boundaries!

my first video blog: a little something on good boundaries and how they keep us on track.

shadeism

you know why white supremacy sucks?

this:


Shadeism from Shadeism on Vimeo.

i can't believe that these beautiful, brilliant young women would think of themselves as anything less than divine creations.

i can't believe people of color are still hung up on this.

i am continually grateful that i grew up in a family that did not laud their light skin over others....even though many of us could have.

it makes me sick that we are so eager to "blend in" because the global minority somehow got this game on lock.

don't get me started...

sanctified & suffering?

i wonder, how long this had been going on? wouldn't be surprised if that's what broke them up in the first place...

this is all i could find from an essence article on the subject of domestic violence in the christian church.

i'll also never forget the story of a woman on the tyra show who had half her face bashed in by her ex husband only for her mother to tell her not to call the cops 'cause it wasn't the "christian" thing to do...

now, with all due respect to the faith of others, how is it that you're so caught up in the interpretation of a book based on the ruminations of a patriarchal, supremacist culture developing in the midst of a goddess-worshipping, largely matriarchal ancient world, that you sacrifice your love of self and your body and mind over the notion of being "submissive"?

...not to say that this kind of abuse isn't rampant in more "conscious", afrocentric circles, because it certainly can be. afrikan men, continental and diasporan, have been thoroughly indoctrinated by western patriarchal/male dominated culture. many have taken steps to deprogram themselves. others hide their misogyny behind flowery words and spiritual-sounding phrases. and, unfortunately, plenty of sistas eat it up.

but i'll bet you a headwrap and a cowry shell that if you take the situation to the more afrikan-centered elders vs. some christian ones, you'll hear the rote "stand by your man" speech a lot less often.

please, please, please...read something about the world before christianity. not to remove yourself from the nature of the god of your understanding, but just to know that there's a whole side of the spirit you probably never got wind of sitting in those pews.

addendum 9/7/2007: here's an update...

close encounters of the ex-gay kind

sigh...
and people really don't realize that this is part of the reason glbt youth are killing themselves, huh?

full story by matt hill comer

Not long ago, I opened my email inbox to find a promotional invitation from a group called Ignite Student Outreach. The promotional invite was advertising a series of summer camps, entitled “Close Encounters,” taking place in four states across the South, including North Carolina. Looking at the invite, my eyes almost immediately focused on the list of the camps’ guest speakers.

Ignite Student Outreach will be welcoming Alan Chambers of Exodus International and Scott Davis of Exodus Youth to speak to teens and Christian youth leaders. Exodus International is the “ex-gay” group which promotes the message of “Freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ.” Exodus Youth is its youth-outreach program.

Both groups believe that “reorientation of same-sex attraction is possible” and that reconciliation with Christ will enable “growth toward Godly heterosexuality.” The groups teach that homosexuality is “outside of God’s will” and describes the “homosexual lifestyle” as sinful, destructive, distorted and disordered...

Of course, there is no evidence whatsoever that “reorientation” and “reparative therapy” is effective. Every leading medical, social and psychological association in America has said that conversion and reparative therapies offer no evidence of efficacy, are based on no valid scientific theory and are psychologically dangerous and harmful to patients, especially adolescents.

According to the American Psychiatric Association, the potential risks of reparative therapies include “depression, anxiety and self-destructive behavior, since therapist alignment with societal prejudices against homosexuality may reinforce self-hatred already experienced by the patient.”