Cynique

You are not only a good example but an eloquent spokesman for the community of free thinkers, Chris. You are the anti-thesis of dogmatic religious hypocrites. As for Sara, the erratic behavior of this loose cannon leads me suspect that she might be bi-polar and off her meds. In my case, I would compare her to a white racist. "Ageism" is actually the name give to the practice of discriminating against senior citizens. It's like when when bigoted whites can't get over on blacks, in frustration, they will just call them niggers. Similarly, when younger people can't get over on older ones they will desperately make negative references to their age. I really thought Sara could've been more creative in her rants, constantly talking about dipping snuff. I guess this is something she is familiar with. I didn't know people still did this. LOL. I was also curious as to why she would state with such certainty that I was from the town of Robbins, Illinois, a place I've never even been to. Just another example of how bizarre she is. Oh well. Maybe Sara will come back. She likes Troy, and I think she secretly likes you, too, Chris.

Yes, you must've erased that option you indicated with an arrow because it does not appear on my screen. Thanks for the suggestions in regard to compiling a memoir collection. Maybe I'll make it a new year's resolution.

SMH. Gee, Troy, anybody with any sense could see that your post wasn't directed to the devious Sara who's still trying to cut and paste in order cast herself as a pillar of virtue. It's becoming very obvious that what this Jesus groupie needs is to find herself an earthly savior to bang her. Her essence is fraught with the rigidness of a frustrated reject who needs a good lay. Sorry, Troy, I can't help it. Sara is such an ideal target for ridicule. And, as you once observed about the cat fights that used to take place here, they are good theater. Since she can't seem to stay away, I don't know why this civil civet doesn't start her own thread so she can showcase her dull propriety.

LMAO. As if anybody cares whether or not this prig used curse words. Her delusions are profane enough.

LOL. Well, Troy, I tell people all the time who want to excuse my maliciousness, insisting that I am really a sweet person. Not so. My children say I'm passive aggressive. I am and always have considered myself a skeptic polemicist. I like to argue especially with other know-it-alls and I am aware that when challenging other people's arguments I often include personal insults in my repertoire because I am very good at being catty. I have further observed that indifference trumps indignation, having learned how counter-productive the ego can be. I am, however, nice to people I like. And my favorites are laid back folks who don't take themselves too seriously because these are invariably the type who have the most going for themselves and are secure enough to let you find this out for yourself. A good sense of humor, particularly one that encompasses wry wit usually wins me over. Some people I just like because I get good vibes from them. Like you and Chris who I can disagree with but still appreciate because you're both cool and smart Not the case with the frothing, uptight, Sister Sara. Her mercurial personality was off-putting from the start and her supreme self-confidence unwarranted. (I'd be interested in the name of her published book which was undoubtedly a best-seller. Not.) Plus, her cherry-picking responses were ploys to void valid points by omitting them while trying to reinforce her own questionable opinions. Most revealing was the need to reassure herself that saying something made it so, as demonstrated by her frenetic eagerness to tell me that she had "cleaned by clock" when - I don't even own a clock; or a watch either. I tell time by lookin at a sundial. I knew I had Sorry Sara when she played the age card. That's always the last resort of people who have run out of retorts and panicked. I actually found her kind of pathetic because she was so transparent in her aggressive attempts to hide the inner fragility that kept her on the defense. Good thing she has taken her leave from this board because reading this might ignite THE WRATH OF SARA!!

Because of the pivotal year during which I was born, I have been fortunate enough to have witnessed a very interesting period in America's evolution. And seen through my eyes has made it even more compelling because although i was black, i was surrounded by whiteness and this gave me a dual perspective. I don't have a degree in history. I have lived history, being a part of the back story that never got recorded in books. People are always telling me I should write a memoir and I think about doing it but I am, for want of a better word, lazy. My Muse needs to energize me because my urge to write comes and goes and suffers from dry spells. I have considered dictating my recollections into this device called a "dragon" which transforms spoken words into typed text. That way I could get it all down, and then go back and edit the draft the dragon would produce. I do know that if I decide to take on this project, I'd better hurry up because time is running out... BTW, Happy New Year. And whatever happened to feature that allowed you to upload pictures? i wanted to post a greeting card on this site.

Well, it finally came to pass. What folks being interviewed on the evening news lament about when describing whatever calamity they always figured happened to someone else had suddenly happened to them, has happened to me. .It all started on Memorial Day at a family cook-out. There I sat gnawing on a barbequed rib, licking my lips to savor the sauce when I was joined by my oldest granddaughter, the one I had christened my "golden girl" because she was so smart, accomplished, and pretty. A mischievous grin creased her face as she plopped down and promptly informed that she had something to tell me. Before I could wonder what, she made her 2-word announcement, "I'm gay!" I continued to chew but the meat wasn't going down as her whole life passed before me, including the red flags I'd chosen to ignore. "I've told every body else", she went on, "and now it's your turn." I considered talking with my mouth full so she couldn't understand what I felt like saying. But I kept my composure, reminding myself how liberal I always lied about being when it came to homosexuality, while giving lip service to my "live and let live" philosophy during arguments with the religious nay sayers who had driven me into the gay camp with their sanctimonious prating, and playing of the abomination card. "Well, I still love you," was all I managed say as I tried to blot out the visuals that began to flash in my mind inspired by my other favorite line of defense against homophobes. "What goes on behind closed doors between consenting adults is nobody else's business." EU. Months later, same scenario, different holiday, gathered around a card table munching on a barbequed hot link, trying to ignore the familiar grin my granddaughter was flashing, as my 2 daughters exchanged wary glances. "She's not my husband, she's my wife," my granddaughter explained during the Q&A period following her announcement that she and her partner had gotten married. How could you call someone who wears combat boots, vests, and pants that sag a "wife" was all I wanted to know. Not swayed by the long dread locks said wife sported, I shrugged, glad the she was not among those present since my son's sullen disgust would've proved awkward. (So much for his theory that his daughter's affair was just a phase.) At least her out-of-state mother was accepting. Indifference was the reaction of her cousins and brother.. And then it was Labor Day Little did I know how significant that word would be as the usual crowd gathered to bid summer good bye and chow down on whatever was smoking on the grill. "We got a friend to be a sperm donor," was my granddaughter's explanation for her pregnancy. "Did you by any chance enjoy making the baby?" I asked vicariously, following the news that the semen squirter was a good looking college graduate. A sly smirk was the answer. "He wanted to stay all night," she confessed. With that being the case, I was puzzled as to why then the attraction to women. And a butch one in particular. My granddaughter, however, was having none of my interrogation. She reminded me that she was an adult who didn't have to justify her choices in life. And she's right. Tonight is New Year's Eve and everybody has different parties to go to. No family gathering, - thank goodness. I'm staying home and when the shooting starts, I'll guzzle some Champagne and contemplate what 2016 will hold. This I know. Hardly a day will pass without an occasion to give pause and absorb the closure provided by the "it is, what it is" adage. C'est la Vie.

Speaking of Chiraq. i think the movie crashed and burned. Ain't heard nothing more about it. However, the Chicago rapper who coined the term Chiraq was recently shot in the head. But, unlike the movie, he survived...

How the mighty have fallen. What I find interesting is how the black community has so completely abandoned a man who they once held in high esteem. But he brought it on himself. He thought he was above the law. He forgot he was a black man and is now suffering the consequences of taking liberties with white women.

Dream on.You overestimate your impact. I'm brushing the crumbs that are you off my shoulders. Are you enjoying this,Troy? I am. Seems like old times. I'm really amused at how Sara keeps sucking up to you. Still amazed at how much of an impression she thinks she is making. She pales in comparison to those who have come before her.

Ooooh puleeze. Break out the violins. Your victimization is ridiculous. Sara. Painting yourself as the above reproach, innocent person, and me as the villain because I had the audacity to be underwhelmed by your pontificating. It's amazing how oblivious you are as to how guilty you are of what you accused me of. You can dish it out but can't take it. Get a grip. After all. I voted to let you stay.

??? Let the psycho hang around. Thin-skinness is not something a potty-mouthed old biotch like me is afflicted with. My on-going feud with Kola Boof toughened me up, and I'm debating as to whether this schizoid bitch is an incarnation of her. She doesn't bother me but if you think she'll scare others away, do whatever you feel is best Troy.

Did you take your head out of your ass before you started laughing - to keep from crying about being a wanna-be who's never been?? Unlike me who wanted to be around for my 82nd birthday in August. And I was.

Sounds like you have mother issues. Poor baby.

That the best you can do? Doesn't work. Your ignorance won't be denied.

ROTFLOL watta ya think, Chris? Ol sara is a certifiable nut case, huh? Among other things. Yea I'd agree she's suffering from PTSD, obviously having a problem recovering from being kicked to the curb by a man who came to his senses. And the way her responses are never on point makes me wonder if she also suffers from dyslexia because it's like she can't half read. And wonder why she is so preoccupied with what Chicago suburb I live in, really convinced that it is Robbins, Illinois, which isn't even close. And it's like she doesn't realize that the Civil Rights Movement got underway in 1953 with the arrest of Rosa Parks and the murder of Emmitt Till, or that Afro-centrism /Black Nationalism dates back to the 1920s and Marcus Garvey. She also needs to look up the definition of the word "quest". This latecomer sounds like one of those fools who thinks history began the day she was born.(Or hatched) Whatever. Hope she sticks around. She is a great diversion. I find it amusing that she thinks calling me "old" is a retort when it only serves to expose how desperate she is to distract from her ignorance.

I don't agree that Chris owes Sara an apology. If she can't take it, she shouldn't dish it out; if she can't stand the heat, she should get out of the kitchen. This is an open forum, and anything goes. I, myself, am LMAO @ "Saradipity". Who knew? She is a troll. No wonder she's all over the place, just like her clueless discombobulated responses. Having showed her true colors we now know how to disregard this devious scatterbrain. What we can conclude about her is that for her to have been a civil rights activist that I was watching in my front room back in the early 1960s she would have to now be in her 70s and there's no way that anybody that age would have the persona she does, - unless of course she(?) is my old nemesis Kola Boof. Or does she really know me. She peeped her hand by incorrectly guessing that I live in Robbins, Illinois, which is a poor, run-down, all-black southern suburb of Chicago. And If she was as smart as she thinks she is. there are all kinds of ways to figure out what town I'm actually from by clues that I've given in other posts I've written on this site. (Think Doc Rivers and Fred Hampton.) But not to worry. Rant on, Girlfriend. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

This thread is so long I didn't see Sara's comments about me. But a response is forthcoming.

OK, Brother Nelson, I clicked on to your link and listened to the Video. What can I say? No epiphany here. What the charismatic lady in the headdress and dangling earrings and exotic attire is pontificating about is aimed at an audience of people who crave an identity, and yearn for a different way of life. Been there, heard that. None of this is new to me or has it ever impressed me. It is simply material that has been recycled down through the years and proliferated by self-appointed shamans basking in the admiration of vulnerable people, while underestimating the intelligence of those better capable of adapting. I can trace my lineage back to 1868 and can discern and deduce certain things about who and what I am. Racially speaking, for want of a better term, like many people of color descended from slaves, what I am is a "mutt" of mixed blood. Who I am is in the genes I inherited from my parents, their parents, and their parents' parents. But, most of all, I am Me, comfortable in my own skin and I don't need to re-wire my brain in order to transform myself into what some pseudo queen of sheba tells me is my true self, particularly if this wanna-be ain't doin no better than me. .African or European, screw both of 'em. In my dotage, I just want continue orbiting in the sphere of my private universe, enjoying sugar and salt and pork and Pepsi. But, good luck in your crusade.

Well, Sara, WHO am I? You may choose to associate Afro-centrism with the civil rights movement but I don't. The civil rights quest was all about integrating into the greater society and being judged not by "the color one's skin but the content of one's character", and liberal white (European)activists demonstrated right along with young blacks on the front lines. During this time, Afro-centrism was the domain of misogynistic Black Muslims, and chauvinistic Black Panthers. If, indeed, you do know me, you would also know how many times I've revealed how atypical my black experience was because I lived up north and resided in a small midwestern bi-racial town where I encountered none of the blatant southern Jim Crowism that you and your comrades were marching against. So you weren't protecting me from anything and running to the front of the lines later and yelling gimme, gimme was not something I needed to do. I'm assuming that you are also aware that in the comfort of my cozy environment, I chose the "pen" as my weapon of protest, enough so as to be inundated with hate mail from white readers who resented my newspaper articles supporting those fighting against racial bigotry. And of course, post racial America as played out in the 21st century has neutralized much of what was fought for during the movement. I have never embraced black nationalism and my sentiments haven't changed since its emergence decades ago because I think it borders on being an affectation and is, as Chris, suggests, cult-like. As I implied in my other post, your religious zeal is right up there with Afro-centrism when it comes to what I dismiss. But you have a perfect right to your beliefs. So be it.

Where did you get the idea that I am a follower of Jesus??? Are you confusing me with Sara? Did you read my post carefully? I am not a Christian for the very reasons you cite. The only religion I lean toward is Buddhism because it speaks to my inner spirit.

Dating back to the 1960s I have been hearing this Afro-centric rhetoric that extols the accomplishments of our noble ancestors, along with the stressing of a need for America's African diaspora to reject Eurocentrism and adopt mindsets more attuned to their true nature, and diets more compatible with their biological DNA. Topping the Afro Centric agenda has always been the ultimate goal of nation building, the creating of a black Utopia whose citizens would thrive from the fruits of their own labor. This is a mesmerizing mantra but it is does not resonate with reality. At the center of Afro-centrism were always the bushy-haired griots and dread-locked gurus sporting kufis and garbed in dashikis and draped with medallions, glibly enthralling their disciples with generic gems of wisdom. Nobody can deny the good intent of these myopic visionaries or ignore the pride they stirred, but the bottom line was that pie-in-the-sky dreams didn't come into fruition because they were all style and not enough substance. The favorite card played by Afro-centric advocates is to characterized Black Americans as being a people who do not know who they are. But what these devotees are in denial about is that the hybrid descendants of slaves, inured in a unique culture that has evolved over centuries, are who they are: a new breed, and to them Africa is just a foot note, not an inspiration. Chris is in the vangarde of reality-based black individualism, realizing that American Blacks are not a monolithic entity that will follow one path. For this to happen would requires going back to square one and doing this in someplace other than the racist, fascistic, capitalistic, materialistic country that America is. Einstein, though not black, did say something that represents true wisdom. "insanity if doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. This is the case history of Afro-centrism. and the reason it has not made great inroads among America's people of color. Or, does the crippling plight of black people today, require an African do-over. It has more to do with acknowledging that the problem ultimately stems from the indiscriminate breeding that takes place among the black underclass. Nobody of any race, or culture should produce more children than they can care for or care about. Family building has to be emphasized as much as nation building. I commend you, Brother Nelson, for wanting to uplift your people and hope Sister Sara and Jesus will be very happy together in the hereafter, cuz lord knows, "JC" ain't thinkin about us niggas and no amount of rationalizing and bible thumping will convince this 82-year-old cynic any different. To Chris, i say, continue the journey wherein you not only talk it, but walk it.

But to me, Nelson, Chris' point is that you are paying homage to a culture that is not indigenous to Nigeria which is where the roots of America' s black diaspora lie. What you are proselitizing is like saying that people of French descent should revere Germany's past. Furthermore, since Kemetic symbols are on the American dollar, should white people also take pride in Kemet? You are perfectly free to extol what you believe, but you are not entitled to chastise those who don't embrace your dogma. I'm am not a Christian, so far be it from me to defend Christmas but I've always heard claims that one of the 3 wise men was black. IMO, Yule time observations are just something that satisfies people's need to feel warm and fuzzy.

Well, there are so many factors that figure into why Blacks are at the bottom of the totem pole, that people can choose "whatever reason" they lean toward. LOL

Up until around the mid 1960s, it was very common especially in the entertainment world for Nationalities of the Jewish religion to voluntarily change their names and pass for WASPS, thus circumventing anti-semitism . Many ethnics, fresh off the boat, were given "American" names at Ellis Island when they were passing through Immigrations because authorities couldn't pronounce or spell their foreign names. Irish people voluntarily made distinctions among themselves, the "acceptable" ones being referred to as "lace curtain" Irish. As far as Catholics were concerned, they were not in "the main". That's why it wasn't until 1963 that a Catholic, JFK, was elected president because of the prevailing misconception that a Catholic could conceivably be under the jurisdiction of the Pope . Keep in mind that the "P" in WASP stands for Protestant. LOL I didn't think it was necessary to go into detail about the Negroid stock referring to those of African descent or why they are at the bottom of the totem poll, because it's so obvious.