Think Pretty Smart

Michonne

I love The Walking Dead.  When one show goes off, I am ready for the next.  This is probably because I watched seasons one and two in one weekend.  I'm so glad I did.  There are so many great themes in the show. For weeks I've been meaning to write about them but as we all know, I haven't been about the business of writing much lately.  I mean, Mercury was in retrograde...

I have downloaded Zeebox so I watch with Twitter, just Twitter, not Black Twitter.  And everyone pretty much agreed Michone rocks.  And when I said she was probably hella anti-social pre-zombie apocalypse, a few people agreed. 

Yesterday, I watched the last episode again.  Per usual, I was struck by how pretty Michonne is, the calculation in her eyes, and the way people respond to her.  It lead me to the following exchange.

Me:  Rewatching TWD. Would y'all consider Michonne an angry Black woman or a survivalist? My initial thought wasn't race based and I thought of her as a survivor. Seems like everyone watching in Zeebox felt the same way.

Friend: Michonne is exactly how most people view Black women. And truth is most Black women accept the survivalist role.

Me: So you're saying they see Black women as angry or survivalist?

Friend:  Angry. But you don't have to be angry to be a survivalist. Look at Daryl. He is not really angry at the end of the day. And maybe neither is Michonne.  She acts like someone who had been placed into a role that wasn't initially meant for her but she is resigned to do it. So its more resentful than full of rage. Like a lot of Black women.

Me:  Humh.

Friend:  Furthermore, Michonne's behavior at Woodbury mirrors the way society sees us (ABW) and it's unnecessary. Even though her instincts were right on the money you don't have to be an angry bitch to get your point across. Which is why she looked crazy. She could have exposed the governor and saved Andrea while being pleasant and sneaking evidence. Instead, her attitude drew negative attention and alienated her from the group. But that happens to a lot of us. That angry shit only looks empowering on perky white chicks on Lifetime.

That last bit about her being 'pleasant' is spot on.   I was recently talking to my mom about this.  Being unable to 'get along' with people has become one of the proud points of the ABW.  Why is it so hard to just get a long with people and still be cautious and calculating?  That inability to get along isn't anything to be proud of.  It's anti-social and off putting.  Michonne is off putting most of the time.  Feared, but probably rarely liked.  Even with Andrea, Andrea probably calculated that she needed Michonne to survive.  Did she like Michonne?  Nope. She tolerated Michonne while Michonne was meeting her needs.  The minute she found what she thought was better, more comfortable protection, she flung her snatch right at it.

Thoughts?

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Normalizing

Him:  So you mean to tell me you've never tried coke?  Not even once?

Me:  0________o  Uh no.

Him:  Everyone has at least once.  You never even got close?

Me:  Uh no.

The guy in the conversation is like so many people.  He has an addictive personality.  Right now he's on religion and gambling.  Yes, at the same time.  People like him, to keep a clean heart about the choices they've made, try to normalize their choices.  Uh, no sir.  I can still be normal without having spend my 20's coked up. 

Greater Good

You're at a BBQ where grown folks are playing cards and just shooting the shyt.  One of the adults finishes her plate of food and calls one of the children over to take her plate and put it in the trash.  He complies because he was raised to do what grown folks tell him to do.  Before he could walk one step away from the table, an adult man grabbed him and told him not to do it and to not let women tell him what to do.  The boy was five and clearly smarter than the man because he still grabbed the plate and did what the adult told him to do.  To me, this is a man we don't need around our children.  BTW, the child's parents were in another room and I'm CERTAIN his father would have checked the dude for telling his son that.  Ya see, bullshyt starts really early in our community.  And if you aren't careful, the desire to have role-models will over-shadow the need to good, responsible role models in and outside of the home.

Knock! Knock!

Over the Christmas holiday season, my mom and I went to my nana's house.  On Christmas, one of my cousin's best friend, Allen was there.  She and him have known each other since pre-school age.  Allen is ghey.  Now, we'd known Allen was ghey for years but had never met him.  He's always at my nana's with my cousin (college student who lives there) but just never there when we visit.  My mother was up in arms the whole ride there.  She couldn't believe her mother would have such a person in her home, on Christmas, a religions holiday.  And my mother hasn't been religious since, uh, doing the math, 1988.  *sigh*

Allen was an absolute joy.  After, my mother commented that he was so nice.  Go ahead and roll your eyes.  I told her, "Da hell you expect?  Him to bring over a boyfriend and start dry humping on the damned table betwee the turkey and ham?  Why would you think he would be anything but?"  My mother is of the generation that believes all ghey men are flamboyant and all lesbians are butch and they are all out to trick kids into joining their gang.  She buys into the notion that they shouldn't marry, yadda, yadda, yadda.  I'm way beyond discussing it with her.  When it does come up, usually in her boasting of having found another over 50 person who shares her beliefs, I say, "Humh.  You know how I deal with them and marriage?  I plan on not marrying a woman.  Guess that solves that huh?"

And don't get me started on her views about interracial dating--particularly for pretty Black women!  I've long accepted that her views are what they are probably because her life has been so different from mine.  And she has white friends.  But she swears they agree that their sons and I should never marry.  Mental Note:  Go find the blondest, blue-eyes white man and marry him.  STAT!!  Further, she's so rigid in her belief that the next generation should automatically think the way our parents do.  I don't even bother touching the debatable issues.  Quietly, this is why I kinda don't want to go to my family reunion down in Crack-o-diaz, AL.

For as much as the media likes to highlight how white men are afraid of the change that is coming happening, a whole lot of Black folks are in the same position.  I find that the over 75 set are pretty open.  But that 50 to 74 set, they are on that bullshyt. There's no other way to say it. They are staying strangely loyal to their feelings about situations that don't exist anymore or are changing.

This change, people don't like it.  They aren't in the full majority but there are enough of them to annoy the shyt out of me when I have to interact with them (family).  I think this is why the Republicans are trying to strengthen their male white base with all this coded racist BS.  (For more information on race based BS, turn on Fox News.)  And Blacks, they're just sitting around blaming the white man for the rain.  Actual quote:  "All this damned rain is cus them white folks keep sending spaceships up."  Jesus be a NASA pamphlet!  Right about now, whites Blacks people need to accept change.  Change is inevitable.  The harder they fight, the more it's going to hurt. 

I wonder if this is the case with Hispanics.  To what extent are these changes affecting them?  BTW, I recently realized I need some Hispanic friends.  My damned rainbow isn't complete!  If anyone has access to any, please send them my way.  Just kidding, but not really.  If I had Hispanic friends, I'd have so many things to ask them.  I'd like to know how all the people who gladly lined up on the Republican side feel about the party after this whole Sotomayor 'situation'.  I'd like to know if they are bothered by the Republicans deciding to decline their FOUR invitations to the NCLR conference with ONE letter from the RNC.  Are the majority of the original supporters sitting around finding reasons to still stay on the Republican team?  Are their any changes they are fighting?  Language?  Sharing culture??  This inquiring mind wants to know!

Whathc'all think?  Am I the only one deeply annoyed, but too frustrated to debate, with old Blacks?  Is the younger than 50 set 'too easy' on 'outsiders' because so many of us grew up without overt racism, have  friends of all races, have ghey friends, etc?

OMG. Watchting Rachel Maddow.  It's so funny to hear them talking about the C Street Band as 'The Family'.  My ghey friends call being ghey (and I think ghey friendly) 'in the family'.

My Shade

I'm wondering why, since the move, the very people who wanted to follow me still haven't commented.  Interesting.  I see my stats so I know y'all have been reading.

How many of you have watched Black In America 2?  As I stated yesterday on various blogs, I didn't hate the show but I won't go so far as to say it was good.  The highlight for me was the principal.  Y'all know I have a soft spot for the education issues. 

The thing that kinda stuck out to me was that it seemed so extreme.  Either you're Black and poor or you're Black, rich, and spend your time trying to exclude others.  At first, I was one of the people wanting to see the 'regular' black folks.  You know, folks like me. Then reality hit.  On paper, I probably am one of those well to do folks.  Sure I might not have old money but I make (when working) more than the national average and certainly more than the average person of color.  I have three degrees and I'm a dues paying, card carrying member of one of our organizations.  My friends with children are members of organizations for their kids.  We go to balls.  We like our fancy vacations and foods.  Does this mean we exclude people?  No. We just stay with the people and things we know and enjoy.  I damned sure won't apologize for that.  

Does that make me less Black?  Hell no. 

I was also reminded of how the media will trot out our schools, organizations, and social events as proof that we're civilized.  I don't like passive aggressively begging for white mainstream acceptance.  But then they like to put the elitist spin on things.  In other words, the things that are good stay good by purposely keeping the 'undesirable' Blacks out.  *eyeroll*  Everyone doesn't want to be a part of everything.  And, everyone won't be invited to everything.  For as wonderful as I am, there are places I won't ever be invited.  I'm OK with that (so long as my tax dollars aren't going to pay for those places).  Why do other people have such a problem with this?

Everyone wants standards except when they find someone whose standards they don't meet.

We've become so PC that one can't publicly admit that they like to be around people like them.  That they like their things.  That they even wonder how certain people joining their organizations or attending their events could change things--or keep things the same.  Yet, my mixed race former coworkers and I can openly discuss our unwillingness to even consider someone hiring who doesn't seem like us (not assholish enough).  The more things change, the more they stay the same. 

For those who wanna get on high horse talking about you don't ever exclude, I call BS.  Would you want your daughter dating a felon?  OK, then so you pass judgment and exclude on your child's behalf.  Would you like to knowingly live beside a crack house or meth lab?  Crack dealers and meth cookers are people too!  Why should they not be invited to live beside you?  Right.  I thought so! 

We all do it.  

We do it and I say it's right.  It's called SELF PRESERVATION.  Is it reasonable?  Eh?  I don't know.