BET, TVOne...

Biracial Christian Girl commented me asking what I thought of BET and TV One considering the music on BET is often played on MTV. I believe it is necessary to have these channels. I personally do not watch BET (other than for the occasional episode of Sister Sister).

These channels are around because 90% of television does not portray blacks very well, they often portray them in stereotypical ways, or has the friend to the white main character. In a sense, these channels exist to try to balance television the best way it can since the other channels refuse to do anything themselves.

The problem with BET is that its too stereotypical in itself to be of any good. They should follow TVOne's direction (TVOne is a family oriented channel for blacks).

Blacks are NOT the only ones to have their own channel. And it often angers me how whites portray this as just blacks having something.

Whites have the majority of tv, they don't need a channel. The Spanish have their own channel because they speak Spanish and they don't want to learn English. Asians did have their own tv (and probably still do, pending on your provider). Women have over 3 channels under Lifetime, followed by 2 to 3 more other female oriented channels. Men have one channel of their own.

So seriously, the only people who complain about whites not having their own channel are usually racists who don't think its right for blacks to have half the things whites have. I mean its the same with Black History Month. In order to understand why things are the way they are today, people need to look at history. History explains today, and so far little has been done to correct history (meaning correcting today), so that tomorrow doesn't have to be like today.

I never noticed this until now...

Society believes its hard to raise a kid who is biracial because society is not open to them. We all know how pointless "other" and "2 or more races" is on forms (as biracial is vague and there are different mixes so its not the same).

Society makes no attempts to make it easy for biracials...yet raising a kid with 2 different races, is by far, more simple than raising a kid of 2 different cultures, or 2 different religions.

I never realized that before, but when raising a child of 2 different races, it is more simple for them if the parents are similar and share the same culture. Meaning, if both eat and like the same foods, dress the same (meaning both clean cut for example), if they listen to similar music, share the same beliefs, etc.

I am not saying its easy to raise biracial kids, because its not easy. But it may not necessarily be the hardest either.

Culture isn't always related to race. It usually is, but sometimes isn't. Look at black americans and then people from different tribes of Africa, you have completely different cultures there. Yet they are all the same race.

Raising a kid in 2 cultures can be complex. You have to give them the best of both worlds, and often, one has to choose (just like with race), in the end, we always lean more one way on something in life than the other, no matter how balanced we try to say. We all know how moderation is the key of life, but at the same time moderation is one of the most hardest things to maintain.

When it comes to religion, that may be even harder than culture. Because with religion you have so much conflict. How do you fairly give both religions to your kid? Its bad to say people should marry within their race only. Its bad to say people should marry within their culture only. Its bad to say people should marry within in their social status only. But is it bad to say people should marry within in their religion only?

If one can make it work, they should go for it, but they should really really think about how they are going to make it work.

How does an Atheist and Christian tolerate each other when it comes to religion? Naturally one will influence them more.

I do believe the kid should get the final decision in what they believe, but this can only be done by giving them the same equal amount of exposure...

I see the same problems coming up in marriages between different religions, that I see in marriages between people with different political beliefs.

In some cases, marrying out is okay and should not be looked down on...such as race and culture. But in the case of religion...that is questionable.

One should be with who they love, but they should think about the children. And I mean that for any kind of mixing, race, culture, religion, language, etc. One should talk about it and have an idea in mind...one needs to realize, in a mixing, that means you have to abide by rules slightly different from non-mixed marriages.

The realistic view is the most disappointing view

Race...a hard thing to talk about in a time where people get offended over anything and everything. (which is found in all races).

People get offended and then make a case out if. Just look at how the Republicans (with their Nazi-Hitler like leader Rush Limbaugh) act.

Its a miracle in this day and age to say something without someone getting on the defensive. It used to be how one says the message will determine the response, but these days you can go out of your way trying NOT to offend, and someone will still get offended (most likely for the sake of just getting offended).

I was thinking about something...is the realistic view of how America truly is so painful that people do everything to avoid it? The realistic view pretty much would mean each race would have its own list of problems to work out and fix....

The realistic view holds no sugarcoated solutions or truths.

You have people who are optimistic in life, or pessimistic, and then you have the realist.

For example, in a game of soccer, the optimist may not be good at the sport, but they have hope and faith that they will finally do really good for a game or two, at the least. They never give up. The pessimist, has never played soccer, but has seen the game. They ASSUME they are bad at it just based on watching it. The realist though has played, and if they are a positive realist,they know they are good, if they are a negative realistic, then they know they are not good, and its based fully on facts (meaning they have played it enough to know their abilities).

Yes, there are 2 types of realistics...one is the Postive, the other is the Negative, the positive have hope but look at it realistically so the hope and happiness are well within its proper confines, while the negatives have no hope, yet still are reasonable with realism.

We all know how grim reality is...so how do we deal with it? We take a more sickeningly approach that gives a whole new meaning to "optimism"...we essentially pretend its not such a problem and try to look beyond it. The problem is, we are looking for a solution that doesn't offend us, nor causes us to have to work hard, and by work hard, i mean look within one's self and see how they fit in this problem.

No one is innocent, all is guilty in this problem...but the realistic view is disappointing, partly because some want to just blame all problems on one, and also people are in way too much denial to fix the problems.

I guess what I am saying is that if America doesn't start getting realistic about everything, race relations are only going to get worse, they are already deteriorating. Each race has a long list of things to work on, so neither race should be telling what the other race needs to work on as no race is innocent in this.

Its great to have an optimistic view, but a positive realistic view is better.

The Biracial Card

The "biracial card" is a card, mostly used by whites. It was coined during the Obama election. The "biracial card" is essentially when a white person always makes mentioning of Obama being biracial, as if it matters in the situation. It is their way of trying to conceal the fact that Obama is the first black man in the presidency.

The problem with this is that those who use the "biracial card" are only using it in this situation. These are people that see biracials the same as black, and assume they are black. These are people who do not care for the biracial problems in America. These are essentially people who are taking advantage of a real problem, simply so they could whine and find controversy about Obama.

We have already established Obama's right to self identify as the way he wants. I was reading a comment and someone said that Obama's decision to go with black, is good for blacks, as it gives them better role models than rappers and gangbangers, and deadbeat fathers. This is true. The black community is in peril, and it needs all the good role models it can get that share the same race and features and stories of racism as others.

The biracial card angers me. These people pretend to care for the biracial cause, but the reality is, they just want to find something about Obama to stir the pot with, on top of that, they just want to make his election more meaningless...

Most who use this card, are racists, those who hate blacks, and to soften the blow of a black man being elected, they elevate the white side. Often you hear some say a biracial person is "saved" by their white side, alluding to how most are raised by their white side, and that somehow makes them smarter. I have seen it happen, and it has happened to me once....

As soon as Obama is out of office, those who were using the biracial card will all of a sudden stop "caring" for the movement, as if they even cared to begin with.

There is this on going joke I hear from people (that may become true more than likely), the joke is that if Obama does bad, whites will consider him black, and blacks will consider him biracial....but if he does good, both are going to try to take credit for it as if they did it themselves (we all know how people in America define achievements by race, and take claim of peoples achievements of the past simply for sharing the same race).

The biracial card is ineffective, no matter how much you say he is half white, it honestly does not matter in the grand scheme of things. The majority has the tendency to change the rules of the game when they start losing, we see this with slavery and its end. They started losing, so what way to win again? Bring in Jim Crow laws.

I usually know people are pulling the "biracial card" when they cite Obama and his being half white....you know very well they did not care before then, and they won't care after him. True people who care about the biracial issues, have more to say, more personal things to say....

Right now, those who use the biracial card, are making the situation for biracials worse...they are like a wolf in sheeps clothing.

Answers desperately needed...

Ugh, my own aunt has no idea, nor does my sister...so I am left searching the internet for 2 answers to, 2 questions.

Why did Jesus condone slavery (in the bible he doesn't condemn it at all)...

and Is the Curse of Cain really about blacks. Thinking about it, it does feel like we are cursed considering the racism we deal with, and the different texture hair and the trouble that comes with it...but at the same time, blacks probably would not have been treated as bad as they were if not for the Bible condoning slavery and the mentioning of the mark of Cain.

Also, while we are at it, was Moses' wife really black?

Does a black person in America need an African culture?

Or better yet, would they even embrace it?

My roommate yesterday had returned from her observations at a elementary school that is predominately black...one thing she kept complaining about was the whole name thing.

She made a major fuss about it. These names are what one would call "black names". I personally do not like black names. The idea and concept of black names is to have some identity with Africa, only problem is, that these names are not African. In fact, one name she started complaining about actually sounded African, and I was like, "that one sounds African, is he African?" she says no, only to say 2 seconds later that the boy's mom is from Africa, and then she said that name could be excused.

She was making fun of the names because she couldn't pronounce them. She found it funny that these names are not pronounced how they look.

I was kinda annoyed at this. Even though I do not like these black names myself...I still felt she and my other roommate were being insensitive about it. But I wasn't surprised, she spent 30 mins telling me she was scared of going to this school because she is white and is from an upperclass town and this is an urban school...(her idea of urban is anything next to or within the city)....she kept on worrying how she was going to be treated, and I said, that she shouldn't bring attention to herself, and she'd be fine. Don't go in there with the whole "I am better than you" attitude.

Her complaining of African names, plus a video I watched earlier in English were the girls at the end talk about Africa, made me think for a little bit.

The reason I hate black names, is that they draw too much attention. One should be unique enough that there name isn't too common, but is normal enough. One should not pair a common name with a common last name, if the last name is uncommon, then a common first name is encouraged. Also, professionally, a "white name" could help you out more....a very Afrocentric name could work against someone, it almost confines them into a box without being seen or known. And besides, nothing worse than one who can't pronounce your name.

My name is a white name, I am the only minority I know with my name, but its common enough that I have known other girls with my name, but it was just enough uncommon that I did not have too many classes with people who had my name (most classes I would be the only one with my name).

But I was thinking about the African culture. Many of the black girls in the video (i posted in the last post), talked about missing that piece of identity. But I can't help but ask, would they even embrace it? Most likely they just want to know where they hail from, but more than likely would not embrace it. Its the same with all the people who go around bragging they are Irish (even though that happened 100 years before them), other than St. Patrick's Day, they do nothing that would be considered in the spirit of the Irish.

We as Americans have the tendency to pretend America has no culture, therefore creating the need to say we are from such and such place, even though ourselves, our parents, grandparents, etc were never there.

This actually annoys Europeans and Africans, and Native Americans, when people do this.

I can understand wanting to know about your African roots...I was never too affected by not knowing, I guess its because I know some of my white side (not all of it though, as my mom doesn't know much about it)...But none of those ever honestly shaped my identity. Having Irish, Blackfoot Indian, and African in me, has not shaped me at all, I celebrate none of these heritages. But being black and white has shaped me though....

Does one who never stepped foot in a country, need that country (or continent) to help their identity, to feel more complete?

Sometimes I wonder, whats the point in knowing, if you don't bother to embrace it, or if you don't have any recent connections with it.

I guess, what I am saying is that America should just accept that it does have a culture of its own, and no, its not a culture that is a mix of other cultures. America does have its own culture (think along the lines of the British). We are quick to point out what is mainstream. What is mainstream stands for what is the culture of this country. Yes each indvidual has their own culture within this culture, but they still live in a country with a national identity.

Why race conversations never succeed in anything.

Lets face it, its next to impossible to talk about race in America. God forbid you say racism against blacks is still prevalent...just saying that will cause some racist white person to call you racist for admitting the truth rather than hiding it. I have seen it so much.

Recently my English 1100 class talked about black culture. Mostly about hair and the light vs dark issue. We watched a video called A Girl Like Me which talked about black girls in a world that idolizes white.

After the video, the white kids in my class (its overwhelmingly white in this class), pretty much said it was a sad video (that also invoked anger in some), and they all said that these girls should be proud and love the skin they are in.

Never do they connect the dots to figure out exactly why they aren't happy about it in the first place. Its not just a problem they deal with from the black community, but mainstream (white) standards, also make it harder for them to love who they are.

It was strongly apparent how indifferent many of the white kids were to the whole issue. But one white kid made it his goal to turn this into a "why can't white girls be upset about curly hair if black girls can?" problem, when the class started talking about hair and whats acceptable and not.

I thin had to explain exactly why by comparing my hair and our teacher's hair. While my hair was in its natural state at the time, it was also curly (but thick and kinky too). I was wearing it down.

I explained that the teacher's hair could be easily fixed should a problem arise, it wouldn't take long. She could even go into the pool with it. Mine on the other hand takes hours to fix, and I can't go into the water. I have to be careful with it. He even started putting words in the teacher's mouth. It looked like he was trying to find reasons to oppose from the very beginning.

He proved why race conversations are dreaded and are hard to have...because people go into it wanting to oppose rather than listen. The other white kids refused to accept that white culture played a role in why those girls felt the way they did. One white guy asked me if black girls want to be white, and I said, "its not that they want to be white, they just don't want to be treated like second class citizens anymore".

In the end, the only thing this conversation did was teach white kids some of the process to maintaining black hair...

But I realized something, and its something I realized happens in all conversations about race. Not only is the person you talking to always trying to oppose and be the victim (such as my roommate, who doesn't hide her "I am better than you" attitude at all), but also, people never talk about a solution.

Some are bent on telling the world there is a problem, and others are bent on saying there isn't one. But neither bother to accept there is a problem and to just find the solution, so neither have to keep debating if there is a problem or not.

I mean, talking about race often does not succeed in anything other than causing anger or disappointment. Even if you are successful in finding someone you can talk about race to, who won't get defensive (or to the extreme someone who derails the conversation about race), what good is talking about it, without finding ways to fix it?

One thing we established in class, as our unit pertains to images and identity (mostly its all about females, to the boys annoyances), is that media isn't strictly to blame. That society does nothing to fight the stereotypes or negative images, that we allow it and follow them religiously...so society is more to blame than the media, as society knows what the media is doing is wrong, yet does nothing about it except bitch.