Sunday, December 30, 2007

I'M PEEVED!

OK. So I'm pissed. That's really what I mean to say. Pissed. Why do black folks always talk about supporting our own then do nothing? What's up with that? It's almost six months now that I've been blogging away, all because I had read and heard some things about dkos, (that's daily Kos for you who don't know). Daily Kos, by Markos Moulitsos, is possibly one of the biggest and best known blogs going. I think they had their second conference this past summer, and it was well attended. It draws so many people because it is a left wing blog, which means there's some place for place for democrats to go. Not me. I'm afraid I'm an anarchist, which they did accuse me of being, lol. dkos is a mainly white domain, and those who attended the conference where mainly white. The conference actually caused something of a stir because only a handful of blacks attended. I have no problem with that, except that a well known blog such as dkos, or any of the main stream blogs like it, will tend to shut out blacks and any other person of color. And still think that black owe an allegiance to white candidates, and that's where I have a problem.

That's when I got curious. I wondered if there were any black voices on the web, blogging black voices. There was one that I had known about for a number of years, and that was Steve Gilliard of the News Blog, who passed away last summer, may he rest in peace. So of course I used good old Google and went searching for those other voices and I found them, plenty of them, excellent, wonderful voices, many of them involved in some monumental undertakings, most working to change the world around them. I visited these blogs and read and read, so glad to see that there some wonderful black voices out there, some wonderful brothers and sisters blogging, lending their voices to the world. Some bloggers are even doing web podcasts and have been featured in other forums. There's a black web blog award and there's even going to be a conference in Atlanta next summer.

It's all good, it really is, but. After finding all these great and wonderful voices, posting and responding to their excellent writing, I began to get discouraged. Not in my own posting, you understand, but in theirs. Now, at this point I have to admit that in general, I suppose I don't know anything about blogging etiquette as it were, you know, what the rules are. I thought that if you posted in response on someone else's blog, then they just might come and visit you. Not that they necessarily have to, but they might. I also got the feeling that they wanted to build a coalition of African American bloggers, of voices united, though to a great extent this was accomplished. It was black bloggers who organized the march on Jena, for the kids who were getting a raw deal there. Many kept nooses out there in the fore front of the news. The voices can get out there and move the people when needed.

So. How do you build a coalition of united voices if you don't go to read the blogs of others? How do you know what others are thinking and doing if you don't go to read the blogs of others, don't seek out other voices? How do you encourage others if you don't visit their blogs, let them know that somebody out there had found them? That they should keep on adding their voices to the bloggosphere? Yes, I do know that many of keep on blogging because they have something to say and because they need to, I'm one of them.

That being said, I'm really sorry that I won't be able to attend the conference in Atlanta next summer. I can't imagine what it be like surrounded by so many wonderful voices you only read on the nets. Meeting some of these brothers and sisters face to face. I can only hope that it will be as well attended as the one of dkos, though if there's going to be some barbque there you know black folks will be there too. More black voices are needed out there in the world as well as the bloggosphere where so many people tend to live these days. We all need more and better ways to communicate amongst each other, learn from each other and share our experiences because we're really on the edge of something new if we just get it together.

On that note I hope to do better myself and get my blog roll up and running so that I can hit those blogs every time I log into blogger. I and I promise a certain someone to do better about my communications, lol. Then I will make the effort to visit those on the roll once a week and say something, let them know I was there. Then no one will be able to scream that a black person didn't support them because I did.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

MY NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION

I often wonder how America, which has become one of the greatest nations on earth, sends some of its' children to bed hungry every night. How does this happen, when the stores are stocked full of all the finest foods anywhere to be found, and yet a mother cannot place that bounty and goodness on her table for her children to eat for lack of the kindness this nation claims to have? The sad fact is that too many Americans hate the poor, ignore the hunger and want that go on in this country, while rushing to the aid of other countries. Not that they shouldn't, but home first. When no child is without a meal to be had here in this country, then pay attention to others. Stop running over seas, to other countries, where they have an "excuse", that of war, famine and drought, to be needy, while you think that here in this rich nation, everyone should be working, taking care of their reproductive health, not having babies they can't feed and house, while turning a blind eye to the rampant racism and neglect that goes on here. There is no reason there should hunger and want in America, except for the hunger and want in our souls. I am not a rich person by any stretch of the imagination, but it just struck me that I can donate some few dollars at the grocery store where we shop to help feed the hungry.

My New Year's resolution has nothing to do with the ton of weight I need to lose, but it's to contribute every time my sis and I go to the grocery store to make our purchases, to donate what few dollars I can so that others might eat. I wish that everyone would think about this whenever they go grocery shopping; stop and donate what you can, even if just a dollar, each time you go. Or find an organization which feeds children and donate to it. Start a change jar and put no pennies in it, just silver and dollar bills, save it for a month, then donate it to a food bank and start another. Sometimes work places force their employees to pledge donations to United Way. Stop that and organize a monthly fund for the local food banks and donate to them instead. Have charity at home before you give away from home as there is plenty here to be done.

Thank you Marian Wright Edelman for all your years of service, bless you and yours on this Christmas day.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

RING AROUND THE ROSES A POCKET FULL OF HATRED

MY HATRED; LET ME SHOW YOU IT.


















Vladimir Putin. TIME magazine's person of the year. You know this choice is so full of hate and venom and we all know it. This choice isn't so much about Putin as it is about Al Gore, and not nominating him at all because of rightwing hatred and vitriol. Ain't it sad?

Monday, December 17, 2007

BLACK LIKE ME; OR SOL!

Now tell me this ain't a scream out loud with laughter! Somebody ought to tell white folks that God don't like ugly, lmfbao!

Revealed: scientist who sparked racism row has black genes
by Robert Veraik

Published: 10 December 2007

A Nobel Prize-winning scientist who provoked a public outcry by claiming black Africans were less intelligent than whites has a DNA profile with up to 16 times more genes of black origin than the average white European.

An analysis of the genome of James Watson showed that 16 per cent of his genes were likely to have come from a black ancestor of African descent. By contrast, most people of European descent would have no more than 1 per cent.

"This level is what you would expect in someone who had a great-grandparent who was African," said Kari Stefansson of deCODE Genetics, whose company carried out the analysis. "It was very surprising to get this result for Jim."

The findings were made available after Dr Watson became only the second person to publish his fully sequenced genome online earlier this year. Dr Watson was forced to resign his post as head of a research laboratory in New York shortly after triggering an international furore by questioning the comparative intelligence of Africans. In an interview during his recent British book tour, the American scientist said he was "inherently gloomy about the prospects for Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours – whereas all the testing says not really".

The Science Museum in London cancelled a lecture by him, while the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, branded his comments "racist propaganda".

Other scientists working in the field of molecular biology quickly distanced themselves from the comments, saying that it was not possible to draw such conclusions from the work that had been done on DNA.

The study of the DNA of Dr Watson – who shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for medicine – adds another twist to the controversy surrounding the American scientist's comments.

In addition to the 16 per cent of his genes which were identified as likely to have come from a black ancestor of African descent, a further 9 per cent were likely to have come from an ancestor of Asian descent, the test indicated.

I had responded to an article in Slate about this very same issue and look what happens! I wonder if I should welcome him with open arms into the family, lmfbao!