I'm Moving to D.C. Baby!

I got the job on Capitol Hill!!!! I am so so excited! Come September 8, I will be working in the highly coveted (it really is. I beat out several other applicants) position of paid intern at THE FINANCIAL SERVICES ROUNDTABLE (visit them at www.fsround.org). They are one of the largest lobbying firms in the country. They represent banks and mortgage companies overseas and in the U.S. I get to sit in on meetings with the U.S. Senate and House. I also get to go to the White House occasionally. I am going to be putting my writing skills to good use in this job too. I will have to write up reports and summaries of what went on in the meetings I attend so that the company can put it up on their website, and in pamphlets for their clients and the whole world to read about! I am so thankful to God for this opportunity! Blessings come to those who are faithful and plan for their future.

Bridezilla=Delusional Bitch Bride from Hell

I really hate that show Bridezillas that comes on WE. It is so crazy how those women behave. I can't believe any guy would want to marry a woman after seeing her behave like a 5 year old by throwing a tantrum in the dress fitting shop, or cursing out a wedding planner. The women on there, or girls really, behave like animals, or someone who just escaped from an insane asylum. They treat their wedding party, fiance, friends, and family like crap during the whole episode; and then magically on their wedding day all is forgiven and they get to ride off into the sunset on a white steed and live happily ever after. *Gabby rolls eyes here*

That show gives young girls the wrong idea about what is the most important part of a wedding ceremony. Most girls and women seem to have this dream (it's more like an illusion) of having a huge, fit for a Queen, "perfect" wedding. That is NOT how it goes. 1.) There is no such thing as the "perfect" anything. 2.) A wedding ceremony is about two people coming together to make a sacred commitment to each other. It is not about "ballin out" and showing off. A wedding day is SUPPOSED to be about a person and their partner being joined together for life, not about having Swarovski crystal center pieces or an ice skating rink in the middle of your reception hall. 3.) People should focus less on that one day and more on their life afterwards.

I wish they had a follow up series with these couples a year or two later so we can see how they're doing. It could be called Bridezilla: How I'm Living Since I Went 40 Grand in Debt. I bet it sucks to wake up the next day after all the excitement and "hooplah" is over and have a mountain of debt with no friends left. The average marriage in the U.S. lasts 4 years. Why would anyone accumulate debt for one day of celebration when the bill has a 63% chance of outliving the marriage?

We've decided to Progress only to Digress

Up writing late because I have a headache (probably from stress). I just took my meds so hopefully those will help. Anyways, so my bestie can't stay at my house due to family issues, but thankfully she is still coming to Daytona for her vacation, so I can at least spend some time with her. My dad is still an ass, I am still waiting to see if I have to take out a loan to go to D.C. or is the internship going to pay for itself, I still wonder why I have to deal with all this, I wish I had a better support system, and I really need a sign from up above about what direction to take in my life. On a high note, dinner was exceptionally good tonight. We had boiled chicken, cornbread, green beans, and baked mac n cheese. I also got my newest MJ shirt in the mail today. I took a few new pics of myself wearing it along with my super cute pink and purple African Opal earrings. I needed a new Twitter pic.

In other news,

I wrote a letter in support of the Michael Jackson Resolution to Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. I mailed it off last week.

Speaking of Michael Jackson, the LAPD police have now publicly confirmed that MJ's private doctor, Dr. Conrad Murray, is being investigated for the crime of manslaughter for his role in the death of Jackson. The coroner found lethal levels of the powerful anesthetic Propofol/Diprivin in Jackson's system. The raid of Murray's Houston office turned up the drug. The drug was also found in Jackson's home. Murray has now fled from California. His lawyers believe he may be overseas.

I figured that Murray killed Jackson the first time he went MIA right after MJ died. A person who has nothing to hide wouldn't go missing. They would make themselves available for questioning immediately after the incident, not almost 24 hours later. That's was what made it obvious he was involved. He's a spineless, gutless, heartless murderer.

Oh, and Murray was also on suspension from the hospital where he worked at for ethic violations. No surprise there. I have a feeling that after Jackson's official toxicology report is made public there will be a lot more so called doctors (aka drug pushers with a degree) going down. Just because a patient offers a doctor a lot of money, it doesn't give the doctor the right to ignore the Hippocratic oath.

Moving On,

I am so sick of CNN talking about the Cambridge cop situation and the President's remarks. What the President did was no big deal. He just said they acted stupidly, which if you have read the police report, then you know that's true. The media and Republicans are just looking for anything to bag on Obama about. It's really pathetic. Well, I guess Lydon B. Johnson said it best, "Being President is like being a jackass in a hailstorm. There's nothing to do but to stand there and take it." People will portray you as an ass (Johnson was also a Democrat-the logo) at the littlest things, and make a big shit storm out of a little rain.

We also found out that the police lied today when they said that the female caller didn't identify the race of the men. She clearly made a reference to race on the 911 tape. "Um, well, there were two larger men. One looked kind of Hispanic, but I'm not really sure. And the other one entered and I didn't see what he looked like at all."

Whalen (the caller) saw "two black men with backpacks," entering the home and assumed they were breaking in. You know what they say about assuming, "Don't assume anything because then you make an ass out of us both." Her prejudices led her to assume that these "two Black men" were taking part in a criminal act, and she turned out to be totally wrong. She is partly to blame for this big mess. Her ass needs to come to the White House and explain herself.

Thanks to speaking with her, the police already had preconceived notions about what they were going to encounter. Sgt. Crowley knew that Gates was Black before entering the home which he had previously denied before the 911 tape surfaced. Anyways, Gates and the arresting police officer (Sgt. James Crowley) are supposed to meet with the President this Thursday for a beer to talk this whole situation over.

Something that happened recently that I thought was kinda funny was that someone left a couple of little picket signs on Gates' lawn calling HIM a racist. I laughed so hard. I can tell this was someone with no education because technically speaking (ask any scholar), Blacks and Hispanics can't be "racist." They can be prejudice. Prejudice is any judgment or opinion formed before the facts are known. In most cases, these opinions are founded on suspicion, intolerance, and the irrational hatred of other races, religions, creeds, or nationalities.

Racism is like prejudice with teeth if you will. It's taking your preconceived notions to another level and actually doing harm to another group, person, based on those thoughts. Personally-mediated, institutionalized, and internalized racism. The Cambridge cop and Ph.D. professor situation is an example of personally-mediated racism. This type of racism is characterized by differentiated assumptions about the abilities, motives, and intents of others according to race. Prejudice and discrimination fall into this category of racism.

Racism is only referred to as racism if it is inflicted by a member of the dominant culture onto a subordinate member of society. In other words, a group of people have to be in power to be considered racists. Since African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Muslims, etc are the minorities in America, it is inaccurate to refer to them as "racists."

CNN Celebrity

Last night during Don Lemon and his panelists' very frank discussion on race relations in the United States (an issue bought up by the Cambridge Cop and Harvard Professor situation &Black In American 2 ), one of my Twitter tweets on the subject was aired and read on live TV!! I was so psyched! My face and my response was on TV lol. I look even hotter on TV;) Anyways, afterwards I got some weird @ reply from some prejudice bastard calling Gates a crackhead and saying the cop had every right to arrest him. Yeah, his reply only further proved my point about racism in America. I just wanted to share. I'm weighing in again on the subject tonight. Maybe I'll get a second chance to be CNN famous;)

If One Of Us Is Chained...

At the recent centennial celebration of the NAACP's founding and courageous achievements, President Barack Obama challenged the nation's oldest civil rights group to continue pushing in the direction of eradicating the "prejudice, bigotry, and discrimination" that still blight America.

"The pain of discrimination is still felt in America. By African American women
paid less for doing the same work as colleagues of a different color and a
different gender. By Latinos made to feel unwelcome in their own country. By
Muslim Americans viewed with suspicion simply because they kneel down to pray to
their God. By our gay brothers and sisters, still taunted, still attacked, still
denied their rights...Discrimination cannot stand -- not on account of color or
gender; how you worship or who you love. Prejudice has no place in the United
States of America."

President Obama is not only the nation's first Black President, but he is the first U.S. President to put the struggles of the LGBT community under the umbrella of civil rights. This is so important because now it places political legitimacy on the fight of the LGBT community. That says that to deny their rights is to trample on the Constitution, Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. All of these landmark documents say that all men are created equal and promised freedom of liberties, but yet, the LGBT community is still being legally discriminated against in may ways. That is a damn shame and is unacceptable!

Some of the most passionate and influential supporters of full equality for gay Americans include such civil rights titans as NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, and Congressman John Lewis of Georgia. Bartlett, deputy director of the gay National Black Justice Coalition as well as a member of the NAACP, joined the President in urging the NAACP board of governors to pass supportive resolutions. "The LGBT community needs you. Black LGBT people need you," he stressed.

Bartlett is absolutely correct. Even today, Black members of the LGBT community are still shunned by the African American Community as a whole. It's sad but "gayness" is often viewed as a "White boy thing." Bartlett stated that "LGBT issues still are seen as different, and that supporting them is supporting white LGBT people rather than black LGBT people." This is a total misconception that needs to be changed. According to a 1998 national survey conducted by Time and CNN, more Hispanics find homosexuality acceptable than Blacks do.

That survey showed that only 21% of African Americans think that same sex marriage should be legal, while 36% said that it should be legal. 56% of Hispanics find the homosexual lifestyle acceptable as opposed to 44% of African Americans. Judging by the fact that more than 70% of African Americans backed Prop.8, I don't think too much has changed since then sadly. More than half of Latino voters supported Proposition 8.

That is pretty hypocritical considering what Blacks and Hispanics have gone through and continue to go through in regards to discrimination and racism. Shame on us! The saying goes that if one of us is chained, then none of us is free. That is so true. America can't claim to be the land of the free until EVERY America has equal liberties.


Some LGBT Good news:

1.) Gay rights groups' attempt to intervene in a federal challenge of California's Proposition 8.
2.)Two Valley Episcopal priests expressed support for last week's decision by the national church not to stand in the way of the ordination of openly gay clergy. This is in Virginia by the way. In 2003, the Episcopal Church approved the ordination of V. Gene Robinson, the denomination's first openly gay bishop.

Black In America

I watched Black in America II last night on CNN and I was very happy with it. Black In America II is a thought provoking, touching, and very inspirational follow up to the first. Black In America showcased the struggles that African American women (especially single), families, and our community as a whole faces in America. The special took an in depth look at the racial disparities between students and the devastating impact HIV/AIDS has had on the African American community. Soledad O'Brien also reports on the progress of black women in the workplace and the status of the black middle class.

I was especially happy to see the black middle class focused on because usually that is a part that White America likes to ignore or pretend doesn't exist. Not all African Americans are inner city and lower class. Approximately 52% of African Americans are considered middle class. Yet, the income gap between black and white families continues to remain significant. A 2005 census showed that Blacks earned only 65% of the wages of whites.

Black In America II focused a lot more on African American youth and education. In America it still stands that African Americans attend college at about half the rate of whites, but at a greater rate than Hispanic Americans. More African American women attend and complete college than men.

Part of the Black In America series that first aired back in July of 2008, Black In America: The Black Man, took viewers through the personal stories of graduates of the 1968 class of Little Rock Central High School. This part of the series investigated the state of the Black man in American society as far as disparities between blacks and whites in education, career, and economic achievements. The very high rate of Black male incarceration was also discussed. 13% of black men in 20s and early 30s incarcerated. Nationwide, black men are sent to prison on drug charges at 13 times the rate of white men.

BIA2 highlighted successful African Americans who are making a difference, like Principal Steve Perry. Steve Perry is a principal who with tough love and unyielding encouragement of his students, has managed to have have a dropout rate of zero in his school. Perry is not only the principle of Capital Prep, but he also founded the school four years ago. Capital Prep, a year-round school that is more than 80 percent black and Latino, can boast of sending every graduating member of its senior class on to a four-year college. Now that's the type of impact I like to see.

BIA2 made it a point to show our youth that no matter where you come from or start out, your possibilities are endless. Even though you might have a hard life there is always someone out there with less than you have. Your circumstances are never an excuse for you not to achieve your goals and reach for the stars. I especially loved the air time given to Tyler Perry who is the first African American to own a major film and TV studio. He's doing a lot to make change happen in the community.

I also felt like disparities in healthcare for African Americans was highlighted as well. This is another sad reality of being Black in America; many times we don't receive the care we deserve because of your skin color or economic status. Dr. Lisa Newman's story on TNBC, a rarer form of breast cancer, was a big eye opener to me. Statistics show that black women are twice as likely as white women to get it. Dr. Newman went to Ghana searching for answers on TNBC because very little is known about what causes it.

I like how Black in America 2 focuses on our current leaders and the development of future ones, as well as the positive impact being made by African Americans already in power. African Americans make huge contributions to America economically, scholastically, and socially. It's time that America start acknowledging the accomplishments of Blacks in America, and the great trials we still face living in this country. If we come together as a people and as a nation, we can reverse the negative effects and change America for the better.

Lil Wayne Disses Michael Jackson. Definitely Not A Good Look

A video surfaced of Lil Wayne doing a free style rap while a friend of his (the guy getting a tatt is acting like a little bitch about the pain by the way) gets a tattoo. In the rap Lil Wayne says “I pledge allegiance to the flag, Michael Jackson is a fag/ Coca Cola, Seven-Up, Pepsi Cola burnt him up." Yeah, there's ignorance at his finest.

He made fun of a trail blazer in his industry. I think it's safe to say had there not been a Michael Jackson then there would have been no Lil Wayne in music. Not only did Wayne use a homophobic hate slur against the late King of Pop, but he then made fun of a very serious burn accident Michael suffered.

If you have seen the video footage of the 1984 Pepsi commercial shoot that surfaced about a week ago, then you know that what happened to Jackson was no laughing matter. I'm not really surprised though, this coming from a guy who french kissed Baby. The whole Lauren London incident didn't help Wayne's image either. Lil Wayne is just an ignorant, talentless, buffoon who thinks he's hot shit. He's a joke. And for the record, I don't see how anyone could think he's attractive or sexy. He looks like a crusty little monster.

The video also shows that Wayne is fake. He acknowledged Michael Jackson as a great at the BET Awards Show and then he goes and does this! Make your mind up Wayne. Here's the video of Lil Wayne's freestyle: http://ow.ly/15IxgN (Fast forward to 2:50 and listen to Wayne's ignorance!)