Aria Speaks

http://www.projectbread.org/site/TR/Walk/General?px=2139459&pg=personal&fr_id=1210

Fri, 03 May 2013 08:35:52 -0400

http://www.projectbread.org/site/TR/Walk/General?px=2139459&pg=personal&fr_id=1210:

Please support the Walk for Hunger!!!

My finance face.

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 15:43:06 -0400

My finance face.

alexandraerin: dancetransylvania: blonde-on-a-mission: thisisw...

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 14:53:54 -0400

alexandraerin:

dancetransylvania:

blonde-on-a-mission:

thisiswhiteculture:

floacist:

People really don’t believe Ancient Egyptians were ethnically African?

Perri: It’s sad but true, so many people don’t believe it. :(

Yup and if you ask the average American they will automatically say The Middle East…

…

but…

how—

Look at their lips!

This man up there favors my great great granddaddy (I’m of African descent, just so you all know)

EYES, NOSE—LIPS AGAIN.

I MEAN.

OMG. SERIOUSLY.

LIKE.

IT SHOULDN’T BE THIS HARD TO GRASP.

White denial.

Remember, around the time white people became obsessed with Egypt and began romanticizing its history, they still were allowed to openly hate POC. They refuse to believe that so much power, grace, and beauty could come from people they despised(read: were jealous of).

It’s all just a superiority complex to mask their innate insecurity. It’s why they happily lump Egypt in with the Middle East and completely erase Black Egypt from the picture and instead focus on Arab Egypt.

It’s also why they have taken to dividing Africa into North Africa and “Sub-Saharan Africa” as if everything that is not of the “exotic desert” is inferior and savage.

Taxonomy and classism are just a few of white people’s favorite things to do to make themselves feel like they run shit.

The term “middle east” didn’t even exist before the 1960s.

incase you crackers didn’t know

Egypt is in Africa

therefore

Egyptians are African

Africans were not sub Saharan Negroids.

Africa is a continent not a race.

king tut’s DNA was tested. he was almost 100% white. so was Cleopatra. they were not white. i bet you believe that the pyramids were built by slaves, don’t you?

Science will just be over in the corner, alternately laughing at you and sobbing into its drink.

Identifying race (a social construct) from genetic material is either really complicated or not entirely possible, depending on how you look at it. Either way, the idea of someone’s DNA being “100% white” is completely fallacious.

Genetic testing has linked mitochondrial DNA found in Tutankhamen’s remains to groups prevalent in Europe today, but mitochondrial DNA only shows one line of ancestry when every generation back you go, the number of ancestors you have doubles. Trying to judge someone’s race from their mtDNA is like trying to judge their whole ethnicity by their last name.

For instance, my ethnic background is almost entirely Scots-Irish, but because I only have the last name of my father, who only has the last name of his father, who only has the last name of his father (and so on), my last name is German. There’s almost no German in my background at all, but due to sheer chance and the rules we use for inheriting last names, there it is.

The same thing applies to mtDNA: it’s always inherited according to certain rules, and you only get it on one side.

The other thing about those European genetic markers is that we don’t know that they originated in Europe, we just know that they’re there today. Especially given that they’re found in western Europe, it’s more likely they spread from the Mediterranean to there rather than the other way around, whether they originated in Greece or Africa or (most likely) a mixture of the two.

Extensive genetic testing has been done on the remains of Tutankhamen’s body, and genetic markers have been found that tie him to the central African plains, as well. The bottom line is that in a center of trade and culture like Egypt, you’d have to expect to see genetic material from all over. And that definitely includes sub-Saharan Africa, which had fewer travel barriers between it and Egypt than Europe did.

Or do you think your racist beliefs went back in time and created a forcefield or genetic firewall?

As for Cleopatra: where exactly do you think they got her DNA from? There’s no tomb, there’s no body. Cleopatra VII (the one we just call “Cleopatra”, the famous one) vanished without a trace.

The idea that DNA tests have proven she’s “100% white” are 100% a racist fantasy. We know her father was ethnically Greek… mostly… but the Ptolemies had been in Egypt for a long time by that point, and while the rule was inbreeding, there had been exceptions all along the way. Cleopatra’s mother is believed to have possibly been from sub-Saharan Africa, or else the child of a mother who was. At least one of Cleopatra’s sisters (possibly half, we don’t know) had strong African features.

If nothing else, the uncertainty about the lineage on the female side illustrates how porous the lines between the Greek Ptolemies and their African subjects were.

But at any rate, there’s something ridiculous and desperate of white supremacists pointing to the Ptolemies as “proof” that the ancient Egyptians that history lionizes were white. You’re picking a family that we know didn’t originate* in Egypt to prove that Egypt was ethnically not African?

*Although, again, saying that a family originated or didn’t originate somewhere is misleading. If a Greek Ptolemy had a child with someone from Africa, half that child’s ancestors would be African, but if the child were acknowledged as a Ptolemy, history would pretend the child’s ancestry had “originated” in Macedonia.

“A Taste of Jazz” More GarageBand music. Enjoying a...

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 19:00:00 -0400

“A Taste of Jazz” More GarageBand music. Enjoying a little creativity.

Backroads

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 18:28:58 -0400

Backroads:

Song I made on Garage Band with some nice pictures. The song reminds me of the country roads in the South.

blackraincloud: dmwalking: soulbrotherv2: African Students...

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 21:22:37 -0400

blackraincloud:

dmwalking:

soulbrotherv2:

African Students Who Invented Anti-Malaria Soap, Awarded $25,000

AFRICANGLOBE – Two African students have created a malaria-repellant soap using local herbs, and have won, consequently, a $25,000 Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC) award.

The GSVC is the only international competition of Social Business Plans, dedicated to students, young graduates, and entrepreneurs with high social and/or environmental startups.

Moctar Dembélé who hails from Burkina Faso and Gérard Niyondiko, from Burundi, are the first non American born/citizen, to win the Global Social Venture Competition. [Read more.]

I’m happy for them. I really am. But if they’re not getting a cut of the millions that will likely be made off their invention, I’ll be ready to set some things on fire.

Twenty five fucking thousand???? FUCK that shit. I’ma need them kids to be millionaires

yesterday.

No Title

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 16:31:31 -0400

The ability to be surrounded but feel completely isolated

Moving at a pace that causes people to break around you

Like a rock in the river

You’re subtly moving

But not enough to keep up

Yet your desire to keep up has not been lost

Although it is trod upon by the reality

You are not the you you used to be

Being an alien in your own body

Where do you stand, or can you stand

You can

Kneel

And pray

Because you remember that

You know that from the place when you were well

From the time when you were you

You remember to bow before the Almighty and give Him praise

For the wins of today

Even if they are few

Even few, they are more than is your due

Because if God were to turn His face away

Then where would you be

You wouldn’t be

Couldn’t be

Who knew that walking in faith could be metaphorical

When you’re barely able to walk

Your muscles and mind in two different places

Can’t face it

The difference between sick and well

Is hell

Only those that know how easily the body fails

Can know the sense of hopelessness and misery

When pain is closer than memories of better times

When your body was under your control

Because that was yesterday

Or many yesterdays ago

And each day that unfolds reminds you that you’re not there anymore

Not now

Not when headaches leave you to quake with nausea

Every breath threatening to push up whatever’s inside

Whatever still resides from the last time

Can’t even make it to the bathroom

The effort it takes

To crawl

And you’re thankful for that

The ability to crawl

On the days you can crawl at all

But it feels so strange

How is it that last year was fine

And this year I find myself here

An alien in my own skin

Trapped within this sickness

A prisoner of my body’s wacked out chemistry

Wishing for relief

Praying for the vertigo to cease

Wondering what the future holds for me

When I have the wherewithal to think

And I don’t

Not if it’s not a good day

Just need sleep

And its sweet release

Give me darkness

Take away the sound

Let me lay here in the stillness

Until relief is found

And I thank you God for this respite

Until I wake again

And another episode begins

We'll Never Be by Aria: My foray into songwriting. This song is about a relationship ending.

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 23:37:01 -0400

Waking up all alone gives me
Perspective that I never knew
I was so deep in love
So deep in love with you
Throwing clothes in my suitcase
Deciding if these pictures I should take
Though I know what I’ve got to do
I can’t shake this persistent ache

But eventually
The storm clears
When I lay alone
With my tears

(And now I know)

We’ll never be
What we could be
Want to shoot for the stars
But you’re grounding
Me
We’ll never be
What we could be
Cuz you’re holding on to the past
So tightly
It’s time for me to leave

It hurts to let go but I know it’s for the best
God please strengthen my heart
As I go through this test
I guess I saw this coming
But I didn’t want to believe
I thought if I loved you hard enough
You could never forsake me

But eventually
The storm clears
When I lay alone
With my tears

But eventually
The fog clears
When I lay alone
With my fears

(And now I know)

We’ll never be
What we could be
Want to shoot for the stars
But you’re grounding
Me
We’ll never be
What we could be
Cuz you’re holding on to the past
So tightly
It’s time for me to leave

Reflections of a Very Young Girl

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 23:35:02 -0400

The sunset is always more soothing for those who look forward to the night

But I didn’t

I knew what night would bring

And I shivered

Shivered in a balmy 75 degree night

Knowing

It was the knowing that made it worse

Knowing that it was time to work

To “put up or shut up” as he said

My pimp

He was real smart

Or so he told himself

Smart enough to “make this money”

I always thought he was smart enough not to get fucked

And let the others fuck for him

That’s the kind of intelligence I wish I had

But I don’t

I dropped out of school at twelve

When the bruises my mom inflicted became too much to hide

But the social workers were too busy with other cases to take mine

Maybe I wasn’t morose enough

I was always a happy child

Maybe our neighborhood was too scary for some fully educated college grad to stop in

Or maybe I was like every other girl in the hood

A commodity made more valuable by the scar

“Good girls aren’t worth shit.”

He was right

But I wasn’t one of them

My mom taught me that

No I was something else

Right now I was someone who had to “make this money”

I hated hearing him say that

Mostly because I knew he was right

I had to support myself

And if I didn’t work, I didn’t eat

But worse if I didn’t work

I didn’t eat and I’d get beaten

Those two things didn’t go together

Have you ever been kicked in an empty stomach

I have

I needed a drink

That’s one thing that my pimp, used to be my boyfriend, always had

“For the nerves”

You’d think I would have been out here long enough

You know, to not have nerves

To not feel

To not need the anesthetic

To be able to get on my knees

Or lift my skirt

Or to kiss amorously

A stranger

A paying customer

But I did

I still needed the pain killer

The pain both mental and physical would leave me

If I had a drink

Well, not one

Many

“Just don’t be sloppy, bitch.”

I could hold my liquor

Enough to remember how to get most men off quickly

Quick was a necessity

You didn’t want to be with a trick all night

One

It didn’t make money

And if it didn’t make money it didn’t make sense

Two

A young impressionable girl might get it into her head that she’s special

I’d done that before

Two years ago on my fifteenth birthday

I’d thought I was special (briefly)

That one of my regulars might really care

That he might take me away from here

Like Julia Roberts’ character

What a dumb ass movie

It’d been my favorite

But I was a “dumb ass bitch”

See, my pimp agrees

And he knows me

He’d been sniffing around before I was a teen

He was a regular part of my community

A predator

Wiser, older

He was a real man

He even had a “real woman” and a good job

I had this

But I guess he kept his promises

Said he’d take me away from a broken home

And he had

Said he’d take care of me

And he was

I mean as long as I did my part

We were a team

Said he’d always love me

And he does

He spends more time on me than any of his other girls

So I know he loves me

And one day he’ll take me away from even this

I feel it

I know it

He told me so

But right now I’ve got to make him proud

Got to make him happy

Got to find someone who

“Wanna date?”

Vlogging: Entry 1

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 23:17:13 -0400

Vlogging: Entry 1

Blinded by Power and Privilege

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 17:39:56 -0500

What we take for granted, other people don’t even have access to.

Paul Ryan: I didn’t lose because of the issues, I lost because of the "urban" vote

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 14:50:31 -0500

Paul Ryan: I didn’t lose because of the issues, I lost because of the "urban" vote:

invisiblelad:

Code so subtle I almost missed it…

Ah, it was the “minorities” that are taking over. It’s not my ideas or my persuasiveness or anything having to do with me.

Minority Report - Television

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 10:39:31 -0400

Why is it that there can only be one minority on every show? In order for a show to be acceptable you can only have one Black, or one Latino/a, or one Indian. What’s the deal? Two must be a deal breaker.

fuckyeah-nerdery: I love you, Jennifer Walters.

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 09:42:20 -0400

fuckyeah-nerdery:

I love you, Jennifer Walters.

ladyatheist: I’m bringing this back, again, because people...

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 09:21:51 -0400

ladyatheist:

I’m bringing this back, again, because people still don’t understand what black-face exactly is and why it’s not ok.

ladyatheist:

So, I saw this on my dash and the first line literally made me drop my phone and walk away. I’m going to try to explain this as calmly as possible because I want to believe the person that asked the question did not mean any harm.

For one, you can’t just paint your face, put on some stereotypical “ghetto” clothes and be black. For you paint yourself and “be black” for one day and just wash it off and go back to your privileged existence is very insulting. My skin color never goes away. No matter how many showers I take or how much soap I use, I will always be black.

I will always face discrimination based on my skin tone. By wearing blackface, white people can make fun of the stereotypical black person. I have to live that. Every time I go out with my son, I get the looks of disgust and pity. They don’t have to say anything, but I know exactly what they’re thinking.

“There’s another black single mother.”

“I wonder where the father is.”

“Does she know who the father is?”

“He’s probably in jail somewhere.”

“I wonder how many other kids she has.”

“She’s probably on welfare. She’s just abusing the system.”

Funnily enough, some of those things have been said to me. By painting your face black and pretending to be me, you belittle my experience. You make my existence as a black woman in America a joke.

Secondly, there’s the history of the practice itself. The practice of white men applying burnt cork their faces and pretending to be “black people” originated in the minstrel shows of the 1800’s. The practice became so ingrained in American culture that we still use terms originated in those shows today. For example:

Jim Crow — This term originated in 1830. A white minstrel show performer Thomas “Daddy” Rice put on blackface and danced around on stage sing the song “Jumping Jim Crow”.

Zip Coon — This character was first performed by George Dixon in 1834. It was meant to be a mockery of free blacks. He was arrogant, dressed in high style and spoke in puns that undermined his attempts to appear dignified.

Coon — The characters Jim Crow and Zip Coon eventually merged into one stereotype and that’s where we get this term.

Mammy — She’s the wise and very independent old black woman. You can still see her face on pancake boxes today.

Uncle Tom — He was the good, religious and sober man. You can still see him on boxes of rice today.

Buck — The big, menacing, proud black man who loves white women.

Wench and/or Jezebel — She’s the temptress. In the minstrel era, she was played by a man in woman’s clothing.

Mulatto — The mixed race male or female. They usually passed as white in the shows until it was revealed by another character that they had “negro” blood.

Pickaninny — They were the children with unruly hair, red lips and wide mouths in which they usually had a slice of watermelon.

All of those stereotypes started in minstrel shows, carried over in to film and are most likely recognizable today. Blackface is not as simple as putting on a costume and having fun. It is a horrible act with a very painful past. The stereotypes started in the minstrel show era are the stereotypes that I have to fight against on a daily basis.

If you didn’t read all the way through this or don’t have the time, at the very least check out these links to see exactly why blackface is racist and harmful.

1950 Blackface Performance

Mammy scene in The Jolson Story

Blackface Montage

Seriously. Just google Blackface or type it into YouTube. You’ll see in 5 minutes why black people hate it.

Audio

Thu, 31 May 2012 17:15:20 -0400

American "Education"

Thu, 31 May 2012 16:58:08 -0400

The American education system is poisonous to “minorities” and indigenous people. It leaves them out of history and makes them believe that white people are smarter, better and more apt to be successful. Of course, this isn’t given to people straight out, it’s in the lack of information about other people’s history, the vantage point in which America is always the good guy, and the lack of “minority” teachers teaching “minority” students.

It’s the dependency on the government to be the solution for everything. Now this is not to say that the government doesn’t have a role in our communities but, when we depend on the government for our necessities then we don’t have control over the quality of what we’re given. Thus, depending on American government to give “minorities” the education needed to be free of the dominant racial group’s societal ills (read white) is unrealistic and frankly child-like in its naivete.

We’re not going to get a full and well-balanced education from a government controlled by the dominant racial group (read white, again) because it’s not in their best interest.

And when I say their I’m not talking about a conspiracy created by white people through memos in their inbox but more by the way they are bystanders to other people’s struggles by systematically blinding themselves to injustice. This is not to condemn an individual but to accuse a people of choosing a path of supposed non-involvement that directly benefits them and serves to oppress other groups by delegitamizing their experience. In essence, white people (again on the whole) see the atrocities committed to other American citizens (not to mention those outside our borders) and pretend they don’t while ironically continuing to give excuses for the reason things are the way they are.

However, what excuse is there for the not allowing Mexican-American students in Arizona to learn about their history? Or not having African or African-American studies in schools where those students make up the majority of the population? Or better yet, why aren’t the peoples that have helped create and grow America included in American history? If it is our history, then it should be a shared one because no one group independently created what we now have. Of course you wouldn’t know that from the content of our “history” books.

Why? Again because it doesn’t benefit the dominant racial group to do so. Knowledge is Power according to Sir Francis Bacon (an aphorism I’m sure we’re all aware of) and empowering people makes those on the top believe that the end of their time on top would come to a rather abrupt end (which is not altogether an incorrect assumption). However, what white people and “minorities” fail to realize as a whole is the toxicity of this position.

Racism, sexism, and injustice in the education system impregnates the entire society. Students without self-awareness and a deep and abiding understanding of and commitment to their community do not maximize their potential as American citizens or as citizens of their racial group (the focus of this particular argument). Thus, increasing some of our societal ills and decreasing the actualization our collective potential as an American society.

How can we be expected to compete with other countries when we keep our boot on the necks of our “minority” population? Because truly, “A house divided against itself can not stand.” - Abraham Lincoln.

Additionally, white people need to think about how racism affects them both individually and collectively. I would argue that racism traps the perpetrator in as much as it cages the victim. (There’s a particular part of Roots by Alex Haley that briefly addresses this) But it is not my place to define that for white people. They must define and address their issues on their own.

However, as far as “minorities” go, we must stop looking outside ourselves for the answers to our problems. In order to change the output we must change the input. Thus, if we want better educated and able members of our community we must educate ourselves. Instead of giving our education over to the hands of outsiders expecting something different than we’ve always received we must handle our own issues. It is way past time that we create and support our own schools independent of the American education system. In this way, we create a system that balances the “knowledge” (read dominant racial group’s ideology) we’ve been force-fed by the American education system for far too long.

Noam Chompsky and Media (This is so hype)

Thu, 31 May 2012 16:04:47 -0400

Noam Chompsky and Media (This is so hype)

Education Unchanged

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 10:02:00 -0500

Is education any different now than it was pre-World War II?

Before World War II education was mostly for upper-class white men. It was for the privileged. Our colleges and universities were not ethnically or economically very diverse.

If we step back even father, we can look at the educational roots of our country. Our American forefathers were able to go to institutions of higher learning because they could afford it and they had the time. However, their poorer counterparts or those who worked for free (so that they could have the economics to enjoy such a luxury as an education) were not able to enjoy those same privileges. In fact, it wasn’t until 1642 that working class people had any form of education. But that was to educate them to the level of their station making it possible for them to follow the laws of the land and the codes they were to adhere to. Thus, educating you so you can do as you’re told. Nice.

Yet, was this any different for our wealthy forefathers. Yes and no. It was different in that their education had the purpose of providing for them the means of changing the laws around them. They were the league of people that made the very laws that the rest of society would have to adhere to. Thus, their education was not to adhere to laws but to create and debate the laws themselves. However, there was one clear similarity between the two classes. Both working class and upper class members were educated to the level of their station.

Has this changed? Aren’t we still doing this today?

I recently ran into this idea when I applied for a job at FedEx. For this to make sense, you have to understand that I have been a career teacher for ten years and hold a degree from Tulane University in Business Management. I’ve had access to an upper to upper-middle class education and have worked with others of the Ivy League ilk. I say this not because I’m bragging but because it will later illustrate my point.

Now when I decided not to teach for a while it became quickly evident that if you’ve been in one career since your graduation it become difficult to move to another career. Employers are skeptical that the skills you have developed as a teacher translate to their businesses. (If only they knew. Pardon the aside.)

So when I applied for a job at FedEx, within their process they tried to help people get an education at the same time. Neat, right? I thought so. So, I decided to listen to their spiel. The man on the phone took some very basic information about where I see myself in 3-5 years and if I was really interested in furthering my education and if so, in what field. Then he hooked me up with a recruiter from the organization and he asked me the same questions and allowed me to ask questions about his school. Again, I think this is a very good program. In one phone call, I went from looking for a job to trying to get a degree at the same time and talking to someone who could help me get one. It was streamlined and very helpful.

However, this isn’t the crux of my argument just the part that will help you better understand said argument. The important part comes when we discussed aspects of the school, which was an online community. Did they have real-world experiences that would prepare you for work in business? No. Were there group assignments that prepared you for being a team member? No. Did they have statistics on the hiring rate of their graduates or what type of jobs their graduates got after graduation? No. Way too many no’s. I became concerned.

Now, if I hadn’t already looked at business schools that have these things, or if I hadn’t already gone to a university that provided these things, I wouldn’t have known what questions to ask or even that these aspects were important.

The point being: those with access to more continue to access more and those without access continue not to have access.

If I hadn’t already had access to people with greater wealth than I and higher connections than I, this little black girl from a working/middle class background would have continually settled for less - without my knowledge - even while striving for more. Thus, the person who takes on the financial burden of getting a Bachelor’s or Master’s, but is constrained by the finances, education, and access of their station still has a substandard degree because degrees that mean a lot are still for those with the means to get alot anyway.

In many ways, we’re still in the period between the colonization of America and the 1940s. We’re still educating people up to their station. Thus, our society is more like a caste system than we would ever admit to. Although politics have changed and minorities and women have more access to education than ever before, we are still not a society that has a permeable membrane between classes. A working/middle class education may increase your fiscal earnings but it doesn’t increase your standing. You’re still in the group of people that adhere to the laws and not the ones that shape them.

For Women: Is Sex just Sex?

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:59:00 -0500

I know that in the 21st century women are happy to say that they are mostly no different than men. Feminists might say there is no difference and thus our rights should be no different. I agree with that when it comes to creating bills and laws. For instance, I think that a woman and a man should be paid equal wages for equal work. I believe that women should be able to govern their own bodies as men do. However, I wonder if men and women are equal on one front? Can women and men have no-strings attached sex in the same way?

I’m not sure. Clearly, Sex in the City would lead me to believe they can but in all of their relationships save Samantha’s didn’t they wind up falling for some man they were sleeping with? In truth, weren’t Carrie and Charlotte always looking for love? It was only Miranda and Samantha that didn’t think they would find it or didn’t want it respectively. However, even not thinking you’ll find it is not the same as not wanting it. Thus, you could argue that 75% of the characters were indeed looking for love. Therefore, sex was not just sex…in the city.

I point this out not because I want to write a critique on the intricacies of Sex in the City but more because as 21st century women, I feel we have started to delude ourselves in a fundamental way. We truly want to believe that sex is just sex and that men and women can have sex with no strings. Conventional wisdom tells us that men can. Not all men of course. Some men love relationships and crave the companionship of one partner. However, statistically men do tend to have more partners than women and do not have the same emotional attachments as women have through intercourse. And on the flip side, I’m sure there is a minority of women who are Samantha’s. Sex is just sex and the idea of a relationship is anathema to their sex drive.

Yet, I would argue that most women are either flat out looking for love when they get into these sexual relationships or begin to fall in love or in what they perceive as love during the course of a sexual relationship. The truth is, there is something truly intimate about taking a man into your body. How could it not be? In fact, from study I have found that the pheromones released during this time causes the woman to feel more attracted and connected to her partner. And that’s simply the science of it.

Therefore, as women, when we say we are equal to a man in this arena aren’t we just fooling ourselves? Isn’t it just wishful thinking? We want to be equal to a man when it comes to sex. It would make things easier. However, maybe this is more true. We want to be able to have no-string attached affairs like men because the thought of you caring when he doesn’t is just too painful