October 20th, 2014

A Softer Gentler Approach Once Again!

Ok folks I am going to try again to use a softer approach in getting the message across about the state of affairs in our country regarding racial issues. I am human and there are times it becomes so very frustrating that folks will not even be open minded enough to look at the issues on their own. For me it was so very plain to see, once I really examined the issues. Also, when I had questions about race and went to my Black associates, I had to learn that when they attempted to give me an answer based on their lived experiences, that I needed to NOT say BUT and learn to SHUT - UP and truly LISTEN to what they were so kind to share with me. Then and only then, did the pieces begin to fit. And now when I go out into the community, I see those small injustices for myself on a daily basis! I could never live day in and day out, living in a society that does not value your race! 

An Example of What a Bisis is:

·        You are given a choice to eat dinner at  the neighborhood Steak House or Seafood House and you choose the Steak House because you knew they had great food. Another person tried to convince you that the Seafood House also had great food but you refused to even consider eating at the Seafood house because you never ate there so you base your decision on what you know without having an open mind to try something different. 

·        It doesn’t mean you are a bad person or you  hate seafood. It simply means that based on  never experiencing the Seafood House and based on your past experiences with the Steak House, you are you have a bias towards the  Steak House.

So why not keep an open mind and try the Seafood House in order to experience both?

October 7th, 2014

Ferguson Editor Says 

This Cartoon Was Not Intended 

To Be Racist

Now you tell me what this cartoon is saying 
about the Black Community????

      The Nation continues to watch and wait for the grand jury to make a decision in the beginning of the year 2015 on whether or not the person (I won’t dignify this killer by stating his name) who shot and killed unarmed Michael Brown will be criminally charged. Michael Brown was a teenager who was scheduled to begin his freshmen year in college, the teen who has been unjustifiably labeled a gang member and a thug…Wow I think I just wrote a blog entry not too long ago about a young football player who was also unjustifiably labeled a gang member and a thug. Hmmm, is this the behavioral pattern of scared white men in authority???

Michael Brown

With the continued justified unrest surrounding the killing of unarmed Michael Brown in Ferguson Missouri, I decided to search the internet for any updates regarding this racist cartoon (above) drawn by Gary McCoy and published in the Columbia Daily Tribune. I must have been operating on the notion that professional journalist and nationally known newspaper editors would weigh in on the negative impact of the media on the issues of racism in America today. To date, I cannot find one published opinion or editorial column from any of the highly publicized Newspapers, the heavy hitters such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, and the like exploring. Where’s the conversation, where’s the dialog on racism in America today which we keep saying needs to occur??

Ohhhh, I get it, not only is it a “ Good Ole’ Boys Club”, I completely forgot, it is a “Good Ole’ White Privileged Boys Club”! Please forgive this white woman’s nativity. I forgot that this “club” if you will, is still closed to Black Men … this explains the high level of stupidity and club mentality!!!     I then read an article on another blog detailing that Robertson so eloquently stated that he would have axed the cartoon if he had insight that the cartoon would have caused such an uproar! Oh really??!! 

Mr. Robertson was also quoted as saying:

"Even though I don't necessarily agree that it had no value, it's not worth the trouble it has caused," he says. "There is no journalistic principle involved here. You'd rather not piss people off."

Since when do racist messages 
have value??

To my mind, a newspaper editor has the responsibility to report the news, fact finding news not to spew biases, stereotypic characterization of OUR Black community who did more than just help to build this country…but rather the thread that keeps our US flag from fraying. The idea that the editor had the pure audacity to state the Ferguson cartoon was not intended to be racist….Lol! Are you serious or like another pompous rich white man, did you eat too many of your Glaucoma brownies??  Please do enlighten this white person and tell me then, what was the intent? I would bet my paycheck that if the tables were turned and a white teen from a wealthy community was murdered, and the editor allowed the publication of a cartoon depicting this teen with a silver spoon in his mouth and who was asking to be murdered, the out cry for justice would resonate throughout this country!!

Mr. Robertson please try and educate yourself on the true definition of racism.  Once educated then maybe you will speak with a tad more intelligence rather than compare this racist cartoon with that of George Bush!  Depicting George Bush with Dumbo ears is not a disparaging stereotype of a racial group but rather a derogatory slight of one person‘s intelligence.

Racism is: 

·  An underlying belief in the superiority of one race over another and its right to dominate. 

·  Generalizing one group of people by believing in simplistic stereotypes of that group. 

·   Affects every aspect of the lives of communities of color: social, economic, political, health, etc.

·   May take three main forms (though all work together to maintain a system of oppression). 

·    Individual Racism-individual acts that overtly reflect racist attitudes/beliefs. This is the easiest one to identify. I.e. racial slurs, jokes, etc.

·    Systemic Racism and Institutional Racism-organizational policies and practices at the structural level that indirectly target communities of color and maintain white privilege. I.e. racism in the criminal justice system (police profiling); racism in the educational system (all white authors on a course reading list.) 

·    Cultural Racism-value system that supports and allows discriminatory actions against racially and ethno culturally marginalized communities. I.e. white privilege.

By: Anti-Racism Media Education (ARMEd)