DRAAAAAAANK

lol, made me c.ol. (chuckle out loud, teehee)

Our Prince

This man was brilliant...and blessed with the ability to move, encourage, and wake us up. He was definitely our shining Black Prince and was shot down before his time. These are a few quotes that I took from Malcolm's interview with A.B. Spellman in May of 1964. It blows my mind to think that these words spoken over 40 years ago still have weight and carry much truth. To get the whole interview go here.

"I know of no group that is promising unless it's radical. If it's not radical it is in no way involved effectively in the present struggle."

yet where are the radical groups of today? it seems like we're all just trying to 'organize' for the sake of saying we're for the struggle, but i've found that those who are truly radical with their ideals and approach are oft shunned and cast aside as being either a novelty or a...well, a radical. isn't change supposed to be radical?

"...the national leaders of the civil rights movement are out of touch with the problem and usually they are paid leaders....They are full-time leaders, they are professional leaders and whoever pays their salary has a great say-so in what they do and what they don't do, so naturally the ones who pay the salaries of these nationally known Negro leaders are the white liberals and white liberals are shocked and frightened whenever you mention anything about some X's."

again Brother Malcolm is on point and speaking some truth that still holds in this day and time. we've got a lot of 'leaders' who are getting paid by shacking up with White-run corporations, and end up doing a whole lot of nothing for the people whom they are supposed to be serving. so why do we keep looking for the 'next great leader' or even looking to these rent-a-negro leaders to do the work that both you and i can do if only we employ some real thinking and activism??

"I've never heard of a non-violent revolution or a revolution that was brought about by turning the other cheek, and so I believe that it is a crime for anyone to teach a person who is being brutalized to continue to accept that brutality without doing something to defend himself."

I think he said it well enough.

"I'm non-violent as long as somebody else is non-violent—as soon as they get violent they nullify my non-violence."

AMEN

"Revolution is like a forest fire. It burns everything in its path. The people who are involved in a revolution don't become a part of the system—they destroy the system, they change the system...the Negro Revolution is no revolution because it condemns the system and then asks the system that it has condemned to accept them into their system"

i think this sums it up right here. revolution...what revolution? we are a bunch of semi-disgruntled lackadaisical folks who talk of change and postulate and pose about making progress, but we don't really move beyond that. why is that we continue to compare ourselves to Whites? what they have, what they do, where they shop, how they govern...how many times have we said this system we're in does not work in our favor? yet how many of us (myself included) are trying to make it into the very system that abhors our very existence? we tell ourselves that we've got to succeed in whatever field we're in, make good financial decisions, raise an ideal family, and set a 'good example' for the rest who are left struggling. really what good does that do? shouldnt we already know what it means to have our own, and to live a successful life? why are we still seeking the White man's acceptance? when will we realize that the only real acceptance that matters is our own? that we need to break down the corrupt system that we are living in and create a new one that shuns the oppression of any and all people.

Check the interview...forreal.

CBrava

Makes Me Feel All Tingly Inside....

'No Homo'

"So for the past few years nearly every time I hear Black men nearing a point of emotional intimacy two words quickly have haunted the moment, "no homo." Picture this Sicily... err, I mean, so picture this, you've mentored a brother for the past 5 years, talked him through some major life issues: college, divorce, depression, women, etc. and he's about to take off for a far off land. He takes a moment to express his thanks for the love that you've showed him over the years and how you've improved his life and he punctuates his statement with "no homo." Not only has it happened once, but it's happened multiple times with the brothas that I've worked with. But the reason it urks me so much, is that so many of these brothas are the "good brothas", the brothas who have attempted to push on issues of gender, inequality at large and sexuality... well maybe not so much the latter.

The "no homo" movement seems to have grown directly out of Hip-Hop's obsession with hyper-masculinity. ( more...) "

I have definitely noticed this trend among Black men to use the words ‘no homo’ to downplay their display of emotions or affections. It bothers me. Namely because it gives the message that the showing of emotion or being kind to another man is a symbol of being homosexual, or that the outward display of emotion is clearly exclusive to homosexuals. Does anyone else find that to be ridiculous?

What is it about the Black man…yea, even the Black woman to an extent, that makes them SO damn homophobic? I surmise that perhaps it is because Black men tend to equate their masculinity to their penis – how big it is, how much sex they can get, and what kind of bodily orifices they are able to stick it in and how often. This juvenile mentality of “I am my penis” has hindered the Black male to really be able to come to grips with his own sexuality, and in turn has lead to womanizing, over compensating for a less than desirable penis size, and yes even homophobia.

Any real man will tell you that manhood is not the measure of your member’s size, nor is it tied to your sexual orientation. One of the best quotes I’ve hard about manhood reads as follows (emphasis added by me):

"A man, if he’s a mature adult, nurtures life. He does rituals that will help things grow, he helps raise the kids, and he protects the people. His entire life is toward balance and cooperativeness. The ideal of manhood is the same as the ideal of womanhood. You are autonomous, self-directing, and responsible for the spiritual, social, and material life of all those with whom you live." -Paula Gunn

Now where exactly does sexuality come into play with determining a man’s worth? I don’t think it does. Truly I think we have taken things too far when this ‘no homo’ catch-all phrase is being used to serves as some kind of disclaimer for Black men who feel like showing love, gratitude, or even appreciation of another male is somehow ‘unmanly.’ Furthermore, I believe that the use of said phrase automatically alerts me that the user of the phrase isn’t in touch with his manhood, and doesn’t have a firm grasp on his masculinity and what it means to be a man.

We get entirely too hung up on fitting into these neat little gender roles, and fail to realize that we are all made of the other. Every woman is feminine and masculine, and every man is masculine and feminine. We come to be as a combination of man and woman, and while a sexual gender is assigned to us and we are groomed to be one gender or the other, there are still those internal traits that society would consider as being of the ‘other.’ What I mean to say is that a woman who is ‘woman enough’ to show her strength and resolve in the face of adversity is no less of a woman than a man who is ‘man enough’ to show his fear or genuine sorrow in times of hardship.

Why are we raising our boys with this messed up mentality that encourages them to hold all feelings inside, and shuns true expression of emotions? Can’t we see by now that these boys grow up to become men who possess an inability to allow themselves to feel? Who are conflicted by their ineptness to display the very emotions that make one human? What is the deal my beautiful brothas? When will you learn that it’s ok to feel? To love? To hurt? It’s all a part of being human and has NOTHING to do with being ‘homo,’ so please let’s grow up and look inwards to address the real issues at hand instead of looking outward and allowing the general populace to determine the status quo.