Archive | October, 2008

MTV Only sees Premarital ‘Sex’ as a Problem With Young Girls

30 Oct

I’m making the general assumption that some of my older readers aren’t aware of this television show on MTV called “Sex With Mom and Dad.”  I don’t know if any other bloggers have attacked the show from this angle, so if they have, I apologize for the upcoming redundancy….oh well.  But, usually when I watch television, even a movie, I look for a character that often times I can identify with.  If that doesn’t happen usually the movie or show has to appeal to me through other rhetorical and stylistic formulas such as comedy, drama, horror or some kind of action.  If I can’t identify on those levels, well then I think the movie just simply wasn’t created for someone in my demographic–the movie Fargo is a case in point.  Flat out, I think the movie was one of the dumbest movies ever produced.  I watched it more than once and just couldn’t find any remote access point from which to understand it.

“Sex…With Mom and Dad” is an entirely different animal all together.

They had a few black families on there, and generally that’s enough for me to watch and be engaged on some level, even if it is remote.  But, what I noticed was that it was more daughters and their parent(s) who were being featured on the show.

Dr. Drew

For those of you still in the dark, the premise of the show is for a family therapist (psychologist?) named Dr. Drew to help facilitate the sex conversation between teenage children and their parents and to move past the “Don’t do it” from the parents and the “EWWWWW!” factor with the children.  I definitely think it’s breakthrough enough in the realm that the parents are asked to be honest with their children about their own sex life prior at their children’s age.

But, in the few shows that I watched they were with the daughters and, of course, it was always the father wanting to protect “Daddy’s little girl” which of course flies in the face of conventional wisdom that usually portrays Daddy as being a dog back when he was 15, 16 and 17.  Well, that conventional wisdom is kept at bay because out of the five or more shows I’ve watched and seen advertised for, there are only young girls who are at the center of attention when it comes to being cared for about sexually.

Shalimar, 17

This one episode I just watched earlier this week featured a young girl named Shalimar who at one point in the show had three young men she had previously dealt with sexually come to dinner with her parents, aged 18, 19 and 20.  One of whom, the young boy asked her to go half on a baby with.  So when asked by a random ice-breaker question by the therapist via a notecard left at the house, “How good was the sex?” the young man replied he didn’t remember.

STOP. REWIND, PRESS PLAY.

Homeboy didn’t remember?!?!?!? 

By that time I realised that there was as much of an issue of young men having random sex than there was with the young women, if not more so on the basis of men can do the do and not have to worry about pregnancies!  And if that shock wasn’t enough, this same 18 year old when asked what would he do if he and the young girl had gotten pregnant just simply kept his mouth shut and looked dumbfounded.  My shock was further compounded when the 20 year old implied that he would want her to get an abortion; or at the very least that he was not interested in raising a baby.

Now, I’m sure y’all know where I stand on this whole pre-marital sex thing as far as the church is concerned–WHO CARES!!!!!!

I think I’m going to work in tandem with a friend on campus developing a theology on biblical conjecture* because clearly that’s one person’s opinion that’s minimally 2,000 years old.  I’m quite sure we wouldn’t take medical advice from a doctor back then, why take sexual advice from someone back then….

Anywayz…

What I do believe is that teenagers SHOULD and MUST practice SAFE sex at all times.  There’s no need for someone getting pregnant so early and not being able to take care of the child.  I think absentee fathers, daddies (whatever they being called this week) is a mess and half and needs to stop.  I think the larger community needs to put some damn condoms out next to the metal detectors in high school and needs to set a condom bowl somewhere in the youth room in the churches.  And since we’re on the subject, I’m pro-choice.  Whether one believes life starts at conception or not, reality states that people have abortions regardless if its legal or not.  Seeing as how I’ve had friends who’ve had abortions (yes, that’s plural) I would have much rather her been able to go to a doctor and have the abortion done rather than some random doctors office in an abandoned building.

Hmm, wonder what comments and strings of random biblical conjecture scripture I’m going to get about this post already.  I actually didn’t meant to write all that, because it’s off topic, but I’m glad I did.

Back to the topic at hand…

I’m actually disgusted at the sexualization of the young women that MTV has chosen to display on this show.  I’ll say from the outset that perhaps young male teenagers didn’t sign up to be the center of attention in relation to their sex life with their parents, so I take that into consideration.  However, the show comes off as though these young women are forced to be the sexual governors in the relationships that they have while the young men are portrayed as the dogs. 

The three young men who Shalimar had had sex with. R-L 18 year old, 20 year old and 19 year old

In Shalimar’s case, Oh GAAAAAWD, I just wonder what life lessons did those three young men learn: that being with a hot chick got me a spot on MTV?!?!?!?  I’m quite sure their phones have been blowing up with text messages and random phone calls and random Facebook and MySpace messages since their appearances.  I doubt highly that MTV saw to it that those young men received sexual counseling sessions on how to practice safe sex as they continued to mature.

I’m also questioning just how does it portray the father to boyfriend dynamic, granted it’s television, but always seems to fly in the face of “lockerroom” talk that is the norm with teenage males irrespective of race and culture.  Particularly in Westernized culture: we love our sons and raise our daughters–that’s not something that’s only individual to the black community.  We set up this double standard when raising our sons that’s its okay to do all this “sowing of the wild oats” but then we for some reason act a fool if a girl ends up pregnant.  And then have the nerve to weirdly pat the son on the back if he get’s a girl pregnant.

We have equated manhood with sexual prowess in this society, but only in a patrilineal fashion; the same does NOT hold water for father-daughter relationships.  In certain sub-communities in cross-cultural exchanges, one would find that the rumor of being homosexual is uttered if by 15 or 16 a young man is still a virgin and perhaps even by my age at 24 because I’m not married, something must be wrong with me.

This system of pathology is painfully evident in our society.  It is the mindset that gets passed down tacitly and unsaid from generation to generation.  The elders of our society sit back in the rocking chairs of antiquity and mutter “Where did I go wrong?” and the middle generation fails to return the question of “Elder, how do we change with the times?”  The youth in fact get taught antiquated ideals that may have worked for a time when the internet and Facebook didn’t exist, but since sex is only one click away, why are still trying to give advice for a world where only a party line existed in the general store half a mile away when the current reality is already instant messenging and googling the directions to their next hook-up?

I’m not sure if today’s sexual realm is a response to yesterdays anachronisms or a result of them.  I’m open to hear thoughts on that.  My response to the sexualization of society comes from a pragmatic approach: I’m pro-life on all accounts, not just when it comes to abortion, but when it comes to preserving the life of us–folks are dying out on the streets from preventable sexually transmitted diseases.  Honestly, I’d take a St. Augustine approach mixed with Luther if it weren’t for STD’s:  St. Augustine the FAAAAATHER of the Church said “Lord make me chaste…but not yet.” 

E b b a shah-no mah!

But, I think Luther put it best when he simply stated, “Sin boldly!” 

I mean, if you gon do it, have fun while you doing it.  Aint no such thing as half doing it, I mean, enjoy it.  However in the face of HIV/AIDS rates still going up and folks still being silent on the issue even in the face of gruesome statistics, I think something needs to be done.  I still give kudos to MTV for doing such a show (although it weirdly follows the “Parental Control” show which in itself is an affront to parents across the world and the boyfriend/girlfriend relationships of said parents) because I think if children find their parents more “user friendly” perhaps there may be a shift.  I just wish that society would take care of their boys just as much as the girls.

Yeah, I said a mouthful in this post, so feel free to leave comments.  I just really wonder how many church folk are going to read this and then read me up and down with Scriptures because of my stance on abortion and pre-marital sex.

Let The Dead Bury The Dead

28 Oct

This whole weekend everyone on campus, along with my friends back in Chicago have been proclaiming the tragedy of Jennifer Hudson’s mother and brother.  On yesterday the news of her nephew’s murder came to light in addition to the double murder on the campus of University of Central Arkansas.  As for metro Atlanta, there was news of three drive-by shootings resulting in three deaths of three young black males.

So, yesterday one of my colleagues came into a praise team rehearsal and shared all of this with us at the beginning of rehearsal.  A question I had been playing over in my head prior to that rehearsal was “What’s out of the ordinary about this?”  It’s the same question my parents asked aloud when Jack Kennedy was killed in the plane crash after people on the news spoke of the great tragedy that always visted the Kennedy family: ”What’s so different about their tragedy from someone elses?” 

Although I think the triple murder of one family would have warranted city-wide local coverage back in Chicago, and even daresay national coverage simply because it was one family that essentially murdered, it would not have garnered the same coverage had it not been the family of a star.  The family members would not have been escorted to the coroners office to identify the bodies; helicopters would not have been hovering overhead to catch glimpses of the family walking into the coroners office; there would have been no mention of websites established to set up funds for the family on national news outlets.

I remember when I got to Maryland for my internship D.C. had just dealt with a plethora of homicides, seven alone in the first weekend I had got there and there was NOT the same amount of national coverage–in fact it had been normalised to the point that people had continued to go about daily life as though nothing had happened.  Even one of the neighbors on the block which Hudson’s mother lived said they heard the gunshots but didn’t call police because gunshots were such a part of life it didn’t warrant a 911 call.

As I received text messages about them finding a body in the SUV and then confirming it as Hudson’s nephew with a bullet through his head, I replied on my phone “Sadly…I’ve moved on.” 

Let the dead bury the dead.

Jesus in the Luke 9 passage admonishes a man who wishes to follow him to “let the dead bury the dead” when the man expresses his desire to bury his father.  As insensitive as it sounds from Jesus, I believe it is a sentiment that makes sense: we have a responsibility as living souls to be concerned with the preservation of life.  The dead are dead and are not coming back.  Even in the pastoral care and counseling classes offered here at ITC, the professors makes the students use the word “dead” as opposed to other euphemisms such as “passed” or “deceased.” 

As churches put up signs to remember the Hudson family, who put up signs to remember the family of Blair Holt who was shot to death on the 103rd street bus in May of 2007 coming home from school, actually protecting a female friend from the spray of bullets.  Who put up signs to remember the other CPS students who were shot and killed during the last school years?

While the death of Jennifer Hudson’s family is tragic, it should not overshadow the fact that this happens across the country everyday.  Not just in homicides, but in death in general.  I had a friend text me that this was so sad because not just the family would be affected by this, but also the nephew’s school and teachers and classmates who would have to deal with the abscence of a student.  Well, I told him that young kids die everyday, not just from bullets but from cancer and other diseases and illnesses, even car accidents.

Death is the ultimate statistic: 10 out of every 10 people die!

It’s time to move to the point of preventing the people from being killed in the first place.  It does us NO good sitting around bemoaning the fact that these people are dead.  This is not said out of insensitivity for the families of the deceased, but rather out of respect for the living; what are we really doing to preserve life of the already living.

Yes, I will be equally sad when my parents die, and my aunts and uncle and other older cousins if they preceed me in death, but as my mother said to much to frustration when I was younger, but it still holds true, “I’m not about to lay down in the street just because mama died.” 

We must not lay down and die along with the dead.  By all means, let the dead bury the dead.

Keep it uppity and keep it truthfully radical, JLL

Are Black Men Always the Culprit?

27 Oct

It’s old news by now, but given the fact that I’ve been AWOL for now over a week, I feel the need to write about it.  Yes, it’s the story of Ashley Todd.  Below is a preliminary report on Ashley Todd that made national news.

A McCain campaign volunteer who reported that a tall black man robbed her and then cut a “B” onto her cheek after seeing a McCain bumper sticker on her car has been given a polygraph test because of “inconsistencies” in her story, police said.

Police said the student, Ashley Todd, of College Station, Texas, who is white, told them she was attacked by a 6-foot-4 black man Wednesday night.

Among other things, police said photos and bank card information from an automated teller machine where the college student claimed she was robbed do not show her using the machine at the time, police said.

Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Diane Richard wouldn’t release the polygraph results, but said, “we’re still looking at some inconsistencies” in the woman’s story.

I guess inconsistencies were an understatement.

As it stands, she recanted her entire statement and it appears that all of her facial injuries were self-inflicted.  Currently she is being recommended for psychiatric care.

Well, the benchmark in cases like this is the Susan Smith story of 1994 when the 23-year-old mother drowned her own kids in a lake and blamed a black man for the crime.  She went on television and boo-hooed endlessly while her husband stood by equally as dismayed.  Of course, her story unravelled as well.  But I think the problem is that in this country, we’re so easily baited by racial issues that such a story was believable.

Just as believable as the Duke Lacrosse team being accused of raping the black stripper.

However, it still echoes of a country who’s racial problems have yet to be solve; where we’ve yet to adequately deal with the pathology of slavery and Jim Crow teachings where subtle and tacit prejudices are passed down from generation to generation in both black and white families.  My pastor always said from the pulpit “Not everyone of your color is of your kind; and not everyone not your color is against you.”

It’s hard to listen to stories such as this one with Ashley Todd because she descibed a 6’4″ black male.  Well, I’m 6’2″ and prolly an inch taller if I wear Timbs, that’s enough for me to be stopped if I was walking on the street in the vicinity.  My mind goes back to the Emmett Till and his run ins with a white woman, and the alleged violence of a white woman that sparked the riots in Rosewood, Florida in 1922.  A lot of crap has happened in this country when a white woman cried foul.

Often times, the black male is pointed to as the culprit.

Why is it that the black male in many instances is the culprit?  Is it that it’s just part of life; are we always in the wrong place at the wrong time?  I daresay that instances like this of Ashley Todd or even Susan Smith are the mere results of the ethos of our time.  Apparently a zeitgest from which we have failed to move from since 1865.

Even after watching a clip from Anderson Cooper’s CNN special from last year when they were interviewing Chicago Public School high schoolers after the number of CPS murders had skyrocketed in the past two years, one of the young men said “It’s just the way it is” already succumbing to the fact that life could not and can not be different than what it already is.  If it was as simple as “getting up and getting a job” I’m quite convinced “they” would have done it already.

The cycle of violence perpetuating more violence in one’s own community coupled with how those outside of those communities view them does nothing more than fuel the flames of the demise of the black male.

Frankly, I’m tired of seeing this ish day in and day out.  I’m waiting for something to change.  I don’t know what that change looks like or what it feels like.  But somethings got to give and quickly.

Am I the only one who sees this?

Keep it uppity and keep it truthfully radical, JLL

My Final Political Post Prior To November 5th

20 Oct

Really, I’ve had it up to here.

**points to my eyes**

This political season has worn me OWT!  Maybe it’s because I’m blogging and I’m looking at things different; or maybe it’s because this is the first time I’ve had 24 hour cable access–I don’t know.  But what I do know is that barring anything cataclysmic between now and November 4th, I’m not really writing anymore blogs about these political candidates, so get your fill now because I’m done.

Below is the list of the people in the political arena, be they a candidate or someone related to the candidates, so here goes.

Senator Barack Hussein Obama (D-Ill.)  This man has become as Bill Maher said on Larry King’s show last night, the Jackie Robinson of politics.  He has maintained an even temper even in the face of persecution from as he called the “wingnuts” which was short of the “Right-wing nuts.”  Seriously, even though I didn’t see the debates, the fact that Obama didn’t even come for Sarah Palin just proved who was really in control of this race.  The man is everything everyone should strive to be in this country.  Whether one agrees with him ideologically or not, this is a cool brutha.

Not to mention the fact that as far as I’m concerned his politics are on point.  Regardless of what critics may say, I believe that health care should be a right and not a responsibility as was noted in the Town Hall Debates.  I’m interested to see just how well the tax plan will work for those making under $250K a year.  I think Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania had it right when he said on CNN on this past Thursday that getting taxed more begins to pale in comparison to what one is making.  Fact of the matter is, the more you make, the more you can afford to pay.  Moreover, how often do these fools find tax loopholes and end up not paying in the first place.

I’m not expecting Obama to be this great hope for the nation, perhaps like others, but he’ll definitely be a change from what we’ve been used to seeing.

Senator John Sidney McCain (R-Ariz.) Honestly, prior to his vice-presidential pick, I was alright with John McCain.  I wasn’t bowled over for him, particularly in the face of one Barack Obama, but still I could deal with him.  Honestly, I remember him being the Republican who you’d hear about on television and often times it was for political stance that he took that often times I agreed with.  Not all the time, but often times.  Personally, I would always give some Republicans the benefit of the doubt if McCain’s name was attached to it.

I don’t know if he got co-opted by the Republican Party machine or what, but when he picked homegirl from Alaska, I realised something was in the air.   Honestly, I’m sticking to this small conspiracy theory that McCain is really being controlled by some bigger forces.  This attack dog politics is NOT his M.O.  I mean, look at him, aside from a flaring temper, he’s not a passionate man.  He’s relatively controlled in his movements, his speeches aren’t rousing at all and he actually looks like a puppet the way he moves his arms when he talks.

His policies….well, I’m not convinced he took the approach to the Georgia-Russian conflict that I would have liked, and his health care plan…well, you know where I stand on that as well.  His Iraq war policy isn’t what I agree with and he’s remiss to come out strong against George Bush.  Seriously, if you’re that much of a maverick then leave the party.   If he had left the party and just used the money from his wife, which would have been more than enough, then he would have been able to criticize Bushy and perhaps he’d be a bit closer in the polls.

McCain just gives me doddering old man who you kind of want to pat on the head and say “Come on now Grampa, lets go take your medicine.”  Seriously, I’m afraid for his life.  They already say the presidency adds about 10 years to your life.  Just look at Clinton and Bush, both of them had near white hair by the time they left (leave) office compared to their first years.

Governor Sarah Louise Heath Palin (R-Alaska)  If there was ever a lapse in judgment, this was it.  Well, there was always J. Danforth Quayle, but the dynamics were different.  Back in 1988, the Republican ticket surged ahead of Mondale and Betteson after their convention.  Well, that most certainly didn’t happen, it was just that finally we had statistical dead heat after the summer campaigning was done.  Also, Bush was a vice-president running for president after two term Ronald “Teflon” Reagan had been in office for 8 years.

She’s certainly a mess.  She was found guilty of ethics violations, albeit minor, and she claims to have foreign policy experience because she can see Russia from her backyard.  She further allows for the incendiary and vicious and malicious attacks of Obama to be yelled out at campaign rallies do her fear-mongering.  Not to mention she’s conservative as hell on social issues and she has a husband who was a member of a secessionist party and moreover that this same party, Alaska Independence Party has endorsed her vice-presidential candidacy.

And she doesn’t blink.

Senator Joseph Robinette Biden (D-Del.)   Yeah, who’s heard from him?!?!?!  Do we need to put an APB for him?   Last thing I heard from him was the VP debates.

“Jooooooooe!  Wheeerrree Arrrrrre Yoooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuu…..”

If you see this man, please let the UNN know.

Republican Party.   I really question motives of certain die-hard Republicans.  I worry more about the working middle class ones because I think Obama was friggin right–they cling to their guns and religion and somehow fail to think outside of the box and get the bigger picture on some issues.  I think you’d be hardpressed to get some citizens of West Virginia or rural Pensylvania to articulate John McCain’s tax plan or health care policies or even what his foreign policy platform is on Iraq and how that may affect them down the line.  But they know that Sarah Palin is against abortion (think: religion), and that they know for a FACT that Obama is a Muslim and he “pals around” with terrorists such as Bill Ayers and people like Jeremiah Wright, but they let homegirl get prayed over by a witch doctor.

I comment on AverageBro’s blog frequently and there’s this one commenter who’s self-identified as a white Republican.  For what it’s worth, I wish more Republicans were as involved in the political process as him. As far as this political season is concerned, what’s bothering me is that many of these Republicans are spouting these Sarah Palin talking points as though they are fact.   McCain and Palin have been slow to acknowledge that Obama is not a Muslim.  Okay, I’ll concede Bill Ayers and Wright are a liability, but I’ll go so far as to say, if there was something to be had in the connection, don’t you think it would have shown up by now?

Seriously, if FoxNews back in March and April was willing to take the sick and shut-in list from the order of service at Trinity and call up sick folk in the hospital to see how did they feel now that Wright had been thrusted into the media spotlight, don’t you think by now they would have found something if there really was something?

I’m hoping Maher predicted correctly the “Reverse Bradley Effect“  when he said that white folk would get in a voting booth and realize that their kid needs braces or needs to go to the doctor and vote for Obama hoping that the curtain is really closed so that their friends don’t see who they really voted for.

Right WingNuts.  This is the section of ultra conservatives who fail to even remotely see how race affects the everyday lives of black people in this country.  This is also the section of society, even some Democrats who said they’re not voting for Obama either a) because he’s a Muslim or b) because he’s black.  Or even this lady:

A Wisconsin mother is furious that her tax dollars helped buy a middle-school textbook that includes a passage from Barack Obama’s speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention — but has no mention of John McCain.

The woman, who spoke to FOXNews.com on the condition of anonymity because she feared business reprisals, became upset after her 13-year-old son told her his advanced English class in Racine, Wis., had read about Barack Obama in a textbook, “McDougal Littell Literature, Grade 8.”

The textbook, published by an arm of Houghton Mifflin Company, focuses on a portion of Obama’s 1995 autobiography, “Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance,” in which Obama writes about a month-long visit by his Kenyan father when he was 10 and living in Hawaii.

The 20-page section, which kicks off with a student discussion of “What Makes You Proud?” ends with a portion of Obama’s  speech, “Out of Many, One,” at the 2004 Democratic Convention in Boston, and a photo of him there, surrounded by Obama placards.

Obama was running for Senate in Illinois in 2004.

“The kicker was the photo towards the end with Obama and at least eight visible Obama signs, and the one with the Web site on it,” she said. “Obviously, it was the 2004 Web site, but you can still go right to it, and I think that to me was just over the top. It didn’t need to be in there.”

The mother said any mention of Obama should have included passages from other politicians, such as McCain.

Clearly it wasn’t all that news worthy if FoxNew was the only website I found the story on from a Google search.  Or even this following story:

A Republican women’s club in San Bernardino County sent out a recent newsletter with a photo of Barack Obama surrounded by fried chicken, watermelon and ribs, sparking widespread outrage and rebuke from GOP leaders and Democrats.

The illustration shows the Democratic presidential candidate’s head atop a donkey’s body on a bogus $10 bill referred to as “Obama Bucks.” Inscribed on the money are the words “United States Food Stamps” surrounded by stereotypical African American food.

The October newsletter went out to about 200 members of the Chaffey Community Republican Women, Federated, based in Upland.

“I apologize to anyone who was offended because that was not my intent,” said club President Diane Fedele. “It was poor judgment on my part. It was strictly an attempt to point out the outrageousness of Obama’s statement that he doesn’t look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.”

The caption reads: “Obama talks about all those presidents that got their names on bills. If elected, what bill would he be on ????? Food Stamps, what else!”

This is what we’re up against.  Just plain old foolishness and stupidity.  And these people vote.  Do not be fooled that this is the machinations of some random rednecks from a southern state, but San Bernadino, California–home of the Bradley Effect.

Well, that’s about it for now.  Don’t expect much between now and the day after election day.  At this rate, barring any unforseen thaumatological experience for John McCain, which would be cataclysmic for Obama, I can start write my victory blog, set to publish on November 5th sometime in the early morning.

Well, I didn’t mean to write all of that, but I’m glad I did.

What are your thoughts on the people and entities that I mentioned.  I know I threw some “identity politics” into it, but on that level how do these entities make you feel.

Keep it uppity and keep it truthfully radical, JLL

Colin Powell Endorses Sen. Barack Obama–Whoda thunkit?

19 Oct

This is a short post.

But seriously come on now, I mean, granted this presidential race is NOT over by a longshot, but the fact that retired General Colin Powell, a Republican, endorsed Sen. Barack Obama’s candidacy today proves to me that McCain is really off of his rocker.  I mean, if Colin Powell could tell that the charge that he’s a terrorist is THE dumbest thing said this campaign season, even over the ish flung by Bill Clinton then perhaps Republicans need to evaluate this charge.

So, allegedly McCain will creep up in the polls by driving home this “income redistribution” jive he’s been spitting for some weeks now.  Well, Hilary Rosen of CNN put that argument in it’s place by saying, so what was it called when back in the 1980′s when the tax breaks were given to the wealthy and somehow they never “trickled down” to the middle class.  The 5-percenters had their chance in the late 70′s and 80′s and now it’s time for the 95-percenters to get their piece of the pie.

McCain, it’s time for you to hang up your hat and go off into that good night.

Also, I’m still hanging my hat on Bill Maher’s Reverse Bradley Effect for November 4th.

What effects on the Independent voters do you think Colin Powell’s endorsement will have?

Keep it uppity and keep it truthfully radical, JLL

Sunday Morning Coffee Break: ‘Religulous’ Movie Review

19 Oct

I treated myself on Friday night to go see Bill Maher’s new movie “Religulous.”  I joked, half serious that I was renouncing Christianity and assuming a belief system based on love.  As far as I’m concerned Maher did a pretty accurate depiction of everyday, borderline evangelical Christianity in this country.

The opening venue is a truckside chapel with some real Joe Six-packs who perhaps are married to some hockey moms in the chapel listening to Maher and a) I thought it was interesting that he had notecards the entire time.  I’m not sure if it was because he just wanted to stay on task, or was it really because he didn’t know some of the stuff.

Meh, who knows.

Of course he went in there and began questioning EVERYTHING.  And one of the truckers got up and walked out because he said “I don’t know what kind of documentary this is, but you aint gon’ be tearing apart my God.”  And he walked out.  At least the others, as Bill noted acted Christ-like in engaging in his dialogue, and not like Christians.

the intrinisically unhappy gay folk at a parade celebrating their sexuality

He proceeded to discuss theology with a man who considers himself reformed from homosexuality because clearly he doesn’t accept that as in the will of God. This despite the fact that as Bill proclaimed, there are many, many happy gay folk who don’t think twice about what religion thinks, let alone God.  The man went on to say that these were intrinsically unhappy people.

Maher also went to a number of other places, one of which was the Vatican where he got kicked out rather quickly and ran into a priest who sounded American, prolly somewhere on the East Coast who was old and balding, and essentially had adopted my new motto towards religion “It’s all vanities.”  Bill couldn’t help but laugh because essentially, the old guy was agreeing with everything Bill said. 

Later they showed Bill at the Holy Land Theme Park in Orlando, sponsored by TBN (which immediately turned me off) and the certain re-enactments of the crucifixion story.  It was about as hokey as when the Simpson’s went to Praiseland.  He even talked with “Jesus” who kept giving all of these platitudes about why Christians believe what they do. 

By about this point in the movie, it was wearing thin on me what the whole point of this movie was.  I somewhat started texting on my phone when he got to the interviews with the Muslims, but not before I watched the BUFFOONERY that was the Orthodox Jew who adhered strictly to the 39 rules in Leviticus about what one could not do on the Sabbath.  I mean, this guy felt that he couldn’t push a button because it was punishable by DEATH in the Torah.

Whoever said works are needed to get into heaven needs to give this man a golden star.

He also took the time out to ask a few scientists what their take on it was, and of course we got the standard scientific answers.  But what I thought was the best interview because it was just so candid was his interview with Arkansas U.S. Senator Mark Pryor who, po’ thang, came off as not just a religious fruitcake but a general nut in the first place.  After not having an answer to Bill’s sardonic remark that “I have a problem with the people running my country who believe in a talking snake” making a reference to Gen. 3 and po’ Marky responds “Well, you don’t have to pass an IQ test to get in the Senate.”  And Bill Maher totally deadpanned the comment in wonderful Maher fashion.  And then they cut back to Marky who had an “Oh Sh!t” look on his face like a deer caught in the headlights.

It was wonderful.

Now, I’m not sure just what level of intrigue did he do with certain segments of religious life because I thought that he left out a lot of the redeeming factors of liberal Christianity.  What he suceeded at was interviewing the nutcases who don’t know anything.  People like Jeremiah Cummings (yes, the one from Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes), who looks like a Louis Farrakhan reject, who insisted on being called “Doctor” in the interview even though he has NO degree whatsoever, or the Rabbi who was anti-Zionist who was clearly as much of a one-sided fanatic as Bill himself can be.  But even though these people are certified in my opinion, these are the people who have far and wide-reaching appeal to the masses.

These people know nothing more than their parishoners.  I thought it was an accurate claim in some cases in Maher’s closing pronouncement of doom against religion that the preachers, pastors, imams and rabbis are doing nothing more than providing an opiate for the masses–not his exact words, but these borrowed words from Karl Marx I think drive his point home.  Although if I remember, Maher pushed it a bit further and said that various clergy from the three major religions are in fact instrumental to the destruction of humanity causing blindness to world issues by placing religion first.

Meh, for the most part I agree with him.  I’m not sure opiate for the masses is necessarily the intent of many clergy; I’m quite convinced that the clergy believe just as strongly as the laity in many cases.  However, for someone to watch this movie, it should make one slightly more uncomfortable sitting on the pew on Sunday morning.

To bring home my ultimate criticism, he didn’t interview one single seminary trained clergy or professor of religion.  No one with a Ph.D. in the field of religion of the Christian persuasion was interviewed.  I suspect because of what I saw that perhaps he’d be shocked at the level of liberalism that exists amongst trained and educated clergy.  Those with real Ph.D’s behind their name.  Of course those with degrees run the gamut as far as liberal and conservative.  Of course someone graduating from New Orleans Baptist Seminary, or Dallas Theological Seminary is not  going to think the same way as someone who graduated from Vanderbilt or Princeton Theological Seminary.

But of course Bill was going for the shock and comedic value of the movie.  I mean, there was to be a real documentary done on this topic, do you think they would have let Bill Maher be the moderator.

Well, I didn’t mean to write all of that, but I’m glad I did.

I welcome your comments.  Have you gone to see the movie?  Would you pay money to go see Bill Maher ack a fool?  Why would you or why wouldn’t you?  For those die hards out there, if you feel your faith is being challenged or mocked, I ask is it really a faith at all if it can’t stand up to the likes of Bill Maher.

Keep it uppity and keep it truthfully radical, JLL

What’s Your ‘Hood Status? Pt. II

17 Oct

Earlier this week before I got swamped down with being here in school, I posted a blog called What’s Your Hood Status? that tackled the issue of the fine line between being uppity and being elitist and how does one balance that without being elitist.

I had a simple answer: Let me drive a Dodge Charger and I’ll be alright.

I made the argument, perhaps not clearly, but I tried to, that having a Charger would act as a tacit announcement to other people in the ‘hood that despite me having all these degrees, he’s still one of us.  Or to borrow the coined Rev. Al phrase, everyone would know I know how to “keep it real.”  

Well, I saw myself going down a pigeon hole in the last blog when it came to black folk and material stuff compared to white folk and material stuff and I was conscious to not go down that road and I said let me save it for a part two post.  So here it is.

First, let it be said, the pathology behind black folk and our stuff clearly stems from the institution of slavery in this country.  Slaves saw how much emphasis was placed on material possessions in this country and once the time was right (ie after the Civil War) and after whites placed the burden of assimilation onto the former slaves, these Negroes bought into the ideal of wanting and having stuff in a vain attempt of being accepted by their white countrymen.

It didn’t work then and I’m not convinced it’s working now.

As with any culture, they take what they know indigenously and the culture of the new world and often times synthesize the two and make a unique melange of the culture–often times celebrated by the New World.  Not in black folks case.  Lawwwwd Jaysus, we have been criticized at every turn for how we dress, what kind of music we listen to, how we talk* and how we interpret and understand religion.

As I said in the earlier post, we have our stuff, but we put our own flare to it and truly make it ours.  That’s why I said you rarely would see a white guy (you, do, but it is rare) with a two-tone colored Charger with matching rims.

Secondly, I wonder where has this pathology brought us, or perhaps kept us as black people.  Is our emphasis on stuff perhaps an overemphasis on stuff?  I’m quite sure that if you turn on the latest rap video, or better yet, just ask T.I. what the hell is the pathology behind “You can have whatever you like” and then perhaps we’ll see just how bad the state of things is.

Personally, I like T.I. as a person, I’ve heard him on “Hip Hop Versus America Pt. I” and on numerous other interviews and was quite pleased at the words coming out of his mouth, but still….”you can have whatever you like”….if that’s not buying into materialism then I don’t know what is.

What is it all worth?  I think the writer of Ecclesiates was right “It’s all vanities.”

I in turn question what is the good in having the Charger?  Yes, I even pose it to myself.  Will people really look at me differently because I have a Charger or am I hanging false hopes of recognition on a car which would only buy me temporary happiness.  As I said, I was quite clear I wanted this car for ‘hood status; but at the end of the day, would I really have it?  Would be one of the “boys” from the block because I drove one?  Or would I merely be selling myself short in order to be recognised by people who really don’t give a damn one way or the other in the first place.

I still want to be able to connect with people period, on whatever level that maybe.  Honestly, if having a Charger means that, then by all means, I want a Charger.

*By all means please read James Baldwin’s essay ”If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me What Is.”

Do you think there’s a pathology behind black folks and materialism that’s vastly different than that of white people’s pathology? What is ‘hood status in your opinion? Is it worth obtaining?  Or have I just rambled on so much in this article that I made absolutely NO SENSE AT ALL?!?!?

Keep it uppity and keep it truthfully radical, JLL

Celebrating A Double Anniversary

15 Oct

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!

I’ve been around for ONE whole year!!!!

YUP, it was a year ago today that my friend at Soul Jonz sat down with me and suggested I started a blog.  And my first blog was posted on October 15, 2007.

Here are a few interesting statistics about my blog.

YAY!!!!  This is also my 200th post, I didn’t plan on it being this way, but yeah, it kinda just happened this way, so it’s a double anniversary in that sense.

So, as I solicit, show me some love, you know where.

Keep it uppity and keep it truthfully radical, JLL

What’s Your ‘Hood Status?

14 Oct

Especially since this summer, anyone who has been around me knows what two kinds of cars I want.  First of all I drive a 2001 Chrysler Concorde right now.  When I got down to ATL my friends, well Supreme Uppity nick named it “The Cruise Ship” or “The Boat.”

I remembered when we got like 10 inches of snow back last December how I really wasn’t all that worried about getting stuck on Chicago’s unplowed side streets.

Me driving my parents car to go pick them up from O'Hare...yup that's the Cruise Ship

4900 Block of Kimbark totally covered in snow.

1300 block of East 49th with the Kenwood Park on the left.

Anywayz…

What I really wanted was a Chrysler 300 prior to the 2004 models.  It was just something about ‘em, but I just didn’t want to pay for the one’s I saw, so I went with the Concorde–which has served me wonderfully! 

Then 2006 came and Dodge dropped the Charger.

Well, this was a throwback to the old two door muscle car Charger manufactured by Dodge in the 60′s and it just screamed muscle car.  It had been a while since on production level had the American public seen something like it.  And the marketing tools worked for the Chrysler company.  The 300 was regarded as the ‘Hood Bentley and the Charger just gave you plain ol’ hood status.

Slowly my love for the Charger grew.  Ya know, everytime I would go to the dealership with my dad to get one of our cars fixed, we’d always go and check out the new cars.  The Charger just always felt right.  So this summer, believe it or not, one of the kids shared my affinity for the Charger and ever since I’ve been on Charger watch.

Anyone from any major urban center knows how these Chargers look.  I’ve seen all creme with creme colored rims, two-tone green and navy blue, taxi cab yellow.

So, this summer when I was back home, I had walked up to that wonderful Chicago establishment Pepe’s on 53rd Street and I was just mentioning to Uppity Friend that I wanted a Dodge Charger and she asked why–and my answer was “So I could have ‘hood status.”

Well, for those of you that have read her guest blogs, then you know how she responded.

I didn’t really have a long answer prepared, but I was quite clear that aside from the aesthetic appeal, I wanted that car for hood status.

Well why, pray tell, would an uppity Negro want ‘hood status, of all things?

Here, I’ll tell you.

There is a fine line between uppityness and elitism.  There are times when I can be quite the elitist, but it’s something that leaves a bad taste in my mouth.  I think it screams elitism when you go to IHOP or Applebee’s and you expect the same service you get from Houston’s.  I almost cringed when I went to Bar Louie’s with Uppity Negress and she didn’t want to tip the server because “he took too long.”  It wasn’t like we were in a rush and I convinced her finally to leave a tip.

In my own twisted world I want to be able to still be on level with people who don’t have a college degree and who aren’t in a dual masters degree program.  Ya know, I heard my pastor talk about growing up poor and as I got older I just rolled my eyes at the notion.  I’m not saying that they didn’t struggle at times–but being the son of a minister in an inner city church, and coming from a family where both sets of grandparents had college degrees prior to 1940 does not constitute poor.

Poor is my mother, who’s mother came up on the train from country Mississippi in 1949 with three kids and pregnant with the fourth, moved into Altgeld Gardens on the South Side and lived with two other WHOLE families and then moved to the West Side on 16th and Christiana until she was seven and then grew up in Ida B. Wells.  That’s poor.  Even my dad recognises that in some respect he had it better down south simply because his parents owned their house and somehow sent ALL five of their kids to private Catholic school.

No, trust me, I’m not bemoaning the fact that my parents felt it special enough to drive to Anchorage, Alaska and back and further solidifying an uppity Negro experience, but I just want to be able to have a conversation with some of my friends and not have them think that I think that I’m better than them because I went to car-ledge (**in my best Madea accent**).

There exists this age old tension between the have and the have-nots, the privileged and the under-privileged and daresay, the unprivileged.  Uppity Friend, along with another friend I mentioned it to, engaged unapologetically, their DuBosian ideals of elitism and simply responded “Well, why would you want to be affirmed on their level?”

I’ve thought about it in many ways.  First, I think part of it really is me buying into the whole materialism of this world.  I mean, I read magazines like Vibe or Complex and I’ll pick up GQ from time to time and the magazine, as anyone knows is majority advertisements, and often fashion and car advertisements.  Clearly, from my post on yesterday, you can see that I am quite aware of fashion–may not be able to afford it, but meh, who cares, I want it. 

Hood culture is heavily materialistic.  Some would argue over-materialistic and I would ask, over materialistic compared to what?  Most certainly not compared to this country where one’s wealth and value is placed on what they can buy?  The bigger the house, the better; the bigger the car, the better; the more clothes, shoes, cars, houses one has the better–just ask Sen. John McCain and his wife.  Truth be told, blacks are still the ones a day late and a dollar short on the whole materialism thing.  While whites in this country had since the early 1600′s to lay the foundation for their wealth on this continent, we’ve only had 143 years.

The difference is that blacks just always were more flamboyant with our material possessions, we just want everyone to make sure that they know that we have more.  Even though whites buy and drive Chargers, you’d almost never see a 30 year old white guy driving one of those cars up above–but go into any ‘hood in America you’ll see a 30 year old black dude driving it, with a sick paint job and rims to match it.

I said all that to say that, it all boils down to I want someone to look at me when I drive through the neighborhood.  I want the status attached to it.  I want to be a head-turner.  I want people to look and talk about me.  I want to get props for having a Charger.

Secondly, I really think it’s because of the attention that I would get for it that it would keep me on level with some of my friends. 

I’ve read many articles and stories about the black kids that get teased for “acting white” because they they did well in school or talked with proper diction and pronunciation and enunciation of their words.  While I did get teased for that in high school, it wasn’t merciless and it wasn’t to the point at all where I let my grades slip.  What I’m afraid of is being labeled one of those “I have arrived” Negroes. 

You know who I’m talking about, those, somewhat like my pastor, who has somehow forgotten in the weirdest of ways where they came from.  Those are the ones where there is a disconnect between them and, how shall I say “the common people.”  I don’t mean “common people” as a put down, but for lack of a better term, I want to get my point across.

The problem for me is that I’m not a “common” person.  The fact that I graduated from college no longer made me average.  Slowly but surely, there are other qualifiers that get attached to my description.  No longer am I just a young black male, I am a young black male who graduated from college.  No longer am I just that, but know I am a young black male who’s in a dual masters degree program.  And prayerfully I’ll be a young black male under the age of thirty with a Ph.D.  I mean, that affects my worldview.  My outlook is NOT the same as my friends who didn’t graduate college!

So, if a Dodge Charger is what keeps me connected to those friends in my life, then dammit, I want a Dodge Charger.

Okay, I really got into this one.  I’m quite sure that I’m going to do a part two on this one tomorrow.  Question:  Do you really think that the uppityness versus elitism really exists?  How does one go about maintaining relationships from the past–particularly when you don’t want to come off as condescending in conversation.

Keep it uppity and keep it truthfully radical, JLL

Things (This) Uppity Negro Likes: Benjamin Bixby Clothing Line

13 Oct

We’ve all heard of the blog “Stuff White People Like” (wow, they’re using the same WordPress format as I do and they’ve paid to get that “.wordpress” dropped from theirs, don’t worry about it, I’m gonna do it one of these days) and the answer to it “Stuff Black People Love” and it’s close cousin “Stuff Educated Black People Like” the latter is now defunct blog with the last post in May 2008–but I’m still going strong over here at the UNN (yup, one year celebration on October 15th, 2008). 

So, I guess I’m starting a new topic called “Stuff (This) Uppity Negro Likes” simply because I’m quite sure some others like me are attracted to this and others, who perhaps, aren’t.

Actually, AverageBro and his post beat me to what I really wanted to write about which was Andre 3000′s clothing line called Benjamin Bixby that finally got picked up by Barney’s NY during fashion week back in September.  Clearly this is a throwback to 1930′s era clothing lines.  Meh, it does look a little different, but it’s definitely something that an uppity Negro like myself takes a “cotton” to.

Yeah, I did say “cotton to.”

Aside from ending the sentence in a preposition, I just couldn’t help but think about what AverageBro said when he did his post on this.

I don’t shop in the mall much, so I’m not even sure this stuff ever sells for the actual retail price in legitimate (ie: non-ghetto mall/swap meet knockoff) stores. In fact, the only time I ever really see any of these “lines” is when I occasionally stop by a discount retailer like Marshalls or TJ Maxx. Those stores are like a graveyard for these “urban clothing lines”. I still see FUBU gear in there to this day.

I guess it was For Us, By Us, and Abandoned By Us. It’s also 50% off, so rack up.

Thus, I wonder how long it’ll be before Outkast’s Andre 3000′s Benjamin Bixby line ends up on the clearance rack, cause I just can’t see nobody wanting to dress up like some ghetto Bagger Vance. [emphasis added]

Yeah, a Ghetto Bagger Vance.

Suffice it to say, he wasn’t in favor of this.  Personally, I draw the lines at the knickers mahself, but I’m quite sure that there are some young men out here at the AUC would rock this with no questions asked.  I mean, couldn’t you just see some NPHC male organization come out at Morehouse’s homecoming dressed like the above pictures?

Well, hopefully I’ll find some other things that this uppity Negro likes and I will be sure to share it with you all.

Seriously, would I look like a ghetto Bagger Vance if I rocked these fits?

Keep it uppity and keep it truthfully radical, JLL

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