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Rachel Dolezal: A Different View
I have not yet given an opinion about the Rachel Dolezal story as of yet, though I have been posting about it and following the story like the rest of you. I have heard the testimony of Rachel’s parents and the claims that she has a mental disorder. I have heard people mention that she’s making money off of us, that she needs psychiatric help, that she’s mocking us, and that she’s wearing black face, the list goes on and on. My opinion is unlike those of the black people you’ll run into in the street. I do not hate Rachel Dolezal. I do not despise her. I think not that she’s racist or that she’s crazy. Quite frankly, I like her.
I posted a few days ago a post about how deep this story is, and if the black people out there understood that. I didn’t however, for lack of a better word, edify the post with an explanation and so I thought I’d do that real quick.
Rachel Dolezal, as we are all aware of as of now, is a white woman who has been pretending to be black for some time. She looks physically like an African American and her hair mimics a natural black hairstyle. As a “black” woman, she has been a leader in the attempt to advance the cause of black people, going far as to protest the Exodus movie because she said white people were playing the role of black people (which is true). She has done all of this under the deception that she is not white, but black. Thing is, this does not offend me. It does not offend me that she desires to identify as a so called African American to the extent of wishing she had parents who looked like them, and to the extent of wearing and dressing and fighting for their cause. She wanted to be you more than many of you want to be yourselves. What then is her crime? As a black woman did she commit a crime? Did she degrade herself? Did she jump around like an animal as a black woman or did she become the local leader of the NAACP (can I ask why you’re still calling yourselves colored people? But I digress) and a professor of African Studies at Eastern Washington University?
How many so called Black people bleach their skin and wear silky blonde weaves? How many of them have crossed the colored line for the chance to be white for the sake of opportunity? How many of us look down on dark skin and kinky hair? How many? So why then are black people emotional because a white woman pretended to be black for a chance to advance the plight of black people? I’m just saying if we’re going to be real about it be all the way real. Don’t tell a white woman she can’t wear a black hair style and excuse Beyonce for wearing a white hair style. Now, she did lie, true. And I must say I do believe she could have done more work as a white woman in the first place. But in the words of Bob Marley:
“Who are you to judge the life I live?
before you start pointing fingers…
make sure you hands are clean!”
There is so much more but let me end with this:
In a comment on whether or not she was African American, Dolezal stated:
“I don’t understand the question.”
Let me explain briefly to you black people why this statement is of such significance to you:
African and American does not define a Nationality. I use it on this blog for clarity but it is not a nation of people. African and American is just two continents put together. It is the continent of Africa and the continent of America. It says nothing to say that you are an African since Africa is a continent with over 50 countries: which of these countries can the African American claim, and which will claim you? The point is that African American does not identify someone’s nationality, their customs and traditions. In fact, prior to 1988, when Jesse Jackson coined the term African American, you were Black. Before you were Black you were Colored. Before you were Colored you were Negroes, and before this you were Niggas. Therefore, I am not offended at her statement because I don’t understand the question either. And I don’t think she’s crazy.
Now, for some laughs, since I after all love to laugh, I’m gonna lighten it up a bit. As of this post I have 478 followers of this blog. I wonder how many I’ll have by morning because of this post :).
Can YOU Spell?
Ah, that lovely red ziggly line, it comes in handy doesn’t it? In the age of increased knowledge and technology we have discovered ways to expedite the learning process. No longer must we search Thesauruses and dictionaries. Why when we have Google? No longer must we sound out words or put effort into phonetics, why when we can always depend on the ziggly line? I for one absolutely adore Microsoft Word’s auto-correction, but is it helpful?
Lately, I’ve been using a different computer and this one in particular does not have Microsoft Word installed as of yet. Instead there’s Word Pad (I know, don’t judge me). As such, Word Pad does not automatically correct errors, leaving me to edit either on my own, or in the WordPress post instead of on the Word document I usually use. (I tend to write in Word and Copy and Paste into WordPress. Personally, this gives me the opportunity to write more clearly and carefully. I almost never draft a new post directly into WordPress unless I am using my phone, and I never publish a post without previewing it first.). While doing this, I noticed that I tend to misspell more words than I do when I use Microsoft Word. It’s as if the real me is the writer using Word Pad because I am correcting on my own, whereas Microsoft Word is my tutor. This got me thinking: Does technology limit certain capabilities we learned in school by acting as a crutch for us? Is it a good idea, every now and again, to do things the old school way? For instance: Does it benefit to use the dishwasher everyday or wash on hand? What kind of skills are present in both? Is there something different that happens when you hand write vs. type? I wonder.
While I am wondering, here’s an idea: For your next blog post, don’t correct the errors that show up in the post! Ignore the red ziggly line and see just how well you do. Use only your own mind and previous knowledge to correct.
Your post can be anything. Use this topic or make one up but write something without using your computer to edit it. So as not to cheat, realistically you will have to draft your post using a document processor, such as Word Pad, that does not automatically correct your mistakes. Or, just turn the auto correct off for Microsoft Word. Then, when you copy and paste it into WordPress, you’ll get to see what you spelled wrong, but don’t correct it! Publish as is and see how you do. You can even have your followers guess what’s grammatically incorrect, if any, for added fun.
Writer’s Quote Wednesday – James Earl Jones
Welcome back everyone to another Writer’s Quote Wednesday post on The PBS Blog as Hosted by Colleen of Silver Threading. As the thunder rolls and the rain floats from the sky your weekly cup of inspiration today comes from James Earl Jones:
So of course I snagged this one from Google, but what a great quote. If not for the genius of creative written expression, there is so much of our history we would not have with us. Where would we be without books? Or the people who felt obligated enough to record their lives on paper or to think up new worlds? As a fellow book worm I don’t even wanna think about it!
About The Author:
You don’t need an about section, of course you know James! (Right??)
Wikipedia:
James Earl Jones (born January 17, 1931) is an American actor who in a career of more than 60 years has become known as “one of America’s most distinguished and versatile” actors and “one of the greatest actors in American history.” Since his Broadway debut in 1957, Jones has won many awards, including a Tony Award and Golden Globe Award for his role in The Great White Hope. Jones has won three Emmy Awards, including two in the same year in 1991, and he also earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role in the film version of The Great White Hope. He is also known for his voice acting, most notably as Darth Vader in the Star Wars film series and Mufasa in Disney’s The Lion King, as well as many other film, stage, and television roles.
As a child Jones had a stutter. In his episode of Biography, he said he overcame the affliction through poetry, public speaking, and acting, although it lasted for several years. A pre-med major in college, he went on to serve in the United States Army during the Korean War, before pursuing a career in acting.
On November 12, 2011, he received an Honorary Academy Award.
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That’s it for this week’s episode of Writer’s Quote Wednesday and as always, don’t forget to visit the links or click on the pic to see how your blog can join the fun.
#Ronovan Writes #BeWoW Prompt – Regret
Regret:
feel sad, repentant, or disappointed over something that has happened or been done, especially a loss or missed opportunity); a feeling of sadness, repentance, or disappointment over something that has happened or been done.
Ex. “She immediately regretted her words.”
Today, Ron’s suggested topic for #BeWoW is on Regret:
In my opinion, the idea of Regret is good. In order for someone to change from a negative situation, thought, or feeling, he or she must admit to a wrong and feel sincerely sorry for having committed this wrong. There must be some kind of sadness from having done it. This repentance of sorts then will lead to proper change in whatever capacity that it is needed. So the concept of having Regret for having done wrong is a good thing. If I have no ill will toward having done evil in the past then the reality that it is evil has not left my heart and I do not see it as the evil (or mistake) that it is. If I lied but I do not Regret lying, then I do not see it as the wrong that it is. Life presents the opportunity for change and growth in many instances in our lives. And when I look around at the negative parts of me that I struggle to completely do away with, I see those parts as belonging to a time I have not fully regretted. I know that it is bad, but I do not wholeheartedly feel bad for having participated in that bad, I have not fully Regretted it. Instead, secretly, I still see it as a good thing.
“For a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must come completely undone. The shell cracks, its insides come out and everything changes. To someone who doesn’t understand growth, it would look like complete destruction.”
― Cynthia Occelli
On the other hand, the problem with Regret comes in when we wallow in that Regret and our repentance then turns not into positive change, but ugly depression, and thus causes us to regress in many ways. Even if I can Regret having made a mistake, I can never correct it if I continue to hold on to it. The amount of energy that I put into that kind of regret has the capacity to single handily destroy me. It leaves no room for positive change or any other feeling. This kind of Regret is a cancer, eating away at our life force until we are a mere reflection of what we used to be. It causes us to feel sorry for ourselves so deeply that we eventually hate ourselves because of it and are no longer any good; not to ourselves and not to anyone else. We fall down, but unlike positive Regret, we do not look on the fall as an opportunity to get back up, we look on it instead as a crutch and as an excuse to keep us down. This is the ugly side of regret and no good can come from it.
In closing, I say to my Regretters:
You should feel sorry when you’ve done something wrong because if not you are bound to repeat it. You should Regret it and be remorseful and sad because this is what is needed to change it from a negative to a positive situation. However, careful not to allow this sadness to turn into depression because it will destroy you. It’s OK to feel bad but eventually you gotta get yourself together and back on track. Your sanity and your growth as an individual depends on it.
Update: 25 Minutes a Day – Reward Yourself
Sooo….
Awhile ago I published a post about taking 25minutes out of your day to exercise. You can walk, run, swim, or move your leg back and forth. You can carry the baby around or substitute chores that require electronics (like the washing machine) by doing them by hand. I also mentioned that I will do more posts on updates and such. So here’s what I did today:
- Sean T25: Alpha Cardio (includes, sprints, jumping jacks, etch.)
- Breakfast (after workout): 1 Banana, Strawberry Parfait Smoothie, Water (I’m not a very big breakfast eater which I heard is bad but whatever lol).
What I want to do today is talk about rewarding yourself and using that as a catalyst to workout more. The hardest part of any workout, at least for me, is not starting, but starting back up again after you have already started. I took a two week hiatus and today was my first day back (it was supposed to be yesterday). Once you get it going it’s good but when you stop that’s the struggle. But while shopping for food I discovered a fun way to both discipline and reward yourself to help stay motivated. Get yourself a healthy treat and restrict yourself from eating it until AFTER you workout. If you cheat on yourself, POST ABOUT IT. Let the world know you messed up so you can get that encouragement from your peers for next time. We often look at mistakes as a bad thing and are told to keep our faults hidden, but the truth is that exposing the negative gives way to the positive. The struggles we have are hard to change because we have not admitted to the problem, we have not exposed the issue so it remains an issue. As the old folk say, “Tell the truth, shame the devil.” So my admittance is that I stopped working out for about two weeks, and my treat of choice was the parfait smoothie. As soon as I bought it (since I happen to love smoothies) I wanted to devour it! I kept going to the refrigerator to look at it and it was just calling my name. BUT, I told myself that I couldn’t drink it until AFTER I worked out. So as a punishment, since I didn’t workout yesterday I couldn’t drink it. Instead, I held out until today after my workout and it was sooo good! This was my treat for having stuck to what I said I would do and to admitting where I faulted.
Nostalgia
I didn’t always drink coffee, but the first cup was so delicious, made with the expertise of a veteran coffee drinker some years back, that I incorporated caffeine into my daily schedule and like a feign sought to mimic it’s deliciousness. But this morning, as I poured the warm goodness and integrated it with Carmel Vanilla Cream, something unexpected happened. Ok so yes I was thinking about Blogging but not that. I was, however, brought back to those early days. Suddenly, I tasted of the past and images hurried to my thoughts like a wave of epiphany. With each sip it is as if I tasted of conversation and laughed at jokes once long faded away in memory. It reminded me of an article I read last week about scientist finally admitting that memory is stored in the DNA, and I do believe it’s true. Even if we cannot remember a moment, I believe we still live it in some way. Maybe we mimic the actions of what we can neither speak nor recall. Maybe something makes us laugh and we cannot explain why. Or perhaps there was an experience so traumatic that it disintegrated into our very skin, but is no longer accessible through the mind. Why is it that when we recall the past we include ourselves even if we had not lived it? “We were slaves” I say of my history, though I have never been anyone’s property and neither have I picked of anyone’s cotton. Could it be that this experience was genetically passed on to me? Indeed, I believe so. For who am I to be so arrogant as to believe I inherited my mother’s nose and not my ancestors ways? Their thoughts? Their promises?
Memory, like water it is an interesting thing. A substance that we use daily, that we cannot live without, and that we have even named and yet, we know nothing about it. For what is H2O really? I laugh at the boldness of man to think he has all the answers, and yet the things we use on a daily basis is still foreign to us. So, Nostalgia, the bringing forth of memory we either despise or long to experience again, perhaps it is much deeper than we think, and yet closer too.
The PBS Blog 