Cynique

@NubianFellow There is a argument to be made about how materialism and superficiality a/k/a "bling" are too much of a priority among blacks, especially those in the ghetto where not enough emphasis is placed on education, family values and - birth control. Similarly, you are fixated on black womens' hair, attributing to them sentiments that you have decided is at the root (pun intended) of their motivation. That's being presumptuous. And where is it written that people have to like everything about themselves? If they do what they think will improve their appearance or enhance their attractiveness, then this is a form of self love because it makes them feel better about themselves whether this is admirable or not. It is, what it is in the real world. I am neither an Obama lover nor hater. i do take into consideration how handcuffed he was by the Republican Congress dedicated to blocking his every move, determined to make his presidency a failure. But my girl, Mel, has previously given a very good accounting of the important things that Obama accomplished during his term in office - as a president who was black, not a black who was president.( I liked his Supreme court appointments.) i'm waiting for her to chime in because i would be very interested in her take on your opinions. All my life i've been hearing the phrase, "what black folks need to do is...". Now, i'm just hoping i can live another year so i can see how "Game of Thrones" ends up. I've given up on seeing the black race become a viable player in America's game. But, then, i never thought that an incompetent racist enabler like Donald Trump could become president. So keep hope alive. I just want to see what will happen between Dany and Jon when they find out they're aunt and nephew!

@NubianFellow I agree with you about Jesus. But I still think black women should feel free to wear their hair anyway they want to. Hair is just one aspect of the whole person. If a sista is accomplished and responsible and intelligent and capable of earning a good living, who gives a fuck how she wears her hair? Nobody's perfect. You just can't throw that catch-all term "self hate" around and apply to everyone who doesn't conform to your criteria. Self love is also about taking care of yourself, about pampering and indulging your needs, about - avoiding jive-assed black men. When taken to the extreme, self love can also be about conceit and vanity and even narcissism. Having said, all of that i would like to compliment you on your writing skills. They are excellent.

Well, i don't think how black women wear their hair is at the core of black problems. In America the black race is pretty much screwed because the self-destructive, dead-end, innercity lifestyle perpetuates itself and is a detriment to the entire race. But black people as individuals can thrive by learning to circumvent racism and by emulating what white people do to achieve a modicum of success. Those who have done this comprise the black middle class who, if we are to believe Mel Hopkins, another poster here, are a segment in society who are doing fairly well for themselves, wearing their hair extensions and designer clothes driving their fine cars, and living in nice homes. What you envision would require African-Americans to relocate in a new territory and go back to square one, a starting point where slavery would not be a factor and where black pride would be nurtured. And that is not necessarily an impossible dream, i guess. White Americans may not be in the majority, but their culture is the dominate one here.

This is where you lost me. I snagged on what seems perfectly natural to you; that being the idea of black women being solely responsible for raising our black women and men of tomorrow. What about black men? Hybrid black women developing their own version of what is natural, are not nearly as much a problem as the abdication of black men in their roles of helping to provide for their children and exemplifying good role models for their sons! Black men who are seduced by the eye candy and status attached to white girlfriends and wives are as big a problem as black women tightening their weaves. When the "brothas" hold up their end, then talk to me about the role of black women. To me, Afrocentrism is an idea whose time has passed. In America, slave descendants have created their own unique culture, much of which has been borrowed and incorporated by the dominant white culture. So whose influencing whom? And women of all color strive for the perfect paragon of womanhood that is just as elusive among Whites and Asians and Hispanics as among Blacks. Who gets plastic surgery, who embraces strict diets, who bleaches their hair and enhances their boobs? And i'm not convinced that black women hate themselves. Many respire with confidence and boldness, not overly-conscious about their weight, perfectly at ease with their perms, smiling and strutting and seducing down at the club. And, yes, many of them are wearing variations of natural styles, coiffures they spend a lot of money and time on to get what can be classified more as a trendy fad than racial pride. In other words how black women present themselves, is really about the individuality they've earned the right to express. It's time for a new scenario relevant to the year 2017. Time to file all of the old self-hate rhetoric away because it 's not applicable in a diverse country where everybody wants to be something more than what they are. People of color are a mixed breed, and it's the men of this species who need to get on board and participate in parenting their progeny to compete in a nation that in the future will be more about class than race. IMO.

I, for one, hate dread locks. i think they are inauthentic because they are synthetic, and are also serpentine and ugly and whether they smell or not, they look like they do. I'm sure if i expressed this distaste to a man wearing them , he would feel insulted or indifferent. I also hate full grown beards like NBA hoopster James Harden wears. I am a supporter of Colin Kaepernick but i not a big fan of his big Afro. If i were still in the mix, my appreciation for males would lean toward clean-shaven or neatly barbered ones. Does anybody care about this? Hell no. Hair has always been an issue with black folks. Yes, black women are brainwashed by popular standards of beauty. Because they want to be popular. Why wouldn't the female of the species not want to make herself look like what men are salivating for? My only advice to my black sistas is to also cultivate your mind so that when the lights come back on you can bedazzle and amuse your stud with some interesting pillow talk. As to whether or not i would overlook what i consider a bizarre hairstyle on a man if he was brilliant and virile, i would simply say, it's not something i ponder about since it's not a situation that i would encounter at this stage of my life.

Challenging each other's opinions is the name of the game on this site; dealing in hard facts makes things even more provocative. And i regretfully decline your suggestion in regard to ending my sentences with an upbeat slant. On this site, I am the resident prophet of doom, hence the screen name "Cynique". But if you choose to join us as a regular poster, feel free to assume the position of being the "resident optimist".

I got this off of FaceBook. It was posted there by feminist, Gloria Steinem, who is ever alert for examples of abused women.

Black folks have always been aware of their "greatness and progress as a people". And - "here we are in 2017 post racial America, enabling white supremacy", going along, to get along. Sorry, I'm done with platitudes. But i commend you for being positive and suggest that you consider how Troy has reminded, that in the final analysis, it's more about class than race.

"The pathway to hell is paved with good intentions". Black folks are still praying and forgiving and mustering up their pride and here we are in 2017 "post-racial America" enabling white supremists . Same ol, same ol. LOL

See More https://www.watchtheyard.com/kappas/kaepernicks-fraternity-brothers/

Help get this guy out of Central Park and into a medical school where he can be a horrific reminder of the continuing problem of informed consent. And thank East Harlem Preservation for warning us for years -- without being heard. BYP 100Like Page August 19 at 1:37pm · J. Marion Sims was a gynecologist in the 1800s who purchased Black women slaves and used them as guinea pigs for his untested surgical experiments. He repeated...

@TroyStatues are coming down all over the south. And this is being done voluntarily by many southern officials, themselves. It takes no time and effort to do this because most of the statues are not marble ones. Many have been removed over night to avoid fanfare. You lament all of the time how corporate America stifles you, and how Capitalism is designed to keep the money in the hands of the rich. This is evident in the black sector. How has an awareness of this accomplished anything more than tearing down statues? Yes, we do have to agree to disagree.

Tearing down statues can be just one of many ways to dismantle racism. Nobody said doing this is the end-all and the be-all in the struggle to "overcome". It is just one step; "many roads lead to Rome". Meanwhile, folks like you stand around, explaining and describing how the "haves" exploit the "have-nots" to keep them downtrodden. What has this accomplished? Racism and poverty remain firmly in place. You deal in empty rhetoric and i deal in solid symbols. So be it.

Nothing 's wrong with golf ball sized gonads. It's your reference to the very ho-hum Kenneth Frazier having "basketball sized balls" that's wrong.

@Elva D. Green Thanks for sharing your thoughts. In response, i would simply request that you and Troy ask yourself why were statues erected and memorials preserved in public venues all over the south? What purpose did they serve? Could it be that they were symbols of defiance? That in spite of the South having lost the Civil War, its descendants were determined to pay homage to the confederate generals and statesmen who fought to preserve a way of life that revolved around the enslavement of black people who were considered inferior to whites? What better way for theses sore losers to send a message than to display visible reminders of what they consider their glorious past? A past that was resurrected through lynchings and Jim Crowism and the racism that still lingers. Why do these ideals deserved to be tolerated, and those who cling to them have to be humored? Who cares whether dismantling these revered monuments changes the minds of die-hards? I don't. Let them ruminate in the resentment that stems from yet another defeat for white supremacy by seeing figures of their heroes shattered. I care about my own people. It's time for black folks to take comfort in a moral victory. IMO.

Well, it's not unusual for us to disagree, as you pat yourself on the back for taking the high road instead of the low one, something your clever use of language has permitted you to do. I never actually defended Jefferson but i do know there is a large clan of black descendants from Sally Hemings' blood line who are very proud of this lineage and who fought long and hard to be acknowledged and accepted as authentic by Jefferson's white descendants. So if her black family doesn't have a problem with Sally's liaison with Jefferson, why should I? There have been books written about Sally Hemings and I'd be interested in the conclusions the authors drew about her feelings on this matter. I don't feel sorry for poor whites because, as you have called to my attention, there are more important problems to be concerned about in this world. I confess to being prejudiced toward all manner of these people because i have no doubt they are all prejudiced against me. As i have previously stated, i am discriminating when it comes to being compassionate, especially toward people whose pride in their white skin has blinded them to who their real enemies are. What do you think about Andy Young's stance?

@Troy Sorry if my characterization of poor whites offended you, but your being offended didn't change my opinion. Moreover, can you deny that poor whites do include the rural midwestern trailer park trash types, and southern open-carry, good ol boy red neck communities who I described, and who your heart bleeds for. Bottom line, none of these poor whites give a damn about you or your kind. They flock to Trump because he enables their racism. And i disagree that these old statues hold no meaning any more - and so does your well-informed face book dissenter. I don't know what Sally Hemings personal sentiments were about her situation with Thomas Jefferson and neither do you but you have no problem putting your spin on their long standing affair, after chiding me for negatively characterizing poor whites. Rape is in the eye of the beholder, only the woman knows for sure. Statutory rape is a legal determination, not a personal one. But if makes you feel better, i'm not against taking down Jefferson and Washington statues, too. And if you'd stop "mansplaining" long enough you would realize that i've repeatedly expressed my negative feelings about what the stars and stripes represent , and the injustices that exist in this country. ( Something that sticks in your craw when Colin Kaepernick demonstrates against it.) And also about poverty being as much about class as race. BTW, what are the vague "more important" things you keep referring to that should take priority of over dismantling statues, things that would presumably make America bright and shiny new. And the anecdotal evidence continues in regard to the nature of segregation in the south and the north. Experiences related to me talk about how segregated and discriminating it is once you get outside the big cities in the South and the advice is to stay in your own lane. There have also been numerous stories about white students all flocking to private white schools once public ones were desegregated, and about integrated high schools having separate proms for whites and blacks. So whether racists are worse in the north than the south is a mixed bag. I haven't heard anything on the news about Andy Young's remarks which he made on one of the Sunday morning new shows, and were later printed in the Atlantic Black Star newspaper where a link to them appeared on FaceBook. I'm sure Fox News made a big deal of it. Just the stuff that you and Fox news like to hear.

No , i don't consider Sally Hemings, who bore many children by Thomas Jefferson and traveled with him to Paris, to be the victim of rape. She was a "kept" woman and in keeping with the culture of the times probably felt special about being her master's chosen bed mate. Washington and Jefferson were traitors to England. We're talking about America which eventually entered into a civil war which the south lost and slavery was abolished. What northern generals and statesmen would've been considered traitors had the south won is irrelevant to me, considering that slavery would've still been in tact had the south won. Sorry, but i can't muster up any sympathy for gun totin, mean-spirited , hate-filled poor whites, who are resentful of their skin being devalued, or sullen, steely-eyed coal miners who think black folks want to take their jobs, or other forgotten Trump voters who can't deal with an inclusive society, not to mention fanatical Evangelicals who think Trump's election is god's will. Their misguided ignorance is not my problem. Pardon me if, as a black person, I have more sympathy for poverty-stricken people of my own race who are still struggling with the aftermath of slavery. Yes, this situation is about class as much as race, but i still think a poor white person has a head start on a poor black person when it comes to pulling oneself up by one's boot straps.

Washington and Jefferson did own slaves, but for all we know the sex between Jefferson and Sally Hemings, his slave mistress, was consensual. Whatever. (The one thing i'll always be grateful to the foundling fathers for was that they had to good judgment to advocate separation of church and state.) The argument advanced in regard to a comparison between Washington and Jefferson to Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson is that, unlike them, neither Washington nor Jefferson took up arms against the Union(United States) in what amounted to an act of treason, which is what all of the southern civil war heroes are technically guilty of. Robert E. Lee graduated from West Point which has never allowed a statue of him to appear on its grounds because of his participation in the civil war. Most of the statues being taken down are of fairly recent vintage, having been erected about 50 years after the civil war in the 1900s during a resurgence of white supremacy via the powerful KKK, and they are not made of marble but of a plastic alloy which is why they are so easily pulled down and shattered. They were produced in factories and during this era were quickly snatched up for display by southern cities to symbolize their defiance and pride over their part in the war they refused to believe they lost. These erected paragons of white supremacy are racist, pure and simple.They are painful reminders of America's 400-year enslavement of black Americans. There is no excuse or rationale for them being prominently displayed in public venues. They belong in private museums dedicated to preserving the shameful history of the Confederacy and its battle to keep their slaves. BTW, Cruel slave holder Andrew Jackson will soon be removed from the 20 dollar bill. People who dismiss the dismantling of these statues are obviously those who do not accept the significance of symbolism, which is akin to myth. Apparently they think it accomplishes nothing and is just an empty gesture. My feelings are that these symbols represent different things to different groups. I think that destroying statues revered by white die-hard southerners is an effective weapon for slave descendants because doing this is like a stab to the heart of white racism. It hits them where it hurts. The American flag is supposedly a symbol of freedom justice and equality but to me it is a "lie"and a representation of this nation's ugly history - its hypocrisy, cruelty and hegemony, which is why i do not respect it. I am, however, heartened by the great numbers of white American citizens who are appalled and angered by Donald Trump, the epitome of what's wrong with this BS country. Conversely, I am disgusted by blacks like octogenarian Andrew Young, one of Martin Luther King's wing men during the civil rights movement. Young, a Georgian, expressed sympathy not only for poor whites who he believes have been very neglected and ignored, but also for those outraged by the removal of beloved civil war figures, and he thought this onslaught should be stopped. Seems like certain house negroes are afflicted with a type of "Stockholm Syndrome" wherein the oppressed gradually began to empathize with their oppressors.

You're really grasping at straws to defend Frazier who has done nothing to make a difference in the black struggle with his golf ball-sized gonads. And Trump is not praised for his business savviness! His ill advised opening of theTaj Mahal casino in Atlantic city was a monumental flop. Hillary Clinton outed him as a bankrupt-declaring crook who never pays his bills, is beholden to Russian businessmen and considered a joke by Wall Street. Colin Kaepernick is not strutting around, and his individual protest is picking up momentum as more and more NFL players and teams are following suit. Excerpts from recent news stories about the story that will not go away. Because Colin Kaepernick took a knee, NYC cops have his back. Law enforcers past and present turned out Saturday in a show of support for him, and the entire Cleveland Brown Football team recently knelt during the national anthem, and several white NFL players as well as individual black ones have recently come out in support of Kaepernick. His knee bending is very timely in view of how white racist nationalists calling themselves patriots are showing their true colors.

This cracked me up.

Dick Gregory was my contemporary and although i never met him, I feel like i knew him. I remember when he got his first start at the PlayBoy Club in Chicago. I followed his career and watched him grow into a star and a civil rights activist. He was an astute social critic who loved his people. R.I.P. When i was in high school, I was a big fan of Jerry Lewis. His humor was so wacky! I went to see him on stage once when he appeared at the Chicago Theater. We fans all crowded around the stage door, trying to get his autograph after one show. I can't remember how it came about but somehow he got my address and sent me a little note from Las Vegas with his autograph. i kept that memento for years but have no idea where it is now. R.I.P.

My daughter had to finally ended up purchasing eclipse glasses after thousands showed up at Adler Planetarium in Chicago to get them for free and they ran out. These little cardboard glasses cost $5.00, and for me were a total waste of money. I couldn't distinguish anything through them, so i finally just put on my prescription sun glasses and they did just fine. No glare, no problem. i was discouraged that the day started out overcast but was pleasantly surprised later while standing barefoot in the grass so as to connect with the earth during this phenomenon. Although the rest of the sky was grey, the sun blazed amidst the clouds for all to see. I didn't stare at it, i would just take a glance every few seconds to keep up with its progress which, when i squinted, was crystal clear to me. So i saw all that was visible in the Chicago land area where "ol sol" was about 98 percent eclipsed, leaving just a toe nail sliver of sunshine available. It didn't get very dark here, just dim. I think this event was so hyped, that some people were disappointed because it wasn't as spectacular as they expected it to be but, for me, i saw what i saw, and it was, indeed, a solar eclipse, and my spirit was renewed thanks to this belated 84th birthday present from Mother Earth, enabled by Father Time. I'm a child of the universe! As an aside, The village crew who came to prune our tree a couple of weeks ago, got carried away and decided to cut the whole tree down much to my anger when i stuck my head out the door to check on them and was shocked when i saw the tree was gone! i chewed them out for cutting down the whole tree which only needed to have the dead branches lopped off but they sheepishly mumbled some excuses and skulked away after feeding the logs and limbs to the wood chipper. I was furious! Trees are special and you just don't cut one down on a whim. I tried to count the rings in the stump they left but there were so many i gave up. This tree had been around a looong time and i felt a kinship with it. So during the eclipse, I also went and stood barefoot on the stump and promised the tree i would try and live out its life for it. I guess I'm' a Pantheist, among other things. Starting yesterday, things began to turn around for me as predicted by eclipse soothsayers. I almost slit my wrists when it appeared my computer crashed after i clicked onto a sight that i was immediately informed picked up viruses that micro soft wouldn't allow me to spread. Everything was frozen including my mouse, and a phone number appeared on screen for me to call to remedy this disaster. i figured it was hacked so i shut down the computer, and had a long conversation with it telling it how much i appreciated it, promising to be a good user and if it would just resurrect itself, i would down load all of my files, documents, manuscripts, photos and saved mail into a flash drive so i would not suffer a nervous breakdown. After i shut my computer down and turned it back on 3 more times, the black screen finally started to pulse with life and it gradually re-booted itself and came back to life, none the worse for wear. Then my printer wouldn't work but i finally discovered one cable was missing and after combing my work-space with a fine toothed comb, i found it hiding under the desk. Today i lost the empty bottle necessary to get my blood pressure prescription re-filled. i searched high and low, disgusted and frustrated, undoubtedly raising my blood pressure. Finally i checked my purse one more time and there the little empty bottle was hidden, in full view. SMH I had a tarot card reading on my birthday. It was interesting and fairly accurate in regard to certain things. When it came to the phase where i was supposed to ask questions and draw cards from which the "answer" could be discerned by the reader, i couldn't think of any questions to ask because there' was nothing i didn't think i already knew or was interested in finding out about. Needless to say, the reader found me a little peculiar but she said she saw that in the cards. i finally just asked questions about my kids. Sorry, i got carried away.

There is as an undercurrent fear of the white race being obliterated and eventually becoming extinct, because white people are in the minority globally. The majority in this country are Hispanics. i understand white fear, because it's very real. But that's the way cookie crumbles. Better them than us....

The God we seek is within each of us, all matter, and all time. Luke 17:21 says, “The Kingdom of God is within you.” The god within you can just as easily be interpreted as being the best representative of yourself; which is just another way of saying you have the ability within yourself to be the best that you are personally capable of being. This doesn't mean that you will better than someone who has more talent or ability than you, it just means that you possess the power to reach your full potential.