Raven-Symone: When Confusion Meets Ignorance.

In a recent interview on E! News, Raven-Symore was said to have declared that she didn't see herself as an African-American. Cool. If she doesn’t want to be affiliated with the African American community, fine. This is a free country where everyone has the right to affiliate with whatever racial group they choose. We are in a society where there have been so many cross-breeding that some products of such sexual liaisons naturally get confused as to their racial groups.

The former child star however over-reached herself when she mixed confusion with abject ignorance by declaring that; “I am from every continent in Africa, except for one, and I'm from every continent in Europe, except for one."

Can someone please tell the “poor” young woman that she could have derived DNA from every country in Africa and Europe. But there is only one African continent just as there is only one European continent. In the same vein, she is genetically implying that too many species of human beings from across Africa and Europe had, in the past few centuries, engaged in crazy sexual relationships. And that the person called Raven-Symore is a final product of the craziness. What a confused, ignorant individual!

Where Are the Real Black Men?

“You rarely see real black men in America…true black men. Often times, he has to take some of the bass out of his voice or shorten one of his vertebrae. He still has to answer as dependent on someone else for something else.” – Terrence Howard.

Black America's Invisible Crisis by Lois Beckett.

In America, violent crime is down significantly since 1993, when the nation’s gun homicide rate hit its peak. But there are still neighborhoods in cities like Oakland, Detroit, New Orleans, and Newark, New Jersey, where shootings are a constant occurrence and where the per capita murder rates are drastically higher than the rest of the country. Some 3,500 American troops were killed during the eight-year war in Iraq. Within the same time period, 3,113 people were killed on the streets of Philadelphia. According to FBI data, between 2002 and 2012 Chicago lost more than 5,000 people to homicide—that’s nearly three times the number of Americans killed in action in Afghanistan…

Over the past 20 years, medical researchers have found new ways to quantify the effects of the relentless violence on America’s inner cities. They surveyed residents who had been exposed to violence in cities such as Detroit and Baltimore and noticed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): nightmares, obsessive thoughts, a constant sense of danger. In a series of federally funded studies in Atlanta, researchers interviewed more than 8,000 inner-city residents, most of them African-American. Two thirds of respondents said they had been violently attacked at some point in their lives. Half knew someone who had been murdered. Of the women interviewed, a third had been sexually assaulted. Roughly 30 percent of respondents had had symptoms consistent with PTSD—a rate as high or higher than that of veterans of wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.



Experts are only now beginning to trace the effects of untreated PTSD on neighborhoods that are already struggling with unemployment, poverty and the devastating impact of the war on drugs. Women—who are twice as likely as men to develop PTSD, according to the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder—are more likely to show signs of anxiety and depression and to avoid places that remind them of the trauma. In children, PTSD symptoms can sometimes be misdiagnosed as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Kids with PTSD may compulsively repeat some part of the trauma while playing games or drawing, have trouble in their relationships with family members, and struggle in school. “School districts are trying to educate kids whose brains are not working the way they should be working because of trauma,” says Marleen Wong, Ph.D., the former director of mental health services, crisis intervention, and suicide prevention for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Men with PTSD are more likely to have trouble controlling their anger, and to try to repress their trauma symptoms with alcohol or drugs. Though most people with post-traumatic stress are not violent, PTSD is also associated with an increased risk of aggression and violent behavior, including domestic violence. The Atlanta researchers found that civilians they interviewed who had PTSD were more likely to have been charged with a violent crime and incarcerated than other people of similar backgrounds without PTSD—but the cause and effect behind this wasn’t clear. For some people, PTSD symptoms may have contributed to their involvement in the criminal justice system, while others may have developed PTSD later. “Neglect of civilian PTSD as a public health concern may be compromising public safety,” the researchers wrote.

Culled from Essence, October, 2014.

 

20 Kids Can Never Play Together for 20 Years.

There is a saying in my ancestral homeland (Nigeria); “Twenty children can never play together for twenty years.” This is a reality of life. But it does not enjoy recognition among many of my African American folks. They don’t know when to let go of the human, emotional and material baggage in their lives. For the youngsters though, the worst baggage is usually their old neighborhood “homies” or buddies.

Many of these young folks, especially the men, are often stuck in the past. It’s considered an attitude of “keeping it real” when a young, urban professional, sports personality or Hollywood actor gets stuck with buddies or “homies” in his past neighborhood. It does not matter that those buddies are not doing anything positive or productive with their lives. If they are not drop-outs, they are deliberately jobless or into some criminal enterprises.

Now into big-time career and famous, a typical African American young man will surround himself with these buddies from the past. It will have been a different thing worth commending if he reaches out to those buddies with the sole aim of uplifting them educationally or with some careers. No, he will only be interested in turning them into hangers-on, to boost his ego. Sadly though, the same buddies or hangers-on will, in most cases, turn out to be his nemesis. This reminds me of MC Hammer, Allen Iverson and many others. Where are their buddies who used to play the role of hangers-on?

There was also the sad story of a young African American rising basketball star who, at the beginning of his career visited his old, childhood neighborhood. There, he ran into some old buddies who invited him to take a ride in a car. The group soon drove to the entrance of a store. Leaving the basketball star in the car, the others walked briskly into the store, pulled out small hand guns and robbed the place. As they ran back into their waiting car, a witness secretly took photographs of the young men. That was all the police needed to round up the perpetrators of the crime. All the attempts of the basketball star to prove his innocence proved abortive.

Unfortunately, this is just one of the many ways that innocent young black folks railroad themselves into bankruptcy, jails and worse, untimely deaths.

Poor Jill Scott and her Hacked Nude "Selfies".

I am still wondering about the hues and cries attracted by the hacked nude “selfies” of Jennifer Lawrence, Jill Scott and other female celebrities who are obviously “suffering” from overt narcissism. Worse than vanity, narcissism occurs when a person (usually a woman) places too much attention or admiration on their sense of beauty and general appearance.

Why, in the world, would those women (the so-called victims of hackers) go to the vain extent of taking nude “selfies”? Other than some silly hackers, anyone else could have stolen their phones and made a worse mess of those women than the hackers have done.



And now, there were those in the black community who felt Jill Scott did not get much “help” from the feminists fighting the hackers’ “injustice” against Jennifer Lawrence and some other white celebrities. These defenders of Jill Scott’s “moral virtues” were of the opinion that the “white feminists” were racists by not extending their “assistance” to Jill Scott because of her skin color. What arrant nonsense!

In the first place, what were Jill Scott’s objectives for taking nude "selfies"? Was mere looking in the mirror not enough for her? As for those blaming the so-called "white feminists", I guess they need to see the reactions on the internet. Most of the negative reactions to Jill Scot's nude "selfies" came from blacks (men and women).

Some black women actually wondered what Jill Scott thought she was doing by "flaunting" a shapeless body. And some black men "advised" her to go participate in the reality TV show called "The losers". Whether it was Jennifer Lawrence, Jill Scott or some egoistical female celebrity taking some childish nude "selfies", the act is nothing but the worst, gross level of vanity. It’s called narcissism!

 

When “Keeping it Real” is Dumb.

Have you heard these words “keeping it real” lately? These words, as simple as they look and sound, have created a lot of issues and problems for a lot of young Americans. So many of them are indeed in jails across the nation because they have no clue as to what “keeping it real” is really all about!

In many black communities, for instance, “keeping it real” among the young people is the same thing as being disrespectful, doing badly in school, dropping out of schools, speaking poor English grammar and having pride in being an ex-convict. Another form of “keeping it real” is for a guy to dress like a thug, speak like a thug and act like a thug. The irony of this stupid attitude is that when real thugs get into trouble and appear in courts, they know better than to act like thugs. In fact, they suddenly speak and dress properly. So, this means they know the right thing to do in order to be taken seriously.

It’s terribly shameful that when some other young black folks do the right things such as staying in schools, studying to acquire good education, speaking proper English, dressing decently and being respectful, they are called names. The worst is that such nice young black folks are branded as “acting white”.

But when did the resolve to do the right thing become a monopoly of the white people? As a thoroughbred African, I take a very strong exception to the idea that black people are the custodians of negative stuff while white people are solely created to do the right things. But this is the crazy message some young black folks are unwittingly sending out to the world.

 

 

 

 

 

will.i.am (of the Black Eyed Peas) & "The Four Amigos."

Most times, celebrities get on my nerves. Why so? They are vain, self-loving, self-admiring, self-absorbed, self-obsessed, conceited, self-centered, self-regarding and grossly egotistic. Many of them (especially the blacks) don’t even care a hoot about giving back to their communities.

It was therefore with an impressive and appreciative heart that I read about the great, heroic feat performed by will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas.

In 2009, four high school students from Delaware (my awesome state), Elijah, Darien, Jaiquann and Barien were accepted into their dream universities. But there was a mutual problem. They could not afford the costs. This was in spite of the fact that these young men were Field & Track stars and top academic students. In fact, they were said to have worked assiduously in a bid to help their respective single mothers.

Two of the boys, twins Darien and Barien (their father was in jail) went further to continually motivate the others to keep their grades up.

"Well, I've tried to learn from my dad's negative decisions,” Barren said. “…and it has influenced me to strive in school, and to get good grades…"

Then fate intervened one day. The young men were invited to share their story with Oprah. That was where they got the biggest “pleasant shocks” of their lives. Black Eyed Peas star (will.i.am) stepped in and gave all four boys the first-ever “i.am scholarships” that covered their tuition, books and fees for four years.



 

Trust Oprah. She did a follow-up with the young men. This was to find out how the boys were doing today. They filmed a video update, calling themselves "the four amigos."

Barien is now in his second year of pharmacy school. He will be graduating in 2016.

Elijah graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in May. "I want to get into the architectural field, so it's just been a lot of years of hard work," he declared joyfully.

Jaiquann earned his degree in education from Cabrini College and is now a teacher. He admits that he was holding back tears when he found about the scholarship.

Darien is currently attending Morgan State University in Baltimore with plans to graduate with an industrial engineering degree next year fortune enough to have a full-time position lined up for once I graduate."

Although will.i.am is the greatest hero here, the young men also deserve some commendations. They did not just cry for help. When the help finally came, the young men did not disappoint their benefactor. These great acts are worthy of emulation by the many other celebrities out there and the numerous young black folks who are desirous of a better life.

 

 

 

Eyewitness to the Murder of Michael Brown.

Dorian Johnson (shown below) was a friend of Michael Brown, the 18-year-old who was fatally shot by a police officer in Fergusson, Missouri last Saturday.



On the fateful day, according to Johnson, the two young men were taking a stroll when the police officer pulled over to yell at the duo to leave the road and “get the f—k on the sidewalk”.



The young men’s explanation that their destination, the home of the victim’s grandmother (shown above) was not far, failed to impress the officer who got out of his patrol car to grab Michael Brown. He wanted to drag the young man into the car. When he finally extricated himself from the officer’s strong-arm hold, Brown was said to have broken into a run.

On seeing this, the officer pulled out his gun and began to shoot the young man. At a point, said Johnson, Michael Brown stopped to raise-up his hands before pleading that “I don’t have a gun, stop shooting!”

Again, the police officer was not impressed. Now face-to-face with the victim, he began to shoot at Brown. The officer fired several more shots even as the victim crumbled to the ground and curled into a fetal position.

The silly excuse of the affected police department was that the victim tried to force himself into the officer’s car. So far, this is the worst excuse ever given for the wrongful shooting of an unarmed African American victim. Why so? No African American man will ever attempt to voluntarily step into a police patrol car.

 

 

Gabrielle Douglas: Victim of the Pull Her Down (PhD) Syndrome.

"I don't know where this is coming from. What's wrong with my hair?" said Gabrielle Douglas, the first U.S. gymnast to win gold in team and all-around competition. "I'm like, `I just made history and people are focused on my hair?' It can be bald or short, it doesn't matter (about my hair)."

This has been the reaction of Gabby Douglas to the harsh criticism of her hair style all over the internet social media. Some of the critics are not stopping their whines and cries over just the girl's hair. No, they have also resorted to name-calling. While some are calling her a "flying squirrel", others are calling her "ugly gymnast" and doing everything to put her down as if she is some criminal and not a national hero. And all these for what? Her hair! Obviously, this matter goes beyond the caring, constructive criticism of a bunch of concerned experts on hair-styling. Rather, these are the ugly expressions of depression-filled individuals who are also suffering from sheer envy, the green-eyed monster. But guess who the large majority of the terrible critics are? They are African American women!

For God's sake, here is a young lady that sacrificed her usual way of life (including rap music as she had to contend with country music), familiar home environment, missing the love of her family and, indeed, almost everything a girl of her age (and especially in the African American community) would normally cherish and regard as top priority in her life to go live in some far-away state of Iowa with total strangers all in the name of training. None of her critics bother to appreciate this factor and the fact that this is just a 16-year-old girl. They don't even care or be impressed that she is the first African American gymnast to win a gold medal. It doesn't matter to them that she is the first "woman of color" in the history of the Olympics to become the individual all-around champion, and the first American gymnast to win gold in both the individual all-around and team competitions at the same Olympics. Instead of joining the whole world (more so, as fellow African Americans) to laud Gaby's enviable achievements, they are condemning her for...wait a minute...not getting her hair done the way "they" would like her to do it! 

I was not surprised to hear Steve Harvey join in the verbal "fray" while commenting angrily on his radio show this morning. He said, among other things, that many of Gabby's critics are never-do-well, busy-bodies who have nothing important to show for their miserable lives because they never have great priorities in their lives anyway. In conclusion, Harvey said "I'm now saying on behalf of Gabby Douglas, 'kiss my ass' if all you care about is some damn hair!"