HUMOR: Age vs race

HISTORY - Stark color photos of segregation-era U.S. thought lost, rediscovered in photographer’s storage

BY ABRAHAM  /  January 16, 2014

In 1956, photographer Gordon Parks was hired by Life Magazine to follow and document the everyday life of a southern Black family. Twenty of these photos were published in Life’s September issue that year with an article titled “The Restraints: Open and Hidden.”

Of course, Parks snapped many more photos than actually made it to print, but these were thought to be lost. However, in early 2012 the Gordon Parks Foundation was going through several storage boxes and came upon a taped-up paper package labeled, “Segregation Series.” In it they found 70 more color photographs from Parks’ 1956 work.

Here are just a few of the pics, both the published and the rediscovered…

To see more - http://twentytwowords.com/stark-color-photos-of-segregation-era-u-s-thought-lost-rediscovered-in-photographers-storage-10-pics/

MY LIFE - Martin Luther King Jr Day weekend

CULTURE/SOCIETY - Meet Your First Black Girlfriend

CULTURE/SOCIETY - Commentary: Why the Transgender Day of Remembrance Matters to Black People

The African-American transgender community disproportionately faces violence and homicide. 

Since 1998, November 20 has commemorated the International Transgender Day of Remembrance, which memorializes those who have been killed as a result of anti-transgender violence. This day is also aimed at bringing attention to the continued violence endured by the transgender community through out the world.

And while this day may not get the media attention that it deserves, hundreds around the country in places such as New York City, Kansas City, Boise and St. Louis will gather and hold vigils for those whose lives ended way too soon.

And while it’s easy for many of us to ignore this day, we have to face the facts: Violence against the transgender community is most definitely an African-American problem.

http://www.bet.com/news/health/2013/11/19/commentary-why-the-transgender-day-of-remembrance-matters-to-black-people.html

CULTURE/SOCIETY - America's forgotten black cowboys

Like many people, Jim Austin - a college-educated, 45-year-old businessman - hadn't heard about the black presence in the Old West.

The discovery inspired him and his wife Gloria to set up the National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. It pays tribute to some of the forgotten black cowboys - men like Bill Pickett, a champion rodeo rider who invented bulldogging, a technique where he would jump from a horse on to a steer and take the animal down by biting on its lip.

Vincent Jacobs, now 80, battled racism as a rodeo rider in the 1950s

"The kids who are learning history in our schools are not being told the truth about they way the West was," says Austin.

"I bet you nine out of 10 people in this country think that cowboys were all white - as I did.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21768669

ENTERTAINMENT - Memorial Day pics and stuff

CULTURE/SOCIETY - How Blacks And Whites Remember Martin Luther King Jr.

Dyson explores how blacks and whites have shaped their own different images of the late civil rights leader.

Whites, Dyson writes, “want to see Dr. King as peaceful and clawless, while blacks remember him as flawless, even though he had affairs and depression.”

http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2013/01/21/mlk-book-dyson

HISTORY: Iowa's place in school desegregation

http://www.iptv.org/iowastories/detail.cfm/alexander_clark

HISTORY: 17 Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes You Never Hear

While best known for his “I Have a Dream” speech, King's legacy included much more than that.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/hnigatu/17-martin-luther-king-jr-quotes-you-never-hear

HISTORY: 8 Surprising Things You Didn't Know About Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Although King is one of U.S. history's most widely chronicled individuals, there are aspects of his life that are less well-known than the pivotal speeches, the campaigns against Jim Crow city halls from Montgomery in 1955 to Memphis in 1968, and the dalliances that for some, tainted his personal life. King was as complex a figure as exists in our social narrative. He was a man conflicted by his commitment to a movement into which he was drafted against his better judgement and by the overwhelming demands to fulfill the role of human rights spokesperson. He was a husband and father who belonged to a people and a revolution, and the nation's most prominent advocate of nonviolence at a time when violence burned on urban streets, college campuses and in Southeast Asia.

http://www.alternet.org/activism/8-surprising-things-you-didnt-know-about-dr-martin-luther-king-jr

ENTERTAINMENT: Pokèmon is racist?

I knew Pokèmon promoted animal cruelty and abuse, but racism?

MY LIFE: Having A "Hood" Day

Girlfriend's text: "Hope you had a hood day today."
Girlfriend's next text: "Good day. Not hood day. Ugh."
My text: "Yo yo yo. I did have a hood day. Cus I be down like that. Word!"
Girlfriend's text: "YOU ARE NOT BLACK! And per your daughter, you are not black, you are not Eminem! And not allowed to say that!"

MY LIFE: What Year Is It?

This is from me, and NOT some reprinted material. - OlderMusicGeek

“What year is it?”

I look at the young man who walked up to me in the convenience store parking lot.

I almost haltingly come out and say 2010. But then I think he couldn't mean that, could he?

I look at the guy. He doesn't look like a crazed maniac who thinks he's in a Terminator movie.


So I think about it some more.

Is he mocking me? Do I look like I'm stuck in the past. Admittedly, I have long hair, but my outfit is hardly that of a hippie.


I look at the young man again. And that is when I realized that he is looking at the car!

“Oh! It's 1999!”


Funny enough, when I told my ex-wife this story, she said, “Imagine if you had told him 2010.”

“2010! No way!”

“Uh, yeah, sorry it is! We got a black president and everything!”

“What's Obama got to do with anything? It's definitely the late '90's!”

“I'm sorry, but you're over ten years late. I know what year it is!”

“I'm sorry, sir, but I don't think you do!”

And then I can imagine him walking away grumbling about the guy who thinks his old car is brand new.

I read and watch too much science fiction!

CULTURE/SOCIETY: Thank God I Was A Racist

A fellow former Peace Corps volunteer sent me a link to this story.

It's not quite the same experience I had. The country I lived in was next door to South Africa, but had a long history of North American and European volunteers helping them out. So they were used to white people living among them.

But it's similiar enough for me to want to put it here. - OlderMusicGeek

Stories - Allow Rating/Comments Social
Thank God I Was a Racist

February 17, 2009 Hits: 22627 0

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Personal Info

Pen Name

Bruce Muzik

I pulled up to my new home and felt terror in the pit of my stomach. But, I knew I had to go through with this. I saw the same fear in Dad’s eyes. “Are you sure you really want to do this?” he asked. I nodded and got out of the car. Next door, two people sat on empty beer crates, drinking beer, on the otherwise deserted street. I wanted to move into my new home quietly, with time to adjust to my new surroundings. But it was too late. The beer drinkers came over to find out why Dad and I were unloading boxes from my truck.

Another local arrived to watch, and within minutes, twenty-five staring people surrounded us, faces as black as night. One of them, a woman, came forward, “Umlungu (‘white man,’ in the Xhosa tongue), what you doing?”

“I’m moving in,” I told her warily as I pointed toward the dilapidated “shantytown” house that was my home for the next thirty days. I sensed her confusion as she turned to the others and translated what I’d said into Xhosa, their native language. As if in slow motion, the looks upon their faces turned from curiosity to disbelief. The crowd murmured in unison as they grappled with the concept of a white man moving into their black community in the township of Guguletu, the African equivalent of a ghetto or shantytown. Unsure of my real motives, the woman introduced herself to me as Maureen, my new neighbor. “What do you mean you are moving in?” Maureen asked.

I decided to tell the truth, as difficult as it was for me to admit. “I recently discovered that I’m a racist,” I told her boldly, not wanting her to know how terrified I was, “and I’m moving into Guguletu to learn about your culture and conquer my fear of black people.” A look of shock crossed their faces....

Maureen looked visibly shocked to hear my admission of being a racist. She translated to the now-baffled and suspicious locals who, after a few seconds of silence, proceeded to laugh as if this was the funniest joke they had ever heard. I later found out that some of them suspected I was a part of a secret police operation sent to infiltrate and spy on them....

The next morning, I woke up with a familiar feeling growing in the pit of my stomach. The reality of my circumstance sunk in, and I wanted to hide away in bed all day. I forced myself to go outside and eat my breakfast sitting on the front steps of my house. As I watched the locals scurry off to work, a small child, dressed in a school uniform, walked past me. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw me, obviously shocked to see a white face eating breakfast in his township. “Do you live here?” he asked.

“Yes,” I replied.

He looked away, paused for a second, then turned to me and said with wisdom beyond his years “Welcome home.” He turned away and continued his walk to school. Tears rolled down my cheeks as thirty years of racial prejudice evaporated in that instant. I was home...

A link to the complete piece

CULTURE/SOCIETY: Our Hidden Prejudism

This is from me, not reprinted from elsewhere. - OlderMusicGeek.

NPR's Talk Of The Nation had this interesting show about our hidden prejudisms. It was inspired by an article from Scientific American. On their blog for the show, The Blog Of The Nation, they had link to two tests to check your hidden biases.

This is my results of the first test -

Your data suggest a moderate automatic preference for Us compared to Them.

Depending on the magnitude of your result, your automatic associations may be described as 'slight', 'moderate', 'strong', or 'little to no preference'. How implicit associations affect our judgments and behaviors is not well understood and may be influenced by a number of variables. As such, the score should serve as an opportunity for self-reflection, not as a definitive assessment of your implicit thoughts or feelings. This and future research will clarify the way in which implicit thinking and feelings affects our perception, judgment, and action.

A link to The Project Implicit that has the test
I have to admit that I'm embarrassed that it is "moderate" instead of "slight".

I mean I knew I had some prejudisms and bigotry. I mean how can one be in this culture - or any culture - and not have some.

I mean even if we don't talk about the obvious ones, like blacks. I know of some other ones I have. I know I have a tendency to look down on rural people. I look down on poor people even though I'm not that well off - but I grew up in a middle class household. And I have a tendency to think that fundamentalists Christians think in a certain or particular way.

So I guess the more I think about this, the more I think it may be right.


Below are my results of the second test where you decide if someone has a gun and if you should shoot them -

Your Score: 280
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:799.6ms
Black Unarmed:1035.84ms
White Armed:801.2ms
White Unarmed:849.44ms

A link to the test, Shooter Affect

Well, here my racism for all to see. My time for seeing them as armed was equal - yay to me!

Then we see how much longer it took me to decide if a black was unarmed compared to a white - almost 1/4 as long! And I'm the father of a half-black child! Yikes!

Guess I still have a ways to go to take care of my own racism!

A link to The Talk Of The Nation show about our hidden biases
A link to The Blog Of The Nation on our hidden biases
A link to the Scientific American article

ENTERTAINMENT and HUMOR: The Ten Most Melanin-Free Songs of All Time

This is from the Spin magazine web site. And I found it using NetVibes. I did replace some profanity from the original piece. - OlderMusicGeek

Caucasian Invasion
February 8, 2008

Calling your sketch-comedy troupe The Whitest Kids U' Know seems like a good way to get yourselves stereotyped. Done. So we asked the funny fivesome to come up with the ten most melanin-free songs of all time.

"Informer"
Snow
A Canadian rapper who tries to sound Rastafarian, but his Canadian accent keeps getting in the way.
Dear Snow (back in time): Please don't make any more albums.
Dear Snow (present day): Thank you.

"Fire and Rain"
James Taylor
If you listen to James Taylor all day, a John Denver record sounds like Public Enemy.

"Minuet in G"
Johann Sebastian Bach
OMG, Bach! Does every song have to be in 4/4 time? Jeez! Put some soul in there. We bet Johann never even met a black person.

"Gin and Juice"
Snoop Dogg
This is the one song white kids who don't listen to rap bring up when you tell them they don't listen to rap. Then they show you their Pharcyde CD.

"Tenderly Kissing a Crystal Horse in a Room Made of Clouds"
Moby
We don't know if this is the title of an actual Moby song [Editor's note: It's not], but all his stuff named like that. This guy needs to eat a burger and drink a beer. His music is so white you're not allowed to listen to it after Labor Day.

"I Want to Be a Hulkamaniac"
Hulk Hogan
Just kidding! This stuff is tight! Girls drop their panties when they hear the Hulkster!

"Baby's Got Sauce"
G. Love & Special Sauce
G. Love sucks. If you see a black guy at a G. Love concert, he's probably a spy sent to assassinate him. Godspeed black spies!

"Beverly Hills"
Weezer
This is what Jared the Subway guy listens to as he drinks Mike's Hard Lemonade and folds his laundry.

"Kiss From a Rose"
Seal
We're pretty sure that Seal is just being black ironically.

Their Entire Catalogs
Phish, Matchbox Twenty, and Creed
A three-way tie! Congrats, guys! Everyone who listens to this should be quarantined on a small island and nuked, and then no one should be allowed to record music on that spot for the next 75 years.

a link to the original piece at Spin.com

CULTURE/SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY/RELIGION and POLITICS: Email on Obama's Chuch

I got this email from a co-worker. I won't embarrass this person by even mentioning who it might be. And then I add my comments later in italics. - OlderMusicGeek

Now I do know that we get a lot of stuff through our email, but this one certainly is an eye opener!!

Obama mentioned his church during his appearance with Oprah. It's the Trinity Church of Christ.

I found this interesting. Obama's church: Please read and go to this church's website and read what is written there. It is very alarming, Barack Obama is a member of this church and is running for President of the U.S.

If you look at the first page of their website, you will learn that this congregation has a non-negotiable commitment to Africa. No where is AMERICA even mentioned. Notice too, what color you will need to be if you should want to join Obama's church... B-L-A-C-K!!!

Doesn't look like his choice of religion has improved much over his (former?) Muslim upbringing. Are you aware that Obama's middle name is Mohammed?

Strip away his nice looks, the big smile and smooth talk and what do you get? Certainly a racist, as plainly defined by the stated position of his church! And possibly a covert worshiper of the Muslim faith, even today.

This guy desires to rule over America while his loyalty is totally vested in a Black Africa! I cannot believe this has not been all over the TV and newspapers. This is why it is so important to pass this message along to all of our family and friends.

To think that Obama has even the slightest chance in the run for the presidency, is really scary.

Click on the link below: This is the web page for the church Barack Obama belongs to: www.tucc.org/about.htm

Well, I did check out this website of this so-called "racist" church.

Here is their 10-point vision:

The Pastor as well as the membership of Trinity United Church of Christ is committed to a 10-point Vision:

1. A congregation committed to ADORATION.
2. A congregation preaching SALVATION.
3. A congregation actively seeking RECONCILIATION.
4. A congregation with a non-negotiable COMMITMENT TO AFRICA.
5. A congregation committed to BIBLICAL EDUCATION.
6. A congregation committed to CULTURAL EDUCATION.
7. A congregation committed to the HISTORICAL EDUCATION OF AFRICAN PEOPLE IN DIASPORA.
8. A congregation committed to LIBERATION.
9. A congregation committed to RESTORATION.
10. A congregation working towards ECONOMIC PARITY.

They didn't number these points, but I did to make them easier to discuss.

First off, I don't think too many people are going to complain about half of these points. The only ones I can see them having trouble with is points 3, 7, 8, 9, and 10.

Well, I personally don't have a problem with blacks being proud of where they come from and their heritage. Actually I'm upset my African ex-wife doesn't tell my daughter more of her African heritage.

And I don't see why African Americans shouldn't have economic parity with European Americans.


And as for this church supposedly being racist, let me quote from the website this email sent us to...

These are from Dr Wrights talking points. I made some the wording bold and italicized to stress it.

• To have a church whose theological perspective starts from the vantage point of Black liberation theology being its center, is not to say that African or African American people are superior to any one else.

• African-centered thought, unlike Eurocentrism, does not assume superiority and look at everyone else as being inferior.

• There is more than one center from which to view the world. In the words of Dr. Janice Hale, “Difference does not mean deficience.” It is from this vantage point that Black liberation theology speaks.

I don't agree with these points 100% - I think Afro-centrism like Euro-centrism can be racist. But it's obvious that Dr Wright doesn't want them taken in a racist way.

This church strikes me as black PRIDE group, but not as a black SUPREMACIST group.

But what really offended me this claptrap - more than the accusation of racism - is the accusation that Obama might really be a Christian, but a Muslim spy.

I'm sorry, folks, but I find converters tend to be more loyal and believe in a religion more strongly than other folks. Just look at born-agains!

And I was really offended by the comment - Doesn't look like his choice of religion has improved much over his (former?) Muslim upbringing.

Excuse me, but what is wrong with being a Muslim? I even wrote this question to the co-worker that sent me this. She didn't have anything to say about that question!

And what the hell does someone's middle name have to do with anything? One - Why is it wrong to be named Mohammed? And two, Barack didn't get to pick his middle name anyway! And three, his middle isn't even Mohammed - it's Hussein!

And these people are calling Barack and his church racist?

Okay, I'm done ranting.

Deep breaths. In. Out. In. Out. I'm better now.

Snopes.com's take on this email

Ernest T Spoon's take on this email - in full disclosure, I must say that I forwarded this email to him, because I knew that he would be upset by it even more than I was and would write on it.

Newsweek's report on emails about Obama

Trinity United Church of Christ website
Dr. Wright’s talking points for Trinity United Church of Christ its Web site and the Black Value System (in response to Erik Rush’s comments (2.28.07) on the Hannity and Colmes show)
- the video clip is below

CULTURE/SOCIETY: A Belated Martin Luther King Jr Day Post

This is me, not a reprinted article. - OlderMusicGeek

Ever since I started, I've always felt guilty after Dr Martin Luther King Jr Day rolls around.

I feel like I should say something, but I don't know what to say that hasn't already been said better.

The problem is I feel I owe him - AND all the others like him - who fought to make black people more accepted and welcomed into American society. Admittedly, they still aren't as accepted as they should be, but it's a lot farther than it was in the '50's.

I'm a white - or European-American. So MLK's and his fellow civil rights fighters' legacy doesn't affect me as much as others.

But it does - and did - affect me in some profound ways. One, because I was married to a black woman for 11 years. And two, because my daughter is obviously a mixed race child.

(My ex's and my break up did not have to do with our races - we were just a mismatched couple.)

But because of people like MLK, my ex and I lived a pretty normal life. No crosses on our lawns. Most neighbors readily accepting us and finding us and our daughter a perfectly normal addition to the neighborhood.

I remember talking with a bus driver, an older lady, whose uncle married a black woman who he met in the army. They apparently went out a lot in uniform, because people seemed to accept a white male soldier taking a black female soldier out and about, but not a white male civilian going out with a black female civilian.

And everybody always seems to love our daughter. (Apparently where we've failed as a couple, we've succeeded as parents!) They tell us how our daughter is such a good child and good influence. I don't think that many white folks would say that about a mixed race child in the '50's - at least, not an outgoing and talkative black child.

And my daughter is readily accepted by the kids, mostly white, at her school. And she was readily put in the gifted and talented program. - I have to wonder if they would have done that in the '50's, or even the '60's and '70's.

And because of people like MLK, my daughter can be angry at Obama and Hillary for running for president, because she wanted to be the first black president and the first female president! Because of people like MLK, my daughter can dream of being president some day. (She has since decided that she doesn't want to be president - too much responsibility.)

And I guess that pretty much is why I feel I should write about MLK and his like. Because he's helped me out when I was married to a black and made the life of my daughter a lot easier than it could have been.

So wherever you are, MLK, thanks!

CULTURE/SOCIETY: The Great Letter Debate

This is copied from a web site I highly recommend - Random Lists of Things. I find it quite entertaining, very interesting, and sometimes very humorous. I love the way B can boil so many aspects of life to a list.

One person wrote this about B's blog: Your blog is like if David Letterman and Jon Stewart had a baby, dropped it on its head, and then let it be raised by 20 ADHD-addled agency people.

7 overrated letters.
1. I
2. X
3. Z
4. C
5. love
6. fan
7. sometimes mr. y

OlderMusicGeek said...
"Love" and "fan" are great inclusions, but why "c"? Not that I have a great love for it. Actually, I like ones like x and j, that are kinda funky.

B said...
I think that "K" or "S" can do the work of "C". Now that I think about it, "Z" and "X" can't be on the same list. Therefore, I say only "X" is overrated.

OlderMusicGeek said...
But there's just something cool and wild about the letter. It's more than just k and s combined. Extreme sports and x-rated movies wouldn't be the same!

B said...
Okay I said C was over rated because S and K can do its work.
X is over rated because so many other letters can do its work:
For example SEKS, I just spelled sex without an X. Z can't be overrated because it's the last letter of the alphabet.
Good Lord, I can't believe I'm having this debate and not writing the two papers that are due in a few hours.

OlderMusicGeek said...
Yeah, but "seks" suks. It doesn't even look erotic. X is cool! Face it. Join the X-Men!

20 "whitest" names given to girls born in California in the 1990s.
7. Katelyn
13. Katherine
14. Caitlin
15. Kaitlin
18. Kaitlyn
20. Kathryn
Source: Slate Magazine

I don't think spelling should really matter unless the parent spells it a really wacky spelling. For example Catherine and Katherine and Katheryn should all count as one. However, K'aathryine is a completely different story (and chances are that this kid is black. We blacks get all crazy with the alphabet/apostrophes . White people on the other hand, are fond of making turning Cs into Ks [and vice versa], Ys into Is [vice versa]...).

20 "blackest" names given to boys born in California in the 1990s.
17. Xavier

OlderMusicGeek said...
Please note which letter name #17 starts with.

B said...
Yeah, but it can be spelled Ekzavier. And remember when I said black people love the crazy spellings of names.

OlderMusicGeek said...
Yeah, but they spell it with a X, because Ekzavier looks East European.

14 signs of a good night on the town.
14. You don't have to come up with a good excuse for asking your parents to contact the US Embassy in country X, to help you get back home.

OlderMusicGeek said...
Wait! Which country was that?

B said...
No country. I just hear urban legends of students abroad getting busted and sent to jail. What was the name of that caning dude from a few years ago?

OlderMusicGeek said...
Face it! It was country X!!!! Yes, YOU used country X!

...and the debate goes on!

A link to the website, Random Lists of Things