Amen

Although it seems that America’s youth is obsessed with partying, underage drinking, and rebelling, there is actually an angelic lining in our genealogy. A study done by Search Institute's Center for Spiritual Development revealed that many a youth are interested in spirituality but rarely have the opportunity to speak about it. The study was collectively conducted in 17 different countries and spanned over a two year period. The demographics of the youth were diverse races and religions, including youth from the age of 12 to 25. The study found that 34% of youth classifies themselves as religious and spiritual. On the other hand, 23% of them classified themselves as only spiritual. Furthermore, when the researchers inquired what it meant to them to be spiritual, 41% answered “having a purpose in life,” and the other 33% said, “Belief in God.” Since the survey was widespread, and the first of its kind, the researchers recognize that it offers a snapshot into the spiritual development and practices amongst youth (Business Wire).
Spirituality is very important to my life. The reason I say, “To my life,” is because I believe spirituality has to be applied. I do believe that we are born with innate power of God in them, but I also know that it is not activated until we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Thus, the laws that come along with accepting Jesus calls us to apply those teachings to our lifestyles. This notion was not a hard pill for me to swallow because I grew up in a Baptist Church and have been raised as Christian. Therefore, believing that a God exists, and trying to be a good person does not cut it for me. Over the years, I’ve learned that I’ve had to sacrifice some things and let go of some people. However, whenever I go through a rough time or have to give up something, I am assured that something bigger and better is in the works for me. I have learned that as a Christian, I am called to do things that are beyond my personal life. the God I serve was compassionate and self less, so it is my duty to mirror his ways. In everything I do, I have to be mindful that (1) I have to exhibit unprecedented love for everyone, and (2) I have to keep my life in accordance with God’s Will.
I find it amazing that my generation is interested in something bigger than themselves. I think we all have gotten the gist that we are not protected every day, blessed, and favored without there being a source to those incentives. Universally, I think there is an air of confidence that there is someone, somewhere loving us and providing for us. In return, all we have to do is love to one another and fall in line with this source’s plan for our lives.

My sources: "Youth Around the World See Spirituality as Important, Want to Talk About It," by Business Wire (an online publication company)
http://www.allbusiness.com/society-social/religion-spirituality-religion/11675684-1.html

...And Beauty

I have noticed a trend in magazines, television, and the internet that keeps women conscious of themselves. I’m not talking conscious about their thinking processes or conscious about how they conduct themselves, but conscious about the pursuit of beauty. Every popular magazine contains a Health and Beauty, Lifestyle and Beauty, or Fashion and Beauty section. On television, there are tons of commercials that advertise quick weight loss programs and the internet advertises for plastic surgery and magic colon flushing pills. We are being sold the idea of beauty everyday and the results are becoming redundant. Us girls run out to the mall for the latest trends, spend mounds of money on makeup, and even obsess over diet and exercise, all in the name of beauty. Some of us can’t stand the sight of ourselves without a “full face” of makeup or a fresh hair style. I can attest to this notion because I attend a school where fashion and beauty are imperative to the college life experience. Trendy clothing gives one status and respect on our campus, while a toned down dress code gets you overlooked.
My take on the situation is, over time, as we consume these things it starts to move into our subconscious. Even if we are not the type to obsess over our appearance, the constant perpetuations of the idea of beauty will make one opt to buy a tube of lip gloss over a sandwich for lunch. Especially amongst young women, the hunger for attention from men can also drive a girl to skip dinner in hopes to lose a few inches from around her waist. And it may seem like everyday occurrences, like, girls are going to be girls, but I think that it goes deeper than that. Girls do not love themselves the same. Self love is being overshadowed with platform pumps and glitter mascara. Now-a-days you do not have to work on building your self esteem because girls think that it can be bought. They may feel that the new military blazer or chandelier earrings will make them more susceptible to their peers and so the sense of self is lost in the sea insecurities and replaced by material possessions. Possessions used to douse feelings of inferiority that eventually go out of style. Women need to understand that self love makes the woman. Faulty weight loss programs and expensive jeans will not soothe embarrassment or humiliation but a strong sense of self will. It will not go out of style and the only cost is one’s time. Time to evaluate themselves and learn to love who they are.

Dark Past

…”And he ends with an affirmation of his belief that the history of slavery is a shared legacy. Blacks and whites, Africans and Americans, are forever linked by the burdens of this past; together they must challenge history's destructive silences.” This is a quote by Drew Gilpin Faust, a writer for the New York Times on the web. Faust wrote an article on Edward Ball’s book “Slaves in the Family.” This book chronicles the quest of Ball reconnecting with the truths of his family’s dark past and seeks to offer peace with the people his family affected. You see, Ball’s family had a very lucrative slave operation in South Carolina that spans 400 years. Ball’s intention was to unearth the genealogy of his family (and their festivities) primarily, to find out more about him. Before his adventure began, he had come to the realization that like the other ethnic minorities in the U.S., whites have the right to culture as well. I mean can you blame him? His own descendents formed together to manipulate world systems and systematically disenfranchise anything not boasting the white race. In lieu of the fact that most of those descendents decided to abandon their cultural distinctions to “fit in,” some white folk feel of sense of uncertainty about themselves. They want to identify too, I guess being the majority and dominating everything about American Life is not “in” anymore.
Anyhow, there was not much on the internet about Ball other than sites advertising his book, that it until I came across Faust’s article. Faust paints the picture of a man in pursuit of forgiveness for his family’s actions. He points out that Ball wants it to be known that he cannot be totally accountable for his family’s past because there was no way he could influence their actions, the deeds have already been done. Faust (and pop perspectives) also points out that Ball’s family insisted that they were kind slave masters but he produced records sexual violence, mutilation, and hangings. Right. So, Faust goes on to tell the tale of Ball traveling the country and the continent of Africa to speak to the descendents of his family’s slaves. Of course, he runs into some rejection but he reports many cases of welcoming Black folk, lighter skin, and giggling and chuckling. Anyway, he also unearths some business about possible love connections between slave women and his forefathers, again, Right.
Now to my analysis, I feel like this man has some nerve to unearth years of pain, humiliation, and God knows what else, in HIS quest to find HIMSELF. For what? Only to offer your apologies, what can your apology do for 20th year descendents of slave relatives, other than rehash or introduce battle scars? I think Ball’s research is irrelevant, to the families he’s reaching out to at least.

Pop Perspectives 120-24
Link to article Skeletons in the Family Closet
http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/01/reviews/980301.01faustt.html

Afro Colombian Mural

The Afro Latin mural was breathtaking. The colors were vibrant and every inch of the painting had immense meaning. The Afro-Colombian mural was completed in 2009 by Joel Bergner who is an award winning mural artist. Joel did research on the Afro-Colombian community by gathering information from Afro Colombians in the Washington, DC area! He was also able to gain the support of the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities for funding. Brightly splashed across many walls, Bergners’ murals can be seen in many cities. Most of them are located in the metropolitan area of DC and Maryland, but others can be found in San Francisco, Mexico and Brazil.

While I don’t know much about the Colombian culture or its people’s history, the mural gave me some insight. The color of the people’s skin was most magnifying. The fact that their skin was of a darker pigmentation confirms that they are a people of the African Diaspora. Also, on the right side of the mural, you could see that the lives of Colombians were vibrant and full of life. Children were playing, music was playing, and adults were having a good time. The country was illuminated by the rays of the sun, the trees were beautiful, flowers were out in full bloom, and the aura was festive.

In opposition, the left side of the mural told a different story. Fully armored troops were perched in bushes and others were man handling the citizens that were once seen on the right side of the mural. Everyone now has a horrified look on their faces and the sorrow emitting from their faces speaks of persecution and dismantled lives. In addition, on the top, right corner of the mural you could see the people running to a nearby village, but the village seems rural and clearly they did not want to go.

In closing, the mural was very insightful and easy on the eyes! It was absolutely beautiful and for a moment I forgot about the 10 block walk and appreciated what the mural was relaying to the community. I think it was trying to tell people that Afro Colombians are a force in the Black community just as they are in the Latin community. They are a people worthy of recognition and their story needs to be brought to the forefront.

The Celebrity "Socialite?"

Ok, so I can respect that some people just have a molecular pull around their person that mystifies everyone that comes into contact with them thus, attracting attention and making people absolutely love them. Thus is the case with Michael Jackson, the Obamas, Steve Harvey, Mary J. Blige, and even new comers like Keyshia Cole and Zoe Saldana. On the other hand, what I cannot wrap my head around is the stifiling success of celebrity socialites. Such is the case with the Amber Rose, the Kardashian sisters, video girls (or "models"), and worst of all women that just spend money. What is the logic? I do not understand why these women (and men too) dominate our show times, airwaves, and magazine folds when they have nothing to contribute to popular culture. Sure, they may have a mean shoe game, relations (often sexual) with pop culture's elite, and money to blow, but otherwise they do not possess any substance.
I just feel like if these people are going to get praise and I have to regard them as celebrities, they need to do something more with their time than pose for pictures. I pose that they go volunteer at a soup kitchen or children's hospitol, donate money or help out with "Go Green" initiatives. Start a social club for young girls that involve women empowerent, etiquette, and values, something! I am an avid reader of urban blog mediatakeout.com and I am just tired of seeing socialites as the highlight, day after day, eating lunch or spotted shopping in NYC. It's becoming a nusiance and I feel like these people need to do something with their lives, something purposeful.

sources: mediatakeout.com

...Yeah, she Mixed!

The battle between dark skin women and "red bones" are so prominent in our culture that it should be preached about in churches. I find it interesting people associate beauty with lighter skin or mixed heritages. Or that people may go out of their way to try to find "mixed consistencies" in their family trees. Thus is the case with the females that brag about being "mixed" with 5 to 10 different ethnicities. It is even more interesting when those ethnicities have no observable correlations. Such is the case with someone I know who claims to be Irish, African (She does not specify the country), Jamaican, Indian, Chinese, and White. Did she really go back a century or what? Or is she one of the females that count relatives that have been married into the family, or worse a cousins' or distant relatives' father...or is she making it all up? I have yet to find out and judging that I don't believe her anyway, I'm not trying to. Anyway, I decided to do a little research on how these cultures came to "mix" and what products they usually produce so that I can compare the outcome to the ladies who claim that they are indeed...mixed. I came up with info on Latinos/Latinas and of course it went back to the slave ship. Latin America received millions of African slaves before the Whites even got whiff of the trade, thus the mixing began. To date, at least a million black and mixed people make up Latin America. Haiti makes up 98%, Dominican Republic 64%, Cuba 62%, Brazil 49%, Colombia 21%, and Venezuela 10%. So as immigration takes place and people meet and fall in love (or lust) mixed babies multiply, I understand that. But, when people go crazy and try to say they are mixed with X,Y, and Z I tend to get a little skeptical. Especially because the noted mixed people look a certain way and the "claimers" do not personify that image. Celebrity Afro-Latinos include Zoe Saldana, Sammy Sosa, Juelz Santana, and Sessilee Lopez (Dominican). La-La, Lauren Velez,Jenifer Lopez and Roberto Clemente (Puerto Rican). Shakira (Colombian). And Christina Millian, Celia Cruz, and Gina Torres (Cuban).

So what I'm saying is, it is pretty obvious to tell when one is "mixed" and if you have to wonder if someone really is (while I'm sure you won't even entertain their foolishness) ask them about their roots, what country their parents are came from or even peep their last names, only then will you be able to say...Yeah, she Mixed! or Not.

Sources: Agabond
Black Marxism
Pan Africansim

Africa is a Continent!

Interesting story, I have two fiends, one is American and the other is Nigerian. Now, the American is very narrow minded and can be really selfish and nonchalant when it comes to matters not relevant to her. For example, when the American tries to refer to a region in Africa, she simply says Africa. Despite the many times our Nigerian friend explains to her that Africa is a huge continent just like North America and it is rude and inconsiderate to just simply say...Africa. But it does not stop there, every question she has about "Africa" she comes to ask our Nigerian friend. She may say..."don't you speak African, what does this mean, or what does African food taste like?" And again, our Nigerian friend tries to get her to realize that there are over 50 countries in Africa (as is America) and they each have over 100 different languages to boot. She simply wants our American friend to realize that it is disrespectful and unthoughtful when she comes to her with her prejudice questions and statements. So, after a few of their "run-ins," my Nigerian friend calls my American friend out on her ignorant actions, needless to say, she gets really offensive and even defends herself by saying she cannot be prejudice against "Africans" because her father "hand picked" her name from Kenya and he even wore a dashiki for her brother's birth. On the same token though, when someone says something about New York (where our American friend lived) she gets so upset! One cannot say a thing about New York culture, food, music, any of that without getting flack from our friend.

So the point that I am trying to raise is, are many African Americans guilty of prejudice towards other communities of color, as are the whites to us? How can we blindly ask ignorant questions and refuse to do our own research when we'll quickly "Google search" about our favorite artist? And finally, are we ourselves taking our own hands and stirring the "melting pot" of America mixing and regurgitating stupid prejudices throughout the ages? When will we stop and realize that hey...Africa is a Continent!

*There are no sources, my friends asked that their names are not disclosed and the dates that these conversations took place are too plenty to remember