I have asked once before and now I ask again. What do you want us to be? Not what do you not want us to be, but what do you want 'us', black people in america, to be? Whatever it is, it is not without consequences. What do you expect the consequences of what we are to be?

We can only carry so much, for every thing we pick up, we have to drop something else. How would you have us be?

In this day and time, how would you have us be? Share.

quote:

Originally posted by Wiz:
I have asked once before and now I ask again. What do you want us to be? Not what do you not want us to be, but what do you want 'us', black people in america, to be? Whatever it is, it is not without consequences. What do you expect the consequences of what we are to be?

We can only carry so much, for every thing we pick up, we have to drop something else. How would you have us be?

In this day and time, how would you have us be? Share.

I would like to see us be more positive...more ReSpectFul of Eachother...and most definitely more loving.

I was at work the other day and a Black Man came in...I always try to smile at Black Men given the tension that many feel exist between the Black Man and the Black Woman.

Anywhooo...He had a problem in our facility; one in which I tried to help him and reassure him that what he had done, people do a thousand times. However, it seemed that no matter how much I tried to make him feel at ease, he clearly did not feel "comfortable" with my presence.

He sure did feel "comfortable" with the White Girl who was sitting near us, though. He talked to her like they were best friends.

I noticed as I was talking to one sista from Kenya, that he felt uneasy with her, too. He had a frown on his face when he looked at us. It didn't help that another Black Woman came into the facility looking very "butch like"....I thought he was just disgusted with Black Women....until my Latina friend came in! He seemed equally disgusted with her too! As I hugged her, a look of intrigue seemed to cross his face....like he had never seen a Latina and a Black Woman get along.

But I couldn't help but notice that when he started chatting up with the White Girl, he was just smiling and cheesing...and then she went to speaking like she was a sista! Too Funny!

This is not the first time that has happened. I see lots of Black Men coming into the facility with White Women. I learned to not let that scenerio bother me, HowEver, it has bothered me that I've seen more Black Men come into the facility with White Women, Latino Women or Asian Women than I have seen Black Men come into the facility with Black Women.

Some of those Men are so DisReSpectful and let's not even talk about the "heirs" some of those ladies seek to put on! It's nuts!

I never judge them, but when they seek to DisReSpect me, I don't take it either.

To be true, one Black Man who comes in with his Asian Wife, is very ReSpectful. He always greets us and makes an effort to speak to my son. His wife is very sweet and again, never DisRespectFul.

Another Black Man comes in with his Latino wife, and the same thing can be said about them.

HowEver, some of the younger Black Men who come in with their White Girlfriends or Latina Girlfriends or Asian Girlfriends are more than DisReSpectful...I often wonder what had to happen to them to make them so angry and so ornery...lol.

That must be something unique to this state because I didn't even see this much of that in Minnesota....and people mix up all of the time there!

It's funny though...because those same Black Men will get so upset when they see some of the White Men in there hit on me...

A Double Standard?

In any event, I wish they could find what they seek in a nice sista...and if they can't find it there, at least I wish they wouldn't seek to try to play those games. I don't have a problem if you date interacially...as long as you are doing it because you generally are "into" the person that you're with, not with them just because you have "issues" with your own.

In addition,

I wish more sistas would support each other. Again, I generally try to smile as much as I can to a fellow sista because some can feel like they don't generally trust other Women.

We have some serious repairing to do within our community...I know we can do it...but how can we do it if we're giving up on each other daily?

"Wisdom Is A Reflective Woman!"

We do seem to have a great deal of distrust for one another. Not just along gender lines but generally.

I wish that were not so.

I think Marcus Garvey said it best when he said we need to be truly self-determined (I am summarizing).

This means setting our own goals, our own standards, our own perceptions of ourselves that we create irrespective of what other racial groups are achieving.

what would our own goal, standards, perceptions be, if it were up to you?

quote:

Originally posted by HonestBrother:
We do seem to have a great deal of distrust for one another. Not just along gender lines but generally.

I wish that were not so.

it is because we tend to get hustled a lot (lot of hustlers out there) Do you think if we were more trusting, we would be gullible?

quote:

Originally posted by Wiz:

quote:

Originally posted by HonestBrother:
We do seem to have a great deal of distrust for one another. Not just along gender lines but generally.

I wish that were not so.

it is because we tend to get hustled a lot (lot of hustlers out there) Do you think if we were more trusting, we would be gullible?

Hustled a lot? Yep. I do understand some of the reasons for that distrust.

I'm pretty distrustful myself. But I think in the end that it hurts me .... and hurts us. It's something that I struggle with.

But I don't believe that the only other option is to be gullible.

gullible is not the only option but what else is? What comes with being more trusting?

I think the real shame of it is not that we are not trusting of black people, but that we are more trusting of white people. We have all seen instances where a black person saying something would not be believed by black people, but a white person saying the same thing would be believed by black people, but that is not true in all instances either.

There are instances where the reverse is true as well.

quote:

Originally posted by Wiz:
what would our own goal, standards, perceptions be, if it were up to you?

I don't think it is up to me Wiz. I think it starts with having the correct paradigm of self-determination. From that point I think we collectively have to come to a consensus as to what we would be.

Dude, I know it is not up to you, I am just asking if it were what would it be. What would be your self determination for us? I mean if you do not have a vision of us, that's cool.

It seems our only choices are being slaves or being slave owners, are there other choices as well?

I have asked once before and now I ask again. What do you want us to be? Not what do you not want us to be, but what do you want 'us', black people in america, to be? Whatever it is, it is not without consequences. What do you expect the consequences of what we are to be?---Wiz

I want us to be confident in our identity...as a people.

Among the consequences are;

1. And immediate change in the language of our society.

2. A change in the way decisions are made regarding us...and our children and in programs that are operated for...or applied to us.

3. We immediately experience a quantum leap in self-perception.

4. Precisely because we are who we say we are, we begin to leverage our parity in the society in which we live.

We can only carry so much, for every thing we pick up, we have to drop something else. How would you have us be?

In this day and time, how would you have us be? Share.---Wiz

We drop 'color' as the tag for our identity.

We grow in the knowledge that as Americans of unknown African ancestry are as unique as any other ethnic group in the world.

We drop an awful lot of detrimental societal baggage.

We take our place in the world as the unique people we are.

The list goes on, and on.

I'll bet you can add many to the list.

PEACE

Jim Chester

So will we be slaves, slave owners or some other, yet to be described thing.

the thing is, I want to know what your designs are in regards to exploitation. We encourage entrepreneurialism, even offer it as some kind of salvation, but at its center, it is an encouragement to be a slave owner. In this capitalist system, there are generally only two kinds of people, slaves and slave owners, the exploited and those who will exploit them.

WHat are we to become? Slaves, slave owners or something else. If you choose something else, tell me what it is.

Me I would like to see us be (for lack of a better word a nation unto ourselves

Would we be a nation of slaves or slave owners

Why is it necessary to focus ONLY on our problems as if the PERPETRATOR of our condition, the EXACERBATOR of our condition and the BENEFITTER of our condition has no responsibility....

I hate the mind that look at us in our treachorous condition as an ISOLATED condition ......

and often that mind is either self hating or white....


If a man abuses you should you abuse him back? You should remove him.. and remove yourself from him....

If a man rapes you should you rape him back? No you reclaim your dignity and castrate him...

If a man steals from you do you become a thief? No, you take your property back...


and if that evil man claims that what you are doing is the same as he, then silence his azz by any means necessary....


What are we supposed to be? Our own true selves... that will be revealed when we are removed first in mind, from the environment that has cultivated us as other than our ownselves...

quote:

Originally posted by Khalliqa:
Why is it necessary to focus ONLY on our problems as if the PERPETRATOR of our condition, the EXACERBATOR of our condition and the BENEFITTER of our condition has no responsibility....

I hate the mind that look at us in our treachorous condition as an ISOLATED condition ......

and often that mind is either self hating or white....


If a man abuses you should you abuse him back? You should remove him.. and remove yourself from him....

If a man rapes you should you rape him back? No you reclaim your dignity and castrate him...

If a man steals from you do you become a thief? No, you take your property back...


and if that evil man claims that what you are doing is the same as he, then silence his azz by any means necessary....


What are we supposed to be? Our own true selves... that will be revealed when we are removed first in mind, from the environment that has cultivated us as other than our ownselves...

Where did this come from?

If we are to be successful by emulating the people who enslaved us, then we must become slave owners or must we? In the context of capitalism, there are slaves and slave owners. We will not change the context or at least no one has offered a change, so in this one those are the choices. So when we are true to ourselves, will we be slaves or slave owners?

This slave or slaveowner bit is a FALSE CONSTRUCT. I reject them both.

It is not hardly a false construct, it is capitalism. You are either an exploiter or you are exploited, if you are lucky you can be exploited, exploiting others (It is called an MBA). Capitalism exploits everything, that is what it does. If you are to be successful, then you must learn to own slaves (exploit labor) or learn to slave well. So unless you have some other construct to offer that defines capitalism as something else, then you have no cause to reject it.

Free.

quote:

Originally posted by Fagunwa:
Free.

Hey Fagunwa!!!
Long time no see. Are you hanging around for awhile or just passing through?