The N* Word

Initially, I was very adamant about preserving the rights for Black people to use the all too mystical word nigga. After watching episodes of Oprah confronting Ludacris, Terrence Howard and Don Cheadle, and having intellectual conversations with my aunt and grandmother my viewpoint began to slowly shift. Tracing the history of the n-word leads to the true disgust and demeaning definition of the word. Many have argued that by taking the word, spinning it and making it ours we are taking the power out of it, and now have control. This is indeed a large white lie.

This is the same justification that women use for calling each other bitches. Either way it is unacceptable. Simply put, if a White man calls a Black man the n-word there are all types of problems and repercussions. In the same manner, if a man calls a woman the b-word there are also repercussions, regardless of whether or not she tries to take control of it and identify herself as one. At the end of the day no woman wants to be called a bitch and no true identifying Black man wants to be called a nigga.

I feel that Black people as a collective group are under constant pressure to perform. They are often underestimated, and undermined. People tend to count Black people out before they even show up. With so many different and mostly negative public views of what it means to be Black, many Blacks in an ironic sense feel the need to live up to that. They feel that acting in what ever particular way is what it means to be Black. This is where many regain their false sense of Black pride or street credentials. Referring to each other by the n-word further materializes this issue. The n-word constitutes a whole bunch of dirty connotations. The word is still listed in some dictionaries with an actual definition other than a racial/ethnic slur. If men and women identify with these definitions it is a clear indication of how they view themselves and each other, which is troubling for the future.

The double-edged word aspect of this debate must end. Yes, in many ways I agree that White people have less of a right and it seems more offensive when the word is coming from them. But, I feel even more adamant that the change must start from within. We as Black people cannot point too many fingers at them for using a derogatory word that we continue to keep alive. I would like our sense of Black pride to lie outside and above and beyond referring to each other as niggas. Education has sadly become a dirty word in many of our Black communities. We must instill a sense of pride in true Black culture instead of our often negative, shameful, (dare I say ghetto?) ways.

There is something troubling about this...

I think that there is definitely something troubling about calling the interbreeding of African bees with European honey bees as "africanizing". Here's the article

The terminology we use to describe things in my opinion really shows underlying biases, and feelings about issues. Now if these bees were from Brazil I would hardly think we'd call it "Brazilianizing" We may perhaps say Brazilian bees, but that would probably be the most as far as technical terms are concerned. What further confirmed my opinions about the underlying bias was the fact that these African bees are associated with overaggressive behavior, kind of the same way Black people are.

Although Africanized bees look like European honey bees, they tend to get irritated faster, respond with more firepower and stay mad longer than other bees, said Kirk Visscher, a professor at the University of California at Riverside, who has studied Africanized bees since 1985.

Their stings aren't more powerful than other bees but they are more aggressive and swarm more often.

It's kind of the concept that once you're Black we have to contain you. Further in the article, they did note that all the existing hives have now been destroyed. I guess I am being a little extreme here. Although I am not denying the need or the seriousness of these bees I just think referring to them as Africanized is problematic. Am I alone on this one?

Last Names..

I do not understand why taking the husbands name is such a big deal in marriage. I mean I have asked around and some guys are content with the wife keeping her name, some are content with her hyphenating it. But despite that most are very adamant about the children having the fathers last name, even those that don't believe in marriage. So I think to myself, you don't believe in marriage but yet you want your children to have your last name. Well i'll be damned, if i'm not married to you the chances of our children having your last name have decreased dramatically. Secondly, the same person was like "she's a female they already know they will lose their name." Which is true somewhat, but I don't know how much I agree with these automatic social constructions we build around "female" and "male" or "woman" and "man," more importantly.


Like how can these people talk of tradition when they don't live their lives traditionally? I mean I would better understand if they were more honest and acknowledged that it is a preference only. I feel like as a woman giving up your last name is a big deal. I'm sure some women are honored and more power to them, but I guess the point is, not everyone is. I may be honored to be your wife but am I honored for you to strip away a part of my identity. I don't really know about all that. And, I think maybe having two last names for your children can be complicated when it comes time for paperwork, other than that it's not. I think if I am truly the "other half" in a relationship I have every right to coin a last name for my children as my husbands, despite TRADITION... But that's just how I feel... so I hope the future or current men in my life are ready to compromise, because I'm hyphenating, there is no debate about that. My children's names aren't as definite so we'll see.

Career?!

I've always had a secret interest to teach. I know I wouldn't mind teaching at the college level, but I would really like to teach at the public school level. Currently, I am a Sales Assistant in a large publishing house. I love to read and I like publishing but this is not hte position that I desire. I would prefer to be in Marketing. I do not feel like there is any creative aspect of m yjob which is what I desire. I nejoyed making sell-sheets and things like that, or brain storming to think of different ways to push books. In Sales you only think of ways to sell books, which doesn't really include the 'pretty' part of marketing.

So I was accepted for an interview for NYC Teaching Fellows, but I never went for the interview because I was then hired for this position. But now, I just keep thinking about teaching. And surprise, surprise it pays more than my current job. I am at $32,000. Teaching starts at $43,000. Thats a good $11,000 difference. That's my school loans.

Then there is school. For the NYC teaching fellows position you have to sign up for a Master of Education program at a NYC school. It is subsidized and you only end up paying about $6,600 of your tuition. That's fine, my only problem is right now I am currently in an online only Master of Communication program. I think that if I ever want to teach at a college level I will need a Ph.D. And I would much rather have my MA in Communication alone or along with a MA in Education than to just have an MA in Education. So I am caught in a limbo. If I would have taken the full-time track I would be finished in a year and that would not conflict. But I am on the part-time two year track. :-/ I really do not know what I should do?

Any, any suggestions would help. You may ask yourself why I want to teach so bad... Well it is because the school system seems to be failing inner-city children, to the point where they are running trial programs which pay children to do well. They literally give them money based on their grades. I do not agree with this at all. It's not like this program is for 12th graders, to promote them to move on out of the system. This is for like fourth graders and 5th graders. Then when they are promoted and in junior high their ambition drops right back down because they feel like they need to be paid to educate themselves. Does anybody else besides me see the ugly irony in this?

Everybody Isn't Meant to Be a Parent

One day I was going to the store and I saw a young woman with two children. One child was in a stroller and there was a little girl, about 4, standing next to her. The child asked for some chips, or some type of snack and whined a bit like any normal child would do. The saying "a kid in a candy shop" exists for a reason. The little girl was not being really bad or loud but her mother yanked the girls arm so hard and dragged her out of the store while muttering some type of expletive to the child. I could not believe my eyes. It was not as if she pulled the infamous tantrum and threw herself on the floor, kicking and screaming. She was calm, just the usual plea of a child who wants sugar. Another lady and myself simply looked at each other and then she said "some people simply are not meant to be parents" I am pro-choice by nature. But incidents like these make me wish there was more information and resources, not necessarily for abortion, but just about parenting in general, whether it was adoption info, abortion info, birth control info or parenting counseling. There needs to be more resources in inner-city communities to help young woman adapt to parenting or opt-out of parenting. Supposedly teenage pregnancies have dropped but the incidents of unprepared/faulty parenting have not. These are issues that need to be severely addressed.

Hair Weaves

Am I really the only one who is starting to truly despise hair weaves? Or better yet women who act like they cannot live without one. Boy these Korean beauty supply store owners are making money off of black people! Now I have rocked weaves in the past and yea I looked cute. But, they pull your edges out, they make you tap your head like a mad person. And I was not a habitual hair weave wearer. I switched it up from perm to braids to weave to whatever. But now I am natural, well I am locking my hair actually. I have friends whom hair I have never seen without a weave that I have known for several years. I have friends who cannot go outside without a wig or weave in their hair. I have a cousin who is locking her hair but wears a wig everyday because she doesnt want to experience the "ugly phase". But my thing is oh, so one magical day your going to pull off your wig and you'll have dreads down to your shoulder? All I can say is 'loser.' Black women embrace some of the same qualities we criticize men for desiring. A bit hypocritical to me. As a recent college grad maybe I will go open a beauty supply shop and watch the premium yaki fall off the shelves just as fast as hair dye and skin lightening creams...

tell me what you think.

Sean Bell

This past Friday, April 25, 2008, the three police officers involved in the Sean Bell case were acquitted of all charges. I was immediately repulsed at the way such criminal cases involving the police are treated. Crimes against the police offer increased mandatory sentencing but crimes from the police towards civilians do not. I do know that the specifics of this particular case may have been unclear, particularly on what started the tension between both parties, but the amount of police force used was excessive. I think that is indeed undeniable, especially for one office that fired 31 shots, and had time to reload.

I know many are seeing this as a race issue as well as a power issue. Yes, two of the cops are Black, but one of those fired only 4 shots, and the other if I am not mistaken was supposedly undercover with alcohol in his system? I am not exactly sure. But either way, working for the police as a Black man is a tricky issue in and of itself. Often Black cops feel that they have to raise the bar with certain issues to prove their allegiance to the police system which often results in stiffer treatment of Black criminals or suspected criminals. In addition, if the victim’s were White I strongly don’t think that these cops would have gotten off regardless of the race of the cops who did the shooting. Although the case was very unclear in some ways, the cops weren’t even charged of being reckless. One bullet even hit the AirTran platform. Now if these charges aren’t criminal and we are blaming it on police training then maybe police training should be altered. My mother is a correction officer and an Air Force Reservist, I am aware that law enforcement officers are trained to shoot to kill. But in the same notion, I wonder if they are taught to use excessive force. It definitely takes my mind back to the Diallo case where the trial was moved to Albany and the cops were acquitted of all charges. Sean Bell’s trial was seen by a judge without a jury, which is something that should be definitely be mentioned.
It definitely presents an issue of whose lives we value. As a state we definitely value the lives of our law enforcement, especially cops but yet they are the lowest paid. I would like to say we value the lives of our citizens but in some realms we probably value the lives of our pets more. In the case of Michael Vick, and the illegal dog fighting ring, which included some deaths and malnutrition, he was given two years jail time. Some of the dogs were also given ‘rehab’ care afterwards. But in the case of human lives, since the police are involved, it isn’t criminal and they are only protecting themselves. I definitely think some things have to change. It sends a horrible message. Naturally, there will be a civil suit, but even that doesn’t overturn to what me seems like an injustice.