Letter to IM

Facebook never ceases to shock:

keep taking money away from education, year after year, then call what's left inadequate and not worth it... yep... perfect logic. <sarcasm intended>
"my nigg", "my bro", "my friend", "BFF"... take your pick... there are many more to choose from...

13 hours ago · Like · 1

Oh IM. Really?
So just to clarify since you 'liked' Tina's last comment, you think it's okay for your friends to call you 'my n*gga'? Because you did refriend me after all. And you continue to 'refriend' me time and again even though I seem to hit on every last nerve of your liberal ideology.

Which is okay.
It's okaaayyyyy.
We have a shared love of New Wave music and shared memories from high school.
Plus we also love little fluffy kittens and furry puppies.

But your 'Like' on this comment leaves me a bit ferbimmled.

Just trying to maneuver around this minefield of political correctness.

I'll be honest. I'm a teensy bit uncomfortable with that type of language.... so if it's okay, Ill refrain from that type of language. But maybe we just need to be BETTER friends.

......No, pretty much not going to use it then, either.

This makes things just so hard!

Particularly since the last time I saw someone called that the boy ended up with a tray of paint in his face. It was Jefferson Elementary School and the boy got offended. He has that right.

(Yay for public schools in the 1970s!!! )

Just wondering if the tides have turned so much in the world.
Since you are a 'progressive Democrat woman of color' can you guide me through the proper usage of that word?
Because apparently I am behind the 'cool curve' here.
 (Clasping hands in anticipation!)
Can't wait to hear what other words are okay. Like 'bitch' or 'ho' or 'slut' or 'whore'.
I kind of like 'whore', actually.
My whores. Like 'my n*ggas'. But no. Because you're not my whore.
 I'm not sleeping with you.
So that won't work either.

I don't like 'my n*gga'. If I were to use any term of endearment, it would probably be 'my houseslave', since those were the prettier women with the more pleasant demeanors. They were the ones the Massa wanted around to look at. The 'n*ggas' were the ones in the fields away from the plantation owners and their families.

But the houseslaves!
Those would have been the ones to tighten up my corsets or turn down my bedsheets (hey  I saw 'Gone with the Wind').

So no, I will never ever call you 'my nigga' and no, I'll never ever call you 'my houseslave', either.

Being friends with Liberals is so complicated!

Is her permission to refer to her as a word -which I'd grown up believing to be hate-filled- an implicit 'okay' from all women and men of color?
Is there different standards of conduct given to different groups of people? Should we feel more comfortable with the usage of those words with only SOME people, but not others? How do we maneuver through which ones are appropriate?
'My n*gga' to my best friend: Okay?
'My n*gga' to my President: Not Okay?
It gets confusing for us white folk.
So many different lessons we're taught growing up.

In the 1970's there was a series of Mattel dolls called the "American History Collection". I remember going to PayLess Drug with my Mom one evening after school. The toy aisle was close to the fabric section where my Mom was perusing the bolts of fabric for some new sewing project.

I stood in the toy aisle and held on to the Civil War plantation doll for a long long while. I was admiring her tilted cartwheel hat, her coppery ringlets and the tiered dress of her surprisingly authentic costume.

Mom came to find me and I announced that I'd found a doll that was like the characters on that miniseries we were watching, 'Roots'.
(BTW, great cross-marketing schedule there, Mattel! Tying in a new doll introduction with a major network mini-series! Brill!)

I said, I'd really like to get her.
Mom said, 'You know, that wasn't the greatest time in our nation's history. People owned slaves. That woman may have been the daughter of a plantation owner. It's not a time period we should really be proud of. I'm not going to buy it for you. '
I said 'I wouldn't be mean to my slaves. I'd be a NICE Master! I wouldn't beat them!'

Mom turned her back and started walking away.
'No one should even joke about owning slaves. It's not funny and it wasn't right then and it wouldn't be right now. No one has the right to 'own' another human being.'

35 years later those instances and experiences defined who I am today.

I have a dream
 that my children will never use words like 'my n*gga' as a term of endearment to their friends. Regardless of their skin color.
History doesn't change.

Mommyrant on MLK Day

I have a dream:
That our nation's President would not identify himself as a relative to a teenage gang member.
That our nation's President would identify with an Australian native gunned down in gang violence. 
That our President's largest political donors would not have made their money by selling drugs and making rap music that promotes misogyny, rape, gang violence, gun violence and racism. 
That our President's largest political donors would not make money by using words like "Nigger" in their song lyrics.
That our President's social programs would not continue to enslave our downtrodden and underserved.
That our President's international policies would not continue to enslave our nation to Middle Eastern vagaries and Middle Eastern oil.
That our President's treatment of our white Ambassador and our white servicemen killed in Libya would garner a moment's notice---but the death of a black teenaged gang member would not made the nightly news for months in a row.
That our President's response to the death of a 88 year old white man WWII veteran killed by black man in Washington would not be silence.
That the legacy of our first 'black' President would be one of skyrocketing debt, drone strikes, major metropolitan areas being abandoned, the exclusion of his family and our federal elected officials from his nationalized social medicine program and the spying on and bigotry against some of our country's own citizens.
I have a dream.
Go on, President Obama, go to the Monument and make today all about you.
This was not Martin Luther King Jr's Dream.
This would have been his nightmare.

Not a TS Fan

I'm sorry
I couldn't help but think about this when I saw the picture of Taylor Swift and Bruno Mars.

Holly Homemaker Tip #9,360

Tip:

When a Loved One chooses not to cover the food they are reheating in the microwave, therefore leaving you a crusted-over impregnated mess into your oven interior do the following:

Pour a cup of vinegar (any old plain kind will do don't waste your yummy balsamic vinegar. This is a disaster not a dressing.) in a microwave-safe glass and heat in the microwave for about 1 min.

Then clean with a papertowel. Foodstuffs swipe right off.

Respond. Not React.