Saturday, August 28, 2010

Diversity Classes Should Be Mandatory For These So Called "Educators!"


By now I'm sure all of you have seen this.  If not you will be just as shocked as I was when I first saw it on the news.  You ARE reading the dates correctly....it does say 2010-2011 not 1910-1911!  Shocking is an understatement!  Even as I write this and look at it, I think, this can't be possible, it just can't!  Race based elections at a school in 2010!!!????? 

Here it is in a nutshell:

As seen on MSNBC:
Following an uproar over a policy it said was designed 30 years ago to achieve racial equality, a school district board in a Mississippi town on Friday scrapped a system of student elections where race determined whether a candidate could run for some class positions, including president.

The rules were made over 30 years ago to make the school elections "fair."  "Cough, cough!"  However, when I looked at my calendar this morning it was 2010...I thought we had learned from the hate of the past and moved at least slightly forward?  Well, in Nettleton Mississippi this is clearly not the case!  What "sane" adults, in what "educational" system, thought this was okay!?  We wonder why racism continues.....well in Nettleton it's being "taught" in the schools!   How can anyone justify that this was set up to make things fair?  More so, how can anyone in 2010 justify this still being in print and in place today!?  There is no explaining it away, there is no excuse.  This would be like leaving a whites only sign on a water fountain and not removing it in 2010.  I am dumbfounded that any school in this country of ours allowed this to continue.  Dumbfounded!

While we're at it.....are there only black and white children at this school?  What about everyone else?  The stupidity just keeps growing!  The more I type, the more blown away I become.  Who printed this?  Who passed it out?  Who allowed it?  All these people were okay with this?  Really?! REALLY!?  Each and every adult that had a hand in the process of allowing this old, outdated, racist, foolish, policy to continue, need to go and take multiple hours of diversity classes.  In fact diversity classes should be mandatory for these so called "Educators!"  Mandatory!!!

Saturday, August 21, 2010

And "They" Said it Wouldn't Last....Happy 17th Anniversary to Us!!!

Rose Garden Gazebo Where We Were Married
Rose Garden August 2010
Rose Garden August 2010
Rose Garden August 1993
18 years ago I met my love, my partner, my soul mate, my present, my future, and my best friend. 17 years ago on August 21st, 1993, I married him. We got married in a flower-covered gazebo, on a hot summer night, in the Balboa Park Rose Garden in San Diego. It was simple, it was beautiful, it was perfect. Our preacher, who was an old family friend of Jamie’s, married us and then sang to us. The song - “Always and Forever” - now, it’s forever our song. Close family and friends were there to share in our joy. Two people in love, pledging their lives to each other. It was intense…it was LOVE!

Flash forward, and now we have had 17 years of marriage, a 15 year-old daughter, and an amazing roller coaster of a life. Has it been perfect? Oh heck no! Has it been fabulous? Oh hell yes!! Would I do it again? In a minute! Am I looking forward to 17 more? Of course! After 17 years, I still love waking up on a Saturday morning wrapped in each others arms. I love coming home to Jamie sitting in his favorite chair, and walking across the room to kiss his beautiful sexy lips! I love sitting at the kitchen table, talking about life and catching up on the day. In other words, I love him now more than ever!

So today, we will celebrate 17 glorious years of craziness, fun, happiness, sadness, ups, downs, and most importantly…LOVE!  Happy anniversary to my Big Sexy Hunk O’ Chocolate! Here’s to 17 more, and more, and more!

......and "they" said it wouldn't last....Happy 17th Anniversary to Us!!!

Friday, August 13, 2010

Dr. Laura Schlessinger...What Was She Thinking!? The "N" Word? Really?!!?

Yesterday as I was catching up on facebook, a friend of mine sent me a link and asked the following; "Amy...what is your take on this?"  The link was a story about Dr. Laura using the "N" word multiple times on her talk show and then later apologizing for it.  You can read the story below: 

LOS ANGELES – Talk radio host Dr. Laura Schlessinger has issued an apology for saying the N-word several times in an on-air conversation with a caller that she said was "hypersensitive" to racism.


Schlessinger said on her website Wednesday that she was wrong in using the word for what she called an attempt to make a philosophical point.

"I articulated the N-word all the way out — more than one time," Schlessinger said in comments from the opening of her radio show that she posted on her site. "And that was wrong. I'll say it again — that was wrong."

She said she "realized I had made a horrible mistake, and was so upset, I could not finish the show."
Schlessinger said she pulled herself off the air at the end of the hour.

During the exchange on Tuesday's show, Schlessinger said the woman who called herself Jade was too sensitive for complaining that her husband's friends made racist comments about her in their home.
When the woman asked if the N-word was offensive, Dr. Laura said "black guys say it all the time," then went on to repeat it several times.

Schlessinger did not direct the epithet at the woman, but said she used it to suggest how often she hears it, and that it should not automatically be cause for offense.

When the caller objected, Schlessinger replied: "Oh, then I guess you don't watch HBO or listen to any black comedians."

Schlessinger also said that if the caller did not have a sense of humor about race, she shouldn't have entered into an interracial marriage.

After I read the story, I sat there with my eyes popping out of my head, and my jaw on the ground. I re-grouped, put my eyes back in, picked my jaw up off the floor, and re-read the story to make sure I was reading it correctly, because I just "knew" that I must have read it wrong. Sadly I hadn't. 

First of all I have to say I have never been a fan of Dr. Laura.  I have many friends that are, and that's great, ya know, free country and all, but I think she is very condescending and cruel to her callers.  I remember having a conversation with a friend years and years ago about Dr. Laura. We had recently listened to one of her shows and the subject was daycare. Dr. Laura basically stated that if you put your child in daycare you were a terrible parent. She said you must at all costs figure out a way to stay home with your child otherwise the child will suffer.  Reality check Dr. L...not everyone can do that.  From that moment on I realized she had lost touch, and the things she had said about parents that use daycare were down right cruel.  Never again was I a fan.  So that being said, when I read yesterday's story I was shocked but not totally surprised.
 
I feel so bad for the woman that called Dr. L for advice.  This woman obviously needed help and all Dr. Laura did was apparently make her feel worse.  For Dr. L to use the "N" word at all was her first mistake, to make light of it was her second, and to compare her usage of it to black men using it, was her third.  Let me clarify for the record I don't think anyone should use the word at all.  I've said it before and I'll say it again...it's a hateful word and I don't think it's cute, cool, or necessary.  However when Dr. L stated that if the caller didn't have a sense of humor about race she shouldn't have entered into an interracial marriage, that is what really got to me.  Really Dr. Laura?!  There is a BIG difference regarding having a sense of humor about race vs. spewing racial slurs.  A sense of humor is me calling my hubby a "big sexy hunk o' chocolate," a racial slur would be me using the "N" word at all.  I have been with him for 18 years and that word has never come out of my mouth.  Ever!  
 
Dr. L, when your husband gets handcuffed due to the color of his skin, or gets pulled over because of the color of his skin, or your child gets called the very "N" word that you used....then you can come and talk to me about having a sense of humor regarding race.  
 
The very reason I write this blog is to show people that interracial marriage is just like any other marriage.  However based on the call from a woman who just wants her home to be like any other, we clearly have a long way to go.  I hope Dr. Laura takes a step back and realizes that when people call her they are reaching out and truly need help.  She needs to realize she doesn't have ALL the answers. If she would just listen, and show some respect and kindness to her callers, then she would already be on the way to helping them.  It's fascinating to me that she would even attempt to give advice regarding interracial marriage when she is married to a white man. She should have sympathized with her caller's problem and told her that she didn't understand fully what she was going through because she has never been in an interracial marriage.  It's okay to not have all the answers, but it's not okay to profess that you do and have no basis for it.....what was she thinking!?  The "N" word?!  Really!!?!   

Monday, August 9, 2010

Wrong Number!

The craziest thing happened the other day.  I was out to lunch with an old college friend of mine and as we were sitting at the table talking, her phone rang.  It was a text message, and I could tell by the look on her face that she was confused about what the message said.  She looked at me and said, "You have to read this."  So I did, and I looked back at her with the same confused look she had, and said, "What the heck does that mean?!"  She said, "Well obviously they have the wrong number!"  I told her, "Text back and let them know they have the wrong number, and not only that, tell them you're a white woman!"  Now, you are probably thinking why on earth would she need to tell them that?!?  It will make complete sense when you see how it went............check it out........

-Stranger text to my friend's phone: "A, n**ga got my shoes?"
~Friend's text back to stranger: "Ummm, I'm thinking you have the wrong person!"
-Stranger: "Que, is that you? Don't play dumb n**ga!"
~Friend (with a little help from me):  "I'm not dumb, but I'm a white woman!" 
-Stranger: "Huh!?!?"

At this point my friend and I are dying laughing!!!

~Friend:  "You have the wrong number!"
-Stranger:  "Sorry."
~Friend:  "It's okay, hope you get your shoes."
-Stranger:  "LOL, yeah me too and sorry once again!"

More laughter at the table!  OUT LOUD cracking up!! 

~Friend:  "No problem."
-Stranger:  "But anyways, if you don't mind me asking, how are you?"

Okay, now apparently he thinks he can start flirting!!!!  How hilarious is that!?

~Friend:  "Fine but I'm a grown married white woman with 2 kids!"

Stranger was stopped dead in his tracks!  The end! =)  LOL!!!! 

There are many things that came out of that call.  First, my friend said to me, "How weird that I got that message when I was with you!"  Ya know, me being married to a black man and all....I WOULD be with her for the "N" word text!  Odds!?  It still makes me cringe to see the "N" word being used so flippantly even though I know he meant it as a "friendly" gesture to his "homey."  I will never understand that, ever.  The "kids" just don't get the history of the word and they think it's so cool.  It's so not!

That aside, it just cracks me up that I can be out having lunch with a friend and something as simple as a wrong number becomes a hilarious story for my blog.  As I said on a previous post, I don't ever seek this stuff out, it just keeps coming at me!  Day, after day! =)  I also stated that some days the stories will be deep and inspirational and some days the stories will be silly and fun.  Hopefully this one gave you a giggle!  It's a welcome relief to have the "funny stuff" regarding race come up once in a while.  Laughter is good for the soul, and we laughed HARD....all from a CRAZY "wrong number!?"