Handbook for 2010

(Sharing an email I received today... Thanks Carolyn!)

HANDBOOK 2010

Health:
1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants..
4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy
5. Make time to pray.
6. Play more games
7. Read more books than you did in 2009 .
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day
9. Sleep for 7 hours.
10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

*** Incorporate some form of physical activity into your life. Preferably the gym, but also dancing, biking, running, swimming, anything that will make you sweat for an extended period of time.

Personality:
11. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don't over do. Keep your limits.
14. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
15. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake.
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need..
18. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner of his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum
that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree...

Society:
25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
27. Forgive everyone for everything..
28. Spend time w/ people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:
32. Do the right thing!
33. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
34. GOD heals everything.
35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
37. The best is yet to come.
38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.
39. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

Last but not the least:
40. Please Forward this to everyone you care about, I just did.

Madea's Rules for Thanksgiving Dinner

^{Madea's Rules for Thanksgiving Dinner}

Print and give to each guest that enters your home.

10 RULES FOR THANKSGIVING DINNER AT MY HOUSE


1.. Don't get in line asking questions about the food. 'Who made the
potato salad? Is it egg in there? Are the greens fresh? Is the meat in
the greens turkey or pork? Who made the macaroni and cheese? What kind
of pie is that; who made it? Ask one more question and I will punch you
in your mouth, knocking out all your fronts so you won't be able to eat
anything.



2.. If you can't walk, or are missing any limbs, sit you're a** down
until someone makes your plate for you. Dinner time is not the time for
you to be independent. Nibble on them durn peanuts and walnuts to hold
you over until someone makes you a plate.



3.. If you have kids under the age of twelve, I will escort their little
a**es down to the basement and bring their food down to them. They are
not going to tear up my durn house this year. Tell them that they are
not allowed upstairs until it's time for Uncle Butchie to start telling
family stories about their mommas and papas. If they come upstairs for
any reason except that they are bleeding to death, I will break a foot
off in their a**es.



4.. There is going to be one prayer for Thanksgiving dinner! JUST ONE!
We do not care that you are thankful that your thirteen year old
daughter gave birth to a healthy baby or your nephew just got out of
jail. Save the talk for someone that gives a damn. The time limit for
the prayer is one minute. If you are still talking after that one minute
is up, you will feel something hard come across your lips and they will
be swollen for approximately 20 minutes.



5.. Finish everything on your plate before you go for seconds! If you
don't, you will be cursed out and asked to stay your greedy a** home
next year.



6.. BRING YOUR OWN TUPPERWARE!! Don't let me catch you fixing yourself a
plate in my good tupperware knowing durn well that I will never see it
again! Furthermore, if you didn't bring anything over, don't let me
catch you making a plate period or it will be a misunderstanding.



7.. What you came with is what you should leave with! Do not leave my
house with anything that doesn't belong to you. EVERYBODY WILL BE
SUBJECTED TO A BODY SEARCH COMING AND GOING OUT OF MY DOMAIN!!!



8.. Do not leave your kids so you can go hopping from house to house.
This is not a DAYCARE CENTER. There will be a kid parent roll call every
ten minutes. Any parent that is not present at the time of roll call,
your child will be put outside until you come and get him or her. After
24 hours, I will call CPS on your ignorant a**!!



9.. BOOK YOUR HOTEL ROOM BEFORE YOU COME INTO TOWN!! There will be no
sleeping over at my house! You are to come and eat your dinner then take
you're a** home or to your hotel room. EVERYBODY GETS KICKED OUT AT
11:00 pm. You will get a 15 minute warning bell ring.



10. Last but not least; ONE PLATE PER PERSON!! This is not a soup
kitchen. I am not trying to feed your family until Christmas dinner. You
will be supervised when you fix your plate. Anything over the appropiate
amount will be charged to you before you leave. There will be a cash
register at the door. Thanks to Cousin Alfred and his greedy a** family,
we now have a credit card machine. So Visa and Mastercard are now being
accepted.

What a wonderful journey!!!!

My trip is coming to an end... and I had a few minutes left on this expensive internet connection on the Grand Princess so I thought I'd jump in to say Hi! I miss my Multiply friends and can't wait to share some of my experiences with you when I get back. I put a lot of pictures in Facebook, I'll share some here after I get home.

In Egypt, it was too funny to have the men calling me and all other black women 'Mrs Obama' and yelling 'Obama' at us and being so happy about him. Our security guard on our bus called me and my friend I travelled with, his family, and he stayed with us throughout the tour, helping us get by the aggressive vendors... and boy are they aggressive!

Ephesus was phenomenal! I felt like I was walking through the New Testament.

Istanbul was also great, as was climbing Mt. Vesuvius and walking the streets of Pompeii.

So much to share... but the pictures really tell the story.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Capitalism... A Love Story (a must see!)

Here's my take on the movie...

I was depressing, and some parts were down right sickening. I left there feeling like we live in such a selfish, moronic society. He mentioned in the movie the incredible way that so many people who are actually victimized by the mechanisms in place to keep them poor, line up to support their victimizers. It is something incredible.

There was one part where a man and his family who owned their farm for over 4 decades, were being evicted, and the bank had the nerve to tell them they'd pay them $1000 to clean the place up before they leave. I was cussing out loud on that part.

And when they showed the war zone looking parts of Flint, and Detroit MI, it just made me shake my head. I just had to wonder what is being gained by forcing people to live in tents, while so many homes sit empty and deteriorating. What kind of country are we living in? Selfish, abominable!

One neighborhood took matters into their own hands when a family was being evicted, and tore the boards off the windows and doors and let the family back in. The police came, but the people were protesting so they finally left. And then there was the Sheriff in another town who decided that he was not evicting anyone else for the banks. I wish there were a lot more sheriff's like that man.

But the best part was Moore trying to make a citizens arrest of the Wall St. bankers and he drove up in an armored vehicle to collect the billions that were stolen from 'the people'. It was dramatic and symbolic... I liked that he did that.

I left there feeling like if things keep spiraling downward for 95% of folks while 1% owns all the wealth, there will be a revolution. Its just gonna get more and more ugly out here. There is no excuse for the greed that we are witnessing.

I hope others who saw the movie chime in with more comments.

Bill Cosby... 2012 Candidate for President...

I'm sharing this from the Star & Bucwild egroup, posted by one of the members. I have a problem with #8 though... because the law isn't fair and innocent people get punished while guilty walks away sometimes. Other than that... its a pretty good list.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AMERICA NEEDS A CANDIDATE WITH THIS PLATFORM!!

I HAVE DECIDED TO BECOME A WRITE-IN CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT IN THE YEAR 2012..
HERE IS MY PLATFORM:

(1). Any use of the phrase: 'Press 1 for English' is immediately banned.
English is the official language; speak it or wait outside of our borders
until you can.

(2). We will immediately go into a two year isolationist attitude in order to
straighten out the greedy big business posture in this country. America will
allow NO imports, and we'll do no exports. We will use the 'Wal-Mart 's
policy, 'If we ain't got it, you don't need it.' We'll make it here and
sell it here!

(3).. When imports are allowed, there will be a 100% import tax on it coming in
here.

(4). All retired military personnel will be required to man one of the many
observation towers located on the southern border of the United States (six
month tour). They will be under strict orders not to fire on SOUTHBOUND
aliens.

(5). Social Security will immediately return to its original state. If you
didn't put nuttin in, you ain't gettin nuttin out. Neither the President nor
any other politician will be able to touch it.


(6). Welfare. -- Checks will be handed out on Fridays, at the end of the
40 hour school week, the successful completion of a urinalysis test for drugs,
and passing grades.

(7). Professional Athletes -- Steroids? The FIRST time you check positive
you're banned from sports ... for life.

(8). Crime - We will adopt the Turkish method, i.e., the first time you
steal, you lose your right hand. There is no more 'life sentences'. If
convicted of murder, you will be put to death by the same method you chose for
the victim you killed: gun, knife, strangulation, etc.

(9).. One export of ours will be allowed: wheat; because the world needs
to eat. However, a bushel of wheat will be the exact price of a barrel of
oil.

(10). All foreign aid, using American taxpayer money, will immediately cease
and the saved money will help to pay off the national debt and, ultimately,
lower taxes. When disasters occur around the world, we'll ask The American
People if they want to donate to a disaster fund, and each citizen can make the
decision as to whether, or not, it's a worthy cause.

(11). The Pledge of Allegiance will be said every day at school and
every day in Congress.

(12). The National Anthem will be played at all appropriate ceremonies,
sporting events, outings, etc.

My apology is offered if I've stepped on anyone's toes ..... nevertheless......

GOD BLESS AMERICA.

Sincerely, Bill Cosby

Quote of the day...

from I Love Being Black (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=149061&id=1793678884#/lovebeingblack?ref=nf)

QOTD: "The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses." -Malcolm X

Congratulations President Obama on the Nobel Peace Prize -- Now Please Earn it!

(Message from Michael Moore...)

Congratulations President Obama on the Nobel Peace Prize -- Now Please Earn it!

Friday, October 9th, 2009

Dear President Obama,

How outstanding that you've been recognized today as a man of peace. Your swift, early pronouncements -- you will close Guantanamo, you will bring the troops home from Iraq, you want a nuclear weapon-free world, you admitted to the Iranians that we overthrew their democratically-elected president in 1953, you made that great speech to the Islamic world in Cairo, you've eliminated that useless term "The War on Terror," you've put an end to torture -- these have all made us and the rest of the world feel a bit more safe considering the disaster of the past eight years. In eight months you have done an about face and taken this country in a much more sane direction.

But...

The irony that you have been awarded this prize on the 2nd day of the ninth year of our War in Afghanistan is not lost on anyone. You are truly at a crossroads now. You can listen to the generals and expand the war (only to result in a far-too-predictable defeat) or you can declare Bush's Wars over, and bring all the troops home. Now. That's what a true man of peace would do.

There is nothing wrong with you doing what the last guy failed to do -- capture the man or men responsible for the mass murder of 3,000 people on 9/11. BUT YOU CANNOT DO THAT WITH TANKS AND TROOPS. You are pursuing a criminal, not an army. You do not use a stick of dynamite to get rid of a mouse.

The Taliban is another matter. That is a problem for the people of Afghanistan to resolve -- just as we did in 1776, the French did in 1789, the Cubans did in 1959, the Nicaraguans did in 1979 and the people of East Berlin did in 1989. One thing is certain through all revolutions by people who wish to be free -- they ultimately have to bring about that freedom themselves. Others can be supportive, but freedom can not be delivered from the front seat of someone else's Humvee.

You have to end our involvement in Afghanistan now. If you don't, you'll have no choice but to return the prize to Oslo.

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com

P.S. Your opposition has spent the morning attacking you for bringing such good will to this country. Why do they hate America so much? I get the feeling that if you found the cure for cancer this afternoon they'd be denouncing you for destroying free enterprise because cancer centers would have to close. There are those who say you've done nothing yet to deserve this award. As far as I'm concerned, the very fact that you've offered to walk into the minefield of hate and try to undo the irreparable damage the last president did is not only appreciated by me and millions of others, it is also an act of true bravery. That's why you got the prize. The whole world is depending on the U.S. -- and you -- to literally save this planet. Let's not let them down.

Free Screenings Tonight of "Capitalism"

Free Screenings Tonight of "Capitalism" for the Jobless and Homeless in America's Hardest Hit Cities (plus local benefit premieres all across the country)

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

Friends,

We're just one day away from the widest opening I've ever had for any of my movies. Tomorrow, Friday, October 2nd, "Capitalism: A Love Story" opens on over a thousand screens across the United States, a record for an independent documentary.

This follows last weekend's limited opening in New York and L.A. where "Capitalism" set the box office record for the highest per screen average of ANY movie released so far this year. Not just any documentary -- any MOVIE! It was, as the studio said, a good indicator of just how well the movie may do when it goes wide this weekend. I sincerely hope they're right because I believe deeply in this film.

To kick off the national release of "Capitalism: A Love Story," I've asked the studio to offer a number of screenings in the nation's hardest hit cities -- the ones with the highest unemployment rates and highest foreclosure rates -- where those who've lost their jobs or who are in foreclosure (or have already been evicted) may attend my film free of charge. They've agreed, and so tonight (Thursday), the night before our opening day, ten cities will grant you free admission if you have fallen on hard times. The list of theaters and cities is below. You don't need to bring any "proof" of your situation -- just show up -- it's the honor system, no questions asked.

Of course, a free movie ain't much when what you really need is a job or a place to live. And that's not going to change until the party that controls both the Congress and the White House wakes up and realizes the American people put them in charge to fix the mess created by the previous administration. For that to happen requires the active involvement of each of us. And, as I show in this movie, it's going to also require us to challenge some fundamental assumptions about an economic system that currently allows the wealthiest ONE PERCENT in this country to have more financial wealth than the bottom 95% combined. That concentration of money and power in the hands of so few people is, I believe, at the core of so many of our problems.

So, if you're going through tough times and you live in one of the areas below, please be my guest tonight, on the eve of my new film's opening. Seating will be on a first come, first served basis.

Also, in another five cities tonight, I have made the film available to local groups to hold benefit screenings to raise money for their local organizations -- organizations which are working toward a day when a filmmaker doesn't have to offer free screenings to people who've been put through the wringer. If you live in any of these areas (see below for the list of benefit premieres tonight), please come out and support the good work of these grassroots groups.

So, until tomorrow, thanks for your support, and I'll see ya at the movies!

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com
Twitter.com/MMFlint
Facebook.com/MMFlint
MySpace.com/MMFlint

"CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY" FREE SCREENINGS:

Las Vegas, Nevada
Thursday, Oct. 1st, 7:00 p.m.
Cinemark Orleans
4600 W Tropicana Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV 89103

Phoenix, Arizona
Thursday, Oct.1st, 7:00 p.m.
Harkins Christown
1620 W Monte Bello
Phoenix, AZ 85015

Fresno, California
Thursday, Oct. 1st, 7:30 p.m.
Edwards Stadium
250 Paseo Del Centro
Fresno, CA 93720

Saginaw, Michigan
Thursday, Oct. 1st, 7:00 p.m.
Goodrich Saginaw 8 Theater
3250 Kabobel Dr.
Saginaw, MI 48604

Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina
Thursday, Oct. 1st, 7:30 p.m.
Regal North Hills Stadium 14
4150 Main at North Hills St.
Raleigh, NC 27609

Tampa / St. Petersburg, Florida
Thursday, Oct. 1st, 7:30 p.m.
Muvico Starlight
1800 Highwood Preserve Parkway
Tampa, FL 33647

Elkhart, Indiana
Thursday, Oct. 1st, 7:00 p.m.
Carmike Encore Park 14
2701 Cassopolis Street
Elkhart, IN 46514

Baltimore, Maryland
Thursday, October 1st, 7:30 p.m.
The Charles Theatre
1711 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21201

Cleveland, Ohio Thursday, Oct. 1st, 7:30 p.m.
AMC Westwood Town Center
21653 Center Ridge Road
Rocky River, OH 44116

Peoria, Illinois
Thursday, Oct. 1st, 7:00PM
Willow Knolls 14 Theatre
4100 W Willow Knolls Drive
Peoria, IL 61615

"CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY" BENEFIT SCREENINGS:

Miami, Florida
Thursday, Oct. 1st, 7:30 p.m.
Sunrise Intracoastal
3701 NE 163rd Street
North Miami Beach, FL 33160
Benefiting: Take Back the Land

Madison, Wisconsin
Thursday, October 1st, 7:00 p.m.
Sundance Cinemas 608
430 N. Midvale Blvd.
Madison, WI 53705
Benefiting: Madison Association of Worker Cooperatives / Union Cab / Isthmus Engineering

San Francisco, California
Thursday, Oct. 1st, 7:30 p.m.
Embarcadero Center Cinema
One Embarcadero Center, Promenade
San Francisco, CA 94111
Benefiting: US Federation of Worker Cooperatives

Chicago, Illinois
Thursday, Oct. 1st, 8:00 p.m.
Kerasotes City North
2600 N. Western Ave.
Chicago, IL 60647
Benefiting: United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America

Grass Valley, California
Thursday, Oct. 1st, 7:30 p.m.
Del Oro Theatre
165 Mill Street
Grass Valley, CA 95945
Benefiting: KVMR-FM

Boulder, Colo. (past screening)
Tuesday, Sept. 29th, 8:00 p.m.
Boulder Theater
2032 14th Street.
Boulder, CO 80302
Benefiting: Present Tense Films

T. D. JAKES CAUGHT!!!!!!!

T. D. JAKES CAUGHT!!!!!!!
>
> T.D. Jakes (a well-known
> preacher) was returning to Texas after a speaking engagement. When his
> plane arrived, there was a limousine there to transport him to his home in
> Dallas. As he prepared to get into the limo, he stopped and spoke to the
> driver. "You know" he said, "I am almost 50 years old and I have never
> driven a limousine. Would you mind if I drove it for a while?" The driver
> said, "No problem. Have a go at it.." T.D. gets into the driver's
> seat and they head off down the highway. A short distance away sat a
> rookie State Trooper operating his first speed trap. The long black
> limo went by him doing 70 in a 55 mph zone. The trooper pulled out and
> easily caught the limo and got out of his patrol car to begin the
> procedure.
>
>
> The young
> trooper walked up to the driver's door and when the glass was rolled down
> he was surprised to see who was driving. He immediately excused himself
> and went back to his car and called his supervisor. He told the
> supervisor, "I know we are supposed to enforce the law but I also know
> that important people are sometimes given certain courtesies. I need
> to know what I should do because I have stopped a very important
> person." The supervisor asked, "Is it the governor?"
>
>
>
> The young
> trooper said, "No, he's more important than that." The supervisor said,
> "Oh, so it's the president." The young trooper said, "No, he's even more
> important than that." The supervisor finally asked, "Well then, who is
> it?" The young trooper said, "I
> think it's Jesus because he's got T. D. Jakes for a
> chauffeur!!!!!

(I received this disturbing email today and would like to know your thoughts on this. I do think that we are experiencing some toxic expressions of feelings that were probably buried inside of folks, up until Barack Obama became POTUS. It is sad, really because it seems we take one step forward and two steps back as racism still plagues our society. I think if there were more balance in who owned major TV media, we'd have a better perspective on a diversity of opinions and ideas. But as it stands now, our main stream media seems to contribute to being inciteful and provovative, in the worst way.

And I watched CNN yesterday while some of the GOP apologists ignored questions about the hateful rhetoric going on. Larry Elders leading the pack, being the 'Uncle Clarence' that he is refuses to acknowledge racism exists and is into blaming the victim... but I digress... if these folks expect to be taken seriously, they have to at least denounce those who are making those hateful and derrogatory expressions, otherwise, we are left to believe they agree with it. Why is Michael Steele so afraid to speak out against Rush Limbaugh... who is the 'real' leader of the Republican Party? I don't remember hearing any of them speak out against what Glen Beck said either.

UGH! I'm just praying that all this comes to a good end for all of us. We need universal health care! We need a public option!!!!! We need to stop obscene raping of economy by Wall St and private insurers. We need honesty in government. Is that too much to ask?)

Forwarded Message: Have we become a liability_.eml

Have we become a liability?

In an email message sent to me my friend in Pennsylvania said the following:

Check out Sheryl's comments. Her daughter is in residency at Yale Hospital - they live in Connecticut, but she's returning to this area to help raise her grandson.

This march occurred on Sat. 9/12 and was organized around 6 months ago and grew rapidly. Huge crowds on Pennsylvania Avenue and the Mall area - they came from all across America. One of the worst signs I saw was "Bury Obamacare with Kennedy." This was major - CNN is starting to report on it - but a big injustice is being done by not informing people - because that movement is growing and stirring up hate. Hate is contagious,. Those who could not make it to D.C. had individual tea parties in their home states which turn out thousands. Trust me, this movement is very, very serious and dangerous.and having a big impact on the White House. Congress was stunned by the turnout. The author of "The Psychopathic Racial Personality" " Most Whites are psychopaths - they are unable to experience guilt, are completely selfish and callous, and have a total disregard for the rights of others ... "Psychopaths simply ignore the concept of right and wrong, (Did slavery and the fact they try to ignore it today show that) The author further states "Blacks are now a liability to the White race .... therefore there's only one concept left - genocide

Who should get the swine flu shot...

(I received this note from Aetna.)

What to do about swine flu

The H1N1 virus, also known as "swine flu", has quickly spread around the world. A new vaccine for this virus should be ready this fall. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that the following groups get the vaccine first:

• pregnant women
• parents and others who care for children younger than 6 months of age
• health care workers
• children and young adults 6 months through 24 years of age

NAACP launches an investigation... man shot in church day care center

ACTION ALERT! Dear Supporter, Police shot and killed Mark Anthony Barmore, a 23-year-old black man, in a church day care center a few weeks ago in Rockford, Illinois. We have also learned that one officer involved in this killing has been accused of several other questionable police shootings. As you can imagine, tension is running high in the Rockford community and we are deeply concerned. I thought you should know what the NAACP is doing about it. Today I will be leading a delegation of NAACP leaders and staff to launch the NAACP's investigation of this police killing and the police department itself. In Rockford today, we will address a rally of community leaders and report on NAACP's engagement with the Department of Justice to thoroughly investigate this awful tragedy. We are also working with Congress to require the establishment of national standards for use of force, and training in use of force, for law enforcement officers. Currently, there are as many use-of-force policies as there are law enforcement agencies in our Nation today, and there are as many interpretations of those policies as there are law enforcement officers. This lack of uniformity is one of the core reasons behind the tragedy in Rockford and in too many other instances across the Nation. We thank the Department of Justice for taking this case seriously through the outreach efforts its Community Relations Service. But to help re-establish trust in the community and to ensure that the Rockford police department is operating with integrity, we need a federal investigation into this case. Please, sign our petition urging the Department of Justice to conduct a full investigation of this shooting and the ongoing use of force by the Rockford police department. So what actually happened in Rockford? Eyewitnesses say that outside a church day care center, Mr. Barmore encountered two police officers who apparently were looking for him on an allegation of domestic violence. He ran inside the church, and the officers followed him, guns drawn, without a warrant. After Mr. Barmore entered a small boiler room, the police demanded he come out. He slowly exited the room with his hands up. Then, witnesses say, police shot him -- in front of small children in the day care center. While he lay face down, witnesses say, police shot him three more times in the back! Additionally, officers have been using intimidation tactics against witnesses, such as sitting outside their homes and slowly driving by their homes. We all must act to stop this kind of police abuse, so I need your help now. Please, sign the petition and help us promote smart and safe law enforcement policies. I will be keeping you updated on the killing in Rockford and our efforts to investigate it - and prevent future tragedies. Sincerely, Benjamin Todd Jealous President and CEO NAACP

�2009 NAACP, 4805 Mt. Hope Drive, Baltimore, MD 21215 You are receiving this email because the email address trannytwo@aol.com was subscribed to our email list. Click here to unsubscribe from this newsletter.

No one should die in the richest nation on earth because they can't afford health care

No one should die in the richest nation on earth because they can't afford health care, and no one should go bankrupt because they get sick. (If you agree with this, post this in your own 'status' or 'notes' section for a couple of days.)

Chia Obama Heads Pulled
From Stores

Last Edited: Monday, 06 Apr 2009, 10:55 AM CDT
Created On: Monday, 06 Apr 2009, 10:41 AM CDT

• By Anthony Bartkewicz

(MYFOX NATIONAL) - Well, that didn't last long. Just days after it was made available in stores after only being sold online, the Barack Obama Chia Head has been pulled from some Walgreen's stores, MyFox Tampa Bay reports .

According to MyFox Tampa Bay, stores in Tampa, Fla., were asked to remove the Chia Obama from their shelves because the item "is not appropriate for the company's corporate image."

• YouTube user Samantha Jordann captured video of a Walgreen's Chia Obama display in this video

The Chia Obama is part of the Chia Pet line of ceramic chia seed planters, with the seeds sprouting from where the pet or person would grow hair. Chia Obama caused controversy even before it hit stores, inspiring debate on blogs and Amazon customer reviews about the appropriateness of a Chia president and whether or not the product is racist.

http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/news/dpgo_Chia_Obama_Heads_Pulled_From_Stores_SAB_040620092390856

The Pay at the Top

Interactive Graphic: The Pay at the Top A look at the 2008 pay packages of 198 chief executives, including Citigroup’s Vikram S. Pandit.

http://projects.nytimes.com/executive_compensation?th&emc=th

Health Disparities Among Minority Populations Getting Worse

Health Disparities Among Minority Populations Getting Worse

WARSAW, Ind., April 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Despite government efforts to address disparities in the past decade, beginning with President Clinton's 1998 Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Initiative, there has been very little progress. African-Americans have more disease, disability, and early death than Caucasians(1).

The statistics are alarming:

• African-Americans are 1.6 times more likely to have diabetes than non-Latino Caucasians.(2)
• African-Americans have higher death rates for coronary heart disease (CHD), coronary artery disease (CAD), and stroke.(3)
• The prevalence of high blood pressure among African-Americans is among the highest in the world.(4)
• There is an estimate that 80% of black women and 60% of black men are overweight or obese (which contributes to heart disease, certain cancers, high blood pressure, diabetes among other chronic health conditions). (5).
• African-American women are 3 times more likely to have lupus than Caucasian women. (6)
• African-Americans are 38% less likely to get joint replacement to alleviate chronic joint pain than Caucasians.(7)

While health disparities worsen for African-Americans, according to Verona Brewton, Zimmer's Director of Minority Initiatives, African-Americans can take control by focusing on those individual behaviors that positively impact one's health.

"Whether you suffer from heart disease, diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure or another chronic health condition, there is a key factor that will make a difference in your quality of life - exercise," explains Ms. Brewton.

Keeping weight under control plays a critical role in managing these health issues. However, many African-Americans face a major hurdle: they are living with chronic joint pain.

"Every warning from governmental and non-profit health organizations implores our community to 'get moving' because of the positive impact it has on combating these conditions,": explains Ms. Brewton. "But we have failed to make the direct link between painful movement and poor health."

That's the situation that Stephanie Mace and Jean Pompey faced. Stephanie was severely overweight and battling other chronic health conditions. After joint replacement, Stephanie regained her mobility and was able to exercise, losing 100 pounds, which improved her overall health.

Jean Pompey suffered from arthritis - causing severe joint pain and her legs to bow two inches. After joint replacement restored her ability to exercise, Jean was able to lose weight and manage her other chronic health conditions.

Early intervention is key as there many options to alleviate joint pain. Knee or hip discomfort should not be dismissed as one of the natural signs of aging without discussing it with a primary care physician. Today's treatment options offer non-surgical solutions, which provide temporary pain relief and more permanent solutions such as joint replacement. Total knee replacement (TKR) is an effective method of reducing pain and improving physical function among those with disabling knee osteoarthritis. However, a February 2009 report from the Centers For Disease Control (CDC) revealed health disparities for African-Americans in getting joint replacement have worsened, from 37% to 39% between 2000 and 2006.(7) Although doctors performed 58% more total knee replacement procedures between 2000 and 2006, African-Americans were 39% less likely than Caucasians to get joint replacement.(7)

Regaining mobility and being active is critical in helping to manage and defeat chronic health conditions. Healthcare disparities for African-Americans in getting joint replacement represent a serious healthcare barrier. Zimmer's Back In The Groove program is an education-based community partnership that addresses healthcare disparities impacting African-Americans in the area of joint replacement. For more information, visit www.backinthegroove.zimmer.com or call 1-866-923-2345.

Fancy N.Y. Restaurants See Black Wait Staff as Bad for Business

Apr. 2, 2009

Fancy N.Y. Restaurants See Black Wait Staff as Bad for Business

By BET.com Staff

Fancy restaurants in New York apparently see Black wait staff as bad for business.

A new study by economist Marc Bendick Jr., came up with the same old results: White job applicants are considerably “more likely to get follow-up interviews, be offered jobs and given information about jobs, and their work histories were less likely to be investigated in detail,” The New York Times reported Tuesday.

Hired by advocacy groups for restaurant workers, Bendick conducted his experiments by sending pairs of applicants with similar résumés to various restaurants. The gender, appearance and experiences of the applicants – virtually everything but race – were the same.

“There really should not be a lot of difference in how the two of them are treated,” said Bendick, whose experiment is part of part of a larger report called “The Great Service Divide: Occupational Segregation and Equality in the New York City Restaurant Industry.” But there were big differences.

For example, Bendick found, non-White job applicants were 54.5 percent less likely as White applicants to get a job offer, and were less likely than White testers to receive a job interview in the first place; work experience of White job applicants was less likely to be subject to scrutiny; accents made a difference — with White candidates; White applicants with slight European accents were 23.1 percent more likely to be hired than White testers with no accent, but accents in non-White applicants made no difference.

Bendick has long researched such social ills as discrimination, ranging from racism in the advertising industry to sexism in firefighting. He said that in industries, such experiments typically found discrimination 20 percent to 25 percent of the time. In New York restaurants, it was found 31 percent of the time.

“That tells us that is a particularly serious situation of discrimination,” he said. “The rate of discrimination is worse for jobs that are really worth having. You don’t get a lot of discrimination for hamburger-flipping jobs at McDonalds.” At expensive restaurants in New York, “these are the jobs that you can make $55,000 to $100,000 a year,” Mr. Bendick said.

http://www.bet.com/NR/exeres/E6C6F6C2-11C3-4ED1-A674-8290228E8E77.htm??Referrer={0471DDF0-D0D8-48A8-9E30-ADD40CBE0269}

McClurkin: I Get So Mad at These Preachers!

McClurkin: I Get So Mad at These Preachers!

http://www.essence.com/news_entertainment/entertainment/articles/donnie_mcclurkin_on_the_lifestyles_of_the_richa_nd_saved

Shopping While Black

(I don't know about y'all, but I find myself doing pretty much what is described in the first paragraph sometimes when I go into a store because I get so tired of being profiled. Its insulting. When I notice that I'm being followed or get some indication of feeling that I am perceived as some kind of criminal in the store, I leave and go spend my money somewhere else. I feel like they can at least be better at hiding their racist profiling.)

'Shopping While Black': Would You Stop Racism?

Reactions Vary When Store Clerk and Security Guard Profile Shoppers

When New Yorker Denise Simon goes shopping, she is always on guard. She carries a small bag, keeps her hands visible whenever possible, and makes an effort to be overly friendly to sales clerks. She doesn't have any reason to be wary except for one thing -- she happens to be black. And if she doesn't take these precautions, she fears she will once again fall victim to racial profiling.
http://abcnews.go.com/WhatWouldYouDo/story?id=7131333&page=1

"What Would You Do?" hired actors to play a racist store clerk and security guard, both armed with words that would make even the most apathetic shopper flinch. An actor was hired to pose as the black shopper, the target of the abuse.

What does apologies for slavery mean?

(And the funny thing is, states and countries wrestle with making an actual apology. I keep thinking, what does it mean. Is it official acknowledgment of the atrocity committed institutionally against black people? OK, then what though. Does that mean that 'officially', we're supposed to say 'Thank you. Now we feel better". I'm not sure I get what the goal is, but I am still glad that apologies are being officially made because at least, it is acknowledgment and then IMO, it opens discussion about correcting how history of this country is portrayed and taught... for one thing. I think the fear for some is that along with apology, is the discussion about reparations, which IMO, should be on the table. However, one hurdle at a time...... and we slowly make progress.)

Connecticut lawmakers consider apology for slavery

By SUSAN HAIGH – 14 hours ago

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut legislators are considering making their state the first in New England to apologize for slavery and other racist policies of old.

A legislative committee heard testimony Monday on a resolution that would issue a formal, general apology and express the General Assembly's "profound contrition" for the official acts that sanctioned and perpetuated slavery hundreds of years ago.

The state's African-American Affairs Commission, a liaison between black communities and the government, is urging legislators to pass the resolution, which it has called "an exercise in reconciliation" and not an effort to determine fault for slavery.

The commission's legislative analyst, Frank Sykes, told the legislature's Government Administration and Elections Committee that "opportunities like this must be seized," especially in light of the "giant stride" the country took last November in electing its first black president, Barack Obama.

"While this is encouraging," Sykes said, "it should inspire us and challenge us to continue peeling away at the layers of racial discrimination and intolerance."

New Jersey last year became the first Northern state to apologize for slavery, and at least five other states have done so.

Of Connecticut's population of 3.5 million people, about 10 percent are black, according to U.S. Census estimates for 2007.

John A. Stewart, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Hartford, said he believes the differences between blacks and whites in the state stem from Connecticut's participation in slavery.

Among full-time workers in the state, black men earn 70 percent of what white men earn. Black men in the state also are four times more likely than white men to live below the federal poverty line, and black children under 5 are seven times more likely than white children to live in poverty, Stewart said, citing U.S. Census data.

"Slavery has left a cultural burden on both the exploited and the exploiters that still permeates our society," Stewart said.

The resolution says slavery was practiced in Connecticut from the 17th through 19th centuries. There were about 5,100 slaves in the colony by the mid-1770s, about 3 percent of the population at the time.

In 1723, the colony passed an act creating a 9 p.m. curfew for slaves to prevent what it called the "Disorder of Negro and Indian Servants and Slaves in the Night Season." Violation of the curfew was punishable by a whipping for the servant and a fine for the master.

The resolution mentions how Connecticut's wealth grew as merchants participated in the Triangle Trade, which carried slaves, crops and goods among West Africa, the Caribbean and America.

It also mentions how Connecticut legislators rejected emancipation bills in 1777, 1779 and 1780 and how the new state Constitution in 1818 specifically denied the right of blacks to vote. But it later mentions how Connecticut changed its ways and played a key role in abolition efforts, culminating in the outlawing of slavery in 1848.

The resolution would need to be voted on by the Government Administration and Elections Committee, possibly next week, before going to the House of Representatives and then the Senate.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i6RR5oQaEKSr9EmhJZg_rlCvDoKQD9740LR80

The Wealth Gap Gets Wider

By Meizhu Lui

Monday, March 23, 2009; Page A15

The chips are in.

Every three years, the Federal Reserve, in its Survey of Consumer Finances, takes a look at how U.S. households are doing and reports on our assets and liabilities. The euphoria of our gambling spree is over. In the harsh glare of morning, the hangover is tough. And the latest data are from 2007, so they don't even capture the worst of the decline.

The net worth of the average American family is less than it was in 2001. We borrowed more for that trip to Vegas than we brought home. Everyone knows this now.

But here's something being talked about much less: The gap between the wealth of white Americans and African Americans has grown. According to the Fed, for every dollar of wealth held by the typical white family, the African American family has only one dime. In 2004, it had 12 cents.

This is not just a gap. It's a deepening canyon.

The overhyped political term "post-racial society" becomes patently absurd when looking at these economic numbers. This week, experts on asset building in communities of color are meeting with members of Congress to talk about closing the wealth gap. While the government is rescuing failing financial institutions as a short-term measure, those at the two-day Color of Wealth Policy Summit will make the case that the nation's long-term economic future depends on the inclusion of all Americans in opportunities to build wealth.

Why such a big gap? The biggest predictor of the future economic status of a child is the net worth of the child's parents. Even modest inheritances or gifts within a parent's lifetime -- such as paying for college or providing the down payment on a home -- can give a child a lift up the economic ladder. And historically, white families have enjoyed more government support and tax-paid subsidies for their asset-building activities.

Let's look at the rules of the game in homeownership, for example.

During the Depression, the Home Owners' Loan Corp. was formed to rescue families whose homes were in foreclosure. Not a single loan went to a family of color. The black section of Detroit was simply excluded. After World War II, GIs received government-subsidized home mortgages, but there was no oversight to ensure that soldiers of color got their fair share. Of the 67,000 mortgages issued under the GI Bill in New York and northern New Jersey, 66,900 went to white veterans, as documented in Ira Katznelson's "When Affirmative Action Was White."

Recently, there have been sins of omission and commission. White families are five times as likely as families of color to have a bank account and access to responsible loan terms. Because of the lack of federally insured and regulated financial institutions on reservations and in inner cities, rural areas, barrios and Chinatowns, payday lenders and other shady financial dealers operating without government oversight have preyed on people of color, fueling the economic and foreclosure crises. African Americans and other people of color were more than three times as likely as white borrowers to be steered to high-interest loans, even when they qualified for a prime loan. A Harvard University study showed that in Massachusetts, a high-income African American was more likely than a low-income white borrower to get a subprime loan. Such studies abound.

Additionally, rules in our tax code have strengthened the hand of those who already have assets. You can get a tax deduction for the interest paid on home mortgages of up to $1 million -- a nice break for those who hardly need one. But if you own a home and make too little to itemize, the mortgage interest deduction doesn't help you at all.

So what can we do? We need a Financial Product Safety Commission to act against discriminatory lending policies and to stop the marketing of dangerous loans such as exploding adjustable-rate mortgages. We also should cap the mortgage interest deduction and make it refundable so low-income homeowners can benefit. Mandating that new schools and transportation and commercial projects that are supported by federal dollars be located only in areas with racially inclusive zoning policies would also do much to create and grow neighborhoods of opportunity.

Building wealth is essential to the American promise of opportunity for economic mobility and security regardless of the accident of one's birth. In the 21st-century global marketplace, the diversity of our population is an asset -- if we play our cards right.

The chips on the table reflect the fact that the game was fixed. It's time to start an honest game with a new deck. All of our futures depend on it.

Meizhu Lui is director of the Closing the Racial Wealth Gap Initiative at the Insight Center for Community Economic Development in Oakland, Calif. The center is organizing the Color of Wealth 2009 Policy Summit, to be held in Washington today and tomorrow. This column was also published today on The Root.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/22/AR2009032201506.html?referrer=myspace

New Therapies Break Sickle Cell’s Painful Grip

New Therapies Break Sickle Cell’s Painful Grip

A brace of therapies ranging from improved bone marrow transplantation to stem cell research may finally put sickle cell anemia on the run.

Sebastian Kaulitzki

Sickle cell anemia, the first genetic disorder recognized by medicine, is still not well understood.

Identified in 1910 by James B. Harrick in Chicago, the disease affects close to 100,000 people in the United States, mostly African American, and millions worldwide. The consequences for patients are

devastating.

According to Sophie Lanzkron, director of the Sickle Cell Center for Adults at Johns Hopkins University, 30 percent of sickle cell patients experience pain 90 percent of days. "This is a tough disease; they have intermittent episodes of excruciating pain — they can’t go to college or have careers. Patients spend their lives just trying to manage the pain.”

With no objective measure of the disease, Lanzkron said patients are frequently stigmatized when they seek medical attention — being mistaken for addicts in search of narcotics — and treated with disdain by emergency-room personnel unfamiliar with the disorder.

The physiological consequences of sickle cell anemia include severe damage to organ systems, particularly to the kidneys and lungs, and can reduce life expectancy for those with sickle cell to the mid-40s. Complications include life-threatening infections and stroke — even in young children.

Children who suffer intermittent attacks miss school with predictable consequences for their lives and for their futures. Meanwhile, their caregivers must miss work to tend to them. Added to this are the health-care costs. Sickle cell patients, Lanzkron said, are often “understandably depressed."

“There are so many unmet needs in this patient population,” says Lanzkron, “and I see people come in with horrible complications.”

But researchers are targeting the disease with new multidisciplinary approaches with promising results. Combining a novel chemotherapy protocol with a proven bone marrow transplant technique, Robert Brodsky, director of the hematology division at Johns Hopkins University Medicine, announced the first-ever cure of an adult sickle cell anemia patient — Pamela Newton of Capitol Heights, Md. And researchers with the National Institutes of Health have developed innovative techniques spanning the spectrum from chemotherapy to irradiation to move step-by-step towards a cure for sickle cell and related disorders.

More than meets the eye
Normal red blood cells are disk-shaped and flexible, explained Lanzkron, allowing them to squeeze through tiny capillaries to bring oxygen and nutrients into every part of the body.

In those with sickle cell, their red blood cells contain unusual polymers that intermittently cause the cells to lose their elasticity and lock into a sickle shape, massing and tangling to block blood vessels and capillaries. That’s where the pain starts. “But we know it’s more complicated than that,” she said. The sickle cells also have a reduced oxygen capacity and shortened life expectancy compared to normal blood cells, and they seem to have a negative impact on the blood vessels themselves, “It affects the whole environment.”

“Scientists believe (the) sickle cell trait developed in malarial regions over time through natural selection,” said Lanetta B. Jordan, chief medical officer with the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America. It persists, she says, “because of the survival benefit it confers against malaria.”

Lanzkron elaborated: “People carrying the trait can still get malaria, but they are less likely to die from it.” But, she said, “There is no harm in having the trait,” which is carried by a recessive gene.

However, when two parents have the trait, their offspring each have a one-in-four chance of having sickle-cell disease. Although mostly associated with blacks in the United States, the disorder is also seen among Latinos, Asians and others with Mediterranean or African ancestry.

Aside from the not-always-effective pain medications, only two approved treatments exist for sickle cell, Jordan said — the chemotherapy drug hydroxyurea to ameliorate crises and bone marrow transplant.

An elusive and risky cure
Bone marrow transplants have been recognized as a cure for sickle cell for more than 20 years, but they have always required a perfect tissue match between the donor and the recipient. Only siblings can meet that requirement, and even then, the odds are one in four of a perfect match. However, because sickle cell is hereditary, closely matched siblings also have a high probability of sharing the disorder.

Lanzkron describes a lifesaving operation: “We give the patient agents that knock out the bone marrow; then it’s like getting a transfusion. We harvest a bit of marrow from the donor and infuse it into the patient.

“The bone marrow cells do the rest. They know where to go.” It sounds deceptively simple, but Lanzkron says that a bone marrow transplant has between a 10 percent to 20 percent mortality rate. Although the procedure has been used to cure the disease in about 200 patients — all of them children — bone marrow transplant is so problematic in adults that it is rarely attempted except in life-threatening circumstances.

“It is very difficult for adults to embark on a transplant course because, by that time, they have experienced so many transfusions that finding a match in itself is a challenge,” Jordan explained. Furthermore, in adulthood, mounting complications and decades of organ damage may render patients too fragile to withstand the chemotherapy required to make it work.

Over the past year, important advances have been made both in widening the pool of potential marrow donors and in lowering the risks of bone marrow transplant.

The intensive chemotherapy regimen, employed up until the 1990s to make way for bone marrow transplants, destroys the patient’s native bone marrow so that a graft can take root. But if the graft fails, the patient, with his own marrow obliterated, can no longer produce new blood cells and must be re-transplanted immediately in order to survive.

But this scenario is turning around dramatically thanks to Brodsky's innovative technique developed at Johns Hopkins. Brodsky and his team, who reported the first adult cure in May of last year, took a new approach by utilizing a less toxic chemotherapy regime than customarily used for bone marrow transplants.

It employs just enough chemotherapy to prevent the patient's immune system from rejecting the donated stem cells while preserving as much of the patient's bone marrow as possible.

Three days after the bone marrow transplant, doctors dose the patient with the drug cyclophosphamide to kill off the donor’s lymphocytes (white blood cells that attack foreign cells) before they can begin an attack upon the body of their new host. This combination therapy gives the recipient patient's new stem cells a chance to establish themselves in the bone marrow and begin producing healthy blood cells while a compatible — and home-grown — immune system develops.

Most significantly, Brodsky said the procedure allows for transplants not only between fully matched siblings, but also between half-matched pairs, expanding the potential donor pool to parents and other relatives.

Immunosupressive Advances for Sickle Cell and Related Disorders
Jonathan Powell, a National Institutes of Health research fellow, has been collaborating with Dr. John Tisdale at NIH on a different approach, which shows promise not only for sickle cell, but also for thalassemia, Diamond-Blackfan anemia and other severe congenital blood disorders.

Following Tisdale and Powell’s protocol, the donor receives specialized chemotherapy for five days with injections of G-CSF, an agent that stimulates white blood cell formation, to prepare the marrow for transplantation. The cells, once harvested, are frozen for five months before being infused into the patient. Patients undergo their own course of immune suppressing chemotherapy, and are given a single dose of full-body radiation to retard the immune system’s response to the donated stem cells.

According to Powell, 10 of the 11 people with sickle cell anemia who have undergone this procedure have taken well to the grafts. And in both studies, failure is not necessarily of dire consequence.

Javier Bolaños-Meade, assistant professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins, says with the reduced chemotherapy approach used by both NIH and Hopkins, “the worst case scenario is that the transplant doesn’t take — then we’re back to square one and the person ends up still having sickle cell,” but their bone marrow recovers and they can survive to try an alternative therapy.

Powell said NIH’s results have been promising “not in numbers, but in the positive response the patients have had. It shows that we’re on the right track.

“There are no major technical hurdles left. Bone marrow transplant is a way to cure sickle cell — unequivocally.”

In January 2009, NIH’s bone marrow transplant study was expanded to include not only fully matched adults, but also children and half-matched donor/recipient pairs, and recruitment for these new participants is currently under way; likewise for an ongoing study at Hopkins.

Powell says he is exploring collaboration between the NIH study and Brodsky’s research at Hopkins that would draw upon the best of both worlds. “We may end up combining ideas.”

Bolaños-Meade, who led the Hopkins research team, is also confident and says sickle cell shows some of the best results for transplant therapy for any blood disorder. “Given that this is a common condition, if there’s a way to correct the problem, we believe we can have a profound impact.”

http://www.miller-mccune.com/article/new-therapies-break-sickle-cell%E2%80%99s-painful-grip-1038

How come we couldn't say no to GM?

Sweden Says No to Saving Saab, a National Icon
By SARAH LYALL
The beloved carmaker has fallen on hard times in a country where old-style Nordic socialism has fallen out of favor.

(GM has not even tried to do the right thing for years and years, and now instead of letting them file bankruptcy, we have to save them. Why? I think the Unions should have tried to negotiate with other auto makers like Ford to hire some of the GM workers in an effort to support new lines of business, and just let GM go down, since they weren't into doing anything in support of the public anyway.)

What Do You Think About The New Old Navy Commercial?

(OK.... the funny thing is, I didn't consider the ad racist, but something about it did make me a little uncomfortable. Reading this guy's blog might have given me a clue as to why...)

JUST CURIOUS: What Do You Think About The New Old Navy Commercial?

By Nazneen Patel March 20, 2009 10:54 am

Last night, this commercial appeared during the broadcast of American Idol on Fox 5. We, here at the office, have all had mixed reactions.

What do you think? Is it racist? Should we be offended? Just curious…

CHECK OUT MY OPINION BELOW!!!!

WATCH it here:

Ok, so I don’t ACTUALLY think this Old Navy commercial is racist. But let’s just pick this apart for a moment.

All this talk about us being a post-racial society now that we have a Black president is clearly a load of BS. Everyone knows it. Obviously, it’s a major step in the right direction that we were able to elect Barack Obama to the presidency. But our work is not done. In fact, it’s only really just begun, as the prez never fails to remind us.

That said, the racist, black-white society we live in has trained us (by “us” I mean all people who are not white) to be a little skeptical. When it remains in the recent collective memory that Black folks couldn’t vote, couldn’t ride in the front of the bus, and couldn’t drink at the same water fountains as white people, it’s sort of expected no? When your own government, the same government who exploited and abused you and was now institutionalizing the discriminatory practices that STILL AFFECT US TODAY, and remains hostile towards you for generations, it’s hard not to give a side-eye to things like an otherwise benign Old Navy commercial.

Yea, it’s obnoxious and counterproductive to cry “RACE” every time something like this makes an appearance. Buying into what has become a profitable enterprise for most major media outlets, stoking public outrage, is useless and not at all revolutionary. I hear you, BlackPlanet.

But honestly, a naked Black female mannequin?

Among the many vitriolic stereotypes leveraged against the African-American community, one of the most incendiary has been the hypersexualization of Black men and women. Black men are always portrayed as the savage, sexually-superior antithesis to all things decent about white men. Black women are thought of as subhuman, irresponsible, and promiscuous. This is not MY opinion, bear in mind. There is a well-documented historical context to these assumptions. Why do you think one of the most infamous cases coming out of the Post-Reconstruction South was the Scottsboro case, where eight young Black males were accused of gang-raping two white women? Of course, after over 40 years of controversy, the truth was finally revealed that the women made up the whole accusation. It was precisely that deep-seated notion that Black men and women were capable of such lewd and sexual crimes, the idea that it was in their nature to be so oversexualized that a crime like this could not be put past them, that forced these men to wear the Scarlet letter for most of their adult lives.

So when a Black woman sees a mannequin meant to resemble her, from the hairstyle to skin color, to the twangy regional dialect, it’s hard to separate the mannequin from what it represents. It becomes difficult to understand why she is stripped of her clothing and left standing there with her “plastic” unmentionables censored. It just seems a little unnecessary doesn’t it? Why even go there?

Additionally, the bizarre way in which the white man and barking dog respond to the suddenly naked wife and mother raises an eyebrow. How interestingly cryptic that the “predator” is now the white man and the Black man is trying to protect his wife from his roving eye. This smacks of a “Black body as spectacle” mentality, something we used to see a lot more of when the Negritude movement was all the rage, which then influenced the Harlem Renaissance, etc.

Anyway, my bottomline here is that, while I personally am not going to read too much into this commercial, I can understand completely why Black women viewing this ad might feel at best, uncomfortable, and at worst, outraged.

http://newsone.blackplanet.com/nation/just-curious-what-do-you-think-about-the-new-old-navy-commercial/