Imma Let You Finish But…

Posted on May 24, 2010 by Michelle Huxtable

There are certain events in our lives that we can all remember like it was yesterday. We know what we were wearing, who we were with, and what we were doing. Older generations remember when Dr. King was assassinated. Our generation has September 11th. This next generation has the Kanye West/Taylor Swift Fiasco of September 2009. What a glorious generation. Anywho, this was a pretty awesome occasion. It drove some people to hate Mr. Weh-eh-est and claim that he was an arrogant a-hole (even though an entire 5 years previous he announced to the world on “Get ‘Em High”, “why you think me and Dame cool? We a**-holes” so in reality we should have seen this coming). It drove others to embrace their fandom and claim that Taylor Swift owes him her entire career. Granted practically nobody I knew listened to Taylor Swift before the VMA Fiasco, I’m told that statistically speaking there isn’t much validity to that statement. Word on the street is T-Swizzle was selling albums before Kanye got all hopped up on Mountain Dew. The point of rehashing all this? Well being the trendsetter that he is, Kanye West aka Yeezy aka Mr. West aka Kan the Louis Vuitton Don started one of the greatest trends of all time with his announcement:

Taylor, I’m really happy for you, and imma let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time

And thus, like manna from heaven, Kanye West bestowed upon us one of the greatest quotes of our time. And now I bring you my favorite “Imma let you finish” quotes… by me…

5.  Twitter “Retweet” imma let you finish but Facebook “Like” is one of the best internet cosigns of all time!!

Let’s be honest. Retweets are grand and can occasionally earn you some new followers but a Like is forever. When you refer back to that status it will forever say Tracy DontNeedNoMan Minaj and 56 other friends liked this status. That can’t be beat.

4. Lamar Odom and Khloe Kardashian imma let you finish but Faith Evans and Biggie had one of the best fastest marriages of all time!!

We all chastised Lamar and Khloe for being beyond ridiculous and getting married within 3 months of meeting each other but lest we forget about Faith Evans and the Notorious B.I.G? They married within nine days of meeting. NINE DAYS. How’d that work out?

On August 4, 1994, Evans married upcoming rapper and label mate The Notorious B.I.G. nine days after meeting him at a Bad Boy photoshoot. The marriage was turbulent as Wallace reportedly had several affairs during their union, including relationships with fellow rappers Lil’ Kim and Charli Baltimore.

-Wikipedia

1. Yes I just quoted Wikipedia. I have no qualms about it. 2. It didn’t work out too well. Turns out she may not have known him as well as she thought. Go figure. On the bright side she rocked the chorus on “I’ll Be Missing You” and won a Grammy for it so…

3.Google Buzz imma let you finish but Lebron James was the most overhyped noun of all time!!

Noun – person, place or thing.

Do you guys even remember the invite-only Google Buzz? It trended on Twitter more than Justin Beiber currently does. I even held a contest capitalizing off its popularity when I obtained about 20 invites. People were ready to fight over it. And by fight I mean steadily increase their bids on ebay by one cent to tick off the highest bidder. And now I can’t tell you one person who uses it.

Then we have Lebron James. First of all to you stans, isn’t it weird how Eminem has created a term that the entire Black/Hip-Hop community uses? Second of all, let’s go ahead and admit he was overrated. Lebron James is a tremendous athlete. I would never undermine his athletic abilities. However, while some people posthumously call people the greatest of all time, we pregame knighted Lebron “King James”. The dude never had a chance. He’s yet to make a Finals appearance. But he did make his team have the best record in the NBA. But that’s not what the best players of all time do.
2. Rocsi and That One Guy imma let you finish but AJ and Free were the best hosts of 106 and Park of all time aka Slavery imma let you finish but BET is one of the most detrimental things to happen to Black people of all time!!

Everyone knows this and I’ve said it a thousand times but I never blogged about it and this kind of statement needs to be put on paper… or at least on LCD screens across the globe. I don’t remember who but someone told me there’s a connection with the downward spiral of BET  (it clearly getting away from its original goal of providing an entertaining and educational channel for the Black community) and the firing of AJ and Free. His or her comment to me was that AJ and Free both rocked natural hairstyles: AJ with the braids and Free with the afro. Once they got rid of them, they subconsciously got rid of the connection to the Black population. I mean I don’t know if that’s true or not but the same time that happened, Bob Johnson quit and BET News was cancelled. In other words,  in the same time period, the two best Black hosts on TV were fired/quit, Black Entertainment Television ceased to be Black-owned (officially the deal happened in 2003, but I think Johnson quitting was the true moment where Black ownership died), and BET decided Black people didn’t need to know what was happening around them and canceled their News programming.

1. BET imma let you finish but the Black people are the most detrimental people to happen to Black people of all time!!

It’s as simple as this: we can no longer hold other people to a standard that we do not hold to ourselves. How on earth did we all come to the conclusion that Black people can say the n-word but others cannot? I get it. We “took” the word and we “flipped it” into something “positive”. But we didn’t. 1. You look incredibly stupid calling yourself or your friends nigga. Just because you can’t articulate the ending of a word doesn’t mean you’re not still saying nigger. When someone says, “I’m betta than you”, you don’t think betta means something different from better do you? Exactly. The ending -a is the same as -er. 2.There are a myriad of other words you could use instead of nigger. Confidant. Homie. Homeslice. Boy. Friend. Dawg. Bruh. Bro. Broseph. Broham. Brohamburger. Road dog. The name they were given. Etc.

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Ethnic Studies Ban in Arizona featuring Michael Eric Dyson

Posted on May 13, 2010 by 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?

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"College is a Good Look. A Real Good Look" -J. Cole

Posted on May 10, 2010 by Michelle Huxtable

Ah. The good brother Modi graduating from BC. Little does he know I'm using him as the stock photo for a young black male graduating from college.

This year was crazy.  So many awesome things happened.  Last year doesn’t even compare.  For those in college those last sentences make plenty of sense.  For others, you’re probably wondering why I’m already talking in past tense about 2010 when it’s only May. But yes, I’m talking about college school years.  Academic-wise it was tougher and more engaging but I find that with me those two tend to go hand-in-hand anyway.

As most of you know, I’m a Psychology and African-American Studies major and I absolutely love it.  I never understood why people would pay upwards of $50,000 per year for a school or major that they have no interest in.  Me? I love my University and my major.

Aside from academics I met some of thee dopest people in the world.  Made bonds.  Tightened existing friendships and learned so much outside of the classroom.  I emphasize the non-syllabus-instructed education I received for a reason.   Most of the people I know in graduate school comment that they don’t specifically remember most of what they learned in undergraduate. Perhaps they learned a  new way to think and at the time aced exams but they are at a point in life where that information isn’t as vital as it once was.

This is one of my more personal posts I suppose but I felt the need to express this so hey, why not. In this day and age a bachelor’s degree doesn’t mean much. Or at least that’s what we’re constantly told. But I find that this statement doesn’t encourage people to pursue post-graduate degrees. It just undermines the hard work that we put forth. And while yes it is true that those four (or five for my Drexel, Northeastern, and other 5-year program brohams) years are summarized into a piece of paper, what we learned, the skills we acquired, the friendships we built, the connections we made, and other non-GPA-measured accomplishments are not. We all have it in our mind that after high school we go to college then we graduate. That’s the plan.  No need for fanfare.

But it isn’t something to be taken lightly especially if you are a Black reader. I don’t need to throw stats at you for you to know that Black college attendance/graduation rates aren’t the most amazing things ever. You can look around your classroom and see that. It’s a shame when I’m in a class of 100 other people and I’m the only Black person.  But I digress. The point is, congratulations to everyone who is graduating. That being said, the work starts now. I did say don’t undermine your hard work over these four years but also remember that your degree was not and is not the end goal. Do something with it.

For all my graduating readers, leave a comment where you graduated from and your post-graduate plans. If you’re still in school, what’s your plan for the next few years? If you already graduated, what’d you do?!

P.S. I wrote this post around 8pm and later that evening I spoke with the good brother David (who is graduating from UVA in about 2 weeks) while watching The Boondocks. We talked about how some people might think this season isn’t as hilarious as previous seasons but the message is still very clever. Then he asked if I would be blogging on Monday (I miss one Monday and people claim I’m inconsistent ha). I told him I was but the post isn’t entertaining and I just hope people get what I’m trying to say. He then said, “Like McGruder”, referring to Boondocks writer  Aaron McGruder. The fact that he compared me to McGruder is why we are best friends. #RandomStory

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Twitter Stories 2: The Bad Boy Mixtape

Posted on April 26, 2010 by Michelle Huxtable

I hope you remembered the last time I did a Twitter Story post. I think people enjoyed it so I decided to do it again. This story is pretty epic in my opinion and by the time you finish reading it, you will have converted to Twitter and will believe in its power. It all started on a pretty boring Thursday. You know how Thursdays can be. So close to the weekend yet somehow so far. Thus, I posed a question to the wonderful world of Twitter. My brother knows about my disappointment with Puff Daddy. I’m not saying I hate him. I just believe he is the definition of artist mismanagement. How can a man who is so successful have such a long history of failed artists? It doesn’t add up. So I asked twitter who they liked the most.

Remember that the name in blue under the tweet is who tweeted it. I = MichelleHux . Responses to a tweet are the smaller tweets.

Woah! So looks like a lot of Ma$e votes in there.  The Lox was brought up. Faith Evans, Shyne, 112, Total, and even Black Rob made an appearance in these answers! And that’s when something MAGICAL happened. This.

Now when I tweeted that I was serious in the sense that I did think people would truly enjoy a mixtape with a bunch of failed bad boy artists because they had great hits. But I was also joking because I didn’t really think the great people over at What’s In My Headphones would appease my request! You remember a little while back I said that we live for the ever-elusive cosign? Well boom.

Two cosigns later we were on our way to greatness. Our destiny had already been written and all we needed was the most important cosign of all – the cosign from the people at WIMH.

Boooooooooom!! Your mind just got BLOWN apart and put back together!! At this moment I’m hearing that crucial ending from “Last Call” on College Dropout where Kanye’s talking about how he made it and says, “Yo you still think we can get that deal with Rocafella?” Then that chorus comes on, “So won’t you raise your glass for me.”

Go listen to it. Truthfully you should have been cranking that song the entire time you were reading this. Opportunity missed. Now we need a name for this here mixtape.

And after all that… we have a title:

And that is the story of how “What’s In My Headphones Presents: The Best of the Worst” came along.This tweet sums up the power of twitter precisely:

From a boring Thursday afternoon, the wonderful people of twitter came together and formed a great mixtape. The idea was put out there and twitter did the rest. This may seem insignificant to some because it’s “just” a mixtape but what Matt said is right, the spontaneous creation of [ANYTHING] can happen on twitter.

So, people, what is a spontaneous creation that happened to you on twitter? Be it a new friendship, job opportunity, blog idea, etc.. Also, did you enjoy Twitter Story #2? Download the mixtape!

Download this free and fantastic mixtape here: DOWNLOAD MIXTAPE

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Ben Roethlisberger is Innocent

Posted on April 19, 2010 by Michelle Huxtable

“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?

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The "If You're Not First, You're Last" Syndrome

Posted on April 12, 2010 by Michelle Huxtable

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.

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In Those Genes [Best of Michelle-Huxtable.com]

Posted on April 5, 2010 by Michelle Huxtable

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 1950

Ok. Were in there. Next venture, please?

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. Thats just not the point.

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.

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True Life: I Am A Hyphenated American

Posted on March 29, 2010 by Michelle Huxtable

I’m going to try something new. I’m going to tell you a story through a progression of tweets. Big tweets are the main tweet and smaller ones are responses to it.  Since it probably won’t make sense, I’ll recap at the end. I don’t know how good this site looks on a mobile device so if you would be so kind, leave a comment if you’re on your phone and tell me if pics look alright.

So to recapitulate, an opportunity arose where I could study in Amsterdam. I decided to go ahead and pursue it. I found out my passport was out of commission and was informed it doesn’t take that long to get a new one. I could have sworn it took me a few months to get my last passport but Twitter never lies.  As I was filling out the application it asked me my nationality and of course out of impulse I proceeded to write, ‘African-American’. And then it hit me, in the larger context of the world, what am I? I was forced to look at myself in a global context. On an application to study abroad in Amsterdam, is there a difference between African-American and American? No. As @AdamMSays explained, they would never compare myself to an African. I am most definitely American. That last sentence kind of stings. It’s hard to embrace a culture that has done everything it can to reject my race. Even in 2010 I am living the life of a hyphenated American. Never just ‘American’. But wait. In a global context, is it not that serious?

Do Americans place more emphasis on hyphenation than the rest of the world? In the United States if someone asked me, ‘What are you?’ and I answered “American” I would definitely receive the probing question, “Yeah, but what are you?”  As the good brothers @ThomOswald and @JFKJean2 expressed to me, the term African-American is not all inclusive. In America we are so quick to throw on a hyphenation that we don’t think about what it means. African-American would imply that one was originally from Africa.[1]  Therefore, a Jamaican or Haitian is not African-American. Which is why those two would identify better with the term Black. And even for those who surpass the ‘technicality’ and are therefore eligible to be called African-American, the term seems so titular. More symbolic than accurate. More stuck in tradition than evolving with who we truly are. I’m not advocating throwing the term out the window but while talking with Thomas and James I realized that little to zero African-Americans feel a true connection with being ‘African’. And little to no Africans would feel a connection to ‘African-Americans’. Is the term outdated? Maybe. Odd since it is the ‘latest’ term we’ve embraced.

True Life: I Am a Hyphenated American… in the context of America and its socially constructed hierarchical races. Globally, it’s not that serious.

…Or is it? Do you live the life of a hyphenated American? What does it mean to you? What are some of your experiences while traveling outside of the United States? Did it cause you to think of your nationality in different terms?

[1] Furthermore, we’re all from Africa. So even that Italian-American is really an African-American. #Boooooom

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The Malcolm X Doesn't Smile Syndrome

Posted on March 22, 2010 by Michelle Huxtable

The Malcolm X Doesn’t Smile Syndrome affects millions of Americans everyday. What is it? It’s when people want to be this guy 24/7:

Instead of this guy:

We all know the story. We’ve all seen the shirts. “By Any Means Necessary”. *Serious face* I think we can all agree that Malcolm X dedicated his life to fighting racial injustice. And yet, look at that picture. Dear Lord, is he… SMILING?! I do believe he is. So, wait. Am I implying that he somehow had some sort of balance between fighting racial injustice and enjoying his life? This is mind blowing.

I don’t know what it is about people today. But we lack a balance. Maybe it’s rap. That’s usually the go-to scapegoat for every issue. But really. With songs like “I’m Goin’ In” and “Go Hard” and “All I Do is Win” we’ve been conditioned to just go 100%. This seems positive at first glance. But it can have repercussions. People with a heart for the state of Black America and want to help our race rise to be greater can get confused by this message and misinterpret it as, “Be serious all the time. Never laugh at a Black joke. Use unnecessarily obscure words to prove that I’m not a stereotype.”  All this does is make them unapproachable and obtuse. We all know someone like this. Take Huey Freeman’s new enemy, Dewey Jenkins:

Dewey is clearly suffering from Malcolm X Doesn’t Smile Syndrome. It’s annoying right? Kind of a Debbie Downer? What you can do, is go 100% when the time is right. Live your life. Stand up for injustice. By no means am I promoting or endorsing apathy. That’s not cool at all. But don’t walk around with your black fist in the sky, a frown on your face, and say your unhappiness is to spite the Man. There’s a quote that goes something like, “Holding a grudge is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” You’re only making yourself live an unhappy life. You don’t have to go hard 100% of the time. Even Malcolm X smiled.

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10 Reasons Why This is an Awesome Time to be Alive

Posted on March 15, 2010 by Michelle Huxtable

Come with me on a little journey. Back into time. Like a few weeks back. How many times over the last few weeks have you read an article on why Black women aren’t married? How about discussion about the world ending in 2012? Global Warming? Healthcare Reform? War? Disease? Etc? Well in the past few days I’ve had to utter the words “Let me give you ten reasons why life is awesome” more than twice. Which is two times too many. So here I am to give the world ten reasons why this is a great time to be alive.

1. There is actually competition in the NBA.

Maybe it’s just me but having a clear leader in the NBA is kind of boring. Sure there is a group of clear leaders such as the Los Angeles Lakers, Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Orlando Magic but it’s not one team that clearly rules the rest. And that’s a good thing.

2. It was 70 degrees today.


Now I realize this is a local thing. I’m currently in DC for Spring Break and it has been a gorgeous week. However, it’s supposed to rain for the rest of the week. The point is you have to grab your joy where you can find it! And even rain, dah well it’s not pretty out. You can stay inside and *gasp* talk to people.

3. I’m on Twitter.

Yup. This counts. Anybody who says they hate twitter has either a) never tried it or b) only follows 20 people, or 200 and  180 of them are celebrities. For the people who have never tried it, I understand completely. I’ve tried to explain it. “It’s like a bunch of status updates” is not very convincing. But get out there! Just don’t become person b who doesn’t follow anybody. Of course Twitter sucks if you have no tweets to read, respond to, and be replied back to. But follow some people you actually know, start talking to random strangers. That’s the beauty of twitter. It tells you to disregard everything your mom ever told you. Talk to strangers!  Take candy from that sketchy guy! Tweet your heart out! Follow me to improve your life. Twitter.com/MichelleHux

4.There are some pretty awesome shows on TV.


Showtime has Dexter, the show about a family man who works for the police who also happens to be a serial killer. Woah. FX has Damages, Archer, The League (a show about guys who center their lives around their fantasy leagues), and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. ABC has Modern Family and Desperate Housewives. Don’t even get me started on NBC Comedy Thursdays! 30 Rock! The Office! CBS is hanging in there with How I Met Your Mother. TVOne shows Martin reruns all the time! And there is always some form of Law and Crime Scene NCIS: Miami Order on some channel.

Love! Crime! Intrigue! Mystery! Comedy! If it’s a rainy day and you can’t go out anyway, you might as well curl up and watch some good TV!

5. The blog world rocks.

A good book is hard to find. Plus, it takes time to commit to a 300-page story. Not that I am in any way suggesting blogs should replace your reading of a tangible book, I’m just sayin’. With such awesome blogs out there like Michelle Huxtable, TheFreshXpress, Cracked, Very Smart Brothas, Black Snob, etc you can always get some quality, intelligent, and entertaining reading done on the go.

6. My team is making major moves.

True, this may or may not affect you right now. But the people I run with are steadily taking over the world. Politics, Music, Blogging, Athletics, Academia. You name it. My people are on it. Knowing that there are fresh faces out there getting ready to take over should brighten your day. They say “Hip Hop is dead”, “Black America is apathetic”, “You can’t trust politicians” and other negative things. Well just take solace in knowing that new and fresh people and ideas are over the horizon and are going to change all of that.

Shout out to all of you.

7. Monique won an Oscar.


That picture will make sense in a minute. This is in no way a shot fired at Monique but let’s be honest. Way back when you used to watch The Parkers you never thought in a million years that Monique aka the definition of a restraining order aka Professor Oglevee’s Stalker would even be nominated for an Oscar. She was thought of as loud, rude, and at the time wasn’t exactly choosing Oscar-worthy roles. Why is this number 7 on the list of why this is an awesome time to be alive? Maybe you’re 40 and just now decided to start that rap career. Who says you can’t do it? [1] Maybe you’ve been a doctor for most of your adult life and then decided, “You know what? Forget healing people. I want to do comedy!” (I’m talking to you Ken Jeong aka Hilarious Asian Dude from The Hangover.)

Yup. Ken Jeong got his medical degree in 1995 from UNC-Chapel Hill. Come 2007 he’s in pretty much every major comedy. Knocked Up, Step Brothers, Pineapple Express, Role Models, and of course his most famous role at the moment, The Hangover. If Monique, who was on NOBODY’s “Future Oscar Nominee” list a few years back can do it, why not you?

8. Life is made of seconds.

Life is made of years, which are made of months, which are made of weeks, which are made of days, which are made of hours, which are made of minutes, which are made of seconds. Why is this great? Think about how long a second is. Think of all that you can get done in a second! Not a lot you say? Well, I beg to differ. If you’re like most people, you probably make an unofficial plan for the day. “I’m going to stop by the grocery store. Write that paper. Try to call my grandparents. Workout. Tell my mom I love her…. etc.” Continuing the thought that you’re like most people, you probably won’t get that done. But, wait! What if you stop and say, “I’m going to spend 60 seconds doing what is on this list!” Gasp. It really seems like you have a lot more time in the day when you look at it that way.

Let’s say it takes about 30 seconds to dial and connect to the person you’re trying to call. Another 30 for the guilt trip speech about how you don’t call enough catching up on your life. If you really have to go, you could spend a minimum of 3 minutes on the phone. Cross that off your list. Imagine how many 3 minute phone calls you could make! I’m not recommending you call someone with your phone in one hand and a stopwatch in another. I’m just saying we tend to exaggerate how long it takes to do something. Fortunately for us, life is made of seconds.

9. Nature vs Nurture and Free Will

Yeah. So first, Nature versus Nurture. It’s the primary question in Developmental Psychology. Why do people act the way they do? Why do some people learn faster than others? Why did one twin grow up to be the greatest player of NBA Live on PS3 ever and the other one merely went on to be a nuclear physicist? We can’t all be great. Was it nature or nurture? Is it in their genes or was the environment to blame? The answer? Both. Neither. No one knows! And that’s awesome. It’s pretty much where the idea of “beating the odds” comes from.

My parents are probably sick of me using them as talking points but dah well. They’re from Compton, California. Yeah. Like “City of Compton. We keep it rockin’!” Most people who know me don’t believe it because I guess they don’t fit the stereotype. No criminal records, great careers, pursuing higher degrees as we speak, etc. Did they “beat the odds”? That would imply that the odds were against them and that their environment matters more than what is innately inside of them. My parents have drive, ambition, fortitude, and other cliche positive terms. That’s why they are who they are. I think Free Will comes into play here. They could have chosen to internalize the “odds” and say, “Well this is what people expect of me. Let me just aim low and avoid disappointment.” But nope. They chose to be better, and they are.

10. Superpowers


Stay with me. Life is awesome because we don’t have superpowers. Kids think superpowers make the world more awesome and fun! False! Could you imagine how boring life would be if we had superpowers? I know what you’re thinking. Flying to work would be dope right? No traffic? There would just be air traffic. And because of a little incident known as 9/11, Air Traffic Control is stricter than undercover cops on I-95 when the HOV lane is about to open up. [2]

“Ok, Ms. Huxtable. You think you have an answer for everything? What about reading people’s minds?!” Wooh. This is an easy one. Reading people’s minds is stupid. It’s the insecure super power. Why do you want to know what other people are thinking about 24/7? Anyway. For the people who wouldn’t have this power, life would suck for them. They can’t lie to cops about speeding, tell their girlfriend that the dinner she spend hours cooking tasted like vomit melted over garbage, tell their teacher that they definitely emailed the paper and the server must have been down but they will resend it, etc. Life. Would. Suck. With. Superpowers. Trust me. Because of this life is awesome! Because we don’t have superpowers!

So there you have it. 11 reasons why this is an awesome time to be alive. Don’t let the news, blogs, negative friends, or whoever, let you think life sucks right now. Yeah there is crime. Yeah there’s racism. Yeah there’s a lack of eligible bachelors. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We don’t have to let that consume our lives. We can still enjoy it. People get enjoying life confused with being complacent with the way things are. They aren’t the same thing. This is a great time to be alive and we should embrace that! The sun is shining, the twitter bird is chirping, TV is good because writers aren’t on strike, and many other reasons.

What are your reasons to why life is so awesome right now?

[1] I strongly advise against doing this.

[2] I apologize to my non-metro-area readers who may not get this reference.

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