[November 4th. 11:46 pm. CNN's live coverage of election night 2008]





Wolf Blitzer: Welcome to a historic night of election coverage here on CNN. We've just heard John McCain's formal concession speech, and in a moment we'll go to Barack Obama headquarters to hear from our President-elect. In fact, I'm getting word that Mr. Obama is on his way out now; Let's hear from our next United States President.

[Cut to Obama HQ]


Fellow Americans! Thank you... Thank You... Please; Thank you all so much for your support. Your hope in progress has made tonight a prime example of change we can believe in. I must say, your faith in me as a leader has been exceptional, but I need to reveal one thing that you may not know...




















[I wake up in a cold sweat]

Now, it's doubtful that if Obama wins, he'll beat up Joe Biden and join some Republican Alliance. It's also doubtful that either Obama or (hopefully not) McCain will dramatically change anything about how the country is run. Hopefully we can recover from these economic crises and stop fighting losing wars, but only time will tell.





I did vote though. And it felt kinda good.

Black or Red: Which is more hated?

Barack Obama is a Socialist. At least that's what some people want you to think.

What does it mean when people are more concerned about having a "socialist" president than a black president? Progress in terms of racial prejudice? Eh... I think not.

It almost happened...

So this afternoon I was walking home with a girl I'm in class with and who happens to live right around the corner from me. We were having a pleasant conversation about how things are going so far. At one point, our talk shifted to the half-joking subject of our common concerns of "why did this school accept me? Did they send the letter by mistake?" (that's probably a subject I'll go into another time) Anyway, as we neared our respective houses, the conversation went something like this:

Me: I really kinda feel like they checked the wrong box and now they're thinking "damn! he actually accepted our offer." Seriously, I'm wondering why I'm here instead of somebody else.
Her: Well, they probably needed somebody... ... female. But, actually, there's a lot of girls here.
Me: haha... Yea I don't know. Well i'm doing well so far so I guess they made the right choice.
(laughter)


So my thought is, she was going to say "black" but decided not to, leading to that long pause. Maybe i'm being paranoid. It's possible that she was going to say it jokingly but realized she didn't know me that well and racial jokes might not go over with me. Looking back on it, I might have just laughed if she said it. (part of that is the fact that i'm pretty sure i'm here at least in part because i'm black) It's also possible though, that she's anti-affirmative action and bitterly thinks I'm underqualified to be here. I think this is unlikely, as she seems like a really nice person and because almost everyone i've met here is quite liberal (though race tends to make people think in funny ways).

Whatever though. I laughed off what I perceived as a potential misstep, and I think I would have laughed it off if she had said what I thought she was going to say.


I just thought I'd share my first mildly uncomfortable moment here as a result of issues of color.

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.

Yes, I'm clearly politically biased. This is awesome though. Enjoy.

Someone is going to PAY!!!

I'm sure most of you have read or at least heard about the financial crisis that has occurred on Wall Street. Well for some reason while sitting at work, (lol yea I'm not doing anything today) and reading an article, it hit me that I am furious over what happened. These CEOs and brokers sit back and steal all this money from these hard working Americans who put their trust and their money in them and they go and blow it. They sit back and play Russian roulette with peoples money and when the bullet comes up they point the gun right at you. I just find it strangely ironic how ass-backwards the United States is. Someone who holds up a bank or store so they can feed their family is considered a criminal and goes to jail, but rich executives who make a career off of thievery get a government bailout and stick the American taxpayer with the bill. O well we pissed your money away trying to make ourselves rich and we messed up sorry...so ummm you think you can give us more of your money so we can do the same thing again? Something is not right here and one day all of those thieves will pay. It may not be when we want it or how we want but you know what they say about karma.

Nigger...Nigga....The N-Word....What does it mean to you???

While in my boredom I happened to stumble across Dr. Phil (yea I know) and the topic for the show was...The N-Word debate. And he had 4 guests on the panel, some white conservative radio talk show host, black comedian Sheryl Underwood, black comedian Paul Mooney, black actor/writer Hill Harper, and the Rev. Al Sharpton. Throughout the show they would play clips of audience members and what they thought about the word. Some people, black and white, said it was okay for black people to use it and not okay for anyone else to say it. They also had people, black and white that said no one should use it. And they had people up there, black and white that said everyone should be able to use it. Some of the audience members said that black people should get over slavery and the word because it didnt happen to them and they are perputating racism by using the word and by always talkin about it. The guests, well I should say Paul Mooney, came off like a militant black man but everyone else sounded someone educated. I know this is poorly worded and all over the place but it leads to this one question and I know there has been this debate before and some people are tired of hearing about it but, what does the N-word mean to you? And how do you react/feel when anyone says it?

What Would You Do???

No... not the TV show.

I warn those of you reading, this video may be "disturbing." You can always just read the post in the link to get the gist of what happened.





Seriously, though. What can they expect other passengers to do? I'm sure we'd all like to say that we'd stop him, but unless it was my family or friend being attacked, I'd be moving away as quickly as possible.


I think sometimes people expect too much nobility from others.

O...M...G... ... W...T...F... Are you fucking serious???

"For four days in Denver, the Democrats were afraid to use the words 'Islamic Terrorism'. I imagine they believe it is politically incorrect to say it. I think they believe it will insult someone. Please tell me who are they insulting if they say 'Islamic Terrorism'. They are insulting terrorists!" (cheers, applause, laughter from the crowd)

- Rudy Giuliani

Holy crap. This is serious.

I haven't been watching the R.N.C.... but I don't have cable yet so I'm not watching anything. But I read on another website that the former NYC mayor said this in his speech Wednesday night. This is one of the most ridiculous, offensive, and blatantly discriminatory statements I have ever heard. Giuliani, in attacking Obama's ideas on international relations, is saying that being a Muslim is worse than being a terrorist.

Yes. He's really saying bullshit like that... and being cheered by a crowd.

I don't even know what else to say. Rudy Giuliani is viewed by many as a "moderate" Republican, but here he portrays himself, and dedicated party supporters, as extremely ignorant concerning the Islamic faith and relations among people in general.

"Terrorist" is a broadly defined term, but simply reading Wikipedia articles about terrorism reveals that Europeans and Euro-Americans have often committed acts that could be described as terrorism (see the Crusades, the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, Indian "removal" in the 19th century, the Holocaust, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Charles Manson, Timothy McVeigh, Columbine, etc.)

What Giuliani is essentially saying is that all of the people responsible for the acts mentioned above are BETTER than ANY person who subscribes to the Islamic faith. He's saying that men like Thomas Jefferson (lifetime slave-owner), Andrew Jackson (lifetime racist), and Adolf Hitler (come on now...) should be offended at being categorized with Muslims.

As upsetting as it is that a "prominent" American politician can go on TV and say this proudly, It is even more troubling that he is applauded by a crowd that represents AT LEAST one-third of the U.S. population.



This shit is ridiculous.

Equality to suck

For those of you who were disappointed with CNN’s Black in America, there is an alternative. For whatever reason *cough*Barack*cough*, television seems to be focusing a lot on the lives of African Americans in this country. HBO recently aired part one of a documentary titled The Black List – perspectives from 22 prominent black people ranging from Serena Williams to Al Sharpton. As imperfect as Black in America was, this special is not really any better at depicting life for the average black American (if that person exists). The Black List is better, though, because it doesn’t claim to do that. If you have HBO, or like me are staying in a hotel where it’s free, you should definitely watch part two next Monday.

Some of the folks in part one didn’t say anything really significant, but I did enjoy Chris Rock and Colin Powell’s segments. Always funny, Chris Rock said “True equality is the equality to suck - like the white man. That was Martin Luther King’s dream.” When discussing Jackie Robinson, Rock said that baseball wasn’t really integrated until there were bad black professional players. I felt like this was an excellent way to show how tokenism can create illusions of equality. Outstanding individuals who achieve highly do little to indicate progress in general for a minority group.

Colin Powell (viewed by many as a “token,” but that’s another discussion) said some interesting things, but the one that stood out to me was that “A lot of white people still have not crossed over [i.e. acceptance of minorities], and it is an obligation to us as black people to help them progress.” I wasn’t sure how to view this statement; I don’t think it’s fair that we should have to work to be accepted by people who have shown that they don’t want to accept us. I wonder how others feel about this “obligation” to fight ignorance among people who have chosen to remain ignorant.

here's a link to a clip from Chris Rock's segment
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6hj0p_the-black-list-vol-1-chris-rock-hbo_shortfilms"

In response...

I would like to quote a bit of Ellisonia back at you.

"What I am suggesting is that when you go back you do not find a pure stream; after all, Louis Armstrong, growing up in New Orleans, was taught to play a rather strict type of military music before he found his jazz and blues voice.  Talk about cultural pluralism!  It's the air we breathe; it's the ground we stand on.  It's what we have to come to grips with as we discover who we are and what we want to add to the ongoing definition of the American experience. ...It is very difficult in this country to find a pure situation." -RE on Alain Locke in The Collected Essays of R.E.

I think Mr. Ellison might respond to your post with something like this in his own blog. He might remind us that while we are all human, there seems to be a certain significance in the cultures through which we are borne and that for Americans, and especially Black Americans, this is a cause for celebration.  It should go without saying that we are all fundamentally human, and while this has not always been the case, we should consider it our job to elevate this discourse and claim the complexity and difference between us. Mr. Ellison might even playfully ask why we insist on speaking on the, ahem, "lower frequencies," when we could bring to light the richness of this cultural pluralism. (10 points for the lower frequencies joke)

My sense is that while there is certainly something unifying about Americanness, and Humanity in the broadest sense, some would resist throwing Race out with the bath water. 

Here's one more for the road:

"Speaking of language, whenever anyone tells you that you're outside the framework of American culture, and when they deflect you into something called 'black English,' remember that the American version of the English language was born in rebellion against proper English usage, and that the music of the African voice and the imagery coming from the people who lived close to the soil and under the conditions of slavery added greatly to that language."

"What's up with the title???"

“But you were concerned with that old couple,” he said with narrowed eyes. “Are they relatives of yours?”
“Sure, we’re both black,” I said, beginning to laugh.
He smiled, his eyes intense upon my face.
“Seriously, are they your relatives?”
“Sure, we were burned in the same oven,” I said.
The effect was electric. “Why do you fellows always talk in terms of race!” he snapped, his eyes blazing.
“What other terms do you know?” I said, puzzled. “You think I would have been around there if they had been white?”


This is a conversation from Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man - and the source of this blog’s title. The narrator has just delivered a speech that prompted a mini-riot between black people and three men attempting to evict an older black couple. He is now in a coffee shop with a mysterious Jewish man, who attempts to recruit the narrator to work as an activist.

The conversation interests me as an example of the powers of racial identity in our lives. Over the past year, I’ve had a ton of conversations about race and racism, many focusing on the nature of the concept. What is race? What is “blackness”? How significant is a person’s race in determining various aspects of their life?

I’ve been reading this book off and on for a while, and I have not finished it. I must say, though, that I agree with the Jewish man. I understand that black people, specifically black Americans, often share aspects of culture and experience. I also recognize the power of unity and the idea of strength in numbers as a means of affecting change. At the same time, I feel that it is key to recognize the unity- and diversity- of ALL people, regardless of skin color – not to sound too much like Dr. King.

We have to understand that many ideas related to race are pretty dumb. We’re all humans, point blank. A few weeks ago, I was exposed to the idea of the word “race” as a verb, meaning to categorize or identify a person as belonging to a specific racial group. Historically, race has existed in large part as a tool of oppression, using physical characteristics to easily identify who does and does not deserve certain rights and privileges. Unity within a race is thus effective as a tool to combat this oppression, but it is equally if not more important to build bridges across racial boundaries to combat oppression based on other categorizations of people (class, age, education, etc.).

The idea that “we were burned in the same oven” is awesome to me. It would be even better had the narrator considered the fact that the oven is indicative not only of a black experience, but a human experience. In large part, that idea is why this blog exists – to allow us to discuss our diverse human experiences, thoughts, feelings, etc. Lots of us get burned; some just a little blackened (no pun intended); others escape perfectly golden-brown (again, no pun. Maybe I should have used a different metaphor.) I believe that the recognition of this is one of the first and most important steps in the eradication of racism.





I just wish I weren’t so pessimistic about it actually happening.*



* While I watched MTV for a second this morning, I saw rapper The Game discussing his new video. At the end, he said something along the lines of “I’ve decided to accept responsibility for the actions of my people. And by my people, I don’t mean black people. I mean the human race.” Even though I feel like Game is an idiot who chases controversy for record sales to make up for his mediocre talent, he appears insightful with this statement. Maybe this is a good sign.

**For whatever reason, I couldn't figure out how to indent on this post. Sorry.

Welcome

Hello there! Welcome to our blog. Did he say our? Yes… I think he did.

First a few words about why we're here. This website was recommended by a handful of individuals with whom I spent the past 8 weeks (shouts to S.H.I.!). I think the recommendation was at least partially humorous, but at some point it developed into a really good idea. Those of you reading this probably know that I’ll be starting a Ph.D. program at a certain university in the Fall. The blog was first suggested as a documentation of my experiences with everyday bullshit and an effective place for me to vent.

Saturday night, while I was eating chicken in the Atlanta Airport (no, I didn’t wait until I got home), I realized that I didn’t just want to do that. First of all, I have no idea how much time I’ll be able to dedicate to a blog. Secondly, I don’t know if I can keep anyone’s interest- including my own- with something that simple. Life would suck pretty bad if I went through enough everyday bullshit to consistently write about it.

Most importantly, though, I realized that I’m not the only person I know whose life will be changing significantly within the next few weeks. Most of you all graduated in May, or before, and have since been figuring out where you’ll let life take you (or you’ll take life) in the future. Regardless of your age, occupation, location, etc., interesting stuff is happening to you. I want to read about all of the wonderful, terrifying, exciting, and frustrating things that we will experience. That’s why this is our blog. I’m encouraging everyone who’s read this far (hopefully all of you… it’s only like 300 words) to contribute whatever you feel is relevant – whether it’s humorous, thought-provoking, controversial, or just a post about something you like or don’t like about the world around you. (Right now, I don’t know how to have multiple contributors to a blog, but I’ll find out soon.) My hope is that this will be a place where we can come together, share ideas, and stay connected.




I don’t know… just some thoughts I had. Let me know how you feel about it.

-genius/BOSS/smart brother