Excerpt from the song Hair from the Broadway Musical Hair
I want it long, straight, curly, fuzzy
Snaggy, shaggy, ratty, matty
Oily, greasy, fleecy
Shining, gleaming, streaming
Flaxen, waxen
Knotted, polka-dotted
Twisted, beaded, braided
Powdered, flowered, and confettied
Bangled, tangled, spangled, and spaghettied!
Burkina Faso, a country on the continent of Africa, has passed a law that allows its citizens to style their hair as they please. Because of colonialism, Africans in many countries were not allowed their natural hair. Schools required that their students cut their hair. Some of these countries retained the laws/policies after the countries supposedly gained their independence. I knew our hair was an issue in the United States, but I was naive and thought the countries in Africa were different.
I think it was in New Orleans, in the 1800s?, that Black women had to wear scarves to cover their hair. And, even now, an afro is considered a political statement and not just a convenient hair style. Let’s not talk about what some people call dreadlocks. With our hair, one can’t please anyone it seems…you’re damned if you wear natural hair and you’re damned if you choose white people’s hair texture and styles. Remember this excerpt from Otis Redding’s song Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay—I can’t do what ten people tell me to do; So I guess I’ll remain the same, yes? So, do you.
By the way, I actually saw the play “Hair”. It wasn’t the original cast, but it impressed me enough that I bought the album.
In the absence of facts, people substitute their imagination and their own projected could-bes. Why are people’s lives so empty that they gain pleasure from living another’s life vicariously? Shouldn’t one want to write one’s own story, travel one’s own path?
I know someone who is active in a majority-Black legacy organization. I have gleaned from our conversations that there appears to be a lot of infighting over insignificant matters that have nothing to do with the organization’s mission. Everyone wants to be the known fish in a non-existent pond. Nothing of substance gets done. As someone told me long ago, he would not pay the dues to be part of a social club that was supposed to be an organization of professionals. I realized he was right when I dropped out of the same organization because of personal conflicts with the in-crowd.
Being dependent on a job from someone or an entity that cares nothing for you because you are considered expendable to pay bills and to survive in this capitalistic country tamps down a lot of dissent.
Do we choose democracy or chaos spearheaded by a revengeful narcissist? Some Black males and a few Black females…well they have melanated skin…I wouldn’t name them “Black”, are being willfully obtuse or they do not have the intellectual capacity to comprehend the gravity of the situation this Country is in and could face in the future. I get that old trope…I got mine; you get yours the best way you can, i.e, the white man is giving me crumbs and I want to continue receiving the crumbs and I will sell you down the river if that is what it takes for me to continue receiving those crumbs.
Long time ago, a professional in my field told me (paraphrase) I had to eat beans; that’s where you start…eating beans. What he did not understand is if each generation has to eat beans, there can be little or no progress as each generation faces the same obstacles. And there was always the jealousy…if I help you, you might do better than me.
I think this scenario was on the show Stargate–person betrays his people to an enemy; the enemy gained its objective from the betrayer; the first thing the enemy did was to kill the person who betrayed his people. There’s a lesson there. For the one who betrays…there is no place for you with the enemy and no place for you with your people–neither side could ever trust you. Maybe it will always be enough for the traitor to have his member pleasured by someone who will never be your friend. But to eternally damn your soul for a few seconds of pleasure…what a price.
This country celebrates and rewards the perpetrators of evil. A New York Appellate court just lowered 45’s bond and gave him ten more days to file it. Evil gets the breaks. There is no incentive for non-evil. It is neither celebrated nor rewarded.
Moreover, it’s important to note how some people may take advantage of their possible genetic claim to Indigenous heritage.
Indeed, an investigative report by the LA Times found that white business owners had leveraged their unverified Indigenous identities to secure at least $300 million in government contracts intended for minority-owned companies. Excerpt from Unsuspecting Tennessee Man Turns Out To Be Living Descendant of ‘Extinct’ Indigenous Group by Natasha Ishak
This is white people M.O. Remember the five dollar Indians? Wherever that is the hint of money intended for the Other, whites will assume that identity in order to steal the lion’s share, if not all of the money. This is what is happening with the HBCUs. Money has been appropriated/promised to recompense for underfunding. The white racists in Tennessee are positioning themselves to steal that money by assuming control over the HBCU to ensure that none of the money actually benefits its intended recipient. However, they, the white racists, will enrich themselves and cry victim if they are held accountable.
White people don’t know the meaning of the word “merit”. Take the planes falling from the sky…the policies to emphasize profits over safety were put in place by the white management of Boeing. A Black female pilot safely landed a plane where a door had blown off because of the white management’s decision. Why isn’t there talk about the “merit” of the white people who don’t care about the safety of the people who use their products? But “merit” doesn’t attach to white people. Their skin color is all the “merit” they need.
Why didn’t we hear more about the ability and competence of the Black female pilot who safely landed the plane? Will she get the same amount of acclaim that a white male pilot got when he landed a plane in a New York City river? I doubt it. Black excellence is not part of the white supremacist narrative. White supremacist would rather whine about non-issues so they can exercise their self-given right to believe in a narrative that has no basis in fact or reality.
Anti-DEI is all about white supremacy and white people’s zero-sum mentality–all for the white people and nothing for the “Other”.
https://popular.info/p/georgias-medicaid-system-is-a-disaster?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Why are Republicans so cruel? Seems like the basis of their policy making is cruelty. And the people they are hurting the most are the deluded people who vote for them. Medicaid tied to work…when no one is lazier in thought and in action than Republican politicians. Maybe they are projecting onto others what they are in fact–leaches on the public dole.
Why are these Republicans making it easier for children to work longer hours and to work in dangerous occupations? Was the golden era of the United States when child labor was the norm? Why do the Republicans fear an educated citizenry?
Anyway, Georgia ‘s Medicaid system is like many other programs that were created to provide a safety net for the poor. These programs have been hijacked by the politicians and administrators to feed the greed of the wealthy and the corporations. Remember what happened in Mississippi? I suppose the Federal Government will have to hold the Georgia administrators accountable for their malfeasance and maybe claw back the funds from the corporations and administrators who benefitted.
How low can you go before people see the light? The former president selling Bibles…really? Where is the lightning? What a grift and the deluded…well they are so deep into their delusion that apparently no light can reach them…bits of cloth, trading cards, shoes, t-shirts…bring it on. There’re plenty of suckers ready to hand over their dollars to the grifter. What a resume–grifting, lying, sexual abuse, tax fraud–no qualifications to hold the office of POTUS.
If you don’t know what Christian Nationalism is…you should. It’s tied in with Project 2025. Excerpt from The Statement on Christian Nationalism & the Gospel (Google it.)–Christian Nationalism is a set of governing principles rooted in Scripture’s teaching that Christ rules as supreme Lord and King of all creation, who haw ordained civil magistrates with delegated authority to be under him, over the people, to order their ordained jurisdiction by punishing evil and promoting good for his own glory and the common good of the nation.
That definition should scare you.
The affirmations in that Statement are even scarier, for example–the Bible is the only truth; Country for Christians (their approved Christianity) only; nation should be isolationist; the ten commandments would be the basis of justice; saints will be the mouthpiece of God, parents are given the rod to inflict corporeal punishment, etc. Sounds like medieval times, the Spanish Inquisition–a violent, evil theocracy.
So, forget about small government. Project 2025, the Republican manifesto, heralds government intrusion into every aspect of one’s life. Iron Curtain, U.S.S.R.–do you not remember those regimes? There are already laws, I believe in Texas, that encourage citizens to spy and report on the activities of other citizens… Does the United States have to repeat the history of those failed states?
What we are being offered in a cellophane package is the toxic patriarchal failures of the past that continue to bedevil this Earth.
Choosing can be difficult, but if we do not choose, then someone, someone who has no care for us, will choose for us. So choose wisely, choose freedom to choose.
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