Just to show that I am not a knee-jerk racist-accusing zealot, I did not find this ad racist. The company may owe Ms. Campbell a fee for use of her name and diva-ish reputation, but the reference would seem clearly positive - as I have yet to meet a female who does not love chocolate. (Story here).
I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, but upon seeing this advertisement there is none. I also believe the racism accusation should be saved from use every time someone acknowledges difference. This is not one of those cases. This is some Madison Avenue racist bull-shit. I will avoid buying anything related to either of these companies in the future. I say boycott them bastards!
Last Friday, the day before the world was suppose to end, a white Alameda County Sheriff’s deputy, performed a routine traffic stop in downtown Oakland, near the 19th Street BART Station, with an amazing result. No one black was shot, arrested, beat up (or down), and all parties involved, including the officer, left the scene intact. Nearby witnesses were truly amazed with the event, although a few immediately scattered at the first sight of the deputy approaching a man driving a BMW, wearing dark glasses, baseball cap, earphones, and a chillin’ attitude.
When I heard about the article by Satoshi Kanazawa entitled “Why Are Black Women Less Physically Attractive Than Other Women? Why black women, but not black men?”, published on May 15, 2011, in Psychology Today, I definitely had a WTF moment. Not because the subject is taboo – I have written about attractiveness (here) – but because only a complete moron would title an article this way, with nothing to back it up.
Clearly, some people think that racism, roughly defined as arbitrary ethnic discrimination, is acceptable, while others think of it as the scourge. I arrive at this question because racism seems more prevalent, or perhaps it is just more confidently peeking from the shadows. Is this because it is ‘not that bad’, or even essential (God forbid).
If you have ever wondered why your tiny cell-phone can capture so much 'stuff' out of thin-air, thank the inventor of the fractal antenna - Nathan Cohen. 
Extending the discussion (here) of violence, any student of human behavior knows that negative emotions are the precursors to violence. So, the key to stemming that violence, black-on-black, black-on-white, or otherwise, is getting a handle on the precipitators – apathy, grief, fear, hate, shame, blame, regret, resentment, anger, or hostility. Conflict is inevitable, but how we view it - internalize it - makes all the difference. BTW, I purposely use the descriptor 'mean', rather than angry, to steer discussion inward. Besides, everybody knows why Black folks are angry (I think).
In the shadow of my previous post on black violence (here) and the recent killing of terrorist leader, Osama Bin Laden, perhaps it is appropriate to talk more about violence, specifically non-urban, non-black violence. On one side I feel good that the mastermind of the 9-11 tragedy is gone. On the surface, our government killed him in response to him killing many thousands of Americans and Muslims alike, under his jihadist rhetoric. However, I will always wince when governments sanction and carry-out actions to kill named individuals. It is a slippery slope to be on, considering the strangeness of bedfellows.
After the recent spate of violence to plague McDonald’s restaurants, I have noticed this question continuing to pop up in discussion forums, and in my head, as well. The answers tossed around are usually either racist/ignorant, PC-silly, or some combination. I thought I would try my hand at something more enlightened. Before I start, the reasons that Blacks are violent are both similar and different than for Whites (who I will cover another time). Here goes.
There is a growing right-to-life strategy, in America, of labeling legal abortions as racism and genocide. Nothing could be further from the truth. The disproportion in black abortions reported is not due to a conspiracy of whites, in general, or Planned Parenthood specifically. Rather, it is the direct result of black women and men, together, shifting the responsibility of whether or not to potentially make a baby until after conception. I suggest that this is a performance gap (of responsibility).
Orange County Republican Marilyn Davenport, accused of racism, got some help from her black friends in S. Carolina, to back up her claim that they are just fine with her depiction of President Obama as an ape-child. One of her 'darkies', (Davenport's affectionate reference), sent this recent snap shot taken at a meeting of the National Federation of Republican Women. Ms. Davenport added, "I may be an old bigot, but I'm not a liar".
Orange County Tea-bagger Marilyn Davenport has some explaining about why she thought it was acceptable to send an email containing this picture. And does the fact that she has blacks that she calls friends make any difference? Furthermore, she said she only sent it to people who wouldn't be offended. Problem is that this list should have included people who also like her. Clearly, at least one of her 'friends' wants to see her bake - and bake she shall.
I will certainly rub many of my friends the wrong way on this, but with President Obama’s announcement, today, to run for re-election in 2012, I am not looking forward to him blowing political smoke in the vicinity of my hind-quarters for two years (again). His message? How he needs my help to ‘continue’ changing America. Heck, I am still waiting for him to start a real fight for the change he promised on the run up to his 2008 victory. Let us not kid ourselves - the only thing worse than Obama winning was McCain, but only by a political whisker.
NYTimes (here).
With all the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear calamity going on in Japan, I nearly missed the face-off between the black social classes, as represented by professional basketball superstars, Jalen Rose, representing Michigan and the underprivileged, and Grant Hill, playing for team Duke and the bourgeois. Who would have thought there could still be such odds within the black community, but here it is.
