To be young, gifted, and Black

I just dropped my son off for his 5 day Japanese intensive at the CSUS Academic Talent Search. I first want to say that I am not paranoid and I am not a bigot. I had to have what I like to call the “uncle Joe” discussion with him before I signed him in. I wanted him to recognize the lack of diversity in the student body for the program.
“Milo, do you notice anything about the students you see here?”

His first answer was that they were all alone. Then I clarified my question.

“Milo, do you notice anything about the kids and the color of their skin?”

He said they were all white. I don’t think I am creating a paranoid kid when I explained to him that many of the kids here were white and Asian for a REASON. I explained that in special circumstances such as this enrichment program, it is EXPECTED that whites and Asians be here. The general thought is that they have parents who either recognize the importance, have the money, have the time, care enough about their child’s education or a combination of all of these to want to send their kids here.

I can’t wait to see how Milo’s first day went. Either way it will be a teaching moment to remind him that it should not be a special case to be “Young, Gifted, AND Black”. It should be a blessing and an opportunity to grasp the brass ring as well.

Why is it not “important enough” or “out of reach” or unaffordable” or “just for those rich white and Asian kids”?

Why does society allow us a window of opportunity to doubt ourselves that continues through generations and leaves whole sectors of certain nationalities in the academic dust?

Read more later… I WILL share my opinion on these thoughts later.

Goddess

Cheer your government

Sometimes government interventions and assistance are necessary. Government was created BY The people, FOR the people. Moving our government is not the answer,

it is a request for CHAOS. If changes are to be made, said changes should be made to the laws that govern the people FAIRLY. Removing our government is like throwing the baby out with the bath water.
No quick fix is going to work when it comes to the reconstruction of our government. If you stand on the sidelines and mutter to ourselves the team is never going to win we need to be standing in the bleachers screaming our asses off about what out common goal is GO! FIGHT! WIN!
Same with our government. When we (THE PEOPLE) speak loudly and clearly about what we need the team (LAWMAKERS) can enact game plays for a better outcome. If they start to falter in the 3rd quarter we don’t give up and abandon our team. We keep on cheering. If we lose the game, we come on back for every single Friday night until our team succeeds in doing their best toward that common goal GO! FIGHT! WIN! And we come back next season to press for greater success.
It is the ONGOING support and constructive criticism of our government that makes our country what it is. Right now, we are acting a bunch of Sacramento Kings fans who quit our team mid-season (MIDTERM) because we don’t have enough “W”‘s on our stats.

Pull it together america and cheer for your team. We are all pulling for the same thing… GO! FIGHT! WIN!

Cheer our government part deux

What solutions do we have America?

*steps onto soapbox*
Our country’s debt is an issue yes, but families living in their cars and on the streets is a far more important issue. Finding a way to reduce other country’s need to call the US for aid is one and having a willingness to give a diplomatic “NO” when we should not be helping them as a primary source is another. If private businesses and contractors want to find their way in to help sobeit, but we need to focus more on what’s happening at home.
We should support our president no matter how we feel and stop spitting negative shit about what we think he ain’t doing. We have to start at the bottom and help one another. We have to start at the community level with volunteering in schools where kids not only need to learn to read and write, but also need to learn what foods are good for them and what they can actually grow themselves. We need to look out for our elderly and not depend on government subsidy checks to help us care for them when they are old and unable to care for themselves. Lord knows we won’t have social security when we get to be that age so practice now is a good idea. Families need to come back together in multiple-family homes to help our single moms and dads with Childress while they gonto school or work.

So what I’m saying is…

Our issue is not a financial one at the heart. It is a CULTURAL one and the more we recognize what we can do for each other the more we will “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR COUNTRY!!”

*steps off soapbox*

Goddess

Ever want to feel like you walked into a clan meeting?

howdy! come on down to Marie’s Donuts, located in the middle of a predominantly minority area of North Highlands CA

Marie's Donuts

with a church on either side of it. bring your family but keep the dark ones quiet.

you can’t go wrong with what i believe are the best donuts in the world. on any given day, you can walk in and watch WWII veterans talking about the war over a .40 cup of joe. you can be greeted by the wonderful aroma of freshly prepared donuts. it used to be a safe place where everyone was polite and still used their southern manners. it used to be a wonderful place that i would visit with my dad when i was a child.

he knew the donuts there were the best and i have since come to agree with that opinion.

however, what i am not feeling too good about is the change in the atmosphere since the election of 2008 or as some, those who don’t want change in America, would like to call it… Armageddon.

there are lines drawn in the sand there where it used to be a place where everyone knew your name and respect was given in kind.
i got cut in front of twice this morning, but i felt that i could say nothing because then i would just be living up to the expectations of a room full of ‘birthers’ who still believe our 44rd president is not a citizen of the United States and that he wants to take over the US and change the name to the USRA -the United Socialist Republik of Amerika-
when is it i get to wild out again on the folks that consume me with a rage so deep seated that i want to hit them with sticks, not caring about what i will look like in the end?

good thing is i don’t want to be that way. bad thing is i wish i could. i don’t want to be labeled the bad nigger. i don’t want to be the stereotypical black who has no respect for themselves or for anyone else that isn’t on welfare and collecting the poor white man’s hard earned money.

i wish things could go back to the way they were too. but for one reason only.

i want to go back to a time when you were not so angry with us because there was no minority holding the highest office of power in OUR country.
not back to a time when we could all get along because you felt that you were superior. back to a time when yessir and yes’m was the way it was agreed we would respond to you to avoid having our homes burned down, our husbands hung by the oak tree or at the gallows in the center of town. back to a time when our families would not be sold and broken apart if you could take our wives into your bedrooms. back to a time when you could whip us with the same device you used to herd cattle, because we looked up when we should have been looking down.
back to yesterday that we have fought so hard to change.

i want to just say ‘suck it up! your guy lost and our guy won.’ but that is not the case.

through the election process, someone had to get elected. this time it juuuuuuust happened to be a man of color. this is how it is. this is the result of the election. i know more young white Americans voted for President Obama than you can shake a stick at. he was not voted into office by a bunch of uppity nigrahs. he was voted into office by a majority of the people in this country who are open to change and pursuit of happiness.

all in HOPE that there will be a better future for their children… our children… everyone’s children.

thanks to Marie’s Donuts for providing North Highlands with the best donuts on the planet for a great price, but here’s to hoping some of your patrons from Rio Linda keep the hate mongering and rudeness to themselves.

Goddess

misinformation

If you allow misinformation to drive your actual policies, that’s not really smart policy is it? If you have your facts straight say them loud. If you don’t know what you are saying, sssssshhhhh! -referring to ‘death panels’. there is no need to remove the opportunity to discuss with a doctor YOUR end of life medical options from any health care reform bill because misinformed ‘sheeple’ are louder than you.

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Don’t bully the Presidency

My dearest Americans,

We have to take into consideration the fact that some may be disappointed that Obama is president, but we have to stop shitting on the Presidency. I have never in my life heard more shit talk and bull about the agenda of the government. What agenda? The one where the good of the American people is at the heart of many genuine debates as well as the focus of legislation?

When did America become so stupid about what goes on in this country?
Do these naysayers actually think that things are going to get better if they bully the healthcare reform packages and bills out of existence?
No one is out there to brainwash your kids. If you don’t want them being a part of a televised program with the President, for the love of Pete, please don’t sign the permission slip.
For fucks sake folks, it is time we stop tring to create an agenda around the fact that we have a Black man as president. I really feel this is where much of the ‘concern’ comes from. There can be no way that this many conservatives have come out of the wood works to address the threat that the president (this time around, a Black man) is to them.
I honestly think that it is time for President Obama to stop playing Mr. Rogers and bust some balls. Things are NEVER going to change if you try to work with people who refuse to budge. Mind you, there are some people who are willing to compromise and work on changes to our nation but the home grown “God as my witness” gun toting people at the town meetings must find a better way to get their point across.

I get the feeling that there are many people who would love to see our President as dead as all 4 Kennedy brothers , but where will we ever grow as a nation if we cannot find a better way to reason our our differences?
It makes me sad to know that in a country as great as ours, we cannot get together to discuss politics (and politics ONLY) without it turning into a shouting match.

It is fine time that America grow up,keep religion out of politics and listen to the common sense that comes from the people in office at this present time.

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Overstepping the Boundaries of Protest

A famous Bollywood star gets held up at an airport in the US and some Indians are burning American flags but not yet Barack Obama in effigy……. film, at 11!

My dearest people of India,

Protest, but please allow for some wiggle room.

Sometimes I wish Americans would go of like some of the people of India did when Shah Ruhk Khan, one of the most popular Bollywood actors ever was held up for a short spell in an airport because his last name was Khan. In fact he was in the US promoting his new film that addresses the very issue of racial profiling Muslims.

It is not American paranoia. It will continue to be a genuine fear until someone can get a handle on how we can keep all passengers on American flights safe after 9/11.

*For those of you who are conspiracy theorists out there, I feel your pain. perhaps 9/11 was constructed by the American government, but I digress… *

There will never be a win in the war on terror until we all learn to accept that our own nations are not at the center of the universe. Until we do that, we cannot even begin to think that we can allow everyone to ride willy nilly on our friendly skies.

American superstars have fans and critics, but you serve your fans because that is what you do when you are a mega superstar and they fill your bags with gold. Madonna sang on a holy day in Poland. Hell, it was her birthday. I haven’t seen any news clippings or stories with Polish people burning cone bras and American flags yet.

What was said about Mr. Khan’s detainment was “Khan later downplayed the incident. “I think it’s a procedure that needs to be followed, but an unfortunate procedure,” he told reporters Saturday in suburban Chicago.

It is unfortunate but for the time, a safer one than allowing airliners to be flown into the Twin Towers. Two empty planes at that. WTF??????? If Mr. Khan was killed in a terrorist attack – domestic or foreign – they would have been outraged by our lack of security and lax security measures.

Can’t win for losing…

*Ahem, sorry conspiracy theorists, I will have to soon write a 9/11 conspiracy blog but we are talking about Shah Ruhk Khan one of the greatest actors in the WORLD if you are in India or Pakistan*. Two countries who can’t even share a toilet, let alone governmental policies.*

Riiiiiiiight! not everyone knows about Bollywood, but for those of us who do here in America, we were not outraged because we do not look up to him as near god.

Here in America, many of us tear down our super stars and dig into their private lives like pigs at a trough. We want to see them fail. Is that so that we can say we don’t idolize our stars like India does?

We will not be able to empathize with the Indian public and their outrage a the 30 minute detainment until we learn to hate America.

* yes conspiracy theorists, we might be getting there, but it is going to take some time.*

So pop in your newest Bollywood film or go dig up “Veer Zaara” and enjoy what irritating national security allows us to have.

Goddess

“

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leave him alone

If he tries anything different, the powers that be will shoot him down again. There is a reason why the Dems have the majority. He is thinking of the American people and what is best for the middle class (which is a majority of the people who truly have no voice). And it is just not the president. It is many others. He didn’t write the health care bill. It was written by Ted Kennedy and some other guy. Last time someone spoke up for the people, they had him and his brother assassinated. Think about that.
It’s not the President with a bad plan, it is the corporations afraid of getting up off a little money and their ability and willingness to do WHATEVER they can to keep their status quo.
it’s not about the presidency… It is about the special interest groups. Climb out of Obama’s ass America!
I say we can’t argue this plan into the ground. Don’t get me started. Change was not meant to make everyone happy and I wasn’t meant to satisfy all. Change also was not meant to be easy. Life will never be what it was before this last financial crisis. We have forgotten how to depend and lean on one another. Our legislators and politicians need to stop thinking about their bottom line and start thinking about the single parent homes and seniors eating cat food and the fact that nothing is free, but things should be affordable. There is no love in this battle just a bunch of cock blocking and posturing. I think it is utter BS
Goddess

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"I’m the secretary of State MoFo’s!!!!!!!"

I am not sure I would be happy if I had to compete with my ex husband of a president if I was the Secretary of State.

I am very proud of Hilary for making a statement defining her position in the American government. The question that was asked of her could in no way have been misinterpreted.

Peep this!
“The student’s question, according to the State Department translation, went like this: “Thank you. Mrs. Clinton, weve all heard about the Chinese contracts in this country. The interference is from the World Bank against this contract. What does Mr. Clinton think through the mouth of Mrs. Clinton and what does Mr. Mutombo think on this situation? Thank you very much.”

Son’s of bitches!!!!!

I would have been a bit peeved too, if someone – even in the Congo- thought they had to ask me my husband’s opinion on world policies.

I say you go girl to Hilary. She handled it in the best way possible. She may have tarnished her reputation a bit, but in a country where women and cattle rank about the same, who gives a flying fig newton.

*pumps fists*

You go Hil!

Goddess

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Where is my beer President Obama?

Dearest President,

How is it that the two men who behaved badly and one man who perhaps said something that the public didn’t like have the opportunity to have a beer together at the White House?
Don’t get me wrong, Mr. President, but I think there are a lot more people who would love to have you as an audience with regard to things we WILL change. With your help, so many things can change sooner and not later.

Take for instance, I want to have a Boys and Girls Club opened in my neighborhood. Do I have to?
Break into my own house?
Be arrested by a white cop?
Cause a national scandal by having you say the cop was acting stupidly?
Only then would it be possible to have the opportunity to slurp suds with you at the white house to get things done?

Make mine a Guinness draught.

Goddess

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