More than Fireworks

Last night, a couple of my neighbors were setting off fireworks.  They are both married men in their early 30's but still occasionally trapped in their childhood. Most often this reversion occurs at Halloween, when they accessorize each other's homes with toilet paper, and on July 4th. I like my neighbors; for most of the year, they actually act their age. I can also count on them to provide a free and often spectacular fireworks display for the next few days, culminating on July 4th.

The stores are all having July 4th sales and there is red, white and blue everywhere. Flags are flying from mailboxes and we proclaim that we are celebrating democracy and patriotism. Perhaps we are, but I am not convinced. Yesterday the United States Supreme Court released an opinion that eviscerates the 1954 and 1955 Brown decisions. I doubt most people know or understand the issues that were at stake in the case. We are still involved in a war that was started based on intentional dissemination by our government of misinformation and lies. We invaded a sovereign nation, not because it had attacked us or because we were in danger of harm from that nation, but because we needed to vent our frustration and rage over 9/11 on someone, and we couldn't find Osama Bin Laden but we had Saddam Hussein's address. This nation has lost its position as a moral leader in the world and is instead the big bully, taking over the sandbox to meet our own purposes and damn to all who get in our way.

As a nation, we have grown immune to the suffering of others. The homeless are a blight to be hidden away, and so we support laws to make certain that they don't offend our sensibilities by sleeping in parks or begging for food. We suffer mightily from NIMBY syndrome, (not in my back yard) when there is a proposal to build a group home for the mentally disabled in our neighborhoods. We proclaim that children are our most valuable natural resource but when there is a need to raise taxes in order to ensure that the children in our communities have quality educational opportunities, we protest loudly. We ignore that millions of our neighbors don't have health insurance and oppose or are indifferent to any solutions that propose a system of national health care.

We tremble in outrage at the notion that there are undocumented immigrants among us and staunchly proclaim that we must make laws establishing that our policy is "English only spoken here." We rant about being asked to press one for English and yet we travel to other countries and fully expect that hotel staff, guides, restaurant staff and all others involved in providing service to tourists, speak English, and typically, they do. We bask in our ignorance as one of the few major countries where most of us are illiterates when it comes to speaking any language except English.

As we approach this celebration of independence, please pause and reflect on the meaning behind this holiday. It is not about sales, or flying flags or even about setting off fireworks. The words of the men who founded this country best sum up the meaning of this holiday. They were landed gentry for the most part, all white, and all male, but somehow, the words in the Declaration of Independence are ageless and universal. I am hopeful that one day, as a nation, we will live up to them.

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form,as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislativepowers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Tags: patriotism, July 4th, democracy, Declaration of Independence, Jefferson, pursuit of happiness, citizenship, freedom, Iraq, war

family stuff and tag moles

It’s been nearly three weeks since my last post but in the words of Willie Nelson, “you were always on my mind.”  When I’ve had a moment or two, I’ve elected to check out what others of you are writing about instead of making my own posts.  However, it’s 93 degrees today and I’ve ventured out once already. A friend of mine had a birthday recently and I met her and her husband for lunch. I’m officially in for the rest of today, air conditioning cranked up, and a big glass of ice water in hand. Ensconced in front of my computer, I’m ready to write.

 

But what to write about… world affairs…the political shenanigans at the NC General Assembly…Paris Hilton…more about my online dating adventures? Such important topics (okay, maybe not Paris Hilton, but my online dating adventures are certainly of importance) but they pale in comparison to the interesting conversation that I had with my sister last night.

 

My sister and her husband live less than a mile from me. I selected the location for my house because she was already living in the neighborhood.  We talk almost daily, usually by telephone. Her husband, Bob, cannot fathom why we don’t just visit in person and he is particularly baffled by our habit of watching television programs together over the telephone.  My response is simple; I know what she looks like and I don’t have to be looking at her in order to have a good visit.  Besides, when I get home from a long day at work, I like to get comfortable—kick off my shoes, remove those pesky undergarments, and slip into my favorite caftan.  It’s at home attire but not visiting attire.

 

So last night, after getting comfortable, I called my sister or maybe she called me; we talk so often it’s hard to know who calls whom. We talked about the usual stuff—which one of our parents is crazier, which one of us had last spoken with our mother (my father doesn’t answer the telephone and as a rule he doesn’t engage in telephone conversations), and whether Aunt Nellie Ruth or Aunt Dorothy is nuttier.

 

(Let me digress for a moment and allow you to decide for yourself.  Our Aunt Nellie Ruth is 78 years old and a widow.  She lives alone and even in this 93 degree weather, she will not open the windows for fear that some man may break in and molest her. Fortunately, one of her daughters has persuaded her to allow an A/C unit to be installed in one apartment window but she often doesn’t turn it on because she says it bothers her arthritis. Visiting her is like stepping into Dante's Inferno. Our Aunt Dorothy is in her early seventies, divorced, and lives alone in New York.  She has considered moving back to NC to be nearer to Aunt Nellie, my mom, and their sister Mabel, but she worries that people will think that she’s chasing after Eugene, a former boyfriend from her youth.  She hasn’t seen him in over fifty years but she knows that he still pines for her. It’s hard to choose which one is nuttier than Bette Davis in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, but I think that Aunt Dorothy has the edge because she also believes in root working and is continually wary that someone is trying to cast a spell on her or give her the evil eye. At family gatherings she smells all the food and refuses to eat dishes that she doesn’t know who prepared.)

 

Okay, let’s get back to my conversation with my sister.

 

My sister says, apropos of nothing, “Do you remember that mole on my neck?”

 

I don’t remember any mole but she doesn’t really need a response so I just say, “Huh?”

 

“I read this article that says that you can get rid of those tag moles (AKA skin tags) by tying a string around them.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“It cuts off the blood supply and eventually the tag mole just falls off.”

 

My sister has been under a great deal of work related stress lately and I attributed the mole discussion to that stress.

 

“Anyway, a couple of nights ago I decided to tie a string around the mole on my neck, but I couldn’t remember what type of string the article recommended that you use.  At first I was going to use dental floss but then I decided that I didn’t want a piece of dental floss hanging from my neck, so I used a piece of blue sewing thread.”

 

By now, I was really listening. She tied a piece of thread tightly around her neck! Thoughts of gangrene, flesh eating bacteria, and my sister’s head falling off ran through my mind but I tried not to become hysterical. “Oh my God! You tied string around your neck!”

 

“Not around my neck, around the mole.”

 

My vision changed somewhat; her whole head wasn’t going to fall off just a big chunk of her neck.

 

“Of course, once I got it tied off and looked in the mirror, I realized that I didn’t want to walk around with blue thread dangling from my neck but I had knotted the thread and I couldn’t figure out how to remove it. So I cut the dangling ends as short as I could and put a Band-Aid over it.”

 

Maybe with plastic surgery it wouldn’t be so bad or she could always wear scarves.

 

“Have you seen a doctor?” I inquired calmly.

 

“A doctor? No, you won’t believe what happened.”

 

A piece of your neck fell off and you have a gaping hole where flesh and muscle used to be? I kept my thoughts to myself, “So what happened?”

 

“Well after a couple of days, I took the Band-Aid off just to check and the mole fell away, just like that.”

 

“No hole in your neck?”

 

“Hole in my neck, what are you talking about? Of course there is no hole in my neck. It wasn’t that big of a mole.”

 

“Oh.”

 

There was a lot more drama in my imagined version.

 

 

 

Tags: family, relatives, siblings, tag moles, humor

Me and Scarlett

Tara! Home. I'll go home. And I'll think of some way to get him back. After all... tomorrow is another day.

 

I was visiting the journal of a new friend, Marc, and I learned that Margaret Mitchell’s estate has selected an author to write another book using the characters that she created in Gone with the Wind. The working title is Rhett Butler’s People and it is told from Rhett’s point of view.  I wasn’t impressed by the authorized sequel several years back entitled Scarlett.  It didn’t live up to the continuation in my head of the saga of Scarlett and Rhett.  I did enjoy the tale, told from Mammy’s point of view with the clever title, The Wind Done Gone, published amid great controversy as the Mitchell estate tried to prevent its release. Eventually the courts ruled that it was a parody and as such could be published.

 

I first read Gone with the Wind when I was eleven-years-old.  I fell in love with Scarlett O’Hara with her first “fiddle-dee-dee” to the Tarleton twins.  I read the entire book in two days, pretending not to hear my mother call my name when she wanted my help with some household chore.  I suffered with Scarlett as she and Melanie fled from the Yankees, and lusted with her as Rhett  Butler put a blush on her cheeks with his

 

                               

 

suggestive comments.  Of course, I was only 11 so I didn’t really know what he was suggesting. I cried my heart out when he left her at the end and felt Scarlett’s defiant sense of hope as she turned her eyes towards Tara and vowed to get him back, “After all… tomorrow is another day.”

 

That summer, my dad took us to the Starlite Drive-In Movie Theater and I saw Gone with the Wind on the big screen.  It was one of those rare cases of the movie being as good as the book.  I was enthralled and swept away as Atlanta burned.  When Scarlet threw that vase at Rhett Butler’s head, I knew that I was in the presence of greatness.  I wanted to be Scarlet.

 

I spent hours in front of a mirror trying to arch one eyebrow in pursuit of my best Scarlet impression.  To my great disappointment, I never mastered raising just one eyebrow.  Eventually, I came to realize that my inability to replicate Vivien Leigh’s quizzical eyebrow lift was not the only bar to my becoming Scarlett O’Hara.  In spite of my childish ability to ignore the obvious, the face that stared back at me as I vainly worked my forehead muscles, was that of a brown-eyed, brown-skinned girl, who looked a lot more like Prissy than Miz Scarlet. 

                                

 

I’ve never completely rid myself of my Scarlett O’Hara obsession. I recognize that it is rather absurd especially as I was raised in a mid-sized southern town, Wilson, North Carolina that is divided by a railroad track.  In my childhood, blacks lived to the east of the track and whites to the west. However ironic it may be, I love my south--grits, the summer heat, and the way that y'all sort of rolls off your tongue like molasses. Sometimes, when I think that no one is watching, I still practice arching one eyebrow, but I have grown to love Prissy.

 

Butterfly McQueen (Prissy)

 

 

Tags: Gone with the Wind, Vivien Leigh, Butterfly McQueen, Scarlett, Rhett, southern culture, contradictions, irony

Kindergarten Enrollment May Be Delayed For Many Children in NC

Following is an article that I recently wrote for publication in the NC Black Leadership Caucus' monthly newsletter. Its focus is on NC politics; however, I suspect that this issue isn't limited to NC.

 

If North Carolina state legislators have their way, more than 15,000 children who turn five between September 1 and October 16 in 2009 will not be eligible to enroll in the state kindergarten program. House Bill 150 (H150) and an identical Senate Bill 751 (S751), propose to change the cut off date for initial school enrollment in kindergarten from October 16 to August 31, effective fiscal year 2009-2010.

 

Under the current law, as long as a child will be five by October 16, that child may enter kindergarten in August of the school year in which the child turned five.  A child whose fifth birthday is as late as October 16 may enroll in a state funded program when school begins in August prior to the child reaching age five in October. The proposed bills, both entitled Every Child Ready to Learn, would not allow a child to enroll in August of that school year if he or she will not be five by August 31.  If this legislation passes, a child who turns five after August 31, 2009 will have to wait until the school year beginning in August 2010 to enroll in a state funded kindergarten program. The fiscal note accompanying H150 estimates that the change would result in 15,360 fewer children statewide beginning kindergarten in August 2009

 

Based on the long title of H150 and S751, AN ACT for modifying the school admission requirements to ensure that every child is ready to enter kindergarten and thereby reduce student dropout rates in later grades, both bills are being presented as having the potential to address some of the troubles that currently beset public education in North Carolina--an unacceptable dropout rate and school readiness.

 

However, there is insufficient evidence to conclusively support that delaying initial enrollment in school will decrease the dropout rate in the future. However, there is research that suggests that low income children are disadvantaged by lack of a quality pre-school experience and that the disadvantage magnifies as they age, leading to higher dropout rates. A student that is older than his or her peers in that grade level is more likely to become a dropout statistic.  The student who is six when beginning K or turns six within the first two months of beginning K, will reach the current legal dropout age of 16 nearly a full year before his or her peers.

 

The other stated purpose of these bills is to make certain children are ready to learn when they begin school.  Unfortunately, there is no solid scientifically based research that conclusively supports the notion that a six year old is automatically more ready to learn than the same child was one year earlier without some intervening experiences designed to prepare the child to be ready to learn.  In other words, just hanging around the house another year does not correlate with improved academic readiness for children who are already at-risk of academic failure.

 

A 2006 study on the impact of delaying initial entry into school, concludes that positive gains in achievement shown in students who are older when they begin school are more likely connected to their experiences prior to beginning school than any effect from delaying kindergarten for a year. In other words, middle class and higher children who have educational experiences prior to entering kindergarten benefit from the delay but no such benefit is seen for lower income children. (http://www.ilir.uiuc.edu/lubotsky/Elder%20Lubotsky%20June%202006.pdf)

 

This change will most seriously impact children from lower income and working class families who are unable to afford private day care or pre-school, depriving them of any significant formal educational experience for as much as an additional school year.  Under current law, the mandatory school age is seven; parents already have the option to choose not to send their child to kindergarten when he/she turns five.  Some parents choose not to do so based on their beliefs as to the physical and emotional maturity of their child. The proposed change will only force parents who do not have options for providing a solid pre-school experience for their children to delay access to education for their children. 

 

In addition, it is essential to weigh the economic costs to families of the proposed change on low-income and working class parents.  They will have an extra year of child care expenses while waiting for their child to reach school age.

 

According to the fiscal note attached to H150, the proposed bills will have an economic benefit to state and local government. Assuming all factors remain constant regarding average daily membership, the fiscal note anticipates reduced state General Fund expenditures and reduced county government expenditures in public school spending for a period of twelve years beginning with implementation of the bill in 2009-10 fiscal year. (http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2007/FiscalNotes/House/PDF/HFN0150v1.pdf)

 

There is an additional bill, House Bill 130 that proposes an earlier cut off date of June 16 and would be effective for the 2008-09 school year.  There currently is no Senate equivalent for this bill.

Tags: kindergarten entry, initial school entry, NC State General Assembly, delayed school entry, public education, public schools, kindergarten, school enrollment

So little time!

In a conversation with my sister this weekend, she pointed out that I hadn't posted anything to my journal in more than two weeks. I explained that I had good intentions to do so but that I couldn't seem to find the time to follow through on my intentions.

I really like my new job but it is rather time intensive, especially in the past few weeks. North Carolina's state legislature has filed a record number of bills this legislative session, nearly 40% more than in previous sessions. My job is to read a significant number of those bills and write a digest entry that explains how the new bill affects current law and/or what the new bill does.  My written analysis is published in a subscription publication called The Daily Bulletin, distributed by the School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Bill drafters receive special training in how to write a piece of legislation that bears little or no resemblance to the English language. However, I'm not complaining. If they wrote in plain English, then I wouldn't have a job. Because the bills are written in legalese, the belief is that it takes a lawyer to translate the legalese into standard English.  They pay me well to do this and I have the satisfaction of feeling that I'm doing a public service. The subscribers to our publication include members of local and state government, including state legislators. I take a great deal of satisfaction in knowing that I help our elected officials understand the bills that they submit for passage into law. I think that there may be something ironic about my previous sentence.

I also attend committee meetings where a legislator presents a bill that he or she sponsors and other legislators pick the bill apart and make the bill sponsor cry. Okay, I'm exaggerating, no one has cried, so far. However, there is often intense discussion about the issues that arise in the bills that are presented. There was great concern expressed as to whether or not the Collard Festival held in Ayden, NC should be designated as the official state collard festival. After all, it's not the only collard festival in NC and other communities might feel slighted. There has also been concern as to whether or not the bullfrog should be named as our state frog. I'll keep you posted on that one.

As you can tell, I've been busy monitoring great affairs of state and have had to curtail my journal entries. I hope to return to J-Land full force as soon as the state legislature is done with passing laws.  I've tried to keep up with your journals and I apologize for not taking the time to leave comments.  I'm reading your wonderful words even when I don't comment.

Note: This piece is meant to be humorous. The NC state legislature has proposed some solid legislation this session that if passed will aid the economic growth of the state, improve the quality of education, and improve access to health care. Of course, there have also been bills about collard festivals and bull frogs.

Tags: work, keeping busy, state government, North Carolina, humor

ill spoken words

(Background note: Broadcaster Don Imus made a set of insulting remarks on his program about female basketball players at Rutgers. Many are calling for his resignation or that he be fired. I just read about the controversy today and sent an email to my sister and some other friends expressing  my belief at the moment that he deserved to be fired.  My sister called me and gave me her insights into the matter.  This entry is a result of my conversation with her. The details of Imus' comments are included in the entry.  As always, your comments are welcome.)

 

I just spoke with my sister, Rhonda, about the Imus mess. She had a surprising response to an email that I sent about the Imus controversey, which has given me pause.  Surprising only in that it wasn't what I expected from her.  However, I respect her opinion a great deal, so it has made me pause and reflect.

 

Rhonda actually listens to Imus' broadcast; I don't.  I used to but grew disgusted with his "in your face, because I insult everyone it's okay brand of journalism." I was introduced to Imus when I was in college, by my friend Rick.  He was from Connecticut and came to NC to attend the law school at UNC.  He was the resident advisor on my floor at Ehringhaus, the south campus dorm where I lived.  I was a freshman and thought Rick, at age 22 was quite sophisticated and he listened to "Imus in the Morning."  For a few years, I was a faithful listener, but never really a fan.  I confess that it has been more than 20 years since I've heard more than a few snippets of his radio show.

 

My sister says that Imus should be given the benefit of the doubt, that his apology is sincere.  She points out that he is equally irreverent towards all; it's his style as a radio personality. She was surprised that I jumped on the fire Imus bandwagon. She reminded me that I had defended the white teacher who had elected to read a book called "Nappy Edges" to her elementary school class.  I thought that the book, written by a black woman, was a positive affirmation that the natural kinky hair texture of many black people was beautiful. The teacher read the book to her mostly black students because she also believed that it was about promoting a positive self image for young black girls.  The author of the book spoke out in support of the teacher because she felt that the teacher "got" the intent of her book. 

 

Rhonda, who has beautiful locks, says that she doesn't find the term nappy offensive.  She expressed her frustration with the schizophrenic nature of black people when it comes to hair; controversies like the black sorority a few years back who didn't want to award the first place prize to the young woman who had fairly won, because she had locks. I think that my sister has a point, but I don't think that Imus' remarks added anything positive to the mix.  I don't think that it was his intent to make a positive commentary on the beauty of black women's hair when he referred to the women on Rutgers' basketball team as "nappy-headed hos."

 

However, as I previously stated, I really respect my sister's opinion and I've been rethinking my original support for firing Imus.  I still don't like what he said; I think it was an ignorant remark.  But when taken in the context of the times, perhaps it is less an indication of any personal racism on Imus' part and more of an indicator of the pervasive disrespect for women, black or otherwise that permeates our culture.  I confess that I am dismayed that all of the criticism of Imus for his remarks tends to focus on his use of the word "nappy" and not on the reference to the women on the team as "hos." Rhonda pointed out that denizens of the rap music world frequently refer to women as hos.  I think that they are also ignorant and I don't buy that it is some sort of artistic expression thing that is supposed to be regarded in a different light. When I read Imus' remarks, I became angry.  I'm still angry.  I'm angry that he would think it acceptable, in the name of humor, to once again belittle and demean black women.  I'm angry that too many men, white and black, publicly speak of women in derogatory terms and call it entertainment.

 

I decided to try and find the entire interchange between Imus and his producer about the women's basketball game and went to YouTube.  It was there; you can always rely on YouTube to have the latest. The entire context of Imus' remarks was in talking about how rough looking the Rutgers' team members are. In his dialogue with executive producer Bernard McGuirk, Imus said that the Rutgers' team members were rough and had tattoos.  McGuirk responded and said that they were hos; Imus countered with that they were nappy headed hos.  But it didn't end there, Imus goes on to say that the Tennessee players (Rutgers' opponents in the championship game) were cute (when is the last time anyone referred to the cuteness of a championship men's basketball team?). McGuirk concurs and avows that it's kind of like a Spike Lee thing and comments that it's like the jigaboos vs. the wannabees. Imus agrees.(They incorrectly identified the Spike Lee film which they were referencing as "Do the Right Thing."  The film is "School Daze." A central theme in "School Daze" has to do with the internalized color complex among black folks, the light-skinned versus dark-skinned obsession that has beset us since skin color became such an important part of the hierarchy of place in American society.  Jigaboos refers to dark-skinned blacks and wannabees to light-skinned blacks.) Finally, Sid Rosenberg, filling in for an absent sports announcer, comments that the Rutgers' women look like the Toronto Raptors, and then McGuirk chimes in and comments that the team looks more like the Grizzlies (a Memphis team). If you want to watch for yourself:

 

I confess that after watching the video, I'm finding it hard to understand why all the heat is directed at Imus; Rosenberg and McGuirk should share the hot seat.

 

Maybe firing Imus is not appropriate.  Maybe it's not reasonable to label him a racist because of his remarks.  Imus has said that he realizes that he pushed the envelope too far; he was just trying to do what he does, be funny.  He acknowledges that his comments went over the line.  I do think that he needs to personally apologize to each of the young women on the Rutgers' team.  In a society where we are continually bombarded with information telling us that we are a nation of couch potatoes, these young women should be commended for their athletic abilities and their team spirit, not publicly insulted with name calling. They played well for an entire season, well enough to play for the championship.  They lost the game to Tennessee and I'm certain that the loss was devastating.  They deserved better than to be publicly insulted in the pursuit of so-called humor.

 

Tags: Imus, nappy-headed, hos, women, insults, race, gender, sexism, news, youtube, opinion, media

Am I My Brother's Keeper?

The Internet allows us to maintain a degree of anonymity that ironically, makes us willing to reveal far more of ourselves than if we met at some social event or public outing.  In this journal, I talk about my insecurities, something I rarely do even with my closest friends and certainly not with people that are acquaintances.  I think it is the veil of anonymity that makes so many of us willing to share who we are and that leads to forming bonds with people that we've never met face to face, but whom we count as friends.  I feel fortunate that I've actually had the opportunity to meet two of those people in person, dear Bea and Caroline.  There are others of you that I have not met, but I feel a connection to you nonetheless.

I want to tell you about my friend River.  He is a member of J-Land and I don't know his name, other than River.  It suits him; he runs deep like a river. We've never met, but I count him as a friend.  I like visiting his journal because it is full of charity, of love for humankind. River has been absent from J-Land for the past few months and has recently returned.  I didn't want to pry, but I noticed that at the top of his journal there was a count: 79 days homeless.  That was three days ago. Perhaps because the Internet allows us to skip some of the amenities of societal interaction, I sent him an email and asked directly if he was homeless.  Like the gentleman that he is, he promptly responded and confirmed that he was indeed referring to his own homelessness.

Today I visited River's journal and he has chosen to share his story with us.  I admire his bravery in doing so; he is a private person and I am not certain that if were in his shoes that I would be so brave.  River lives in Las Vegas, and he has gained access and insight to the homeless in that city of excess in so many ways, except when it comes to providing for those who need assistance. I hope that you will visit River's journal frequently and follow his story.  He has much to tell us. 

Many of us celebrated Palm Sunday today and next Sunday is Easter. When I was a child, I thought of Easter as a time to get a new outfit. My mother was a very good seamstress and one Easter she made my sister and I matching navy blue capes with a white satin lining. We wore white dresses, little white hats, and white gloves.  I think that I was around eight and my sister was six. We loved the way the capes swirled out when we spun around. I'm not a child any more and I no longer believe that Easter is about wearing new clothes.  I thank River for sharing his story and reminding us what Easter is truly about. We are all our brothers' and sisters' keepers.

Tags: charity, agape, Christianity, homelessness, responsibility, Easter