“We need to have a conversation about race” has become a common cliche in this country in regards to race relations. This phrase is commonly heard when listening to talking heads discuss current events surrounding race in America. America has shown me that a conversation about race is a complete waste of time and energy.
Anyone with an objective point of view understands that White supremacy and racism is a one way street. Black Americans have done all they can to live in this country peacefully yet we are constantly condescended, vilified and degraded. That’s the real reason that people want to have “conversations on race”. They use it as an opportunity to tell Black people what they really think under the guise of peacemaking. Black people continue to try and make peace and compromise in order to go along to get along and be accepted.
Black Americans need to talk to each other about how to improve their lives in America and other voices need to be ignored. Black people need to have a more positive inner dialogue. When non Black people defend their opinion in regards to race it is usually an unflattering opinion of Black people. As far as I’m concerned they are welcome to it. They are also welcome to stay out of my space.
Positive interactions with non Black people are possible but if you need to sit down with them and conversation about racist opinions they probably are not worth the trouble. I have not interest in talking someone out of their racism. As long as the are not affecting my life they are they are welcome to it.
I have no interest in helping anyone understand my point of view nor am I interested in coming to a understanding as far as race. What is hard to understand about me wanting to be valued as a human being and a woman. I don’t think I benefit from a conversation with that starting point.
If America wants to have a conversation on race it needs to apologize to descendants of African slaves and vow to do better. So far America continues to make excuses and be self righteous. The concerns and complaints of Black people are not heard. I choose not to participate in conversations where the other party refuses to listen because of perceived superiority.
Painful conversations require maturity and America does not have it. There is no real desire to do better because racism works out well for most Americans. The majority of Americans have shown Black people for centuries that they are not interested in justice or opening their minds to new ways of thinking that don’t center White comfort.
Even in this age of BLM most Americans continue to minimize the extent and affect of racism. There have been protests, riots and conversations on race yet racism prevails. Black people need to pay attention to the deliberate attempts to drown our voices in disingenuous conversations. America will never be without racism. The best Black Americans can do is to use the opportunities made possible by those that came before us and improve ourselves, our families and our communities. Do better on your own. Don’t wait for anyone else to do better.
I’m a black and white person and a linear thinker. I’ve been told that I’m direct and blunt. My mother has been described as no nonsense and no frills so I supposed some of it may come from my upbringing. I’m fairly well organized and I like things to be in order. I like to have a clear understanding of things. Labels help us to have an understanding.
I’ve noticed that labels are becoming taboo in 2019. People don’t want to be labeled. They say they want to be free. But what do they want to be free from exactly. Once something is labeled there are expectations that go along with it. If you label a container as salt and you put sugar in it you’re pulling a prank. But if you never label the container the onus is on the person using the container. The person that filled the container has bypassed their responsibilty for what’s in it. And they were able to fool you with their prank.
Modern society is removing labels from things such as relationships between men and women, religious beliefs, sexuality, gender and race. I honestly think that people are disregarding labels because responsibility, expectations and history come with labels. I think people that don’t like labels are trying to remove themselves from those responsibilities, expectations and history. They often want to reap the benefits of the good and take no accountability for the bad.
Take the word whore for example. I’m not one to judge people on their sexuality. I just don’t see it as a big part of a person’s identity. It’s just a descriptive word to describe how much a person gets around. A whore might be a smart, nice person. I have friends and beloved relatives that can be described that way. There have been times when I could be considered one.
However, relabeling whore to “sexually liberated” is a b.s. move. It’s still the same thing and it still gets you the same penalties or rewards. Don’t try to sell that behavior as something other than what it is. A person that gets around is a person that gets around. If a person doesn’t like the stigma then they need to change the behavior.
I watched a You Tube video recently where a person said that they are not affiliated with any organized religion but they believed in God. That’s called Agnostic and she didn’t use that word because for some there are negative connotations that go along with that for some people
This woman probably wouldn’t get very far with the people she is trying to share her message with if she presented herself that way. She then goes on to say that she reads the Bible and she used a lot of language that most would recognize as spiritual or even specifically Christian. She never called her beliefs anything and she went on to talk about having a relationship with her creator.
All of that is fine but she said that she and her husband had a ministry channel on You Tube. What are they ministering exactly? What should we expect from their ministry? If she and her husbands are leaders of this ministry what can and should we expect from them? We don’t know because whatever she calls her beliefs is a secret yet she wants us to follow her. She’s not asking us to follow a religious text that we can read for ourselves and accept or reject or a religion that we can research and choose to be a part of or not before deciding to get involved.
This woman’s ministry is working in shadows. In fact she didn’t even show her face on her You Tube channel which wasn’t her ministry channel. Never go to a second location. The introduction is made in one location to make you feel comfortable. Second locations are always where the damage takes place.
People are reluctant to label their romantic relationships in modern times. Sugar and salt look alike at first glance. You probably have to get very close to it to know which is which. This is the case for many modern relationships. They look like traditional marriages from a distance.
There may be affection, a mortgage, children and other family ties but it’s still not a marriage. Those types of relationships don’t have the same kind of responsibility that a marriage has. There is always a backdoor and a lack of responsibility. Indeed there is a backdoor in a marriage as well but marriage comes with expectations so if a boundary is crossed someone needs to take responsibility for their choices. Not labeling a relationship takes away responsibilities and leaves doors open.
As far as sexuality is concerned I’ve seen high profile celebrities legally marry people of the opposite sex and refer to themselves as queer. This is along the same lines as cultural appropriation. A White performer wants to give themselves and edge and there is a time limit on how long a White performer can imitate urban fashion and dialect and get away with it if that is not genuinely who they are.
I like Miley a lot. I think her lovely personality is enough to further her career. But since her Disney days her career has been based on shock value and selling the public a rebellious image. She’s a child of privilege, that became wealthy as a child star. What’s wrong with that? I think that’s more interesting than vulgarity or her sexuality. I guess being a rich White girl isn’t street enough for Miley.
Femininity and Masculinity can be fluid. Your sex is not. Sex is a biological fact. People can go through medical procedures to change their anatomy which would make them a different gender. I’ve been hearing about sex change operations for decades so that is nothing new. But I’m so perplexed at people that want to change the definition of what a man and woman is. I really don’t see how you can.
There are some women that are masculine and there are men that are feminine. There are men that are attracted to men and women that have romantic love for women. That doesn’t change any biological fact about their gender. If society grows to accept the vague definition of gender women are going to suffer.
Race and ethnicity is a vague category. I’m sure that if we all took a DNA test none of us would be %100 anything. But I’m seeing a real push in the USA to try and get what is commonly known as Black people to call themselves something other than Black or African American. Meanwhile other people that are mixed race and or from other countries want to be considered Black, when it’s convenient of course.
I am a descendant of African slaves and my family has been in the United States for at least four generations. In 2019 those people are commonly called Black or African American. That works for me because I have no problem being Black. I think that people that want us to call ourselves something different are ashamed to be Black. I also think that at some point the government may start to take the demand for reparations seriously for the descendants of slaves. What’s going to happen to all of these folks that have dropped the label of Black or African American then? If I’m still alive to cash that check my Black self is going to have a hearty laugh at them.
People that want Black Americans to call themselves Egyptians or Israelites often speak to us as if we are downtrodden, ignorant people. Yes, Black people have a lot of problems but we have been given a lot of problems for centuries so what exactly is to be expected. The only thing that will change if American Blacks decide to stop calling themselves Black or African American is that we will lose our rich and fascinating history. We will lose our influence on American and global culture. There is nothing to gain by giving ourselves a new label.
The times we live in remind me of an episode of “Twilight Zone” that I saw long ago called “Wordplay”. A man finds himself within a world where all of the words have a different meaning to his understanding and it causes confusion and frustration.
There is nothing wrong with labels. The problem comes from people and their judgements and attitude towards what is being labeled. Judgemental behavior won’t change by calling something by a different name. I can go to City Hall in my town and have my name changed from Shannon to Susie. I’m still the same person and any opinion that you had of me before is the same. You’re just calling it by a different name. Ron Artest and Metta World Peace are the same man. The only thing that changed were the letters (and number) on the back of his jersey.
I question people that are sensitive about labels without making and meaningful changes. People are trying to say that things that are the same are different and things that are different are the same. The relabeling always seems to be for the benefit of one group and the deficit of another. I think these modern word games are just a smokescreen for manipulation and deception.
Here it comes. Yet another blog posting that has been inspired by my hero and celebrity crush Cam Newton. Those of you that follow Cam’s career know that he is a controversial figure for reasons that are beyond me. Much of America dislikes Cameron. He’s too cocky and loud and confident and flashy I suppose. I love all of that about him.
At the end of last year’s football season some fans were up in arms that Cam had the nerve to leave a press conference after his team was defeated in the Super Bowl. He was labeled disrespectful, rude, unprofessional and childish. The PR team for the Carolina Panthers is surely using the off season to make Cam Newton more likeable to more NFL fans. To be blunt they want him to be more likeable to White people.
The other day I ran across an article titled “Cam Newton is 27 but a 5-year-old in His Heart”. I was instantly offended by this headline. Cam Newton had a great season last year, went to the Super Bowl, was a Heisman Trophy winner, a number one draft pick and he’s a college graduate. Cam is philanthropist, a TV personality and a fashion trend setter. All of those are great accomplishments but a sports writer decided to compare him to a young child because he has an outgoing, playful personality. I don’t understand why he can’t just be an adult with a youthful, loving spirit. The article either intentionally or inadvertently presents Cameron as child like in order to make him unthreatening.
The headline was actually a quote from one of Cam’s team mates. He probably didn’t mean anything demeaning by it and the reporter probably didn’t either. But it’s a shame to me that in America Black men need to be made into some sort of clown in order to be liked by White people. I don’t think that Black men should even seek to be liked or accepted by America. They should seek respect and I believe that Cam deserves that. He doesn’t deserve to be looked at as an overgrown child.
America has a very difficult time respecting it’s Black citizens. Pro White racism is not built on the accomplishments of Whites but the degradation of non Whites, particularly Blacks. Even when Blacks are accomplished there is a tendency for racists to try and tarnish their character or at least ignore their contributions and talents. This is how White racism is kept alive. ESPN should be ashamed of themselves for posting that article. You would think a sports media company would have more respect for an athlete like Cam Newton.
Jul 28, 2016; Spartanburg, SC, USA; Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton (1) passes the ball during the training camp at Wofford College. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports