Normally, I might feel some type of way about something like this, but I actually saw it when it aired and it had me cheesin' all over the place. Why? This guy was super happy about his moves and was excited to perform them. He wasn't trying to be African, nope just a white guy in America, who happens to know African dance. I would like to give a big thank you to his university for making African dance mandatory!

There's a video floating around my Facebook page. It's a little boy talking to a woman named Linda. He's trying to reason with his mother, Linda. It appears that him and another child, Kevin, were caught with their hand in the cupcake box and he doesn't want to get "pa-pows on his butt."

Perhaps this is a new millennial way of parenting, but for sure when I was growing up, even at 3-years-old, I knew not to speak to my parents or other elders as if they were my peers, and I would certainly not refer to my parents by their first name. I wonder how often Linda is spoken to like this because this child had to learn it somewhere. In any accounts, she thinks it's cute and harmless or she wouldn't have recorded it and posted it on Youtube. 

What do you think? Is this too cute or too grown?  

I remember the first time I heard Nina Simone in the early '90s. My friend from California sent me a mixtape filled with the best in grunge/alternative music at the time. I remember singing to PJ Harvey, Natalie Merchant, and R.E.M., but it was the last song on the B-side that stopped me cold. “Birds in the sky, you know how I feel. Sun in the sky, you know how I feel.” I remember going back over my friend’s letter to try and find out all I could about this Nina Simone. Fast-forward about two years, and I was ecstatic to hear Lauryn Hill name check Simone in the hit song “Ready or Not.”

I thought Lauryn and I were the only Nina Simone fans, and then I met Jennifer. She dated a friend and had a small collection of songs that opened up my Nina Simone world even more. While everyone was getting into neo-soul, I was getting into Ms. Simone. By now, I’d amassed my own ever-growing collection of cds, and drove my friends nuts by playing “Brown Eyed Handsome Man” over and over.

Ms. Simone would have been 81 today. More than her voice and the way she sang songs that made me want my own brown-eyed handsome man with black hair, it was her politics that made me love this woman.

Check out Ms. Simone in her own words on the importance of being Black:

On her life, marriages, American politics, and the first Black president and religion and how she got on: 

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Another black child is murdered in America without consequence and a dunk contest and Sprite trended on twitter.

Only fifteen days in, and this has been the most memorable Black History Month I can ever remember. In the second week alone, it was revealed how much racism and homophobia NFL player Jonathan Martin had to endure from his teammates and coach, Nicki Minaj released what is probably the most disrespectful picture of Malcom X ever, followed by an apology, and worse yet, Jordan Davis’ killer was not found guilty of his murder.

America has always, had a race problem, and no other state shines the light on this problem like Florida. Within a year, two non-Black men have been found not guilty of murdering two teenage Black boys. In both cases, the impetus for murder was that they simply existed. Neither Jordan Davis nor Trayvon Martin did anything other than exist in black bodies.

Jordan Davis

Some people like news anchor Don Lemon would like for people to think that Black people, teens in particular, need to change their behavior and become respectable citizens of this country. It was supposedly "thug music" that caused Dunn’s anger with the teens. The huge fallacy in the politics of respectability,or p.o.r. should be seen clearly in this case. The politics of respectability say that black parents should be married and responsible for their children and not mired down by poverty, sagging pants, and welfare. Davis and his parents cleared those hurdles. Davis and his friends had both access to an SUV and enough disposable income to spend at a convenience store.

Another problem with the politics of respectability is that it intimates that if you do come from a broken home, poverty, or sag your pants, that your life matters less, and that you get what you deserve. The politics of respectability does not look at a system that was not designed for people of color to find success out of servant roles in this country. The politics of respectability does not take into account post-reconstruction, when laws were put into place to keep black people in America from further succeeding, p.o.r. doesn’t talk about events like the bombing of Black WallStreet, or Rosewood. These were all respectable black people, in their own communities, minding their own business, much like Davis and his friends were minding their own business moments before his life was stolen.

I have packed and unpacked Black culture in America and American culture in general and I have come to the conclusion that I am tired of packing for a trip I did not ask to take. I am not driving this ship. I don’t own a gun, I don’t go around threatening people, and I don’t hold anyone’s race, sex, or gender against them. The work is not, nor has it really ever been, Black folks’ work to do. 

There is a real problem in America when there is outrage over a spirited post-game rant, jail time given for dog fighting, and silence for the loss of another black child. Until people of privilege admit that there is a problem with their logic and laws and work to improve them, nothing will change. Ever.

"I'm a grown woman!" I'm prone to whimsy and passionately short speeches. I was a #1 rated news producer and public school teacher. I'm a lover of art, tea, and humanity. My favorite books are Sassafrass, Cypress, & Indigo, Like Water for Chocolate, and Peel My Love Like an Onion. Yes, these novels all reference food. They also include lots of dancing and love. These are the things that make for a good life. Or rather, these are the things that have made my life good. I also have a food blog, check it out too.
Shots and tutus is my place to share what's on my mind, the good and the bad and to celebrate it all.

~Cheers