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I agree with KC. I found a list a while back of Black banks in the US. Surprisingly, Memphis' Tri Sate bank (with three branches) wasn't even on the list. This shows how fractured the banking system is for Blacks and Black owned banks. I don't know if you two have heard of the banked and unbanked populations in the US. Blacks tend to be the most unbanked people in the country. This means that when they get paid they go to supermarkets, check cashing places instead of utilizing a bank. When this population needs access to credit they go to Title Max or title loan places and the like that are predatory lending. If Black banks simply focused on getting the unbanked to bank with them they would grow in one month into really solid institutions. The reality is they don't even spend the time attempting to do this. They spend most of their time and energy funding Black churches or funding different city projects with companies recieving government contracts. They pursue guaranteed money vs actually doing the work of investing and building wealth for the banks. They don't have a real small biz program in many instances and require the exact stringent requirements or even more requirements for biz loans than their counterparts in the white community. They don't have any business relationship with the HBCU and their online banking and websites are abysmal. I'm all for supporting small biz/black biz, but only if the service is at least serviceable.

The only thing that gets on my nerves more than flaming gay folk, is sanctimonious religious ones, obsessed with one bible verse. The fact that black people were guilible and naive enough to think Obama would be their savior is an indication of how susceptible they are to the idea of investing all their hopes in a man. This is why they are so enthralled with Jesus and why they so thoroughly embrace religion - which I am more and more convinced is a cult. People ask me do I believe in God and the answer that is gradually fermenting in my mind is that God is our higher self, and prayer is auto-suggestion, and the bible is a multi-dimensional manual that draws from many sources, - all of which originated with man and myth. But that's a whole other discussion. In spite of all these deflated, disapppointed, black homophobes, I think history will give Obama's presidency a decent grade. As far as abolishing racism, because he has not fully evolved, he could not perform this miracle. And a Republican president is not a viable option when it comes to black lives mattering. IMO.

Again, I'm tickled at your take on this subject as I was previously when I read your post. But more to the point, your comment in that she "likes the spotlight" and "Racism provides a platform for their egoism" is interesting and I didn't really consider this until now. However, based on her parents I don't see her doing this for money, so it does make sense that she fed her ego. And yes, she may have secretly relished in the favorism and attention that she may have gotten from Black people, possibly darker skinned black people. But my first reaction was that she reminded me of what was said in the movie depiction of Alex Haley's when the master's wife talked about pretending that she was a slave woman. I think many White women as a secret imbalance when it comes to the history and present issues that face Black women, and to me, it's unavoidable. I think these odd behaviors, that not only Ms. Dolozal has shown but so many others, are just one of the negative fruits of White Supremacy that goes along with the issue. She is by far not the only white woman that wants to be in the shoes of a Black woman when we are 'elevated' or delivered out of a suppressive state and that is all a sick part of White Supremacy, in my opinion. They want to play in the victory roles but not during the times when we are suppressed. If it's glamorous to be rescued by some fantastical dashing White Slave master or a gorgeous Superfly black man who saves a sexy Black woman from being attacked, then the White woman wants to be 'that woman' and they don't see the gut wrenching truth behind fantasy. They are not apart of the shaping of the Black culture 'up from slavery' from slave row, but fixate on accounts of times when certain women have been elevated or freed out of suppression. I think it's llike a fantasy, a misplaced fantasy in which they can now pick the good parts of our culture to admire and want to embrace, but don't realize that this type of escapism is offensive. For many of us who have been hurt by racism, their is no escape. We can't get into a position where we can get paid to speak about our hurt, most of us just live it everyday and therefore, we don't have the freedom to speak out without knowing there are possible repercussions and we won't be able to run from it. As a White woman who fantasizes about being a Black woman, I don't think you would find one that would want to be portrayed as an ugly black woman. So, White woman can pick and select how they want to portray themselves in Black face' and therefore, it would be a light skinned Black woman, of which carries a negativity and a blow to our history and experience as well. But I find her behavior so common, I think we just have been conditioned to ignore it in the past and for some reason, her parents wanted to lash out against her, and so we are now facing this issue as a result of their conflict. In ancient history, foreign woman who became apart of Egypt put on wigs and portrayed themselves as Egyptian woman in order to be elevated above the original Egyptian woman, but we don't highlight this fact! So why now? Some White women today, blow up their lips and add padding to their hips to present themselves as being attractive with this 'Black trait' but that doesn't mean they want to be Black women, but just the White woman or light woman that has the attractive traits of black woman. They are picking and choosing what they want out of our culture, but then too, some of them are probably doing that in regards to other ethnic cultures as well because they are in a position where they can look at others and then mimic it when they know it will bring some kind of satisfaction. In a way, it could be said that we Black women do the same thing, but not on this scale. For sure, we couldn't speak about issues under the NAACP, and get the attention that she did so easily. I saw her on youtube passionately speaking about 'the reasons why we should boycott the movie, Exodus, and I asked myself, why hasn't a black woman been heard speaking against this move?

Wow! I read the article and I do agree that 'we' tend to give White women a pass and view them as being fragile should be be called out or exposed for doing something cultural offensive. Even though, I am pretty critical against wrongdoings that I see in regards to White women, I too find myself sometimes willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for certain issues, that I find myself wondering why I do that. And, I kind of know the answer, it's deep seeded and I believe comes from a pre-conditioning and from the feeling of suppression and White Supremacy being masked behind White men as taking the wrap for issues that have been exposed. I believe we have been conditioned to overlook White women and view them as being off limits no matter how they show themselves as being just as active about racism and White Supremacy as the White man. And I really have a lot of emotions about this topic because I have had to deal with issues that I have been faced with that makes it hard for me to ignore now. This issues just strikes a tune with me because I constantly have a burning question in my mind concerning 'the reaction' of Ms. Dolezal being exposed in comparison and contrast to so many other issues, one that would include Black people have downplayed Ms. Stanely Dunham. I'm trying to wrap my head around how the presidents mother could have been given a pass to be able to be considered a foundation of our Black race and culture when every thing that I read doesn't show anything credible! She has been given credit, but she didn't live the life of a Black woman or African or African American. So, what is so different from her and Ms. Dolezal? In fact, Ms. Stanley Dunham moved in on another Black woman! The president's father was married at the time the president was conceived. He was 'a money train' sitting in a college class on some kind of scholarship or something at a time when Stanley Dunham's parents left the continent to move to Hawaii to seek a better life. During the 60s when the Civil Rights Movement was in swing, she was not apart of any movement that I read about that aligned her to the plight of Black people at that time. The write-up throws down the presidents father, but builds up his mother and in my opinion, GIVES HER A PASS, but she is just as negative as what his father as been portrayed to have been. She was not embracing the Black plight, rather, she was looking for relationship that gave her economical gain. I just don't get it. Ms. Dolezal is by far rare in her actions to have a passion to align herself with the Black race for gain when things are going well. I mean, the very epic film of a White actress portraying the part of a well documented Black woman just screams to this issue. NO, Cecil B. DeMille did not cast a Black woman to play the part of Zippora, but he chose a White woman! I think too, that many White woman possess some kind of imbalance when it comes to the plight of Black women in many ways that we have been made to 'not see'. Many of them hide behind White racist men, but it just doesn't seem natural for White men to be racist against Black women, and not White women too. i think many of them hide their racism and want to be portrayed as being passive, but that is not true.

I completely agree. There are, I think, plenty of Black-owned businesses that are a bit pricier or a bit less convenient that their white-counterparts that I would still support. For example, Bevel, which makes grooming kits for people who suffer with razor bumps (mostly Blacks), has fairly pricey products and you have to get their products online, but I plan to support once I'm able because they make a product I legitimately need, they hire a lot of Blacks, and they speak out when things go down. There are plenty of companies small and large that do the same thing, all of which are worthy of support. Unfortunately, none of the Black banks fit that bill, as far as I know. Speaking just about the banks, it's not even about the resources. It would be incredibly easy and cheap, for example, to offer an internship program to Black high school and college students who want to get into banking and finance; you could even partner with the Black nonprofits and HBCU's, and the PR boost would be enormous. But for various reasons they're not (last time I checked), and the Black banks are getting dismembered (Carver Bank is no longer Black-owned), partly due to the recession but I think mostly out of extreme conservatism and inability to innovate. The question I ask myself when thinking about doing business with them vs BoA or Chase is: "Do I want to try and prop up a sinking ship, or do I want to get on the good ship that shoves me into second-class?" Right now, until the banks either change management or someone gets a clue, I lean towards the second-class as much as it disgusts me. Because honestly at least the ship won't capsize with me in it.

That's scary, 'not wanting to write'. I love to write but yes, this technology world has caused me problems too. The thought of living off of writing has left me many years ago, but I still believe that writing [& reading] is paramount to having a better quality of life. It's just that, I believe that there are some who deliberately write useless material to deter people from wanting to write and read about the issues that count, and this has played against the human race as a whole. And, this is disheartening for me, but nevertheless, I love to write, I have just got to get myself in the mood and this is taking a little longer than it has in the past.