I’m going to try to just let it rip tonight without deleting anything because I think someone might find it inappropriate. Here goes:
- We have a new attorney in our office. Today was my first day with her. She spent some time in Kentucky and grew up in rural Frederick county in Maryland. She’s German and Irish according to our conversation today, with a little extra. She mentioned that she was part colored. Now, I’m trying to take all of her history and exposure into consideration and be fair, but um Houston, we’ve got a problem. Weez stopped bein’ colored a looong time ago and I’m trying to figure out just how to break it to her that uh, she needs to stop using that word post-haste. My boss was right there when she said it and she turned bright red. She knows it’s coming. A sister is going to say something real soon. I know some people think…oops, there I go…I mean, I don’t give a damn if you think that I’m too sensitive about these things, but this word connotes a context that is just unacceptable to me in a professional setting in 2006, by a TWENTY-something. BLACK. Please, just call me Black. Don’t try to figure out all the rest (African-American, American-African, person of color, Afro-American), Black will do. Thank you very much.
- Oprah really gets on my nerves and I need to flesh that out a little bit more. I hate when people think they have worked through their shit to the point where they are now the expert on everybody else’s! I hate people thinking they know what the hell is the best for somebody else and that somehow they have arrived to the point of being able to dictate what worked for them that you should now try. Oprah is the Queen of this BS and I can’t stand her! She thinks she knows everything. I don’t object to her right to say the crap she says, I just hate when I leave my tv on and accidentally have to hear it. It sounds like evesdropping on a co-dependent, self-righteous, whack job therapist every single time I hear her speak! And she has the nerve to correct the professionals who at the very least read a book on ethics and boundaries in a counseling relationship…things of which Queen O hasn’t the slightest clue. Remember when I mentioned gym cockiness? Oprah has life cockiness. She’s like the mega-church prosperity pastors who preach about what you need to do go get your very own Lear jet and Bentley. “Give me more money (I mean, tithe) and you too can be as rich as I am.” Oh, in Queen O’s case, “keep tuning into my bullshit and I’ll continue to make billions and you too can have the perfect life that I have.” ARGH! I hate her. Sometimes I watch because there’s a guest or topic I’m really interested. I really wish I could just mute HER in order to see the show. [sigh]
- Can someone tell me why on earth a pastor needs a Lear jet? Is he running emergency food drops to the Sudan, Malawi, Niger? Is he rushing essential first responder missions to the Gulf Coast, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia? No!! Well, what the hell’s he doing with the church’s money? Flying from Atlanta to preach at a second church in Chicago once a month to take their money too, you say? And I’m going to hell because I’m a girl who thinks sex is one of God’s best ideas ever, and don’t mind saying so? Creflo Dollar is my uncle Sheister. Ok, not really. But I bet he knows him!
- I am really mad that there is so much stupidity in the church. There are so many people who go who want to do good things in the world, but they have to wade through so much crap. And then they get discouraged and just stay home and watch Oprah, oy!!
- I’m sitting here watching 3 quarters of a pint of Haagen-Daz strawberry melt. I know it’s wasteful, but I need a good excuse to get it out of the house. I have to go back to my rule of limiting junk food in the fridge. I just get too carried away. I never bought this ice cream, now that I think about it. I have lots of parties and people bring stuff and leave it…As you should. I mean, you’re not allowed to take back something you bring to a party. But I’m going to have to start sending some stuff home. I’m a danger to myself. I haven’t said much about the weight loss efforts recently because there’s not much to say. I think I am making better choices, one day at a time. I ran quite a few days last week, but I’m off to a bad start this week. Vacations interrupt a workout routine. I’ll keep plugging at it. I hope to see significant progress by Christmas.
- I can’t wait for the new Survivor to start. I love controversy. There’s quite a stir about it on Guilty With An Explanation. I can’t wait. I have some real racial issues that I need to flesh out myself. I am hoping the issues brought up by the show will give me the space and a community to work through them. Prejudices are so bizarre. Too often we don’t know where the heck they come from. When I get up the nerve I’ll confess mine you’ll see what I mean. It really is strange if you know anything about me at all. Maybe I’ll tell you when I talk about the show once it starts in September. It’s awful, but I can’t deny it. I hope naming mine will give other’s the courage to name theirs. I’ll be working on building up my courage in the meantime. Today I’ll just admit to wanting to choke people who refer to blacks as colored. That is SUCH a problem that must be addressed.
I’ve rambled about enough for tonight. Pick a topic and sound off!
Peace.
On Second Thought... 
Way to let it rip! I pick the colored, you knew I would.
“The culture embraced the term “colored”. Language and words change and evolve with time. When language becomes static it dies. Here I think it is being used to denote”…
um what was that you were saying on the way I see it. lol
Okay the word colored never bothered me. It was historically used as an in between race, black, white and mixed or colored. Somewhere along the way we decided that colored wasn’t acceptable anymore because the definition was impossible to keep, thus the whole brown bag test… I think this is yet another example of how we (oh i’m lost for a word here)blacks, negros, have injured ourselves.
I don’t think the problem here is the wording. I could care less what you call me as long as you see me as equal and a total person. Maybe?
I again contend that America needs to learn from Trinidad and other third world countries. In Trinidad we are all Trini’s; black, white, indian and other, all ay we is one big family.
So how about we all be Americans of ______________ heritage?
A Second Thought…
When I was born, I was Black,
When I grow up, I am Black, When I go in the Sun, I am Black, When I get scared, I am Black, When I am sick, I am Black, And when I die, I am still black..
…….And you White fella, When you are born, you Pink,
When you grow up, you are white, When you go in the Sun, you are Red,
When you cold, you get Blue, When you scared, you turn Yellow, When
you sick, you go Green, And when you die, you turn Gray.. And you
calling me Colored??
had to do it. I saw this and had to post it, interesting, sorry.
@ Kwesi
You actually MAKE my point while trying to use my own words against me to refute it. Language is NOT static. It HAS changed and the word, “is now archaic and potentially derogatory”. Thanks for quoting me to me! That’s precisely my point.
Granted some of these terms change quickly and frustrate those who honestly try to be PC about them…but this one went out DECADES ago. Keep UP. It stopped being OK before she was BORN.
And, remember words have traveled different etymological paths here and in el caribe.
I actually thought you’d sound off on something else. LOL
I’ve always thought that “colored” was an acquired characteristic, so it should never have been applied to anyone unless they had dyed themselves.
Such ignorance and insensitivity (while proclaiming that she had some probably questionable ancestry that she thought would forge a bond, yet) is unbelievably stupid. I wonder how she got through law school.
Someone should set her German/Irish/Honky ass straight. (Speaking of obsolete words.)
Okay Lexi,
I wasn’t ready for that other section last night, but this morning I’m ready.
The Church,
I love God and i’m trying to really love all His people. LOrd help me! Jesus said it best (I think i just managed to make this short) I came to serve and not to be served. The institution and industry that proclaims the gospel need a proclaimation themeselves. If it’s all about you, if it’s soley for you benefit and pleasure, if it’s about sales and viewership, and more mega, more money, more mega, it’s not serving others is it?
Oh that we the church would focus on being hope and love and ligth and salt, instead of being, stars and celebs and powerful and rich…
I remember the days when you knew the church as a place of refuge and healing. Seems these days there’s more taking than giving going on.
So I apologize to all that read hear and have been offended by us. We get lots of things wrong and we think we’re always right. Truth be told me make mistakes, horrible and evil mistakes. Inspite of out failings the love of God remains true. SO forgive us, forgive me. I will do, I will give, I will love.
Ahhh, the church, the church. Of course this is an interesting topic for me – having been made to attend church 4-5 times a week since birth. Now, I hate to say I’m a member of Bedside Baptist. I watch Bishop Patterson on BET and whoever is bringing a good word for the day. I just can’t stand the hypocrisy, beaurocracy, lying, jealous, tryin’ to make the Pastor rich, church folk. I definitely haven’t wandered from God or lost my faith, but I’ve learned to distinguish the difference between religion repetitive action)and spirituality. I no longer subscribe to religion.
@ Heart
Thanks for the support. LOL! See, you’re game for Survivor. I have every confidence.
@ Kwesi
Yeah, you fix it. Holla @ a sistah when you’re done. K?
@ LaShawn
I SO understand where you are. We’re members of the same congregation. [sigh]
Quick Lex! Take down your pic! Your attorney co-worker might find you online. Or at least delete as usual. Quick!
Lol. I love a rant. The ‘coloured’ term doesn’t bother me. I really don’t mind Oprah either. Just wish I could be on the show when she’s giving away cruises or trips to exotic places 😉
Actually Kwesi, you were probably pinkish when you were born. Most babies are. I like that little piece though
@ Gela
You know what? If they find my blog good enough for them. I take my computer home with me every night. Just in case 😉
And, like I said to Kwesi the Trini, I think colored has a totally different connotation in the caribbean. Different spelling too. LOL.
If she wants to be colored, let her be colored. By herself.
I like how they do it in Trinidad. Most of us are mixed with 3-4 different races anyway. So why can’t we all just be Americans? We still haven’t healed from history.
We can’t fix church. But we can do something different that is closer to our calling. Can’t wait for that.
To be honest, it’s while reading the wikepedia article on coloured, that I realize that it’s supposed to be a derogatory term.
Oh Kwesi is from Trinidad? Hail up, hail up. I interact with a lot of caribbean bloggers, not necessarily based in the caribbean.
The term colored never bothered me, yeah it’s an old term but so what. I think it’s a better term than black cause it can include multiple shades all at once. we range from damn near black to damn near white. It doesn’t matter.
I like katrice’s statement about us being all mixed up anyway. Why not just be american.
meh…i dont care anymore, i’m tired of the race issue surfacing.
regarding the church statment, meh…too much effort required.
lol just for conflict factor, lets drag in the term nigger/nigga. the video on the front page of my myspace blog describes my point of view on that term. http://www.myspace.com/mc_mutt
**”Coloured” doesn’t bother me either. I’ve always considered it an appropriate term for anyone that isn’t white. But people who use this word (and if they are white) are always given a hard time about it. Sometimes there’s just too much PC crap going around, especially about race. The correct term is always changing and the old PC term is now derogatory. Example…there was an article on some news website about a mentally disabled boy harrassing the neighbors daughter (throwing rocks at her) and just being out of control in the neighborhood. When the daughter’s family tried to do something about it (talk to the family), they contacted authorities. When no one wanted to press charges because he was a 13-year-old with the mind of a 3-year-old, the daughter’s father put up a sign that said “Retards in Area.” (or something to that effect). People were absolutely outraged about this! Not because the boy’s family did not do their part to make sure he wasn’t wandering the neighborhood alone or getting into trouble…people were furious because the word RETARD was on the damn sign. Why would somebody care so much about a word (that was once the pc term) and forget about all of the things that REALLY matter in the situation?
**As far as Oprah goes…I have to agree with Gela 🙂 I actually thought about tracking her down, while i was homeless in chicago…that would have been a SWEET help in getting back to civilization!
**Boy! Do I have a lot to say today?! Anywho…you know that pastor’s need their private jets…it is a visual representation of the blessing…amen…that come from…amen…God! Lord Jesus…ah!…and if the sheep can’t seee…ah! what the Lord has done…ah! amen!…then they won’t get to understaaaaaand that God is there for them!…amen!…and He is looking out for even the little things…can i get a witness?! Do a holy dance for me now! Dance for God now! Receive your blessings as they rain down upon us!!!!
**okay. i’ll stop there ^_^
@mc_mutt
Because it bugs me and is offensive, that’s what!
@mc_mutt and gailla
Words have a context and part of the context comes from who’s using it. I worked with a group of parents of kids with special needs and they referred to their own kids as ‘tards. Maybe they needed the comic relief to cope, but the literally talked about my tard and your tard. But with this other family referring to this kid as a Retard, I’m sorry it’s not acceptable and it isn’t of little consequence. That’s just wrong. The problem with it is that it reduces that kid to his disability, like that’s all that he is. He’s not…and I’m off of this.
Same with nigger. Depends who says it and to whom.
A white co-worker asked me if ghetto-fabulous was offensive. After I finished laughing I told her that I don’t know, depends on who says it and to whom. Somebody who self-identifies this way would take it as a compliment, I suppose.
This stuff isn’t black and white. To me, this chick showed total insensitivity or ignorance because you SHOULD know that the black person you’re talking to might be offended by that word and so even if you use it at home with your friends and fam, hmmm? maybe not here.
@Gailla
Thanks for the reminding me why I have two Saturdays every weekend. LOL
lol as fast as we change terminology, how can we expect everyone to keep up?
my mom still goes around saying stuff is bumpin. That’s not even a term she grew up (i dont think she did) with she just snagged it from the kids in the late 80’s
Why dont you enlighten your co-worker that that is no longer an acceptable term? If someone doesn’t know and they use an offensive term that’s one thing, now if it turns out she does know and uses an offensive term then you have grounds to be upset.
Find out before condemning her. You’d want that benefit of the doubt from her. I’ve offended many people w/o having a clue to what i did or said. Those that come and inform me of what i did and how it is unacceptable usually end up as friends.
Also you getting angry about the situation is perpetuating another stereotype about blacks. The author from Boondocks calls them “nigga moments” A nigga moment is a situation where a conflict could be resolved in a calm and simple manner but instead we choose to do it the “nigga” way. We assume the worst and react the worst. Watch this clip as a detailed explanation. He explains it much better than i do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsTvcu8E8t8
You’re right about the context of words. But i must say that in the case of the two families in Utah (that’s where they were), the only reason the father put that sign up was to get someone’s attention with the hopes of getting something done about this child (you can’t just let a “3-year-old” wander off alone). It got plenty of attention, but I really hope that it worked to be honest.
I also agree with Mc_mutt…it’s a good idea to let someone know if something offends you. It may be that they really didn’t know…whatever it is, at least you’ll find out for sure.
*Two Saturdays doesn’t sound so bad…
hmm i just re-read my last post. i’m not saying you reacted the worst or assumed the worst but to just give the lady a chance. inform her so she doesnt go offend someone else.
OK. I said I was done but you won’t leave me alone. LOL.
No love lost. You know we live to get on each other’s nerves!