Hip Hop Cheerleader

I Never Title My Poems

2012-01-18T18:11:00.000-08:00

I'm tired of the silence.
Silence is a privilege.
It allows me to keep it hidden.
It allows me to keep it contained.
It allows me to control it.
It allows me to shirk responsibility.
Im afraid of what I might be forced to do once I come out.
Im afraid of all the tests I might fail.
Im afraid to deal with it.
Silence is a death.
And I've gotten so used to living in silence I don't know how to speak.
I've gotten so used to living in isolation, I don't know how to connect.
I've gotten so used to keeping it all together, I don't know how to let it out.
I've been forced to keep a secret, I never knew how to tell.
Now I'll have to explain something, when I don't even know how to speak.
But I can only think of the possibilities.

My 2nd Story of Not Rape?

2011-12-30T20:19:00.000-08:00

I told him that I wasn't going to have sex with him. He didn't take that for an answer. My logic was that, I'll give him whatever he wants while not doing anything that I absolutely refuse to do. My needs, desires were secondary. Again. Every fucking time. Every single time.

I promised myself I wouldn't have sex. I would do everything but have sex. That didn't work. I forced my eyes shut. I felt uncomfortable while he undressed me. I never dreamed that he would try to have sex with me. He forced his dick inside of me. I hollered, maybe because I was in pain (I was a virgin at the time, I don't know what I was afterward), maybe because I was in shock, and maybe it was about safety. No. I don't want to. I can't. I had a big smile on my face, I didn't want to disappoint him. I knew that if I didn't do what he wanted, at least a little, he wouldn't like me. He wouldn't talk to me anymore. I wanted him to like me. I needed him to like me. But I didn't want to have sex, not with him, not with someone who didn't value me. I said no. He forced himself again. Holler. Again. Holler.

I left that night and didn't know what happened or what I did. Was it sex? I felt proud. I tried to feel proud on the outside, but hate festered inside of me. His dick was inside me, but I didn't consent. I said no, but I didn't kick and scream. I didn't make sure he knew I was serious. He treated me like shit. He didn't care. I didn't feel violated. I felt violated. I felt horrible. Ashamed. Used. I didn't try to classify it. I tried to classify it. It wasn't sex. I didn't consent to it. It was sex, it couldn't have been sex. My gut knew, consent is needed for it to be sex. It wasn't sex, there wasn't pumping or positions or kisses or coming or love or touching or sexiness. It wasn't sex. Was it rape? Rape never entered my mind. It wasn't rape. He never asked. He just forced. Afterward, seeing him around, I craved acknowledgement. I never got it. I begged for it in silent ways. I didn't get it. I'm standing here! Tell me that you still like me! I did what you wanted! Tell me you're still interested. Tell me I did good. Tell me I pleased you.

For years, I couldn't define for myself what it was. I'm still not going to define it. I can't. The possibilities are too rigid, too scary. Its not important. Its about how I felt. How he made me feel. I knew he didn't value me, not like the girls he actually wanted to date. I wondered why I hated him so much. Why seeing him made my skin crawl. Why I still was desperate for him to like me, to show me attention, to show me he was still interested.

The experience was violating. Again. Every fucking time. Its violating. Saying no and having a man think that means yes, maybe, try harder. Its violating. It fucking sucks. But it didn't matter. Because it wasn't clean cut. It didn't matter cuz I was blamed. Cuz I had my shit dictated for me. Again. Every fucking time. Cuz society makes it where shit like this doesn't matter. Where we don't matter. Where its a fucking joke. Where men are on colonial missions for sex, for rape, against their own people, and womyn are once again the fucking causalities. Cuz I was trying to preserve my innocence, but I was painted guilty. And that fucking sucks. I was trying to preserve my chastity, the idea of chastity, the idea of respectable womanhood. I was not trying to heal. I was trying to deny what happened, how I felt, cuz I didn't want to be another girl who got taken advantage of. I wanted to be strong. I wanted power, the power that was taken from me. Again, over and over again. A-fucking-gain.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:
What is your not-rape story? Please share. Tell me, in the form of essay, song, poem, journal entry, experiment, photograph, anything you want, your story of bodily trespassing, and I'll post it here. If you are thinking of submitting, please be sure to read the original Not Rape essay from Latoya Peterson of Racialicious. You can also read the comments there to get more people's stories of Not Rape. You can remain anonymous. All submission or questions here. Please help spread the word.

Youth Institute for Anti-Sexual Violence Activism

2011-12-29T18:45:00.000-08:00

Hey y'all,

I am in the process of starting a community organization. I decided to name it Youth Institute for Anti-Sexual Violence Activism. The mission of Youth Institute of Anti-Sexual Violence Activism is to organize from a non-violent, feminist perspective to empower youth of all genders with the tools, resources, and training needed to aid in the fight to end sexual violence and to become anti-sexual violence activists, particularly focusing on violence against women and trans folks of color. Here's our Idealist page, if you're interested, please check it out to see if there's anyway you can offer your support. Right now, I really need help in moving this organization past the 'idea' stage. If you have a background in working with youth, trans folks, women, or on the issue of sexual violence in inner city communities your advice and support are welcome. Also, we need a logo, so if you know anyone who does graphics, let me know! I don't have the resources to work on this project full time right now and I also want to get more experience working in non-profits and with youth before I go full fledged but I am applying for some fellowships and grants right now for the org so send me your good vibes!

Thanks!

On Heteropatriarchy, Presidents and Families

2011-12-24T12:53:00.000-08:00

I've been reading a lot more these days about polyamory. The theory itself is pretty convincing and so are the arguments against the heteopatriarchal myth of marriage: "For instance, we may be in a relationship we are super into, but then want to have an experience outside that relationship with someone who shares a characteristic with us that our partner doesn't, whether that be race, language, age, class background, ability, trans identity, or something else. Our radical politics tell us we don't have to pretend that those things don't matter, and that we can honor the different connections we get to have we get to have with people based on shared or different identities. If we love our partners and friends, it makes sense that we would want them to have experiences that are affirming or important for them in those ways, and not let rules of sexual exclusivity make us into barriers for each other's personal development (For Lovers and Fighters, Dean Spade)." I think in our minds, polyamory makes more sense to us. However, we've been socialized from the likes of parents, Disney movies, church, television shows, and of course, our Presidents.

What does it mean that only one of our U.S. Presidents have been unmarried (James Buchanan was engaged to be married before his fiancé died)? And that none of them have been married to someone outside of their race? Or that all of them have been Christian and heterosexual? What message does being married send to the American public? A recent article in the L.A. Times about Mitt Romney focusing on his marriage to Ann Romney throughout his campaign and increasingly so, now that its almost time for the primaries, outlines the fact that Romney's marriage is evidence that he is a man of "steadiness and constancy." It has been said that Romney is using this focus on marriage, in direct opposition to another candidate, Newt Gingrich, who has had three failed marriages; Republican voters cite it as the main reason why they might not vote for him. One woman interviewed said, in reference to Gingrich, "if you can't work at a marriage and make that work, how can you make the government work?" What does it mean that President Bill Clinton was impeached when it was found out that he had an extramarital affair?

Our society is rooted in capitalism. It is the fundamental building block of America and it is present in every corner of our lives. Therefore, it is no wonder then, that the wives of American presidents, particularly in this example of Mitt Romney are treated as the property of the President and by extension, the American public. "The President is a product" and marriage is a huge part of the campaign for the Presidency. The American public must also fall in love with the wife. She is touted to events and speaks often during the campaign on behalf of her husband. Marriage, particularly in the case of the American presidency is a property arrangement, where the wife is sold to the American public as the perfect wife. The marriage of the President to someone of his same race; one man, one woman, white picket fence as the traditional love story is essentially a myth, a message sent to the people of the world that this is success, this is what you should attain to. I'm not married, but in my experience, marriage doesn't last, monogamous relationships that follow this framework don't last, at least most times, statistics show and if they do, its probably not because both parties followed this stoic framework.

Andrea Smith, in her article, "Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy" quotes Christian Right activist and founder, Charles Colson, "Marriage is the traditional building block of human society, intended both to unite couples and bring children into the world... the family, led by a married mother and father, is the best available structure for both childrearing and cultural health." I've heard comments from black men, that a real woman is a woman like Michelle Obama, a woman who they've never met, that this is they way it should be done, referring to a familial structure. Their marriage normalizes black heteropatriarchy. As I discussed here, black womyn are particularly oppressed under this institution of patriarchy. Black womyn's worth is based "solely in terms of success at finding and keeping a romance, to brainwash women into spending all their time measuring themselves against this norm and working to change their bodies, behaviors, and activities to meet the requirements of being attractive to men and suitable for romance. I see this myth as both personally damaging to people-in how it creates unrealistic expectations about ourselves and each other and causes us to constantly experience insecurity-and also politically damaging because its a giant distraction from our resistance and it divides us (especially based on the fucked up self-fulfilling stereotypes about how woman compete with each other.)...It's important to have a critique of the myth of romance that looks at how damaging it is to us in our personal lives, and how it is designed to fuel social arrangements, codified in law, that we invented to subordinate woman and make them into the property of men.(Dean Spade)." Womyn are socialized to do everything to fulfill the "perfect woman" myth to enter into the capitalist structure of a relationship, which is marriage, even diss other women, in order to help perpetuate categories of women that are acceptable and unacceptable for marriage.

The marriage of Barack and Michelle Obama is drooled over by the American public as well, particularly the Black American public. That's not particularly a bad thing either. Media, even black media, depicts black relationships as tainted and violent; Baby Boy is one example, not to mention that Chris Brown's violence against Rihanna received more media attention that any white man beating up his white wife. However, I believe that the near worship of Potus and Flotus' relationship is unhealthy, because its almost never accompanied by a real interrogation of the President's politics. Its always "I love my President!", "I love them!", "They are so cute!" when we see a picture of them together or Barack talking about Michelle. This myth, adopted to a predominant black family, makes it easier for black people to adapt to it. Andrea Smith continues "heteropartiarchy is the building block of US empire. In fact, it is the building block of the nation-state form of governance." Maybe its because a lot of us have grown up in communities "listening to their choice of baby mama anthems while using “baby daddy” as a term of endearment" like Janelle Harris, in this article describes. Perhaps we've grown tired of seeing poor, single mothers. But is marriage really the solution? Of course, we wish that more dads would stick around after they've had a child with a woman. But as Smith says "Christian Right politics work through the private family (which is coded as white, patriarchal, and middle class) to create a 'Christian America.' She notes that the investment in the private family makes it difficult for people to invest in more public forms of social connection. In addition, investment in the suburban private family serves to mask the public disinvestment in urban areas that makes the suburban lifestyles possible. " Therefore, marriage is seen as the solution to the struggling single mother, with no real movement for the social services necessary to make caring for a child as a single mother or even as a family possible.

In conclusion, whether choosing polyamory, monogamy, single hood or marriage, we must create our own ideals of family that include consciousness about our relationships with the community around us.

Rape culture is...

2011-12-16T22:27:00.000-08:00

Rape culture is telling fat womyn that they should be happy someone wants to fuck them.
Rape culture is telling black girls that they are fast.
Rape culture is telling Native womyn that its tradition.
Rape culture is telling Latina womyn to stay pure until marriage.
Rape culture is telling trans folks that they deserve it.
Rape culture is telling immigrant womyn that its the price you pay.
Rape culture is telling disabled womyn that they can't have sex.
Rape culture is ignoring people who experience sexual violence in prisons.
Rape culture is telling trans womyn, that they aren't really womyn.

Black Womyn Hate as Manifestations of Heteropatriarchy

2011-12-13T21:19:00.000-08:00

This hate of black women is not new, but it still fucking burns. I'm tired of this shit. I'm tired of black men who act like their dick is the second coming of Jesus Christ telling black women that we are not good enough to be with them. Rhetoric like this, based on what is wrong with black womyn, why we are not desirable, what we need to do to get a man, is rooted in heteropatriarchy and by extension, capitalism and homophobia. In "Heteropatriarchy and The Three Pillars of White Supremacy", Andrea Smith draws out the link between heteropatriachy and this type of conversation around relationships.

Andrea Smith quotes Charles Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship, "If we fail to enact a Federal Marriage Amendment, we can expect not just more family breakdown, but also more criminals behind bars and more chaos in our streets." We can see from this quote that in the eyes of right-wing, Christian, mainstream society, marriage between two heterosexual adults of extreme genders is a process of crime prevention. The assumption is, which is an assumption held by black men also, that when you invest in this traditional familial dynamic the you prevent delinquent little boys and sexually promiscuous girls, with no critical analysis to the criminalization of black youth and the high rate of black womyn experiencing sexual victimization. Smith then goes on to quote Lift High the Cross author Ann Burlien, "the investment in the private family makes it difficult for people to invest in more public forms of social connection. In addition, the investment in the suburban private family serves to mask the public disinvestment in the urban areas that makes the suburban life possible." Subscribing to the belief that one man should be with one woman and that men should be the ones we aspire to be with promotes patriarchal domination and homophobia. It promotes the myth of the American dream, which ultimately benefits a small sector of society.

USA as a Battleground: No Surprise

2011-12-09T20:09:00.000-08:00

In light of the recent news that the U.S. could soon be declared an effective battleground, I want to shed light on why this is happening and what this might for people of color. Andrea Smith, in her essay "Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy", which I have quoted here and here outline why this might all make sense in the eyes of the U.S. as a imperialist society. She says, "the logic of Orientalism marks certain peoples or nations as inferior and as posing a constant threat to the well-being of empire. These people are still seen as 'civilizations'-they are not property or 'disappeared'-however, they will always be imaged as permanent foreign threats to empire. This logic is evident in the anti-immigration movements within the United States that target immigrants of color. It does not matter how long immigrants of color reside in the United States, they generally become targeted as foreign threats, particularly during war time. Consequently, orientalism serves as the anchor for war, because it allows the United States to justify being in a constant state of way to protect itself from its enemies."Therefore, we can draw comparisons to the way the state institutions currently treat marginalized groups to what society would be like if this bill passed.

People of color, women, gays and lesbians are unfairly targeted by the police and are the fastest growing segments of the military where they face discrimination and violence at higher rates than other populations. Not only are people of color marginalized here the in the States, but colonial missions are launched almost exclusively against people of color abroad. So if we draw these connections, we can see that this bill will mean that a permanent war is waged against people of color, women, LGBT person, low income individuals, etc. here in the U.S. to keep oppressions, privilege and white supremacy in place. "What becomes clear is then is what Sora Han states-the United States is not at war; the United States is war." It is because we have the belief that the U.S. is basically a good society, with a basically good framework for our liberation, that oppression is just happenstance and is not deliberate, we continue to ignore that war and genocide is at the very core of this country. The U.S. continues to facilitate colonial missions such as these to keep black people imprisoned and Native lands occupied, both of which serve to keep capitalism in place and keep the U.S. a successful imperial entity.

Click the title of this post for a pdf of the proposed bill.

My Story of Not Rape: Updated

2011-11-27T19:20:00.000-08:00

When I first read this essay, my life was changed. Someone had classified what happened to me, not just once, but several times in my childhood, throughout it in fact. Someone had experienced it too. Someone had given it a name, said it was wrong. I felt empowered.

In mainstream society and even in some liberation movements, we have a hierarchal relationship to sexual violence. Rape is classified as the most brutal form of sexual violence, and maybe it is. However, its often personified as a stranger jumping out on a wildly attractive, ulta-feminine white woman because he just can't contain his sexual desires. She screams no loudly but her attempts are futile. Womyn of color are often reluctant to speak out about the sexual violence we've experienced, partly because mainstream society tells us we're not as worthy of protection as white women. This archaic, stereotype of how rape happens is a white ideal that serves to protect the notion of white womanhood and persecute men of color. However, most rapes don't play like out that and all sexual violence is not rape.

Not rape. The not rape epidemic. Its not rape, or its not that archaic stereotype of rape, but it is the trespassing of bodies. Its the stealing of something, the betrayal of your safety. Its the sending of a message, that you're not worthy of that safety and that your power is only in the physicality of your body.

Here is one of my stories of not rape:

Antoine was a boy in my elementary school class. He was tall and light skinned and had a bumpy face, complete with beady eyes. He was a menace to my class, the class clown, constantly in trouble. He touched my butt. I couldn't even tell my mom face to face, I was embarrassed. I was embarrassed that I had talk about my body, something so intimate, to my mother. I wrote a note and hid it in her car, hoping she would find it but not talk to me directly about it. She didn't, instead the next thing I heard about the situation was when I was called to the school office. She came with my now step dad to talk with some officials (I think the principal and the vice-principal) at my school. I think Antoine was suspended. I wasn't the only girl he had been touching like that and it wasn't the only time he had bothered us. All of the times he bothered us, we asked him to stop, to leave us alone. He never did. Our white, female teacher never did anything to stop us. None of the other boys in the class did anything. We were young black girls, it didn't matter, we were already disposable, hypersexual, worthless.

The important point here, is that he knew what he was doing was wrong and he knew that we didn't like it. He knew that I wanted it to stop. He showed me that I didn't have any power in the situation to make someone stop touching my body, a body he felt he had full access to. It was my elementary school body and he had more rights to it than I did. Maybe what's just as crucial in this situation, was the fact that this elementary school boy's power dynamics were already shaped in his own mind and in his own life; to believe that he had the right and the ability to touch me, to touch a part of me that was deemed intimate by society and by himself, and in turn, by me. I realized after that moment that my butt was something that was sexual, before that I thought the reason boys liked me was because I had a pretty face and my hair was long, which is arguably just as bad. Now I knew that boys liked me because I had body parts that they didn't, not necessarily because they liked those body parts, but because they were socialized to deem those body parts sexual and desirable. I wonder now about the messages he was sent, about how his body may have been violated, what was it exactly that made him see us as objects to be touched and not heard. He wasn't a man yet, at least not age wise, but he definitely had male privilege or the beginnings of it. We were girls of color, being violated by a boy of color, showing us what the hundreds maybe thousands of interactions we would have with men of color from here on out would be like, showing us the oppression that we would endure from our counterparts for maybe the rest of our lives, showing me what my body meant to the world around me was more important than what it meant to me. The more our butts grew, the more our breasts grew, they grew not with self-discovery, pride, love or excitement but with embarrassment at what also growing guys would say about our bodies, how they would touch us, what names they would call us, and what ways we could stop their vulgar comments. We could never match their dangerous wit, we weren't trained in how to objectify anyone, we were trained to be the opposite: quiet, accepting. No matter what we said, we couldn't make these young boys understand what their words were doing to us, how they were shaping our self-esteem with their comments.

In this interaction was also about consent and self-esteem. My power to consent to anything was taken away from me because my power to have my "no" heard and heeded was denied. I was victimized. This story/interaction is classified as "not rape" because it wasn't rape but it did set me up on a path for continued victimization, which rape is a manifestation of. If women can't have the power to say yes, they won't have the power to say no and have it listened to and heeded either. The body is integrally related to self-esteem. Two things can break a person's self esteem: sexual violence and being subjected to the the male gaze. Two things that womyn are victimized into. Two things that I have been pushed into.

Messages like these from the boys/men around me, the media, and my family all culminated to show me that my power was in being more attractive than other girls. If I wanted attention from boys/men, I needed to dress scantily, I needed to keep my hair done, I needed to be dainty, ditzy, and cute, because that was what boys liked. I was trained to make pleasing the opposite sex one of my goals, my aspirations and if I could get boys to like me more than they liked other girls, that I won at something, I succeeded, I had power. This is the way that power dynamics get fucked up by patriarchy, it makes those without power feel like they need to do stupid shit to get it and it makes those with power fight to maintain it by abusing it and violating others. This "compete with other girls for guys" mentality stayed with me for many years and is still something I struggle with. Before these messages, I didn't compare myself to other girls to see why boys liked them more or less than they liked me. I thought guys liked me because I was just as beautiful but just in other ways. But that's not the way it was at all. Guys liked me or didn't like me based on how much I fit into society's constructed desire for those men. Desire is constructed for men. Womyn are the subjects of the male gaze and therefore try to manipulate their looks and behavior to fit into what men have been socialized to see as desirable. Its an oppressive, sexist, and queerphobic approach for both. To allow no room for diversity. Its taken me a long time to get that feeling of desirability and self-love back and I'm still working at it.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:
What is your not-rape story? Please share. Tell me, in the form of essay, song, poem, journal entry, experiment, photograph, anything you want, your story of bodily trespassing, and I'll post it here. If you are thinking of submitting, please be sure to read the original Not Rape essay from Latoya Peterson of Racialicious. You can also read the comments there to get more people's stories of Not Rape. You can remain anonymous. All submission or questions here. Please help spread the word.

Iggy Azalea: Updated

2011-11-25T20:51:00.000-08:00

About to listen to Iggy Azalea "Ignorant Art" mixtape for the first time which is apparently an ode to basquiat. I was reading an interview from her in the newest issue L.A. Record which I just picked up from Amoeba, it made me immediately run to her site. She seems hella cool, hope it doesn't disappoint.

[Excerpt from the interview]
You have more in common with older female rapper-or maybe Nicki Minaj at the beginning of her career.

"Yeah, now she wants to be Harajuku Barbie. My videos weren't always sexual, and people would say it was going to take me, like six years longer because of that. Fuck off, if I'm going to do it, I'll do it how I want to do it....I'm not doing it in a man's version of what women's sexuality is allowed to be, which I personally think is bullshit and most of the time demeaning."

Plus she's cute.

[Quickie Review]
Ignorant Art is definitely ignorant music. There's no lyricism of real substance. I do like the fun vibe of it though, kind of reminiscent of Kid Sister. It is different than other music out there, especially coming from a female rapper and its definitely not something that can easily fit into radio, so she gets points on that. Iggy has a nice flow and the potential to make better music than this. Halfway through listening, I saw that YG was on one of the tracks. Usually this would be grounds for automatic dismissal, but I continue to listen. I do like Treasure Island. And to stop comparisons to Kreayshawn, she should never make another song like Drop That. [Verdict]: I'll let her stay on my ITunes, she might grow on me.

You can download Iggy's mix tape here.

I Still Love You

2011-11-11T08:37:00.000-08:00

"See if you believe that you & me, can change the world someday, then believe when I say, I Still Love You."

I totally forgot how much I used to love this song!

Anti-Violence Workshops (Updated, Again)

2011-10-17T13:17:00.000-07:00

Heyy everyone,

This fall I am interning at the Downtown Women's Center in the Los Angeles skid row area. Primarily, my responsibilities will be to educate the community there on issues of violence. I have a series of upcoming workshops that will focus on sexual violence and state violence, that I would love for you all to attend.

Workshop 1 will be held on November 3rd, 1-2:30pm and November 5th, 1:15-2:45pm. This workshop will cover sexual violence, how this type of violence affects homeless women, how this community, including organizations and activists, responds to it, as well as ways to end violence against this community.

Workshop 2 will be held on November 17th. 1-2:30pm and December 3rd from 1:15-2:45pm. This workshop will cover state violence, its relation to sexual violence, how this type of violence affects homeless women, what this community, including activists and organizations, can do to defend itself from state violence, the root causes of state violence, and why some communities are targeted more than others.

All workshops will be held at the Downtown Women's Center, 442 S. San Predro Ave. LA, CA 90013 on the 2nd floor patio. Hope to see you there!

West Coast Hip Hop: Part 6: Dregs One

2011-08-18T12:53:00.000-07:00

Dregs One is an emcee and producer from Northern California, San Francisco to be exact. One of the aspects I appreciate most about Dregs's music, besides good beats, is that he actually has something to say and can actually be called a progressive or conscious rapper and he gets considerably better with every project. Check out some videos from Dregs off his newest mixtape "The Wake Up Call" below:

Also, check out Dregs' Wake Up Reports where he talks about community issues below:

Stay up to date on Dregs One's projects here.

I Love LA: Part 5: Downtown LA Artwalk

2011-08-17T17:45:00.000-07:00

I went to the Dowtown Art Walk for the first time this past Thursday. It was pretty fun. There was some good art and cool vendors and it was hella crowded. I just wish the streets were better lit and that the galleries were all next door from each, they're too spread out. I'm proud of myself because all I bought was a $10 mojito. Why are drinks so expensive?! ugh. Well it will be my last time having a mojito, I don't like the taste. Check out the pics of me and some friends and some of the artwork below:

I Love LA: Part 4: Things To Do in LA This Week

2011-08-07T20:55:00.000-07:00

Things to Do in LA:

Downtown Art Walk

second Thursday of every months starting on Main street, generally lasts from 12-9pm
Free
Self-guided tour of art galleries in the Downtown Los Angeles area

Third Wednesday/Downtown Culver City

live entertainment
art galleries
food & drink specials
giveaways
free samples
between Culver Blvd & Washington blvd.
5-9pm
3102026060

Activist Public Picnic

Vegan Potluck
Clover Park, 2600 Ocean Blvd. Santa Monica
12-3pm
3103991000

Hippie Shit

2011-08-02T14:01:00.000-07:00

I don't like when people call me a hippie. Its not that I get offended, I just think its inaccurate. First off, unless you were a teenager or a young adult in the 60s that practically lived on Haight & Ashbury, then you my friend are not a hippie. Maybe you bear similarities to hippies, but hippies are not born/made everyday. They were a people/movement that has since died out.

I would guess that people call me a hippie because I always talk about love, peace, and equality, which was a lot of the stuff that hippies fought for. My problem with people that call themselves hippies are that they shout "love!" with no real analysis on why hate exists. They just say these things because its are trendy and call themselves hippies because that's the trendy thing to do but know nothing of concepts like appropriation, or colonization, or white privilege.

The clothes: which is another reason people probably call me a hippie. I don't dress like no damn hippie. Most people who try to emulate hippie culture are just doing it to be trendy. Native people all over the world dressed in bright, ornate ways way before hippies came on the map. Say I dress like the Native people of the world, not no damn hippie. More than anything, I try to represent myself in the way that I dress. & I am not a hippie.

Updated: Slut Shaming and Sexual Choice

2011-07-19T20:57:00.000-07:00

Slut-shaming (I wish there was a better word for it) is a product of sex negative images. So not only is slut-shaming sexist it is also a process of policing gender. Slut shaming privileges men over womyn, by telling womyn that they are responsible for the sexual responses of men because womyn's power is sexual while men's power is material. "Put on pants instead of shorts, so men won't holler at you when you walk down the street." "If you weren't drinking so much, you wouldn't have been raped." In both of these situations, womyn are expected to be responsible for what men do, because supposedly men can't control their responses when women assumed to be hypersexual, show that they are indeed sexual beings. Slut shaming is telling womyn not to fall out of the confines of modesty and what the stereotype of what a woman should be: dainty, submissive, etc. When a woman falls out of those restrictions, society, including slut shamers ridicule her for not lining up to what their standards of a woman should be, for stepping out of line, for being a sexual woman with autonomy which womyn were never believed to be. They tell her she's not a real woman, that instead she is a ho, and strip her of her gender identity all together. This is the worst situation for a young woman of color to be in. They make her feel so bad that she'll get back in line and never stray again. Slut shaming serves to keep stoic ideas of what a woman should be in tact: pure and passive.

This type of logic disproportionately affects women of color. Since women of color are already seen by dominant society, including men of color, as hypersexual, callous deviants who use sex for purely economic and/or man stealing gains, our sexuality is even more boxed in. We put on a modest persona to seek acceptance not only from other womyn but from the men of our race also. Our sexuality is dictated for us even more than it is for white womyn. Most womyn are so afraid of being ostracized from the community based on sexual choices deemed inappropriate, that they make those choices, not based on love or fulfillment but only so they won't go through this process of gender stripping slut-shaming. My plea is for womyn to start making sexual choices based on what their desires are and what their own definition of a woman is and also allow every other woman to make those same rules, decisions, and choices for herself. Don't let society determine what your sexuality should look like. Define your own ideas and give every other woman the right to do that for herself, she deserves it. Shatter the degrading stereotype of what a woman should be.

My message to women is to be proud of the sexual choices you make when you don't care what others will think of you. Don't restrict yourself based on what ideas are out there about the purity of a woman. Even if afterward, you felt like it was a mistake and regret it later on, remember it happens to the best of us. Be proud that at that moment it was exactly what you wanted. Be proud that you had the clear mind and will to make that decision. If for no other reason, do it for the womyn who didn't get to make the choice about what sexual choices they were going to make.

"SEXUAL VINDICATION ladies, taking back whats ours!"

Sexual vindication: doing what you want, with your body, regardless of preconceived notions and not caring what people think about what you are doing, with your body.

Sexual Violence and Sex Negative Messages

2011-07-19T19:34:00.000-07:00

The other day was the first day that I masturbated without guilt. I was in high school when I first started to masturbate. High school was also the time in my life when I was going through my die hard Imma-be-a-minister-when-I-grow-up Christian phase. Not only was I being sent covert messages from the media about how dirty and disgusting masturbation was but I was also being sent similar overt messages from the adults in my life that I loved, trusted, and believed about how wrong and sinful masturbation was. These messages didn't make me stop though, they only made me feel ashamed of what I was doing. I had found a part of myself that felt too damned good to stop, which made me feel even more bad and on top of that I was being told in church every Sunday to let go of the flesh and how only sinful, worldly creatures choose flesh over the Lord. I was a wreck, but a sexually satisfied wreck. Instead of persuading me to stop, those messages that were embedded into my psyche triggered an guilty response every time I felt the fruits of my masturbation labor. I relished the physical goodness but my mind felt like what I had just done was wrong, the physicality of what I was feeling was wrong. Pretty much, I felt bad about feeling good.

Every time, I told myself that I needed to stop, that I needed to get my life in order, that I needed to ask for forgiveness and I did. Over and over again. Imagine what that can do to a person, you continue to commit what you feel is a crime, a religious crime, one even worse than those committed against the law. Imagine what it did to my sexual health. I felt screwed up. The connection had already been made: sex is bad, dirty, wrong, and worst of all sinful.

Now that I've abandoned my religious beliefs and adopted love as my die hard spirituality, I have come to realize that sex is a natural part of life. To tell someone and send messages that sex is wrong is what the true problem is.

I recently read an blog post by sex positive activist Charlie Glickman. In his post he draws the link between sex negative messages and rape culture. He says "sex negative messages don't keep people from having sex. They keep people from having good sex." Brilliant. To further his argument, sex negative messages don't just keep people from having good sex they also keep people from feeling healthy, mature, equipped, and happy about the sexual choices they make. Sex negative messages are violent messages that keep people away from expressing themselves sexually in a safe, healthy, fun manner. They detach people from the very necessary connection human beings need to have with their physical body. Andrea Smith in her book "Conquest: Sexual Violence and the American Indian Genocide," says, "as a consequence of this colonization and abuse of their bodies, Indian people learn to internalize self-hatred, because body image is integrally related to self-esteem. When one's body is not respected, one begins to hate oneself. Anne, a native boarding school student, reflects on this process: You better not touch yourself...If I looked at somebody, lust, sex I got scared of those sexual feelings. And I did not know how to handle them...What really confused me was if intercourse was a sin, why are people born?...It took me a really long time to get over the fact that...I've sinned, I had a child." Therefore, I agree with Glickman's argument that sex negative messages promote rape. In order to have a mind that sees rape as wrong, you have to believe that every person's body is worthy of respect and love, but how can you respect and love someone else's body when you've been taught that all things sexual are bad? when you hate yourself and your own body?, when you're indiscriminate and careless about the sexual choices you make? This why I believe more men commit sexually violent acts than womyn do, because men are taught to be indiscriminate and careless in their sexual choices. If they turn a woman down, they are tagged gay not selective.

In Juice, Bishop said "I don't give a fuck. I don't give a fuck about you. I don't give a fuck about Steel. I don't give a fuck about Raheem, either. I don't give a fuck about myself. Look, I ain't shit. And you less of a man than me, so as soon as I figure you ain't gon be shit, pow!" Even though this is a fictional movie, it was a depiction of a real situation. When someone hates themselves they hate another person even more since society is shaped in a way where we don't give other the same respect we give ourselves. Therefore, I am making the assertion that the first step to stopping sexual violence is to stop sex negative messages. Teach people about sex positivity, so that they can be comfortable, and can respect and love their own bodies and the bodies of others. Its definitely easier said than done, but it can be done.

It took a long time of me constantly rethinking the sex negative messages that I had been sent for so long for me in order for me to fully love and appreciate my body and the body of others and it was definitely worth the wait.

I Love LA: Part 3: Eat Real Festival!

2011-07-18T23:18:00.000-07:00

So I had been looking forward to the Eat Real Festival since I learned about it from the LA Times about two weeks previous and I finally got to go yesterday. While the festival didn't meet all of my expectations, which are always pretty high, it was still effin awesome. First, parking was horrible. This is the same crowd aligned with the green movement, so I wonder if the inconvenience was done on purpose. There weren't event any designated parking lots, only bike lots where you could get your bike valeted and shuttles. I'm all for the bikes and the like but they need to understand nonetheless 90% of people coming to this event will be driving, don't punish them for it. The festival was also a lot smaller than I expected but bigger isn't always better as showcased by this event.

The main thing I went for was the food trucks of course. The first one my mother and I decided on was the world famous Nom Nom truck from Food Network's The Great Food Truck Race. They were only selling one item, the Banh Mi, which I was a little apprehensive about since I don't really like lemongrass. However, I went ahead and tried it minus the mayo and it was the best lemongrass chicken I've ever had. All the ingredients were fresh, it had the perfect amount of spiciness with the jalapenos, and the baguette was really filling. It was delicious. I washed it down with a mango agua fresca. The next food truck we tried was Flat Iron where we ordered the house fries which were weirdly shaped potatoes seasoned with I believed to be sea salt, and some type of herb. Either way, they were dry but pretty good nonetheless.

We walked around and visited some booths about farming from South Central Farmers and organic food where Organic Valley was handing out organic string cheese, stickers and cards with information about how to make your own butter. We also bought white nectarines from a booth by Santa Monica Farmer's Market. The best part, besides the food, was the marketplace, even though I didn't buy anything. There was homemade honey and honey products from Backyard Bees. Their handcream was to die for. I also tasted a jerk sauce, jerk as in jerk chicken, from Jabberwocky Foods Inc. The sauce was good and reasonably priced. I also tasted pure chocolate which was good until the bitter end, literally. Last, I tasted an Original flavored olive from Orgasmo de la Boca, which the owner said her vegetarian friends describe as their bacon, I can definitely see the comparison!

Overall I had an excellent time, maybe I'll be at the one in Oakland next! Check out some of the flicks I took below:

I Love LA: Part 2: Things To Do This Week

2011-07-17T21:25:00.000-07:00

Los Feliz Village Street Fair. Sun. 11am.-10pm.
Venice Beach Art Crawl-Explore Venice Beach's art community with more than 20 participating galleries. Thurs. July 17th. 6pm-10pm
3rd Annual Summer Fest, Venice Beach-Exhibitors, Food Vendors, and Live Music from 20 Bands. Sat. July 23rd. 10am-6pm.
Volunteer Orientation. Sat. July 23rd. 9am-11am. at Downtown Women's Center
Beauty CULture Exhibit at Annenberg Space for Photography

*only free events are posted*

I Love LA: Part 1: Venice

2011-07-14T20:21:00.000-07:00

Today, I spent the day with my wonderful and very good friend TaRasha at Venice, Los Angeles; which is a sort of mecca in LA. Most people don't go to Venice Beach to enjoy the water but instead go to see the street art; graffiti and live circus-like performers; shop and eat. I bought two pairs of earrings for $23 at Gonzo Africa which has a lot of cool ethnic jewelry. Fred, whom I believe is the owner was really cool and gave us both discounts on our purchases.

Venice is home to many cool restaurants like famed taco truck Kogi BBQ which makes Korean tacos, you also find them at this event tonight. TaRasha and I ate a cool little Mediterranean restaurant called Cairo Cowboy, which is known for its Kabob N' Roll food truck as well but the owners just opened up this restaurant in Venice. Despite the corny name of the place, the food was really good, the portions were small but adequate for the price. I had the vegetarian version of the Mediterranean pizza, I think it was called Zatar. It came with a puree-like sauce of herbs, sesame seeds, purple onions, and tomatoes. TaRasha had fried banana nutella bites which were like pupusas filled with....you guessed it, nutella and fried banana. They were really good too.

Check out the earrings I bought today below:

Los Angeles

2011-07-14T18:11:00.000-07:00

So after spending the majority of my time in Riverside for the past four years, I am back in LALAland and appreciating the hell out of it. So I'm making a effort to learn more about the city that I grew up in, specifically focusing on history/historical sites, events, and cool places. I'm starting a new series where I talk about places that I've been and cool events coming up in the Los Angeles area. In addition to blogging pictures and stories about the places I'm visiting, I'll post Things To Do in LA every Sunday. Stay tuned!

DivaCup Review

2011-06-11T18:30:00.000-07:00

After I stumbled upon much research on the ills of menstruation products such as tampons and pads, I became disgusted. But not because of menstruation, but because like everything else in this world, capitalism had gotten a hold of something as natural as blood from a cooter. Why was I surprised, of course companies at the forefront of menstrual health were male-centric, capitalist and were least of all concerned with women's well being; that's why most of these products contain harmful chemicals like bleach. There had to be a better way, I thought. (And!) there is! I settled on the DivaCup, a resuable mentrual cup. My first cycle, it was to die for. Conveinent, clean, and safe, I worshipped the dear DivaCup. But from there, it all went down hill. The damn thing wouldn't stop leaking, and you know what a bother that can be. Frustrated, angry, sad, and heartbroken were not overly dramatic reactions to my DivaCup demise, they were true from the soul. Anyway, I sought help from online forums and even the company itself to no appropriate avail. Now I'm back to regular, unsafe methods, but I'm thinking, I may try this next.

Song of the Day

2011-05-24T18:38:00.000-07:00

to all the wack rappers...these are called LYRIIICS. :)

As a Woman

2011-05-21T22:57:00.000-07:00

As a woman, I am tired of feeling the need to look perfect every time I go outside so I won't be criticized for how appealing I don't look.
but also, as a woman, I am tired of feeling the need to dress down so as to lessen the amount of leers and jeers I get from disgusting men.
As a woman, I am disgusted that I am never not aware that men want to have sex with me.
As a woman, I am even more disgusted by the violences that I and my sisters face daily; the rapes against my body, against my sexuality, against my sexual orientation, against my womanhood.
As a woman, I am tired of having to defend my position as intellectual, as a person of having a viable conversation with any person!
As a woman, I am disgusted that I am positioned as a victim in every situation.
And as a woman, I am tired of having my thoughts, beliefs and knowledge questioned because you don't think that I am smart enough to know things about this life and about this world.
As a woman, I'm frightened about what this world will look like if this behavior continues.
As a woman, I'm thoroughly annoyed by the fact that men are given privilege solely based on the fact that they were born with a penis!, a penis that some of them don't even know how to use properly.
As a woman, I'm tired of feeling the need to live up to standards of men who do not even have a relationship with me.
As a woman, I am sickened by the fact that there are womyn who oppress other womyn just as much as men oppress womyn.
As a woman, I am tired of being ignored!
As a woman, I am tired of having to hide the fact that I enjoy sex, very much!
As a woman, I am discomforted by the idea that my body is used to sell products in a capitalist system that oppresses me more than it does a man.
I am not a ho, I am not a bitch, I am not a slut, I am not a whore, I am not a prostitute, I am not a chick. I am woman, I am a girl.
I am beautiful no matter what anyone says.
I am smart.
I am capable.
Its not easy to love being a woman with all this and more to deal with it, my only solace is to sit up and speak about these injustices, to notice that this is not right and to do something about it! I have a big voice and I will use it for change until change comes because my vagina said that I should. :)

My Favorite Slum Village song: Climax

2011-03-16T17:12:00.000-07:00

"The concept is a menage a trois really, a guy's fantasy. We're trying to break the monotony and relax the stiffness of sexuality because it's so suppressed. We're trying to tell everybody it's okay if you wanna have a menage a trois. Do your thing, it's alright. Sexuality is freedom and we support that. I don't suppress my sexuality and we don't do it in our music, so we're sharing it with the world - something that another group probably wouldn't do."^-Baatin

Ugh.

2011-02-10T19:33:00.000-08:00

You know what I'm tired of?, the phenomena from people within activist circles to pant relentlessly about their disgust and astonishment with our country that we aren't as "progressive" as we seem, or apparently should be, just because we are *cue the national anthem* Americaaaa, the beautiful. Shit, tell me something I don't know... and why isn't this something that you already knew? The worst part of it is when they put such statistic as; "What does the United States of America have in common with the African nation of Somalia? Answer: They are the only countries to refuse to sign Article 37 of the 1989 UN document entitled, "Rights of the Child."; against a largely undeveloped country like Somalia in this real-life example to emphasize how "primitive" (her words, not mine) and "third world" this country truly is and juxtapose it with heightened surprise, complete with raised eyebrows. Like, Oh! My! God! My Beautiful, superior country has something in common with this ravaged and destitute country??! How could it be? There must be some type of mistake! Not Americaaa... the beautiful. Gosh! We must do something about this, and quickly!... so we can further widen the gap between US and THEM, privileged and underprivileged, progressive and unprogressive. We cannot possibly in the same pool as them and therefore doomed to the same fate. Nevermind the REAL needs of the subject or issue we're speaking about or the country we're persecuting. Sigh. Will it ever end?

Sara Tavares--->J.Cole

2011-02-07T00:39:00.000-08:00

Marvin---->G-Unit

2011-02-07T00:18:00.001-08:00

I fucking love this song and I love Marvin.

& this used to be my song. :)

The Police Institution

2010-11-21T18:56:00.000-08:00

Think about it, when you have a problem like domestic violence or robbery, who do you call? It goes without saying, the police. Yet we are all aware what the police institution has done to our communities. Oscar Grant, Sean Bell. Everywhere we look people are calling for the arrest of someone, the extension of prison time for another person. Even activists rely heavily on the police institution to end the problems that speak about. Police officers are found most often in poor, communities of color, the police institution was specifically designed to be a type of watch dog mechanism for these communities. We forget the violence done to us by the police institution, something we should never forget. Abner Louima. Duanna Johnson. They keep us in tact, whenever one of us steps out of line they send us to prison, no matter the circumstances. Entire communities are criminalized, which results in the overrepresentation of Black, Chicanos, and Natives in the prison system. Being a person of color is a criminal offense in this country. Driving while black, longer prison terms for crack than cocaine, the three strikes law, the criminalization of poor mothers of color, the criminalization of prostitution; all these issues disproportiantely affect people of color. Prison, police and the military are branches of the same oppressive tree. We cannot forget the racism and sexism inherent in the police institution. Kathryn Johnston. Amadou Diallo. We think that the police are inevitable, that they are needed. Indigenous communities, before conquest praticed community accountability. Communities that have love and respect within them do not need outsiders to maintain "order and peace."

Immigration and Race Relations

2010-11-21T16:17:00.000-08:00

Most people assume that all Raza people are illegal immigrants. However, the majority of Raza persons in the US are legal citizens. Because of this, for the most part all Raza people get treated like illegal immigrants, as taking advantage of the system, as dirty, and as stupid. Being an undocumented person is racialized as being Raza. However, there are many more immigrant populations that are not apart of La Raza; mainly European and African. However, La Raza is targeted for the racism that comes along with discussion about immigration issues.

This also means that other races get left out of the immigration conversation. Anti-immigration rhetoric relies on the slaveability of Blackness and also as seeing La Raza as a threat to US empire building. Privileged persons who have high paying jobs and are able to successfully navigate the job world know that blacks will still be here to do the slave labor. They and anti-immigrant blacks are ignorant of the fact that undocumented persons do necessary labor for this country. With documented labor out of this country, all those people with jobs will see an decrease in the lure and viability of their position. In fact, Blacks have benefited largely and gained privilege in the job market because of mass immigration. Blacks, in the long run, are largely in a better economic position. We hold better jobs and live in more affluent areas than ever before.

Immigration can also be seen as threatening to an individual's personal privilege of being a legal citizen. Undocumented persons are seen as taking advantage of healthcare, welfare, and public educational services. This logic also seeps into the conversation when anti-immigrantion people accuse undocumented persons of taking American jobs. There is especially tension between Black Americans and La Raza. Black Americans have typically been situated as slaves in the American labor force, however, now more undocumented workers hold lower level positions; which can be interpreted as "taking jobs." However, when we complicate the notion of capitalism and white supremacy, we see that immigrants are not to blame for this. La Raza also has issues with unemployment. However, corporate entities will take cheaper labor, which is immigrant labor not black labor, because undocumented workers do not possess the means to fairly negotiate the workforce because they are without legal citizenship status. They are also pawns in a capitalist state, they take what labor is available to them out of necessity to feed their families.

The Racialization of Music: Part 2: The Power and Criminalization of Hip Hop

2010-11-15T22:20:00.000-08:00

The following post is part two from this post about the Racialization of Music.

One area where the racialization of music is particularly evident is within hip hop. We can all agree that hip hop perpetuates stereotypes, such as black people being thugs and ho's. However, we have to make the distinction that hip hop is not to blame for these stereotypes. These defining images were created by the system of white supremacist capitalism and was unfortunately adopted by commercial areas of hip hop, which is the same area that record companies choose to propel to the forefront of the media. For example, it is incredibly evident that ideas of black womyn being hypersexual, circa the spectacle of Sarah Baartman, are also seen in commerical hip hop music through the sexed out personas of rappers. We must realize the evident agenda in this, the furthering of stereotypes sustains the purposes of white supremacy.

Hip hop, in its present commerical state is being used to promote a capitalist, white supremacist agenda, while simultaenously being scapegoated for the world's problems. For example, remember when 2pac was persecuted becuase a guy listening to his album shot two cops? Another example is how society continuously blames hip hop for sexism and misogyny. However, the ultimate reason why Hip hop is criminalized is because blackness is also criminalized. Andrea Smith, in her article, "Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy: Rethinking Women of Color Organizing" says, that "we can actually look at the criminalization of Blackness as a logical extension of Blackness as property." Thus we can say that even though hip hop is a entity that is multicultural, it is criminalized and commodified at the expense of black bodies. I think we deserve much more as the creators of hip hop, however, white America always has the power and privilege to twist and distort good intentions.

Hip hop is a billion dollar a year industry and is also the most popular musical genre to date. It has surpassed being a part of media to become a media itself. Much like the news and also other forms of art, hip hop, as an entity of mass media, has the power to influence pop culture. No wonder why white America hijacked and now owns it. It can influence people to dance and dress in provacative or fly ways, it can inspire people to become more aware of social justice issues, and it also has the power to dumb people down. Hip hop is used to sell everything from cars to cell phones. White Corporate America has stolen hip hop to further its capitalistic purposes, however, this offers no real agency for the black people whose music is being abused. Hip hop was created as an organic, anti-colonial tool of expression and what was particulary beautiful about that expression was that it was used as a tool for black Americans, particularly black men, who had been shut up, marginalized, stigmatized and deemed invisible by dominant society. Now, commercialized hip hop is used to further ideas of black hypermasculinity, capitalistim, and violence against the female and queer; which in turn only fuels a corporate agenda for white America. Black men and black women have once again been shut up and we don't have hip hop as an outlet for mainstream expression any longer.

Do we really want to support the commercial hip hop that perpetuates stereotypes about us and therefore furthers our own oppression? We must constantly be aware of the power we have as black American consumers to dictate trends as far as what is being sold to and bought by us. We cannot allow white America to continue to own hip hop and dictate what parts of it we see, use and listen to. We must be concious consumers and seek out alternative hip hop music that uplifts, enlightens and empowers us. Nothing that you get from commercial hip hop on the radio or in the mainstream media will be good for you and definitely not good for the black American community.

Rappers and producers: Quit making music if you love money and fame more than you love the people.

"Come on baby, light my fire, everything you drop is so tired, music is supposed to inspire, how come we ain't getting no higher?" -L.Boogie

Lessons from M.X.

2010-11-15T20:14:00.000-08:00

So as I have said before in a previous post, I have been trying to make a point to read speeches from those deemed leaders in liberation movements. So far, I have only read Malcolm X's "After the Bombing" speech, because I've been busy. Anyway, for this post I wanted to highlight that speech and specific points that he makes about social justice organizing in this country. I don't think that most people of my generation know how smart Malcolm X was, all we know is the name "Malcolm X." We don't know any of his words or what he really stood for. Or that he was pretty funny too.

One point that he talks about is oppressed people becoming enlightened and aware of the colonial situation in this country. "The newly awakened people all over the world pose a problem for what's known as Western interests, which is imperialism, colonialism, racism and all these other negative vulturistic isms. But the internal forces pose an even greater threat only when they have properly analyzed the situation and know what the stakes really are." So we can see here that Malcolm is emphasizing education and knowledge about the oppressed situation, which I totally agree with. He goes on to say, "the man knows that if Negroes find out how dissatisfied they really are -- and all of them, even Uncle Tom is dissatisfied, he's just playing his part for now -- this is what makes them frightened. It frightens them in France, it frightens them in England, and it frightens them in the United States." So we see that knowledge really is power, as corny as it sounds. That there is no hope for ending your oppressive situation if you don't even know what oppression is and that it is designed to be seen as invisible.

Another important point is alliances among struggles. "They'll do it to them today, and do it to you tomorrow. Because you and I and they are all the same." I think this integral to remember. Above all, we are all one people. If they do it to them, they'll do it to you. He continues, "and one of our first programs is to take our problem our of the civil rights context and place it at the international level, of human rights, so that the entire world can have a voice in our struggle. If we keep it at civil rights, then the only place we can turn for allies is with in the domestic confines of America. But when you make it a human rights struggle, it becomes international, and then you can open the door for all types of advice and support from our brothers in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and elsewhere." Oppression is never faced in solitude, the oppression of one community is also the oppression of every other community. We must create alliances and solidarity among our communities.

With the election of Obama, people, mainly oppressed people seem to have a lot more faith in the political system with no factual basis supporting this faith. "Some of these liberals who grin in your face like they're your best friends, they have money tied up in the Congo." Liberals are not angels, and they are not anarchists. They have a hand in the capitalist oppressive system that we live in as well. Don't allow yourself to be fooled thinking that Democrats are so liberal and great, that they aren't oppressive to your situation. In actuality, most Democrats know that they have to somewhat liberal for the preservation of their party and ideals, Republicans are just more bold with their marginalizing.

Elsie's Business

2010-11-13T18:33:00.000-08:00

I just gone done reading "Elsie's Business" by Frances Washburn. Pretty good book. Check it out if your looking for a book outside of the European spectrum. Its about a Native woman's murder. Kind of eerie but the storytelling is really good.

West Coast Hip Hop: Part 5: Dom Kennedy

2010-11-11T11:09:00.000-08:00

I don't even remember when I first heard of Dom Kennedy or downloaded his most recent mixtape, From the Westide With Love. He was kind of annoying to me at first. It was probably because of that, that it took me forever to listen to it. But when I did, I loved it. I've been meaning to write this post for a long time, even though I'm sure most of yall already know about Mr. Kennedy.

I really like Dom Kennedy's videos. He's smart enough to know that riding down Crenshaw in a low rider dressed in your choice or either red or blue is straight played. He chooses to show different parts of LA in a interesting way. He also has dope beat selection and unique rap style.

& his newest official video from the mixtape:

Download Dom's music here.

Womyn

2010-10-26T22:18:00.000-07:00

I recently read a book review for “Click: Young Women on the Moments That Made Them Feminists” that inspired to write about my own moment. Now, I don’t call myself a feminist, since I don’t particularly believe in labels. However, everyone who knows me, would probably identify me as such, knowing that my ideals line up almost exactly. Well the moment that made me a feminist was being a co-founder to a womyn’s organization, Great Womyn in Progress, on my college campus. In the beginning, I was sexist and misogynistic as most womyn, in my opinion, are, especially the ones I knew. Its pretty hard to plan events for the empowerment of womyn when you hate the fact that you are one. Its even more difficult to present yourself as someone who hopes to unify womyn when it’s a pain to you to come up with something positive to say about the womyn you know. It was the researching and hearing about womyn’s issues that prompted my change. It was also the fact that I needed to be someone of love and understanding, things that were always, inevitably deep inside of me. Its so easy to conform to the ways of the world and not so easy to be yourself, the person you should be. The three decisions that I credit, during my college years, with helping to make me the person I am today, would be deciding to attend UC Riverside, changing my major to Ethnic Studies, and helping to start GWIP. All my energy and time goes into being a person who seeks the liberation of all people, which was prompted by those decisions. A friend once told me to keep the good work with GWIP because it was important to love yourself, that she had never thought about loving herself before, because she had always focused so much on her family. That meant a lot to me, still does. What keeps me going through all the struggle, is the possibility of the chance I could be opening a person’s mind to the beauty and plight of the woman, or that I can teach someone about the structures in our society that make it hard for equality flourish, that a woman might not have the feelings that I once had of being confused as to why I should love mysef.

I love women, I love myself as a woman. That is something that I live and take with me, everyday in every way, its who I am, at the very core, at the most important part. The way we dress. Our quiet delicateness and fierce strength. Our bodies and the power we possess in them. Our beautiful faces, all the ways we can dress ourselves up. The French tipped nails, the make up and heels. I love it all. We’re so smart, booksmart, and we always know just what to do in every situation. Mothers. I can’t imagine the strength and patience it takes to give birth and be a mother to a child? Its amazing. We’re survivors. Womyn inspire me.

Unity?

2010-10-13T16:21:00.000-07:00

When I was young, I was all for unity. I remember often having conversations about what Black people needed to do in order to be viable citizens within this country; to stop being ignorant, to stop being poor, etc. I was right along with everyone else when they answered that the solution to the “Black problem” was unity, unity among all Black people. In those years, I said a lot of things that I didn’t know the meaning of. This was one of them. I can’t even tell you what I felt unity meant during that time and I definitely couldn’t have told you then what it meant in the context of the Black community. Now I have different ideas about what unity means, if its even possible among entire populations/communities, and if it is necessary for the Black community to acquire full rights in this society. Recently, I have taken on the task of reading the speeches of some great leaders. So far, I’ve only read Malcolm X’s “After the Bombing” speech. Specifically, this is the speech where he speaks a lot about unity. “So we saw that the first thing to do was to unite our people, not only unite us internally, but we have to be united with our brothers and sisters abroad.” I have to disagree with X on the subject, but not conclusively. Is it possible for an entire community containing millions of people with different belief systems, economic statuses, worldviews, backgrounds, etc. to be united? All that we can assume that really have in common is a history with specific oppressive system. What would unity look like within the Black community? How important is unity in the Black situation? If you ask 10 different people who the problem is with Black people, you will get 10 different responses, each tailored to the individual person’s experiences, education, and belief system. All of our answers are biased. The same goes if you ask about any other underprivileged community. Very rarely do you hear discussions on how people with power in this country can become better citizens or how they can help those who suffer under their oppression. I don’t believe the betterment of any community depends on that community solely. If we as people of color, or womyn, or poor people want to talk about the betterment of our communities and how to make our lives better then we first need to, in my opinion, find out ways to successfully interrogate white and accompanying privileges. Nothing that we can do on our own as a community can free us from oppression, we have to fight against the core of oppression. To tell the black community that their freedom lies in the hands on unity or education, without regard to what has made this community uneducated or excessively divided in the first place is to blame us for our own marginalization.

Vacation in New York

2010-09-15T19:23:00.000-07:00

So as some of you know I'm on vacation in New York right now. Ugh. I'm writing this lying in bed after a long day painting the town. Lol. I haven't made up my mind yet about whether I like NY or not but I know that I at least don't hate it. I couldn't see myself living here, I'm used to the more laid back vibe of LA. A lot of what I've seen of New York thus far fits all the stereotypes and a lot of it doesn't. For instance, I haven't met anyone with a distinct accent yet, I haven't seen any noticeable signs of poverty and I haven't seen anyone with a crazy fashion sense. However this place has hellla people and the streets are just as crowded as what you see in the movies, its very fast paced here. So today I went to lunch at this place called Lucille's, which is totally different from the one we have in SoCal. Let me tell you, it was the worst food and service I have had in a long time. Our waitress was rude and stank, the fried shrimp looked like a plate of vomit, and the rest of the food took forever (Sandlot voice) to come. When it finally did come, both me and my aunt's potatoes were cold and the sauce was nasty, bland and even gave me a stomach ache. Once we told the waitress that we didn't want the food she called her manager. Now, I've been to a lot of restaurants where I didn't like the food and I never had to report to the manager, they usually just take it off the bill automatically. When the manager came he looked at my food and told me there's nothing he could do because I had eaten the salmon (I order BBQ salmon.) Smh. I had taken maybe three bites of it, I was so shocked that they tried to pass that off as BBQ. He did let my aunt get her ribs for her though. I felt it was a slap in the face, as if me eating three bites makes me paying for this nasty ish justified. Smh again. Lol. And guess what? Gratuity was included! I hate when I get bad service and the tip is already included. I was going to give her a tip anyway, because I always give a tip and hate when people don't give a tip but just that she gets a non deserved generous tip grinds my gears! Lol. Well that was just my short vent/review of Lucille's Bar & Grill in Manhattan. Had to let the people know.

Zine: Updated

2010-09-10T17:25:00.000-07:00

It is my belief and the belief of many others that those abused, used and marginalized (or even those not) by mainstream media must take back the media by creating their own and seeking out alternative forms that are not racist, sexist and abusive. Buy a digital camera and record videos about positive events in your community, start a blog about fighting against beauty norms, or start a zine, like me!

zine-an organic magazine, made for us, by us

Starting today until the 19th, I am accepting submissions for a zine that I will be publishing and giving out at UCR. It will feature articles inspired by my time as a summer student at UCLA as well as combine my passion for writing and researching ideas surrounding social identities. I will be including several articles written by myself as well as other authors, therefore, I am also asking for submissions from my peers. Submissions can include but are not limited to articles, poems, essays, advertisements (not for products however), drawings, etc. Of course, anything you submit has to have some type of connection with humanity issues, whether it be about feminism, racism, AIDS, childbirth, whatever. It has to be about people! Please email submissions to mwils008@ucr.edu All submissions will be edited for grammar. Everyone can submit! I am looking forward to reading what you all have to say. Make your voice heard!

Once the zine is published a copy can be sent to you if you do not attend UCR.

The Isley Brothers--->Dilla, Common, D'Angelo

2010-07-25T12:53:00.000-07:00

*also check out common's version of "so far to go", couldn't find a link. lol :P*

I Know I Can't Afford to Stop

2010-07-23T19:54:00.000-07:00

*two of my favorite songs :)*

Just Bees & Things & Flowahs

2010-07-22T14:05:00.000-07:00

*this is probably one of the most sampled songs ever :)*

Song of The Day :))

2010-07-21T22:29:00.001-07:00

Method Man featuring Lauryn Hill-Things They Say

Song of The Day :))

2010-07-21T22:27:00.001-07:00

Jay-Z: Feelin' It

Sexual Violence, Systematic and Institutionalized

2010-07-21T17:43:00.000-07:00

In her essay, “Sexual Violence as a Tool of Genocide,” Andrea Smith speaks at length about the effect of sexual violence on its victims and how sexual violence is an integral part of the colonization of Native populations. “As a consequence of this colonization and abuse of their bodies, Indian people learn to internalize self-hatred, because body image is integrally related to self-esteem. When one’s body is not respected, one begins to hate oneself.” As evidenced by the sexual violence involved in both Native colonization and prison violence we see an institutionalization of sexual violence that is profitable for the maintaining of the status quo. This attack on the bodies of women of color come from all sides of dominant society as an attempt to continuously control and marginalize. “The history of sexual violence and genocide among Native women illustrates how gender violence as a tool for racism and colonialism among women of color in general.” To capture the body, is also to capture the person. Rape is a tool of subjugation and humiliation. To keep minority populations in check, rape is institutionalized in such entities as the prison industrial complex.

In an article titled “The Brutal Horror of Prison Rape, as Told by Its Victims”, Kimberly Yates and Bryson Martel tell their story of being raped while incarcerated. What stood out the most to me in their accounts was the fact that overall the violence was thoroughly ignored. Yates says that what makes her case “especially alarming is the fact that the BOP [prison authority] was put on notice about this officer [who committed the act] but continued to allow him to work in that position, knowing what he had done and that he could do it to someone else.” In addition to that, Martel believes if prison officials had paid attention to other inmate’s claims of abuse, it could have stopped his from happening. “If earlier reports of his abuse had been acted on, my rape could have been prevented.” Through this and the fact that action refused to be taken, we see that, sexual violence in the prison system is systematically allowed and perpetuated. Also, the fact that the PIC makes money, essentially off the illegal acts against women through the imprisonment of the perpetuator makes this state sponsored violence. Rape of women and trans folks and other forms of sexual violence in the prison system is a problem that is blatantly ignored. Starting with invasive internal and gynecological examinations, sexual violence is purposely overlooked at every turn. In Angela Y. Davis’ book on the Prison Industrial Complex, “Are Prisons Obsolete?”, she discusses the sexual violence that takes place within this system. According to Davis, “as activists and prisoners themselves have pointed out, the state itself is directly implicated in this routinization of sexual abuse, both in permitting such conditions that render women vulnerable to explicit sexual coercion carried out by guards and other prison staff and by incorporating into routine policy such practices as the strip search and body cavity search.”

Kimberle Crenshaw, in her essay "Mapping the Margins: Interscetionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color", presents an awesome analysis of violence against women with an intersectional approach. “Where race, gender, and class domination converge, as they do in the experiences of battered women of color, intervention strategies based solely on the experiences of women who do not share the same class or race backgrounds will be of limited help to women who because of race and class face different obstacles.” We cannot separate race, from gender, from class, especially as people looking to eradicate rape. She also focuses on immigrant women being trapped in violent relationships because they are trying to gain citizenship status.  In addition to what Kimberle Crenshaw mentions and rape in the PIC, the U.S. also furthers their agenda by allowing sexual slavery and rape at the border to continue to take place without legal repercussions for those who commit these crimes. “Department of Justice representatives have informally reported that U.S. attorneys decline to prosecute about 75 percent of all cases involving any crime in Indian country.” It doesn’t help that women of color are often seen as unrapeable through the racist history of this country. It is my theory that women of color in this country continually face a war in which the perpetrators are taking away their bodily sovereignty. Rape culture makes sexual violence possible. The perpetuation of rape culture furthers its hegemonic state in American society. “Indeed, the U.S. and other colonizing countries are engaged in a “permanent social war” against the bodies of women of color and indigenous women, which threaten their legitimacy.” Through the media and racist laws of the land we see this war materialize.

Rape of women of color is not just motivated by sex and power as it is for white women, but it is also racially motivated as a tool for marginalization of entire populations. This is where feminists have dropped the ball, categorizing rape as purely about individual power without respect to racial motivations. “The American Friends Service Committee documented over 346 reports of gender violence on the U.S.-Mexico border from 1993-1995.” Women of color are generally more vulnerable when it comes to sexual violence, especially when crossing the border. This type of violence is deemed invisible by the government as well as U.S. citizens. Zoila Miriam Perez, in her essay ‘When Sexual Autonomy Isn’t Enough: Sexual Violence Against Immigrant Women in the United States, says, “rape has become so prevalent that many women take birth control pills or shots before setting out to ensure they won’t get pregnant.” Some consider rape ‘the price you pay for crossing the border.” Immigrant women’s bodies are seen as an expendable resource and therefore unrapeable. The rape of these women’s bodies are direct consequences of the capitalist system we are in since immigration is a direct result of America’s need for cheap labor.

Through these examples, we see that rape and other forms of sexual violence isn’t purely an individual bodily offense but is furthered by dominant society and the government to exercise control over entire minority populations.

*cross posted at Refuse the Silence's blog* :)

Fill The Glass to the Top With Moet

2010-07-21T17:00:00.000-07:00

They've Got So Much Things to Say Right Now

2010-07-20T16:01:00.000-07:00

Song of The Day :))

2010-07-13T15:17:00.000-07:00

Badu-20 Ft. Tall :)

Song of The Day :))

2010-07-13T15:14:00.000-07:00

CeeLo-You Don't Shock Me Anymore

Song of The Day :))

2010-07-08T00:26:00.000-07:00

Mos Def-The Glow

Organize, Organize, Organize!

2010-07-05T01:16:00.000-07:00

So I just added to my to-do list for the summer that every week I will learn about a new revolution. Lately, I've ben getting more interested in liberation movements, independence movements, anti-oppression struggles and the like. I think as a society, we can always use more inspiration to get involved with the movements we see going on around us. I want people to know and to realize that every little bit counts and that to change the system we have to fight against the system. Organize, revolutionize, educate yourselves, and participate in whatever you can!

Anyway, I will be highlighting everything I learn here. Check me out! :)

Song of The Day :))

2010-07-04T17:10:00.000-07:00

The Isley Brothers-At Your Best (You Are Love)

Song of The Day :))

2010-07-02T12:30:00.001-07:00

Jay Electronica-Girlfriend

The Tribal Law & Order Act

2010-07-01T21:39:00.000-07:00

I recently learned about the Tribal Law and Order Act being passed in Congress. I wonder what this really means for Native communities. The effects of colonists and early US government agents disturbing the harmony of Native communal justice are still felt today. Instead of helping to restore these original systems, activists are relying on the oppressive US judicial institution. The Tribal Law and Order Act is supposed to do a better job of “protecting” Native women against sexual violence. Native communities have had a history of favoring restorative and communal justice rather than the punitive style of justice that the US likes to inflict and since colonization, forms of Native justice have been slowly dying.

Restorative and communal justice seek to rehabilitate the perpetuator and use the community, not outside forces, to institute real forms of justice. What the Tribal Law and Order Acts essentially says is that instead of really trying to figure out why sexual violence is rampant in Native communities, we’re going to ignore the problem and just lock up anyone who commits this crime. No one is unredeembale and having a bill like this that favors prosecution and imprisonment instead of therapy or getting to the root of the issue, ignores this fact. It ignores the perpetrator and the problem. Surely, sexual violence in Native communities will not be solved by this bill. It says nothing of rape culture and those that are complicit in it.

This bill also protects and emphasizes the police state. This reminds me of the colonial period where sexual violence was committed against Native women and white men blamed it on Native men; this way the white men were seen as saviors of Native women, which instilled fear of Native men as well as false appreciation of the colonizers. It also skewed the importance of the community. This method helped to implement patriarchy, sexism, misogyny, and eurocentricity. To allow and advocate for more encroaching of the police institution onto Native land is both oppressive as well as counter-active. With the police history of discriminating, being violent against and criminalizing communities of color can we really trust the police institution to so-called “protect” Native women?

Protecting Native women would mean an ending to misogyny, sexism, and queerphobia. If you want to stop sexual violence, focus on education and therapy as deterrents not just as a response. As activists, the solution is to focus more on developing strategies to do just that instead of relying on and organizing around the US justice system, an institution that perpetuates the sexism that we should be trying to get rid of. Do we really need more police to practice surveillance on another community perfectly capable of protecting itself? Yes, we know that Native women deserve equal protection under the law and do deserve that protection, but can this really be protection if it is also oppressive? Can we develop strategies that don’t rely on a marginalizing police and prison state?

The Tribal Law and Order Act also relies on the oppressive Prison Industrial Complex system. The PIC is racist, classist, and sexist. Should advocates against sexual violence be relying on this system where sexual violence is state sponsored within prison walls? “Conditions within the institution continually reinvoke memories of violence and oppression (Are Prisons Obsolete?, Davis).” Do they only care about sexual violence when it happens in the free world?

When I first learned about the Prison Industrial Complex, I was confused about what anti-prison activists saw as a viable alternative to prisons. I believe anti-prison activism to be one of the most powerful and important, yet, ignored liberation movements. When I read Angela Y. Davis’ book, “Are Prisons Obsolete?,” which is obviously pivotal within this movement, my eyes opened to how oppressive the Prison Industrial Complex is. I cannot go into complete detail of all the ills of the prison system here because of length constraints but if you would like to read about the way sexual violence is embedded into the Prison Industrial Complex, read Davis’ book. Here is just a limited overview; the Prison Industrial Complex includes all forms of prison and policing that do not take up the form of restorative or communal justice, here in America and abroad.

First we must realize, illegal acts are committed, number one, because of poverty and racism. The other reason why crimes are committed is because, as the name permits, the Prison Industrial Complex is a business that promotes corporate greed. The more people who go to prison, the more money the government and other corporations make. The government capitalizes off prisoners suffering especially when it comes to the sexual violence that they face and endure. The government therefore also capitalizes off illegal acts committed against victims. Prisons are a form of population control, and if you’re going to limit population growth, go ahead and send the poor people and the people of color away too. Native people are disproportionately incarcerated in the PIC. “‘Prisons, as employed by the Euro-American system, operate to keep Native Americans in a colonial situation. She points out that Native people are vastly overrepresented in the country’s federal and state prisons.” This is the attitude that the government has and yes, people have a personal choice in what they do, however, laws and governments should not make it easier for certain people to commit illegal acts.

Recently, I’ve been noticing the refusal of other liberation movements, such as the feminist movement, to organize around the abolition of the Prison Industrial Complex. Using the practice of intersectionality, feminists and other like-minded movements should realize that anti-prison work is also feminist work, is also anti-racist work, is also anti-queerphobia work, etc. The Prison Industrial Complex was designed to be invisible to the free population, so I cannot be angry with anyone who is uneducated about it, but if we want to be holistic activists we cannot ignore this institution in our activism.

I don’t want to seem ignorant of the facts that illegal acts are being committed everyday and that we need immediate solutions to deter these acts and those who continuously commit them. However, prison is not the answer. As activists our solution should be in educating people about societal ills and finding solutions to those ills, not aiding the government in carrying out marginalization against minorities and other crimes committing within the PIC structure. Prisons are not for rehabilitation, as they were originally created, but for punishment. We cannot be comfortable with living in a society that would rather get even than to improve the perpetrator. “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” -Mahatma Gandhi We have all committed criminal acts that, if pursued vehemently enough may have sent us to prison. The life and well being of a person should not mean less because they are deemed a criminal by our “criminal justice” system. We cannot forget to infuse compassion and love into our activism.

Can we develop strategies to advocate for the abolition of prisons and also seek justice for those who commit illegal acts? People of color, when victims of illegal acts advocate strongly for the perpetrator/s to go to prison. How can people of color advocate so strongly for a system that unfairly targets and oppresses them? The pain and loss involved in losing someone can be detrimental to the psyche, however, minorities should be advocating the most for the abolition of this system not helping to perpetuate it. Making new laws criminalizing acts of violence against women will not see a decrease in this type of violence, however they will fill up more of our prisons, cost us more money, while doing absolutely nothing to solve the real issue.Laws don’t protect us, as we have been brainwashed to believe, they criminalize actions that should be treated with therapy or love.

cross posted at Refuse the Silence

Song of The Day :))

2010-07-01T02:48:00.001-07:00

The Essence-AZ featuring NaS

What I'm Loving Right Now Part 2

2010-06-30T23:22:00.000-07:00

Natural Hair!!

So of course, I have a obligatory story to tell pertaining to my "natural hair journey." So for the most part, I've always been natural, at least according to the usual definititon. I've only had a perm on my edges. So for the better part of my life, I've been getting my hair pressed & flat ironed every two weeks, along with the normal, expected blow drying. I just got tired of the maintenance required in getting my hair pressed, the wrapping, the no-water rule, the sweating out, etc. So I decided to wear my natural hair out, I've been loving it so far. However, what I didn't realize was that natural hair was such a huge movement! There are so many books, Youtube channels, websites, blogs, etc. all on natural hair; how to take care of it, styles, journeys, everything & anything you can imagine! There's so much support for those that want to go natural, so if you want to go natural, know that you are not alone. I totally see this as a resistance to dominant culture and euro-centric standards of beauty. Go head yall!

Below, I'm just going to put up a couple links to videos and other ish that I like when it comes to natural hair.

Naturally Beautiful Hair Blog

Curls, Coils & Kinks

Naturally Obsessed

The SuPreen

Hairlista

Motown Girl

Chiselle Couture

KinkyKurlyQueen

MizNikkiSoBossy

NappyChronicles

xGoldN

What's your favorite natural hair webistes??

Song of The Day :))

2010-06-29T08:35:00.000-07:00

The Roots-The Seed 2.0

Song of The Day :))

2010-06-27T08:11:00.000-07:00

JDilla-Think Twice

I missed yesterday. :((

Song of The Day :))

2010-06-25T23:56:00.000-07:00

Nostalgia-Marco Polo feat. Masta Ace & Roxanne Shante

Song of The Day :))

2010-06-25T00:14:00.000-07:00

Slum Village-Fall in Love Remix

Song Of The Day

2010-06-23T23:23:00.000-07:00

Little Brother-All For You

Song of The Day :))

2010-06-22T22:21:00.000-07:00

A Lighter Shade of Brown-On A Sunday Afternoon

News

2010-06-11T21:17:00.000-07:00

Hey yall,

I just wanted to check in & let everyone know that I have a summer series on women of color and sexuality on the Refuse The Silence blog. Click the link and check me out! You can learn more about Refuse The Silence here.

Anthems

2010-04-17T21:02:00.000-07:00

Which ones am I missing?

The Racialization of Music Part 1

2010-04-12T16:27:00.000-07:00

The other day my boyfriend and I went to the Paid Dues concert in San Bernadino, California. Paid Dues is what I like to call a "concert warehouse", its a good number of acts performing at one huge venue throughout the course of a 12 hour day but all at different times. I had never been to one this big before, Jazz Reggae is probably the closet I've ever came. After attending, I came to the conclusion that I would prefer a smaller concert with just about three artists instead of 15. Its more personal. Anyway, while at Paid Dues, I made another observation, out of maybe 2,000 people, 50 of the attendees were black. This was an all-hip hop concert. Just as most things do, that got me to thinking about the politics of race. In this world nothing is absent from the concept of race, even music. Its a shame too, because music, as beautiful as it is should not be tainted by the confines of race.

With so many different races at this Paid Dues concert I wondered why hip hop still had an African American-only sign attached to it; there are so many different people that love, listen to , and are involved in hip hop. As people of color, which hip hop is most representative of, we have a common struggle of oppression and marginalization. Hip hop was created as an avenue to express oneself in spite of the dominant society. It was created as a counter-culture and a counter-public; I figure that's why so many people connect with it. Hip hop tells a story of being abused and beaten, something a lot of people living in the United States can relate to. We all know that hip hop is mostly bought by white, male teenagers. We also know that this doesn't take into account the fact that hip hop was commercialized and is commodified by rich, white male record executives who are the major reason why we have a glamorization of gangsta culture in America. So why then, is it black Americans who are the victims of hip hop's obvious ills? Hip hop was created by black Americans, however, since it was grown to become entirely more than "black music." In this world of race, salsa belongs to Cubans, Country to white people. Music, essentially is just a few sounds thrown together, how can anyone own sounds? From early on, we know that music has largely been an entity belonging to Black Americans. Black Americans are responsible for much of the musical genres that we have today, either from direct impact or purely because Africa is the original civilization from which all things sprang. However, we must also realize that music has a "full circle" type of relationship with the world. Any music that has ever been created has pulled elements from other people, places and musical genres and it has been copied and remixed. Therefore, no one really owns any type of music and especially no one race owns any type of music.

We can all agree that hip hop perpetuates stereotypes, from black men as thugs to black women as ho's. However, we have to make the distinction that hip hop is not to blame for these stereotypes. Hip hop is criminalized just like blackness is criminalized. Andrea Smith, in her article, "Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy: Rethinking Women of Color Organizing" says, that " we can actually look at the criminalization of Blackness as a logical extension of Blackness as property." Thus we can say that even though hip hop is a entity that is multicultural, it is criminalized and commodified at the expense of black bodies.

What are your thoughts?

The next part in this series will be: The Power of Hip Hop

Interracial Dating: Are We Still Having A Problem With This?: Updated

2010-03-27T19:31:00.000-07:00

Today I read this post on YBF on Jill Scott's views on interracial dating. I then, as usual, took to Twitter to have a discussion with my followers on the topic. I thought Jill added a great perspective to why black women might have a problem with black men dating interracially or why women of color have a problem when men of color date white women. She added a perspective I had never thought of before.

Race operates in a black/white binary, with white, along with everything associated with whiteness, being placed in the upper echelons of society and black, along with everything associated with blackness, being placed in the lowest echelon of society. I believe that black self-hate is motivation for the reason that a lot of people get upset when others date outside their race. When society tells you that you're ugly, stupid, and undesirable and that white women are more worthy of protection, more beautiful, more loyal, and smarter, and then you see a black man marry a white woman, its easy to see that as a small confirmation of that skewed self-perception. Also, I think, the real problem arises when both black men and black women designate who they will or won't date based solely on their race. For example, "I don't date black women." or "I don't date outside my race." When a black man completely rules out dating other black people, it obviously reflects on how he feels about his belonging to that race and the race in general.

White is seen as the pinnacle of society. In America, everything that is white is pure, good, and downright better than everything else, especially anything black. White is able to attain everything, black is able to attain nothing. When a black woman sees a black man dating a white woman, its a sense of "them" attaining another thing that should belong to us. It almost as if nothing is untouchable by the white race. Black women generally feel betrayed when a black man dates a white woman. We feel that black men's loyalty should be expressed through the dating of only black women. However, how much does this type of "loyalty" really benefit the black race? Its heteronormative to ask black men to only date within their race so that we can "preserve the black family" and it also reinforces the detrimental concept of race itself. Can someone give me one good reason for why we should only date inside drawn our racial lines? The "black family" has been destroyed since slavery times and I wonder if it ever really existed? Isn't the nuclear family a white ideal? I'm all for building up the black community through economically "buying black, supporting black political leaders, creating black sub-cultures, and the preservation and knowledge of black culture, etc. which are all profitable and beneficial ways to support us, however, I fail to see a real reason how racial dating loyalty benefits the black community in any real ways. I'm sick of hearing black women ask why there aren't black men available, or why black men find other races desirable or why there aren't more black relationships. Its old.

Generally, I think people are way too obsessed with relationships for some reason. Jealousy and unneccessry criticism from intruders always surround relationships for absolutely no reason. That's why its best to keep personal relationship business to yourself if you are in one. I think the ultimate solution is to love yourself and love who you are and where you come from.

Prostitution and Sexual Politics

2010-02-26T13:53:00.000-08:00

In the essay by Jo Doezema, “Forced to Choose: Beyond the Voluntary v. Forced Prostitution Dichotomy” another binary of choice is exposed. The dichotomy that is talked about is whether people, mainly women choose to be sex workers or whether they are explicitly forced. However, the point that this piece makes is that poverty is the main factor when it comes to prostitution, therefore these women are “forced to choose.” One cannot address prostitution without first addressing poverty and in the same vein one cannot criminalize sex work unless being poor is decriminalized. For so long feminism has been the place where an old debate exists: liberation versus exploitation. Sexism and misogyny tells us that a woman should be modest, reserved and quiet. In this society, showing off a little skin can get a woman labeled anything from a hooker to slut.

First of all, modern feminists, generally, have taken a stance of favoring liberation in the liberation versus exploitation debate. Meaning they seem more readily convinced that prostitution, in its many facets, is a form of liberation for a woman’s body instead of exploitation in and of itself. Feminism sees prostitution as bodily autonomy. However, I also think that feminism has done a good job of leaving out the implications of capitalism and racism on prostitution and those who participate in prostitution. This is the struggle that more people need to hear about, not just prostitution as liberation. Feminism, as the traditional white ideal that it sometimes is, paints prostitution as liberation for white women, but we never hear of the poor women and people of color who are held captive by this form of exploitation of the body. Sex is the most profitable industry, in the universe, ever. Sex is used to sell everything from music to cologne. Sex is capitalism’s biggest export and import. In her book, "Black Sexual Politics", Patricia Hill Collins discusses the connection between capitalism and sexual commodity, “making sex highly visible in marketplace commodity relations becomes important to maintaining profitability within the U.S. capitalist economy. The goal is neither to stimulate debate nor to educate, but to sell products.” Therefore, when women’s bodies are used in advertisement as a sales tactic, how can this be liberation?

Prostitution is the most extended and serious form of exploitation of women’s bodies. Being that capitalism is contingent on exploiting the labor of underprivileged communities and race, it makes sense that poor women of color are most affected by this system of sexual oppression. Prostitution is essentially the intersection of race and capitalism.

Prostitution is capitalism’s most visible and hated form of all sexual exploitations. Among other things, prostitutes are seen as dirty, dumb, and unworthy of protection under the law. When capitalism exploits sex, it also exploits those who are most affected by the system of capitalism, non-men of color. It is important to make the distinction between supporting sex workers and supporting sex work. We need to stop the criminalization of sex workers because these people are victims of brutal beatings by the capitalism, racism, and sexism found in society and sometimes even untreated mental illness. However, prostitution needs to be a system that activists fight against because it is another product of what is wrong in this society. Essentially, feminism and other liberation movements need to support sex workers while fighting against the institution that keeps them oppressed.

*cross posted at Refuse the Silence's blog*

Yes, It Still Matters: Light vs Dark: Updated

2010-01-03T20:47:00.000-08:00

This post if by request. Usually when I write posts, its because I want to shed some light on the situation and present a prespective that I feel probably hasn't been thought about before. This time, someone actually suggested to me a perspective that I hadn't thought about before. What this post about, is the age-old debate of light skinned vs. dark skinned. Dark skinned vs Light skinned is a issue that some see as only happening in the black community, but it is an issue in every culture, from Mexican to Indian. I am someone who believes colonization is the root of almost all problems that we have in the world and especially in the US. The main ingredient of colonization was a white, male centric standard. Sometimes, standards can be good, most times they are bad. Yet, having standards is an idea that is seen as appealing to people. However, when we place standards on people that inhibit who they are as a person, the standards become dangerous instead of helpful. This is what the white standard does. It gives everyone an idea to try to live up to, but an idea that they will ultimately never achieve. The white standard, includes an ideal of beauty; thin, long, straight hair, and white skin. Minorities work everyday to try to achieve this white standard of beauty; with weaves, skin bleaching creams, and constant dieting. Minorities, not only try to achieve this beauty standard within ourselves, but we find ways to marginalize those who don't try to achieve, or don't achieve this beauty standard and we find ways to create a hierarchy, with those that have achieved the beauty standard as much as possible. For example, the people who are light skinned and have long hair are valued above those who don't. In addition, we tell fat people to lose weight, we tell those with natural hair to get a weave, etc. We constantly find ways for those who are not apart of the white standard, to try to achieve it.

In the black community, we create the two identities or dark skinned/light skinned as opposing, binary identities and treat them as sub-races. Light skinned, long hair; dark skinned; short, nappy hair; these are believed to be the true identities of the black race. (Read: School Daze) There's a constant fight between these two identities. Now, I'm not here to knock anyone's perference of getting a weave, or dieting or liking a dark skinned/light skinned complexion in a mate, however, we have to understand that the issue is deeper than just preference, its very possible that your preference is because of the influence that this standard has.

This is a real issue in many communities, but we never really hear of any possible solutions to the problems, we just have repetitive conversations about the problem, what do yall think can help solve the issue?

A Picture is Worth... Part 2

2009-12-23T21:55:00.000-08:00

So I've had a couple of discussions about this shit right here and I have also read a couple of commentaries on it as well. I just want to know what do yall think this picture is saying?

Again, we need to be critical about the images that are fed to us by people like Mr. West and Lady GaGa. These are two huge celebrities right now, we buy into their images constantly. When a star is presented to their public, they are not just presenting to us their music, they are presenting their way of thinking, their personality, their style and their mistakes. People like Kanye and Lady GaGa are influencers on our generation, pop culture, our world and our society. When we start to think about images such as this, not as what are they trying to sell us but how are they trying to sell it to us, that's when we can start to hold the images we see in the media accountable. In this image, we see a female body, that falls into what a typical acceptable body looks like in mass white culture. We also see a black man, who obviously falls into the background of this image and is used to contrast Lady GaGa's overly white body. Seemingly, she is being saved from some sort of evil. In the context of feminism, the last thing we need is another woman being saved, especially by a man. However, in the context of feminism and race, the last thing we need is a white woman being saved by a ignorant, blinded by love, man-monster, which Kanye is in this picture. This picture enforces the myth of black bodies for sacrifice of the white dream. Kanye is unimportant, Lady GaGa is the perfect, innocent, white woman.

Gay Men & Their Relationship to Womyn's Bodies

2009-12-23T20:48:00.000-08:00

So today, while on my beloved Twiitta (read: Twitter) I started to have a conversation about the relationship between womyn and queer men. Often times, womyn get harrassed by gay men. Womyn get a constant barrage of touches, feelys, lingering looks, luring eyes, foul getsures, and snide comments from gay men. Its as if they feel that they can touch and grope any part of a woman's body with a openness and confidence that I just don't see from heterosexual men; touching of the breats, touching of the hair, giving naughty comments, etc. It seems as if gay men feel that they have a type of access that heterosexual men don't have to womyn's bodies, as if, because they are not sexually attracted to womyn, then grabbing her breasts and commenting on how sexy they are is harmless. Of course heterosexual men also feel that they have an entitlement to womyn's bodies which is evidenced in sexual violence, telling womyn what they should wear, trying to limit the sexual sovereignty of womyn, etc. However, I find it evident that there is a different type of false ownership taking place between gay and heterosexual men and womyn's bodies. Most often, gay men are more open and friendly with their touching and inappropriate comments, while heterosexual men might save the same actions for a sexual scene or mean it in the disrespectful way. Gay men usually do not have the intentions of harming or disrespecting the woman in any way when they touch, unwelcomingly. Its usually a way that they show they like the woman, in a unsexual way, albeit.

The black gay male culture is one that I have a supreme respect and interest in. In black males, we see a culture that is totally different from a lot of cultures that we see in American society. However, womyn get a constant barrage of yelling, passes, unwanted touches, etc. from random men. Womyn are constantly aware of their bodies, unlike men. From years of being subjected to the 'male gaze', womyn see their bodies as a man sees them, on display, as sexual objects. A quick trip outside turns into a fashion show because womyn are aware that they are being watched by the supreme spectators, men. Sadly, it seems, gay men also fall into this category. When a gay man feels that they can touch or make sexual-esque comments towards a woman, it makes womyn even more aware of how her body appears to men, even someone who may not be attracted to her sexually.

Many womyn safe with gay men because they feel that this is one type of man who is not interested in her sexually, but when gay men cross the limit and invite themselves into the personal space of a woman that safety is abandoned. Womyn constantly have to deal with being sexual objects for men, anyone from friends to family members probably have shown a sexual interest or gesture towards any given woman, its tiring to always been seen as a sexual object. It doesn't matter whether a gay man is sexually interested in the opposite gender or not, crossing the line is crossing the line.

West Coast Hip Hop: Part 4: Dr. Dre

2009-12-18T20:57:00.001-08:00

Dr. Dre is largely responisble for the influential and successful careers of Eminem, Warren G, Snoop Dogg, and Lady of Rage, etc. The Chronic, Dr. Dre's debut album is highly regarded as the best produced of all time. In 2001, Dre released his follow-up to The Chronic; 2001, the album was certified 6x platinum. Both albums are seen as essential to any hip hop collection. He was a pioneer in West Coast Hip Hop and created G-Funk with his characteristic sampling of Parliament Funkadelic, and George Clinton's music and use of heavy, slow beats. " The Chronic is still the hip-hop equivalent to Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life. It's the benchmark you measure your album against if you're serious."-Kanye West

Some classic Dr. Dre joints include:

What I'm Loving Right Now

2009-12-11T19:59:00.000-08:00

Well, techinally I've been loving Mos Def for a while now, not only is he fine and sexy (in a intellectual, take no prisoners type of way) but his most recent album, The Estatic was so good. Mos Def, in the age, when no one even watches music videos anymore, (or is that just me?) and VH1, MTV & BET haven't played videos in what seem like ages; has released two AMAZINGLY creative videos. Nowadays, all we get in videos are booty shaking and a constant flashing of feigned wealth, so its good to see some that actually focus on the artists. Big ups Mos!

MOS DEF "Supermagic" from nabil elderkin on Vimeo.

West Coast Hip Hop: Part 3: Pac Div

2009-11-28T23:02:00.000-08:00

Pac Div (Pac like The Pack not Pac like 2pac) are from Southern California and consist of brothers, Like and Mibbs, along with longtime friend BeYoung. The name Pac Div is short for Pacific Division.

Download their Church League Champions Mixtape

Pac Div

Whiplash + Young Black Male (Real chill song with Blackstar sample)

Women Problems

Check out their offical website here.

Or check them out here.

Open Letter to Ise Lyfe

2009-11-18T18:34:00.000-08:00

I feel so inspired. You did that to me. I’m trying to remember a time when I had this feeling, I can’t. A time separate from studying theories and really getting down to the nitty gritty of what people think and feel. Its been a long time since I’ve gotten so passionate. Its been a while since I’ve still felt so passionate after the event was over.

You said, “Knowledge is strength. Wisdom is power.” I’ve always felt that I had power. However, I know now, that this is real power. Power to get my out of my comfort zone and actually tell people how powerful the event was last night.

I love hip hop. I feel like that statement is over-used, that it doesn’t encompass my passion for the institution and the music of hip hop. The political clout and power that hip hop is unique and unmatched by any other institution, at least in my knowledge. I don’t just love to listen to it, I love to research it. I’ll spend hours on end immersed in finding out the foundation of hip hop, why it is profitable, the power that it has, its principle players, and important periods of influence.

For a while now, I’ve been trying to find a way to incorporate my two passions; feminism and hip hop. Last night and right now while writing this, I cried because I have two so conflicting passions, passions that I love with my whole life, my being, and that I trust with my future. My ultimate dream is to start, build, own a series of center that, by using hip hop, helps stop the rape of black womyn. I have been struggling to create an outline for what this would look like and how it would function. Thanks to you I can actually see a plan, I see a role model, I see hope and the fact that I can fuse two of the most conflicting identities available to human kind, feminist and hip hop head. I see there actually can be an innovative take on education, without being in the confines of a classroom. I feel we need that to breakthrough, to those who reject or don’t have access to a classroom. I had never seen anyone use hip hop to directly teach a group of people. You were saying everything that I wish I had the platform and the bravado to say. I was impassioned to be even more critical of the images that I saw across my computer and television screen and the power that those images have.

Even today, I still feel empowered, more beautiful, more confident. Thank you. Thank you for doing what you do, thank you for who you are. Thank you for your gifts to me and to the world. Thank you for caring.

A Picture is Worth...

2009-11-10T19:15:00.000-08:00

What message do yall think this picture sends, especially from someone who is a victim/survivor of domestic violence?

In the picture she seems to be afraid, hiding from something, in a dark place, and with her clothes off. She is not in a position of strength or power in the picture, with the words Wait Your Turn plastered across. She looks like a victim. Definitely not sending a good message, combined with the fact that the world watched her go through this ordeal. But, hey, that's just my opinion.

Chriannagate

2009-11-05T16:23:00.001-08:00

We've all heard it. No matter if you tried to escape it or ignore it, you know about it. Rihanna and Chris. Or perhaps, you're on of those people that have engaged in many situations about th subject, maybe you've learned something new from one of your conversations. Or maybe you're one of those people that are sick of hearing about it, sick of seeing television specials about it, you wish people would just stay out of it! Either way, you're probably relatively familiar with the details and if not, STOP LIVING UNDER A ROCK! Recently some new dialouge has been added to the mix. Both Rihanna and Chris Brown have done highly publicized interviews with huge news sources; MTV and 20/20. First lets take a look at Chris (now remember this is all from MY opinion): He has been wrong through this whole situation. He has handled it completely recklessly. Stupid apologies. It doesn't even seem like the situation happened that long ago, and already he his back to making moves with his career. It shows a complete lack of respect and even reverence for the situation. Its like he is not taking the time to completely assess the situation and taking the time HE needs to get the help he needs, and figure out why he did what he did. Yea, he's said a few words about domestic violence, he's donated some funds to some places/people dealing with domestic violence, but it still doesn't seem like enough. There's two sides to every story. Who doesn't know that. But that doesn't mean that both sides are right, or even valid. There is usually just two different opinions. However, more often than not, there is only ONE right side. So, yes, of course people can say she deserved it(I've actually heard that). But at the end of the day, that's wrong. She didn't deserve that treatment. The truth is, no one REALLY knows what happened that eventful night. And even though some or all of the details we have maybe true, we can not say for sure. However, with the details that we BELIEVE are true, because we've simply heard them or because we see the validity in them or because we have even taken sides; no one in their right mind(I use that term very strictly) she deserves that.

We were all shocked, to see that it happened and to see that Chris was actually capable of something like that. We saw both of them as good kids, thanks to their image.

So something that you may not have heard about the situation is that the NCFM (National Coalition for Men) have released a statement, it is a plea urging Rihanna to come forward about abuse Chris has suffered at her hands.

I get involved and talk about celebrity affairs, because, number one, I have a interest in the celebrity. However, I also believe that it is good to learn from the mistakes of others, and I think we can all agree celebrities make some of the BIGGEST mistakes known to human kind. I think we can make good come from a bad situation. At the very least, we can use this situation as a catalyst to start the conversation about domestic violence, women's role in it, and especially how these subjects look in the Black American community.

I think its important to look at the response to this situation and see how it relates to how we deal with violence as Black Americans. I have never heard such severe responses to a abuse victim as I have heard towards Rihanna. I think its also important to see how we define abuse and violence, how some of us make excuses for this behavior and blame the victim, and how we measure the importance of the particular amount of violence faced. We have to admit that this issue goes beyond just Rihanna and Chris Brown and we need to see what the background to the situation is. These are two, young black celebrities with a lot of power and yet, very minimal power. Both parties have previously stated that their mothers suffered abuse while they were married. Then we have a sexual aspect, where we have a constant barrage of black women defending Chris, perhaps because they see him as a sex symbol, and still having a chance with him, sexually. Perhaps we and the media alike, have framed the issue as having two opposing sides, instead of each person involved needing help for emotional issues. Rihanna is also seen as the enemy, not just Chris. How awful it must be to go through an example of domestic violence then to have people who should defend you, make bad comments about you and the situation.

I do believe, that in order to get a clear view of ANY situation of domestic violence, there needs to be a clear conversation between both parties and a mediator to what happened. If Rihanna also took the role of an abuser in the relationship or even on that night, she needs to admit that to herself and who ever she is working with emotionally. Each case of abuse is different, however, we do get a one-sided view of domestic violence: man hits woman. We know that women are agressors in abuse situations all the time, its threat of violence, and a stigma that emasculizes men when they come forward about abuse. If Rihanna were to come out about her abuse, it could add to that conversation. It is not ok to hit ANYONE, whether you are a man or woman hitting a man or woman. We need to start to respect a person's body and work out our emotions in other ways besides violence.

Response

2009-11-04T15:29:00.000-08:00

Recently, on a post that I wrote about the current Alicia/Beatz scandal, follow the link to read that post and the comments on it, Dear Alicia.There was ONE particular comment that I wanted to address with an entire post. I felt, at the time that it was too much to address, there were so many ignorant assumptions and blasphemies, that I knew it would take me a while to get my thoughts together. So here I am, ready to go in on this chick. I already had some other people comment, and they did a pretty good job. Some people may wonder, why I didn't just delete the comment, however, if you read my 'side note' you will see that I don't believe in over-zealous censorship, especially when it can spark a intellectual conversation. Even though homegirl's response was just plain dumb, it also exemplifies, the racism and stupidity that is still prevalent in our society. We should use this as a point to educate her and others that think like her. She was
being honest with her thoughts; meaning that she actually believes what she wrote is true,even though she was also being cowardly too.

So with my response, even some of you who, may disagree with her response, will probably disagree with my response to her comments. I ask that you, first, try to engage in what I am writing with an open mind and also do your best to educate yourself about issues that might be foreign to you.

First, race. Race was the main point in which Anonymous(#2) decided to address. We need to understand that NO ONE, can fully comprehend race, it is too difficult a subject to decihpher. Race is a CONSTRUCTED identity. One that was INVENTED. It is not a natural concept. White European colonizers divided people up according to cranium size, and visual aspects. There is no secret that people on this earth look differently. However, who says that race means what people look like? Race in its purest definition, simply means, a group of people. A RACE of people with big feet, a RACE of obsese people, etc. Why are our minds constantly wrapped around a subject that was carelessly and recklessly invented by some of the greatest idiots of our time.

This is not to say that we should ignore that we all have some type of connection with people who look the same as us. If we look at a group of people who we have never seen before we will automatically look for fimilarity. "Oh, I'm black, so is she, yay!" We do it all the time. Also, we look for differences between ourselves and others. "I'm black, she's black, but I'm light skinned and she's dark skinned." Yes, we do that too. It all depends on the situation we're in. If we feel we are in a position of power, we will differenitiate ourselves, this is just what colonizers did, they were/are in a position of power and wanted to keep and maintain that power, by any means necessary. So, they differentiated themselves from people who they deemed were different from them. Just the same, when people feel they are NOT in a position of power, they will try to create common ground. As people who are currently NOT in a position of power, ALL minorities, we need to try to create some common ground.

As corny as it sounds, we are all the same at the most basic level. We all feel, think, etc. We need to stop trying to differentiate ourselves by visual, meaningless ways.

I cannot address the general assumptions made by the commenter, as we should all know how untrue they are. I can address, however, the foolishness of making generalized statements. In ANY way, generalized statements about ANY population are a doozy. Just like it would be dumb to say, "all black people are loud", its the same to say, "all men cheat". You don't know ALL men, you don't know ALL black people, so how can you judge or make biases on them. You don't even know a fraction of ANY population. We also need to understand that even statitics are made to be damaging to certain populations and stay in line with the status quo.

Also, it is unfair to compare one population to another. Our cultures and belief systems are most likely different and you cannot use a measuring stick for one set of people for another, your measurements won't line up.

The end.

West Coast Hip Hop: Part 2: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony

2009-10-25T16:31:00.000-07:00

For my next installment of the West Coast Hip Hop Series, I will be profiling Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. Even though Bone Thugs hail from Glenville Ohio, they were discovered by Eazy-E and helped bring G-Funk and West Coast Hip hip to the forefront.

In 1997, the group was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance for their song "Tha Crossroads" from their E 1999 Eternal album. They also collaborated with Eazy-E, 2Pac, Big Pun, and The Notorious B.I.G., and were the only artsit/group to collaborate with all of them while they were still alived. The group consisted of four members: Krayzie Bone, Layzie Bone, Bizzy Bone and Wish Bone. Their most famous single, Tha Crossroads, rose to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 9 weeks, sold over 17 million copies worldwide, and would later win a Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.

(Foe Tha Love of Money; the last video Eazy-E appeared in before his death)

(Thuggish Ruggish Bone, their first single)

(Tha Crossroads, dedicated to Eazy-E)

(If I Could Teach The World)

Dear Alicia

2009-10-21T18:12:00.000-07:00

I used to really like you Alicia. Even though I foolishly missed out on the experience of your first album, Songs in A Minor, I have all your music from that point on. I appreciated your confidence to venture into the unknown with your music. You weren't like other singers, you had dignity, integrity and it showed in your music. You've sold millions of albums and won tons of awards with your somtimes alternative, sometimes neo-soul genre of music. I know a lot of your songs by heart, Alicia. You were a black woman that I could be proud of. As I watched you grow up musically, personally, and even fashionably; (remember those frontward braids?), I also watched you accept many awards for being the humanitarian that you were supposed to be. I said to myself, "Alicia is beautiful, inside and out." I said, "she actually cares, she knows what matters." The Alicia Keys that I admired would never be caught up in silly drama, or sing songs that could be damaging to a girl's self esteem, this Alicia was humble and educated. This Alicia was self-less and stood worlds above the people that make it harder to live in this world, you were a person that made it easy to listen to your music and not have to say "I like the music but not the person singing it". I stood up for you when other people talked shit about you. I remember when you first burst onto the music scence, it took me a minute to warm up to you but I enjoyed your braids, doo rag and jeans. You wrote your own songs and played the piano! You seemed down to earth, like a homegirl. You were a breath of fresh air from those of us tired from the same gyrating, skin baring singers we had been used to seeing. Your voice was powerful and filled with whatever emotion conveyed in the song. Your lyrics were about empowerment and staying true to yourself. I thought you were real Alicia.

Now, Alicia I find myself hating you more and more everyday. I can't see how someone who sang about Karma is now making bad karma for herself. You should have been the expert on the subject, this mistake that you have made, is a little girl's slip-up and Alicia you're supposed to be a woman. I will never understand how someone who gave all womyn everywhere hope and pride with a song like "Superwoman" can show us that someone who prided herself on being a role model can shatter images of what I good woman looks like for little girls who have no one else to look up to. I am still trying to wrap my mind around how you can help AIDS victims but yet help a man break a woman's heart. Alicia, how can you attribute to the misfortunate experience of breaking up someone's family? How can you leave a child with a broken home? And worst of all how can you show so little empahty or care about your actions and how they affect your fans and the people around you? Don't get me wrong Ms. Keys, I understand that when you're in the public eye you have to keep a persona that can sometimes be limiting. And of course, we all make mistakes. And maybe we all thought you were above making mistakes. But would it have been too much to think that you were above this? I tried to deny it at first. "Not Alicia", I said. Then I came to believe it after I saw pictures and tweets. I had put you on a pedastel that eventually proved to be too much for you to handle. I know your entitled to your privacy, but as someone who proved to a role model for millions, how can you so easily close the door on those who looked up to? I don't deny that you might be dealing with this sliently, but it sure doesn't look like it when I see pictures of you and Mr. Beats plastered on blogs, having a gay ol' time together. I also know it takes two to tango and I will even argue that Mr. Beats is more at faults than you are. He was the one in a relationship, not you. Maybe their marriage was already over, he just needed that extra push. But Alicia, why did you have to be that push? You seem to believe that you are above being the victim of a cheater's actions. Please know, that what goes around comes around, what goes up will come down, if he did it to her, its more than likely he will do it you too. I cannot tell you who to be involved with, Alicia, I just hoped that such an esteemed woman would make better, wiser choices for herself. Don't you know what you're worth Alicia? Did you sing about A Woman's Worth, but didn't have the self-esteem to know yours? I know how powerful love can be, how no matter how many times you leave, love just won't let you. I know, but please Alicia, try, try.

The Future of Hip Hop

2009-10-16T11:54:00.000-07:00

If this is the future of hip hop, what does it look like to you?

West Coast Hip Hop

2009-10-14T23:42:00.000-07:00

I'm from Los Angeles, California baby!! I represent it to the fullest and love it with all my heart! In accordance with this, I will be inducting a series on the subgenre of West Cost hip hop. This first post will be a general one, about West Coast hip hop and furthermore I will start to highlight specific artists that have made an long lasting and positive impact on West Coast and its music. West Coast hip hop is generally characterized was popularized by artists such as Ice Cube and Dr. Dre. Los Angeles and Bay Area, California are main hot spots of the origin and practice of West Coast hip hop. The West Coast was the fisrt area involved in hip hop to add a voice to the ghetto and the happenings there. West Coast hip hop is political too and it was also infused with guitar ridden beats, making it infused with rock musical elements. NWA's Straight Outta Compton soldifies the West Coast place in hip hop music. With such artists belonging to the area, such as Too Short, Cypress Hill, and Ice T, West Coast hip hop is a historical powerhouse. G angsta Funk or G-Funk was also originated in the West Coast. It was a dominant sound that helped put West Coast hip hop on the map. G-funk incorporates multi-layered and melodic synthesizers, slow hypnotic grooves, a deep bass, background female vocals, the extensive sampling of p-funk tunes, and a high portamento sine wave keyboard lead. There was also a slurred “lazy” way of rapping in order to clarify words and stay in rhythmic cadence. Unlike other earlier rap acts that also utilized funk samples, G-funk often utilized fewer, unaltered samples per song. G-funk often sampled Parliament of Funkadelic songs, popularized by artists like George Clinton. G-funk became the most popular subgenre of hip hop.

Series: Womyn N Hip Hop and Rap Music: Part 1: Lauryn Hill

2009-10-10T13:04:00.000-07:00

So today my friend and I were discussing womyn and & in hip hop. Nicki Minaj, Lil Kim, Lauryn Hill, Queen Latifah, MC Lyte. Just now, I was thinking about how much some people focus on the disrespect of womyn in hip hop and the lack of womyn in hip hop that we forget about the contributions that womyn have made to hip hop in the way of artistry. We need to respect not only womyn's bodies and their place in hip hop but also their connection and effect on hip hop. Therefore, with this post, I am going to start one of the many series I have coming up: Womyn in hip hop. First up to the mic: Lauryn Hill. She's my favorite female emcee, her talent, voice, beauty, and creativity were unmatched. We need you back Lauryn!!

Lauryn's appearances on the Fugees first under-the-radar album 'Blunted on Reality'(don't you just love that title?!), was stark but decidely quiet, actually only appearing on half of the album's 18 tracks. On the Fugees follow up album, The Score, Hill had a bigger hand in what would be one of the highest selling hip hop albums, 18 million copies sole. Lauryn won two grammys with the Fugees and stood out on a number of tracks with them like 'Ready or Not' with lyrics such as "I be Nina Symone and defacated on your microphone".

However, the Lauryn we all know and loved shined even more on her debut solo album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. She received 11 nominations for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, the first hip-hop album to do so. It won 5 of the 11, making Hill the first female artist to win that many. The album was about the education one receives after leaving school; the life learning process. This really resonated with me because growing up I learned a lot of life lessons, that later on I found out weren't lessons at all, just false-truths, that I believed in at that time, until i got older. Being that life is a continous learning process, we have to re-learn lessons that we once believed with such conviction. The album changed the way womyn, especially black womyn and womyn in hop hop were viewed. She was credited with bring hip hop into the mainstream with the album's mix of R&B and reggae, not unlike the Fugees previous albums. It was a heartfelt and honest documentation of love, lost, and desperation. Miseducation did what a lot of male artists in hip hop had not done yet and a lot of them would never do. Lauryn was one of the few females emcees in the 90s that didn't join in on the warfare against black womyn. The music of Miseducation was like a spoken word session between her and some of the most talented artists ever, such as D'Angelo, Carlos Santana, and Mary J. Blige. The album was a creative portrayal of what womyn could be and who we are, what we go through and the respect we deserve. She forced us to pay attention and take note with her soft and meaningful lyrics and unassuming smile.

Doo Wop (That Thing)

(Everything is Everything)

(The Sweetest Thing)

(Ex-Factor)

(I Gotta Find Peace of Mind)

Love you Lauryn!

Music of the Day

2009-10-09T13:53:00.001-07:00

So simply put: I'm going to start putting up a musical selection of the day, preferably a music video but it may just be a link or a streaming song. Sometimes it may be a classic or a song that I think you should check out. Please let me know what yall want to see.

For today's Music of the Day selection:

Today's selection is a classic by Deap Prez: hip hop.

Drake, Mr. Carter, The Other Mr. Carter, and Mr. West

2009-09-16T09:38:00.000-07:00

How many times have us hip-hop fans discussed whose the hottest emcees of all time or even the best rappers right now? Countless lists have been formulated since the beginning of hip hop to chronicle what fans should be listening to, who we should be listening to, what everyone else is listening to, who not to listen to, and who everyone isn’t listening to and shouldn’t be. Numerous publications, respected in hip hop and not, have put together lists like these for the purpose of everything from organization to duty. The lists we put together in conversations with other hip hop heads at home to the hair salons and barbershops, are all dictated by exposure. No one can know about you if there’s no label behind you pumping thousands of dollars to ensure your career and their pockets. If you want people to listen to you, make them think that a whole lot of other people are listening to you. This seemed to be the formula of success for every other emcee except The Original Mister Carter and his soon to be successor Drake. Anyone who knows the story of Jay-Z probably knows that he was one of the first people to start their own record label, in a time when labels were infamous for ripping off their clients. Whatever you think about their lyrical skills and their maybe over-rated hyper-hype no one can not sit up and take notice to the ruthless and uncanny ability to spark buzz like Jay-Z and the rapper formerly known as Aubrey Graham to the teenage-now-grown-up set. Anyone who follows hip hop would be foolish not to include Drake and Jay-Z on their hottest MC’s list. Both artists have been featured on the other’s records. But are these two really enemies? If not in real life, maybe in the ring of rappers and emcees? Or on the front line of lyricism? Or perhaps on the behalf of buzz? No rapper or emcee before or after Jay-Z is able to captivate as much buzz as his larger than life, rock star persona, except maybe Drake or maybe even the other Mister Carter, D’Wayne Michael Carter Jr. Drake along with Lil Wayne are poised to become Jay-Z’s successors whether he likes it or not and some people are more than ready for him to give up claim to the mic.

Drake on the other hand is just getting started and hip hop fans are itching for him to get started. He has yet to release his debut album and continues to garnish teasers with mixtapes. His most popular one, So Far Gone has garnered attention from Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Lil Wayne; his mentor and label boss. According to Fader.com, “On his own records, he abandons Southern double-time to push genre boundaries more like Kanye, rapping over chopped-and-filtered snatches of Coldplay, Lykke Li and Peter Bjorn & John. The differences only get starker if you compare Drake’s bio to his project-raised, tattooed and codeine-addicted mentor. Though born in Memphis, Aubrey Drake Graham was raised in Forest Hills, an affluent enclave of Toronto that is about as far in mood and geography from New Orleans as you could get without a land bridge. Before he ever considered being a rapper, Drake was a child actor, portraying athlete Jimmy Brooks on the Canadian teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation. His father, Dennis Graham, was a drummer for Jerry Lee Lewis, and he is nephew to both legendary bassist Larry Graham and Teenie Hodges—a guitarist best known for co-writing some of Al Green’s ’70s classics who’s played with everyone from Talking Heads to Cat Power. The more you know about him, in fact, the harder it seems to know exactly who Drake is. There is something almost chameleon-like about his talent. If his appeal can’t be contained to a one-liner like “Wayne protégé,” it’s only because he invites a whole series of comparisons: to Wayne’s inventiveness, Kanye’s art-school eclecticism, Jay-Z’s braggadocio and Lloyd’s post-Kelly singsong. He has the lyrical teeth to skewer you if you mistake introspection for weakness.”

In today’s hip hop game it is almost a necessity to be from an impoverished background with experience in gunplay and cocaine. The number one reason why rap battles in the mainstream ensue are because one person lies about where they are from or their background and another person calls them out on it. The glamourization of the “hood lifestyle” is on the is a huge problem and hip hop and has people everywhere wanting to be something they are not. Just look at the example of Rick Ross who raps about cocaine and guns, and yet is a former corrections officer. However, there are two examples where this is not true. Kanye and Drake, both come from middle class families where they weren’t exposed to the harsh realities of life. “Drake does not seem particularly pressed to play down the middle class and Jewish half of his biracial upbringing and frequently mentions his mother’s central role in his life.”-Fader.com One may wonder, though, if Kanye and Drake’s limitless life, transfers to limits in their lyrics. The two are known for the boisterous lyrics in which they show their bravado. One might expect for Drake and Kanye’s lyrical content to be something for the ages. Instead we get a kind of dumbing down from their educated selves and even Lil Wayne who attended college for sometime like Kayne. One might want to tap them on their shoulder and tell them that hip hop can be educated too.

Drake is not only a rapper but also, and annoyingly a crooner on most of his hooks. He has a do-it-yourself approach to his music, his production and refreshingly, his image. Drake, Kanye, Lil Wayne and Jay-Z all fall in the overrated set. Despite that, Drake has signed one of the biggest record deals ever, signing a contract with Lil Wayne’s Young Money for over a million dollars. “That deal is the end result of what has been described as one of the biggest bidding wars the music industry has seen in ages. No one party is willing to share all the details, but Atlantic Records and Interscope’s Jimmy Iovine were certainly both in the mix, and at one point, Universal Motown president Sylvia Rhone apparently threatened Drake with legal action to prevent him from going elsewhere. In the end, he signed directly to Aspire, a company co-run by his manager (and Young Money CEO) Cortez Bryant, with major label distribution through Universal Republic. Although his Wikipedia entry and various news items list his label as Cash Money/Universal Motown, Drake is quick to say, ‘I went through Universal Republic because I don’t fuck with Motown. At all.’ The details are more than academic, since the Universal affiliation is what allows Lil Wayne and Young Money to own a piece of the project. But even though Wayne has been touted as an executive producer in previous interviews, Drake indicates that putting a YM logo on the disc is more of a nod to his mentor than a structural reality. Kanye—according to the people around Drake, anyway—is so open on his talent that he is more amped to work on Drake’s project than his own, dangling the possibility that he might step in as executive producer.”-Fader.com

All four artists can be named the four hardest working emcees in show business. Their names have been on everyone’s lips for a while now in their ever sweeping takeover of the hip hop game. “‘Forever’ may be for the album or possibly a forthcoming soundtrack, a Kanye collabo in which he and Drake bring out the best in each other, elevating their respective rap games in a way that’s only happened with Drake and Wayne on tracks like “Ransom.” It’s the kind of verse that lends real credibility to his fans’ claims that Drake is the best lyricist on the set in 2009. Despite the obvious implication, he does not seem inclined to substitute one mentor for another, preferring to develop the sound for the album himself, drawing beats from his engineer, “40” Shebib, and other members of his crew, loosely known as October’s Very Own.’-Fader.com

However, one can only glimpse into the probably friendly rivarly between all of them. The recent releases of all four were some of the most anticipated and talked about. The Carter 3 versus The Blueprint 3 versus So Far Gone and 808s and Heartbreak. Hip hop breeds competition even among friends. When you feature on someone’s track you better be sure to bring your best or risk being slaughtered on your own song. Jay-Z seems to be coming in first off the heels of his latest release. The Washington Post called him “hip-hop's undisputed alpha male”, albeit in a full out diss to his newest installment of the now completed Blueprint series. Spin says that the Blueprint 3 is posied “to create a world-historical event horizon” with its release. Nothing is more prominent about Jay-Z, not even his artistry, than his skill in exuded pride, confidence, even cockiness and conceit. Any line that you could probably quote from him is for sure expressing his dire love with himself. With his sway, his teasing to bring back Versace shades, and his incessant laziness, seem to suggest that not only does he feel he is number one but that he will always be number one. Not only does he believe he is the greatest alive, he knows that he is the greatest ever; we all know those who agree. But one must wonder if he really feels he is the best why the need to constantly behave in a way that cries so desperately that the fact needs to be proven, namely to the most famous new school to come about in a while, if not ever. On “What More Can I Say, Jay-Z says, “Add that to the fact I went plat a bunch of times. Times that by my influence on pop culutre, I supposed to be number one on everybodys list, We'll see what happens when I no longer exist, Fuck this” You got the Entertainment Weekly proclaimed JV squad Drake and Kid Cudi court the youth vote. Drake, and even though Wayne has been in the game for a while now, we never quite saw him like this with CashMoney; Wale, both who have worked and been listed as proteges of Jay, and LA mixtape kings, Nipsey Hussle and Jay Rock. Is it because he is feeling at least slightly threatened? One would think it weird if he weren’t. Why? Jay is living off money it would take at least a thousand regular people to use in two lifetimes. The crown? Me think so. If a talent is able to surpass Jay what would become of him? He’s supposedly tried so many times to quit the game and as most musicians can relate to, it is his livelihood. And he wouldn’t dare think of giving up his career, the one that saved him from death or a life sentence without a fitting escape. He respects hip hop too much, or at least he says he does. But one has to wonder how can he respect it, when he has obviously gotten bored doing it. He seems to be secretly, embarrasingly, and probably shyly trying to compete with his earlier works or at least before 2006’s Kingdom Come. “There's never been a nigga this good for this long, This hood, Or this pop” The problem is he doesn’t want anyone to know it, so he remains complacent and cocky. Never letting his faithful fans get a glimpse of his vulnerabilities. If he only knew, it would bring us closer and give him what he’s been waiting for; a epic exit from the game. “On The Blueprint 3, Jay aims to rectify that by reconciling his two divergent worlds: the rode-hard history of the Brooklyn housing projects he came up in, and the yachting- off-the-Amalfi-Coast-with-Gwyneth celebrity Narnia he inhabits today. Even if it lacks the raw power of his earlier work, the album succeeds at its larger goal — reaching maximum commercial blast radius while maintaining its street bona fides.” -EW

These days, you can’t read an article without his age being mentioned and it serves as a reminder to no one more than Jay-Z himself. No matter how much I may be tired of his assertions of being “the new Sinatra”, hip hop doesn’t tire of this recycled but never old formula from Jay. Perhaps ABCNews said it best, “Perhaps that's what rap needs to reinvigorate itself — someone to pull the genre out of its money-clothes-cars-and-girls sinkhole.” He tried to be the savior but he’s one of the reasons it needs saving. One must pause and wonder if the laziness was fueled by this obligatory last album owed to Def Jam. One would also wonder if he would sacrifice his artist integrity like that, but either way he’s and always will be wildly successful. “
After been beat out by his known worshipper, Lil Wayne for the Grammy of Best Rap Album, after performing with him, the complexity of hip hop’s biggest star is sometimes confusing. Its as if he features in their songs to soothe his ego. "Wayne's scorching, I’ll applaud him, if he keeps going, i'll pass the torch to him"
In the December 2006 issue of Complex Magazine, Lil Wayne stated “‘I'm better than [Jay-Z]... I'm 24 years old. (...) I'm 13 years deep with five albums and 10 million records sold, I don't like what he's saying about how he had to come back because hip hop's dead and we need him... What the fuck do you mean? If anything it's reborn, so he's probably having a problem with that. You left on a good note, and all of the artists were saying, 'Yo, this is Jay's house. He's the best.' Now he comes back and still thinks it's his house... It's not your house anymore, and I'm better than you"[85]. On the track "Watch What You Say to Me" Jay-Z makes an attack on Lil Wayne, rapping, "I hear you baiting me lately / I've been doing my best just to stay hater free / Still watch what you say to me / Sooner or later I take you up on your offering / Put you all in your place / Like I'm replacing your father / You're talking to the author / The architect of the Blueprint/ My DNA in your music / Motherfucker, you stupid? Watch what you say to me.". Eventually, the beef was resolved between them, and the two of them recorded tracks together like "Hello Brooklyn 2.0," "Mr. Carter," and "Swagga Like Us.’”

Allmusic's Steve Huey describes Jay-Z as a "a street hustler from the projects who rapped about what he knew—and he was very, very good at it...detailing his experiences on the streets with disarming honesty".[17] Multiple aspects of this lifestyle are explored: "Can't Knock the Hustle" details Jay-Z's hustling talent, "Cashmere Thoughts" and "Dead Presidents II" explain his financial goals and other tracks like "D'evils" and "Regrets" detail how hustling negatively affects the mind. Huey summarizes the album's subject matter saying: “He's cocky bordering on arrogant, but playful and witty, and exudes an effortless, unaffected cool throughout. And even if he's rapping about rising to the top instead of being there, his material obsessions are already apparent [...] the album's defining cut might [...] be the brief "22 Two's," which not only demonstrates Jay-Z's extraordinary talent as a pure freestyle rapper, but also preaches a subtle message through its club hostess: Bad behavior gets in the way of making money. Perhaps that's why Jay-Z waxes reflective, not enthusiastic, about the darker side of the streets.[17]”

Control

2009-09-15T18:11:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, I was young and dumb. I used to believe that "control" could be shared by both parties in a relationship. Relationship; meaning either a committed relationship or two people building to a committed relationship or really any type of connection you have with someone who you're attracted to. There is always one person that has more control than the other person. Now, in a relationship both parties should always be making sacrifices, equal sacrifices. It takes sacrifice to build a relationship with two very different people. However, there are a lot of ways to maintain control of the "relationship" no matter where it is headed. They are as follows:

1. Home. Court. Advantage.: The first mistake that one can make when establishing a "sex buddy" relationship with someone that can make you lose control of the situation is losing home court advantage. You should ALWAYS opt to have your partner at your house. There's nothing better than making him/her leave after yall get threw doing yall business. Making her/him use all their gas to get there instead of you is just the icing on the cake. You don't want to have to travel over there, and have him/her make the decision whether to take you home or let you spend the night. If you're the one with the base covered, there is no need to make this decision, make him/her leave! You don't want anyone getting to comfortable in your bed, sloberring and carrying on. You don't her/him to accidentally leave a pair of underwear of maybe a toothbrush over there. That might mess up your game for your next sexscapade with someone else. When you let someone linger at your apartment don't be surprised if they start getting attached or try to move your sex relationship into a real relationship.

2. In the context of building to a committed relationship, it is most important to keep control of the journey. Now, controlling this type of situation is a little more tricky than just a "sex buddy" situation. The point is not to GAIN CONTROL but just not to let your control be less than your hopefully soon to be significant other. When establishing a relationship both parties should try to be as equal as possible. For example, in the situation of hit ups; both parties should be hitting each other in about an equal amount. If he/she starts to lag in the hitting up, whether it be a text, a phone call, or a invite to a date, first you should also stop contacting him/her, then talk to the person about it. Tell him/her you're upset because there hasn't been enought communication as of lately. You have to talk about it with the person, it is not enough to just stop hitting the person up, he/she can take that to mean anything and you may put the relationship in jeopardy. As far as, bringing up problems in the situation when they arise, talk about them! Don't make the other person always be the one to bring up what's necessary. If you do let that happen, that person will always have control of the situation, and ultimately have the fate of the relationship in his/her hand. That goes for really any type of interaction, telling him/her how you feel about him/her, etc.

Control is important to maintain to keep your grounding on the relationship and to make sure its going the way you want and need it to. If you lose control to another person you run the risk of getting your feelings hurt as well as wasting your time.

2pac

2009-09-13T19:59:00.000-07:00

Today is the 13th anniversary of the greatest emcee(!) ever, 2pac's death. I hate using the word anniversary to describe something sad, its such a happy word. I love 2pac and his music will live on forever. He was an incredible, insightful talent, who can never be touched lyrically or stylistically. We love you.

My favorite pac song:

My mommy's favorite:

How Do You Want It:

Liner Notes Installment #1: Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is

2009-09-13T09:06:00.000-07:00

I really miss this Keyshia. The raw, hard hitting Keyshia.

2. I Changed My Mind-Contains a sample 'Get Out Of My Life, Women' Performed by Solomon Burke

3. Love, I Thought You Had My Back-Contains Elements of "Love Jones"

7. You've Changed-Contains Elements of "Sounds Like A Love Song" Bobby Glenn

8. We Could Be-Contains replay instruments element from big fish audio CD

12. Never featuring Eve-Contains Sampled portions of: "Never too Much" by Luther Vandross

What Are You Intentions With me?

2009-09-07T15:02:00.000-07:00

If you're a person who is dating right now, these six words are ones that you should know, memorize and not be afraid and be prepared to use frequently! Men and womyn need to start getting real about where they are going with their situation. Listen closely: When a person tries to talk to you, no matter where you are, what you're doing, what you're looking like, he or she has one or more of these three intentions: 1. To create a sex buddy relationship with you, 2. Give you money, or use you for your money, and/or number 3: Create a real, meaningful relationship with you. Ladies and gentlemen, that is all there is! No more, no less! When a man or woman approaches you, they have some type of intentions in his/her mind. No one walks up to a person solely for friendship, or "getting to know you". Don't be afraid to ask this question. Do it on the spot, I promise it will save a lot of time and wasted energy. Say for instance, you're looking for a relationship and when you ask this question homegirl or homedude say he's just looking for someone to kick it with, then you know that's not for you and you don't even have to waste time running down your cell phone battery to store his or her number. Now not everyone is honest about their intentions even when you ask them upfront. For example, a conversation might go like this: Man: "Hey wassup Ma, can I get your number?"; Woman: "Well first I want to know what you're intentions are with me?"; Man(obviously taken aback by your question and shy about his REAL intentions): well I just want to get to know you and we can see where it goes from there, you know I like your style, I think you're cute; This is what your reponse should sound like: Woman: Well what is your purpose in getting to know me? You must have some type of intention, you came over here to talk to me. If he doesn't know what he wants, then tell him to find out and come back. Some people may be turned off by your response but others will know they can't come wat you with no bullshit and respect your confindence and realness and I promise they will not try that again!

Sometimes when someone wants something from you, especially sex, he/she is afraid to say it. They might feel like this is a turn off for the person on the receiving end of the request. However, come on, this is 2009! People will appreciate it a LOT more if others were just upfront about their's and stopped hiding behing "game". I am sure that no matter how shady, nasty, or great your proposal there are people out there that will accept or deny it. People do not need to be gamed up anymore! If you want sex and sex only, let it be known! Stop wasting your and his/her time!

Liner Notes

2009-09-07T14:23:00.000-07:00

I've found out that I am the type of person that gets creative at night. You know, when you're bored and instead of constantly checking your Facebook over and over, you actually discover new music, books, people, etc. Well during the day I do Facebook and at night I find out stuff like I wish I had the liner notes to every album ever made. If you don't know liner notes are the little book that comes in the front side of a CD. The liner notes are a vital part of enjoying the music being played into your ears. Were it not for liner notes I might have never discovered that the same person who sings the hook to Mos Def's Roses is the same person that is featured of Erykah Badu's Master Teacher; Ms. Georgia Anne Muldrow. Chances are the song the you are listening to contains a sample from another song from a previous generation. So I took to Twitter to ask my loyal followers to point me in the direction of a website that has an vast array of liner notes. I received no response. Therefore, I am taking on the task of creating one myself. As of right now, I do not have the resources to create one to the extent that I would like to, however, I will start small with the liner notes that I still possess that have not been thrown away when I was a young and dumb non-music fanatic. Hopefully, I will be able to expand it with time. If you would like to help out, please comment and I will give you an address to which you can donate your liner notes.

Now, I am trying to decipher the important parts of the liner notes. What do yall think that I should include? What I usually like to look at is samples, featured artists that are not obviously listed, lyrics, and any stories included. I don't really care who wrote the song or who produced it, that isn't important to me.

What I want people to realize is that all music is connected. Your favorite emcee has probably sampled a hard rock song for one of his/her biggest hits, if you know what the song sampled was you'll probably discover a whole new genre of music. I have vowed to stop buying mp3's and actually buy the CD so that I can build my collection of liner notes for our viewing and reading pleasure. And yes, I buy music!

First installment of liner notes coming soon!

Pussy Ain't No Prize! No, Really, Its Not.

2009-09-02T16:27:00.000-07:00

Fellas this post is for you. Ever had a lady try to withhold sex from you? Maybe you said something you shouldn't have said, like, "Why are you wearing that?" or "Comb your hair!" Or maybe you did something that you shouldn't have done, like stayed out to the wee hours of the morning, got a call from your ex-girlfriend, or didn't call your girl back like you said you would. Any one of these situations can make a woman so mad that she doesn't want to give you what some see as a prize or reward. She is probably thinking something to the effect of "why reward bad behavior?". You might even walk on egg shells so that you may have your due at the end of the day. But ladies, I'm going to have to side with my men for a second. First, I said it once and I'll say it again: Ladies' sex drives are underrated; men, please believe that your lady of the night or girlfriend wants to have sex as much as you do. Who wants to be sleep because they are so-called "punishing" their man when they could be having sweet hot sex on those new sheets yall just bought from Bed, Bath, and Beyond? Girl, you ain't just withholding sex from him, you withholding it from yourself! Get real! And if you're really mad, just try some angry sex. Or just put your anger aside and put out. You can begin the madness right after, or hell, the sex might even squash the beef. Sometimes its ok just to let shit go.

Let's take Joe Budden and his girlfriend Tahiry for example:

Now Tahiry seems like a down ass chick. She says "I came home and I wanted to sit on my man." She doesn't seem like a prude, however, she had expectations that weren't met. Therefore, her reasoning is; my expectations weren't met and yours won't be met either. I do have to point out, though, that I take DEEP offense with Joe Budden's notion that Tahiry has an obligation to fulfill his sexual needs. No woman or man has an OBLIGATION to have sex with their significant other just because he or she wants to have sex. If you say no, end of story. Yall can talk about why you said no later. Coercion or forcing your man or woman to have sex is NOT the answer. That's called rape. Did you know that it only recently became illegal for a man to rape/force his wife to have sex? The notion was that a wife is un-rapeable by her husband because she is essentially his property and has an OBLIGATION to have sex with him when he so deems necessary. Womyn are not sex machines and just as men sometimes don't feel like having sex, we are the same way. Also, just like men like to have sex a lot, so do womyn; just at the right times.

Ok, so let's look at the part of the video, where the object of pussy being a prize comes up. Now, right here, I have to side with Joe. "Pussy ain't no prize!" I concur. Come on, lesbihonesstt. We all like sex. If pussy is a prize, so is dick. If pussy ain't a prize, then neither is dick. And I for one, do believe that it is.

We have to get rid of this sexist notion that womyn "give it up" and men "take it". If I'm giving something up when I am having sex, then so are you! We are doing the same act, with each other! Men are not the hypersexual toads that society makes them out to be and should be able to deny or not want sex without being labeled gay or the like. Nobody says a woman is gay when she tells her boyfriend no. Now, if your man or woman is constantly not in the mood for sex without any apparent reason, then yall should talk about it and see what the problem is. Maybe its a medical issue.

Ok, so back to the video. I definitely have to give Tahiry her props. She doesn't let Mr. Budden get away with his bullshit. First, she tells him that contrary to his belief, she does not have an obligation to engage in sex with Joe and then she sets him straight when he tries to blame her if he decides to go out and cheat and have sex with someone else. Ladies!, it is never you fault when a man decides to do something stupid. Yes, you may not be having sex with him, but he doesn't have the right to cheat; he does however have the right to break up with you. Nor is it your fault if he lies to you. He might say you don't make it easy for him, or that you can't handle the truth, but the reality of the situation is that he probably has a lot of growing up to do when it comes to relationships. A man must takes responsibility for his own actions and stop saying that his girl drove him to it. Read a little bit more about the subject here (make sure you read the comments on this post.)

So, while they are signing off. Joe says something that only a misogynist rapist would say. "You know how this goes, you'll be sleep, and you'll wake up with something inside you." Yea, I can't even explain what's wrong with that statement or if he actually does it, that situation. I am convinced homeboy is capable of abuse; seeing as that so-called joke, wasn't even funny.

Ok, so I just want to touch on one last aspect before I sign out. This notion that men need to work and wait for sex needs to be thrown out the window, also. As a woman when you want sex from a man do you expect for him to make you wait and WORK for it? I think not. If you don't want to wait and work then why the hell should he? It needs to be equal. If to wait, is something that yall decide together because yall are trying to build to a relationship, then ok. But don't make it so he's jumping through hoops to get to you and that monkey, when you ain't done shit to get his prize. :) Just like womyn have pussy power, men have penis power too.

So how about it yall? Ever withheld sex from your man or woman? Your man ever try to blame your for his actions? Ever had sex withheld from you? Ever have a man or woman cheat on you because yall wasn't having sex? Tell me all about it, I want to hear!

PS: Please remember that we all have body sovereignty and this essay is not in opposition to that. Nor is it in opposition to satisfying youself sexually. You can do with your body what you please, but we as womyn need to stop using our bodies to leverage for something that has nothing to do with our bodies. We allow our bodies to be looked at as a commodity instead of a acting force. We cannot continue to commodify sex, that is part of the problem now, when our bodies are viewed as something to be bartered, bargained for and bought, we give into the notion that we are the sexual gatekeepers and men are princes waiting to devour. If you have a problem with your significant other, talk about it! And if that doesn't work take other action that doesn't deny your sexual needs.

And Every Night Around This Time We Make Love Songs...

2009-08-27T18:07:00.000-07:00

That's the name of one of my favorite songs by The Dream aka Terius Nash, called er, you guessed it, Love Songs! In the song, Mr. Nash, talks about how he and his significant other of the night are making muuusic. What I want to know is how you and your lady/man of the night get down? Music or none? Do you need the beats of R&B Thug by R.Kelly to drown out the sometimes awkward sounds of squeaking bodies against each other? Or it the sound of the breathy moans enough to get you by? Ever listen to song with some hella contradictory shit? For example, ever listen to The Greatest Sex by R.Kelly, knowing that its totally wrong, because this is the farr from great sex?? Ever wish you had music? If you get down with music what are some of your favorite hits to listen to? Got any special cuts? Do you use the same shit every time you get down? Or do you change it up with every dip in the nasty nasty?? Or do the songs change depending on whether its a jump-off or a real relationship you got with the other person? Let me know! I want to hear what yall think!

So, in the spirit of sex music, let me tell yall a little story. So the first REAL time I had sex my then-boo asked me to pick the song, he got mad because I kept putting on hip-hop songs. Hey!, my love runs deep! I was putting on songs such as Hey Ma by Cam'ron and Juelz Santana and Money Make Me Come by Ricky Ross the Boss then he snatched away the iPod and turned on some wack R&Blues, at that! Some omarionjamiefoxxbullshit. I don't know about yall, but I'm not a fan of too many male R&B artists, but I can definitely fuck with some Trey Songz, The (aforementioned) Dream (no pun intended). It figures he had none. Like who doesn't have these two in their iPod selection?? They are a must if you like to get it on to music, man! Well, it goes without saying that I am such a huge hip-hop head that I even want to have sex to it, and he and others I told about it make me think it was weird, but I came to realize (hey!) you like what you like! Anyway, anything that I wanted to get down to would have been wayy better than getting it in to the same wack shit every time. I did end up making a playlist for us, that was still in line with his style of sexing. It had some This Song by LeToya and Make Love by Keri Hilson. Too bad I never got to try any of it, shit popped off before I had a chance to.

And if you still think I'm weird, here's a post at Parlour Mag about good hip-hop songs to do the do to.

Some of my favorite "songs that get the skins" follow:

Adina Howard-Freak Like Me

Adina Howard-Nasty Grind

Chris Brown-Take You Down

Ludacris-Splash Waterfalls

The Dream-Falsetto

Usher feat Young Jeezy-Love in the Club

Bust The Windows Out Your Car V.S. ???

2009-08-23T13:09:00.000-07:00

So today I was listening to my ipod on shuffle and a song came up that reminded me of another song; Blu Cantrell's Hit Em Up. Yall know yall remember that song! In it Blu talks about the revenge she gets after she catches her man scheming. "While he was scheming, I was beamin' in the beamer, just beamin', can't believe that I caught my man cheating, so I found another way to make him pay for it all" Then the other day I was watching "Waiting To Exhale". Yall know the part I'm talking about where Bernadette lays flame to all ol' boys belongings. "It is trash." Oh and I was watching Tyler Perry's "Diary of Mad Black Woman, yall know when she start kicking his ass. It made me feel empowered, that these battered womyn were getting their full due. But does this even solve anything? If you ever committed one of these selfish acts, did it help you overcome the way you felt. Ever got back with a guy who did you wrong? How's the relationship now? Is it even realistic to get revenge? All this got me to thinking, I've always been the type to not get revenge on a dude for his devilish ways. I let karma do the talking, no matter how much I want to spend all his at "Neiman-Marcus on a shopping spree-ah". What do yall think about "busting the windows out" a dude's care when he does yall wrong? Does it seem immature to yall? Have you ever gotten revenge on a woman or man? Ever had some homeboys rough him up? Steal some of his shit? What? Share! Ever really wanted to fuck him up but decided against it? Tell me your intricate plans to get back at him! Did you have to deal with any repercussions ? Did he/she find out that it was you? Did you even try to hide the fact that it was you? As the proud owner of a "Fuk that Nigga" playlist, I know listening to some music about ladies getting their revenge and getting over heartbreak helps me get over a heartbreak myself? What do yall do to get over someone stepping on your heart like a cockroach? What songs do you listen to, to help you get through the tough times, whether it be dealing with a man, friend, or family member? Please leave your thoughts in the comments section. I'll leave some songs from my playlist below.

Alicia Keys-Karma

(and how you need ya space and give the keys back to ya door)

Beyonce-Irreplaceable

(and keep talking that mess, that's fine. ps. i had some shorts like hers, that i miss soo much!)

Beyonce-Me, Myself, and I

(notice the keying of the car)

Beyonce-Ring The Alarm

(but i'll be damned if i see another chick on your arm)

Beyonce-Kitty Kat

(and you actin' like its allathat)

Beyonce-If I Were I Boy

(when you lose the one you wanted, cuz he's taking you for granted. ps, the black guy in the video can get it!)

Beyonce-Single Ladies(Put A Ring On It)

(if you like it, then you should've put a ring on it)

Ok, that was a lot of Bey but I love me some her.

Erykah Badu-Tyrone

(i'm getting tideofyoshit)

Jazmine Sullivan-Bust Your Windows

(you see you can't just play with people's feelings)

Kelis-Caught Out There

(held you when you were sick....)

Rihanna-Take A Bow

(that was quite a show, very entertaining, but its over now)

Keyshia Cole- I Should've Cheated

(i miss this keyshia!)

Keyshia Cole-Should've Let You Go

(in my heart i know, ya couldn't love me, but maybe i just kept holding on)

Keyshia Cole-I Remember

(thinking of all the times we shared)

Keyshia Cole-Let It Go

(let it go)

Keyshia Cole-I Just Want It To Be Over

(why you don't care no more)

Ok, that was a lot of Keyshia, but yall know she used to be on the heartbreak tip!

Mariah Carey-Shake It Off

(love this video!)

Destiny's Child-Independent Woman

(when its all over please get up and leave)

Ciara-Like A Boy

(oooh Reggie Bush!)

Christina Aguilera-Fighter

(After all you put me through, You'd think I'd despise you, But in the end I wanna thank you, 'Cause you made me that much stronger)

Blu Cantrell-Hit Em Up Style(Oops!)

Mary J. Blige-Not Gon Cry

(while all the time I was loving you, you were busy loving yourself)

Cherish-Unappreciated

(don't sleep on cherish)

Mary J. Blige-Your Child

(cuz i'm believing what yo friends say bout your hidden secreies)

Mary J. Blige-Enough Cryin'

(don't wanna play house no more)

Mary J. Blige-It's A Wrap

(what you were saying in your sleep, it violated me)

Sex Offenders

2009-08-21T00:14:00.001-07:00

My friend and I were talking about the sex offenders in our neighborhood; we live near each other.She told me about meganslaw.ca.gov, where you can find out about the sex offenders in any neighborhood in California.You can search by Name, Zip Code, County,Specific address,Specific school or park,and City to find sex offenders in surrounding areas. I entered in my specific address they showed me a this map of my address and the immediate surrounding area.There are so many sex offenders in my neighborhood.I live almost right next door to an elementary school, also.Also, the website shows you pictures and the offenses of the person.You can also find out what distinct marks they have on them or their aliases.As I watched the map fill up with all those little blue marks, I was disgusted. I did not think my neighborhood was exempt, but I do live in a quiet neighborhood and I could not imagine that there would be sex offenders living within walking distance from me.I have two young brothers and I am afraid for them not to mention my own 17 year old self.Do not forget the sex offenders on this site are REGISTERED SEX OFFENDERS.There are so many more out there who have failed to comply with the registration process.I specifically know of another sex offender who is within walking distance, is not registered, and who has not been caught by the cops.On the website it shows which offenders are in some type of violation with their living requirements or their registration process.I wonder what is being done about this?Visit the site please and report any information you might know about these offenders.Sometimes there is no address to coincide with the offender or any picture.This is sad and I cannot help but to ask why.When there is no address it says that this address is "not subject to disclosure".It sounds like these people are being protected.It also says under the picture of the person that this person may have subsequently relocated.Magen's law was inspired by a girl who was raped and killed by a known offender who moved across the street to the girl and her family without their knowledge.Magen's law needs improvements, but overall it is an exceptional tool to help protect families.You would be surprised by some of the offenders on this page: women, young men,short people, people you would not expect.I searched my friend's zip code and only two offenders showed up.She lives in Ladera Heights, so I guess that it is true that many offenders do not live in more prominent areas.Most of the offenders, truly were African-American men, some Hispanic men and very few women of any race.Also, most of the offenses were committed against people under the age of 14.The website says that there is some form of this website in every state, but I did not see any link.In conclusion, I would like to say that the purpose of this blog and the website is not for the discrimination against or the harassment or intimidation of these offenders, but only to educate and protect.I will also say that I hope that in the future there can be a similar system in place that accurately records all heinous offenses for the regular viewing of the public not just those of a sexual nature.The public needs to be able to protect themselves where our designated protectors cannot. Anyone who is particularly interested in this subject should read The Lovely Bones it's a story about a girl who was raped and killed, it's really good.

Officers Killing Black People For No Reason

2009-08-21T00:04:00.000-07:00

What is with this conspiracy against black people that police officers have?It seems to me that they have some kind of grudge against our people.Killing in defense can be justified, but when there is evidence that shows unprecedented, merciless killings of black people something is wrong.What I would like to know is, what is going on that the people who are supposed to protect everyone, killing us.This is sad and despicable.The killing of our people needs to be stopped.We need to get to the bottom of why this is happening and stop it!
This is a picture of Jada Bell when she learned that her father would not be coming home anymore. She is too young to understand how merciless officers shot her father 50 times on his wedding day. Look at this face the is just one face that has experienced the pain from a death by a murderer/police officer.The officers in this crime were recently found not guilty.

Visit Justice for Sean Bell to help
http://www.justiceforsean.net/

This is a You Tube video, about this type of violence.Its a small documentary by Michael Moore.

Overstressed and Underage

2009-08-20T23:50:00.000-07:00

Are you feeling stressed? Do you use the word stressed more than three times a day? Are you in high school? If so then you are overstressed and underage. Too young to drive with anyone under the age of 25, but old enough to write more than the average person speaks. Can you believe the pressure in these fall and winter months. Us high school students have a pick of any school we would like to name as our first choice university, but do we really have any way of knowing that we won't work so hard that we'll faint if we take one more standardized test?......and get the results. I am not speaking for the 4.0 student nor am I talking about the "am I going to graduate student?“. I am an advocate for those of us that have fallen in between, mediocre SAT or ACT scores, does exceptionally well on those 40 minute timed responses in AP English class, and an occasional D or C on a progress report isn't a total shocker to our parents. We often wonder at times if we have a future, because we just won't accept Community College as a option that can set us free from our parents' midnight lectures, but there are times when we get happy because we got accepted to our 42ND choice school, on a provisional basis. Provisions,...Ha! Who needs them? I don't. Does anybody out there have any sympathy. Hello,.... I'm dying here.

Whoever said your junior year is your hardest must have been telling a joke that none of his burnt out friends got. Not only as seniors do we have to keep up with required coursework, but also any insignificant assignments those aliens disguised as caring teachers throw at us, but we also have to do a dozen college applications. We barely have enough time to fight with our mothers, feed our dogs, and go to an occasional movie, but that's not good enough is it? You college admissions officers want every minuscule amount of time to go to striving to get in UC Berkeley so that when you finally reject us you can savor the sweet joy that you have by ruining our lives. Don't worry I'll see you at the local gas station harassing you until you let me wipe your windshield.

So what's the point of this? Why am I saying this? Why am I making you sound like a hired killer? Why do I keep saying why? It's simple all I want is a little slack!!!!!!!!!!

A Different Opinion

2009-08-20T23:47:00.000-07:00

Okay I am ready to write this blog. I have been doing hours of research. I was doing a project for school project on freshman entering college, but as I was doing research for that something deeper peaked my interest. The Advanced Placement system, a system used on high school campuses to help students get a head start on college work. A student takes a class with an accompanying test, if they pass the test they will receive college credit which looks great on college applications and can help save money to be used on college tuition. This system can give an unfair advantage to Caucasian students. Even though the main opinion in this article is one against this unfair advantage, I myself have taken the maximum of AP classes offered throughout my education which is a mediocre number of four, despite this I will present both sides to this situation. The UC system is the most prestigious name is public universities. So, after the elimination of affirmative action in 1998 underrepresented minority applicants enroll at a UC at considerably lower rates than others students, and the gap has widened noticeably in these 5 years. Now since the removal of affirmative action UCLA and UCB have enacted a holistic approach to getting pass the restriction and admit more minority students. It used to be one admission representative would look at one part of an application now all admission representatives look at the entire application which helps admissions officers to see the "whole person". I wonder if this is because of the well publicized scandal with UCLA and UC Berkeley not having enough African-American students or do these universities really want more diversity at their campus. One part of unfair advantage that has not been acknowledged by UCs are the flaws in the AP system. About 60% of high school students are minority, but only 30% taking AP exams are students of color. What really astonished me while I continued to research was that there were lawsuits against Berkeley and College Board.College Board is such a huge business is education; they have sort of a monopoly on high school students. To hear that their validity and credibility were being questioned was amazing! The plaintiffs argued that giving extra points to AP classes was not fair because it gives an unfair advantage to white students because they are the ones who predominantly take AP classes. Even if you want to take a AP class you may not be able to because not enough of the students at your underprivileged school may not be qualified. Each high school in the San Francisco district is allocated the resources to offer two AP classes each year if it chooses, according to district spokeswoman Elaine Koury. If a school wants to offer more, at least 20 interested students are needed for the creation of each additional class.``It's not an issue of `Here are our AP resources and we're giving them all to (a few) schools,'' said San Francisco school board member Jill Wynns. ``If you have eligible kids who want to take AP and you have enough of them, your school gets AP resources.''The number of AP classes offered by San Francisco's high schools vary widely. At academically rigorous Lowell High School, the combination of a large student body and hundreds of students hungry for AP credit means the school offers dozens of AP courses each year. Having Advanced Placement credit is something that is considered as an extra asset to an college application not a necessity.Though, at schools like Berkeley your application won't even be seriously considered if you have no AP credit. Now if you want to take the AP test without the valuable accompanying AP class you may, but only a very small percentage pass the AP test when doing that, which means alot of wasted time and effort."Such students can still take honors courses and try to pass the AP exams, but without formal class preparation, passing the tests can be harder. During the 1997-98 academic year, according to state records, 32 AP exams were taken at Balboa, even though the school offered no AP classes. Ten of the test-takers received a score high enough to qualify for college credit. At Lowell, 1,613 AP exams were taken, and 1,463 received a score high enough to earn college credit.I myself took a AP test without taking the class, I did not pass. I can only wonder if all this trouble has been brought on by the so-called "reverse discrimination" lawsuit. This was a lawsuit in 1978 against Regents of the University of California by Bakke. This man had been rejected my UC Davis' medical school on three occasions.He claimed that he was more qualified than the minorities that had been admitted for quotas in his place and suffered reverse discrimination. My question is how did he know that if there were no quotas for minority students would he have been admitted then? For that matter on what basis was he denied and after the lawsuit was he then admitted?

In conclusion, of course I believe affirmative as it was originally but it should be based on economic class or acknowledgement of hardship.It should not be based on hardship because there are advantaged and disadvantaged people in every race.There should be a reason other than race that a person receive extra help like a notable setback.

Clik the title to learn more

A Different Opinion #2

2009-08-20T23:44:00.001-07:00

"When you control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him to stand here or go yonder. He will find his proper place and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his own special benefit."-Dr. Carter Goodwin Woodson

In this day and age, there is no back door and the black man has cut one for his own special benefit... figuratively speaking. The American public all know that black men go to prison at overwhelmingly more significant numbers than other races, whether they get that knowledge from personal experience or statistics. I have a theory that black men are imprisoned at these vast rates because they have learned that they are not free from the bondages of slavery. In my opinion the education of black men from slavery; that they are worthless, ugly, disgusting, unloved and unwanted has been passed down from black man to black man,from generation to generation. If you know from personal experience,according to black men the number one reason they were have imprisoned is because of the "white man". It almost never has anything to do with any mistakes that the man himself has done, only with the white man having some type of vendetta against him. Maybe, white people do have a vendetta against our race. I know more than a few people who would agree. In spite of that possibility, can our men take some type of responsibility for their actions please.? It might help. Stop ignoring the real reason why you are in prison, and blaming it on the white race. It does not matter who other than yourself is to blame for your freedom being taken away. The point is your are in prison and you need to learn something from the experience. If you feel that someonelse is at fault then do something about it and stop complaining. When you go to prison you leave behind the people who love you and the people who you are supposed to know but will never have a chance to. Relationships are buried and hearts are broken. Please take some responsibility for that.

Fox Attacks Black America!

2009-08-20T23:41:00.000-07:00

I had never experienced direct racism until I started to attend the high school that I do now. At first when I came to this predominantly Hispanic school everyone was really nice, educated, and non confrontational. But I guess as everyone got comfortable around me their true colors started to show; now since I have been attending this school I have started to become wiser about racism and racists. Even still, none of the racism that I face is direct. The comments people make are either not said to me directly or they are not said in English so that I might understand. Readers of my blog know that this blog deals with a lot of political issues, more than entertainment.And I have made a more than a few posts about racism in America.

In my opinion America's youth, no matter what their race is, are more racist than America's adults. Of course, there are adults who are racist and then pass that hatred on to their children. I myself have faced racism from youth and adults alike.America's youth are too superficial, ignorant, and materialistic to care about another race and the feelings of one individual person.Or maybe it's just the experiences and the knowledge the adults have acquired that teach them to have respect for another race.

The definition of racism is to make a assumption about a race. Racism is as simple as that. If you make an assumption about a race then you are a racist. I am shocked by the blatant racism this country has and most of the racists in this country believe they are not racists. I am so passionate about stopping racism because I have faced it and had to deal with and it has given me a thicker skin. Which in the end is a positive result for me.

And in a final note a joke: How many racists does it take to screw on a light bulb?

None....they don't want to be enlightened!

I Have A Dream

2009-08-20T23:37:00.000-07:00

Have you heard the entire speech?

Christmas

2009-08-20T23:22:00.001-07:00

I like to write. I sit in all my classes and write about the things that my teachers say. I am taking this Religious Studies class; Religious Myths and Rituals. I thought it was going to be like a Philosophy class, where they tell me there is no God or some shit like that. I dropped this class twice, but eventually I had no choice. They do sortaa belittle typical religious practices, but alot of the subjects we talk about in the class are very informative.

For example, today my TA spoke about a little about how Christmas does not actually symbolize the birth of Jesus. It is really a derivitive of a Pagan Roman holiday . Romans used to celebrate the winter solstice doing alot of the same practices done today in the Christmas holiday. So when Romans adopted Christianity, they continued thier celebrations of the winter solstice, but said it was Christian.

Death

2009-08-20T23:20:00.001-07:00

People are so naive. Everyone has a "bucket list". People are always talking about what they want to do before they die. Why do those things matter? I think the things that matter most in this world, are meaningful human relationships. I truly believe it is what people long for their entire lives. But instead of actually seeking that out, they want money, and to do things that at the end of life are trivial. Who cares how many countries you have had sex in, if you have no real friends and if you have abandoned your entire family? Even in a religious aspect, why does God care about what we do on this Earth? Give us this life to live, I will do what I want, then die. Why are we born of God, but then abandoned at our death, because we were not "good" people during our time on Earth? I am content with my life right now. I am happy now. If I died right now, I would be content in my last moments. I have people who love me, and love them.

Yea I am pretty misanthropic.