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Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Catching Ourselves

We are all racist to a degree.

Whether we vocalized it within our own circle of close friends, our partners or in our minds quietly to ourselves we all say things that can be seen as ignorance, or racist toward another race/nationality.

Something I do within my group of friends especially those that aren't Black or Latino is I encourage them to tell or ask me things that they wanted to know, were curious about or they heard. Now although we are in the 21st century you would be surprise the things they ask me. "Are all Black Men well endowed, why do Latinos eat so much rice" etc... Now I am not the queens or appointed advocate for Blacks and Latinos BUT I do this because if I can break down some of these ridiculous stigmas then why not. Especially if I associate myself with these individuals do I want them to think that everything the media portrays is true. That all Black women are mad and all Mexican are day laborers HELL NO! I want and rather them to feel comfort enough to come to me and say hey is this true or I know this is silly but I was wondering as oppose to using the N word thinking it is cool because other races outside of African Americans now use it and think it is acceptable.

To know is better then to not know so if we inform people we have done our jobs in stopping the ignorance. And yes it can be upsetting because this day in age who believes those age old stigmas but hey they are still there cause if not I wouldn't even be able to have this convo.

Let's all try even within ourselves to end these insulting stigmas as we don't want them impose on ourselves. "Catching Ourselves" and knowing that every "Indian" person doesnt own a 7-11 and so on and so forth!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Light Skin, Dark Skin

Every now and then you get smacked in the face with the ignorance of people you know.

So at a family function a child of a particular family member was playing and the way the sunlight hit her profile her skin and hair radiated making her hair look blond-ish against her olive skin. So the mother of that child boastfully states how those "whiter" features are from her side of the family because her husband's side doesnt have "those type of genes". She was just better off saying because her mans family is black or are black Latinos and their phenotypes are not that of fairer or finer features.

Now I know their are Blacks and/or Black Latinos with phenotypes that would be perceived to be of only the White race but the ignorance of this women is what burned me on so many levels.

Why marry someone if u are not completely comfortable with their race. Nonetheless have children with them and now continuing a cycle of self hate and internalized racism because to speak so openly in front of her child this way and the child not to react shows this was not the first time. Also she was Latina, a Puerto Rican to be specific and that burns me even more because I for one know like many of us that Puerto Ricans have African origins that run extremely deep so it was frustrating to hear such a ridiculous statement.

In the end we then see how these seeds of dysfunctional cycles continue to exist. But we all know how this classic story will play out. The daughter will grow up and if her mother continues to talk in refers to "Blacks" this way she will either grow up and due to her moms stupidity have judgements against "Blacks" or gravitate toward what she has been shun against.

Cant wait to see how this plays out!

Monday, September 27, 2010

Our Kids

I am so tired of reading these polls and statistics where Black and Latino children test scores, graduations, college admissions etc are lower then their fellow white students. I truly believe as in the classic Whitney Houston song "I believe the children are our future" and we have to start with our communities, and in our homes to advance these kids.

I know it is hard and with so much going on in our own lives but imagine just what 20 minutes of your time means to another child. A lot of these children just want a mentor or someone to look up to. But more importantly before we take care of others we must take care of home first.

As a mother myself I know what its like. You may be overwhelmed with work and whatever else the world throws your way BUT these kids need our undivided attention to advance academically.

They need us!

And a little goes a long way... Reading to them, doing homework, participating in sports and even extra-curriculum activities are essential. Many students are labeled as Special Ed, or having ADD.... These labels are creating stigmas in these children creating a "I can't do this or that" false reality for our kids.

As the campaign slogan of our 1st Black president a staple within itself "Yes We Can"!