In 2008, do you notice interracial couples.....

I do not pay attention to who people are dating/marrying like most I guess. I was at someone's blog and they mentioned that they were tired of all the talk about this and that in regards to interrracial relationships,etc,. Which made me wonder...do you notice when a couple is interracial? It's so common these days, I don't see how someone could honestly have time to spot folks...especially in DC/MD/VA.

WTF

So this pass weekend I had a relative visit, he was here for business but we hung out a bit too. On Sunday, I pick him up from his the hotel after his check out, he plops down in my car and begins to tell me about his morning farewell meeting...

The morning meeting was full of fluffed power point presentations, the last one was by far the most memorable. My cousin proceeds to tell me that he was actually featured...check this. So this executive in the org, with whom my cousin had never met, gives a presentation, as part of this feature, he focuses on celebrity look-a-likes in the company.....I know you know what's coming.

He compares one of my cousin's coworkers to Joe Pesci...ok not so bad, and he compares my cousin, whom again he has never met.....or spoken with, on any level, to .......THE PREDATOR. Now mind you my cousin is one of two black guys in the company that has dreads....I suppose that's where he was going, to make matters WORST, he zooms in...yes ZOOMS in on my cousin's teeth, and zooms in on the predators teeth to poke further fun. The entire time my cousin is dumbfounded....hurt, and confused. He said he had absolutely no idea what to do, the room was full of awkward, nervous laughter. So now my cousin turns to me for advice, and honestly I can think of situations in Corporate America, where I've encountered ambiguous comments that made me uncomfortable, but this, this is different. I told him to think long and hard. I think if that were me, I would have to speak with HR....and find out next steps. What that guy did was wrong, but at the same time, he's an upper executive in the company, who can has way more leverage than my cousin. So he's in a catch 22, he likes the job, but was upset with the comparative analysis. I feel like it was dead wrong, but this guy is obviously stupid, and he won't change, some people just have no idea about what could possibly be perceived as racial discrimination, or just plain ole offensive behavior.

I think as a black person we are just different from any other race in terms of what we deal with on a daily basis, I will say that I think "middle eastern" people are being exposed for the first time (not counting the historical cast system in their own society) in America to how we might feel. We have in the past been compared to monkeys,apes, black face clowns with big red lips, the Aunt Jemima pics,I could go on and on, but that's something that the rest of the world should be mindful of, I know that some folks will read this and think oh no biggie, b/c they don't know how it feels. What say you, how would you handle this ....

Let's talk about RACE....

Are black folks too racially sensitive? On that same note, do white folks have a tendency to be racially insensitive? Please state your opinion on both and why you feel the way you do?

When you see a person do you "notice" that they are of a particular race? Like if you got a new job, would you "notice" that your boss was Japanese as opposed to the traditional "white man/woman" we are accustomed to seeing in a c-level posisition Do you yourself feel "uncomfortable" in a situation where you are the only race in the room? What goes through your mind?

I love this blog LOL.....there is one for every race..

http://stuffeducatedblackpeoplelike.wordpress.com/2008/02/28/natural-hair/

Let's Keep It Real - RANT WARNING -FOUL FOUL...read at your own risk

I"m so damn sick of hearing about politics/politicians, every time I turn on the idiot box....I'm sick, sick, sick of it. I'm sick of hearing about Rev.Wright/Obama, I'm sick of hearing about Hillary/Obama...sick of McCain and the fact that he has no damn clue about WTF is going on in IRAQ, I'm sick of black folks acting like the black church has never said rude, racist things about white folks, after all the black church has historically been a place where black slaves found solace during slavery, damn right animosity has carried over for years and years, and yes I realize that that's WAY over, but no one is asking Jewish folks to deny the Holocaust - fug, slavery was a bit of a damn setback, don't you think?

Wake the fug up people! Additionally, I'm sick of hearing folks acting all surprised about the BS said in the black church, they know about our bullshit, just like we know about their bullshit, we know damn well that most (NOT ALL) of them are not comfortable with really having a "black" president... can we please, please, please stop pretending like we don't live in one of the most racist countries in the world....can we please stop acting like we as in black AND white....brown, green, yellow, flamingo pink don't stereotype people based all types of bullshit.

Blacks, Whites, Indians, Asians discriminate against one other based on all types of BS, namely, skin color, hair, economic status, heritage, culture, I could go on an on. Let's face it, you aren't going to see the Jerry Springer types hanging out in the Hamptons....no...you just freggin won't, do you know why? BECAUSE they have NOTHING in common...not one thing.....well maybe one, we are all human, humans that have enslaved, scalped, raped, abused, molested, killed, helped, loved, hated, we at some point in history have all enslaved one another, whether it was religiously, emotionally, physically, we as humans are GUILTY,GUILTY, GUILTY, so can we please, collectively progress.....can we began to grow as a nation, as a civilization for our sake, for our future's sake, can we stop with the critiques and move on to solutions.

All these things are taught, we have to at some point start with our children...we have to show them that there is a better way to be as a human being......period.

Nigger was probably the last word these guys above heard, which is why I do not use any form of it, nor do I use the word Nigga....and I absolutely hate it when people use it around me, whether they are black, white, pink, green, yellow, it's just not cool, not in a fucking hip hop song, not when someone is cracking a joke, not on the Dave Chappelle show, and not when people are referencing a stupid movie they watched, I don't like the word and frankly it should just die. OK...now that I have that off my chest....I'll explain why I'm a bit irritated.

For starters, I'm tired of hearing about IMUS. Two they keep showing IMUS' face...it's scary, I will probably have nightmares. On a serious note, all this talk about IMUS has caused some very deep seated issues to arise in the Black community, many of which I think about on a daily basis. For instance, I am so sick of turning on my radio and hearing stuff like "whip that trick", " slap that ass ho", quite frankly I don't even listen to the radio much anymore, the new generation of hip-hop is nothing like it was when I was growing up. Old hip hop was about stuff like " I Need Love" and "Friends, How Many of us Have Them".

Now it's full of vulgarity, and ignorance. The hip hop and neo-soul artists that are providing positive messages aren't given ANY air time by the mainstream media and radio. It's sickening to compare the disparity of the awareness positive rap gets against negative. There is a double standard out there, but I don't agree with either side, just like I don't like hearing black people use the word Nigga, Nigger, (insert any form of the freaking word here), I don't like hearing ANYONE use it. No one. If I EVER hear my child use it...it's on.

I am so happy my mother raised me to at least be proud of my "kinky, curly" hair, and I'm also happy she taught me love myself. I remember looking in the mirror as a kid and wanting my nose to be smaller like all the barbies I saw, or wanting my hair to be straight and long like all the BARBIES I saw, thank GOD for acceptance of one's self and having a mother smart enough to educate me about race. This is why musicians have to be more responsible, art imitates life as we all know, and our kids are listening to the garbage on the radio.

IMUS is a fool but why are we now freaking out because some old white dude called some absolutely undeserving sisters "nappy headed hos", we should have been freaking out a long damn time ago when we flipped the radio switch. Take a deep breath peeps, cause Hip Hop is on life support folks.

My mom was a sociology major in the 70's so you can only imagine that I grew up in an interesting household. I'm proud to have friends from all different backgrounds, I'm thankful that I'm not in some box and everyone I know looks just like me, or I am one of those folks who says stuff like I have (ONE) Caucasian friend.....or Hispanic friend....in my case i have all kinds of friends. So I said all that to say, I hope this world continues to transcend above ignorant folks like DON IMUS. I’m out folks, happy FRIDAY!!!