Are You Ready for Post-Racial Cheerios?

Posted on 12 June, 2013 by Panama Jackson

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It kilt me dead.

Y’all gon’ have to give me a late pass for this one. But a few weeks ago, Cheerios dropped a commercial that featured a mixed-race couple (that don’t actually share any screen time together) and their hybrid child in an adorable spot highlighting children’s desire to keep their parents alive.

Let me tell you all something; I’m impressionable. I have GEICO insurance because those damn commercials entertained me so much. My HVAC guys? A company in DC who has a jingle that my daughter recited to me so I figured, hey, they must be good, they give good jingle. If you tell me something is good (and tell me something good) I’m liable to give it a shot because, again, I’m impressionable. So Cheerios dropping this commercial that shows that somebody said – in a meeting, no less – that America is more diverse now, let’s be more diverse has convinced me that I should buy more Cheerios. It also helps that my daughter, who has hair like that child, loves Cheerios. So they win by default.

So stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Company debuts commercial with mixed race parentage. Racists lose their sh*t. Nutcases come out of the woodworks. We live in interesting times, and this is part of the reason why print journalism is failing. Everything is a conversation. For many of us, our entire lives are centered around as much of ourselves as possible while still maintaining some semblance of privacy. Well within that, everybody becomes immediately accountable. Now, this accountability isn’t necessarily to any person in particular, but no bad idea goes unpunished. Look at the case with rap lyrics nowadays. There was a time not too long ago when you could say whatever the f*ck you wanted and there would be little to no real backlash short of sales. Well, now if you say something ridiculous, there are slews of people ready and willing to take you to task and mobilize, even for a short time. This all comes from the change to constant communication.

Well, this means that any loon with access to a computer (read: like almost everybody) can offer an opinion, unfiltered and with reckless abandon. So it stands to reason that the minute a commercial that includes a couple of racemixers (or swirlers…wait, are you only a swirler if you’re a Black woman? I really have no clue) hits the public sphere, the Stonewall Jackson supporters and Black folks who hate interracial love are going to make their opinions known. For a situation like this, the responses to the commercial dominate the conversation. Hell, Cheerios had to disable comments on that video because of some of the disgusting racist things that were said.

I know we elected Obama twice and all, but I’m sure we can all agree that the term post-racial isn’t an actuality. I think even the least racist person in the room would still immediately take notice of the fact that this child (who could have easily been used in a commercial with two Black parents and nobody would have thought twice about it) was referring to this white woman as momma. Part of that is that by the time something hits mainstream commercials, its somehow depicted as…normal. And I’m not sure we’re ready as a country to view interracial couples – namely Black and white since let’s be real, that’s the only place 90 percent of the outrage comes from in interracial dating – as normal.

Sure, interracial dating and marriage has seen significant increases over the past few decades. But it still bothers a lot of people since it hits on a lot of hot button issues for a lot of people.

Look, diversity is here. That sh*t is cool. It rocks. But its not without some broken eggs. Some Black and white men and women still feel some kind of way about seeing miscegenation. They just do. And they always will. It harkens back to the traditionalist view of society. While we don’t mind rooting for our favorite football team which just so happens to be full of Black folks, we don’t necessarily want them coming over for dinner. I remember growing up having this conversation. Remember, I went to high school in Alabama. Anyway, this conversation was about racism. It happened in one of my history classes and a few white students claimed very plainly to not have a single racist bone in their bodies. So one of my hombres, a Black dude, asked if any of them had any Black people in their homes. Ever. I kid you not, not one of them could say they had. Thing is, I don’t fault them. I’m sure most of the Black students could say the same thing though probably for different reasons. I’m not saying white people are more racist since I don’t really believe that to be true. But studies have shown that Black people tend to be more tolerant of diversity than white people, in general. This is nowhere more prominent than in housing.

Either way, the point of that is, while I know we’ve come a long way, I’m not sure people are fully ready to view something like interracial dating as a commonplace occurrence. Sure it’s just a commercial. But most commercials are supposed to be reflective of common life to get you to use common products. Most of us like our images of society held intact. But this is also why so many Black folks hate seeing big boneded Black women hawking chicken. For many of us, it does feel like nearly all commercials with Black folks trend towards stereotypes.

Then again, maybe we are all just stereotypes anyway. Hmmm…

At the end of the day, I think the commercial is cute. But I can’t pretend I don’t see how something as simple as a cereal commercial can stir up controversy and bring out the worst in people. There are some lines folks ain’t ready to cross yet. And its not just white people.

But when in doubt, as always, just blame Jim Jones. Or Tyler Perry. Actually, I’m surprised Tyler Perry hasn’t made a movie about interracial dating yet.

Where’s his number?

So what do you all think? Is it a big deal? Is America ready to view interracial dating, marriage, and procreation as the norm in mainstream society? OR, possibly more importantly, does the controversy over commentary on sites get overblown on stuff like this and for the most part, nobody really cares?

Talk to me. Petey.

-VSB P aka THE ARSONSIT aka MR. HALF BREED – HALF AMAZING aka GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRL HE A 3

Giiiiiiirl You Betta Quit College and Get Yo’ Man Boo!

Posted on 11 June, 2013 by Panama Jackson

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WTF? Exactly.

Or something like that.

Yesterday, on a site I didn’t even realize that I’d heard of, the two superfly, debonair brothas of VSB were cited.

Let me take a step back first and address the first part of that sentence as to not seem like I’m big leaguing. A few years back in 2010, the term No Wedding No Womb (NWNW) hit the Internets with the force of an Aretha Franklin bra release. To be honest, I had no idea where it started, what it meant (though context clues helped eventually) or why anybody gave any f*cks about this concept. In fact, it wasn’t until yesterday that I found out that the site, Beyond Black & White, and namely its founder is the one who started the whole NWNW movement. I’m pretty sure Damon wrote about it. I’m pretty sure I ignored it wholesale. I’m gully like that. Point is, I’m oblivious to a lot of things that happen online amongst the reading ninja community. Half of the articles that get people into an uproar don’t cross my radar unless Damon writes about them or some woman I know brings them to my attention. I rarely, okay, I never read any of the sites reading ninjas read to figure out how reading ninjas feel about things reading ninjas should give any f*cks about.

Which brings us to yesterday. I have my Twitter set to send me a text message any time I get a mention. Randomly, I get a text message stating that somebody is talking about as long as women care about marriage people like @panamajackson (Twitter and Instagram, follow me now!) will have a job. I’m paraphrasing but its something like that. I go to check it out and its part of some pseudo convo happening amongst some women referencing us as that site that wrote “Girl, Don’t Get Raped” etc and how we wrote the book cited and how they gave us a full stop after that. Something along those lines. Well I checked the timeline and saw some women arguing about women being told they should sacrifice education for marriage or some such f*ckery. As a f*ckery savant and procurement expert, I had to delve. They linked to some article on some site I’d never heard of…Beyond Black & White.

The name of the article immediately caught my attention as it was supposed to. It read, “Black Women Are Spending Too Much Time and Effort Going to School, They Should Be Spending Time Trying to Get Married”. Dumb ass idea aside, I figured I should read this article. Okay. I have no f*cking clue what the point of this article was and it sure as sh*t wasn’t what the title suggested. But it’s possible I’m just not as smart as everybody else. I can live with this.

But lo and behold. halfway through the article I see a reference to our book, “Your Degrees Won’t Keep You Warm At Night: The Very Smart Brothas Guide To Dating, Mating, and Fighting Crime.”

One dating advice book written by two African-American males is titled “Your Degree’s Won’t Keep You Warm At Night.” In the case of black women, like the Miami, FL based attorney referenced above, their degree’s aren’t even helping them pay off their student debt or maintain a halfway-decent credit rating.

I’d like to send a thanks for the potential new purchases of our book due to this shout-out though in the context of the article and the site I’m pretty sure we got cursed out for being men presumably telling women what else to do with their lives.

Full disclosure, I don’t mind being cited. In fact, it usually kind of rocks. I’d just prefer being included in an article that made sense. I’m still trying to get the general point. The title suggests, quite simply, that women need to close the three ring binder and focus on getting that single Olympic ring. Except that’s such a ridiculous notion I’m not even sure how it got passed editing. Or at least not the way its written.

That only makes sense such that every woman views marriage as an actual accomplishment, which perhaps in our educated ninja complex and society, perhaps there’s merit. The regular ninjas I know stay married up though. I know women who’ve been married multiple times. Shoot, a solid 80 percent of the women I went to high school with are married. The only ones who aren’t are also extremely party-centric and ain’t about that married life. I tend to think this marriage problem is a very “high falutin’ ninja” hub problem. You know, DC-ATL-NYC-LA. I could be selling the problem short. I’ll concede this. I have a friend who talks so much sh*t about “DC men” and their commitment issues she might need to start a support group.

But, yes, marriage as an accomplishment. I’m not sure how I feel about that. Secondary to that though is this idea that women have to sacrifice one for the other. Or the higher level of educational attainment causes a sacrifice of marriage points so to speak because of the accrual of debt. And since according to statisitcs Black women are going to college at a higher rate than any other group but graduating at almost a low rate as Black men (the lowest rate of graduation) then women are going to college, accruing debt but ending no better off, so why not just cut out the middle man and focus on trying to find a husband. Or something. Basically, Black women are eschewing marriage for college while hoping to find a husband but losing out in all facets. Which totally blows.

I’m sure there’s some merit in the notion. I just think it was presented in a way that makes no damn sense whatsoever. And I’m sure somebody here will be more than happy to explain exactly how if Black women were smart, they’d go to the gym instead of college (not my opinion, just saying I’m sure somebody will say this). But it also makes it seem like there’s some secret to marriage when the fact is – and clearly I’ve never been married – it seems that for most people I know who are married it seemed like a matter of timing and meeting somebody you loved enough at a time when you were ready to make the leap. And if that’s the case then you can’t just “try to get married”. You have no control over that anyway.

For the record, my sisters, get that degree. It won’t keep you warm at night (this is true) but it can keep your heat on. Trust me, I’ve got without heat – I had no degree at the time – and that sh*t sucked tremendously. Yes, we’ve all mostly accrued debt due to our educations and yes that sucks. And yes financing one’s education often screws your ability to be the superstar you dreamt of. This is a common struggle. I just don’t see how this article truly explained how women getting degrees ruins their chances to get married. I don’t see how the two ideas were related in a way that made sense. And that would be all well and good since I read LOTS of articles that make THE dumbest links ever. Hell, I’ve written stuff that made no sense myself. Difference is, 90 percent of the time I’m doing it on purpose.

It would be all well and good if I ain’t see my brand associated with it. That’s no bueno. Not on an article that is going to make the rounds because everybody thinks its shawt bus shawty. Though that’s not really true. I read some of the comments to try to understand the article and it seems that many people think its a great article. I’m rambling since I don’t agree. So while I don’t mind being cited for better or worse (see above) I’d still prefer to be cited in something that at least made sense.

I wrote this whole post to say #shotsfired.

Do you think it makes any sense? Forget that, do you think there’s anything to the idea that women should stop trying to get those degrees mayne and should just start focusing on getting marred (assuming all women want to get married since, well, that’s the definite leap made in the article). Let’s just pretend that all the assumptions in the article are true or something. Hold me.

PJ out.

-VSB P aka THE ARSONIST aka MR. 1400+ aka GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRL HE A 3

The World’s Actual Most Judgmental People

Posted on 5 June, 2013 by The Champ

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It’s been a pretty shitty last couple of weeks for everyone’s second favorite ambiguously everything R&B singer. First, he provided the universe with perhaps the 11th or 12th most gif-fable high-profile moment of the year. (Can’t crack the top ten. Those all belong to Chris Bosh.) Then, adding insult to injury, the woman hit by his star-crossed stage jump may sue him.

In between all of this, Miguel also found the time to piss off Black America’s whole entire ass by tweeting that we (Black people) were the most judgmental people in the world. As expected, he was roundly criticized by (mostly Black) folks, who obviously failed to see the irony in throwing negative judgments at someone to prove that they’re not judgmental.

Although Miguel was wrong (more on this in a second), it’s not hard to see why a person might believe what he said. We (Black people) collectively possess many positive attributes. We’re (generally) great at picking up the words and melodies of songs we’ve never heard before while in church, we’re (generally) a pretty forgiving people (well, forgiving of men and boys, at least), and we’re (generally) adept at f*cking Kardashians.

But, we also tend to have somewhat rigid definitions of things like masculinity, sexuality, and religion, and this does have an effect on how we perceive, assess, and ultimately judge people. Obviously, this doesn’t encompass all Black people. Not even most of us. But, the few this mindset does apply to tend to be very passionate, very demonstrative and, unfortunately, very influential. They’re basically Black America’s Tea Party.

That being said, there are dozens of other types of people far more judgmental than the typical Black person and even the Tea Party Black people. Naming them all would take a couple hundred thousand words, so I’ve limited it to a few.

Diehard Sports Fans

Maybe sports tends to attract people with judgmental personalities. Maybe sports culture itself cultivates that way of thinking. And, maybe Justin Bieber got tired of being mistaken for a White lesbian from D.C. and decided to dress like a Black one from Baltimore instead. Either way, no one is more provincial, territorial, irrational, and ultimately judgmental than a diehard sports fan (And yes, I’m including myself).

Very Liberal People Living in Very Urban Areas

Ironically, the demographic who prides itself on being the least judgmental only extends that lack of judgment to people who share the exact same world view as they do.

Old-Ass Black Men

Do you all remember that entry from a year or so ago when I joked that one of my goals in life was to make it to 60 just so I could be an old-ass Black man and be granted the old-ass Black man privilege to say whatever the f*ck you want to say without any fear of reproach that every Black man over 60 seems to have? Well, I have a confession to make. I wasn’t joking. This remains the only human want I still have.

Perpetually Single Women Who Happen to be in New Relationships and Also Happen to Have Single Friends

Every woman reading this who happens to be single and happens to have a homegirl in a new relationship is solemnly nodding her head while remembering the time last week this homegirl snidely suggested that she “might actually find a man” if she “stopped wearing all that damn gray all the time” because it “scares good men” (presumably “good men” like her new boyfriend) “away.”

—Damon Young (aka “The Champ”)

Sistas In Science

Posted on 29 May, 2013 by The Champ

***The Champ’s latest at Ebony profiles four Black women who happen to be close friends…and all happen to have PhDs in STEM fields. (VSB vets should recognize at least one of them)***

Four Black women. All friends. And, all granted PhDs in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields before reaching 30.

What sounds the premise for an urban fairy tale has been the reality for Jessica Porter, 29, Marguerite Matthews, 29, Dahlia Haynes, 31, and Racquel Jemison, 27—a reality made even more unlikely when reading statistics about Black people and STEM PhDs.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, Black people are 12% of the U.S. population and 11% of all students beyond high school, yet they received just 7% of all STEM bachelor’s degrees, 4% of master’s degrees, and 2% of PhDs. And, out of 5,048 PhDs awarded in the physical sciences, such as chemistry and physics, 89 went to Blacks—a number that gets even smaller when removing Black men.

Yet, Porter (a Boston native and current senior sensory scientist at Proctor and Gamble in Cincinnati) met Matthews (who matriculated at Spelman and is currently doing a post-doc at the University of Portland) in 2006 while both enrolled in the University of Pittsburgh’s neuroscience PhD program. In 2010, they met Jemison, a Morgan State grad and doctoral student at nearby Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) who will receive a PhD in chemistry this fall. A couple months later, Jemison introduced them to Haynes, a post-doctoral research associate at CMU who received her PhD in chemistry at Clemson University.

The ladies soon grew close, forming the nexus for a “crew” of grad students and young professionals who migrated to the Pittsburgh-area for work or school.

EBONY.com recently had the opportunity to sit down with them and discuss Black women in science, the importance of early STEM education, and the value of having a strong network of friends.

EBONY: Cases such as the one with Kiera Wilmot reinforce the idea that, from a lack of administrative support to Black students not given the same allowances other students are to experiment, there may be substantial social and institutional barriers preventing Black women from entering and excelling in science-based fields. Do you agree with this assessment?

Dahlia Haynes: This question reads unclear. I am not aware of this case but what allowances are we as Black women not getting? I, for one, have received great institutional support to excel in science based fields. I do believe however that it is because of the (White) people I had around me who were heavily invested in diversity. Socially, unfortunately is that there remains very few of “my people” in the STEM fields. This starts from an early age however. Where I’m from in particular, the only successful careers that were popularly known were the “Huxtables” (medical doctor or lawyer). To overcome this, being scientists has to become socially more acceptable at younger ages.

Marguerite Matthews: I don’t think there are barriers preventing Black students from going into or excelling in the sciences, per se. But I do think there is a lack of support, encouragement, and proper education for many Black students – especially those coming from more disadvantaged economic backgrounds. Similar to Dahlia, I had teachers who pushed me into STEM opportunities, which inspired me to pursue science in higher education and as a career. Exposure to these opportunities, and feeling empowered to thrive in the sciences, has made a world of difference. Unfortunately in the case of Kiera Wilmot, the stereotype that Black kids are thought of as criminals first, not scientists, is being reinforced. This type of experience – being faced with criminal charges – may totally deter her from pursuing science in the future. And while this likely isn’t the case for all Black children, it highlights that society often does not value Black children, even those who are proven to be good students, as future innovators and intellectuals.

Jessica Porter: I do not think that there are barriers preventing Black women from entering or excelling in science based fields any more than there are barriers for White women. Science remains to be a male dominated field so the issues from my experience have had to do more with being a woman than being Black. In addition, as a Black woman, we check two boxes, which tend to be very important for funding especially at a time when scientific funding is being cut. I don’t want to think that the reason I received funding was because I was Black, but being Black did help. In most science fields, the government or non-profit organizations pay for higher education through grant funding, thus eliminating the barrier and making a scientific education cheaper and easier to pursue.

Racquel Jemison: I think I’m more inclined to agree with Marge. There isn’t enough support for our young Black students to pursue interests in the sciences. It’s primarily those few heavily involved teachers or mentors that encourage early exposure to the sciences, and quite frankly, there aren’t enough of them.

The Slippery Slope Of Telling Rich People What They Should Do With Their Own Money

Posted on 23 May, 2013 by The Champ

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I generally do not believe that you need to have experience doing something in order to offer an thorough critique of someone who is. You do not need to have experience as president in order to be critical of Obama’s policies, you do not need to be a working actor or director in order to write a comprehensive film review, and you do not need to have played a sport on its highest level in order to coach it there. There’s no hypocrisy or inauthenticity there. Sometimes it takes a person on the “sidelines” to better assess a situation because their potentially panoramic knowledge about a topic and their lack of personal engagement with it allows them to be both more insightful and more objective.

This belief does not extend to people telling other people—and by “other people” I mean “rich people”—what they should be doing with their money. Regardless of whether a person’s intent is noble—and regardless of whether I actually agree with them that a rich person could have spent their money in a “better” way—this type of criticism always rubs me the wrong way, especially if the rich person is actually doing a good thing. I was annoyed when Oprah received criticism for starting a school in South Africa instead of Chicago (although I saw their point), and I’ve grown just as annoyed with people insisting that Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine—but mainly Dr. Dre—should have found a more “worthy” place to gift $70 million (although I also see their point).

This annoyance stems from a simple place: the idea that wealthy people should be held to a higher moral/financial standard than the rest of us just because they’re wealthy. Lemme me put it this way. In the last couple of days I’ve heard and read several criticisms of Dr. Dre for giving his money to a school that’s already wealthy instead of one that actually needs the cash. And by “one that actually needs the cash” they mean “an HBCU.” (USC’s endowment is in the billions. I think Central State’s is $16.17)

Yet, a few of these critiques have been made by people with a few letters after their names. I even read one penned by a president of a university. I do not know any of these people’s salaries, but knowing what I know about secondary education, it would not be a stretch to assume that they’re near or surpassing six figures.

I do not have a problem with this at all. People are going to make whatever the market demands, and the market demand for a medium to high level university employee is a comfortable income.

But, if you’re going to criticize a person for basically just doing a money-based good deed that wasn’t quite good enough for you, how are you able to justify receiving an income that far surpasses what you need in order to live? Shit, why not work for free? I’m sure you’ve made enough money where you can survive for a couple years with no income. Why haven’t you decided to devote all of your non-essential funds to whichever cause you’ve criticized some wealthy person for not contributing to?

This sounds silly, but once you start criticizing someone for decisions they make with their money, when does it stop? Why are you driving a Lexus when the 10 year old Honda you traded in as a down payment still worked fine? Why buy bottled water when you can drink it out of the tap? Why buy your girlfriend a birthday present? You know she has money, a condo, and a car already. Why give more to someone who already has?

You know, I actually agree that Dr. Dre could have spent his money a little better. I say this while typing on a Chromebook I just purchased, thoughts still kind of scattered after watching a riveting NBA playoff game on my 50 inch plasma screen TV. I did not need to purchase either of these things. When my old laptop broke, instead of buying a new one, I could have just got a library card. And, the 100 pound TV with the 17 inch screen sitting in one of my closets would have allowed me to watch the game just fine.

I’m not saying any of this to make people feel bad about how they spend their money. I just want people to think about how they’re spending their own money before calling someone out for how they’re spending theirs.

—Damon Young (aka “The Champ”)