Reverse Racism is still RACISM!

Racism: noun a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities… let’s just stop right there so I can start my rant. Racism/race consciousness/ race awareness/ race preference/ racial objectification/ racial identification/ and most certainly self-opted segregation- has got to be the DUMBEST notion EVER, and I blame everyone that went to elementary school for it’s making it past educated society and into the dictionary. Now before you get all up in arms, if you’re reading this and saying to yourself “I’m not racist, I have black friends.” OR “I’m not racist, I let my son date white girls”, well then you need to go back up and read the top line. See, notice how I grouped all those terms together? It’s because they are synonymous! Race is purely a social construct used to attempt to categorize things that are not actually different. The word “race” does not exist in science. If you were to be in an unspeakable accident and require an immediate blood transfusion, you would not adopt any changes in your physical appearance pursuant to the donor of the blood you received. So why all the persistence  with an obviously invalid classification? Because no one will stop talking about it. It shows up on job applications (for which your responses are supposed to be confidential), you have to fill in a bubble on aptitude tests, survey takers want to know, the government wants to know….did I miss anyone?? Oh yes! Christians want to know too! And at the risk of sounding accusatory, followers of Christ ought to be the ones who care the least. Jesus saved both Jews and Gentiles (aka ‘everyone else’), so it’s apparent to me that he didn’t care where you came from or what you looked like, and that was the example he purposely set. If you purposely surround yourself with the people who “look like” you, you are being as racist at the word implies. It irritates me to no end to hear from those who have grown to spiritual adulthood in the faith, that they would “rather be around black people.” Really?? I mean grow up already! Reverse racism is still racism! If you intentionally segregate yourself, how foolish are you?? You are as wrong as those that created the separation in the first place. You have forgotten the greatest commandment- which is to love. Not love only black people, not love only white people- but just to love. Those classifications aren’t in the bible, I take that to mean that God doesn’t think they’re very important. It’s a shame, in all that knowledge that has been acquired over a lifetime, understanding has slipped through their fingers. 

in a sea of Trayvon Martin search hits

pardon the font change and the lack of proper punctuation ( i had a person tell me one time they couldnt make it through a poem i wrote because i didnt use capital letters or periods), but i just wanted to share a blurb i wrote that happens to mention trayvon martin. ive purposefully been very silent about the whole issue- not as an indicator of indifference, moreso because i avoid issues of race like elastic-waist, up to your rib cage tapered leg acid wash jeans with no pockets. got the picture? but a friend of mine was so sincere in expressing her heart on the matter that it touched me to respond candidly. in the effort to actually post on my blog, i thought i would share that here. you can read the entire exchange on my facebook timeline- which will point you to her blog (which is great by the way- i fully endorse it: http://dailymomprayers.wordpress.com/2012/03/25/get-up-stand-up/), and then back to my comment on her post. feel free to comment if you like (be prepared for a verbal slap if you personally attack me or my family), or silently read, but either way thanks for seeing what this post was all about.  excerpt as follows:

thanks for posting this [name omitted]. robert (my husband) and i arent exactly sure where we stand with the whole TM thing- we're very fact-based ppl, and since no one can seem to actually nail down the facts..............but a bit about us personally- and hopefully this will speak well of us and not the opposite- we do not readily identify with "things that happen to black people." this may  make us naive, but we are teaching our children not to always turn to race as a means of commonality, not to think that just because someone has the same color skin as them that they are alike, and certainly just because they don't doesnt mean theyre not alike. what bothers me in cases like this- is that ppl are so quick to try and insight a racial uprising. i mean what happened to that young man is horrible and punishable, but that's because his aggressor committed a crime- not bc he was black. sidebar: and the people the most committed to the notion that black ppl are being oppressed here were born after the civil rights movement, end sidebar.  i personally think that we just need to get past the concept of race altogether, it was conceived in ignorance and will remain until it is no longer discussed, its lineage needs to be killed off lol- like ppl that double-cross the mob in movies, their entire family is murdered and never spoken of again. that's what we need to do with the classification of "race." and while im on the subject (and because i know you wont take it the wrong way lol), i just love it (suuuuper sarcasm) when ppl start a sentence with "im not racist, i..." and they proceed to name ppl they associate with that they do not perceive to be like them. if they perceived those they're about to call out as being "like them", they would just as soon not say anything at all. when i talk about my friends, i dont say "my white friends," or "my latino friends," theyre all friends to me i dont bother with the classification- hopefully my children will see that as they grow up, and adopt the same blindness for skin pigment. 

Up thinking...

After a wrong pursuit- be it relationships or other- you will not feel validated. You will want closure and you'll want to feel resolved but none of those healthy relational elements can evolve from an unhealthy relationship. Everyone just wants to feel that their feelings are understood, their point of view is understood, their motive, or whatever they've put energy into expressing. It's almost nuts to what extent we will go to create opportunities for the antagonist in our situation to fulfill that desire. Whether its staying in a bad relationship too long- hoping that with time it'll get better, dropping not-so-subtle hints to that person you want to apologize, going completely out of our way to receive that coveted, sincere 'thank you' that carries strong overtones of appreciation- these are all futile attempts to improperly communicate. Proper communication seeks to be direct in nature, without any shroud of ambiguity or ulterior motive. And unfortunately, the perfect storm for this is just not always going to happen. It's in the absence of open channels for proper communication in wrong pursuits that we must forfeit that consuming need for validation/closure/resolution, and resign to close the book ourselves. It will leave you feeling very unfulfilled - that feeling may stay with you quite a while. But know that abstaining from retuning to that previous situation will get easier by the day, and eventually the bridge between the pursuit and yourself will erode.

Forks Over Knives

 So the other day I sat down to watch Forks over Knives, a documentary that talks about the benefits of a plant-based diet. While it’s not riveting, I think everyone should take a whole two hours out of their lives to check it out. The participants presented a wealth of research that substantiated the many claims that basically everything causes cancer. That’s right, eeeeverything. Specifically, the study focused on animal-based products (as well as processed foods) and named them as a significant contributor. The study also showed that by committing to a plant-based diet, many of the diseases that plague our nation (almost exclusively) can be completely reversed. Now, before you get all up in arms, this is not my research, I’m not telling you to do one thing or another, and I’m not taking a platform on any health-related issue. What I am saying though, is to examine the situation at a personal level to decide what is right for you. Case in point, one of the study participants- Joey Aucoin- was on a myriad of prescribed medications for a variety of illnesses including type-2 diabetes and high cholesterol. These medications to “treat” (treat being synonymous with help-you-deal-with-it) his illnesses cost him upwards of $200 a month…$200 a month?!? I don’t know about you, but for me that would cause a WHOLE ‘nother dis ease (read as two separate words)! While on the FOK program, Joey was able to cure himself of these diseases and I’m sure he’s found other, more useful allocations for his med dollars. I’d be willing to bet we all know someone like Joey. [That said, I will briefly digress into a ‘side-effect’ of animal-based and processed foods dieting. MONEY! This documentary has guided me to weigh the costs between healthier foods, and the costs of their not-so-healthy counterparts. And I’ve noticed that I spend more money on dietary supplements, prescriptions and weight loss pills than I would buying fresh foods from the store and investing in a pair of walking shoes. Admittedly I’m being a bit dramatic to make a point- I don’t personally/currently have a lot of health problems that absorb every free dollar, and I’ve only tried one kind of weight loss pill program in my entire life, but I’m sure this applies to no less than ‘many’ people.  I will also take a moment to insert my opinion that way too many somebodies in healthcare make way too much money keeping everyone from being healthy. It’s my belief that even if there were a medical cure for cancer, it would require federal legislation to be available- because a cure costs way less than lengthy treatment programs. The civil disobedience in me wants to boycott such a system by taking my family’s health into our own hands, and FOK has given me insight on how to do that. I conclude my digression here for a pause-to-think effect]. There are a few other notable participants in the study that are cured from their ailments while dedicated to a plant-based diet, which to me, completely validates the study. It didn’t just work for one person. Another validation I valued in the study, was the thorough testing of the effect of different amounts of protein within a balanced diet. For the sake of the film (and to spare you any more of my chatter at length) I won’t reveal the details of the study, in fact I probably should have posted a spoiler alert at the beginning of this piece. Suffice it to say the study was quite convincing and impactful on my point of view, and was a major contributing factor to my wanting to blog about Forks Over Knives in the first place. I hope that I haven’t bored you to tears, and if you made it to the end of this blog then I’m sure you could make it through the film. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

The People vs. Whitney

In recent events, there has been quite a bit of facebook chatter about the unfortunate passing of Whitney Houston. While it saddens my heart for anyone to depart this life at an early age, and even more so that she left behind loved ones including a young daughter, I think I will go ahead and address this anyway. And I’ll do my best to be brief. On the day that Whitney died (from “undetermined” causes), there were also soldiers that lost their lives in the line of duty. Now farbeit for me to judge the worth of a life, however I do feel that the loss of their lives was certainly worth mention, and that the passing of Whitney Houston could do with less mention. Now before you get all up in arms, what I mean by ‘less mention’ is that NBC, FOX5, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, various news blogs, magazines in check-out lines, most major radio stations, and any other media outlet known to man (take a breath), did not all need to cover it…every hour…on the hour….everyday this week. I just feel that our focus as an American society is so wrapped up in the maintenance of the faux-royalty we’ve created using television and music personas, that we fail to give any attention to those that we would say are deserving of honor. Politics aside, if asked to compare the impact or merit of laying down one’s life for another, to using your talent to provide entertainment and enjoyment- no matter how much you love Whitney, I would almost bet you would choose the former. So, that being said, calm down! When patriots post pictures to mourn the fallen and call your attention to it, no one is “judging”, no one is saying she is unworthy, and no one is “hating.” When you stomp your foot and point your finger and furrow your brow and tighten your mouth and in your old-person voice bellow “Show some respect!”, YOU show some respect. Show it to the ones who continually pave the road for this way of life we have, that so graciously allows our faux-royalty to make a crushing amount of money (as evidenced by their high-class drug problems- my one verbal shank in this piece) by doing what they love to do. No one is saying Whitney is not to be mourned, just asking that our soldiers can share the spotlight.