Today The Gloves Come Off Because I Am Pissed Off

I recently wrote a response to an article I read in The Boise State University newspaper. The article talked about "Overpaid sports stars," but only mentioned two athletes, both of which were Black. I was offended by the article because of its content and because it suggested that sports stars are not humanitarians.

Well, well, well, what happens today, I pick up a copy of the newspaper and a classmate of mine wrote a response basically indicating that he was not racist and did not know anyone who was. Number one, I never called anyone racist. He took it to that level. I merely pointed out that the article was of poor taste and we should not look to African American sports stars to cure the world. Oh baby you bet I am mad TODAY (obviously).

The gloves come off today. Yeah...get your printer ready because I am about to go off. To suggest to anyone of color that they have never experienced any prejudice in America is laughable and more than insulting. I am deeply offended by anyone that has never in their life walked a mile in my shoes. Not just that, it ain't all about me. The sacrifices that have been made so that I can walk a mile without being lynched for speaking out about our society. Who died so I could be free--free to speak my mind, free to live in Idaho, free to have a job, free to do whatever my heart so desires in my life--the list goes on. Do we not understand that there have been many that have lost their lives so that I can be the person that I am today. It took over 100 years for US to be free even after we were liberated from slavery. To the contrary how free are we even today?

I find it appalling that when others give examples of successful African Americans that it is still ususally in reference to Entertainment Occupations. Yeah...print this one. I do not live to entertain. Yes, it does provide a way out of oppression for many that share my ethnicity but it is not the only way that any African American should ever be defined as successful or not. There are millions of us that make a difference in every occupation imaginable. Why because one by one someone came before you and made a way where no way was ever possible before. Why do history books (modern ones of course) say things like, "the first African American to..." Why do they say this? Because there wasn't one of us to do whatever it was before.

I am shocked and amazed that anyone could ever in our culture even suggest that racism is not really alive and well and to further indicate that we as minorities need to self educate more about what resources are available in our communities. Wait a fine minute. I know what is available to me. I know as a citizen of this country that everything is available to me. I am comfortable in knowing that anything I wish to participle in in my community should be open to me if I want to be a part of it. This is my right as a citizen of this country. Just because I am black does not mean that I am not informed of what opportunities exist in my community of things that I can take part in.

Before I came to college I never really wanted to be an advocate of racial equality or a voice for those who are African American in Idaho. It is the audacity of people who write such crap that make me want to be a voice to speak out more and more. It makes me so mad because the writer of the Letter to the Editor did not even get all of his fact checking done. He claims all of the Professors at the University are white. Not true. There are not enough Professors of various racial and ethnic backgrounds but there are some. Not only that, these professors all seem to be the very best. They are not just so so Professors but they all seem to be more than any average Professor.

I could go on and on for days. You get what I am saying. I want everyone to be clear with what my position is and why I feel the way that I do. I guess I should say that I have not ever thought of myself as the overly radical black woman. But, I can feel myself getting to be this way because of the relative ignorance of others. This is what cracks me up about the entire situation. I promise to try and wrap this up. This kid that wrote the Letter in my class, has he once reached out to get to know me? Did he find out how I felt or what I was about? Has he said more than boo to me? So...who really is racist? I'm not asking him to be my new best friend or anything but to accuse me of saying others are racist is ridiculous. Prejudice and narrow minded you betcha, many people are. But to not even get to know me on some level and then flat out accuse me of saying something I didn't even say gets my feathers ruffled.

Where do I go from here? Well, I have devoted a ton of time pulling the gloves off in my BLOG. I want to say so much to this kid in my class. Things that would definitely not show the rational adult that I am. Things that would confirm to him that even in my most eloquent of speech...that I still got that much black in me. But I won't instead I think I will invite him to the Ethnic Students Luncheon, if it is anything like the last one...he is in for more than just a lunch treat.

Reaching The World, One Gift...That Makes A Difference

Everyone that knows me, knows that I do not just tell people things just because. I want to express something to you that I feel is important. I was sending a free e-card to my husband and they had one of those advertisements. I clicked on it because it sounded interesting. It was an ad to send Bibles to Iraq. I was pleased to discover that it wasn't a fly-by-night company that is doing the Bibles for the Iraqi people. It is offered through the Campus Crusade For Christ.

As always...do not take my word for it. Check it out for yourself to see if it lines up with something you are interested in participating in. http://give.ccci.org/featured/bibles-iraq-im/. I encourage you to check out the website. There is a link on there where you can mail money to them so don't feel like you have to use the internet in order to send money to support this effort. I want to challenge everyone who has someone, a loved one or good friend who is serving in Iraqi as an American Military Member to send just a little something to help in this effort. It sounds kind of odd as a request but think about the big picture for a moment.

We all desire for the conflict in Iraq to be over. We also desire for the Iraqi people to have healing for the trauma they have endured for many years and also the trauma they have experienced in order to bring settlement to their country. Agree with me or not, it is my opinion that if we can bring the Gospel of Peace it can change the situation. The word peace just keeps haunting my brain. We can help change things for the Iraqi people.

A friend of mine, told me that she was interested in going to Iraq and laying down her life to help her neighbor. Would any of us do that? I know that other people are afraid to go to Iraq out of fear of being beheaded by some terrorist faction. If Campus Crusade is willing lets support them. They are reputable and your money will not be used to help a terrorist organization. Speak up y'all...everyone is afraid to do something. Go with your heart and do what you think is appropriate. Things will work out over there but if we turn our backs and expect others to do what we are unwilling to do now to support then it will take longer than it should to change our present situation.

If you don't like my idea find an organization that you know will really help and open your checkbooks people. There are millions of people counting on us to be the Christian Nation we claim to be.

Make sure you take advantage of the Comment link listed below. I would love to hear from you, plus others will be able to view your responses to anything that you see on here.

Pooh,

And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace. Who bring glad tidings of good things!"

Romans 10:15

Family History Project

For anyone who does not know, I am working on a family history project. It is so exciting to do such a thing. I am just abslolutely thrilled to be able to find out more information about our family. I am working on the Maternal side right now. It was so thriiling to get a copy of a marriage license from the State Of Illinois. To hold it in my hand and say to myself, "this is a part of my life history."

Often times I must say, that we as a people cannot do such a thing. Everyone is so mobile and busy or they just don't care. I encourage everyone to who knows something about us to email me so we can get this family history project going until we just can't track anything anymore.

For my family...be prepared. I will be conducting interviews in December to pick your brains.

Shoes

How is it as parents of more than one child that we just move from sport to sport or activity to activity? Let's talk shoes for a minute. Football shoes, wrestling shoes, cross-country shoes, track shoes, basketball shoes...the list goes on and on and on. Try having a boy or two and needing a pair of shoes for a special occasion. We have to know when we buy special occasion shoes that it's a one time purchase. Only to be worn once then two months down the road the shoes are usually too small to be worn again. Now, as a Mother of boys, I know why you see boys wearing tennis shoes with a suit during special events. I often thought it was so tacky as I was growing up. Some teenage boy who looks nice but then he wears his size 12 Nikes.

Now, the shoes on the other foot. I actually did it...nice decent clothes, slacks, tie, dress shirt, the whole nine yards. Do you think I was going to fork out a penny more for shoes that he would not be comfortable in, nor ever wear again. Heck no! There he was on his special day, all dressed up and a decent pair of Nikes...they were clean and did not have holes in them. There was no shame to my game. See, what you do is don't take any of the pictures down that low. Nobody will ever really remember that he had that nice black suit on with Nikes unless you take the pictures down that low. This is where we mess up as parents, don't take the pictures or the video down that low and nobody will ever know.

How did I get so off track. I know I wanted to say more than just this. I have to tie this all in somehow with the shoes. Shoes are important to us. We devote many hours of our lives, picking them out, trying them on and seeing if they fit. They always have to be the perfect shoe for whatever sport or event we need them for. Then, there is always that pair of shoes that's your favorite. The one pair that you just can't live without. I remember my very dear friend had a pair of shoes that she loved. She spent oodles of dollars getting them repaired once. I think it cost her more to have them repaired than she initially paid for them. It didn't matter, she wanted those shoes fixed just like new. Now, it seems shoes are so disposable. We don't acquire the attachments to shoes often times anymore.

You know at some point I have to again tie this all in. My question for you today is what shoes are you looking to buy? Sport shoes, dress shoes, cute shoes (reserved for only the young), comfortable shoes, work boots? Shoes are only temporary you know. No matter what you pay for them, they are still just shoes to worn once or thousands of times. They just get older, more worn or sit in a closet waiting to be worn again. So today my message is for those who bought a pair of special occasion shoes. You know the ones you wore once or only wear at Christmas time.

Life does not have to be like shoes. Maybe you made that commitment and cried out once. But, God does not serve your purpose anymore. You've put Him in your closet not to be touched any time soon. He's still there for you, you know He is. Maybe you don't know. Maybe you think all this Jesus stuff is just crap. I would classify you as the one who is still searching for that perfect pair of shoes. You know the ones that are almost what you want but not quite. Your life will be like that. You always shopping, hanging on to some new cause or drama you've got going on. I don't need to preach to you. I will leave you with only one challenge. Don't believe my feelings or comments about religion or Christianity. I don't ask that anyone ever just take my word for anything. The next time you are sick or you don't want to go out but want to cuddle up with a good book try cuddling up with the Good Book. Give it a read. Read the entire thing from the first book to the last.

Maybe it will be a shoe that fits...or the lost shoe you've been searching for.