THE BLACK COLOR THING

This is racist against one's race and just thinking about the terms "light skinned black people" and "dark skinned black people" make me cringe. There is a color segregation between the individuals of one race with one thinking that they are superior to the other. Total nonsense. There has been this notion over the years that the light skinned black people are superior to the dark skinned black people. My own two cents on that is that it is not just absolute nnsense, it is also sheer ignorance.

I think this whole thing started back in the slave days. I think and that is my own personal opinion that everyone is black, we all started out black until we started interbreeding. Africans back in the day were genetically pure with a dominant black gene, so where did this light gene come from?My theory is that there were probably some families who had a tinge gene of being a shade lighter than others and the biggest possibilty was inter racial breeding which actually brings out an obvious light complexion. So a white man has sex with a black slave and their baby is mixed which makes the baby light skinned!!!!!!!!!!!! Hmm. So whats so superior about being light skinned?

In the early 1900's the Paper Bag test was used and it was a big form of color discrimination back in the day. It was used as a litmus test for black people so that they could be accepted into one social field or another, if you were not lighter than a brown paper bag, you were just not light enough. Some churches, Greek systems such as Phi Alpha Phi and even schools practiced it. Some men used it as a criteria to take women out on a date, if the woman was darker than a paper bag, she just wasn't good enough. Period. Suprisingly, this practice was also carried out in historically black universities a very good example is Howard University. At parties, it was also used as a form of admission, if the paper bag is lighter, you would be denied admission, it was important back then as being 21 to drink is important today. In New Orleans, a paper bag party always had a paperbag hanging at the door, you know what that means.

In the slave times,it was used to determine what kind of slave work the slaves would do, the lighter skinned ones did the domestic chores in the house while the darker skinned ones worked on the plantations.

So what happend to Black is beautiful and where did that statement come from or is it just a consolation of being rejected by the lighter skinned black people or rather is it that the whole population of black people are just plain beautiful. Wondering? Smh. It is said that this notion is responsible for the afro hairstyle since it is said that black people have ugly facial features and our hair could be at it's worst for being thick and unmanageble without a perm.

In the media, lighter skinned black people are portrayed better than the dark skinned black people because they are seen as looking better and are highly accpeted nationally. I have seen a lot of posters with models who are lighter than a paperbag and they are said to be black women, most of the real dark skinned models always have their head shaven like its some kind of art work to look that way. Beyonce is one of the light skinned black people who is not just a celebrity but she is good enough to feature as the ad person for Loreal and Tommy Girl for Tommy Hilfiger.Lighter skinned black people are said to also be more socially desirable, the lighter skinned women would be preferably taken on a date than a real black woman. In the entertainment industry, all the light skinned dark people are prominent, Out of Eden,Ashanti,Beyonce, Alicia Keys,Chris Brown, Halle Berry, Will Smith, Jada Pinkett, Janet Jackson, Mary Mary.The last time i looked on the red carpet, a dark skinned black person was very hard to find. Even in sitcoms a replacement of a character ends up with a lighter one like in Fresh Prince of Bel Air, the Janet Whitten was replaced with Daphne Reid. (the wife of Wil's uncle) .

In the movie "Precious" from the book PUSH. All the negative characters are dark skinned such as her Precious, her mom and dad while the positive characters are the social worker and her teacher who happen to be light skinned.

School Daze and the book which is now a movie The Color Purple were written with the notion of the effects of skin color. The Barbie doll started out as a white doll with blonde hair and blue eyes, in the late twentieth century and early twenty first century the notion of a black Barbie came out but the white one is still preferable.

It is a common notion among other races that black people are not intelligent which is wrong and also what is really wrong is that lighter skinned black people are said to be more intelligent than dark skinned black people,well the only advantage i think they had in the slave time is that because they worked in the house, they had a better chance of learning to read and write from the children of the plantation owners or their wives or even the owners themselves.Intelligence has no correlation with skin color. If you are smart you are smart, if you are dumb you are dumb. Some blondes are not that dumb.i have met really smart blondes. Book smart blondes and also intelligent in everyday life.But there exists a term"Dumb blonde"

In the image of the black American woman, the light skinned one is the more preferresd one. She is said to be more attractive and is more likely to get up there in the society. This prefered image has reduced a lot of dark skinned black woman to being self conscious and also a lack of self confidence. This is one of the reasons there are so many relaxers sold on the shelves of beauty supplies and grocery stores as well as bleaching creams. The effort to look like the light skinned ones has become paramount among dark skinned black people.

I think today the light skinned , dark skinned color thing still exists espceially among our own black people which i call total ignorance. This is the second decade in the 21st century, we need to wake up. I leave on this note it's a comment made by comedian Paul Mooney on color. "If you are brown, hang around,if you are yellow, mellow,if you are white,you are alright, if you are black, get back."

I don't think i am getting back to nowhere. What do you think?

OFFENSIVE OR NOT? CLASS OF 2011

When i graduated in 2008, the class of 2008 had the slogan that went with the year "08,don't hate" it rhymed and we thought it was cool other graduating classes didn't have their rhyme that good but looking at the class of 2011 in a different school the story is different. Two young arab Americans decided to show pride in their graduating class of 2011 by making sweatshirts with the number 11 which looked like twin towers and a thunderbird flying nearby with the slogan"You can't bring us down". It was perceived negatively by some staff and students as the school as it referred to the September 11 attack on the Twin towers in 2001. The staff of Dearborn Edsel Ford High School had a meeting in which the matter was discussed but the boys were not punished because they didn't see it in that light as being wrong, they were only trying to show pride in their graduating class. Their sweatshirts were confiscated though. It is pretty sad that shirts were seen as offensive. I don't see it that way though, they were just showing some pride but to sensitive United States citizens especially those who lost family and loved ones, sincere apologies. I think somehow that the situation may have been perceived differently if these young boys were not Arab. What do you think?

Picture: 1Up.com

TOP 50 SUCCESSFUL BLACK PEOPLE: 1. HALLE BERRY

Halle Maria Berry was born in Cleveland Ohio on August 14th 1966. She was born to a black father and a white mother. Her father abused her mother and her sister. After he worked out on them, her mother raised Halle and her sister.
As a child she dealt with racism from her peers.

She attended Bedford High school and had a lot of acheivements by being on the school editorial board. She was also a cheerleader and was the captain of the team and was president of her class.

She was voted as Prom Queen of her graduating class in 1984. She became Miss Ohio in 1985.

In in 1989 she was diagnosed with Type I diabetes.
In 1991, she made her first breakthrough by landing a movie role in Jungle Fever, a Spike Lee movie.

She got married to David Justice in 1992 and finalised the divorce in 1997. She was married to him until 1996. She was at one of her best in "Losing Isiah", a movie in which she played the role of a drug addict fighting a white woman in court to get back her son.She played the role of Dorothy Dandridge in the movie "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge" and earned herself an Emmy anda Golden globe Award. She played the role of Storm in the X Men movie in the year 2000. In 2001, she got married to a singer Eric Benet and that same year she landed a role in the movie Monster's Ball.It landed her an Oscar Award making her the first African American to win an Oscar Award.In 2004, she filed for a divorce from Eric Benet. At 41, she had her first baby with boyfriend gabrile Aubury, she welcomed Nahla into the world on March 16, 2008.

Halle is one of my choices for a successful black woman, she is also a good example of a "good sistah that cannot be held down" She has faced a lot of issues such as racism. It is not the best feeling in life to be regarded as either white or black in terms of color. I can imagine all the teasing and taunting of the little kids who were her age.I believe people like that have self esteem problems. She also witnessd domestic violence in her childhood and ended up with bad relationships as an adult. In that case she chose the relationships she wanted to be in and made decisions to either stay or leave. She also made name for herself in the moves she made and made history for being the first black woman to earn an Oscar Award. She opened doors for other black women showing them that anything could be achieved, you had to put your mind to it. She is black and successful and that it that.


SOURCES
People Magazine
www.people.com/people/halle_berry/biography/0,,20004436_20,00.html

Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halle_Berry#cite_note-80

MRS RIGHT

I believe that the word "Mr Right" by young ladies who want a perfect gentleman is highly over rated.
Every female has this dream to find a perfect man. Some girls have this need to have a financially stable and secure husband.This is a physical need. Not every handsome man is a perfect man,every less than average handsome man is not supposd to be the perfect man either. In terms of being financially stable, money comes and money goes hut either way money is very important in a relationship.Instead of calling it money, i would call it financial stability. If the man is not financially stable, a wedding is not ready to take place and definitely the marriage that comes after having a wedding ceremony.
Marriage and wedding are two different things, one is permanent and the other isn't, Marriage is supposed to be the permanent one and the wedding is temporary. The wedding ceremony, the fun at the reception lasts but one day but what happens after the wedding? Marriage. Marriage is an instituition by itself and it is supposed to last for a lifetime and this happens to those who are fortunate.
Some are compelled to get married because their peers are getting married, this is most especially of so many ladies,they have been bridesmaids in five or six different weddings and now their mothers are asking them, "when are other people coming for your wedding?" Others will keep picking from a selction of men especially to find the perfect one. I will tell you, No man will ever be perfect before you marry them, it will probably take you a lifetime to make a man perfect which is almost impossible, its just like telling a leopard to change its spots but i believe in the power of prayer.
I once dated this dude who just wanted to get married, thats all he could think of was get married.
"Oh babe lets get married tomorrow, oh babe i wish we could get married tonight." All that was wishful thinking because it never happened.
Stability in both mental and physical areas of life need to be established. I would not date anyone who is not spiritually stable or financially stable. It might not sound fair but if the guy's intentions are to take me to the altar, he had better have a job and a real good one for that matter.
Some of my mates want a handsome man, with a dashing car especially a new model and he also has to be on a six figure salray (in their wildest dreams) and so many fantasies. These are lovely thoughts but what will happen if the man is disabled,will he still be attractive to you, what if one of your jealous ex girlfriend pours acid on him, would you still find him attractive, what if he crashed his car on the freeway and he had no insurance and he buys a bucket would you still ride ith him?If he got laid off from his six figure paying job and he started living on Social security or living off you, would you still bear him, these are very uncomfortable questions> it is very tempting to say yes, but it is really hard.
SOmetimes you would wake up one morning and ask yourself why you are stuck with someone who looks like the character of the beast from "The Beauty and The Beast", has a legedesbesnz (on foot) and seems to share similarities with the life of a beggar and your frends will tell you "Why are you still with that man?, He has nothing to offer you". Beware of such freinds, people like that like to give advice that they cannot act on. When you go to his house, you look in the fridge he has no food, just water, you get tempted to cuss him out but how? Will you be in the relationship out of self pity, because he did you one favor in the past? Or you have made vows and you are scared of the consequences of breaking those vows. Hmm, Food for thought.
Have you ever thought of being Mrs Right?
Mrs Right is the right lady. Enough said.
Not too many women have this perspective in mind, they just want to be a lucky bride, who then is Mrs Right.
Have you ever wondered why men don't search for ladies anymore? Because women are too busy searching for men up to the point where they settle for anything and anyone just to be with someone. Out of pressure, they think to themselves,"He is the one".
Females, have you gotten your degree, a damn good job, do you have a spiritual life, do you have harmony and balance in your life? Can you balance your check book at the end of the month and still go on vacation? Can you spend a whole month without borrowing money from your friends, family and savings? Have you ever thought of working at becoming a person for yourself without relying on the prescence of another person. Why do you think men don't want "gold diggers" and "limited liabilites" for themselves. Have you ever thought of why men chase women who have got it covered physically and end up marrying a "good girl" (morals, money,beauty),because what was given to them was offered on a platter of gold. "Who will buy the cow when the milk is free?" Really why buy the cow when the dairy milk comes free everyday. That same guy will dump you and get the girl behind you. When you can fulfil all the requirements of a perfrect person only then will you become someone's Mrs Righr. Trust me,Men will come in their flock.

SACRED SEX

I have never met a male virgin and i have also never heard of a male virgin make a pronouncement of being one. Most African males and i think males in general have this egoistical attitude of talking about being the best of the best in the bedroom or sexually. I have met men who think that female virgins are like a taboo in today's world and i am not surprised because everything you see in a day has to have some sexual appeal at one point in time or another be it a music video with those voluptous girls shaking what their mama gave them or a soap opera or movie with some rather passionate sexual scenes and what of the plethora of pornography on the internet. Its all out there. Sex is a revolution. Female virgins these days could be no more than six or seven years old. Contraceptions have been put forward to even promote premarital sex. Sex is on sale, sold by prostitutes? No not anymore, its free. Why buy the cow when you can get it free.

Like i began i came across this marvellously talented dude's website. His name is Ekene Agabu and he believes sex is R. R could be rated, rampant,rude, but sex is a responsibility. I thought i had digested a great sex book when Juanita Bynum pulled out " No More Sheets" in 1998. That was a book i didn't put down until i finished it and it is the kind of book i don't lend to friends, i could get them their own copy but browsing through Ekene's website i realised that some men still have values and i think it is "Sexy". You need to read his definitions of "sexy" they are very "sexy".

I realise now that there is no such thing as sacred sex anymore. Sex is a topic everywhere, in music, in the classroom, with the girls at lunch, in the nail shop, the guys having some beer talk about sex. Its not bad to talk about it but now its been degraded,its now like the sex between animals,its just mating. There is no love, its just crude and raw so now i believe there is a difference between sex and lovemaking in terms of the definition.

When God put the first sexual partners in the garden of Eden, it was for a reason, Adam and Eve shared their love in form of sex which brought about children and it was only between them, no one could cross those boundaries to come between them. In the 21st century, cohabitation without commitment has made sex look like a one dollar bill, it is cheap sex. Most girls with low self esteem give men sex in order to keep them, you need to keep your goods for someone who is worthy. I mean after reading Ekene's page i was impressed, i had an entirely different view on men, i think i will go about this sex thing in parts.

He said " Why Lose it when you can give it"

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A man finally said it, not a woman, a man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. You don't have to lose your virginity to someone just because........................................................................., you have to give it because you love that person and there is a commitment, which brings me to one of Ekene's thoughts. "Has the person you are sleping with earned the right to have you?

WHY ARE YOU HERE?

The birth of a baby signifies the beginning of new life. The stages come and the child grows up, the crying, crawling, diaper, learning to tie shoes, reading , all these activities come in stages but the most important thing is why was that baby born? There is only one known reason to the birth of a baby which is the result of sex yielding procreation but the bottomline is as an indiviual why are you here?
The fact the God has allowed you to see today, there must be a reason, some people have perished along the way, some died at still birth, some slept and never woke up, some had one form of illness or another which threatened their lives but we need to ask ourselves why we are here. In Proverbs 27:1 " Never boast about tomorrow, you don't know what will happen between now and then" is an example of living your life and trying to fulfil your purpose on earth. There is a reason for your existence and you need to find it. Let this be your thought for today. WHY ARE YOU HERE?

A SIZZLING BOOK FOR A HOT SUMMER DAY

Sidney Sheldon's : Are you afraid of the dark?

Oh my goodness, this book has been provoking my thoughts for the past couple of days. It's really good. I suggest if you are bored out of your mind go to a local library to borrow this book to read. The book is playing like a movie in my head right now,you can just imagine the scene. I am almost done reading it.

4 people were killed in different cities in the world, New York, Denver, Paris and Berlin. Their deaths were not just accidents they were murders but they all appeared to be accidents and just one man masterminded their deaths but its not so obvious until you get to the middle of the book. I promise you if you buy the book at Barnes and Noble or Borders it would be worth every penny you spent.

FREEDOM

There is nothing as good as being free. Last week i had a horrible dream that i was kidnapped by the Talibans or rather Indians. It was horrible. In my life i would never imagine being kidnapped by anyone. all entrances were blocked i was running from pillar to post and it was like everytime i tried and failed they seemed to laugh at me they even took my cell phone from me. I could not call or do anything. For some reason since it was a dream i could have easily woken up from it but it started to become reality until my mom woke me up. Whewwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Watching the news today and watching Lisa Ling and Euna Lee get their freedom is something praiseworthy, this was the handiwork of Bill Clinton the former president of the United States who went to North Korea to plead on their behalf. They were detained in North Korea on March 17th 2009 for illegally entering North Korea and engaging in crimes that are said to be not specific yet. They were sentenced to 12years with hard labor in June 2009 and now they are finally free today August 4th 2009. Yay!!!!!!!!!!!

I also thank God for Jesus Christ who is the Intercessor for us humans after being accused by the main Accuser. We are free.

John 8:36. "So if the Son makes you free then you are free indeed"

In Him we are free, no one would value their freedom until they have been taken captive.In the second world war many soldeirs died for the freedom of people, in the Bible Jesus died so that mankind would be free, Bill Clinton stepped out of his comfort zone so that those ladies would be free. I thank God for people who value freedom. Don't be caught captive, be Free.

I remember back in the days when i used to collect money in form of change from those market women who would store money in their hot, sticky and sweaty bras or in thouse pouches that used to hang slighty above their genitalia. The Nigerian money had this awful stench that reminds me of cholera. I also had the mentality that it was only the Nigerian money that was so dirty until i found out that one dollar and twenty dollar bills could have the same look after giving them some time.

I was impressed to find out that the CBN decided to come up with a way to let the general public know that the Nigerian money should be given some respect and also handled properly. The chart to the right shows the many ways Nigerians violate the money and that a fine of fifty thousand naira or a six month jail term or both can be attratced if the naira is abused. I believe that Nigerians are guilty of at least one of these things and it is usually the last image. Spraying. One by one i would comment on the pictures.

Do not store the naira indecently: I have never stored money in my bra and i never will. I just think that is one of the most disgusting habits a woman should ever portray i tried it once but it didnt last up to a minute, it started to itch and ewwww not to talk of those women who are heavily endowed on the chest and that dirty black cleavage line.I don't want to imagine the sweat and the stench accumulated and then sweet smelling naira noted would be stored there and then come out as though it was hidden beside a pit latrine. Enuff said.

Neatly arrange money in pouches/wallets, do not squeeze the money: Rich people have a way of storing money that would make you want to have money, they stack the bills up neatly and place it in their wallets not squeezing the money or just being careless. I have seen some rich people pull out money, impressive its like saying "the dough is right here, take it". For sure, its for grabs. Money should be regarded as something of value and handled and kept right. I have noticed that when i fold money and keep it in other parts of my wallet i tend to forget and not know exatly how much i have. Thanks for debit card.

Do not stain the Naira: The picture with the caption is ridiculous why would you leave those bills hanging around your food. It makes no sense but i think some people do it anyway.

Do not deface the Naira: For those people who like to write on money, "Ada loves Thomas" or "Pass this money around and see if it comes back to me" or "trace this money"You had beter start getting appropriate writing materials. No more calculating money or writing cell phone numbers or addresses on Nigerian money.

SPRAYING: I wrote this in capital letters because you would have killed the joy at most parties. In Lagos and ther states or rather everything Nigerian it is the fun part of the party to have the celebrants dance and get sprayed on. All that money, its also a delight to pick the money up and think that it is your money. I don't know how that would work and who would want to arrest me for spending my own money.

In other words Nigerians have had their own share of abusing the naira and it would take more than a generation to change that. Squeezing money, writing on money,giving money as bribe, hiding it bras, pouches, shoes, headties, underwear(to hide from spouse or parents after stealing), spraying are all forms of abusing the Naira but guess what the Naira does not care and so does the general public,the Naira only has its best use for spending and it also acts as a leveller of people distinguishing the rich from the poor so whoever came up with this statement was not wrong "When money talks,bullshit walks"

ELECTRONIC PASSPORT IN NIGERIA

I think its really impressive to know that Nigeria will go digital with the new passport. It is supposed to ensure that there are no more forged passports and identity theft in Nigeria so the issue of Taiwo using Kehinde's passport as an identical twin will be ruled out. The difference between the epassport and the regular paper or hardback green passport is that an integrated computer chip is embedded in the back cover of the passport, this technology is to store the information written on the front page of the passport such as the digital photograph of the owner of the passport, this also uses face recognition technology which can be used to identify a person travelling to a different country. The biometrics that can be used in the e passport is face recognition, fingerprint and iris (according to wikipedia.com) . There are three different kinds and they also have different prices, the Green passport is the Standard Nigerian passport and it costs eight thousand seven hundred and fifty naira (8750),the official passport is blue and it costs four thousand naira while the Diplomatic passort is red in color. It costs about $110 to apply for the passport. online.It should go into use in 2010 and is proudly one of the first countries in West Africa or rather in Africa to use this system of technology.