Seattle's Pigs

News has spread wide and fast about the problem with police brutality. Of course, this is something that's been known for years. Cops are not to be trusted. It leaves people with a sense of ambivalence however, since these are the people that have been assigned to wipe the streets clean of society's wrongdoers and lawbreakers yet much of the brutality the commit only adds to ever-present violence that pervades communities already.

This is all just very sad to me.

The "Indestructible" Black Woman Myth...Again

My heart pounded as a watched this video. It reminded me of the physical fights I have gotten into with two male family members who saw no problem in partaking in a physical confrontation with me. Neither one apologised for their behaviour and the female members in my family proceeded to defend and justify these men's actions. One of the males even went on to say that he "understands" why such a physical reaction would have emanated. All this without a word of concern about any sort of emotional distress the fight could have caused or again, even a simple apology. I firmly believe that my being black gives them reason to falsely believe that I am incapable of feeling and therefore make the perfect punching bag.

Yes, there is a double standard. People feel more guilt causing harm to white women than they do to women of colour especially if one is black. Since we are that special group of "chicks who just happen not to have dicks", men find it easy to punch, push, strike and hit us without any inherent guilt or remorse. It is sad. Truly sad. That people are still very much incapable of understanding that black women are not as tough as society aims to point us out to be. That we are neither punching bags nor scapegoats for the satiation of the insecure others fragile id. We were not to be used by others in a way that will grant them a portal to attain a sense of power. It should be known that our bodies are sacred temples around which proper boundaries are put in place to prevent physical harm that those who fail to recognise our humanity wish to cause.

But here is where I am slightly ambivalent about this whole dichotomy. White women are apparently considered more womanly than the rest of us and deserving of courteous behaviour. As plenty of people have noted in their analysis', a man should not strike a woman under any circumstance so the ease with which the cop in question hit this young woman is reflective of a racist belief in a black woman's apparent "masculinity". Yet do I necessarily want to be viewed as weak and in need of protection? Not at all. Neither do I want to have someone engage in unwarranted physical confrontation with me. There must be a middle ground. Digressing to each extreme is neither good nor healthy in attempting to assert a real sense of equality.

Some Sources of Misanthropic Thinking

This incident noted at SWPD is heartbreaking. Nobody deserves public humiliation but to face this public humiliation to an indifferent audience is even more painful to experience. It's at this point most people lose faith in people. Some become misanthropes. *Ahem* You realise how cold-hearted people are and you give up, just give up on people in general. It happens on a wide-scale. The folly of it, we are all acting like icy motherfuckers to each other and secretly yearning for compassion yet not doing shit about it. Seems the practice of kindness and compassion requires conscious deliberation. You can't do it automatically because from all the coldness one gets anyway, it's enough to become indifferent and turn the blind eye to injustice anyway. It's a case of "well, why should I - it's not like anyone's been kind to me". But that's where character comes in. If you're strong enough to be kind and empathetic and compassionate despite all the cruel shit people have done to you then you are showing your true worth. This is a tough task but you have pass the test of character with flying colours when you are fully capable of completing it.

This makes me recall an incident which occured almost 10 years ago in which a black woman was seriously assaulted by a white man at what is now called Nelson Mandela Square after she slapped his sister who initially called out a strong racial epithe. Same shit, different day, different location. Of course, people just stood and watched. It's just a black woman afterall. Who cares?? Right??

"Wait Your Turn, Chris!"

Laughing at some of the tweets I read with reference to Rihanna's new video. Not Russian Roulette which is so flat, the Namib Desert is jealous (drum strikes for the bad joke). It's this song called Wait Your Turn. How baffling this young lady's behaviour is becoming. I have expressed my concern for her. Has she found emotional healing from the abuse. Think about the transition she's made from her "Music of the Sun" sugary to the point of wackness sweetness to this dark, dreary, gloom and doom character that's "Rated R". Pointing guns at the camera and grabbing her crotch. Even Grace Jones didn't instigate this much violence. She was eccentric yes, hypersexual yes but I can't remember her making threats to harm with her body language. I'm mobile so can't post the video. You know what to do YouTube addicts.

We've Got Pigs Too

Yesterday, I was taken aback by the lack of concern taken to the traumatic experience that racialicious' Fiqah endured at the hands of an officer. I was not able to watch Carte Blanche last night due to my family's deep obsession with Big Brother Africa 4, but I just read through the transcript and am horrified to say the least. Two unreported rape offenses by police officers here in South Africa . In the same month that a little boy was brutally murdered for no reason at all among others. Police brutality seems only to be escalating and not a single one of these officers despite the brutal and heinous nature of these offenses. Sad state of affairs. One does not know whether the police can be trusted to be called upon for safety. When they commit the same crimes as the men they arrest but are protected by their so called "badge of honour".

I can't help but try and find some relation between these events and the fact that South Africa has such a broken history. Living through apartheid South Africa left many blacks with a strong sense of futility and meaninglessness similar to what Du Bois posited about the problem of the black American underclass. I've seen this most potently displayed by black men of the lower class. I'm afraid to say that they are the demographic most expected to these commit offense both within their communities and beyond. Apartheid has left behind a frightening legacy of cold-spirited black men with a nihilistic killer mentality. Now that these same individuals occupy the police force and are given free roam with the illusion of safety and protection, they've simply taken to abusing their power for their own infantile gains. They feed their egos through the induction of unease. What these imbeciles don't see is that their actions benefit little in the long run. If South Africa gains a reputation for being a crime-rampant nation where police themselves exert the same kind of brutality that offenders do, not only will a massive brain drain begin to occur. Revenue from tourism will most easily be affected. Resulting in declining GDP. These utterly stupid, animalistic idiots are too dumb to see how their impulsive and foolish actions are causing or may lead to the overall decline of this nation's standard. What a useless goverment we have! What significant measures have they put in place?? What are they even doing aside from singing lame tribal songs and complaining about trivial matters.


So, it's true we've got pigs too. Only that ours are not a white male majority.

R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Homie

I don't want to hear about the law of attraction and ideas about "you teach people how to treat you" when it comes to this problem described through a terrible experience of harassment from a male po-po by Fiqah at racialicious

That he got away with this loathsome behaviour is reflective of power privilege afforded in this case to a law enforcer. Just last week we had incidents of police brutality here. So far, I've heard of no serious measures taken against the officers. There is a good chance they'll get of scott-free. How ironic it is that their main victims were a woman and a little child.

As a person I like to believe I radiate self-respect and hold my self in high esteem. In fact, I live by statements such as the one Alanis Morisette made, "I see my body as an instrument rather than an ornament." I carry this notion in the way I walk, dress and behave. This vessel is for doing, it is for action. Not for showing and for passivity. There will always be individuals that disrespect my presence and try to interfere with my existence by trying to get much too personal with me despite my being a complete stranger and showing on interest at that. Or worse still, invading my personal space or staring at me incessantly. These things happen. Even sporting baggy sweats and a T-shirt, it happens. (I always thought this would deflect unwarranted attention)

Must I excuse these imbeciles as just that and go on with my day. No, as always I see these as a reflection of ideas that the men in South African society hold of women. It's clear I live in a highly misogynistic society, a society that favours the idea of women as objects not women as people. It's a fact I've known since primary school when rape statistics were constantly aimed at us from all platforms of media. I remember Charlize Theron even ran an ad campaign about it. "People often ask me what the men are like in South Africa." she states. The answer obviously wasn't good which the commercials sought to expose. There is a definite sickness in this nation when it comes to the way people interact. Racially and most specifically in terms of gender. All South Africans seem to know of each other are the stereotypical notions they learned via talk and TV that ignorance is banal. Whites live in fear of blacks. Local blacks hate foreign blacks. Blacks think whites are racist haters. Coloureds strive to be white and refuse the "black" label that similarly mixed race people in America are never to afraid to adopt. Near-Eastern Asians well...they seem alright but whites and blacks seem to despise their small business sensibility. Don't know much about the Far-Eastern Asians though there's a good chance they may be exposed to the same amount of xenophobia that Nigerians are. It's one enormous racial gash that's been left over for post-apartheid South Africa to endure. With a president singing songs like "Umshini Wami", how is it going to heal.

The same goes for gender. A survey was conducted in June that revealed that 25% of males in S.A. are rapists. That's a remarkable figure. Since the world cup is coming around, these figures are under intense scrutiny. They scare people. Coupled with the AIDS statistics. It's just too much.

It seems that no measures are being taken to educate young men about the dangers of conforming to these false notions of "masculinity". Something needs to be done but nothing is.

It seems the more insecure a man in his knowledge of how "masculine" he is, the more strongly he tries to exert machismo. Studying the majority of individuals that take part in hollering practices. They appear similar in that they are low-income, of African descent and male of course. Social conditioning in most cases teaches men that money and status (as well as the ability to be a "provider") are symbols of manhood. When these are not attained, one is therefore not fully a man. So, masculinity, they perhaps feel must be redeemed in other ways. These are often in relation to women. In making sexual advances, they engage in the act of being masculine; which turns a rejection on the woman's part into an assault on this assumption of manhood.

In my experience, the non-black males that tried to assert themselves to me in this way were defected in ways that were not money or status related but rather in relation to appearance. The popularly accepted notion of masculinity is one of being tall, muscular, strong, broad shoulders, a pronounced jawline etc. Often, when men are aware of their inability to meet these standards is a cause to try and over compensate similar to the description above. I do not believe that a man comfortable in his own skin will need to objectify, attempt to humiliate, harass, grope or disregard physical boundaries. I don't think that anyone with enough intelligence'll treat a fellow human so.

An old but pertinent post in relation to redefining our presently accepted notion of "manhood" at Shakesville puts it all into perspective - how important it is to give young men an alternative form of expression that does not involve misogyny and homophobia.

Aw, Cut the Lad Some Slack Will Ya

Previously quoted as to saying that he was a demon. A recent statement was released that he was not responsible for the leakages from Rihanna's mobile but we all know that he was responsible for something else. You know what, this story is stale. It's so stale it's starting to grow mould and release a tremendously foul odour.

Here's the video in which he claims very jollily after letting e'body know when the next album gon' be droppin' that he is not in fact a monster.

Well, all, alright. I take back my words. Nothing in his tone was remorseful I am to say. He doesn't strike as the kind of boy that would express deep emotions sincerely. Ah, well. This is turning into one laborious, dragged-on saga.

The "Not a Monster Video" right here! click, click.

Why Chauvinists Should Take Rape Seriously (will the poor things ever)

I could not have said it any better myself. The light-hearted way in which chauvinists treat the issue of rape. If I could write a constitution for the world it would entail a law that sends men who laugh at, mock or even blame rape victims to jail for a little experience of their own. See how they'll like that. Either way here's the post that struck my interest.

Tell me after reading this that women should just "sit back and enjoy the ride" when being forced to endure an event that will leave them emotional scarred for an immensely long time thereafter. It's not even about sex, it's about a heinous theft of power. But when "you're just a boy" how can you understand anything remotely close that level of insight and below-the-surface thinking.