On Negro Appreciation Month

ABW has the most awesome of ideas for Black History Month

and I am all for it and will be joining it.

But first
ooooooooooooooooooooooh

FIRST


CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH I HATE THIS FUCKING MONTH

and the other three month's I'm tangentially involved with.Much like Secretary Appreciation Day it comes with the under lying message that we go all out during this time in hopes that you do not notice for the other 335 ( or cause it's the shortest month of the year 337) days of the year.

ESPECIALLY since the other 335 days seem to be continual reminders of how low we are on priority lists.

It invariably degrades into show of WOW ! Look your peopel actually DID STUFF!

And it is part of an overarching unspoken rule that Black/Women's/Latin/Asian-American acheivement is SUPERCALAFRAJALISTICALLY exceptional that it must be mentioned specifically AND is small enough to be encapsulated in fixed time frame. Shit us washing our asses everyday seems to be a motherfucking NEWSFLASH.

It is also not lost on me that during this month the choices are always and I mean always conspicuously in the field of material or privilege attainment to the point that even educational pioneers are starting to be de-emphasized for the big money makers, or other bright and shiny folks with proper pedigrees.

Can we for once have a black history dedication to folks who are deal with the history of blackness?

Dear much maligned oft demonized single mother you sent three kids to college , kept up a house by yourself, and did not stab you sexist boss whose constant downgrading of your ability, while being entirely more competent than he is comes from a long racist struggle. Thank you for not beating him to death.

Dear Overworked Principle. Sir We thank you for consistently going to board meetings to answer to people who haven't taught since the dawn of time about class acheivement. You took three guns, gave twelve hugs, stopped ten fights, and intervened in three child abuse cases , before Thursday. Urban blight took your tax base, No Child Left Behind gutted your staff, and gentrification and well meaning idiots are about to give you a heart attack. Thank you for doing this instead of the six figures you could be making at a soulless corporation.

That will never happen because as we know these people aren't to be commended for their work as the beasts of teh world it's what we require them to do.

It is a constant reminder that we do not and never will come first. Someone form Blackfolk at live-journal said so very eloquently that one of things people continue to miss is that for all the mistakes certain black leaders make , they are often the only people for whom black people aren't an after thought or a means to an end. Al Sharpton may be first on Al's list but I bet my life on the fact I rank higher on his list than just about any person in the public high.

So when people complain about him , I often wonder

How often did you think about black people before he steps to the mike.

And then I like to tell them to SHADDUP.

The month functions as a slap not in it's original incarnation but in its glossy commercialized, chicken deals and hair products(ALWAYS STRAIGHTENING PRODUCTS) fanfare.

LOOK ! WE DO CARE WE DO!

Why would it be necessary to tell me such if you actually did?

SO instead of actively engaging history ( and Answering to it) it becomes Negro Appreciation Month the month of Black folks you are okay with us!
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And Since I blogged about the Grey's Anatomy thing I wanted to include a link.

Jasmyne Cannick writes pretty much what I felt like saying.

But I want to add amendments.

IF you read teh comments there is suddenly a responsibility for " dialogue" placed on her as if there is NO culpability on the part of people who would push her out.

I also resent the idea that her having a problem with a mainstream " I will speak for you " movement equates her trying to be a saboteur.

I keep saying it but it continues to be my clarion call.

No movement should have a problem ENGAGING an intelligent relevant opinion. Or comprehending any members of their constituency's problem with them .

Except in too many cases they don't want to hear from you except to prove to somebody in power they have numbers so they should be in power too.

AND

I absolutely freaking hate the fact that this phrased in the terms of " poor TR Knight's feelings" or " Isiah Washington is the devil and the most homophobic person ever in Hollywood"

One and it sounds evil but I don't give a damn about TR Knight's feelings in the he's crying sense.

What happened to him was a situation where he is or was unsure about the RESPECT and COURTESY he was being given by a colleague. The slur and the subsequent kerfluffle were shoddy attempts to cover ass , save show that OUTED HIM and thrust him into a stpotlight where he may or may not have been able to respond the way he felt necessary.

Fuck he feels bad He got ambushed ! HE's a grown ass man who wasn't accorder the respect he deserves as a grown ass man. PERIOD. He isn't nor does he need to be a fawn in the woods predated by the big black man to have it handled properly

And IW yep he's a jackass , he got thangs he need to handle but I am fricking insulted ( and Ms Cannick says it better) that HE is being held up as the blemish of Hollywood liberalism.

FUCK THAT BULLSHIT.

How many closeted actors are running around being told to hide themselves in ways that make it comfortable for them to enjoy straight privilege AND perpetuate gay stereotypes?

How many open knowledge homophobic strategies are built into the working knowledge of the actor's tools?

How many jobs are bartered, traded and lost on fucked up stereotyping of both LGBQT and middle America in back rooms and known circumstances?

But IW is the worst they can protest. And lukewarm worded admonishments to Paris Hilton when compared to the various invective thrown at I

No imbalance there