Racism In 140 Charactors

 See That? The screenshot above?  This cowardly troll probably thought she or he was being humorous...probably had no idea that he or she was being offensive and just a little bit racially insensitive or RACIST in their little idea of a joke...

They probably felt safe in their anonymous state in writing this...because it's listed under "People Magazine"..and not under their name...The reason why they wrote it and used "People Magazine"  as the byline is because whoever wrote this wouldn't dare say this in front of a Black male or female....They wouldn't dare...

Just a few days ago...a writer at the New York Times ,who did use her real name by the way made the condescending statement that Shonda Rhimes use of actress,Viola Davis in the starring role of her new series, ''How To Get Away With Murder" on ABC...was a departure from the use of classically beautiful actresses like Kerry Washington of Scandal of Halle Berry...

One of my friends asked me if this really was a racial issue and if I considered Viola Davis "classically beautiful"?  I refused to answer....What does it matter? Does anyone ask if say Meryl Streep, (who I love ,just for the record) is more "Classically beautiful" then say Cybil Sheppard?  Does anyone ask if say Stana Katic who plays Detective Kate Becket on Castle is more "Classically beautiful than say, Debra Messing?
Do they?  Then why do it with Viola Davis and Kerry Washington?....Why pit two beautiful in their own way actresses against one another...???What does it matter anyway?  This reeks of both racism and sexism...But ,maybe I'm being too sensitive.

Why would the person from People Magazine expect Viola Davis to recite lines she said in the movie -"The Help" when she's done more than that???...When she's played a lawyer on Law and Order and Law and Order Special Victims unit many times before?

WHY? (I'll wait!)

Maybe I'm a bit racially sensitive now of days with all that is going on....I don't know...but I'm getting tired of all that has been going on for the past eight years...The blatant disrespect of this president that goes beyond political disagreements., the shooting with seeming impunity of young black men, while white men with guns defy the government at a ranch and not a shot is fired, not an arrest is made....While a white mass murderer shot up a movie theatre and was armed, yet captured unharmed....Yet a black kid who may have shoplifted some cigars, but was unarmed and killed no one was shot dead in the streets of Ferguson...

You see...Can you blame me if I'm just a little bit racially sensitive right now to all of this?...... 

During a Thursday appearance on The View, Viola Davis fired back at the New York Times writer who recently said she was “less classically beautiful.” Last week, in an article that received plenty of backlash, Times writer Alessandra Stanley not only critiqued Davis’ looks but also referred to Shonda Rhimes as an angry black woman.

In response to that article, the Times’ public editor, Margaret Sullivan, said it was “astonishingly tone-deaf and out of touch.” Sullivan also noted, “The readers and commentators are correct to protest this story.” She continued, “Intended to be in praise of Ms. Rhimes, it delivered that message in a condescending way.” Thank You.

Viola Davis, who didn’t publicly address the comments until yesterday, explained on the show how she felt about them and what made her take on the role in Shondra Rhimes’ How to Get Away With Murder:

"I’m glad that Shonda Rhimes saw me and said “Why not?” That’s what makes her a visionary. That’s what makes her iconic. I think that beauty is subjective. I’ve heard that statement [less classically beautiful] my entire life. Being a dark-skinned black woman, you heard it from the womb. And “classically not beautiful” is a fancy term for saying ugly. And denouncing you. And erasing you. Now ... it worked when I was younger. It no longer works for me now. It’s about teaching a culture how to treat you. Because at the end of the day, you define you."

Good for you Viola.....And to the racist and juvenile trolls who tweet.....Black twitter is coming for you...

Keith's Music Spotlight

I have to admit...I haven't listened to Hip Hop in a minute, but while checking out the OKPLAYER website yesterday,I happened to come across this new track by Kendrick Lamar...The West Coast Rapper that everybody is saying is the best out there right now...

If this single is an example...Then I have to say...They're right...He's living up to the hype... Did you guys love that Isley Brother's sample?('Who's That Lady?)

Weekend Humor

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

You think this might have anything to do with race??      Nahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

U.S. national team goalkeeper Hope Solo is again asserting her innocence in a domestic violence assault case that she faces in Washington state.
Solo posted a statement to on her official Facebook page on Tuesday evening. She says ''Once all the facts come to light and the legal process is concluded, I am confident that I will be fully exonerated.''

Now I'm not saying wheteher she is guilty or innocent...I'm just saying that I've heard this all before...from all people charged with abuse...

Solo is charged with two misdemeanor counts of fourth-degree domestic violence assault stemming from a June 21 altercation with her sister and 17-year-old nephew at a family gathering in Kirkland, Washington.

She has pleaded not guilty and the case is scheduled for trial on Nov. 4. She faces up to six months in jail if convicted.
The post was her second addressing the matter: She also apologized to her fans shortly after her arrest.

Ms.Solo, who has been with the national team since 2000 and recently set the team record for most career shutouts, continued to play for the United States in exhibition matches and with her National Women's Soccer League team, the Seattle Reign.
Her comments come a day after U.S. Soccer said it would stand by its decision to allow Solo to play while the legal process plays out.

''U.S. Soccer takes the issue of domestic violence very seriously. From the beginning, we considered the information available and have taken a deliberate and thoughtful approach regarding Hope Solo's status with the national team,'' U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati said in a statement.

''Based on that information, U.S. Soccer stands by our decision to allow her to participate with the team as the legal process unfolds. If new information becomes available we will carefully consider it.''

Nike also said Tuesday it would continue its sponsorship deal with Solo.
''We are aware of the allegations and that Hope Solo has pled ''not guilty'' to the charges. Hope remains a Nike athlete and we will continue to monitor the situation,'' the company said in a statement.

All I'm asking is did Tiger Woods, Adrian Peterson and Ray Rice get the same consideration and understanding when they were  involved in their controversies or did
these corporate sponsers back away from them like they had the plague?  I'm just asking.

These guys...Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson have been the subject of almost universal villification and OUTRAGE for the past month....Americans are always outraged about something...Seldom is it what they ought to be OUTRAGED about...We are just programmed sheep, who do what the Television and the computer screen tells us...George Orwell could write another book about this..Call it 2084...

Ms.Solo is expected to start in goal for the U.S. women when the team plays next month in the CONCACAF championship, which will be played in four U.S. cities with the final scheduled for Oct. 26 at PPL Park in Pennsylvania. The event serves as a qualifying event for next summer's Women's World Cup in Canada.

In an exhibition match against Mexico in Sandy, Utah, earlier this month, Ms.Solo recorded her 72nd career shutout in an 8-0 U.S. victory. She passed Briana Scurry (1994-2008) on the career list.
Solo, 32, has played in 155 international matches and was with the U.S. team that won gold medals at the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics.

So again I pose the inital question-

Do You think this might have anything to do with race??

     Nahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Keith's Favorite Quotes

Yes...How did we?

Maybe There Is A War On Black Males

You know, a lot of my Facebook and Twitter friends have been saying, due to the recent rash shootings of young black men....that maybe there is a not so subtle war going on in this country against Black men...I am not an alarmist and I am not one for conspiracy theories either....But I can't help but notice that if you start with Trayvon Martin, then look at Eric Garner, the black man who was choked to death by several policemen in New York, Jordan Davis...the kid that was in a car with his buddies and killed because they wouldn't turn the music down and now Young Mike Brown in Ferguson...the theme that all of these people used was...

"I WAS SCARED TO DEATH....I WAS DEFENDING MY LIFE!!!"

Now in almost all of these cases...I cried bullshit.....You've got a gun, these men were all unarmed...but you were scared to death????....

I've read the accounts of the trolls who have tried to villify the murder victims...Trayvon Martin was on suspension from school at the time he was killed and staying with his father that weekend....Eric Garner was selling loosies....Homemade cigarettes at the time he and the police had a fatal (for him) confrontation and now Mike Brown may have shoplifted some cigarillos from a grocery store just before he was shot to death
(Something the officer didn't know at the time, but....I'll just leave that little fact out of the story.)

None of those things have anything to do with why these guys were killed....There was the guy who shot up the movie theatre in Aurora...He shot some 23 people, killed what about 11people? and was armed at the time the police came upon him....Yet he was taken alive!!!  Mike Brown was unarmed...Killed no one and he's dead....What's wrong with this picture???

People are now saying...The officer was frightened for his life because of Mike Brown's size....(He was six feet two and close to 300 pounds)....Trayvon, though 17 was about six foot also....Again..Apples and oranges...This is the frightening image of the Black man as bogeyman....

If you notice...In the past few weeks...nobody has been talking about Ferguson.....Even though civil disobedience and protests are still going on....No in the past few weeks everybody's attention has been on Pro-football players, Ray Rice , who was filmed punching and knocking out his wife in an elevator and Adrian Peterson, who disciplined his son with a switch...Everybody is outraged at these two Black men!

To make matters worse...a movie is released called "No Good Deed" with Taraji P. Henson and Idris Elba in which a Black man, a Black Bogeyman....A serial killer with a problem with women gets into the house of a Black woman, kills her white girlfriend and terrorizes this woman and her two small children...."First he gets in your house...Then he gets into your mind..." is the movie's slogan....

I guess the white cop who was called when a black football player had a car accident in Virginia and was asking for help saw a preview of this movie and that was justification for why he shot and killed him...Or the white man who shot and killed a black female motorist in Michigan, who had knocked on his door late at night asking for help obviously saw a preview of this movie too!

The message....Black people and Black men in particular are scary and not to be trusted.....These are the images that are put out...and these are the images that not only white people, but our own people are starting to believe....

It's bad enough when White people put out these images....But may I mention that this movie..."No Good deed" was Produced by and starring Black people...We put out just as many negative images that feed into this as they do....Some Hip-Hop videos don't make it any better...

I feel like maybe there is a war on Black men....Everyday,I feel like I'm walking with a bullseye on my chest..

Keith's Music Spotlight

George Tandy, Jr. is an American R&B-soul singer-songwriter. His debut single, "March", was released in 2013 and peaked on the Billboard R&B charts the following year.

I wrote another blog post about him earlier this year I think....Then he released this song "Jaded" and the lyrics just spoke to me...I've been through this before...That's what I like about music....Lyrics that speak to me, that speak to my existence...either past or present....I'm done with the hip hop fantasy world of money,fancy cars and hot chicks...Give me something real that speaks to my soul....

That is of course...the essence of soul music isn't it?

Keith's Music Spotlight

I honestly have to say that the minute I first heard this song on the radio...It totally blew me away....Believe me ,that is not something that I say about a lot of the music that is released today...

The lyrics got me...and the singer got me...I didn't realize the male singer on this duet was white....Until I heard the name...

Sam Smith!

I've been hearing about this guy all summer long on Facebook and Twitter...Sam Smith, Sam Smith,Sam Smith!!! A white boy from England who can really blow...

It's not that I didn't believe it...There have been quite a few...but not like this guy....And when I heard this duet with the Queen of Hip Hop Soul, Mary J. Blige...(On her upcoming CD and digital download-"The London Sessions." ) I just had to stand up and take note...Don't take my word for it...Listen for yourself...

Weekend humor

A funeral service is being held for a woman who has just passed away. At the end of the service, the pall bearers are carrying the casket out when they accidentally bump into a wall, jarring the casket. They hear a faint moan! They open the casket and find that the woman is actually alive!
She lives for ten more years, and then dies. Once again, a ceremony is held, and at the end of it, the pall bearers are again carrying out the casket. As they carry the casket towards the door, the husband cries out: "Watch that damn wall!"....

Everybody have a super groovy weekend!

Never Forget!

I haven't forgot!

Good Thing They Don't Read My Facebook Page Or This Blog For That Matter!

I just happen to come across this woman's story in the news and it sickened and angered me...Once again, Racism veers it's ugly head in the so called Post Racial Obama age..

On Thursday, September 4, 2014, Dr. Misee Harris, best known to the media as the “Black Bachelorette” hopeful, was forced to resign from her dental practice where she was beloved by both staff and patients.

The reason for her resignation was over a clash of ethics involving her outspoken social media support of the late Michael Brown and the unrest in Ferguson, MO.. Here is Misee’s recollection of yesterday’s disturbing events in her own words, as recorded by her partner, Emmy-winning producer, Chris Silber…

Last week  On Thursday, September 4th, Dr. Misee Harris (the Black Bachelorette) was called into an unannounced meeting at the dental practice where she has worked as a Pediatric Dentist and was recently offered a partnership in the practice.

Dr. Harris, the sole African American dentist in the practice, has worked tirelessly with underprivileged young patients on Medicaid to ensure their smiles remain healthy, and the quality of Dr. Harris’s work has never been called into question.

Once in the meeting,  Dr. Harris was ambushed and presented with screenshots from her private Facebook page.  Being that Misee had blocked work colleagues from accessing her account, it was explained to Misee that a doctor who is a partner at the office,  and who led the meeting, had been having a friend spy on Misee’s Facebook page.  Screenshots were taken of Misee’s Facebook posts and were sent to the doctor  who led the meeting.

Misee was then told that some of her Facebook posts about recent racial issues in America were “unprofessional.” The biggest bone of contention to the partners was a cartoon  related to the recent police murders of several innocent African-Americans across the nation. The partner held up the picture and asked Misee “Do you think we (meaning Misee’s white colleagues) are all like this?”

Below is the cartoon in question-

Dr. Misee Harris composed herself and asked the partner if she had any idea what was going on in black America, namely regarding the murder of Michael Brown. The partner did not know the name Mike Brown, nor did she seem to understand Misee’s outrage at being attacked for her personal views. Dr. Harris’s racial discrimination concerns voiced on her personal and private Facebook page was meant solely for the eyes of her friends and family whom Misee thought she could trust. Misee was then told flat out that she would have to choose between her “style of social media communication” and her job as a pediatric dentist in their practice.

So much for Freedom of speech! It appears to be for everybody except Black people...White racists and conservatives often pull the "Freedom of Speech "card when they are called on their bullshit!

Misee felt unable to continue working under such conditions and decided to quit the dental practice on the spot, much to the dismay of her bosses. They assumed Misee would simply promise to stop voicing her opinions on social media about racial injustice. In a nutshell, Dr. Misee Harris feels she has been discriminated against as the sole African-American member of her now former dental practice. Dr. Harris believes she has been pushed out of her job for simply being a black woman in America.

In my opinion, she ought to sue....I think she would have a hell of a case..

“It is as though the partners at my former dental practice believe that a black person who has made it to success in a white-dominated field like dentistry is expected to show gratitude and humility, and to ‘act white,’” expresses a devastated Dr. Harris.


Case in point: Right before the last presidential election, in 2012 Dr. Misee Harris was invited to a dinner with President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, as part of her involvement on an Obama campaign team. At that time, her employer advised her not to go because, “We’re all Republicans here,” and that “President Obama was the one responsible for the financial ruin of his office.” I was expressly told at the time, “People who wanted to work for him should not be siding with Obama.”

It couldn't have been me...I'm sorry....They got off light...That meeting would have been over quickly had that of been me and somebody's feelings....a lot of people's feelings would have been hurt...

When Misee, already working at the office, gathered media popularity with her black Bachelorette campaign and as an advocate of black female empowerment, her colleagues began to “monitor” her social media accounts and bring up things they disliked about her public statements on several occasions. As Dr. Harris explains, “I made it very clear that what I did in my private life was none of their business, but to keep the peace, I became very ‘robotic’ and vanilla about my views for quite some time.”

Misee was the one dentist in her practice to bring back Medicaid patients back into the office and give out extras (free lunches, presents, even vacations) to assistants and front desk staff who get paid minimum wage, while the main doctors make high six figure incomes. Misee’s code of ethics was to never turn a child down who needed dental care. Hundreds of less fortunate families in the Nashville, Tennessee suburb where Dr. Harris practiced had no one else to turn to for their children’s dental work.

Dr. Misee Harris wants to go public with this unfortunate story of racial discrimination in the workplace because it has been her mission to empower black women, many of whom, when subjected to this kind of discrimination do not have the financial freedom to leave with dignity the way Dr. Harris chose to.

Dr. Misee Harris wants to continue to inspire others to speak their mind and to end racial discrimination and related abuse.

Kudos to her and I hope she finds another job...I also hope that she sues the pants off of her former partners..

Thanks to  Jamie Broadnax...Jamie Broadnax is the writer and creator of the niche blogsite for nerdy women of color called Black Girl Nerds...She first brought this to the attention of some of my Facebook friends ,who brought it to my attention...

Good Thing These people  don't read my Facebook Page, My Twitter Page or this blog for that matter.....I guess I'd be fired...I don't bite my tongue and I wouldn't have let them think they could get me to keep my views silent...

I'm thankful I work for a particularly liberal Ivy league University...I'm going to assume I'm not being spied on...Even though I don't try to hide much....

Weekend Humor

 

A general store owner hires a young female assistant with a penchant for very short skirts.

One day a young man enters the store, glances at the assistant, and glances at the loaves of bread behind the counter.

"I'd like some raisin bread, please," the man says politely.

The assistant nods and climbs up a ladder to reach the raisin bread, located on the very top shelf.

The man, standing almost directly beneath her, is provided with an excellent view.

As the assistant retrieves the bread, a small group of male customers gather around the young man, looking in the same direction.

Pretty soon each person is asking for raisin bread, just to see the assistant climb up and down.

After a few trips the assistant is tired and irritated. She stops and fumes at the top of the ladder, glaring at the men standing below.

She notices an elderly man standing amongst the crowd.

"Is yours raisin too?" the assistant yells testily.

"No," croaks the feeble old man....

"But it's startin' to stir!"

Everybody have a super groovy weekend!

Hey White People...Black People too!

Had to share this....

Keith's Favorite Quotes

Punch Heard Around The World (Or The NFL anyway!)

Okay...Everybody is talking about it...I might as well weigh in on it...Ray Rice!  But beware..I may not say what you think!

Yes...I saw the video and like a lot of you I went..."WOahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"when I saw the punch....and said "Awwwwww man", when I saw him dragging his then fiance either out or into the elevator...The video I saw was grainy...

Once again...America is outraged!!! Seems like we are all righteous outraged about something every week..

Americans are not however collectively outraged that a cop in Ferguson has killed an unarmed 18 year old boy and still hasn't filed an incident report or made a statement..

Americans are not however collectively outraged that a 43 year old man was choked to death in New York by cops just weeks before that....

No...but Americans,Black and white are outraged about Ray Rice...

Well, in a way they should be...A big linebacker like him should not be punching a woman like that for any reason....He should have took his cue from Jay-Z...

Everybody made fun of Jay-Z for showing great restraint in that elevator...but I applauded him....Ray Rice...take note..

By now everybody knows  Running back Ray Rice was released by the Baltimore Ravens and suspended indefinitely by the NFL yesterday, the same day a shocking video surfaced showing the NFL star knocking out his future wife with a punch in February.

The news release from the Ravens was terse.

"The Baltimore Ravens terminated the contract of RB Ray Rice this afternoon," it read.

Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh told reporters Monday night that the team had not seen the video before it was released online by TMZ.

 

 

Coach Harbaugh said he and Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome called Rice to inform him of the decision. He declined to discuss what Rice said or how he reacted.

"I have nothing but hope and goodwill for Ray and Janay (now his wife)," Harbaugh added. "And we'll do whatever we can going forward to help them as they go forward and try to make the best of it."
 

Shortly after the team's announcement, the league said the three-time Pro Bowl selection was suspended indefinitely.
 

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who had originally given Rice a two-game ban, increased the suspension after viewing the new video for the first time, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said on Twitter.
 

The NFL players' union didn't immediately respond to CNN's request for comment.

CNN also tried unsuccessfully to contact Rice's agent. The person who answered the phone at Todd France's office said France wasn't in.
 

Former teammate and ESPN analyst Ray Lewis said he had texted with Rice on Monday.
 

Ray Lewis, who played with the Ravens from 1996 to 2012, said on "Monday Night Countdown" that he will meet with Rice soon to counsel and mentor him.
 

"I want to sit down and I want to know what is going on in his heart," said Lewis.
 

In a press conference in July, Ray Rice said his actions were "inexcusable" and that he and his wife were in counseling. The couple married on March 28.
 

"We're taking the necessary steps to move forward," he said. "My job is to lead my family. My job is to lead my wife. My job is to lead in whatever I do. And If I'm not being the example, then my family crumbles."

Well it's good you know that now.

Before Ray Rice, 27, can play again in the NFL, any potential contract cannot be approved without further direction from the commissioner, Aiello told CNN.

 

The Canadian Football League said Monday night Rice is ineligible to play in the CFL while he is suspended by the NFL.

 

That punch has caused him to punched...in his wallet....

 

That's about all I have...I don't intend to drag this man over the coals...He screwed up...He did something horribly wrong...He is being punished...

 

I'm not going to thump my chest and be morally outraged and write and write and write things about him...Right now Facebook and Twitter is filled with everybody's opinions on the matter...Just a week ago, everybody was pontificating on whether Jay-Z and Beyonce were headed towards divorce...How easily we are distracted by unimportant events in OTHER peoples lives that have nothing to do with us collectively...Yet we are collectively outraged and unforgiving ....of some people...

 

I am a recovering sinner....I am guilty of much myself....I can't in all good conscience stand in judgement of another man when I myself am guilty of so much...I remember that and I think about that whenever TMZ and other outlets of the media and social media get us so collectively outraged.

Levenson's Faux Paux

 

 

We as a nation just can't get away from race can we?   And now the announcement comes from Bruce Levenson, one of the owners of the Atlanta Hawks Basketball team that he is selling his interest in the team because he wrote and sent an insensitive email two years ago...

 Bruce Levenson, who has a controlling ownership stake in the Atlanta Hawks, announced he would sell his share after admitting he wrote a racially insensitive e-mail two years ago..

This announcement came as the NBA was in the midst of an investigation that began when Bruce Levenson came forward in July and notified officials about the August 2012 email, which stereotyped fans.

“In trying to address those issues, I wrote an e-mail two years ago that was inappropriate and offensive,” Mr. Levenson said in a statement Sunday, according to the Tribune. “I trivialized our fans by making cliched assumptions about their interests (i.e. hip hop vs. country, white vs. black cheerleaders, etc.) and by stereotyping their perceptions of one another (i.e. that white fans might be afraid of our black fans). By focusing on race, I also sent the unintentional and hurtful message that our white fans are more valuable than our black fans."

I wonder was he being blackmailed....The reason I ask this is because if it was two years ago....Why bring it up now?  Before I weigh in on this...read the following-

From: Bruce Levenson

To: Ferry, Danny

CC: Foreman, Todd (ucg.com); Peskowitz, Ed (ucg.com)

Sent: 8/25/2012 11:47:02 PM

Subject: Re: Business/Game ops

1. From day one I have been impressed with the friendliness and professionalism of the arena staff — food vendors, ushers, ticket takers, etc. in our early years when i would bring folks from dc they were blown away by the contrast between Abe Pollin’s arena and Philips. Some of this is attributable to southern hospitality and manners but Bob and his staff do a good job of training.

To this day, I can not get the ushers to call me Bruce yet they insist on me calling them by their first names.

2. the non-premium area food is better than most arenas, though that is not saying much. i think there is room for improvement and creativity. Levy is our food vendor so we don’t have much control but they have been good partners. I have wished we had some iconic offering like Boog’s Barbeque at the baseball stadium in Baltimore.

3. Our new restaurant, Red, just opened  too early for me to give you my thoughts.

4. Regarding game ops, I need to start with some background. for the first couple of years we owned the team, i didn’t much focus on game ops. then one day a light bulb went off. when digging into why our season ticket base is so small, I was told it is because we can’t get 35-55 white males and corporations to buy season tixs and they are the primary demo for season tickets around the league. When I pushed further, folks generally shrugged their shoulders. then I start looking around our arena during games and noticed the following:

— it’s 70 pct black

— the cheerleaders are black

— the music is hip hop

— at the bars it’s 90 pct black

— there are few fathers and sons at the games

— we are doing after game concerts to attract more fans and the concerts are either hip hop or gospel.

Then I start looking around at other arenas. It is completely different. Even DC with its affluent black community never has more than 15 pct black audience.

I personally highlighted those areas because that's the meat of the letter....My thing is this...If I'm out to make money..Why should I care what color the person is that is spending the money??

Say I own a business and all my customers are white....Should I be alarmed?? Especially if I'm bringing in the money??

Is he trying to say that his white customers and fans are more valuable to him than his black customers??

I'm just repeating myself...He has already addressed these issues... I applaud him for soul searching and reporting this to the NBA...I just hope  he was doing this out of good will and not because someone was threatening to expose him...

I wish that race didn't matter...I wish a lot of things that just may not come true in my lifetime!

Weekend Humor

A lawyer is standing in a long line at the box office. 

Suddenly, he feels a pair of hands kneading his shoulders, back, and neck
.
The lawyer turns around. 

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he snaps!

“Oh..I’m a chiropractor, and I’m just keeping in practice while I’m waiting in line.” says the man.

“Well, I’m a lawyer, but you don’t see me screwing the guy in front of me, do you?” 

EVERYBODY HAVE A GROOVY WEEKEND!

Close Friends

 

 

My cousin Pat from California and I have had many spirited conversations about the issues of the day, via Facebook...she brought an article published in the Huffington Post to my attention last night that I want to share here....

The article by Emily Swanson asks the question...Do White Americans really only have white friends?  If you watch television shows and commercials you might beg to differ...Seems like there is always a token Black friend on every show..Just one though!

Anyway the article said-

A majority of white Americans have few, if any, close confidants who are non-white, according to a recent study. But some media outlets went further than that, claiming that the study found most white Americans don't have any non-white friends at all. That conclusion is not warranted -- although we should still be concerned about what the study does show. 

According to the survey, conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute in 2013, 91 percent of people in the close social networks of white Americans, or the people they most often talk to about important matters, are also white. Similarly, 83 percent of those in the close social networks of black Americans are black. 

Dan Cox, research director at PRRI, said the purpose of the study was to identify the demographics of "individuals who are important to the person and have an influence over them." The characteristics of those people matter. For example, surveys have shown that people who have a close gay friend or family member are far more likely to support same-sex marriage than people who don't.


Having little interaction with non-white friends might have a similar impact. White people who have few or no non-white confidants may be missing out on certain perspectives on important issues -- for example, when tensions flare up over racially charged situations like the recent shooting of black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.

The PRRI survey determined the demographics of close social networks by asking each respondent to name up to seven individuals who are "the people with whom you discussed matters that are important to you" over the past six months and then following up with questions about the people named. By analyzing the information about many specific individuals, PRRI reached overall conclusions about whom Americans are closest to.
That approach was chosen over less reliable methods like asking respondents themselves to estimate the average characteristics of the people they usually interact with. As Cox said, "the reason we do it that way is that it's really challenging for respondents to provide that information accurately otherwise."


As the survey found, few black or white Americans tend to talk about critical matters with people in a racial group other than their own. Only 1 percent of the people white Americans said they talk to about important issues are black, while only 8 percent of the people black Americans said they talk to about important issues are white.
That adds up to not a lot of conversations happening between the two groups, which could lead to a lack of understanding about each other's concerns.
But some media outlets took the conclusions of the survey still further. "Three quarters of whites don't have any non-white friends," a Washington Post headline claimed. The Post article also declared that if every person is assumed to have 100 friends, 91 of the average white person's friends are white, and only one is black.

The Huffington Post got in on the action too, earlier claiming that "one of the most glaring statistics from the study revealed that 75 percent of white Americans are exclusively friends with those of the same race."
Here's the problem with these more sweeping conclusions: They are based on the assumptions that when the survey respondents chose up to seven friends or family members to describe, they chose seven people who are demographically identical, on average, to their entire friend-and-family network -- in the Post's example, the person's 100 closest friends -- and that if a person didn't list any non-white people among those seven possible choices, that person has no non-white friends at all. 


The PRRI survey does not support those conclusions.
First of all, though respondents were allowed to name up to seven people, they listed on average only 3.4 individuals. That would suggest they were naming an inner circle of confidants, not all the people they might count as friends.

Second, "people with whom you discussed matters that are important to you" is not synonymous with "your friends." In fact, 1.8 of the 3.4 confidants the average person listed -- more than half -- were relatives, spouses or partners. 

It remains true in early 21st century America that a person and his or her own parents, grandparents and siblings are highly likely to be of the same race. 

Couples, whether married or established partners, are also highly likely to be of the same race. According to a 2012 Pew Research Center report based on data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, interracial marriages account for only about 15 percent of new marriages and only 9 percent of new marriages where at least one partner is white. Interracial marriages account for just 8.4 percent of all married couples, according to Pew. 

The fact that marital relationships remain so segregated is concerning. But the factors involved in choosing a spouse are not identical to the factors involved in choosing friends. One's spouse is not necessarily like one's friends demographically or otherwise.


In PRRI's survey, less than half of the confidants listed by the respondents, or only 1.5 of the 3.4 people, were friends. (To be fair, PRRI's discussion of its survey results sometimes described that set of close confidants more broadly as a person's social network.)

The data about those friends still shows strikingly little diversity. According to Cox, 87 percent of the people listed by white respondents specifically as friends, not family members, were white. 

But even there, it's easy to imagine how a network of up to 100 friends might be different from one or two very close friends, and it's certainly not obvious that every person with one or two white best friends has no non-white friends at all. In another PRRI survey, conducted in 2012, 71 percent of white Americans said they have a close friend or family member of another ethnicity -- although Cox cautioned against reading too much into those findings.

"Respondents may not want to admit to having no members of their social group who are of a different race or ethnicity," Cox said of the older survey. "The definition of a close friend may be a little elastic in this case."
Of the newer survey, he acknowledged, "It doesn't get to how diverse their entire network is," but he added, "Those more distant relationships also have less of an impact."

We have no idea, in other words, how many non-white friends the average white American has. But we do know that the vast majority of the people whom the average white American trusts most are also white -- and we don't need to make the data sound more dramatic than that to be troubled by the results.

The sad thing about this article is ...Here it is 2014....The civil rights era is over!  Legal segregation is a thing of the past and yet we are still a divided nation...We are still many different Americas...White America, Black America, Latino America, Asian America...Gay America, Straight America...and I could go on and on..The idea that maybe...just maybe we could be just Americans is still foreign!

Keith's Favorite Quotes

What I've Learned

1. Before you know it...Time Has passed you by.

2.You have to accept the fact that you will never be good enough for some people.

3.Whether you are good enough for some people is either going to be your problem or theirs...It is totally up to you.

4.You learn a lot more by what people do as opposed to what they say!

5.You gotta try to dismiss the logic and the loudness of the haters...It's inevitable that whatever you do..it's coming.

6.Each day you live, you find out that there are soo many things you really didn't know.

7.I know that when I die ,I'm going to miss a lot of cool things about living....

8. When I die,I'm going to miss meeting my grandchildren's significant others, their children and a lot of cool people who otherwise never crossed my path, but what are you going to do...That's just life.

9.At some point you run out of excuses and have to create some solutions to your problems.

10.Falling down is a part of life...Getting back up is living...

Peace!

Happy Labor Day