SPECTRUM (FRANK TALK ABOUT RACE & CULTURE)

What Happens to a Vote Deferred?

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You know that feeling in the pit of your stomach when you feel personal failure because people close to you…people you hope you positively influence made a bad decision today that will haunt all of you both disproportionately and indefinitely?  Well ya… I’m feeling that coupled with a deeper understanding of what it looks like when people confuse the definition of feminism with sexism and don’t even know it. I did my part and regardless of the outcome I can tell my daughter genitalia didn’t sway my vote.

As a feminist by definition I viewed both candidates equally as politicians with agendas and when I compared their records, ethics, and platforms…I can tell her I voted for the right guy and fought for him all the way to the convention…I hope I can tell this story to her one day and laugh about how silly it is that I was afraid for her very life…

I hope I can look back and I don’t remember the nightmares I’ve had of her replacing Sandra Bland on that video or her growing up in a world dominated by war and ruled by resource scarcity… I hope that my hope comes peeking through the clouds of media dust storms that bury FBI investigations and passive aggressive racism under girl power puff pieces and celebrity obituaries.

I pray that before it all falls to shit something pulls the pin out of this grenade and we explode into enlightenment propelled by the understanding that although things aren’t perfect it isn’t impossible nor is it unrealistic to demand real progressive change in a country that has always been dragged, kicking, and screaming into the future…

I’m hoping someone reads this and feels regret…deep mournful regret for not taking a chance on the underdog today… but instead of deflecting they take a hard look at WHY they felt OK with self identifying as unworthy of hope… I want them to ask themselves “what happens to a dream deferred”… then I want them to watch a Trump rally and find out.

FAUX DIVERSE – Thank You Style & Grace for the spark

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Growing up…I transitioned from an all black private school to an all white public school… My lips were too big and my curly “Ms. Frizzel”  hair (as they used to call it) was made fun of all because I actually had a top lip and my hair wasn’t like their long dull straight hair… Now…watching this I am most disturbed by the fact that the women making the video have zero idea that they are culturally appropriating the nuances of beauty that woman of color are taught to dislike about themselves. Until I grew to love who I am, I would straighten my hair and subdue my features… It’s almost like they are saying our beauty traits are a “style” or “fad” and really only attractive, cute, or unique when they rock them… Feel Free to post an opposing view… if you have one…I will counter whatever it is with sunless tanner and pictures of Bo Derek with cornrows…

Check out the article I got the videos from written by my friend Carla Thomas of STYLE & GRACE

White Girl Beauty Hacks I Want No Parts Of – Style and Grace.

Kendrick was sitting at the GRAMMYs like…

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“Ok, soooo the awards are mine? It’s official? Let me drop this single on um right quick”
Sheesh… I’m with EVERYTHING HE SAYS… EVERYTHING…
Poetry at it’s rawest, Kendrick pulled my heart out with this one.

CRAY…

Wells Fargo Explores Definitions of What it Means to be African-American

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Although I may not always agree with Wells Fargo’s Business Practices, this #MyUntold Project is really worth checking out.

This story-telling initiative offers a glimpse of what it means to be African-American today.  View the stories & share your own using #MyUntold.

This Guy…Again: Are You Surprised?

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Steve Scalise Tried To Kill a Bill Apologizing For Slavery.

Six years before he (Steve Scalise) spoke to a white supremacist group, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) voted as a state lawmaker against a resolution apologizing for slavery, according to a 1996 article from the Times-Picayune.

Scalise later backed a watered-down version that expressed “regret” for slavery. But the article identifies him as one of two lawmakers on the Louisiana House Governmental Affairs Committee who tried to kill the original resolution, which apologized to African-Americans for the state’s role “in the establishment and maintenance of the institution of slavery.”

Read More….

Am I Missing Something?

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Growing up Black in America there are a lot of things I assumed to be common experiences.

I assumed that everyone understood that “tightening up” feeling when a cop pulls up next to you.
I assumed everyone one had “The Talk” with their children about how one has to conduct themselves with police and how being Black means you have to be twice if not three times as good as anyone one else just so people won’t question whether affirmative action got you to your station in life.
It took the overwhelming attention brought to such cases as Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown and Eric Garner and the like for me to realize that no these feelings are not “common” and that for some fear of police is not taught. I also learned that sadly in the case of some police racism has burrowed so deep they have no clue that it factors into their decision making skills.

Check out the following video clips and judge for yourself the difference in police approach with these cases. You’ll notice how those who are outwardly aggressive towards police are not shot on sight but talked down and that for others…well… others aren’t even given a warning let alone the chance to speak…

Am I missing something? What makes the first few videos different from the last two? You tell me?

May I add the last two take place in Ohio…which is an open carry state… I’ll just leave these videos here and wait for your input…

 

No…seriously… I’m waiting… comment below.

Bi LAUREN CROOM

20 Years Later: Hackers Prove “They (STILL) Don’t Care About Us.”

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Almost 20 years after Bernard Weinraub, of The New York Times insinuated that Michael Jackson’s HIStory album was “profane, obscure, angry and filled with rage” and “bigoted lyrics” here we are living the lyrics… Again.

It’s funny that Weinraub, the husband of now notorious Sony Pictures Chief Amy Pascal,  penned the review that would doom the album and lead its single ,”They Don’t Care About Us”, to infrequent radio play and it’s accompanying short film to being banned from American TV.

I find it even funnier (and by funnier I mean terribly disturbing) that when Michael Jackson called Sony Music out for being “Racist”, the media chose to scrutinize his claims as if he were imagining things.

Yup… It only took 20 years, an insane security breach and leaked high level emails to confirm the King of Pops assertions.

Now, for some ungodly reason, Amy is able to feign an apologetic stance. Apparently after sitting down with Al Sharpton her (and her counterparts) comments are being brushed off as if they were just an off-color moment. Apparently, 20 years (at least, it hurts me to think that she was raised in  a house hold where this type of thought was acceptable or funny) of egregious thoughts now can be equated to an accidental slip of the tongue…keystroke.

The fact that more people aren’t highlighting this absurdity is disheartening.

The fact that Amy hasn’t stepped down or been forced out is fucking ridiculous…

God dammit.

I just knew I could get through this without cursing but this is just too much bullshit to wade through without getting some stuck to your shoe…

Nope. Not for one second am I cool with this. You can try to distract us by focusing on the hackers themselves as opposed to what they uncovered but as an African-American Actress reading the remarks made about my people in these email exchanges, it only brings a realness to my gut notion that as far as Hollywood is concerned,”They Don’t Care About Us”.

By LAUREN CROOM  

Now, because this all just got too real, let’s jive it up again by watching the video that was banned in America…I promise you that your faith in people will be tested by how relevant the covered topics still are and by how nuts it is that they blocked an artists right to free speech because he chose to be the voice of Americans not represented by the power structure…

I guess free speech is only people who color in between the lines.

MMMMKAY.

XOXOX.

Toodles.

Source info: Sony Hack Re-ignites Questions about Michael Jackson’s Banned Song.

Brother Speak: Hurt, Anger, and Hope in Post-Hashtag Ferguson

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A touching portrait of men from the Ferguson Missouri community that played back drop to the slaying of Michael Brown.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/posttv/c/embed/228865dc-28af-11e4-8b10-7db129976abb

Arian Foster Tells The Truth About Anheuser-Busch And Everyone Else

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Arian Foster of the Houston Texans never has a problem with speaking his mind. What are your thoughts on his correlation between domestic violence and alcohol? Do you think he’ll catch flack for saying what we are all thinking?

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Since You Already Forgot: An Update On #Ferguson And The #MikeBrown Case

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Now that #Ferguson is no longer trending and the media hype has died down a bit, what’s been going on in the St. Louis suburb that held national attention over the last month? Things in the small city are far from back to normal since the August 9th shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown which brought issues of racial profiling and excessive force to the forefront. Here are a few updates you should know:

1. No Federal Charges Have Been Filed Against Darren Wilson.
Even the emergence of video footage captured in the moments right after unarmed Michael Brown was gunned down, Darren Wilson is a free man. St. Louis County Circuit Judge Carolyn Whittington has extended the grand jury’s deadline to consider whether the Ferguson police officer should be criminally charged to January 7th. Officer Brown has been suspended during the investigation. The Justice Department is also conducting a civil rights investigation into the Ferguson police force’s conduct, use of force, traffic stops, searches and the treatment of detainees. In August, protesters led by Attorney Malik Zulu Shabazz filed a $40 million federal lawsuit in against the Ferguson police department for violation of civil rights and excessive force used against protesters. The lawsuit names Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar, Ferguson officer Justin Cosma and several unnamed officers.

Click here to continue reading this article written by Shahida Muhammad….