The Black Church Doesn't Speak For Me!

Recently, I had a spirited debate with a few friends on Facebook about the LGBT community and the black church. My arguments about the issue are:

• I didn’t appreciate the attention and the singling out of the black church for their views on homosexuality whereas the Catholic Church and white Christians aren’t nearly getting the same treatment. Or at least they are not being labeled as backwards primitive religious nuts.
• LGBT issues while important pale in comparison to more serious issues happening the black community such as employment, single motherhood, healthcare and education all of which has serious detrimental effects in our community if left uncheck.
• As in the previous post “The Black/LGBTQ Divide, I don’t like the comparison of black civil rights to the LGBTQ rights because despite the right for equality, it’s one thing to fight for the right to marry but another thing entirely to fight for your humanity.
• The black church has a right to their opinion and they don’t have to agree with or support LGBTQ rights just like their white counterparts. You can’t legislate a person’s views and opinions about anything, but you can create laws designed to help marginalized persons obtain their civil rights. 

I also went on to argue there is a big difference between tolerance and acceptance as it relate to moral and ethical issues in our society.

Tolerance- I tolerate many things in my life that I personally don’t agree with and I do mean a lot. While I may not agree with it, it’s not my business and I don’t have to accept or integrate those lifestyles in my own life.

Acceptance- Acceptance is (in my opinion) a person who is more accepting of choices and decisions of others and don’t care one way or another.

Yeah, it might sound the same but it isn’t. Truth, we live in a world where people barely ‘put up’ with each other, like it or not.  

The debate had me thinking about some things that I should have thought about before. 

• Since when has the black church become the official ‘spokesperson’ of the black community?
• Since when has the black community evolved into one monolith collective consciousness?   
• Since when has anyone (the mainstream) started caring about what the black church thinks anyway?

First, the whole LGBTQ debate has been entirely overblown in the first place. It really bugs me when folks think they can pass judgment on other people and care so much about what transpires in another person’s bedroom, but really irritates me about this whole mess is this:

• Why hasn’t the mainstream come to ask our opinion about other issues such as the economy? Surely, black folks care about that too.
• Why cover solely on Christian blacks who they know don’t agree with homosexuality? It seems almost suspect to me.

Folks love to say blacks are religious which I believe to be true, but ‘religious’ can mean so many different things. I am spiritual, but don’t attend church whereas my parents do. There are black folks who are Muslims, Buddhist, Jewish and whatever else is out there.

Not to mention, when it comes to LGBTQ rights there is a generational divide, younger blacks don’t really care as much as their parents about a person’s sexuality.

I don’t know about you but I don’t want the black church or any religion or leader speaking for me.  I can speak for myself.

The black church needs to do itself a favor and stay out of the debate of LGBTQ rights because it’s not moral issue.

It’s a civil rights issue. These people are taxpaying, American citizens who have every right under the sun to get marry and raise families.

LGBT persons aren’t the ones trampling on the sanity of marriage. Straights folks got that one.

Until Next Posting. 

Obama Supporting Same-Sex Marriage? Don't Buy The Hype!

Recently, President Obama publicly announced his support of same-sex marriage setting the Facebook and Twitter worlds ablaze.

Somehow, folks truly believed Obama was being sincere in his efforts to battle discrimination for LGTBQ persons.

While I like the President and will be voting for him again this year and support gay rights despite some of my reservations, I truly don’t think the President’s personal position has changed about same-sex marriage.

To put it bluntly, its election year, President Obama need votes and will be doing everything he can to win the support of the LGBTQ as well as the Hispanic communities both of whom have been rather ‘cool’ to him.

I am going to be truthful; same-sex marriage isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

While a growing number of people support same-sex marriage, we need to understand that supporting same-sex marriage doesn’t mean that these same people will actually vote to make it a reality.

As with racism, there are folks who don’t like to think of themselves as prejudice or even bigoted in their beliefs. So instead of telling the truth about how they really feel, they lie because they want to be seem as progressive.

And that doesn’t help anyone.

It’s amusing to me to see my friends on Facebook comment about their support for same-sex marriage and their hopes that this will bring about equality for LGBTQ persons.

It’s not.

Obama’s stance on same-sex marriage is actually going to hurt him in the long run. And here’s why:

African Americans- As I wrote in my previous article, Black and LGBTQ Divide, black America has never been fond of the LBGTQ community. Preferring a, “it’s your business but leave me out of it” attitude, black America isn’t going to come out in droves to vote on a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. Since Christianity is high in the black community, this could turn away many voters who feel the President’s agenda is too liberal for them.

Hispanic Americans- Just like with African Americans, Hispanic Americans are socially conservative and equally as religious. The Hispanic community already has a love/hate relationship with Obama, as they believe he doesn’t focus enough on their needs especially when it comes to immigration. Again, Obama’s same-sex marriage stance is going to leave more Hispanic Americans flocking to Republicans.

LBGTQ Americans- This might seem counterproductive, however, LBGTQ people should see this as a mere political ploy and not really the actual personal reflections of the man himself. President Obama doesn’t want to see two men or two women getting married, but he does want to see himself in office next year. Don’t be fooled!

Let’s be honest, most Americans are not concerned about same-sex marriage as they are about the economy, job creation, fixing the educational/healthcare system.

Obama should have waited until he was re-elected into office and had another four years before using this card because by doing this now he is going to lose plenty of voters.

It will be interesting to see how this is going to play out or if his attention and so-called passion will fade over time.

Until Next Posting.

Poverty- Rent or Food?

Over the last few days, I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from those who saw my Rent or Food video. For those who haven’t seen it yet, please go to the Videos/Multimedia page and see it.

Folks seem to want to know why I chose to do a video on such a topic.

Well to start, my teacher told us to do a Public Service Announcement about anything we felt passionate about and can depict accurately.  I chose this subject because I really wanted to convey how such a ‘simple’ choice truly isn’t so simple and how people everyday across America are faced with having to make these choices all the time.  

In the video, I don’t give an easy answer, I don’t tell the viewer what the people are going to do or even what becomes of them. As a writer, I love ambiguity; I didn’t even give a name of a website or focused on a specific issue.

Simply put, the video is just a brief glimpse into the lives of a struggling family.

Aside from doing it for a class project, I also did it because of my personal connection with the subject matter.

Struggling with unemployment (despite getting unemployment benefits) and with the rising costs of rent, food, gas and utilities, I find myself mulling over choices that were once simple, rent or food? Do I put food in the house? Should I pay half on the rent? Skip a payment on the electric bill?

Each decision has consequences either way.

While my situation isn’t nearly as dire as the couple depicted in the video (kudos to my brother and friend who agree to take part), it isn’t ideal either.

To add fuel to the fire, our society has gone out of its way to criminalizing poverty and depicting poor people as lazy bums who don’t deserve help.

It’s even more frustrating because many of those people never lived a life of hardship or believe that getting out of poverty is as easy as walking around the block.

Folks, especially those who have never been in this situation refuse to believe that this is happening everyday in America.

Children are sent to bed without food because their parents have to pay the rent. Families forced to live on budgets so tight you wonder how they make it at all.

It’s a harsh reality of the growing divide between the rich and poor.

I know I don’t have all the answers and the situation is as complicated as it is bleak, but if something isn’t done, it’s only going to get worst.

And more families will have to make the choice between rent or food.

Until Next Posting.

Poverty in America Part 1

The start of my series on poverty. 


I decided to show this video clip about poverty in America and the affect it has on children. Check out my own- PSA-Rent or Food. To watch that just click on the 'Videos/Multimedia' link at the top. 

I also wanted to share this clip from one of my favorite comedians, the legend, George Carlin about the state of America. 

Until Next Posting. 

The Black/LGBT Divide

This topic has been in the making for sometime but I wanted to make sure I was certain in both my argument and my reasoning before presenting. 

While I don’t believe I need to clarify my support for the LGBT community, let me again make my position clear, I support the LBGT community.

Besides, homophobia is COUNTER PRODUCTIVE for African Americans, Asian Americans, Latino Americans and any other group in-between.

Now over the years since the LGBT movement has been gaining traction in the mainstream many people have asked the same questions as to why there is so much anti-homophobia in the black community.

Now to be fair there seems to be anti-homophobia in all communities, but since people love dwelling on the inter-workings of the black community and because I am a black woman and know only my own culture/people, I will stick just to black folks.

Now here are my thoughts why there is such a rift in between the black and LGBT community. 

African American vs. the White LGBT Community

First, its important to make the distinction that not the entire LGBT community is at blame, truthfully, its coming from the white LGBT community.

To put it simple, while white LGBT people face discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation, what they fail to understand is that they ARE STILL WHITE PEOPLE. And yes, they still fall prey to the racist and limited assumptions of blacks and other minorities.

My biggest (and many of African Americans) beef with the white LGBT community is how they have managed to highjack the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s and try to claim it as their own.

Let’s be real, The Civil Rights Movement is a predominately an African American led effort to address the issues facing the black community and the white LGBT attempts to lay claim to something that nothing to do with them, gives a bad taste in my mouth. 

LGBT issues had nothing to do with The Civil Rights Movement.

So if I hear ‘Gay is the new black’ again, I might explode.

Gay is NOT the new black!  Never has and never will be.

Sorry but when I:

• Walk into a store
• Go in for an interview
• Apply for a loan
• Walk into a building

And have to deal with people’s bullshit, trust me; it is NOT because people think I might be a lesbian. My black skin speaks louder than any words. Hell even LGBT people of color respect and understand that.

No one knows your sexuality unless you address it, but EVERYONE can see black.

Trayvon Martin (and countless other black men) wasn’t shot and killed because George Zimmerman (and those like him) thought he (they) were gay. Think about it.

Again this is white privilege- “If I have a problem with discrimination then it needs to be address at all costs. Nevermind the fact that peoples of various races have been discriminated against for hundreds of years or that my white skin still protects me from the systemic racism that prevents many black/brown people from achieving success.” 

By trying to claim a people’s history and suffering and using it for your own gain, the white LGBT community once again fails at understanding why they are left at the altar of social justice alone.  

Lack of Cultural Understanding

From what I see, liberal white LBGT communities (and white hetero liberals) really are disconnected from the culture of the African American community but yet feel they have the right to interject and force their ideas and opinions.

That isn’t going to work.

How would you feel if someone walks into your home and start telling you what to do?

The LBGT community complains of the hold the church has in the black community without brothering themselves to understand the importance and history of the black church.

While I myself have personal issues with organized religion, I can’t deny the importance the church has had in stabilizing, supporting and uplifting the black community through decades of slavery, Jim Crow and the new Jim Crow.

The black church has proven to be a refuge from the racism and hate of American society and black people are very protective of their communities, their church and their faith.

By going in and talking down to them because of their faith or trying to make them feel less than for having a faith isn’t going to do much to help the cause.

White Liberalism Isn't Our Reality 

I know this first hand from living in Madison, WI, that white people’s ideas of liberalism and what people of color consider liberalism are on two totally different worlds.

It seems to white people liberalism is okay so long as it doesn’t come at a personal price to them.

Examples:

• Equal Housing- Nice. So long as they don’t actually have to live next door to anyone of color
• Education- Fine. So long as people of color don’t ‘steal’ any seats that should have went to white students. (How does this work?)
• Jobs- Cool. So long as I don’t lose my job to some affirmative action underserving colored person.

Get my point?

White LBGT Persons Vs. Non-White LBGT Persons 

YES! There is a division between white LBGT persons and their non-white counterparts, due to the extreme lack of understanding of cultural differences by white LBGT, people of color LBGT find themselves isolated and frustrated.

There are differences between the two groups.

LBGT Persons of color are more likely:

• Find themselves isolated, as they are apart of cultures that might not be as open to homosexuality as the ‘mainstream’
• Less support from their peers and families
• Suffer from the dual burden of being a minority and being gay

Personally, white LBGT persons would do themselves a great service if they collaborated more with their diverse counterparts and LBGT persons of color could serve as ambassadors in their own respective communities to raise awareness.

Because the white approach isn’t working and is doing more harm than good.

I love to see a black gay man or woman talking to other blacks about his/her dual identity and work to build bridges because THEY WILL BE coming into the discussion with a clear cultural understanding.

I know this is going to provoke much discussion, but I stand by my argument.  Until white people regardless of their sexuality understand their white privilege, stop trying to culturally suppress and assimilating and stop believing their issues trumps that of anyone else’s then nothing is going to happen in the fight for equal rights for the LBGT community.

Until Next Posting.

But Is It Racist?

Until a few days ago, no one had heard about Afro-Swedish artist, Makode Linde but now he is getting a lot of attention and for the wrong reasons.

Recently, Linde has been making headlines across the world of social media because of his decision to evoke an artistic viewpoint on serious subject. Female Genital Mutilation or FGM, a cultural practice in parts of Africa and the Middle East where young women and girls have their genitals cut and vagina mutilated in an attempt to curb ‘sexual behavior’.

It is a barbaric practice and I don’t use that word often or carelessly.

At the event, hosted by the Swedish Cultural Minister to bring attention to FGM practices, Linde turned himself into a cake (representing an exaggerated/racist African woman), screamed, and wailed as people cut into him.

That was the gist of what happen.

And it pissed a lot of people off.

Surprisingly, I wasn’t pissed just confused and disappointed at least at first until I decided not to call it racist and dismiss it at that and look into a deeper meaning of what the artist might have meant.

Sounds crazy, I know.

Here is what I think the image evokes:

• By using a racist image of black women as a primitive sub-human creature reflects how white society has treated/viewed blacks over throughout history
• The artist crying and wailing as the cake is being cut could show her humanity and illicit sympathy from the whites who cut into her
• The fact that the cake is being cut by white people could also show how whites have taken, dominated and mutilated Africa itself thereby placing FGM in the larger context of the Africa’s problems at the hands of the West

This is just my theory; however, I also understand the other side of the argument:

• By evoking such an image the viewer is unable to sympathize with the plight of poor African women because they do not see them as humans worthy of their humanity- which undermines the efforts to highlight the problems of FGM
• Using blackface (already such an powerful image) distracts from the issues and many people (especially many white people) don’t know the history of blackface enough to be able to understand its racist and offensive history

Or perhaps the artist understands that and used blackface to point out just how little white society truly understand about our history and that by learning black/African history from an non-Eurocentric approach would go a long way in improving race relations.

Just my thoughts anyway.

Personally, I believe things must be placed in context before using such images to prove a point, however, I also don’t think every little thing is racist either.

I wish the artists thought more about the larger implications of using such imagery because now the blackface and the racism that comes with it has completely overshadowed what the true purpose of the art was about.

The image the smiling white people also undermines the art (as to me and many people)  it reflects white privilege and how that privilege numbs them to actually understanding the deeper meaning of the work and why the artist might have chosen to go that route in the first place.

Now folks want the culture minster to quit and want Linde’s head all without realizing this is a teaching moment, a chance to educate the white Swedish population the history of these images what they mean, and how they might provoke and resentment anger among blacks.

By demanding someone lose their job and getting all upset does nothing to achieve the larger goal, which is to educate.

Until Next Posting.

Here is the article on Colorlines.

Here is information of FGM. 

Mixed Feelings About Zimmerman's Arrest

After a whirlwind of media attention, public outcry and folks claims of ‘growing racial tensions’ (as if racial tensions in America is something new), today charges were filed against George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch captain who shoot and killed Trayvon Martin.

To be honest, I have mixed feelings about this; on one hand, I am relieved justice has been finally served in some capacity, but another part of me, feels like black people were merely given a pacifier to shut us up.  Not to mention the nagging feeling I get that if wasn’t for activists forcing the mainstream to take notice, Zimmerman would not have been charged in the first place.

It would be laughable if it weren’t infuriating to see charges filed 45 DAYS AFTER MARTIN WAS SHOOT AND KILLED! Martin an unarmed young man and who (despite what conservatives tried to depict him as having) DID NOT HAVE A CRIMINAL BACKGROUND unlike Zimmerman.

Let me say that again, 45 DAYS!

45 days of Zimmerman free and walking about while Martin’s parents dealt with the tragic death of their son.

To add insult to injury Zimmerman even was able to set up a website to solicit donations and support. Hmm, I wonder if Martin would have been able to do the same thing if the roles were reverse.

I guess what I am really trying to say is how in America, a country that likes to call attention to the atrocities happening in the Middle East and other parts of the world, keeps letting this crap happen.

How can I proudly claim my American identity (since people love to bark about blacks and other minorities using such terms like African American or Asian American) and know that if something happens to either me, my brother or someone else I know and love that justice won’t be served?

Another question;

Why did it even have to go this far, to get something as simple as an arrest?

I truly believe America is a powder keg just waiting to explode.

And when it does, that is when the real test of American strength and endurance begins.

In the meantime, all of this reminds me of a great scene from the HBO movie The Tuskegee Airmen. Watch it and let me know what you think.

Until Next Positing.