Niggas Can Still Be Bought.

“If a blind man says he will throw a stone at you, he probably has his foot on one.” African Proverb



Shem Hotep ("I go in peace").




Meet Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, civil rights critic, talk show host, conservative-right lackey and bootlicking media opportunist who frequently serves as a FOX News guest commentator and is a self-proclaimed "antidote to a value challenged society." When not openly questioning the cultural significance of Kwanzaa, the necessity of the NAACP or providing knee-jerk opposition to topics of overall interest to the black community, Rev. Peterson seems to have literally made a career of attacking Rev. Jesse Jackson.


Fallujah: How the U.S. Murdered a City. The Truth at Last.

Doctor Salaam Ishmael took aid to Fallujah in February 2005. This is a report of his visit.

It was the smell that first hit me, a smell that is difficult to describe, and one that will never leave me. It was the smell of death. Hundreds of corpses were decomposing in the houses, gardens and streets of Fallujah. Bodies were rotting where they had fallen-bodies of men, women and children, many half-eaten by wild dogs.

A wave of hate had wiped out two-thirds of the town, destroying houses and mosques, schools and clinics. This was the terrible and frightening power of the US military assault.

The accounts I heard over the next few days will live with me forever. You may think you know what happened in Fallujah. But the truth is worse than you could possibly have imagined.


Hair weaves like Europeans! Fake nails done by Koreans...

No one can deny that some black women spend lots of money and lots of time on their hair. It is becoming very obvious that some black women spend their money on the wrong things.


Dedicated to the Twenty-one Nubians who died in a stampede. At the E2 nightclub in my hometown of Chicago on 2/17/03. Also the 98 people who died in a fire at the Station nightclub in Rhode Island on 2/21/03. They have returned to that Great Celestial Abode, from which they soul’s originated. May you all be at peace, and El Eloh mercy be with you all.


“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture are like trees without roots.”
Marcus Garvey 1887-1940


THIS IS A REAL CRUCIFIXION...
First the white lynch mob would advertise that there will be a lynching of a blackman to attract a large crowd.

Then the black man will be put on display to arouse excitement, suspense and awe. As the crowd grows large they start screaming for his blood.

Then the crowd may be allowed to walk past the blackman while they spit on him and throw rocks and bricks at him. Then he is slowly cut up, beginning with his ears and fingers. These will be sold later and passed around as souvenirs or trophies.

Then his penis is cut off and put in a jar for everyone to look at. Finally, the black man will be either hung high in a tree for all to see, or he will be set on fire; and thereby ending his torture and agony!


Angela Davis firstcame to national attention in 1969 when she was removed from her teaching position at UCLA because of her membership in the Communist Party. In 1970, she was placed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List and was the subject of an intense police search culminating in one of the most publicized trials in recent history. After a 16-month incarceration, Davis was acquitted. In 1998, she helped to organize a national conference at UC Berkeley, "Critical Resistance: Beyond the Prison Industrial Complex," which is the focus of her current scholarship and activism. Her most recent books include "The Angela Davis Reader" and "Blues Legacies and Black Feminism."


Ghetto liquor stores they opened up what they refer to as bars or liquor stores all across the country, and especially in your neighborhoods, so that you will have an easy access to alcohol. They prefer for the Nubian to be always drunk, this way your blood will be purified, and your organs will be preserved (just like they preserve organs in jars in laboratories), for whenever they need it. This is why they will select winos that hang out in the bowery and other slum areas in your cities for blood donations, and in turn will give them money, which will have them back in the liquor stores for more alcohol. In order for alcohol to ferment, it had to become etherized; the ether is what keeps your blood purified.

These bars had to get licenses to sell alcohol beverages, these licenses were referred to as a gin milllicense. The word gin is equivalent to the Arabic word jinn. A jinn is an evil demon used throughout the Koran (Koran 55:15), and the Suhuf (3:28) as another name for the devil and his demons.

Regardless if ignorance has told you so, there is absolutely nothing Fabulous about the Ghetto.

We must stop confusing religion and spirituality. Part Two

“So many little things makes a man love a woman in a BIG way.” African Proverb



Shem Hotep ("I go in peace").




We must stop confusing religion and spirituality. Part Two, Part One can be found on May 15, 2005.


The Church and The Crusaders.

The year was 1095 CE, William the Conqueror had united England under one crown 30 years earlier. The French had been dividing properties amongst their sons for generations, causing bloodshed between brothers over small pieces of real estate. In reaction, Pope Urban II expanded "The Truce of God", which outlawed fighting from Sunday to Wednesday, and banned fighting involving priests, monks, women, laborers and merchants on any day of the week. Italy was a collection of city-states, constantly being overrun by invading hordes, the latest of which were the Normans, who had just started to become "civilized".


There was also the Byzantine empire, ruling from Constantinople, whose emperor at this time was Alexius Comnenus. To his East, the Turks were rapidly encroaching on his empire, and had begun attacking pilgrims on their way to - and in - Jerusalem, causing him great distress. He wrote to his friend Robert, the Count of Flanders, in 1093, telling him about supposed atrocities committed by the Turks on the Christian pilgrims, and Robert passed this letter on to Pope Urban II. Urban, an opportunist, saw this as a perfect way to solve some of his local problems. He personally promoted a Holy Crusade to reclaim the Holy Lands from the barbarian Turks. Thus, the First Crusade was launched in 1096 CE.

All together there were Three Crusades, which cost millions of people to be killed in the name of religion. To get a better overstanding of this please see the movie Kingdom Of Heaven. Opened on May 6, 2005.



Nation Of Islam Mosque Maryam located in my home town of Chicago.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad (may you be at peace), and Minister Louis Farrakhan. I love you like a Grandfather and a father. But Islam is not the Black man or woman ture way of life.


Offensive War to Spread Islam!

The religion of Islam, founded in Arabia in the early 7th century, quickly united Arabs and inspired the expansion of a great Islamic empire across the Middle East and North Africa. By 641 Muslims had conquered Egypt, where they established a new ruling class of administrators and merchants. Over the ensuing centuries, and following further Arab immigration, most of the Egyptian population converted to Islam and adopted the Arabic language, leaving the Egyptian Coptic Church as a small Christian sect. Prophet Muhammad and his successors initiated offensive wars against peaceful countries in order to impose Islam by force as well as to seize the abundance of these lands. Their objective was to capture women and children and to put an end to the poverty and hunger from which Arab Muslims suffered. So, Islam was imposed upon Syria, Jordan, Palestine (Jerusalem), Egypt, Libya, Iraq, Iran, all of North Africa, some parts of India and China, and later Spain. Undoubtedly, the concept of an offensive war to spread the faith is a genuine Islamic concept; it is known as a Holy War for the sake of God.



Racism is in Islam.
The Black Diaspora, thisground breaking work tells the fascinating and horrifying story of the Islamic slave trade. Islam’s Black Slaves documents a centuries-old institution that still survives, and traces the business of slavery and its repercussions from Islam’s inception in the seventh century.


Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.(may you be at peace), I love you like a Grandfather. But Christianity is not the Black man or woman ture way of life.


Spread of Christianity!
By 100AD Alexandria had become the most important intellectual center of the early Christian Church. From Egypt, monastic Christianity spread south to Nubia and Ethiopia, and west to Berber North Africa. In the latter region, the Berbers adapted the new religion to fit in with indigenous beliefs. Subjugated by the Roman Empire by 200, Berber Christians maintained a strong tradition of religious independence from Rome, even after the empire had adopted Christianity as the official Roman religion in the 320s.


Kersey Graves - The World`s Sixteen Crucified Saviors.

Christian reader, what can you now make of the story of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ but a borrowed legend ­­ at least the story of his being crucified as a God? The determination not to know anything but the crucifixion of Jesus Christ was narrowing down his knowledge to rather a small compass.

And such a resolution would necessarily preclude them from acquainting themselves with the history of any other cases of crucifixion that might have occurred before that of Christians own favorite Messiah. "What! Was there ever a case of crucifixion beside that of Jesus Christ?" a good Christian Brother or sister sometimes exclaims, when the world`s sixteen crucified Saviors are spoken of. Paul the disciple whose position would not allow him to know of any other cases of crucifixion but that of Jesus Christ. Hence,he mayhaveconsidered it meritorious to perpetuate his ignorance on the subject. And you, perhaps, areignorant from the same cause.

It is the nature of all religions based on fear and unchangeable dogmas, to deter and thus exclude its disciples from all knowledge adverse to their own creeds. And sometimes their own religions systems are magnified to such an exalted appreciation above all others as to lead them to destroy the evidence of the existence of the latter for fear of their ultimate rivalry. Such influences as referred to above have shut out from the minds of the disciples of several religious systems a knowledge of all crucified Gods but their own.

The World`s Sixteen Crucified Saviors.
I. ­­ CRUCIFIXION OF CHRISHNA OF INDIA, 1200 B.C.
II. ­­ CRUCIFIXION OF THE HINDOO SAKIA, 600 B.C.
III. ­­ THAMMUZ OF SYRIA CRUCIFIED, 1160 B.C.
IV. ­­ CRUCIFIXION OF WITTOBA OF THE TELINGONESIC, 552 B.C.
V. ­­ IAO OF NEPAUL CRUCIFIED, 622 B.C.
VI. ­­ HESUS OF THE CELTIC DRUIDS CRUCIFIED, 834 B.C.
VII. ­­ QUEXALCOTE OF MEXICO CRUCIFIED, 587 B.C.
VIII. ­­ QUIRINUS OF ROME CRUCIFIED, 506 B.C.
IX. ­­ (AESCHYLUS) PROMETHEUS CRUCIFIED, 547 B.C.
X. ­­ CRUCIFIXION OF THULIS OF EGYPT, 1700 B.C.
XI. ­­ CRUCIFIXION OF INDRA OF TIBET, 725 B.C.
XII. ­­ ALCESTOS OF EURIPIDES CRUCIFIED, 600 B.C.
XIII. ­­ ATYS OF PHRYGIA CRUCIFIED, 1170 B.C.
XIV. ­­ CRITE OF CHALDEA CRUCIFIED, 1200 B.C.
XV. ­­ BALI OF ORISSA CRUCIFIED, 725 B.C.
XVI. ­­ MITHRA OF PERSIA CRUCIFIED, 600 B.C.


THE THIRTEENTH TRIBE which proves the Eastern European Jews are NOT related to Abraham ...

It dealt with the racial origin of the people in Communist and Christian countries who call themselves "Jews," and whom the Churches (and the Jews themselves) generally insist are "God`s Chosen People," the Israelite descendants of Abraham. These Jews from Eastern Europe and Western Asia were descended from Mongolians and other Asiaticpeopleswho had adopted Judaism as their "religion" over 1,000 years ago and had become know as "Jews." That these Eastern European "Jews" are neither Israelites nor "Semites," but are instead Khazars, Mongols, and Huns!European Jews are not Israelites.

The Spanish Inquisition.

Hernando Cortez, He was a Spanish Conquistador who defeated and conquered the Aztec Empire.
The Spanish Inquisition force people to converted to Christianity or be killed. It was the arrival of Europeans like Columbus, and DeSoto that marked the beginning of the end for the Indians. This is why Christianity is so heavy in Central and South America.


Slave Religion by: Albert Raboteau.
(A Must Read)
The Black Chruch and Christianity is Emotionalism 101#.
E*mo"tion*al*ism) (?), n.
The cultivation of an emotional state of mind; tendency to regard things in an emotional manner.

RELIGION OF THE SLAVES



The second half of the seventeenth century saw the establishment of a plantation economy in Guyana based on African slave labour. The bulk of the African slaves were brought from Senegambia, Sierra Leone, the Windward Coast, Gold Coast and the Bight of Benin. They belonged to several tribes and several language groups.

The general view held by the Dutch planters, and the English planters after them, was that the African slaves did not hold to a system of beliefs that could be described as a religion. At best - so the members of the plantocracy and the church that served them felt - their beliefs amounted to nothing more than heathenish superstition.

Not a few of them, perhaps, felt that the Africans were incapable of religious sentiment. But the Africans held religious beliefs derived from their homeland. It may be useful to note that some of the slaves, particularly these who came from the Fula-speaking area of Senegambia, were Muslims.

Toby, a young Hausa-speaking Muslim slave in Hanover, Berbice, debated religious questions with the Rev. John Wray, the Congregational missionary in Berbice in the early nineteenth century.

Interestingly, Wray's successor in Berbice, Rev. Howe, was very impressed with Toby's intelligence and his desire to acquire knowledge, that after converting him to Christianity, he arranged for the young man to go to England for further training by the London Missionary Society. He was granted his freedom and his name was changed to Thomas Lewis. In 1836, he returned to Berbice as a catechist-teacher.

Toby's ancestors were most likely converted to Islam when that religion penetrated West Africa from the north by way of the Sahara Desert. But Islam among Africans did not long survive the Middle Passage and the plantation system. The practice of the planters of separating tribesmen from one another, and of discouraging the assembling of slaves for any purpose whatsoever, was not calculated to allow Islam to survive.

Again, the small number of African Muslims that came to Guyana lacked the leadership of Imams and the possession of the Qu'ran. Then, too, the plantation life did not lend itself for long prayers at fixed times, worship on a set day, fasting at prescribed periods, or feasting on holidays which did not coincide with those observed by the plantocracy. As such, the plantation which was geared exclusively to sugar production gave no scope for the development of Islam as the Senegambian village did.

But if the Islam that came with African slaves did not survive the conditions of slavery, the name "Fulah" came to be used as a descriptive of indentured Indian Muslims and their descendants. The Blacks who labelled them Fulahs clearly knew Fula-speaking Africans who were Muslims.

On the other hand, indigenous African religious beliefs, which became labelled as "obeah", survived the difficulties of estate life in Guyana. But these beliefs underwent significant changes although they remained clearly "African" in structure. Three factors were mainly responsible for these changes.

In the first place, African religious ideas were capable of modification in response to the new circumstance of estate life. Secondly, the practice of African religion was frowned upon by estate authorities. This meant that the religion could only be practised secretly and irregularly. The result has been that some aspects of African religious practices withered away while others lost their nationality and language and became garbled. Thirdly, the exposure to Christianity led not only to the conversion of Blacks to that religion, but also to the overlapping of African and Christian beliefs.

While in Jamaica, after 1760, it became an offence punishable by death for slaves to practise obeah, it is not clear if the same situation existed in Guyana. Nevertheless, the slaves did not lack "religious" leaders who, however, were not as well trained or as carefully chosen as the priests who served the African villages and compounds.

The policy of the plantocracy of separating African tribesmen from one another (as far as this was practicable) also affected the development of African religion in Guyana, since that religion traditionally had a strong link with the tribe.


The Religious Conversion of African Slaves.
When Africa slaves were brought to the United States, they were already broken and cut off from their culture. Each tribe had its own language and religion, but both were lost in the process of bringing them here. The white Christians who brought them here thought them stupid and evil because they didn`t speak English and they practiced "evil" religions. The masters moved to indoctrinate the slaves into Christianity as soon as possible. In fact, the opportunity for conversion was one of the justifications for slavery; these "evil heathens" could be converted thus saving their souls even if their physical bodies were enslaved.

Spirituality to me:

Spirituality some people think that you have to believe in God or go to Church or even pray to be spiritual. Doing these things will not detract from your over all spirituality, but being spiritual doesn`t necessitate doing any of these. I have believed in God my whole life, but that has not made me any more spiritual. I am a spiritual being, because I am a spiritual being and I understand that. The "fear of God" has not made me any more kinder and gentler than I am as a person in general. I believe spirituality has more to do with growth than belief systems. I think that if you are determined to grow, then that is spiritual. I believe your spirit lives on after death and that you are always growing. Karma, is therefore, not what must return to you for equality in the universe, but rather, what you would have come back at you to teach you a lesson, or make you move foreward. I do not believe that "God Punishes". Rather I believe that we punish ourselves for not growing fast enough, or rather we do what is necessary to force ourselves to move onward toward our individual growth. (Not necessarily punishment) I believe, my idea of "God" is different than most individual`s idea of "God". That is because when I talk to most people about "God" they believe that "God" is a vengeful diety. They believe that because of what has happened to the world in the last few thousand years, that "God" has foresaken mankind and is taking his wrath out on humanity at this time. This is total BULLSH*T Sorry, but, "Everything in this world as far as reality is concerned is made up every day by nitwit morons who do not know what is really going on, controlled on top by nitwit morons who DO KNOW what is going on". Most people believe what they are told, by people who don`t have a clue, and reinforced daily throughout society by those that KNOW what going on but want to prevent you from finding out. This control is maintained PRIMARILY BY THE CHURCH!. Probably the "evilest" of Institutions, because "they" know you are coming seeking spiritual guidance, but it is in their best interest to have you "kept in the dark" as to true spirituality and your "personal" relationship with "GOD".

We must stop confusing religion and spirituality. Part One

“It is a fool who rejoices when his neighbor is in trouble.” African Proverb



Shem Hotep ("I go in peace").





We must stop confusing religion and spirituality. Part 0ne



The word `religion` means business, a God for sale. Religion is created by man, as opposed to spirituality, which is found in man." Sawaad Amen Ra.


The temple of the most high begins with the human body, which houses our life, essence of our existence. Nubians in America are in bondage today because we approach spirituality through religion provided by our grand father’s and mother’s slave masters. We must stop confusing religion and spirituality. Religion is a set of rules, regulations and rituals created by humans, which were supposed to help people grow spiritually. Due to human imperfection religion has become corrupt, political, divisive, and a tool for power struggle. Spirituality is not theology or ideology, it is simple a way of life. Pure and original as was given by the most high. Spirituality is a network linking us to the most high
the universe...and each other.


U.S. President George W. Bush (L) and first lady, Laura Bush (2nd L), are joined by former Presidents George Bush (2nd R) Bill Clinton (R) and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (3rd R) as they pay their respects to the late Pope John Paul II inside St. Peter`s Basilica at the Vatican, April 6, 2005.

What is the Blue hell? Two Murders, One liar, One Adulteress and One that back up to her husband`s lies. Pay their respects to the late Pope John Paul II.


Thou shalt not kill - No Governor ever put more people to death (not to mention those sent to die in Iraq). Thou shalt not steal - Arrested for larceny. Thou shalt not bear false witness - Lied before Congress and to the American people. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor`s house...or any thing that is thy neighbors. - including thy neighbor`s oil. Honor thy father and mother -? He did invade Iraq (in part) because Saddam "tried to kill my Daddy," but I`m not sure if that counts as "honoring" or not.


BELIEF?

Most people don`t realize that a belief in a thing and ignorance is one in the same! To believe in something simply means that you aren`t sure, but you place your faith in that thing anyway. Take this scenario for example: Some one asks you, "Have you seen Bobby?” and you say, "I BELIEVE I saw him in the store!" You "believe", but you don`t "know". And that goes for a belief in GOD, the DEVIL, Angels, Jesus, and the likes. In most cases we place our beliefs in religion because that`s what we`ve been taught all our lives, or when we were younger we were scared into believing these things. Now we have carried these beliefs with us into adulthood, and then scare and/or teach our children these same convictions. Nevertheless, we carry these beliefs as luggage for the rest of our lives, and we don`t dare question them! We don`t question these beliefs because we were equally scare into believing that questioning belief`s means questioning GOD, and questioning GOD meant being placed in a fiery pit "forever and ever Amen". This is what most of us have been taught, and if not this it was something similar in theory.

Now because belief is not based on fact, but persuasion of heresy (words) and arguments, it is safe to say that BELIEF IS IGNORANCE. While the basis of ignoranceisto ignore [the facts], the basis of belief is sometimes equally so. I say this because most people who live by the school of belief tend to not care about any evidence you bring them, if it isn`t found in their Bible, Qur`an, Torah and so on they will just ignore actual proof.


Religious blindness prevents biblical and Koran scholars, and those that follow them whether they are of the Judaic, Christian, or Islamic persuasion from daring to pursue reality. To do this would mean venturing into the unknown, which is something, most people fear. People base their whole lives on religion and it’s so-called facts. It’s a known fact that the old and New Testament, and the Koran were taken from ancient tablet carvings from the walls in the Cuneiform language of an ancient group of people, called the Shumarian (Sumerians). In a place the bible calls Shinar (Genesis 10:10).


JESUS (SON OF MARY) WAS NOT A CHRISTIAN, HE WAS A HEBREW ISRAELITE FROM THE TRIBE OF JUDAN. WHO CAME TO RATHER THE LOST SHEEP OF ISRAEL ONLY. MATTHEW (10)

Now let’s look at Jesus.

Jesus had two mothers, Mary the virgin and conceived him and Mary the wife of Cleophas, who brought him forth as one of her (five) children. Jesus remained with his mother, the Virgin, up to age 12, when he left, `to be about his father’s business." From 12 to 30 there is no record of his life. Jesus at age 30 was made a man in his baptism by John the Baptist. Jesus in his baptism is hailed from heaven as the beloved son and the only begotten of the Father, God, the Holy Spirit, represented by a DOVE. If we can go back thousands of years before Christ and find the exact same story with a different name, what does that tell you? And what does that say about God and the validity of the Bible? Christians don’t want to deal with that. There is no evidence that the events or people existed in the Bible. Nazarethwasn’teven a town when Christ was born, but this is a place he supposedly frequented all of the time. You can check as one of my references Nile Valley Contributions to Civilization by Anthony T. Browder and Civilization or Barbarism, Chiekh Anta Diop.


The State of the Black Church in America.

Negro Preachers have black Christians looking for a heaven too high, a hell too low, and a devil that is too spooky.

My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6). Knowledge is what’s missing from today’s churches. Too much emphasis is on preaching than teaching. In a book called The Negro Church in America by Dr. E. Franklin Frazier, he points out that; “the religious instruction of the slave required preaching rather than instruction in the Christian faith. Preaching meant dramatizing the stories of the Bible and the way of God to man…. Another qualification which the slave preacher must possess was the ability to sing.” The method of teaching found in most churches today, are not the methods of our ancestors. This new form of charismatic preaching does not allow the mind to really concentrate on the teachings. People are too caught up into how the preacher is preaching in the sermon ascompared to what the preacher is preaching.


Edward Franklin Frazier 1894-1962
The way a preacher teaches should be based on how well the information is transmitted, not how much applause he can obtain or how well he rouses the crowd. Imagine yourself in a college class room for mathematics, do you think you would get much learning done if the teacher brought in an 8 piece band and throughout the lesson shouted at you to get your attention? “Yeah!” “Uuuuhhh!” Most will reply, “It’s not the same!” My point is, in all methods and institutions of learning;this method for teaching isunacceptable, exceptin the church. Most will agree, I assume that a concert and screaming throughout the lesson would not benefit them in any other place of learning. So why do we accept it at church? I am not saying that music should not be a part of the experience. That is just as African as Africa itself. But there is a time and place for everything and the music and entertainment should not overshadow the teachings.
The mind must be in a calm state to really understand what instructions are being given.

Is this how your Jesus looks?

Dr. John Henrik Clarke. 1915-1998
(On the IMAGE of GOD)
“My main point here is that if you are the child of God and God is a part of you, then in your imagination God suppose to look like you. And when you accept a picture of the deity assigned to you by another people, you become the spiritual prisoners of that other people.”
(On SPIRITUALITY)
“Spirituality is a way of accepting the fact that there is a spiritual force in the universe larger than all of mankind. But someone had to come along and invent a word called God. Then some had to serve another God and say mine is better than yours, and some had to create faith, someone said I have the true faith.”
(On RELIGION)
“Religion is the organization of spirituality into something that became the hand maiden of conquerors. Nearly all religions were brought to people and imposed on people by conquerors, and used as the framework to control their minds.”

(The Holy Ghost)
This is my position on organized religion and all that other stuff. But I want to know what people feel about the Holy Ghost or whatever you want to call. I used to sit in church contemplating my life and where I stand in the scheme of it all and I also would observe the so-called "saved" people. Everytime thechoir stood up and certain songs came onIknew who would getthe "spirit" first and who would follow after that It. Always started from the first lady, the deacons wives and down the chain of command. I mean it was crazy every Sunday like clockwork. Now I understand if you’re so overwhelmed with emotion that you just burst out. But I don’t think it should be almost mechanical. I feel as if it’s a show, the holy ghost is all powerful, so it should be able to hit you without a drum beat...and hit you at work, school, or whenever, not just at church before offering time. Also I notice that 90% of the time it’s women, how come men don’t flop around like that? There are a classic way people "get happy" in church, which makes me question the act. The Holy Ghost doesn’t work in a set pattern like that. At least that’s the way the bible tells it.

Most black folks are slaves to SOMEBODY`S interpretation of Jesus’ words, and some folks feel like the Bible says, and therefore, GOD says, that in order to show everyone how Holy Ghost filled they are, they have to act a fool and convulse, cry and dance every Sunday. At another church I visited, the pastor disdained such behavior, and said that the only time people acted like that in the Bible was when Jesus was casting devils out of them. I first went to a Baptist church when I was a youngster. There were no speaking in tongues or shouting allowed in that church. That made me question why someone would stymie the goodness of the creator. Then I started going to a Holiness church and EVERYONE was shouting and speaking in tongues. The Bible says that it only happens to folks who are truly touched by God. I used to look around at folks who was doing the shouting and these were the same women who gossiped about other church members, bad mouthed the direction of the church, talked bad about other people’s kids, and then ten minutes later they fronting singing the glory of the Lord talking about they are saved.

To be continued...... On May 22, 2005.

Happy Mother's Day

“As you worship plantain, remember to worship banana as well.” African Proverb



Shem Hotep ("I go in peace").





(A Mother's Love Determines How!)

A mother's love determines how
we love others and ourselves.
There is no sky we'll ever see
not lit by that first love.
Stripped of love, the universe
would drive us mad with pain;
but we are born into a world
that greets our cries with joy.
How much I owe you for the kiss
that told me who I was!
The greatest gift--a love of life--

The Enemy at the Gate!

Like most black male urbanites, I need three things: food, shelter and a damn good woman. So, as I made my weekly sojourn to the grocery store, I topped by the magazine aisle to stock up on my monthly reading staples: Essence, Black Enterprise and Ebony. As usual, I did my illegal reading of Jet magazine, which means, I read the whole thing from cover to cover without paying for it. As I drooled over the latest issue of Essence, I noticed the tagline at the top of the magazine: ‘Forget Mr.Right! Create Your Own Wealth’. Nothing unusual, I thought, just the usual rhetoric about sister’s who don’t need a man, which has become commonplace in Essence. However, as I picked up my Cosmo in the white girls section, I noticed that most of their articles had a common thread about how to get a man. They all had taglines such as ‘Find your Sexual Soul Mate’, ‘Date like A Pro’, ‘Build That Relationship’ and ‘Find Him, Marry Him!’ As I looked back at my Essence with three physically, handsome men on the cover that would make any sane sister’ think about settling down, I was curious to know why Essence would go left, instead of right. Hmmm.

Why are sister’s so geared towards accepting the fact that they may always be single? Is this an unfortunate situation that they have been accustomed to? The last ten years have left black woman with “I can and will live life without a man”, tattooed across there foreheads. So, I ask myself this question: are the gatekeepers of the media finally force-feeding sister’s the “single till’ I die” mentality that they have been whooping and hollering about all these years? Singledom is an accepted practice among most blackurban professionals. A recent and interesting conversation with a mixedcrowd of friends revealed some unpleasant truths. Some of us have settled in our minds that we are probably going to be single for the majority of our adult lives, while most of us are knee-deep in the dating game. Sisters are doing the multiple dating things, sometimes all in one day. It’s not unusual for one of my sister friends to hook up with one brother’ for coffee in the morning, another for a quick bit of lunch and then yet another for dinner and dancing later on that night. And, lest we forget, the brother’s are matching sister’s date for date. They are just trying to spend as little money as possible in exchange for some company. This serial dating is supposed to be the in-thing for modern young urbanites. Marriage or even a steady, monogamous relationship is just an afterthought. The media portrays today’s black woman as confident, sassy, independent and most importantly, in no need of a man to run our show. Look at the movies geared towards us. Waiting to Exhale. How Stella got her Groove Back. Two Can Play That Game. All movies that scream, “this is how a ‘real’ black woman should be”. The images of these types of women, who relish the thought of either getting rid of that damn Negro or having a relationship that has absolutely nothing to do with getting married are becoming too commonplace for comfort. Even movies geared towards black couples and families are following this trend.

Take The Best Man, for example. Nia Long’s character, educated, smart and
beautiful, is ridiculed for being too strong in her career, too independent
for any man and eventually she ends up alone at the end of the movie. All
this happens while some ditz with no career rides into the sunset with a
fine football player and a couple of million dollars and another ditz with
too many careers gets a marriage proposal. Let’s look at Soul Food. The
successful, beautiful lawyer played by Vanessa Williams ends up lonely and
divorced while her ex-husband goes off to find a successful music career and the docile, submissive and crafty wife played by Vivica Fox keeps the whole family together. Huh? Isn’t the strong black woman supposed to have it all?

Where is her somewhere over the rainbow? Where is her damn marriage proposal? Where is her knight in shining black armor? Well, one strongblack woman did get her marriage proposal. In The Brothers, Shemar Moore’s character almost made it to the altar, despite the protests of his boys. However, after getting a serious case of cold feet and selective amnesia when he forgot to tell his bride-to-be the change in plans, we see a beautiful, successful black woman turn into a hysterical, gun-toting, neck rotating psycho bitch. Now, let’s take a look at the movies geared towards white women. The Wedding Planner. Sweet November. What Women Want. All movies with strong, independent white women. All are movies that explore relationships with white women. However, I noticed one startling difference between these and movies for black women. All these independent women, even the one that is dying in Sweet November, end up getting them a man. No matter how the character was portrayed, the end result was to show that life just isn’t worth living without the right guy. Interesting, isn’t it? Even music pushes us away from cohabitation with a man. Who was hired to write, produce and perform the sassy title track for Charlie’s Angels last year? Dream? Enya? Celine Dion? No, they picked Destiny’s Child, whose audience, although white, includes a majority if young, black impressionable females, to loudly proclaim their independence from any man, for any thing they need.

The gatekeepers of the media are not people that look like us. Face the facts, the entire entertainment industry is run by old white men. Look at Clive Davis, for God’s sake. He is older then dirt and still turns out black artists. At the end of the day, all these record labels, artists, producers, writers, television executives and publishing houses are owned by the same people and they all look alike. So, if the gatekeepers of the media are allowing and encouraging these types of images to filter into the black community and we buy into it, are we subconsciously helping to justify the lack of strong, loving black relationships?

Dazzling black male urbanites are at a crossroads in our personal lives. We want to settle down, but we can’t find someone who doesn’t make us physically nauseous after six months. We want to find a mate, but we are so scared of losing our independence in the relationship, that we wear our on our shoulders. We want to find love, but we have so many strings and bylaws, rules and regulations, on what our idea of a relationship should be that the love becomes a distant afterthought. Black women and black men, we have to ask the question: is this the society we have created for ourselves or have we allowed society to create it for us? How did we get to the point where we began to embrace the media images that sabotage our chances of finding a meaningful relationship? And, in some way, have we helped the gatekeepers of the media by buying into the drama? If the stereotypes are correct, we might as well accept the fact that we may be single for the rest of our natural lives. Those of us that do make an attempt at finding love will only get burned in the process. Those of us who don’t are considered the lucky ones. Of course, there is the argument that it’s all just entertainment and that in real life, black men really do want a black woman who is independent, educated and sassy.

However, in the world of black love, reality doesn’t fall too far from fiction and isn’t it true that art often imitates life?

Lay laughing in your eyes. Because of you my world still has
the soft grace of your smile; and every wind of fortune bears
the scent of your caress.