http://www.uky.edu/StudentOrgs/AWARE/archives/lynch.html
Today at work, we had a series of presentations for Black History Month. There were various presentations ranging from the birth of the black sorority and fraternity, to talks about African culture and African games. The presentation my coworker and I (but mostly him...actually completely him) gave was on the infamous Willie Lynch speech of 1712. Above is a link to the speech, and some quick background can be found on Wikipedia, but I encourage you to read the speech before continuing, as you will not get the full impact of what I am talking about otherwise.
There is much debate as to whether the story is contrived or real, but regardless it still sends a powerful message to generations past and present. As the speech goes, Lynch devised a plan on how to control slaves more effectively than with hangings. He told the slave owners to cause division among slaves based on age, "'Color' or shade, intelligence, size, sex, size of plantations, status on plantation, attitude of owners, whether the slave live in the valley, on hill, East, West, North, South, have fine hair, coarse hair, or is tall or short." He asserts that distrust and envy will be greater among the slaves than admiration and trust, and that the slaves must love and trust only the owners. Finally, he claims that if this method is used rigorously, it will create a cycle for generations.
And he was right. You could go through each category he listed and find correlations in today's black community. For instance, some of you may have heard arguments about whether lighter skinned black people are more stuck up, or better looking, than darker skinned black people. Some of the mentality can be attributed to the fact that the fair skinned black people were given house jobs as opposed to field jobs, as well as better clothes and over all treatment. Another correlation you see is between where a person lives. Today's communities as a whole claim West Coast, East Coast, "Dirty South", and "Killadelphia", just to name a few. And even within those, several more microcosms will form till neighborhoods are split into "territories". Finally, fine hair versus coarse hair, or as you may have heard, good hair versus bad hair. There is no such thing as good hair or bad hair, however these are just a few of the mentalities and stereotypes that are perpetuated in our society.
Of course, this is not completely due to the actions taken by slave owners, but the remnants of the mentality instilled in slaves remains. To shed more light on this, consider this theoretical experiment. Five gorillas (and if you do not believe gorillas would act this way, substitute the animal at your leisure) are placed in a room with a banana on the ceiling and a ladder leading to it. Every time one of the gorillas reaches for the banana, they are all sprayed with ice cold water. Eventually the gorillas start to restrain one another if any gorilla tries to go after the banana so soon no gorillas go after it. When this happens, one gorilla is replaced by a new gorilla and when this gorilla tries to go after the banana, it is restrained by the others. Eventually, it learns not to go after the banana, and when this happens a new gorilla is substituted for an older one, till there is a total of five new gorillas. However, none of them go after the banana, even though they do not know why. It has become a characteristic passed on from one generation to the next to not reach for the banana, even though the new generation doesn't know why.
To bring this to a close, it is important for not only the black community, but all minority communities to understand their history and the attitudes and mentalities upon which our society was formed. In all communities, there is division based on shade, sex, and where you live among other things. Furthermore, even if you do not identify with your historical motherland, it is important to know where you come from. Knowing where you came from helps you decide where you are going and it is still part of your history. Understanding the stereotypes and mentalities that have made us who we are as a people today is the first step to breaking them and succeeding.
Black History is not something long past to be forgiven and forgotten. Black History is struggle that we must remember, embrace, and use as an impetus to change.
Black History is Our History. Black History is Our Story.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
In Honor of Black History Month...
Monday, February 4, 2008
Why I Fired My Secretary
Last week was my birthday
and I didn't feel very well
waking up on that morning.
I went downstairs for breakfast
hoping my wife would be pleasant and say,
'Happy Birthday!',
and possibly have a small present for me.
As it turned out,
she barely said good morning,
let alone
' Happy Birthday.'
I thought...
Well, that's marriage for you,
but the kids...
They will remember.
My kids came bounding down stairs to breakfast
and didn't say a word.
So when I left for the office,
I felt pretty low
and somewhat despondent.
As I walked into my office,
my secretary Jane said,
'Good Morning Boss,
and by the way,
Happy Birthday ! '
It felt a little better
that at least someone had remembered.
I worked until one o'clock ,
when Jane knocked on my door
and said, 'You know,
It's such a beautiful day outside,
and it is your Birthday,
what do you say we go out to lunch,
just you and me.'
I said, 'Thanks, Jane,
that's the greatest thing
I've heard all day.
Let's go !'
We went to lunch.
But we didn't go
where we normally would go.
She chose instead at a quiet bistro
with a private table.
We had two martinis each
and I enjoyed the meal tremendously.
On the way back to the office,
Jane said, 'You know,
It's such a beautiful day...
We don't need to go straight back to the office,
Do We ?'
I responded,
'I guess not.
What do you have in mind ?'
She said,
'Let's drop by my apartment,
it's just around the corner.'
After arriving at her apartment,
Jane turned to me and said,
' Boss, if you don't mind,
I'm going to step into the bedroom
for just a moment.
I'll be right back.'
'Ok.' I nervously replied.
She went into the bedroom and,
after a couple of minutes,
she came out
carrying a huge birthday cake ...
Followed
by my wife,
my kids,
and dozens of my friends
and co-workers,
all singing 'Happy Birthday'.
And I just sat there...
On the couch...
Naked.
Sacralicious
Sacrilegious + delicious = title of this post. (Simpsons)
I didn't find much funny about this trailer until I heard Samuel L. Jackson's final outburst. Is it me or will there be a trend in portraying god as a famous black actor... Morgan Freeman in Bruce Almighty, now Samuel L in this weirdo film hehe.
Either way, I am a huge fan of religious parodying because I believe people sometimes take religion too seriously. This may result in the occasional embarrassing conversation or, at the other extreme, a holy war - which is an oxymoron that demeans both the "holy" and the "war" aspect of the phrase. I feel that one can get a better understanding of their faith if they were to take it less seriously. Does that make sense? I really don't think I'm saying what I'm thinking... Ok, enough preaching, I really just wanted to show that stupid trailer.
Religion is easy. Math is hard.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Beauty of Organic Interaction
Medical animator David Bolinsky creates a movie to bolster student's understanding of biological processes in the cell. Even though this movie is just a glimpse of intracellular interaction, it nourishes and enriches the sophistication of such knowledge by portraying the cell as a ballet of organic interactions and an elegant continuum of complexity. I hope such visual aesthetics instills an ebullient experience for erudites and dilettantes alike.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Godwin's Law
Hey all. I do not have a serious post just yet. (Those are reserved for thursday nights/friday afternoons) but just to whet your palate, here's something I found amusing and interesting.
Godwin's Law, also known as Godwin's Rule as Nazi analogies, states:
"As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one."
Anyway, this came about by Godwin's study of memetics; more specifically, the study of internet forums as the conversations became older. He found that there was a correlation (humorous, but true) between how old a topic was and how frequently Hitler or a Nazi analogy was introduced into the discussion.
So next time you are in a rather long winded conversation, talk about Hitler...everyone does it!
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Boogie Bandits Trailer
Boogie Bandits is a small bboy crew that started the day of Rhythmic Damage on November 18, 2006. The three members are myself, Ironik (boog), and Foxx. Ronny made the trailer in high quality youtube format. I recommend you watch it.
Monday, January 28, 2008
There is No Box - Cradle to Cradle
Please Please PLEASE watch this video! This is for anyone who does not think that they can make a difference in this world. All the people who have given up and accepted the seemingly doomed state of the planet. We CAN make a difference and we can do this in so many ways. We can think and rethink projects, design and develop mind blowing ideas, and, most importantly, stay active by showing our support for those who have taken those first major leaps for mankind.
My next stop is to buy the Cradle to Cradle book to learn more about this. Just... amazing.
