So we all know the big news that happened earlier this week. President Barack Obama announced that “justice had been served” and the United States Military killed Osama Bin Laden. People ran into the streets to celebrate. Twitter was rife with ignorant (but, c’mon, sometimes hilarious) jokes. Fellow students at my university decided to get high in honor of democracy. Text messages declaring that drinks at the club would be half off due to this victory were sent. Inspiring quotes attributed to the wrong Civil Rights Leader began to circulate. Then the analysis began: Should we be celebrating the death of any human? Even if he did kill innocent people? DID he kill innocent people? Was he even dead? The skepticism started to appear, and of course the religion argument came into play. “Oh so yall can’t believe that the military killed one man but yall can believe that Jesus died AND rose on the third day?!” Yikes.

I’m not going to give my opinion on the death or method of announcing the death of Osama Bin Laden because it probably wouldn’t add much to the conversation that has already taken place online and in living rooms everywhere. But I did read an article the other day about how elementary, middle and high school teachers across the country were having trouble explaining the death of Osama Bin Laden to their students. Here’s how I felt after reading the article:

Anyway, what interested me about this article were phrases like this,

In Cincinnati, one 9th grade teacher found she had to rehash for her students the events of September 11, 2001–when they were very young–for them to understand the context and significance of bin Laden’s killing.

“Most of these students were in kindergarten or first grade and have very little memory of September 11th,” Oak Hills High teacher Amanda Ruehlmann told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “Many have even less of an idea of how much their lives have been impacted by the results and effects of 9/11. So I’ve shown students information on how bin Laden came to be Public Enemy No. 1.”[1]

There are  a few interesting things about these particular quotes and the article in general.  For one, The article doesn’t pose the question, “Should we be talking about Osama’s death in elementary and middle schools?” but rather “How do we talk about Osama’s death?” Yet when the subject of racism comes up, parents and teachers alike can’t seem to decide if children are too young to discuss race. I’m sure you’ve heard the argument that children are too young to deal with such deep issues as race and racism at that age.  Yet, here we are talking about terrorism and headshots to small children. This simply confirms that adults are just too scared to talk about race – not that children aren’t ready for it. Unfortunately these scared adults are crafting the school curriculum and therefore excluding any conversation on race. It may be uncomfortable for a teacher to go over basic race relations with kids but it’s a lot more uncomfortable to be followed around a store because someone didn’t learn that all Black people aren’t thieves. I’m just saying.

I mean, this teacher is rehashing events of September 11th. A catastrophic event where thousands of people died and is forever ingrained in the American conscious. Yet, again, we don’t want to bring up the issue of race because then we’ll have to talk about slavery. September 11th is such an easily accessible memory due to it occurring in our lifetime and therefore should arguably be more traumatic than bringing up slavery. Something about this argument just isn’t right.

The last interesting thing about this article was the following quote, “I’ve shown students information  on how bin Laden  came to be Public Enemy No. 1″. Get this woman a job with the CIA. She apparently has information linking Bin Laden to everything!

P.S. Obama’s speech at the White House Dinner? Comedic gold. My President is awesome.

P.P.S. No I’m not back blogging.

P.P.P.S. It’s Mental Health Month!!!  You get regular physical checkups. Get yourself a mental checkup. Your insurance will most likely pay for a visit.

[1] Source

“I’m on a losing strike. I’m on a winning streak.” -Wasalu Muhammad Jaco

It’s 2011! Due to me missing the blog game,  writing, and being threatened on multiple occasions, I was forced felt compelled to write an end of the year recap post. So I present to you… my 2010 recap post.  A lot has happened in this year but there are five things that this year has taught me and if you give me some time, I’ll share those fabulous things with you.

1. I accomplished a crazy amount of things in 2010.

What I learned from this year is one thing – I accomplish everything I set my mind to. I am exactly where I said I would be in 2010. I was hired as an RA. I was accepted into and attended an amazing Study Abroad program in Amsterdam. I traveled to a foreign country alone for the first time. I finally beat the “Wanted” video game on “Assassin” Mode. I pledged the greatest sorority – Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. I found my iPod Touch, was elected Vice President of my University’s Black Student Union, got quoted on CNN.com.  I accomplished some great things and made Papa and Mama Huxtable proud. Everything I wrote down as a “2010 Goal” was achieved. However in accordance with my usual thought process, instead of rejoicing in these accomplishments I can’t help but think had I set even higher goals I more than likely would have reached those goals as well. Which leads me to point 2.

2. I could have accomplished more.

This post was inspired by reading the tumblr of my good friend JG*. She wrote an end of the year post about making it to Grad school, being in love, and having an all around awesome life. I hit her up to remind her that she inspires me. I exclaimed, “I wanna be like you dangit!” And her characteristically wise response was, “Which means you want to be the best you that you can be and work on that daily. You inspire me, too.  Recognize your own awesomeness.”

In reality everything I want to express in this post she already said:

“I’m blessed. I don’t say this to gloat, but more to share with y’all that my cup is running over and I’m trying to share all of that goodness. My pastor in ATL used to say, “When God is blessing your friends, get excited because he’s in the neighborhood and you’re next!” My real friends know that I’m not trying to be alone at the top. We ALL progress together.”

That being said, I’ve set new more ridiculous and outrageous higher goals for the new year. Not resolutions. Those are foolish. Will I share these new goals? Eh. Maybe a different post for a different day. But if I keep in line with my current trend of winning, it’s pretty needless to say that 2011 will be an awesome year. The only difference, after all, between a goal and a dream is planning. And as evidenced by point number one on this list, when Hux plans, Hux does.

3. With all these accomplishments, I may or may not have failed to take into account the consequence of success.

“I feel ashamed cause the Good Lord done brought all this success to me.  And all I seem to focus on is all the stress on me.” – J. Cole

While I sincerely am against one complaining about their blessings, this is more of an aside than an annoyance.  With every goal for the new year or just for life, take into account the benefits AND the costs.  An example for me? The cost of writing what has been called, “The best blog ever” and “The blog Ernest Hemmingway would have if that sort of thing existed back then” by both Mama Huxtable and critics alike, was that for some reason people then expected me to keep churning out classics. The hype surrounding one person and the fear of not matching that hype has now been dubbed the Drake Syndrome.[1]  Don’t get me wrong, I can churn out classics. Can’t stop. Won’t stop. Bad boy. I’m just sayin’. It’s not always rainbows and butterflies. No Maroon 5.

4. J. Cole cannot be stopped.

Friday Night Lights. Please. Please do yourself and mankind a favor by downloading it.  Aaliyah, Janelle Monae, Erykah Badu, Wale and Drake. I’d pay for this mixtape.

4b. Because I know most of you won’t let me get away with not talking about this

So yes. Hux went Greek. What’s this mean? Well let’s look at the reasons people join Greek organizations. The makers of Stomp the Yard would have you to believe that apparently if you can step/dance these orgs will knock down your door to get you to join. Luckily, that’s not the case at all. If you had to describe me before I went Greek more than likely you would have all unanimously said, “A little Michelle Obama, a little Claire Huxtable”. Essentially a young educated sister [2] who strives to improve the Black community. A few “perfect”, “genius” and “exactly who I wish I was” responses may have also been recorded. [3]

So why go Greek? When trapped in a sea of sameness, one often feels the need to excel beyond the norm. What better way than to surround myself by like-minded individuals in a “non-profit Greek-lettered sorority of college-educated women who perform public service and place emphasis on the African American community”? Wikipedia seems to know what’s up.  Someone once told me, “Establish a pattern of success”.  While I could rattle off a list of notable Deltas who inspired me to want to follow in their path, just know that Greeks are not monolithic. We didn’t all join for the same reason.

If you had to describe me after I went Greek more than likely you would have all unanimously said, “A little Michelle Obama, a little Claire Huxtable”. Essentially a young educated sister [2] who strives to improve the Black community. A few “perfect”, “genius” and “exactly who I wish I was” responses may have also been recorded. [3] The point being? I love my sorority. I love my sorors. I love my linesisters. I love my prophytes. I love it all. But at the end of the day, I’m still Hux.

5. Maturity sneaks up on you.

You know that moment when you look at old pictures of yourself and with your new and wiser fashion sense think, “Dang. I really thought I looked fly, huh?” That’s how I feel about maturity.  I look back on situations and I think, “Dang. I thought I was mature, huh?”. It can be upsetting because in another few years, months, or days I’ll probably look back at today and echo those same thoughts. So if there’s any over-arching lesson 2010 gave me it was don’t get too full of yourself because no matter how mature  I am now, I’m still more immature now than I will be then. Keep pressing toward the mark. Achieve. [4]

[1] Dubbed by me.

[2] I realize this sounds wrong but I can never decide if I should write “sister” or “sista”. You know why.

[3] Any unsavory adjectives have been removed.

[4] Several people want shoutouts. Hey Morine, Chelsey, and Angela. This will have to suffice.

Yep. It’s that time of the year folks. The time of the year where people can’t decide if they should tell me Merry Christmas or Happy Kwanzaa. First things first, Kwanzaa is not a substitute for Christmas. Also, it’s not a religious holiday. Third, I can appreciate people who want to learn more about other races, holidays, religions, or any other unknown area of life. However, don’t assume all black people celebrate Kwanzaa. It just isn’t a good idea. Now, this isn’t to persuade people one way or the other to start participating in Kwanzaa but people tend to ask me about it so I figured I’d write an informational post about what Kwanzaa is.[1]

There are seven principles also known as the Nguzo Saba. That word might look funny because it’s not English. It’s Swahili. Some people don’t like that but I’ll get into that on Wednesday. Check back here for that one. The principles and explanations are below.

1. Umoja which means Unity

“To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.”

That’s pretty self explanatory but it’s a good one.

2. Kujichagulia which means Self-Determination

“To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.”

I think this is a huge one. How many Harajuku Barbies do you suddenly know? How many people on Facebook have the last name Minaj? It’s crazy, right? Define yourself. Don’t let other people tell you who you are or who you should be. Don’t let someone speak for you either. You have no idea how many times I’ll be in a classroom with 20 white students and 1 other black student and they’ll say something completely opposite to my view and you just know everyone’s thinking, “Cool. We got the black perspective. Moving on.” No! Stand up for yourself and speak your mind.

3. Ujima which means Collective Work and Responsibility

“To build and maintain our community together and make our brother’s and sister’s problems our problems and to solve them together.”

My dad epitomizes this. He has this uncanny gift/curse to meet someone and twenty seconds later have them pouring out their life story while sobbing in the middle of aisle 3 of the supermarket. He doesn’t just hear a stranger’s problems and wish them well and go about his day. He truly takes on their problems. If he can help, he helps right then and there. If he can’t, he’ll pray for them and get their info to check up on them days/weeks/months later. I love him. I wonder if he’s reading this? Hey Dad aka Papa Huxtable!

4. Ujamaa which means Cooperative Economics

“To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.”

This one is iffy because it can backfire. I tried to apply this to my life and frequented a black shop and they really screwed me over. But I don’t give up. When given the option I try to help friends who own their own businesses, blogs, clothing lines, etc. After becoming a blogger I truly see the use in this even more. Even though most of my blog friends don’t profit from their blog, commenting on them, retweeted them on twitter, and telling people about their blog is like currency.

5. Nia which means Purpose

“To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.”

Build each other up. Kind of like Ujamaa.

6. Kuumba which means Creativity

“To do always as much as we can, in the way we can in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.”

This is my favorite one. I was telling my friend Sam about this the other day. I definitely live by this. Leave your community better than you found it basically. This is how I don’t get annoyed when people are messy or just trifling. If I walk into a room and it’s looking just horrible I’ll tidy up a little bit. If I’m at the library studying and someone left their drink and trash there I won’t curse them under my breath, I’ll just put it in the trashcan that was conveniently less than 20 steps away. This isn’t just about cleaning though.  It makes you feel good too!

7. Imani which means Faith

“To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.”

Like Nas said, “We trust no black leaders.” Let’s try not to immediately assume the worst about our people. The idea of the self-fulfilling prophecy is real. The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy is “a prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true.” For example, you think all black people are sketchy so you follow them around your store. Well I don’t know about you but when I’m followed I tend to start acting sketchy. The point is, try to have an open mind about your people. Don’t assume the worst. We have enough negative stereotypes towards us, so try not to contribute and feed into them.

Do you do Kwanzaa? Any questions about Kwanzaa?

[1] I hate when I end a sentence with a preposition but I just don’t feel like changing it. I also truly hate split infinitives. Anyone else have grammar pet peeves?

[originally posted December 28th, 2009]

I need to get better at thinking up titles. Something flashy! But anyway. To quote one of the greatest movies ever, (you bite your tongue if you say otherwise) John Q, “You’ve got to do something, John NAACP!”

If you don’t remember the quote, don’t worry. This is essentially what the Black Community has been crying for the last decade or more. “The NAACP is outdated.” “The very title is antiquated. I mean the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People?! C’mon, son.” “What does the NAACP even do? Nothing!”

So after much provocation, the NAACP acted. Did they fail? Many people would be quick to say yes. But think back to your childhood. Actually think back to my dad’s childhood. Papa Huxtable once did something extremely stupid. He stole his next door neighbor’s bike and spray painted it a different color thinking he wouldn’t notice. He later got caught, because generally you shouldn’t steal something and park it 5 feet from the scene of the crime. Needless to say, this event was an awesome deterrent to his petty life of crime.

In a similar fashion, I believe this fiasco not only started a trend of the NAACP taking action when needed but it also showed them that somehow, someway, we still had such high expectations for them. We expected them to act in an appropriate manner and they didn’t. So now they know they’re really under a magnifying glass. This could be a positive outcome. Also, Ben Jealous (President of the NAACP) legitimately looks and sounds like Seth Rogan. Youtube a clip of this guy. It’s awesome.

Speaking of mixed race people leading the Black community, I recently shared this observation with my twitter friends (Follow me: @MichelleHux): The Shirley Sherrod/NAACP/Media controversy has shown us how volatile race relations are in America. One second we’re in a post-racial society [1], next thing you know Jesse Jackson is calling Dan Gilbert a slave master. You never know what’s going to happen around here. And yet, with all this interracial hostility, the offspring of interracial relations are leading the Black community. See: Barack Obama – Leader of the Free World[2]. Ben Jealous – President of the NAACP. Drake – Best Rapper Alive (I kid. But by far the most popular right now.) J. Cole (My favorite rapper. I don’t care what the rest of you say.)

I think the President of the US, the President of the NAACP, and two leading rappers equal “leaders of the Black Community”. You could easily make an argument to include other people but this really does work. Now what I find interesting about these people isn’t that they’re mixed and somehow succeeded. That makes no sense. Of course mixed people succeed. What amazes me is that these people are considered our top Black men regardless of their half-white ancestry. Not only that, but they (minus Ben Jealous) grew up without the influence of their Black fathers. So raised in a white household, they became representative of the Black community. How is that? Why is that? Is this good? Bad? Does it matter? I don’t know. I just found it interesting. You tell me. I’ll leave you with some wise words from the homie Matthew. Enjoy.

[1] We were never there.

[2] This term literally makes no sense.

Laurence Fishburne in Spike Lee's School Daze asking for people to WAKE UP.

Now more than ever, we need to watch the news. We need to be involved in how our government runs. We need to elect the officials we believe in. There are things happening around us that are happening outright and in our face. I just think we should be aware of some of these things and come together to figure out what we can do about this, realistically. One of the things you should definitely be aware of  is the Ethnic Studies Ban in Arizona which I wrote about previously. Two other major things are listed below.

1. Confederate History Month is now April

Remember the outrage at this? It seems like an old thing now but that’s one of our problems as a community. We become outraged for a day and then forget to take action tomorrow. So let’s recap. My beloved Governor Bob McDonnell [Republican-VA] decided that April should be Confederate History Month.

it is important for all Virginians to reflect upon our Commonwealth’s  shared history, to understand the sacrifices of the Confederate leaders, soldiers and citizens during the period of the Civil War, and to recognize how our history has led to our present

He neglected to mention the impact that Slavery had on the Civil War and Obama had to check him so he added a blurb about the ‘evils of slavery’.  This is when I began to realize that revisionism is a real and serious thing. Revisionists are trying to rewrite history slowly and surely by removing the parts that are unflattering to the American people. America has a very complicated and shameful past. But acting like it never happened is the worst way to deal with it. Dr. Michael Eric Dyson once said, “We’ve got to revoke our citizenship in the United States of Amnesia. We cannot—and we must completely refuse to—pretend that the past doesn’t affect the present.” America should finally own up to its past. And if Americans refuse to, it’s up to Black America to never forget what happened.

2. Texas has just approved a measure to rewrite history books to exclude negative aspects of America.

Some key quotes from that video if you aren’t able to watch the video or just don’t want to watch it:

“There would be those who would say, you know, automatically say the reason for the Civil War was over slavery. No. It was over states’ rights.”

“It will dwell more on the positive side of America, and less on the negative.”

There are several topics that the Texas School Board has decided to change that I don’t agree with but for the purposes of this post, let’s focus on slavery. The Civil War was about slavery and states’ rights. To completely deny that it was about slavery is too ridiculous for me to put into words. I’m truly at a loss for words. T.J. Holmes of CNN, please tell us what “dwell more on the positive side of America” means, in this video:

Oh, okay! “Positive” America means completely rewriting history. One of the changes they plan to make is, “Explain reasons for the developments of the plantation system, the Atlantic Triangular Trade, and the spread of slavery.” A few things wrong with that statement. 1. “Explain reasons for the development of the plantation system” sounds a lot like “Justify slavery”. 2.  Growing up, I was taught about the Slave Trade. Keyword slave. Now it’s the Atlantic Triangular Trade. As Ben Jealous, President of the NAACP so eloquently stated, “The reality is that slaves were central to that trade. There’s a reason why it’s called the transatlantic slave trade. And you take them out, you call it the triangular trade and all of a sudden, people are put on the same level as rum and sugar cane and — and everything else.”  Slavery is an essential part of America’s history. We need to remember that and not try to erase it. This is damaging to our future.

The rest of America might have selective amnesia when it comes to America’s sordid past but Black America doesn’t have that luxury.  They can try to act like slavery never happened and that English Settlers came over here out of passion for freedom of religion and to get from under the tyrannical reign of England and that all occurred peacefully. But some stuff went down. This isn’t to point fingers. But most of the millions of Native Americans were wiped out.  Murdered? Disease? Natural Causes? That’s not for this post to decide. Millions of Blacks were forcefully brought in chains to America to work for free, to be raped, to be murdered, and to be exploited for generations and generations. Let’s be very clear: The effects of slavery are still being felt today. No question. Certain people still benefit from a history of advantages while others are still disadvantaged because of the years of injustice. This is not an excuse for poor performance, achievement, success, or whatever. It is just a fact. We can’t ignore it or erase it.

The point is, America isn’t perfect. If we don’t share the “negative” part of the past, we’re lying. We talk about Japan censoring their textbooks and how that’s just a horrible regime but what happens when America does it? We are currently doing that. We’re censoring our past.

Malcolm X said, “You can’t cut my legs off and then accuse me of being handicapped.” Unfortunately, if Texas refuses to teach the past, they’re erasing the part of our history where they figuratively cut off our legs (slavery). Then a generation will be raised thinking that there is no historical reason why there are achievement gaps (handicaps).  That’s not okay. So why should we care? How does Texas affect me? I don’t live anywhere near Texas! Well according to a 1982 Time Magazine article, “Texas, as the nation’s second largest purchaser of schoolbooks ($60 million this year), sets a tone for books throughout the U.S. by influencing how publishers tailor their texts.” They were a huge influence more than twenty years ago, and could be for the next thirty.  Your kids, nephews, nieces, cousins, might be taught this. Texas matters.

3. I’m sure a host of other similar laws are being drafted as we speak.

Here is the overall message. You don’t need to comment on this. You don’t need to “like” this on Facebook. You just need to listen. Things are happening around us. And we’re letting this happen. Civil Rights Activists fought long and hard. They were jailed and made many sacrifices. For what? You might think, “Well none of my White/Asian/Indian/Hispanic counterparts are involved in politics either”. This isn’t about them. We don’t have the option to stand idly by. We can’t let laws be put into motion that further inhibit us. Dr. Dyson said, “You cannot compensate for action with analysis.” Areas that require action need action, not discussion which is why debating it here is not the main goal. The goal is to find real solutions that we can all be involved in. We can’t just assume affairs that happen outside of our backyard don’t concern us. We need clear leadership on what to do. President of the NAACP Ben Jealous spoke on CNN as I quoted earlier but do you know what you personally can do to stop this trend?

Wale, a rapper from DC who was recently named one of Hip-Hop’s Freshmen by XXL, has a song called “The Kramer” from his Mixtape About Nothing. It’s a great song to analyze because in one song it features a lot of the different views that people have on the n-word. It has hypocrisy. Wale says usage of the word is bad but then uses it more than 30 times in this song alone. He talks about the idea of Black people taking the word and making it ours, taking the power from it. He talks about why is it okay for Black people to use the word but not White people. In the end I think Wale condones using the n-word and he is on the side that we have taken the word and made it into something positive. While I don’t agree with everything Wale says, it’s still an interesting listen.

Warning. There are explicit lyrics. This is a fan-made video the song by Wale. There is no official video right now.

Wale – The Kramer (Unofficial Fan Video) from McFaddenisDead on Vimeo.

“Nigga ain’t bad, see, niggas just had/ A clever idea to take something they said/ Into something we have/ Something we flipped into something with swag/… A nigga write nigga in a lyric/ Expect the white boy to omit it/ The white boy spit it like he spit it/ Recite it to his friends who, by the way ain’t niggas/ And say, ‘Nigga, nigga, nigga, my favorite rapper did it’/ … Until a black friend kinda hear it just a tidbit/ He thinks, “Aw forget it./ It’s so insignificant and little.”/ The white boy sees this as a clearance/ Now it’s “Nigga, nigga, nigga” every single day/ And that little nigga nigga thinks it’s okay/ And he’s the only nigga in his particular grade/ And it begins to phase him more each day/ The things they say went a little too far/ He couldn’t tell the difference between an a or e-r/ So they keep going saying nigga in his face/ There’s nothing he can do, he let it get away”

Like I broke down the Jay-Z “Lost+” song, I’m going to do the same here. I’ll go line by line with the lyrics and talk about the argument of using the n-word.

“Nigga ain’t bad, see, niggas just had/ A clever idea to take something they said/ Into something we have/ Something we flipped into something with swag.”

This is the main argument you have probably heard when hearing someone explain why they use the n-word. “We took it and made it ours.” Jay-Z recently argued this point when he appeared on Oprah. Wale reiterates that point here. Black people tried to take a horrible word and flip it into something positive – a term of endearment. I think this argument is slightly hypocritical because to use this argument you’re acknowledging that there is a history behind the word and there is a deep-seated hatred. Yet once you ask them about the history, they say oh it’s just the past and it doesn’t mean anything today. This tells me that they must not truly know the past because we are still living in the effects of slavery, and that time period today.

” A nigga write nigga in a lyric/ Expect the white boy to omit it/ The white boy spit it like he spit it/ Recite it to his friends who, by the way ain’t niggas/ And say, ‘Nigga, nigga, nigga, my favorite rapper did it’.”

Here’s where the problem lies. Whatever your stance on the n-word, if you think black people should say it or not, here is usually where most people agree – non-blacks should not use the word. So if Sean says the n-word all the time around his white friends. Are we supposed to believe that his white friends aren’t going to pick up on the word and use it? Some might say that common sense should tell them not to use it. But humans like trial and error. So a white person will try it once and as soon as you ignore it that one time, they will take it as approval; as if you condoned their usage of the word.

“Until a black friend kinda hear it just a tidbit/ He thinks, “Aw forget it./ It’s so insignificant and little.”/ The white boy sees this as a clearance/ Now it’s “Nigga, nigga, nigga” every single day/ And that little nigga nigga thinks it’s okay/ And he’s the only nigga in his particular grade/ And it begins to phase him more each day/ The things they say went a little too far/ He couldn’t tell the difference between an a or e-r/ So they keep going saying nigga in his face/ There’s nothing he can do, he let it get away”

This is my favorite part of the song. Like I said earlier a black person will hear someone say it and not like it but won’t blow up and make a big deal out of it for whatever reason. Maybe they think it’s okay for them to say it or maybe they just think it was a slip and they won’t say it again. But then the white (or any non-black) person sees that as “a clearance” or an okay to use the word. Then they start using it all the time and that passes it on to their non-black friends and now everyone is using it. The issue comes in when Wale says, “The things they say went a little too far/ He couldn’t tell the difference between an a or -er.” Those who think it’s okay for a white person to say nigga instead of nigger have a problem with this. Personally I’m not okay with a white person using any form of the word so I don’t have to deal with this. However, I have seen this happen. One day they don’t like the tone a non-black person used the n-word in. They couldn’t tell the difference between if they said nigga or nigger and it offends them. This discrepancy in their ideology and their emotions confuses them and “there’s nothing he can do, he let it get away”.

This post wasn’t to convert anybody. If you use the n-word, you use it. If you don’t, you don’t. I have an opinion on whether or not I think the n-word should be used but this wasn’t the venue to express that. I just liked Wale’s song and thought it was an interesting angle to look at the debate over the n-word.

Who can use the n-word? What’s your stance on this subject?

-Michelle Huxtable

I’ve said before that Michael Eric Dyson is That Dude. My respect and admiration for him has never been a secret. His oratory skills are ridiculous. He can crush you with a smile and a wink. That said, he went off on this following clip.

Now there are a few things to note.

1. Tom Horne is the Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction. He is also apparently an idealist.

Anderson Cooper asked why shouldn’t other races have their history taught and his response was that it is, “We require that all social studies class teach different cultures. We want all kids to be exposed to a lot of different cultures.” Well that’s cute. But let’s be honest. That is not occurring in these schools. As a product of Virginia Public Schools, (Yes. Virginia. Home of the Confederate History Month.), I can attest to the fact that we are not being taught other cultures unless it is in reference to their inferiority to White America. Slavery. Mexicans got their land stolen. The Japanese were put in camps. Oh yeah Native Americans were in there somewhere. We are only taught other cultures as a responsive teaching. Black/Mexican/Native American in response to White colonialism. The point is, it’s great to have that ideology but if you see it is not being carried through that is when additional Ethnic Studies Classes are needed. Or you could just change your curriculum to put your ideology into practice. Like Brother Dyson said, “If there was an integration of [these cultural studies] into the broader curriculum there would be no need to have these subgroupings.” Choose one.

2. A class on X race will not only attract X race.

Another explanation that Mr. Horne gave for supporting an Ethnic Studies Ban is because he doesn’t want to segregate the races. He is acting off the assumption that an African-American History class will be a class full of Black kids and an Asian-American History course will be the same. Story time! I am an African-American Studies minor and I’m really excited about it. I’m excited for a few reasons. The first is a reason I mentioned earlier. Virginia Public Schools did me wrong. Everything I learned about my people was due to my awesome parents teaching me what was important. So I decided to learn some more while I was in school. The second reason is because I go to a predominantly White institution and thought my African-American Studies courses would be the few classes that I wouldn’t be the sole Black student in. I walk in and shockingly I’m still the only one. Womp. My point? Black kids don’t just take Black classes. White kids don’t just take White classes. Asians don’t just take Asian classes. Surprisingly enough there is still some good in the world. Not everyone is so self-involved and egocentric that they refuse to learn about other races (in the atmosphere of higher education. I’m not so convinced about post-graduate life yet). Therefore, his assumption that Ethnic studies will segregate his public schools is entirely incorrect. In fact, if he were correct, classes are what 45 minutes or 90 minutes if you’re on Block scheduling? That’s not major.

3. More idealistic propaganda

Did this school superintendent just say one of the primary goals of public schools is bringing kids together and teaching them about other cultures? This is America. A thoroughly Capitalistic society. The primary goal of school is to make people competent enough to get a job and make money. Don’t hit us with that Declaration of Independence-style lofty language.

4. These classes teaches kids that they’ve been oppressed. And this is bad?

I’ll just let Brother Dyson speak on this one: “And finally, if we are talking about American History and shying away from the history of oppression, we’re not talking about American History. I live in Washington, D.C. Right next door the Governor of Virginia failed to mention that Slavery was a critical part of the Civil War. This is why we need these area of studies. To remind us of the true history of America…. all of that needs to be told along with the great celebration of American democracy.”

Horne: “We should be teaching these kids that this is the land of opportunity and if they work hard they can achieve their dreams and not teach them that they’re oppressed.”

Anderson Cooper: “So is there no racism today?”

Horne: “That’s not the predominant atmosphere of America. America is the land of opportunity.”

Michael Eric Dyson already said it. Mr. Horne’s comments are relatively absurd. We shouldn’t teach people their oppression? That’s that revisionist attitude.  Dyson brought up Thomas Jefferson as the perfect example of this. My friend Johanne attends the University of Virginia which was founded by Thomas Jefferson and is known as “Mr. Jefferson’s University”.  The other day her Facebook status said:

Blacks whether originally or a distinct race, or made distinct by time and circumstances, are inferior to the whites, in the endowments of both the body and mind. ~ Thomas Jefferson…. Hmmmm and to think I go to his school…SMH

Someone responded to her status, “Where did you find that quote? I know that’s not one of the many ones pasted around this university!”

The point is, we can’t withhold the truth out of fear that it will depress people. They should know the truth.

4. Just because I’m mean

Let’s talk about his over-enthusiastic spanish pronunciations. We get it. You know how to roll your r’s. We’re all so very proud. And wow! You’ve heard Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech? You must have really done some research for that one.

Is Superintendent Horne right in wanting to ban Ethnic Studies? Shouldn’t we keep kids together in classes and not separate them by race? Or is Michael Eric Dyson accurate in saying that the schools are not pulling their weight and that is why these subgroups are necessary?

“The media keeps feeding us lies and we eat ‘em up like medium fries.”

…and other lies we’re constantly told. Okay that title was really just an attention grabber. I wasn’t there. You weren’t there. We don’t know what went down. Past accusations make Ben Whateversberger a little suspect but hey. Innocent until proven guilty… But the point is there are a few lies we’re told incessantly and we seem to accept them for some ungodly reason. Here are a few of them.

1. Periods aka Lady Problems are a minor monthly nuisance.

I live for this commercial. It makes me so happy. Periods suck, guys.

2. Lebron James is the greatest everything.

Ever since this dude came into the league he’s been spreading lies. Remember the good old days when you had to prove yourself to be considered the best? This guy says “forget logic!” When he was drafted, before he even stepped foot on the court he had millions of dollars in endorsements. Sprite snapped him right up. Maybe the problem is with Sprite since they did the same thing with Drake (no album yet he has an endorsement). Now that he has played and has done pretty swell with his team (he did bring his team to the top in the East) the guy has NO rings. None. It’s not even like he has one and then sort of fell off and people are still supporting him. This dude literally has no rings. He’s never won a championship. And somehow he’s the best.  This is ridiculous.

3. Beating your kids will make them a serial killer.

I was in a Developmental Psychology class the other day and we inevitably approached the subject of spanking. Why is it that “certain” people are constantly trying to convince the world that you shouldn’t beat your kids?  I’m not saying there’s a correlation but all the parents I know who are anti-beating are afraid of their own kids. Their kids talk to them any way they want, curse at them, and just in general run rampant.

That’s gonna ruffle some feathers but dah well. One of the benefits of having your own blog is saying whatever you want. I’m gonna pull a Dave Chappelle one of these days anyway and just walk out. Fair warning. Anyway the professor said that beating your kids makes them violent. Violent? Nah I’m gonna go ahead and blame listening to NWA while playing Grand Theft Auto on that one. There’s a difference between abuse and beating.

#YouMightBeAbusingYourKidIf your son spills some kush and Orange Juice and you beat him over the head with a chair and then say “DO YOU SMELL WHAT THE ROCK IS COOKIN?!”

#YouMightBeAbusingYourKidIf you go to give your kid a high five and she flinches.

Do you see my point? There’s a difference. Parents, beat your kids.

4. Higher Education is for Chumps/Herbs/Carlton Banks

First of all let’s remember that Carlton pulled pre-cougar Vivica Fox so really he isn’t as much of a punk as we pin him to be.  But I digress. It seems as though the new fad is to denounce college life.  If you’ve heard someone argue this point or blog about it they’ve probably said something like, “I’m all for it and it gets you great jobs or whatever but its just not for everyone” or “It’s become such a fad like kids go because it’s expected and don’t even think of whether it is for them or not and they waste money.” I guess these opinions are somewhat valid but with African American College Attendance Rates so low why would we ever say anything to discourage one kid from going? Kids, go to college. Also, little known secret if you think you can’t afford to go to college, thanks to slavery endowments most Ivy Leagues will pay for you to go to school (grants, scholarships, etc). So study hard and make someone else pay for your school.

5. Free Weezy

“Free Weezy” in itself isn’t a lie. It’s just a chant. But the people who say it may be misled. I was recently at a Drake concert with some friends. At one point during the show Drake said, “I say Young Money you say Free Weezy” or something like that. He said Young Money. I kept quiet. Why would I say Free Weezy? The dude legitimately committed a crime. And legitimately got arrested. He even plead guilty to attempted criminal possession of a weapon. He admits he’s guilty. And this would be fine if people couldn’t wait for him to get out but no. People truly believe he should be released from prison. I’m not a Lil Wayne fan personally but I can’t help but admire his hustle.  He commits a crime and has his fans buying Free Weezy shirts that he sells on his blog. Young Money is like Halliburton. He’s George Bush. He’s buying oil(guns) and making his fans pay $4 a gallon for gas (shirts). If you don’t get the reference don’t worry about it. The point is he’s playing you.

6. I’m a fan of [musical artist].

This needs to be addressed. Take a look at the following picture.

Let’s assume that all my music is stored in once place on computer. I clarify this because I know some people have other hard drives and what not. But yes. All my music is on my iTunes. Wouldn’t I be out of line to go around claiming I was a Biz Markie fan? I have literally one song and it’s the one song everybody knows. “Just a Friend” #cmonson. I admire Biz Markie’s work and I genuinely love him as an artist but can I claim that I’m a fan? No. Moving on. Exhibit B below.

It’s safe to say that I’m a pre-Back to the Feature/pre-Attention Deficit fan. Fandom can sneak up on you, though. Exhibit C follows.

Quite frankly I had no idea I was a Wiz Khalifa fan but iTunes tells me I am. Another sign of fandom is the “date added” column. Granted I got this computer in August of 2008 so all my music will be from that point forward, but if you got all your Tupac yesterday I have a hard time believing you’re a fan.

7. You have to be aloof to be cool.

I hate this. Be determined. Why is it so important to fake like you don’t care? Example of a conversation I had with someone:

Me: Hey what’s up

Person: Nothing, I got this [really rare internship that I really wanted]. It’s whatever though.

Me: Good job!! I’m so proud of you!!

Person: I mean it is what it is. Now I’m just grinding you feel me.

Why can’t we celebrate our accomplishments? You don’t have to brag or boast but it’s okay to be excited. You don’t have to feign indifference.

8.  Our generation is apathetic/more perverse

Generations hate generations. I’m not sure why. People say this generation is disgusting with our “Neighbors Know My Name” and “Invented Sex” songs. But let’s not forget the previous generation’s “free love” kick. They were having sex in fields at concerts and trading STDs like this generation trades Pokemon cards. Then there’s the claim that we’re apathetic? If young people hadn’t come out in droves I doubt President Obama would have been elected. Also, do you know who gets the most credit in getting kids involved in politics? Social Networking sites. And who made Facebook? College students! We still get involved. When UCLA proposed a 32% increase in tuition, college students protested.

9. You have to have a top ten list to be awesome. Top 9 lists are much better. The top 9 lies that we’re told are that periods are a minor nuisance, Lebron James is a saint, that beating your kids will make them serial killers, higher education is for chumps, Lil Wayne is unlawfully in prison, everyone is a fan of every musical artist, to be cool you need to be aloof,  and that our generation just overall sucks.

Do you agree? What are more lies that we’re constantly told?

Ricky Bobby drops gems on the daily. He cracks eggs of knowledge every morning. “If you’re not first, you’re last” is not one of those gems. He heard it from his father when he was a kid and made it his life motto. Technically it worked for him because he became the best NASCAR driver until his unfortunate run-in with the invisible fire. Even Tom Cruise couldn’t help him.

The point is, as his father later explained, you can be second, third, fourth, or “hell, even fifth.” This isn’t to advertise settling for less than the best. I say all this to bring up a debate that has been held many, many times before. Yup. The Tyler Perry is on that Amos and Andy nonsense and Spike Lee is the Black Confucius debate.

To be straightforward, I definitely have a preference on which Director I prefer. I prefer School Daze over Diary of a Mad Black Woman. I prefer Do The Right Thing over Madea Goes to Jail. I prefer Kobe Doin’ Work over Meet the Browns. I prefer Malcolm X, He Got Game, and Bamboozled over… you get the picture. I prefer Mr. Lee over Mr. Perry. But that’s just that. It’s a preference. Opinion isn’t fact. I cannot say that Spike Lee is a better director than Tyler Perry. You say tomato, I say Obama. In my mind one is clearly superior. But that’s neither here nor there. I had this conversation the other day with Alexander Allen, founder of AA Productions.

He expressed to me, “It sucks how few Black directors are in Hollywood and now they’re beefing.  Two directors reach the Black audience in two different ways.  Spike reaches them in a straightforward way. Perry makes people laugh and has a truthful message behind the so-called coonery. They are from two different backgrounds and portray two different Black Americas.   Tyler Perry is one of the highest grossing African American directors and yet some people, including Spike Lee hate him because he shows Black America with a lot of problems.”

MichelleHuxtable| What do you say to those who claim that the reason Tyler Perry is a detriment to the public image of Black people is because we are not frequently portrayed positively in the media so the last thing we need is a Black director showing us as crack heads, pimps, and hoes no matter how accurate it may be for someone?

Alexander Allen| Tyler Perry directs and writes his own movies. Think about where he comes from. He’s from the ghetto of New Orleans. He was homeless for years. Writers can’t write about things they didn’t live. He didn’t grow up in the suburbs. He writes about his family. His life. Like Kevin Hart tells jokes about his family, etc. His inspiration comes from his pain. And what’s wrong with that? He always has a message behind his movies. It isn’t just ‘I was born in a crack house, got addicted and started selling. The end.”  He shows solutions to these problems. He’s just more straightforward with it than Spike Lee is. Not metaphors and allusions like Spike.

How does this all relate to Ricky Bobby and his strange motto? Well, for some reason we tend to have this If You’re Not First, You’re Last Mentality.  A mentality where you can only choose one thing to support or like. Think about rappers. If you’re a Biggie fan you definitely aren’t a Soulja Boy fan. Regardless on what you think are the vast differences in talent, God forbid you like two rappers at once. The same thing happens when two Black people compete over anything at all. Matter fact most of the time it isn’t even a competition. It’s just two people who happen to be in the same arena. Obama and Tavis Smiley. Kobe and Shaq. Granted there may be tensions between these people but before we even know if that’s true we always try to fuel the flame. Tyler Perry and Spike Lee. Regardless of your preference, they’re both successful Black directors. Why can’t we just celebrate that? More curiously, why isn’t John Singleton in that mix? Or Antoine Fuqua?

While it is true that Black people need a better PR team because the media is just dragging our name through the mud, we shouldn’t get mad at Tyler Perry for having a film about a prostitute, and then turn around and support the Hip Hop industry’s portrayal of Black women. Say what you will but they (or we as consumers) are doing a much bigger diservice to the public image of Black people than Tyler Perry could ever do. And I know what you’re thinking. Tyler Perry reaches a greater audience than BET, right? I hope and pray that’s true but like Tupac and I’m sure someone else said before him, “Before we can change the world we have to change ourselves.” We can’t feed [y]ourselves and [y]our kids that BET crap 24 hours a day, 7 days a week[1][2] and then get mad when we spend 2 hours on a Tyler Perry movie that has a crack head have her issues resolved when a fine, light skinned man comes to rescue her.[2] #CmonBlackPeople #GetYourLifeTogether

As a matter of fact, this was going to be an aside but if we’re going to be pissed about Black portrayals in the media what we REALLY need to do is holler at VH1.  Don’t come with that, “The people on the show are there voluntarily” excuse. Look at the Twitter trending topics and what’s trending?  Basketball Wives. Chilli. (Apparently she has a new show?) Etc. But other groups get heated when someone tries to drag their group through the mud. Italians protested Jersey Shore. I mean even the people of Aspen protested against VH1 making a show about them. But us? We watch it and then tweet about how “ratchet” and “triflin” it is. This should go without saying but: Ratings Are Everything. If you tune in and complain, Bob Johnson or whoever owns BET now can’t hear you!

Back on topic, Tyler Perry vs Spike Lee is just different strokes for different folks. Choose which one you like, but you should really just support both.

[1] Okay maybe 24 hours a day, 6 days a week if BET still has that inexplicable Morning Inspiration on Sundays. I’m curious as to how that board meeting went. “Okay so Monday through Saturday let’s show sex, violence, and overall just give moral ambiguity a shot. But on Sundays let Bobby Jones reign supreme.”

[2] Actually at this point we need to be protesting VH1.

[3] I’m aware of the fine light skinned brotha that heroically saves every Tyler Perry Mad Black Woman©. We’ll talk about that later.

I was playing NBA Live 09[1] on Playstation 3 the other day. Yep, Michelle Huxtable is very versatile.  Of course I was playing with the Lakers.[2] So Lamar Odom does a little spin move to the basket and dunks. Then, the commentators make an observation.

“You look at Lamar Odom and you see a guy who was just born to play basketball. Those long arms, that 6′ 11″ frame…”

That is word for word what the announcer said. You can test this for yourself. Play with the Lakers and just make Lamar Odom score once or twice. I guarantee you they will make that comment. I found this interesting because a sports game incorporated the idea, unknowingly I’m sure, of biological determinism.

For one, there are other aspects of biological determinism other than the part I’m going to focus on. You can do more research on it, if you like. It’s actually really interesting. But back to the point. The idea of people being “born” to do something is something you’ve probably heard before. I have nothing against this. It’s when it’s applied to entire races that it obviously becomes a problem.

If you’ve ever had a discussion on why there are more Black people in sports like football, basketball, and track and field instead of golf, croquet, and lacrosse. Somebody will bring up the idea that Black people are more adept to football, basketball and track because it takes greater endurance, our body frame is built for it, etc. “Usain Bolt is fast because he’s Jamaican. Kobe Bryant is proficient in basketball because he’s black. It’s what he was born to do.”

You hardly hear it stated in such crass terms but that’s the essence of what people are saying or thinking. When I hear arguments like this it just makes me wonder if people read history books anymore. Basketball and Track and Field, and baseball and probably any other sport we play nowadays were once considered White Men Sports.

There is of course the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Hitler and the Nazi’s whole doctrine was based on Aryan’s being the master race so of course in the Olympics they were expected to win everything. Whites had to be better than an African-American, right? Because it’s in their genes. But then when it was shown that we(Jessie Owens) can compete on the same level as, and sometimes better than, them it all changed. Of course we’re better at track and field, we were born for physical labor.

I’m not trying to disprove the whole biological determinism idea because I’m sure it’s valid elsewhere, but the reason we are so prevalent in those sports is because of several reasons.

The Lakers in 1950

The Lakers in 2009. Two Black Players, a Spaniard, and a Slovenian? Ok. We're in there. Next venture.

One – a change in society. Remember every black history month how we’d always learn about the same people – Martin Luther King, Jr, Harriet Tubman, and Jackie Robinson? Yep. There was a time when African-Americans weren’t allowed to participate in sports and once they let us in we kind of took over. This is just a theory so don’t go basing a doctrine off of it but I think that it was once a privilege to be able to play sports and it was kind of honored. But now that it’s so common, it’s become a problem.

Another reason we are seen more in those sports is because to play basketball all you need is a ball and a rim. A net would be nice too but it’s not necessary. When’s the last time you saw a tennis court in a lower income neighborhood? A lacrosse field? Lacrosse is an expensive sport, too. You need sticks and other gear that can get pretty expensive. Basketball can, too. Shoes, AAU camps, and things like that but you aren’t going to invest that money unless your kid is dunking from the half court line to begin with. So another reason is just availability.

The last reason that you hear the argument of biological determinism is because people need a reason, an explanation, as to why Blacks are achieving. When’s the last time you heard, “Of course Steve Jobs made Apple successful, he’s from San Francisco. Everyone out there can run a company.” You don’t hear that because it’s expected of him to be able to run that company. And when an explanation finally comes to light it has to be attributed to something in our genes, not hard work – “He was born with that ability.” Or it’s a supernatural occurrence – “Michael Jordan can fly.”

He can fly by the way. That's just not the point.

Scientific racism and biological determinism are terms you here in a sociology class or a class on historical racism. It’s usually taught about in past tense and I just find it interesting that in a game that was released in 2009, it is still in the forefront of some minds.

[1] We can debate the NBA 2K vs NBA Live franchises on some other post.

[2] I know I just lost a reader or two with my team being the Lakers.

[3] Points if you know where today’s title came from/ what it was influenced by.