OK people,
My name it T and I cannot shut up !
I believe that people should share their thoughts, I love people and love exchanging ideas even more. So, here is the first post of my blog.
Fine: Let’s start...
The same day we elected a black guy to the White House, we pulled marriage rights from gay people in Cali and many more states. When I mean we, I must clarify I am speaking of the American people as a whole, but most specifically black American voters.
“70% of African Americans backed Prop. 8, exit poll finds
12:10 PM, November 5, 2008
A lot of Obama/Yes-on-8 voters? The Associated Press exit polls show that African Americans and Latinos backed Proposition 8 in good numbers. Details here from AP:
California's black and Latino voters, who turned out in droves for Barack Obama, also provided key support in favor of the state's same-sex marriage ban. Seven in 10 black voters backed a successful ballot measure to overturn the California Supreme Court's May decision allowing same-sex marriage, according to exit polls for The Associated Press.”
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2008/11/70-of-african-a.html
How does one not equate equal rights for gays with equal rights for blacks and women. How can black people see gay rights issues as anything but a civil right issue. The struggle for equal rights for gays is a civil rights struggle. Civil union for gays and marriage for straights is just one more form of separate but equal. Come on now people! We could even rewrite King's August 28, 1963 speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial
"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal... I have a dream that my fellow American ( four little children) will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by their sexual orientation (the color of their skin), but by the content of their character.”
What happened.... Separate but equal has changed hands, it was one used to speak of separation by race, now it speaks to separation by sexual orientation.
So, how do we educate our people about the moral imperative to promote equality for ALL: women, men, trans, straight, gay, bi-sexual, black, white, multi-ethnic?
Civil rights.... civil rights...
I won’t dismiss the fact that some black people believe that homosexuality is immoral, but I’d caution them that morality has often been used as a cloak for old-fashioned bigotry, fear and discomfort with people and behaviors that are different. “Immorality” was one of the rational behind separate but equal, and this might be THE reason why it is so easy for black North Americans to feel so strongly against gays and gay rights. Slavery has done more damage to this nation’s ‘people of color’ than any law can correct for.
Being black in America is being born into a long tradition of oppression and exclusion. Being made to feel like ‘less-than’ in one’s own country distorts the mind in dangerous ways.
A chat with a friend summarizes some of the thoughts I’m trying to articulate.
“ Why Prop 8 was so heavily backed by Blacks...........
If you really think about it, black people have been discriminated against in this country in as many ways a humanly possible (only last summer did a black man ever make it on the cover of VOGUE and, even then, it was a 6’9’’ 369lbs basketball player in a kingkong-esque posture holding a fragile defenseless white woman in his ‘paw’)[see: http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2008/03/vogue-lebron-james-african-americans.php].
Black people in America have been made to conform in order to be accepted. The unspoken rules: in corporate America, women must straighten their hair, in the median black man must ‘speak white’ and in advertising, no interracial couples (especially with black males). Black people must demonstrate everyday to their white that they deserve belonging in the greater community of the American people (as spelled out) by white America. They must outdo themselves to deserve that belonging, they must follow the rules, they must live and breath for by these rules, no moderation is allowed, and their master gave them a guide to that end: The Bible... The ultimate book of oppression: the Bible. It sets the rules for right and wrong, the book, which speaks of Master and Slave.... Black people have used it methodically as ‘the guide to good white living’.
Thy shall not...THY SHALL NOT...these are the words which set the tone for all Christian teachings (beginning with the 10 commandments) and these are the words which have shaped the history of black people in America.
Thy shall not walk on the same side of the street as the whites...
Thy shall not drink from the same fountain as the whites....
Thy shall not.... Thy shall not...
LEVITICUS 18:22 AND LEVITICUS 20:13
"Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination."
Leviticus 18:22
"If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them."
Leviticus 20:13
There is a history of violence again black people in American, and the only mean they have to purge themselves from this violence it to pass it on to their kids and onto themselves, to perpetuate it in any mean they can find.... Homophobia is only a mean to perpetuate this cycle of violence initiated in this country by slavery.
So yes, some 70% of black voted yes for prop 8. But. If you really think about it, this country has thought them how to hate. White people in this country have preached by example.
Not only blacks got to exercise their right to hate last Tuesday but those they got to hate are ironically in majority ( maybe in their eyes) privileged white men with foul values (the black sheep which make the good master look bad!)."
OH!!! YES WE CAN!
PS: no one ever seems to give much attention to JESUS’s teaching if love and respect...His teaching of love and tolerance for the sinner.
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3 comments:
You know I agree with you, but since when do people actually pay attention. Most people, bigots especially, pick and choose the parts of literature that they wish to use for their own ends. Especially when it comes to the Bible, religious zealots tend to forget the whole "love one another as I have loved you" and "judge not lest ye be judged", or my personal favorite "let he who is WITHOUT SIN cast the first stone". (see this is why people hate getting into these debates with me. I was raised Roman Catholic and can recite Scripture verbatim! Nothing like turning their own arguments against them!)
I also find it amazing that at least ONE state of the Union voted that it is OK to commit assisted suicide but gay marriage is still not OK, and abortion is still murder. *sigh*
United States Constitution
Amendment XIV
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
SIGH!!!
YES WE DID...
The sad thing is that neither Obama, nor the Kennedys he is surrounding himself with give a crap about real JUSTICE, it's all about PR. Well, maybe I am being a bit harsh...Obama want to reform ed, make college more accessible to the average American, etc.
I don't want to box him out yet ( not that he needs my help to get himself into the clinton-nnedy box) but unless he come out publicly an forcefully not only against ban on gay marriage but in support of equal rights for gay people in ALL the states of the US of A, Obama will be one more Sharpton/boombox, one more Jesse Jackson (a more polite and refined version of course), but not a man worthy of being compared with Dr. King.
King walk the walk and talked the talk....King was his own man, not JFK'man. King HAD A DREAM, he OWNED his dream, Obama's dream might turn out to be a lease...
SIGH
Hi Loud-T. I've also written about Blacks voting in mass number in support of Prop 8.
http://saltyspoetictales-salty.blogspot.com/2008/11/black-heterosexuals-part-1.html
It's hurtful that any people of color in America voted against equality. But as I stated in my write-up, Blacks are under the influence of the church. Slaves were stripped of names, culture and religion and christianity was forced on them. As much as American Black citizens don't want to admit it, they are still under the influence of White teachings. And hollywood plays apart in this also because It excludes programming about the different people in this country. In the movies and on tv, someone Black is paired up with someone White, and most times not paired up at all. And that's true with other people of color. Hollywood by excluding our stories basically say we don't have stories that White people would be interested in. It's psychological warfare. They know exactly what they are doing. The Black girl will pick the white doll over the black doll because she has been bombarded through tv viewing, that white is better. She doesn't see images of herself on tv. Turn on the tv and click through all the channels and maybe a Black person will be in the background of a limited few programs. And there are no drama shows that have a Black person playing the lead. Black kids have to look at music videos to see images of themselves and that is not always the best thing to be watching. Some Whites have always had a problem with Black sexuality and now Black heterosexuals, following white teachings and not thinking for themselves -- side with religion. The same religion used to justify slavery. Heterosexuals in general don't read our blogs or watch anything gay (except porn and that's not real), because they prefer NOT to know what our real issues are -- and that way they can pretend that we don't exist -- well except for the one or two that everybody knows in their neighborhood. Sorry for the length of this. I can get wordy.
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