Who Runs the World? [Color-Struck] (Girls)!

Um where to start...

The video has no point. Its a series of random costume changes in the desert. What was with all the male extras? If the theme is female empowerment then a danceoff would seem to be in order, that is, in the ridiculous vernacular that this video foists upon us.

The costumes were cute for the most part, but those boots? I can't, I JUST CAN'T!

My biggest problem with the video and the song, besides the fact that the song has absolutely no point, is Beyonce's look. She isn't even black anymore. Its easy to see over time a progression away from a more black, more ethnic lock. At first, I was willing to cut her some slack. With money comes the refinement that money can buy. Better makeup, better hairstylists, etc. But IMHO, she has gone to far. In the far shots, its hard to tell whether it's her, or Shakira or any of a dozen similarly blond and carmel-skinned women who arent black. At this point, Beyonce is almost in L'il Kim territory, albeit with MUCH better surgery and access to makeup and wigs and makeup and costumes and makeup (The bitch is wearing A TON of makeup in this video. Her neck and chest are a different color from her face! I have seen drag queens with a more natural look.)

I am certainly not a huge Beyonce fan, but neither am I a hater. She is a woman with a killer body and a truly great voice who seems to be using her money to run away from her physical blackness with all deliberate speed. This is the message she sends to young black girls, even if on a subconcious level.

Beyonce is a beautiful and talented woman. I am disappointed and saddened by her choices.

Racist?

This ad went up about a half-mile from a Planned Parenthood facility on Bleecker Street, o the corner of Watts and 6th Avenue in NYC.

NYC City Council Member Letitia James says, "It is misguided to use Black History Month as a tool to promote this message. Every woman has the right to make personal choices in regards to her body, and I respect many different points of view, but to compare abortion to terrorism and genocide is highly offensive."

The billboard is sponsored by a group called Life Always. Their press release states, " There is a battle being waged in the United States that has taken more lives than any foreign war or act of terrorism. The enemy is abortion." Life Always board member Pastor Stephen Broden added, "During Black History Month, we celebrate our history, but our future is in jeopardy as a genocidal plot is carried out through abortion."

In response to the ad, a group called Trust Black Women posted this on Facebook: "Yesterday, racist billboards went up in Soho attacking black women and our human rights by claiming “the most dangerous place for an African American child is in the womb.” SisterSong, a coalition of 80 women of color and Indigenous women’s organizations, denounces this cynical attempt to use race during Black History Month as an excuse to assault women’s rights. Black women are not the pawns of these white people who erect such billboards. We find them offensive, racist, sexist and – most of all – disrespectful of our decision making, our 400-year history of raising and caring for black children, and our human right to make health care choices for ourselves."

Statistics from the NYC Health Department show that Blacks had the highest number of abortions in 2009, with 40,798. (Hispanics had the second highest at 28,364.) NYC's abortion rate was almost 40% that year, and the three Planned Parenthood facilities nearest the billboard reported nearly 17,000 abortions in 2010.

So...

I ask again, is the ad racist?

Well, it's definitely provocative, but racist? Not to me, but then again, I am one of those black people who don't see racism in every situation. To me, this ad shows the inflamed rhetoric on both sides that makes it nearly impossible to reach common ground.

Is any conversation on abortion about anything other than free and unfettered access an assault on women's rights? The author from SisterSong assumes the billboard's sponsors are white, when actually two are black. Is anything that paints black people or other minorities in a negative light racist, even if it is true?

On the flip side, do you know the agony that some women go through in making the decision to terminate the pregnancy? Do you have a plan to support those babies who come into the world either unwanted, or whose families cannot support them? Do you have any answers to abortion other than abstinence?

Lastly.

Black people, yes slavery was awful. I read the journals about the biggest bucks being forced to breed in order to insure a strong "crop" of new slaves. I read about women who were raped by their masters and then had their bellies cut open to kill the bastard child. I know we have a history of Jim Crow oppression and racisim and that serious inequities and worse still exist in this country,

BUT,

at what point are we, as a people responsible for our own choices. When is it no longer directly or indirectly, the fault of The Man?

Gym Chronicles 061609

Over the past 15 months, without any effort other than dietary changes, I have lost 40 pounds. In fact, I am only 9 pounds away from my Adam4Adam weight!

Last week, I joined a gym, hoping to see accelerated results. There is a Ballys about 5 minutes from my house. The staff and clientele are almost exclusively black, which is good and bad.

I have some observations...

Ballys has a reputation in the DC metro area for being EXTREMELY cruisy. I used to belong to the location on L Street NW and it was madness. Open masturbation in the shower, dick sucking in the sauna. I saw two dudes fuck right out in the open in the shower area one Saturday morning. I have not seen any of that at Ballys at Hampton Mall (my gym, hereafter referred to as BHM). However there are signs that the atmosphere used to be MUCH more festive. There are a plethora of signs indicating proper dress, including swimwear, is required in the wet and dry sauna. I have noted that this is not the case in other gyms I have belonged to. The comments of the older members also indicate a more storied past, with one guy admonishing his friend to be careful in the steam room because "you know how they do."

As a man, I am an observer by nature. As a black gay man, I am an observer of dicks and asses and a gym is always a great place for such observation. I never forget, however, that I am there to WORKOUT, otherwise I am paying 40 bucks a month to look at dicks and asses and I can do that for free on the internet. As an observer, I notice the people and activities going on around me as I arrive at BHM, get changed and workout. I have noticed that some people come to the gym and never workout. I was at the gym today, getting dressed, when this guy I had conversed with a couple days before arrived. (Why was I talking with him, read on below.) He changed into workout clothes and immediately headed into the steam room. I thought nothing of it and proceeded with my workout. About 30 minutes into it, I noticed this dude dressed and leaving the gym. Did he just spend 45 minutes lurking in the locker room and bounce? Hmmm...

While I was working out, my eye fell upon a tall dark-skinned creature with a look and manner that screamed LADY!!! He was one of those kids who already had a big booty, but walks around with it pushed out even further, giving the effect of a two-legged horse. Miss Horse Booty flitted from the cross-trainer machines to the treadmill, but never actually doing anything. I finished my workout and went to the locker room. I decided to try out the dry sauna.

I typically avoid dry saunas, but this one was perfect. It was hot enough that I was sweating profusely, but not so hot that I felt like I was suffocating. As I entered the sauna there were 4 older black men in there having a conversation on some inane subject. Their facts were totally wrong, but the conversation was fun, so i just dashed right over it, chuckling and co-signing where appropriate. When Miss Horse Booty sauntered in, one of the men said, "There he goes, or she, or whatever. She done toned her ass down recently." It's interesting to me that many of the older men keep making homoobservantphobic comments. The frequency of them and tone indicate to me that if others were not around to see or hear about it, they would not be above letting Miss Horse Booty suck their dick or fucking her in that phat ass. It makes you say, HMMMMMM...

When I joined facebook, a young guy that I was peripherally aware of hit me up and started chatting me up. He is shorter and much thinner than me, which I totally liked, but I didn't really know much else about him. Eventually the conversation got personal, with him asking for various dimensions and capacities. When I told him how much I weighed he said he liked that, because he wanted some weight behind it when he was getting his back banged out. (OH MY!) I never followed up because I didn't really know him and frankly, I was already banging some other guy's back out. The second day at BHM, I saw him come into the gym. I had noticed a week or so earlier that his facebook profile indicated that he was in a relationship.

After my workout, I headed to the locker room and as luck would have it, his locker was in the same area as mine. He had a friend with him (the locker room lurker). Although I hadn't seen him workout at all, he was in the process of drying off. His towel dropped to reveal the most perfect round tite little ass in all of creation. I shuddered a little to myself, thinking how much fun I could have had pounding him into submission (did I just share too much?). I immediately hit him up on faceboook to explore how serious that relationship was, but he seemed non-committal at best. Perhaps he saw through my transparent attempt to get some of that ass now that I seen it in all its glory. What did I care? I had nothing to lose, which brings me to my final observation...

Going to the gym regularly is making me horny as hell.

More to come!

Racist, Insensitive or Both?

Looks like we will be playing this game for at least the next 4 years. The NY Post published this pictures recently and people are up in arms, including the Reverend Al Sharpton, who called the cartoon "troubling at best given the historic racist attacks of African-Americans as being synonymous with monkeys."

I have to admit, I am sometimes blind to racism, inasmuch as i don't look for it around every corner and behind every action. Until Rev. Al mentioned it, I just saw this cartoon as a play on the old saying about if you get enough monkeys in a room with tipewriters, one of them will write Shakespeare. I saw the cartoon as a comment on the monkeys in Congress, not as a reference to Obama.

I have said it before and I will say it again,we are going to have to start letting shit go, black people. We cannot continue to see the world only through the prism of our own real and imagined pain. I don't want to live in a world where everyone is on such eggshells about offending someone that public discourse dies.

Rev. Al, foul ball (ooo, look at me with the sports reference. How butch!)

That said, I am more offended by the use of the monkey as a joke. It is not AT ALL funny what happened to that woman when that chimp jumped on her. That animal belonged in a zoo and his owner should be facing some serious charges. She keeps referring to the chimp as her son and herself as its Mom. I always find people who anthropo-morphize their pets to be a little wierd and this takes the cake.

NY Post, that's a strike for extremely poor taste.

I was there...

600am: The alarm on my cellphone goes off, just as Joe calls to drop off his tux for tonight's festivities. I question myself: Why the hell am I about to go stand out in sub-freezing weather for several hours? I could watch that shit on my brand new 47-inch LCD (LuCinDa the Younger) and be happy. Plus it's not like I was going to get anywhere close. I would most likely end up watching the whole thing on a jumbotron, which was in effect a giant TV. But I promised Joe and Paul I would go so I got out of bed.

700am: We leave the house and decide we might as well walk to the Mall. Joe informs us that the buses are running every 10 minutes so we walk to the Metro and catch the bus. We go about 7 blocks and then have to get out because traffic is at a standstill. We join the sea of humanity and walk slowly toward the Mall.

805am: Despite warnings about long lines for security and what not to bring, we walk right onto the Mall and manuever our way toward the closest jumbotron. We claim a spot by peeing on the perimeter and begin the long wait.

810am: Now, you know I don't really care for people, but I decided I would put my best face forward and go with the flow today. Luckily there was room to breather where we were.  My happy mood is spoiled by this woman from NYC who starts going on and on about how she prayed in this moment and God put on her heart to be here and something about  being "slain in the spirit." It all sounded like crazy talk to me so I was only half listening. She gave me a flyer and told me to come to her church next time I was in NYC. I wanted to tell her thtat I was too busy fuckin' and drinkin' whenever I was in Manhattan to go to church, but then I remembered my promise to be nice so I smiled a her and pocketed the flyer. Her name was Dr. Jacquelyn Sawyer

845am: We met a lovely family from Minnesota who came for the Inauguration and we became fast friends

930am: Bye Bye Miss American Pie!

1045am: Feed me Seymore!

What the hell was she thinking with that hat? Plus her voice sounded terrible.

1100am: The ceremony begins with introductions of various congressmen and senators and other dignitaries. Then they introduced the living former Presidents. The Carters were dignified and courtly as always. Does Rosalind Carter ever age? Happy, enthusiastic applause. I think she is the Evil Un-Dead. When did Bush Senior become a doddering old man? Remember when we thought this man was the worst thing this country had ever seen? Little did we know. Polite applause for the elderly. Oh! My! Gawd! Its THE CLINTONS!!!!!!! THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE! PS, I love the fact that Hillary now has to work for the man she campaigned so ferociousl against less than a year ago.

1115am: Everyone starts singing Darth Vader's theme when Dick Cheney is introduced.

1120am: A chorus of boos hails the introduction of Dubya.

1145: The Vice President is sworn in

1155: Some musical interlude with Yoyoma. They need to hurry this shit up, it's cold as hell out here. Wait a minute, that clarinet player is cute!

1210pm: We have a new President!!!!!

I will take IRRELEVANT for $1000, Alex

The answer is..

"This awards show is the nation's premier event celebrating the outstanding achievements and performances of people of color in the arts (motion picture, television, recording,and literature), as well as those individuals or groups who promote social justice through their creative endeavors. "

What is "The NAACP Image Award," Alex?

That's correct!

You know this award really doesn't reward excellence when "House of Payne" is up for multiple awards.

A New Paradigm

Listen up! We have a Black president now, and while that doesn't mean that racism is dead, it DOES mean that we can stop assuming racism as a motivating factor for every action. We should definitely be prepared to confront it when it rears its ugly head, but it's not under every rock, around every corner or at the base of every conflict.

In the latest grasp at racist straws, supporters of Roland Burris have intimated that racism motivates those who would deny Mr. Burris the opportunity to be appointed as a U.S. Senator, the only BLACK U.S. Senator, they hasten to point out. Really?

So the problem is that he is Black? Not that he was appointed by someone who is under cloud of indictment for trying to profit from such an appointment? Those who are opposed to Roland Burris are no more racist than those who are opposed to Carolyn Kennedy are sexist.

We, as a people, are really going to have to let go of the past and realize that sometimes, you just don't get what you want in life and that doesn't mean that those who deny you are (necessarily) racist or prejudiced against you because of your race/religion/sex/sexual orientation.

How Does it Feel? A Journey

Before we get started, i just want to recommend that whatever system they use to vote in Washington State, Oregon and California needs to be adopted nationally. The polls closed at 11pm est and they were able to project the results at 11:02pm. Anysnooch...

All around me, I see people who see the election of Barack Obama as a transformative event in their lives and the life of the country. People stood in lines all over the country for newspapers to commemorate the event. Others wept openly at news of his election. As for me, I am very happy to see this day come and I am hopeful for the future because of it, but I just don't share this joy that everyone else seems to have.

Perhaps its because I am somewhat cynical (I know, shocking!). I have always felt like an outsider, observing the world while not necessarily feeling part of it, so events like these don't always have the same effect on me. I tend to reserve a (rather) large piece of myself that observes with an unemotional detachment. Its why I was unmoved initially by the Obama candidacy and supported Hillary Clinton. At that time, it seemed to me that Obama's appeal was based in high-minded rhetoric and emotion. Once I was able to see his policy positions and how his rhetoric infused those positions, I became a supporter.

My cynical nature also comes out when I see people talking about how life changing this event is personally. Really? It is certainly a VERY VERY positive change in American life because it reaffirms the premises of this country. For children and teenagers, they can dream a dream that they may have thought was realistically impossible even the day before. For adults, it may open a world of possibilities as leaders in their local community or nationally. They will be inspired by the story of a man who rose from modest means, without the help of wealth, family name, or even a father, to become President of the United States. Even for me, I used to dream that I could one day be a US Senator, even the Majority Leader, a dream I dismissed as impossible once I accepted my gayness. A BLACK GAY senator? Yeah right! But now, I suddenly find myself dusting off that dream and examining it afresh.

Hmmm... maybe this election was a little more life changing than I thought.

Gotta go. Hopefully they still have the commemorative edition of the Washington Post for sale!

Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom, A review

A well written script, good acting and a sexy, adorable cast dressed DOWN all come together to make a movie that is much better than I thought it would be coming into it. That's not to say I didn't think I would like it, just not this much. Let's be real, Noah's Arc, the series has some acting issues (a couple of characters seemed like they were just reading off the page sometimes), production values (several characters wearing the same outfit), and logic problems (going from zero to fully-rehearsed drag in 5 minutes). The movie has almost none of these problems and while this ground has been well-trodden by many movies, it is still a very satisfying journey of laughter and tears, even though you see most of it coming.

Noah and friends old and new gather to celebrate the wedding of Wade and Noah at Wade's family's vacation home on Martha's Vineyard. Everyone has come for the big event except Trey, who is home looking after has and Alex's newly adopted son OJ. Typically, Ricky has brought along a VERY young piece, Brandon (played by Gary Gray) who just happens to be one of Chance's students. Gray is perfectly cast as the voice of reason and is integral to advancing the plot. Through his character's questioning, we find out that Noah's friends think the marriage is doomed, because they are both on the rebound. We are told that Noah nursed Wade back to health after the car accident that ended season two.

As the wedding weekend unfolds, we see the ups and downs of all relationships mirrored in the coupled gather to celebrate the joyous day. Along the way, a few familiar faces drop by for comic relief.

Overall, the movie is a more-than-satisfying follow-up to the series, which leaves viewers wanting more of this reflection, for better or for worse, of at least parts of black gay life.

Colin Powell

Today, another nail was placed in the coffin of the McCain candidacy by none other than Republican General Colin Powell.

His endorcement of Barack Obama is a well-reasoned summation of why, at this moment in history, Senator Obama is better suited to face the nation's challenges.

Two points stand out to me. The first is General Powell's questioning of the whole strategy surrounding the William Ayers situation and asking if Mr. Ayers is just a washed-up terrorist, why do we keep talking about him. Secondly, and more powerfully, General Powell questioned what would be the problem is Barack Obama was indeed a Muslim. He rightly called out such implicit and explicit attacks on the Senator as "not American."

Bravo General. Guess who's getting nominated as the next Secretary of State? or would you prefer Defense? The choice is yours.

Dear O.J. Simpson

In the words of Fred Sanford, "You big dummy!"

You couldn't just lay low and live out the rest of your life, could you? Assuming you didn't kill those two people (You can tell me. You killed them didn't you. I won't tell anyone), you couldn't just lay low and mind your own business. No, you had to go out and do stupid stuff.

...Like write a book called "If I Did It." Ummm, brotha you were acquitted of the vicious murder of your ex-wife and her "friend." (Yeah they were probably fuckin, but what of it?) Why would an innocent man then write a book talking about how you would have killed the mother of your children?

...Like try to hide your financial assets from the Goldmans so you wouldn't have to pay that civil judgement. Too bad the people you dealt with were as shady as you, and with no Johnny Cochran around to pull a Jedi Mind Trick defend you, your ass got caught up.

I know what happened. You saw what happened to R. Kelly and thought you could get away with that shyt. Hell, they had a tape of that brotha peeing on the girl, everyone saw it and they STILL could not get a conviction. All they had on you was a glove that did not fit. However, you forget one critical detail. The girl R. Kelly peed on is dumb as a box of rocks, probably from a bad home, still trying to wash the smell of urine off her soul, crying herself to sleep on the pile of money she was paid to keep her yap shut BLACK. If she was white, R. Kelly would be UNDER the jail.

So now its over. I feel sorry for you, like I do for anyone who will no longer get to see the light of day or enjoy freedom. Ultimately though, you brought this on your damn self. Keep your booty shut.

Love always,
Brian

Someone needs their ass whipped UPDATE

This isn't the first time this kid has taken his Grandmother's car for a joyride. You would think they would learn to keep the keys away from him.

Le sigh...

Someone needs their ass whipped

Now, after listening to this story, young Latarian might be a little special. If that's the case, bless his heart and get him into treatment. If not, Grandma needs to be beating that ass as we speak.

Speaking of ass beatings, the Grandmother's mother needs a beatdown for naming her child Vikkita. This is why we cannot rise as a people.

Bristol Palin

Today, I received an email in one of my yahoo groups with the screaming headline, "The Father of Bristol Palin's baby is an African-American!!" Check out the alleged confession.

I don't give a shit and neither should you. I am more shocked that there are black people in Alaska, The brotha claims that he is being kept out of the picture in favor of Bristol's fiance because he is black. This may be true, but if he is the father, you wont be able to hide that fact for long.

One wonders though, if he truly does know Bristol as intimately as he claims, wouldn't he know how to pronounce the family name?

I wanna cut his nuts off

Maybe if we cut Jesse Jackson's nuts off then he would shut the fuck up.

This latest flap just proves how irrelevant and out of touch and just plain stupid he is. Rule one of punditry (because thats what he is now, not a leader) is you don't say ANYTHING you wouldn't want aired publicly while you have a mike on or while you are facing a camera. The fact that he whispered the comments shows that he knew he shouldn't have been saying them in the first place.

Why shouldn't young black men be held to task for abandoning their children to be raised by their mothers? As the product of a single parent INTERRACIAL family, Senator Obama is more than qualified to speak on this issue. His comments are nothing more than an extension of a conversation that has been going on since the Million Man March when Louis Farrakhan issued a similar call to action.

Despite his inspirational 1984 presidential campaign and his successful trip to the Middle East resulting in the release of American hostages in the 90s, it is obvious that he has become a dinosaur.

As Richard Pryor might say, "That nigga is crazy!"

Proud of My Country

"For the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country, because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback."

When Michelle Obama uttered those words, I felt her. I mean REALLY! I always imagined that at some point in my lifetime, we would have a serious black candidate for President, but I always assumed I would be an old man. I never thought it would happen this soon.

Like many black people, I have always been appreciative of the opportunities afforded me in this country. I have always been clear that i could not have the life I have in any other country (theoretically, at least). But there was always still a feeling of being an outsider, an uninvited guest grudgingly welcomed to the table who is told to make yourself at home, but to whom the unspoken message is "Don't get TOO comfortable."

And there we have it, to be proud, to fully embrace the red, white and blue is to be completely and totally comfortable with everything about this country, warts and all. It's the difference between owning and renting. Its a different level of responsibility because not only are you sitting at the dinner table, you built the table. Yes, you know the roof leaks and faucet drips, but its yours, you own it. So you love it, you show it off to your neighbors. You are proud of it.

I feel you Michelle, and for the first time in my adult life, I am proud of this country as well.

Happy Birthday, America!