Links 'n stuff

Hello, and welcome back. Yes, I know it's been a while since I last wrote. I haven't really been in a writing frame of mind lately. Plus, it is sooooo nice to just jot a quick note on my favorite time waster..I mean website...

Facebook.

I love that when I find an interesting story or truly scary picture, I can just click a couple times, and voila! It magically appears for all of my facebook friends to read too.

But, I've decided to start posting those links here as well, perhaps with a bit more commentary.

Most of the time, it will probably be sometime silly or quirky or just plain odd. (The stories..although it could also describe me most of the time as well!)

But sometimes, like today, it will be a little more serious. Today, I read an article about a pregnant woman who is worried about what kind of life her child will have. She is worried because her child will be, as she said, "biracial". She is white, her husband in black. When the happy couple lived in New York or Atlanta, they had a "Benneton ad looking" circle of friends..black, white, asian, Hispanic, you name it. So, they thought their children would be brought up in this same sort of environment. Then, for reasons not given, they moved to Knoxville, Tennesee.

Hmm. Blonde woman and black man..meh..ok. Add a little baby Barack into the mix (so to speak)and how will that change the attitudes of the good ole boys (and girls!)?

Having lived the life of their as yet unborn child, I can understand her apprehension. But, thank goodness, the world has changed. No, we are NOT yet past all racial troubles. I seriously doubt that we ever will be. People will always find a way to break the human race into some sort of caste system...be it race, heritage, sexual identity, or gender. And if by some amazing chance all of those categories were somehow done away with, we would find a new and oh so wonderful way to be able to look up or down on our fellow humans.

Yes, we have changed. Yes, we now have a "black" man as the President of the United States. (And, yes, it DOES irk me to hear him labled as solely "black". He calls himself a "mutt". He was raised by a white woman and her white family in a white world. But, because his face is brown, he's automatically "black".)

But, we still have cross burnings. We still have church burnings. We still have hate crimes of every possible type. And, less dramatic, but no less noticable (at least by me), we still have segregated tv ads. Don't give me crap about "targeted audiences". Sure, a show may have more viewers that identify as one race or another. But is that a reason to have ALL ads either lily white or chocolate brown? I get so tired of only seeing all black ads on all black shows.

And while we're on the subject of tv shows, why is it that almost every "white" show has their token black, or two at the most. (And, yes, the reverse is also true for black shows/white cast. Still bugs me.)
Heaven help them if they lose their token. How to find ANOTHER black that will fit their show? Look at "Bones". The lab boss was an imposing black man. He left, and was replaced by (shocker!) an imposing black woman. Sigh.

So yes, the world has changed. And yes, life WILL be hard for those biracial children born into today's world. But NOT just because of his race.

His life will be hard because that is the way of life. If there is no struggle, there is no joy.

Whew. I'm off my rant now. Aren't you all glad?

http://www.lemondrop.com/2010/01/18/biracial-pregnancy-fears-in-the-south/