposed to look better. Dress nicer, talk better with a clearer diction, perform better in school...etc.
Much to my chagrin, when I moved from the big country to the even bigger country in Memphis, Tennessee, I was faced and am faced with urban blight/burnout and moral depravity. I see children who have never heard of a carrot stick. I hear about murders committed over something as simple as a video game. I am looking at teenagers walking the streets in the middle of the day when they should be in school. I see a school system with a 61% dropout rate, which is good compared to Detroit's 79% dropout rate. I hear adults tell me how country people in Mississippi are. How slow they are. How stupid they act. How behind the times they dress, and in the same paragraph, tell me how they are afraid to let their children go outside and play.
I see students from the innercity neighborhoods of Chicago and Detroit teach me about the hottest clothing labels and brand names, but who have never heard of Frederick Douglass and do not know where the Ku Klux Klan started. These same children, from Detroit, have never been to Canada, or too far outside of their own neighborhoods, and are quick to complain how there is just nothing in Mississippi. One student told me that his parents and grandparents have always told him that there is nothing but trees and cotton in Mississippi, but failed to tell him about Medgar Evers or Fannie Lou Hamer. Students in Memphis don't know that Auction Street was home to the Auction block but are quick to point out that folks from New Orleans are more criminal and heathen than people from anywhere else.
As a young teacher, I am faced with a generation of peers and younger students who only know the name "Martin Luther King, Jr.," and none of the principals that he fought for or even why he died. They don't know the "National Negro Anthem," and have never heard of Langston Hughes.
That leaves me with a question: what happened elders? As you moved from the farms of Mississippi to the urban landscapes of Chicago, Detroit, Richmond, Cleveland, Memphis, Atlanta, Kansas City, St. Louis, Long Beach, Las Angeles, Houston, and even Charlotte, why didn't you stop and teach? As you bad-mouthed your country cousins and cracked jokes on them with your children, why didn't you teach your children that they don't own the "turf" they fight and kill each other over? Why didn't you teach? Why did you fail us? And now that we are adults and we are lost, why do you blame us?
Everything that is bad, the things that constitute the oh so hard, ideological, and omnipotent turds of an otherwise perfect society, is foisted upon Mississippi. These float down stream, and all that Mississippi doesn't get, New Orleans does. After they are flushed down the river and into the ever-receiving Gulf, these things are forgotten about by America. You think I'm playing? You think I'm bitter? When was the last time you heard any politician or public figure mention rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina for the Mississippi Gulf Coast community or the Greater New Orleans area?
That brings me to my next point. When you are from Mississippi, you expect everywhere you go to be better. The people are supposed to be more liberal in their thinking. The homes are supposed to be nicer. The roads are supposed to be smoother. The food is supposed to taste better because there is a bigger variety. Everyone is supposed to look better. Dress nicer, talk better with a clearer diction, perform better in school...etc.
Much to my chagrin, when I moved from the big country to the even bigger country in Memphis, Tennessee, I was faced and am faced with urban blight/burnout and moral depravity. I see children who have never heard of a carrot stick. I hear about murders committed over something as simple as a video game. I am looking at teenagers walking the streets in the middle of the day when they should be in school. I see a school system with a 61% dropout rate, which is good compared to Detroit's 79% dropout rate. I hear adults tell me how country people in Mississippi are. How slow they are. How stupid they act. How behind the times they dress, and in the same paragraph, tell me how they are afraid to let their children go outside and play.
I see students from the innercity neighborhoods of Chicago and Detroit teach me about the hottest clothing labels and brand names, but who have never heard of Frederick Douglass and do not know where the Ku Klux Klan started. These same children, from Detroit, have never been to Canada, or too far outside of their own neighborhoods, and are quick to complain how there is just nothing in Mississippi. One student told me that his parents and grandparents have always told him that there is nothing but trees and cotton in Mississippi, but failed to tell him about Medgar Evers or Fannie Lou Hamer. Students in Memphis don't know that Auction Street was home to the Auction block but are quick to point out that folks from New Orleans are more criminal and heathen than people from anywhere else.
As a young teacher, I am faced with a generation of peers and younger students who only know the name "Martin Luther King, Jr.," and none of the principals that he fought for or even why he died. They don't know the "National Negro Anthem," and have never heard of Langston Hughes.
That leaves me with a question: what happened elders? As you moved from the farms of Mississippi to the urban landscapes of Chicago, Detroit, Richmond, Cleveland, Memphis, Atlanta, Kansas City, St. Louis, Long Beach, Las Angeles, Houston, and even Charlotte, why didn't you stop and teach? As you bad-mouthed your country cousins and cracked jokes on them with your children, why didn't you teach your children that they don't own the "turf" they fight and kill each other over? Why didn't you teach? Why did you fail us? And now that we are adults and we are lost, why do you blame us?
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
More Shock than Horror?
I was sitting eating a wheat cracker when the news broke: Barack Obama won enough delegates to clench the Democratic nomination. I sat and watched as he made a patriotic speech, outlining his plans to unify America. From his emotional delivery, it seems as if he really means and feels what he is saying, and wants others to believe in his vision, too. He mentions racial and economic inequality, and challenges Americans to see past the rhetoric of politics and select the candidate best for this country.
I couldn't help but pay attention to his mention of religion. Earlier this week, it was announced that Obama broke with his former church, which was once headed by the now embattled Jeremiah Wright. You know, he's the minister who preached for over 20 years, only to have his legacy destroyed by a soundbite that lasted less than a minute. Twenty years of preaching, gone in less than a minute. So is the nature of politics.
Needless to say, I'm a little angry at that whole situation. Journalists replayed that soundbite over and over and over again. It was just that one little sound bite, taken from a sermon that probably lasted for well over an hour. That kind of thing, the way the American public are pegged for sheep who will feel angry over select sound bites played and replayed in the media, is enough to upset any thinking person. Look at how they did Howard Dean! They took a sound, one sound that this man made, and ruined his whole campaign. That is ridiculous. What about the big deal they made when George Bush mispronounced the word "nuclear?" This president has done plenty of things to criticize, and the best thing our infotainment news broadcasters could come up with is mispronouncing a word?
Now, I'm not endorsing any one candidate. However, as an African American, I can't help but be disgusted at the story that the media is using to enrage the public when it comes to Obama. I also have to ask a very, very important question: does America think Jeremiah Wright and Obama are divisive? Or, is the American public shocked at the the fact that political issues get discussed in African American churches?
I mean, think about it....when you see African American worship services on television, what is being shown? Shouting, dancing, singing, clapping, foot-stomping...etc. Often times, African American church services are shown as fun events and jokes. Look at that scene on the original "Blues Brothers." Think of PreacherBot on "Futurama." He has a black-sounding voice. Even William Faulkner, in The Sound and the Fury, includes a Black church scene. Now, I don't know what his purpose was for including that scene, but I read it as an attempt to pacify his white readers with an old, racist joke. I've even heard some white people say they go to African American churches because those churches are just more entertaining. I know these people do not mean to sound racist, and I simply give them a smile. But, I do not rise early Sunday morning, and drive to church so that I can entertain white people. I do not praise the Lord to draw laughter from white people. I do not listen to the sermon and encourage my pastor with an occasional "Amen" to entertain white people. I do not fall on my knees and pray to entertain white people. And I don't sing out loud that I love the Lord to entertain white people.
Yes, in some African American churches, there is a good amoung of shouting, singing, clapping, and dancing. Those are relics, good relics, of West African religion. Those are vital parts of African American worship services, and I don't feel sorry if other groups don't understand it. However, why is that seen as a joke in American popular culture? But, here's where the shame comes in...African American preachers are more than just emotional guides. There is a whole tradition there and a history. It is called prophetic rhetoric. It stems from slavery, and the use of the Old Testament works to talk about God, apply the Bible to contemporary situations, and talk about freedom from tyranny and oppression. Needless to say, these sermons are not exactly politically correct. The real shame is, the really, really, horrible truth that comes out of this Jeremiah Wright news story, is that America at large seems ignorant of the eloquence and intelligence of African American preachers and orators.
Dr. Wright comes from this tradition. In his oration of what the African American community may be thinking, he is participating in a history that stems all the way back to Frederick Douglas and other abolitionist intellectuals. The media wants to call this man, a man who has tirelessly fought to end oppression, unAmerican. I want to step out and say these people are ignorant. The Hon. Frederick Douglas once gave a speech called, "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?" He gave it to an all-white audience on Independence Day. He stood there, using the imagery available in the Old Testament, and told the audience why African Americans should not celebrate Independence Day. Was he being unpatriotic, or was he simply stating the plain truth?
I couldn't help but pay attention to his mention of religion. Earlier this week, it was announced that Obama broke with his former church, which was once headed by the now embattled Jeremiah Wright. You know, he's the minister who preached for over 20 years, only to have his legacy destroyed by a soundbite that lasted less than a minute. Twenty years of preaching, gone in less than a minute. So is the nature of politics.
Needless to say, I'm a little angry at that whole situation. Journalists replayed that soundbite over and over and over again. It was just that one little sound bite, taken from a sermon that probably lasted for well over an hour. That kind of thing, the way the American public are pegged for sheep who will feel angry over select sound bites played and replayed in the media, is enough to upset any thinking person. Look at how they did Howard Dean! They took a sound, one sound that this man made, and ruined his whole campaign. That is ridiculous. What about the big deal they made when George Bush mispronounced the word "nuclear?" This president has done plenty of things to criticize, and the best thing our infotainment news broadcasters could come up with is mispronouncing a word?
Now, I'm not endorsing any one candidate. However, as an African American, I can't help but be disgusted at the story that the media is using to enrage the public when it comes to Obama. I also have to ask a very, very important question: does America think Jeremiah Wright and Obama are divisive? Or, is the American public shocked at the the fact that political issues get discussed in African American churches?
I mean, think about it....when you see African American worship services on television, what is being shown? Shouting, dancing, singing, clapping, foot-stomping...etc. Often times, African American church services are shown as fun events and jokes. Look at that scene on the original "Blues Brothers." Think of PreacherBot on "Futurama." He has a black-sounding voice. Even William Faulkner, in The Sound and the Fury, includes a Black church scene. Now, I don't know what his purpose was for including that scene, but I read it as an attempt to pacify his white readers with an old, racist joke. I've even heard some white people say they go to African American churches because those churches are just more entertaining. I know these people do not mean to sound racist, and I simply give them a smile. But, I do not rise early Sunday morning, and drive to church so that I can entertain white people. I do not praise the Lord to draw laughter from white people. I do not listen to the sermon and encourage my pastor with an occasional "Amen" to entertain white people. I do not fall on my knees and pray to entertain white people. And I don't sing out loud that I love the Lord to entertain white people.
Yes, in some African American churches, there is a good amoung of shouting, singing, clapping, and dancing. Those are relics, good relics, of West African religion. Those are vital parts of African American worship services, and I don't feel sorry if other groups don't understand it. However, why is that seen as a joke in American popular culture? But, here's where the shame comes in...African American preachers are more than just emotional guides. There is a whole tradition there and a history. It is called prophetic rhetoric. It stems from slavery, and the use of the Old Testament works to talk about God, apply the Bible to contemporary situations, and talk about freedom from tyranny and oppression. Needless to say, these sermons are not exactly politically correct. The real shame is, the really, really, horrible truth that comes out of this Jeremiah Wright news story, is that America at large seems ignorant of the eloquence and intelligence of African American preachers and orators.
Dr. Wright comes from this tradition. In his oration of what the African American community may be thinking, he is participating in a history that stems all the way back to Frederick Douglas and other abolitionist intellectuals. The media wants to call this man, a man who has tirelessly fought to end oppression, unAmerican. I want to step out and say these people are ignorant. The Hon. Frederick Douglas once gave a speech called, "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?" He gave it to an all-white audience on Independence Day. He stood there, using the imagery available in the Old Testament, and told the audience why African Americans should not celebrate Independence Day. Was he being unpatriotic, or was he simply stating the plain truth?
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