Black Santas Matter

When NBC decided to take on The Wiz as its latest live production….Twitter went into a firestorm.

And that firestorm was people sounding off  (who clearly didn’t know what they were talking about) questioning the so called "audacity" of NBC to remake a classic –referring to The Wizard of Oz.

One tweet that stuck out : “ how come there were no white actors in this?”

All the uproar but I guess those same people somehow didn’t see the cast of The Wizard of Oz?

Or hell mostly any TV sitcom on right now.

Have those same critics been in the store this holiday season trying to buy their daughter a Barbie that looks like them?

Being the majority you don’t take those type of challenges into consideration.

Which is why a Black Santa Clause is a pretty big deal.

I remember growing up, the only Santa Clauses in our house… were the same color of my mother – dark brown.

The white angel on top of the tree was even doctored up and painted brown.

That may sound petty but now I see why my mother did it.

We used to only go to Swifton Commons Mall to take pictures with the black Santa…whose sack wasn’t a bright red, but instead a multicolored kente cloth.

Swifton Commons of course came and went…and so did the black Santa.

By the time I had children, I couldn’t find a black Santa.

So when Macy’s offered opportunities to take pictures with their African American Santa…for FREE this was a big deal.

Its important for your children to see people that look like them.

Being a majority, you don’t have that problem because well – you’re the majority.

This year, I was prepared for my kids to have their pictures with Santa… just days before, they took pictures with the other Santa (not my choice) so I knew they wouldn’t be scared this time.

When we approached him, my daughter seemed cautious.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I don’t wanna take a picture with him,” she whispered.

“Are you sure, I have hats for you to wear like Santa,” I tried my best to convince her.

“I don’t want to. That’s not Santa. Santa is white,” she argued.

My heart jumped.

I wanted to instantly interrogate her and ask who the hell told you that.

But it was pointless.

Society told her Santa is white.

Society told her to be afraid of a Santa who has the same skin color has her. The same skin color as her brother, her father, her grandfather.

I was devastated.

My son not knowing what was brewing between me and his sister willingly took his picture.

We moved along so other brown children could see a Santa that looked like them.

I just wonder how a white parent would feel had their child been afraid of a white Santa and said Santa was really black?

Now do people see why black Santas are important?

Do they see why black Barbies are needed?

Do they see why diversity is so important?

I just took my daughter to see her first ballet – The Nutcracker.

 She was mesmerized – seeing ballerinas in real life. It was a little girl’s dream come true.

But one thing was missing. Ballerinas that looked like her.

“Are ballerinas only white?”

Yes.

Well no.

Well kinda.

The ballerinas we saw that night – were all white. But not only whites can be ballerinas.

We came home and looked up Misty Copeland on Youtube to see a ballerina that looked like her.

But she still wasn’t really buying me on the Santa part.

And then later, I told her Santa isn’t real.

Get it Right

The social network post that started it all…

 

My face at work as I hear police being called for a large unruly crowd b/c "some shoes came out today" and somebody done got arrested. We still doing all that for Js? I hope Jordan gon bail y'all out. Oh wait. He don't care that's why his shoes keep going up in price

So apparently that post didn’t sit well with some folks who called me out for “judging” others. First off, one of my BIGGEST pet peeves is for someone to go out of their way to zero in on your page all to be a negative dick. You don’t like what I posted so ummm why are you on this page? How many users are there online? You can’t find one person’s post you actually agree with?

Ok. Now back to the original post at hand. Now apparently I was being judgmental for not feeling that police should be called for an unruly crowd of people wanting to rock the newest pair of Js.

At first, I thought it was some white lady afraid of black people and the sight of a bunch of black people outside a store in a huge crowd was all too much for her pale little heart to cope with.

 But no, it was the store manager calling.

 Now wait a minute folks, Jordan has been dropping his $150+ shoes damn near every weekend for how long? And how many stories have we heard of fights breaking out, people getting robbed, killed all over some damn shoes?

Maybe it’s time that the black community starts judging its people. We need to start holding each other accountable and believing in one another. Don’t say well “they don’t know any better.” That’s a lame sorry excuse that doesn’t even work for children when they reach a certain age.

 

We should know and be better.

But as long as we claim to not judge or stay screaming “only God can judge me,” then we will forever be behind.

Why is it okay to be arrested all in the name of some 23s? I’ll admit I used to be out there with the masses, huddled up in the winter and baking in the summer just so I could say “I got them Js today.”

But then I got wiser and I also learned what it was like to have to pay bills. All of sudden spending a buck fifty on some shoes didn’t seem all that appealing – not when rent is due – not when I gotta go buy some groceries.

So my Facebook dissenter proceeded to call me an Uncle Tom and claim I didn’t like being black all because I’m calling my people out for acting a fool outside the shoe store.

So let’s get this straight (as if I really need to) I love my people – which is why I’m even in the news business. I’m tired of our young black men (and women now too) being posted on TV for the most trivial things. A mother who left her kids in the car for 20 minutes while she went in to check on a client of hers is not worth the 20 seconds of air time.

But a shooting right outside of a youth club is worth the air time. And my hopes are that while someone at home is watching we begin to hold each other accountable.

Why do these men constantly think it’s okay to let bullets fly within feet of an innocent bystander?

Maybe it’s because no one was judging when that would-be trigger man was doing something deemed minor years before he picked up the gun…Maybe people were giving excuses on how he “didn’t know any better.”

I’m not condemning anyone from going to get Jordan’s on a Saturday morning. If you can afford it—then more power to you. In fact, I’m somewhat envious of you because I can’t.

But let’s get it right; being able to afford some $150+ shoes means you can also afford your rent, food, utilities, car payments, daycare expenses and any other life essential as well.

So to my Facebook dissenter, you are mistaken.

I love my people that much that I will judge and I will call some shit out if I don’t like it.

Not because I think I’m any better than the next, but because I know that we as a people should be doing better and we will do better.

P.S. It took everything in me not to go in, but as I said we can do better. So I refrained myself as much as I possibly could. And just to show how polished I am, I decided not to name this guy, see below.

 

 

Is My Son Next? What The Zimmerman Verdict Really Means For Black America

         There used to be a time when black parents had to teach their children to look down when a white person spoke to them and definitely not talk back. And while we think we’ve came a long way from that… the case of Trayvon Martin proves otherwise.

          There are actually people who believe this case had nothing to do with race because it involves two so-called “minorities.” Why is it that up until this case did George Zimmerman allegedly refer to himself as white?

           But let’s ignore that.
           Let’s focus on how the country is responding to this all. There are actually people who feel Trayvon was in the wrong. Zimmerman’s defense attorney himself, said Trayvon had time to run… but he didn’t. O’Mara also added that Trayvon was not just a kid with a bag of skittles…
            And he’s right. Trayvon has now become a symbol of race relations in America. Here we are in 2013 once again debating this entire thing.
           As a parent, what’s scary to me is that I feel like the parents from earlier times. Those times when a mother cautiously warned her children not to “sass white folks” – that’s the era my grandmother lived in. But yet – it seems we are still living in that era and don’t know it.
            Working in the news media, you clearly see the ugly truth that’s out there. Racism is alive and well. People continuously call newsrooms airing out their racist feelings – never knowing they’re speaking with a black woman. And it takes everything in me not to lash out. Even co-workers feel this case is “no big deal.” And that’s why I’m in the field I am in – to be a voice for my own people.
           Many have used the Zimmerman trial to point out the problem of black-on-black crime however let’s be real. If a black man shoots and kills another black man and that shooter is found – he is more than likely found guilty and sentenced to years if not life in prison.
            Hell, black men are given close to life sentences for street robberies. I have personally seen black men go through the wheels of justice here in the U.S. However, they are never judged by a jury of their peers. Jury members judging us cannot relate to the lives we live in America. They don’t know what it’s like to have their lives seen as nothing.
         As a mother, I am expected to teach my children how to navigate this world and survive. And as a mother of a black male, I feel his teachings will be a little more in depth. I feel I have to teach him certain measures so that his life is not seen as trivial.
        But how do I adequately teach him that? More importantly how do I teach the world that?
       There is already disdain and non-trust for the police in the black community, but that hasn't kept our black men alive. Our black men are now scared to live. In fact, a friend of mine says she has taught her young son to fear not only police but white people in general.
         Her reasoning is that they do not value a black man’s life, so he has to do all he can to stay alive.
         It’s true but it’s also true bullshit.
        Black men are an endangered species and they are constantly denied their inalienable rights.
        "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," was never a phrase meant for us.
        The verdict in this case was definitely a wake up call to Black America. It was as if they were putting us back in our place.
        We were getting out of line. We got us a black man in the White House, thought “everything is all good now”.
        We were content – thinking we were on their level. That we finally made it.
         Fuck what Drake talking about, we still at the bottom. We’re still at the bottom trying to scramble and climb our way to the top.
        At the top of that climb is of course – real equality. Not this fake shit we’ve been living. At least back in the day, it was blatant and out in the open that we were not liked or wanted.
       Now their hatred for us is done in more subtle ways.

• Denying our men jobs so that they can’t take care of their families
• Purposefully leaving us out of promotions/better opportunities in the workplace
• Enacting laws that specifically target us

      And even when their hatred is put on full display for the whole world to see -- in the form of a grown man gunning down a child -- America blames us.      
       "It was self-defense"
       "Trayvon was the aggressor:"
       It’s amazing that a 17-year-old child can be blamed for his own death after being

gunned down. I don’t care how tall he was—he was and will always be a child.

Trayvon never got to vote, never graduated.

He died as a child.

And as a mother of a black male, I wonder could my son be next?

           

           

Black Woman, You Can Cry...

When we think of black women, one word often comes to mind. Strong.

From day one, we’re taught to be proud. We’re taught to be determined. We’re taught to be strong.

But no one taught us how to cry and laughing was also skipped over.

My grandmother used to have a saying when we were too loud or being too silly.

“Girls are to be seen, not heard.”

(Then she changed the “girls” to “kids” so this may really been her way to get kids to shut the hell up.)

But growing up how many of us have been scorned for acting too silly? What goes for black kids definitely did not go for white kids. They could play in the stores. It was deemed “cute.” Black kids playing in the store are terrors.

Historically, black women couldn’t cry nor laugh. Our families were being ripped from us and we had to be strong—strong for the family we still had left.

And now that hardness is still prevalent in black women of today.

We don’t believe love is for us. We don’t need a man because majority of the men we’ve dealt with have done us wrong.

Plus thugs don’t cry. Right?

Bullshit.

Every girl has cried over her first crush. You know the story. You like the cutest boy in the class but for some reason he never notices you or if he did it wasn’t the happily ever after fairytale you thought it would be.

Nonetheless, most black women seem to forget those tears in their adult years.

Look at the Facebook statuses…

“Fuck niggas. I’m getting money.”

“Never do I need a man for anything. I’m solo for life.”

“All I need in this world is me and my kids.”

This should be a serious wake-up call for not only black men but black women, too. There’s a culture of disdain among black women of today. Hate. Non-love.

This isn’t about the stereotypical “mad, neck-rolling black woman.” We’ve already attacked and destroyed that image.

This is the “I’m too hard to cry—too hard to love black woman.”

Black women, if you’re in love, it’s OK. Why is love not for us? Why is every other woman in the world worthy of love but we’re not?

Because of the undying strength and dedication we show, we deserve love and should crave it.

How sad is it to know there really are people in the world who do not know what it feels like to be loved.

Don’t let a false image get in the way of happiness.

You’re a woman. You like flowers. You like nice things. You like to be held. You like soft kisses on your forehead.

It’s OK.

You want to be loved.

Love really does conquer all.

What I Really Think of Kim & Kanye

It’s the classic tell-tale sign that white is still seen as right in the black community’s eyes. We hate to admit it but we do have a complexion bias.

Long hair is better. Lighter skin is better.

Which is why a woman who seems to have NO morals is sought after like the freshest pick from a fall harvest.

Kim Kardashian was only made famous when something that’s private and intimate for most people without three Xs as a last name was made public. The infamous sex tape with Ray J.

As a Kanye West fan I’m disappointed. When he hit the music scene he had a gorgeous black girl but somewhere along the journey she was dropped.

Then he made a no name stripper into a celebrity. Would Amber Rose have been chosen if she had a darker tint?

Now Kim Kardashian is Kanye West’s newest girl. But there’s nothing new about her.

We’ve seen Kimmy’s cakes and all her goods. Most men not looking for a serious relationship would drop a woman once he gets those goods.

Thanks to Ray J, pretty much every man in America has at least somewhat an idea of what Kim is like in the bedroom.

But yet she’s still a hot commodity.

Are we going to ignore the fact that she is essentially the whore of the entertainment industry?

Nevermind the sex tape.

Nevermind the multiple failed relationships.

Nevermind the two failed marriages—one that didn’t even last a full year.

While she’s not a white woman, she’s not black and it’s unnerving that our black men are gawking over this woman.

Don’t take it as hate. She’s a beautiful woman that in my opinion has made bad choices-- all which were done under the public’s watchful eye.

But this is more about black men.

Why is she more worthy of your love than a black woman?

Why is she more likely to turn your head than a black woman?

There are black women who are built just the same if not better, but those women are treated as nothing more than sexual objects.

Kim Kardashian is a renowned goddess.

A black woman with the same track record as Kimmy wouldn’t get the time of day when it comes to being respected. Hell, a woman can be with one man and automatically considered a hoe.

It’s hard to say what has our men so blind to the beautiful, unique, curvaceous women already in their backyards.

Why is it they will break their necks for a non-black woman but won’t even lift a finger for the women that look like their mothers, grandmothers and aunts?

Maybe the men can enlighten me.

Any takers?

Dear Mr. President

Something has been pushing me for awhile to do this, but at first I ignored that inner voice speaking to me. According to the White House's website, tens of thousands of letters are sent to the White House everyday in addition to thousands more emails sent. Each day President Barack Obama reads 10 letters.

So I often asked myself. How would my letter make the cut? What's the point of writing it, if he won't read it?

I decided to write it anyways and post it here. I still plan to mail my letter the old-fashioned way but maybe some cyber eyes will get it to him even faster. I can only hope.

Dear Mr. President:

I hope that this letter finds you well and in good spirits. I am writing to you in response to your American Jobs Act. I want to first congratulate you on the job you’ve been doing for the country and unlike what pundits say, there are still many that still support you. I am one of those people.

While reading through your Jobs Act, there were a number of initiatives I was pleased to see, especially how the measure would affect the black community. I agree with the need for low-income schools to be modernized and updated with newer technology to allow our children to be on the same level as others. The Bridge to Work programs also sound like good ideas.

But there was one thing noticeably missing from your job plans. And it is a problem I feel is plaguing the black community—that is to blame for the disappointingly large unemployment numbers. It’s criminal records.

There’s no secret that the majority of prisoners are black men and whether it be for petty crimes or more serious offenses once these people are released from jail, finding a job is nearly impossible. I have seen this first hand. There are a number of black men that have made mistakes years ago, as young adults but are still unable to find jobs because of their records.

We claim people deserve second chances but employers are not giving them.If you were to glance at today’s job listings, many of them clearly state NO FELONIES.

This is often a huge deterrent to someone actively seeking employment but knowing that nearly every employer will not give them that second chance they so desperately need.

In the end it results in a person, giving up on a search for honest work and turning back to illegal activities and thus the cycle begins. The Jobs Act is missing something that could address this. Construction jobs are great, but they’re not the jobs many in the black community could even qualify for.