*SURPRISE?*

Now, I know that I just posted a semi-angry/frustrated piece, but I had to share my two-cents on this one. I was just casually browsing through my Facebook News Feed when someone's freshly updated status read:

Surprise trip to Africa!! Be back Wednesday!!

...

Who the heck takes a surprise trip to Africa??

...and for less than 3 days?

Ok...now, I must admit that I am a tad but green with envy. I would love to travel back to the motherland, and I plan to, but it will take quite a bit of time for me to save up for the excursion.

As I reread the jubilant status, I just pictured the ease one must be filled with to enjoy such leisure at any moment. It must be nice to look outside and notice that it is about to rain and just hop onto a plane to an area with a more desirable climate. Or to wake up one morning with no plans only to discover that it's all been taken care of and just like that, you're out the door and on your way to France or Milan or maybe the summer house. It must be really, freaking nice to live off of your parents pretty penny instead of having to, lets say...work and save for an experience that very few, if anyone in your family can say they have shared.

While I would love to up and leave whenever the thought popped into my head, I also enjoy the feeling of working towards a goal and accomplishing it...for example, saving money for a trip and being able to enjoy the fruits of my labor.

I don't mean any harm.I was just really taken aback by this tiny peak into this... lifestyle.

I do apologize for the continued bats of anger. Hopefully I will return in a more sane and collective manner...

...but what do I know?

Just a little rant...

I know it's been a while since my last post, but in the midst of prepping my return to school I have also found myself uninspired. Well that spell is over and today a surge of activist, black power, self appreciation and race disappointment overcame me. Yes...all of that...at once...needless to say, it was a bit overwhelming. What was more overwhelming is that this fit was encouraged as I watched Step Up 3D....no, this is not a spoiler. However, as I watched the movie (that I did not enjoy and could have waited until RedBox to watch), I realized that there was a surplus of white "hip hop" dancers and a lack of black dancers. While it sounds petty, I instantly got annoyed because of the current state of the hip hop industry. Yeah, it's pretty black. This thought then led to a reflection of movies such as The Temptations, The 5 Heartbeats, The Little Richard Story, etc. where there is a song that may originate with a black group, but is made popular by a white group....although we still may see the original as a classic today. Why is it that if it's white it's got to be right? And this isn't even just about the white audience...African Americans do it too. (...more on that later) All that I recognize is a pattern of plagiarism that is being accepted by our complacent community...and the plagiarists are doing a horrible job of duplicating the original work, but an excellent job of withholding credit to the originators. What's more, when blacks do attempt to create a predominantly black dance movie, it can't even be done correctly... what is that about? I'm just saying...

Next, black people, can we please stop blaming others for all of our issues? The last I checked, it is us killing ourselves, it is us not valuing life and not teaching the value of life and basics of survival to the generations rising behind us. Many people try to use the slavery excuse..."we're all messed up because of slavery", "we are an oppressed people" blah, blah, blah. That argument would be valid if half of the black community could spell slavery and if slavery wasn't the only piece of black history that our community cared to remember or even semi-care about. Otherwise, it is just another excuse from a community that doesn't seem to have the ability to do well for itself.

And why must we continue to call each other racists? Yet another excuse used to accept the unsatisfactory position that we are in. If you knew half of anything, you would know that while "every one's a bit racist," everyone holds discrimination...EVERYONE. So let's stop all this colorblind, "I have a black friend" crap... it's natural to judge. We all judge one another within the first seconds of meeting one another and cannot deny or control it. It is the actions that follow said judgments/ observations that determine once true race opinions. However, no one is beyond race so stop trying to be.

...can't say what I know with this one, but this is how I feel right now...