Obama...Gosh I Can't Vote for Him...I Mean...Well...I Just Don't Know Him.

You know. I'm really tired of folk saying,

"I don't know Obama. I just don't know if I can vote for him."

What?

What the hell does that mean? The man has been all over the country giving speeches like everyone else and has been talking about his platform and what his plans are for this country just like everyone else. He's participated in numerous debates and yet, people (read Black people) are still hollerin' how they don't, "know him."

Well, what the hell else do you want the man to do? Call all ya'll unknowing Black asses on the telephone and have a personal one on one chat? Were all these people talking about they didn't know Bill Clinton when they voted for him? What about those who support Hilary? Do they feel they know her and what she stands for? Or is Obama the only one who is subject to this "knowing" test?

If they don't feel like they know the man they can saunter on over to his website and find out all about Barack Obama. It's called research. It's such a novel idea. Hell with hardly any research I know that:

1. He's for the new changes in crack laws to be made retroactive.

2. He feels like when it comes to Iran that there are no "options" should be taken off of the table.

3. He doesn't believe homosexuality is immoral.

4. And that he has a middle income tax cut plan that would help 175, 000 Iowa families at least according to the Des Moines Register.

See. Little to no effort and I know four pretty important things about Barack Obama. Look. I'm not saying vote for the man because he's Black. But hell, there are worse reasons to vote for a president....like thinking he'd be the kind of guy to have a beer with or believing he has a direct line to God....yet Black folk seem resistant to admitting they will or want to vote for Obama.

I'm convinced Black folks don't want white people thinking that they're going to vote for the Black guy 'cause well he's Black and it would be nice change to have someone who looks like us ( and possibly have our interests at heart) to be leader of the free world. I think Black folk want white folk to believe they are more enlightened and politically savvy then that.

Funny though, 'cause I don't think all those white folk who are NOT gonna vote for Obama simply because he is Black are feeling the same level of trepidation about Black people thinking their not enlightened or politically savvy.

Newsflash: White folk could give a damn about who Black folk will or won't vote for. Well, maybe they're hoping we'd be so stupid as to buy into the hype about Obama and NOT vote for him so they're guy (or gal) will win.

Look. Black folks need to stop this crab in a bucket mentality. I guarantee that all these folk hollerin' they don't know Obama, don't know Hilary all that well either and are probably voting for her because of her husband and I guarantee they don't know him that well 'cause if they did folk still wouldn't be hollerin' about how Black he is.

So if you don't know the guy...find out about him. Go to his website, check out his videos on You Tube. Hell, Google him. But whatever you do stop whining about how you don't know him.


And before folk start hollerin' I'm just all about Obama and I'm just mad 'casue folk are criticiing him, know this:

I recognize there are legitimate concerns regarding Obama (his level of experience for one) and I'm not necessarily an Obama fan. Hell I'm not sure I like any of the current candidates for president but one thing you won't here from me is how, "I don't know him." I realize that that is an easy issue to fix. Besides, at the end of the day, when it comes to this election, I have a simple philosophy: When in doubt--vote for the Black guy.

Like I said...there are worse reasons to vote for a president.

70% Out of Wedlock Birth Rate, Half of All HIV/AIDS Cases - Why?

Over at The Breaking Point Lord Hannibal poses a real poignant question:

When the statistics about HIV and pregnancies appear to me in the form of names and faces of people I know, the gravity of the situation that the CDC and other agencies describe by way of percentages becomes sickeningly real. But even after speaking to Demi and Alicia, I am no closer to understanding why anyone would be willing to risk changing their lives forever, or ending it altogether, for the sake of physical gratification.

In my experience (and this is anecdotal) Whites are having just as much unprotected sex (sans condoms) as Blacks BUT the women are MUCH more likely to be using another form of birth control and if pregnancies occur much more inclined to have abortions if of a certain class AND more like to get married if hey get pregnant but don’t want to have the abortion of if of another social class or religious background.

So from what I'v seen Black and White folk sexual habits aren’t that divergent as far as condom use is concerned but is definitely different when it comes to use of other forms of birth control.

I haven’t met too many unmarried white women who aren’t on the pill..or something. All too often I meet young black women who aren't on the pill or other forms of birth control.

In the Black community there are several problems at play:

1. Lack of use of other forms of birth control. EVEN if these women weren’t using condoms there would be a lot less pregnancy if they were using SOMETHING. Socio-economics plays a major role in this as well. Birth control is expensive. So are abortions. So are other forms of birth control (not necessarily condoms) and everyone doesn’t have or qualify for Medicaid. Add to that the 65 - 85% of Black people who fall into the poor/working class category and spending money on birth control just doesn't seem like a priority.

Not only that but there is a serious mistrust of the pill and other forms of contraception in the Black community. I often ask women why they aren’t on the pill and the reasons vary from “I don’t want to gain weight” to “It will give you cancer.”

2. Lack of marriage. we know the numbers of black men and women who haven’t been married. The longer you go without being married the more sexual partners you are likely to have. I’m not making that up…its a fact that’s been stated as why it seems Black people have more sexual partners over lifetime then their whites or other groups.

3. Man sharing. In certain communities quality men are scarce. Hell men in general are scarce. You have a lot of women basically sleeping with the same men and vice versa. When you've got a small group of people and their basically sleeping wit each other....becoming infected with disease is bound to occur.

4. The prison population. Many men contract HIV and other diseases in prison. And we know what those numbers are like for black males. They get out and voila we’ve got ourselves an epidemic.

This is just a snapshot of why 70% of black women who give birth to a child aren't married and why we make up half of the one million HIV/AIDS cases in this country. And while there have been plenty of PSA's to the contrary many Black people, up until very recently, viewed AIDS/HIV as a White, gay male disease. So while there were plenty of messages saying wrap it up, they weren't properly tailored to a group who didn't believe it could happen to them.

Our New Step In Fetch It In Chief - Andrew Young

I once called Bob Johnson our Step In Fetch It In Chief. However after the asinine comments Andrew Young made a few days back I shall have to take the honor away from Johnson and hand it over to Young.

My favorite line from the whole debacle, "Bill is every bit as black as Barack," he said. "He has probably gone out with more black women than Barack."

Yeah 'cause a. That's something to be proud of and b. That determines how Black you are. I mean if that's the measuring stick we live by for deciding who's Black and who's not Black then many a southern white politician is Black. Hell Strom Thurmond must be really Black 'cause he fathered a Black baby. Oh and let's not forget Thomas Jefferson. He had a whole family.

Quote of the Day

Think. It ain't illegal yet.
- George Clinton

Ladies This is Why You Need an Education

Sigh.

This is Angel Lola Luv. Reigning Eye Candy of the Year for XXL, this month's King Magazine cover girl and poster child for why women (Black women in particular) need to get an education. There has been a big controversy on the internet on whether or not her ass is fake (it is) but a better question would be why do women think being a video model is a smart career move?

Let's face it, a big butt and a smile are easily acquired and diminishing assets. "The Industry" chews these girls up and spits them out every year and there are always any number of girls who are pretty and fine just waiting for their chance to be next in line to be used up. Not only that but unless you secure a rich husband (think any white super model) your value decreases greatly with age (think Vida and Ford) 'cause no one is really checking for the 30 year old video model.

And no, everyone is not going to be Karrine Steffans. Regardless of what you think of her she has managed to turn her strippin', video "modeling, hoin' past into a multi million dollar business. There aren't too many video girls on the scene who are going to be able to do that. Most will fade into obscurity after being used and abused and probably have little or no money to show for it.

Look...if you got it and want to flaunt it...fine...just have a plan B...one that involves investing some of that money you make into a business, an education or hell some speech lessons so when you do interviews you don't sound like you just stepped right out of the hood.

I am Not an African-American

Since I've changed the focus of this blog to deal with all issues concerning Black women...not just romantic ones...I am going to kick off political debates/conversations on A Big Butt and a Smile because, while I've been politically apathetic as late, I recognize Black women have a lot of power in this upcoming election and need to be well informed to wield it.

To kick off the political discussion I"m posting apiece I originally wrote back in my college days at the University of Miami and retooled a few years back. So here it is just as I penned it a few years ago with minor (very minor) changes.


I am not an African-American

I am not an African-American. Don’t call me an African –American. I’m an American. Period. I was born here as were my parents and grandparents and you would have to search many a generation back before you found anyone in my family who originated from the continent of Africa. It’s time black people in this country stop trying to identify with a land whose culture is not their own. It’s time we stand up and say “This land is our land” and let everyone know we have a right to this country as much as anyone.

I understand the need for black people in America to find an identity all their own. We are as displaced as a people can be. Brought here in the early seventeenth century, first as indentured servants then as slaves the richness of culture these individuals brought from their various tribes was systematically ripped away from them. Maybe in calling ourselves African-American we feel we can retrieve some of that richness that is lost to us and was stolen from our people so long ago. However the atrocities of the past are just that, the past and trying to identify with lost cultures isn’t going to help us achieve the respect and prosperity that has alluded us for so long in a country that is still hostile to those of African descent.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m in no way suggesting we forget about the past. It’s important to study and learn from your forefathers’ triumphs, mistakes and pain. Continuously changing our identification however, is not the best way to use that knowledge. We’ve had several “identities:” from Colored to Negro, Black and now African-American. How can we expect anyone else to know who we are if we’re not sure of our own identity? How can we expect to come together as a people if we can’t agree on something as simple as to what to call ourselves? Hell the government is not even sure who we are if the census form was any indication with their Black, Negro, African-American non-hispanic category.

I say dispense with all of the confusion. We’re American. The sweat of our brow helped build this country. Benjamin Banneker a black man, helped design the white house. Something as simple as the traffic light and as life saving as the blood transfusion were created by black people. Americans. From music, to dance, to literature we have given much more to this country then it has have ever given to us. We can be proud in simply calling ourselves Americans because we have more then earned that right. It’s time we make use of it.

I was once asked if I viewed myself as an American first and black second. The answer is as long as America views me as black first then I’ll always be American second. But I’ll never be anything other then American.

Quote of the Day

A fashion is nothing but an induced epidemic.
- George Bernard Shaw

Random Ridiculousness: News That Shouldn't Be But Is

Young, Rich and in Trouble
Two already privileged, way too smart white kids take their neighbors and other unsuspecting identity theft victims for a ride to a tune of a $100,000 in the last year alone. The money payed for a trip to Paris, swanky restaurants, expensive hairdos ($1,700 for hair extensions) and in the end they get busted because of a UPS package. Yeah.

Court Debates "God" on Money and in Pledge
A Sacramento atheist will appeal to a federal appeals court Tuesday to take God off of money and out of hte Pledge of Allegiance. Now i can understand the Pledge...but money...come on dude. Talk about a waste of tax-payers money.

Court Orders Mickey Nouse and Tweety Bird to the Stand
Okay so really it's a counterfeiting trial of a Chinese man whose accused of peddling fake Disney and Warner Bros. products but do to a clerical error, "cartoon characters Tweety Bird, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and his girlfriend, Daisy," were ordered to appear in court.

A Lurid End to Fund Manager's Life
Also known as: Lifestyles of the rich, famous, and chronically coked up. Rich dude is found belly up in home pool. Squabbling begins immediately over will which says his 4 brothers get everything and wife gets nothing. Wife says, "Uh Huh. That was signed before we were married." They say "Oh no. You killed our brother by giving him coke, luring him into the pool, and promising him sex with this young guy named Tiger." LOL. I couldn't make this shit up.

Audio Fecal Matter: Sean Kingston

Yeah you read that right. Audio Fecal Matter. For the life of me I can't figure out why this guy ha a record deal. Why he has had some success and why he thinks (or anyone thinks) his music is actually good.

Can someone help me out with that please?

Really.

Oh and audio fecal matter isn't mine. It's my homeboy's.