Editors Note: I asked our Internets brother from another, Dallas Penn, if I could share with you all his post about what’s happening to the Ethiopian women in Israel. Their story is heartbreaking and should be told to as many people as possible. If you get a chance please check out the Woman to Woman report which details the devastating effects Depo Provera has had on women throughout the world, especially Ethiopian Jews. Depo Provera, a birth control method of last resort, was first tested on thousands of low-income women in Atlanta in the 1960s. Many of those women suffered from severe side effects – cancer, clinical depression, even death. Now, Depo Provera is the weapon of choice in an economic and social war on the second class citizens of Israel. Women’s groups, human rights group, our government, should be condemning this shameful act.
From the eugenics programs to the outright genocide of the Palestine people to this ‘birth control’ fiasco we find that the state of Israel acts much like the oppressive German regime from which they escaped from.
The Ethiopian Jew speaks the ancient Hebrew Aramaic language. Still they are considered second class citizens socially, politically and economically. Now Israel’s health system is treating them like chattel biologically.
Mandatory contraception from South Africa? I was never comfortable with Israel’s relationship with South Africa and I definitely don’t want them using drugs that the Dutch used during apartheid.
How does one approach Israel on their human rights record when the argument is almost always diverted to the Holocaust or attributed to anti-Semitism? Standing up for the Ethiopian Jew is actually proactive Semitism. I am just trying to preserve the descendants of Shem.
at Very Smart Brothas and I HAD to share. It. Made. My. Day. Do yourself a favor and read it.
Now, #2: This aint scientific, but I KNOW Black men love Black women because my daddy married a Black woman, his Daddy married one and had some on the side, so did his Daddy’s daddy, and the majority of my uncles and cousins (or at least they play married).
If someone didn’t date a Black woman, my family didn’t say shit about it. The only thing we cared about was that my Aunty Lisa made the chicken enchiladas for the family potluck. That’s mad racist, but it’s true. In fact, I never had a conversation about my brother’s girl not being Black until this Reggie stuff went down. I’m so thankful I got a mama who met the girl on Thanksgiving, did the Kanye shrug (actually my mom was really nice), and kept it pushing.
With all that said, I hate talking about this stuff because I think it’s really heart-breaking. Other than the gays, Black men seem to be the only other humans on the planet that people think they have the authority to dictate who they can or can not love.
The only thing worse than those lyrics is the fact that Afroman was nominated for a Grammy in 2002. It was for another song, but still – we’re talking about Afroman.
I had intended to go in on how the Huffopo list was problematic because 1) R. Kelly and Ne Yo aren’t rappers and 2) one could argue that it fuels the idea that ALL rappers are terrible lyricists, who force feed listeners violent images of women and sex, and that’s certainly not true – There are artists like Mos Def who can make a song titled “The Panties” and never mention the word pussy, or skeet. There are artists who don’t need to remind the listener they have a large penis and did a Chris Brown on their partners vagina, but those rhyme-slayers rarely get airplay or their just props, but y’all already know that, right?
So instead I wonder what are the consequences to a heavy dose of unsavory sexual lyrics? I certainly don’t want to get into a debate about what’s good sex or bad sex, but I think we can all agree that if a man wants to make nut come out your nose (c) Ying Yang Twins, it’s not going to be good, or safe.
Last year, Cindy Gallop’s Make Love Not Porn campaign sparked some interesting dialogue about porn versus sex in the real world. Full disclosure: I want to be a combination of my mama, Meryl Streep, Ruby Dee, and Cindy Gallop when I grow up. I thought her TED Talk was brilliant.
This video might not be suitable for work…actually, don’t watch this at work. Your coworker will probably stop by to see what the stylish petite white lady has to say and get all discombobulated when she starts talking about young men wanting to, um, [rhymes with um] on her face. Read more
They say things that make us angry can serve as a catalyst for change. Last week, one of Dallas’ gems inspired me to kick this blog back into gear**. I got very angry at the 2:35 mark of this video (watch from the beginning because the first two minutes or so are absolutely beautiful).
It’s been a minute since I’ve been pissed. I don’t hate police. My mother has worked for the Sheriff’s department for 26 years. Some of the greatest people I know are cops (ugh, sorry, this sounds awfully like “some of my best friends are black”), but the mere presence of the police around those kids had me channeling O’Shea Jackson.
What’s sad is that the briefest shitty encounter with law enforcement can lead to a lifetime of fear and hate. How hard would it have been for those officers to let those kids enjoy the snow, enjoy being happy, in Brooklyn, uninterrupted?
My work with kids has allowed me to see how valuable moments of escape can help children. Even when they’re in neighborhoods that are hard to escape, encounters with people who have managed to get out, and come back, can be life changing, and save lives.
We happen to use books at my job to help kids recognize a world beyond South Central. Brian is using snowboards. Hoods to Woods is a fabulous idea I wish I could contribute dollars too, and time, if I had leftovers of both.
Us Southern California folk barely get rain nowadays. Global warming has damn near snatched our winter. I saw snow fall for the first time when I was 22 while visiting Angela in New York. I can just imagine how awed some of my kids would be if they could be a part of a program like Hoods to Woods. Snowboarding is so similar to the skateboarding culture that has invaded the hood; I know kids who would eat this up if they had the opportunity.
But opportunity is so damn hard to obtain.
I’m thankful to my parents for showing my brother and I the world outside of Long Beach. I know a part of the reason we took so many family vacations when I was younger is because my mom and dad worked hard to earn enough money to see more than Compton, and Nickerson Gardens, where they were raised. I’m glad they took us along for the ride. Literally.
When the money was right, they would rent a RV and we’d drive cross state. When the money was funny we’d drive to Beverly Hills and point out cars and houses we wish we had. When they were broke we’d drive down Pine Avenue in downtown Long Beach and people watch. I still love driving down Pine to this day, even though half the shops are closed and have been replaced with a Walmart, tacky clothing stores, and tourists. Read more
My youngest cousin celebrated her second birthday on Sunday and my Aunt decided to do what my mother did to me when I was younger - subject her only girl to hundreds of Disney images till one day that girl gets sick of all things pink and under the sea.
I went through a phase in high school where I hated the color pink because throughout most of middle and elementary school I was forced to live in a room painted the color of Pepto-Bismol and draped in all things Beauty and The Beast.
I loved it at first but as I got older it was nauseating. It’s been years since my aunts and mom have been able to thrust a Disney character on someone so they’re going all out for my newest cousin.
Disney Studios in Burbank has this fantastic deal where you get to view The Princess and The Frog on the ABC lot and then meet and greet with all of the Disney princesses in a gigantic play room complete with Xbox and carnival games, cupcakes and an in-house artist detailing how he sketched a character from the film.
The fam decided to take my cousin Kristi and a group of other girls for her birthday. It was tons of fun, despite Kristi’s constant shouts of “hi Kiki” throughout the movie, and I totally forgot how much the sight of Belle use to make me want to puke. Sunday night, I was a little girl again and it was lovely. I tried to channel the little girl who once knew all the words to The Little Mermaid when I saw The Princess and The Frog on Sunday.
I’ve been looking forward to seeing this movie from the moment I heard Disney finally decided to create a black princess. Though I must say I’ve been a bit annoyed by all of the criticism the film has garnered, especially before people even see it. It’s not that I don’t understand the criticism (I get why some of y’all would be upset that the first black princess is a frog for most of the movie, and I’m all for black love) but sometimes I wish adults would calm down and shut the hell up. What kind of message are we really sending by harping on the fact that Tiana’s love interest isn’t black? It sorta goes against the love and friendship doesn’t have any color mantra we should be teaching these kids. Plus, I don’t remember crabby big people telling me that Disney movies gave false notions of love when I was five, and I’m glad they didn’t. They let me be a young girl when I was a young girl and taught me pivitol life lessons through real life situations, not cartoons or television, as I got older.
*hops off soapbox*
The kid in me loved The Princess and the Frog. It’s vibrant; the colors pop off the screen and the characters and backdrops look absolutely stunning. It all made me want to grab a coloring book , my mini OG Crayola 100 plus crayon case, and try to recreate the images I saw onscreen like I use to do when I was younger (best believe I was a coloring BEAST!). The film stays away from the edgier, modern animation and so the movie actually looks like the classic Disney hits from the 90s. Read more
I’ve been meaning to share these guys with y’all for awhile now. This episode along with five others were directed by our blogger pal Issa-Rae and they are quite hilarious.
The Fly Guys talk about relationships, women, and music in the way I imagine a lot of men do behind doors. Except they’re a lot funnier than your average Joe and it’s hard to figure out if they’re entirely serious which is a plus for them.
I’ve been approached by men with some pathetic lines so I know these type of dudes exist for real. In this video DJB says to a woman: eh girl, if you like what I’m sayin’ don’t respond to what I’m sayin. Reminds me of the time a guy asked me if I graduated from USC while he pointed to the alumni plates on the car he knew was mine.
My youngest cousin celebrated her second birthday on Sunday and my Aunt decided to do what my mother did to me when I was younger - subject her only girl to hundreds of Disney images till one day that girl gets sick of all things pink and under the sea. 