Black Hair Documentary

Black women spend an unbelieveable amount of money on our hair and this documentary (thank you for bringing it to my attention Mama Asid), although focused on black hair and the African-American community, could be about Jamaica, England, Nigeria, Kenya or anywhere else. The principle point is that black women spend a lot of money on our hair and don't seem to care who has control of an industry making billions each week. Made me think.

White English Minority in England?

I read Twining's blog (a black police officer in England) and noticed comments by a woman who complained about being a white person in England and feeling that she was being displaced in the country of her birth - where she felt she should have more rights than the 'minorities'. She used the Notting Hill Carnival to illustrate how black people were able to visibly celebrate their culture yet white people weren't able to do that. She felt in a minority.

I suddenly had an urge to discover more about the festivities in England which were part of the white culture and look at how and where they conducted these celebrations. Most of the festivities found took place in rural communities and had been established over some time. Some of them their origins were obscure but it didn't matter; this somehow mattered not a jot to the enjoyment of the activities.

Here are just some of the festivities which, to me, celebrate the English-ness of England:

The Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling Festival may see very odd to some. Over 40,000 spectators watch a 7lb block of cheese being thrown down a steep hill and people (men, in the main) scrambling down the hill as fast as they can - the first to the bottom wins the cheese!
Here is the You Tube video which illustrates this tradition the best...

The Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling Festival 2007

Other festivities are: The Sealed Knot, the Nettle Eating Contest, the Pearly King Harvest Festival, Tar Barrels in Northumberland (yes, another one!), the Great Yorkshire Show, Heddington & Stockley Steam Rally & Country Fair and not forgetting Morris Dancers appearing all over the country. These are just a few of the hundreds of 'English' celebrations occurring each year without being defined as 'celebrating English culture' - it just is.

The Notting Hill Carnival arose out of extreme oppression by the English people to the newly arrived, predominantly Caribbean people, and is enjoyed by people from all over the world. It is an example of people transcending race and just having fun for a couple of days. It is English as it has arisen from experiences in England. It is a positive part of the culture which should be applauded, not derided, considering its origins. All races take part. There are food stalls selling food from Brazil, China, France, Jamaica, Africa and many other cultural cuisines. A broad range of music, dancing, merriment, colourful floats and costumes. You go and enjoy yourself or don't attend at all. Just like the cheese-rolling competitions.

England is changing because all regions of the world experience change - it is part of the evolution of humans. There are more benefits than negatives to new fresh immigrants going into countries like the UK and the USA. If you listen to the tat-media they would have you believe otherwise.
England and Britain has a long way to go with regards to race. Ignorance, unfortunately, will be with us for a long time to come

Respect?

There seems to be an old idea running through the black community that you should 'respect your elders'. I hear that quite a lot. In fact, that was a strong feature in my childhood. You didn't ever dare call someone of my parents generation (say) by their first name, they always had a title - Mr So-and So or Mrs or Miss. If they were part of a church they were known as Brother or Sister So-and-So. Never did you call them by their first name only. Not allowed. That was an example of respecting someone.

This has me thinking about this issue of 'respect'. Being respected is a big issue. Even I have found myself, in past moments of being totally pathetic, moaning that someone doesn't respect me. Now what does that actually mean?

How do you respect someone? Why is it important, if it is, to be respected? How does respect manifest itself? Does feeling respected feel differently from not being respected? - and how can you tell the difference?

In London I have seen so many instances of people having some kind of conflict where one person felt that they weren't being given 'due respect'. I have observed hip-hop artists, for example, pushing the idea that respect is paramount. Why?

My view is it starts with feeling powerless and is an attempt to control the small world around us. I think it is to do with a lack of self-worth, poverty of the mind, lack of education, poor quality peer groups, poor parenting - all wrapped up with a view of the world not based on reality but fantasy.

If people were taught to communicate effectively and they could adapt critical thinking skills into their lives, where they did not view the bible (for example) as the word of a god, where social morals were there for them to freely choose, where people could be who they wanted to be, where the focus was on their child being given the tools to enable them to understand the world without bias nor a belief in scary stories, without fear yet with a critical eye, questioning everything (can you imagine such a scenario?) then I think the issue of respect would lose its importance.

I have featured pictures of young children being abused by supernaturalistsand their ideas on this blog.The high-level, worldwide, state sanctioned child abuse must stop. It must stop or nothing will change. I try and imagine the world without the supernatural and all its manifestations.

Although, my concern is not necessarily for myself it is sad to think that with all the marvellous, new and innovative technological advances we are still stuck where we are.

What is there to respect? Some young black men are harming themselves and others because of this idea of 'respect'. It is a stronghold that must be broken. Lives are being destroyed because of this very thing. It is easy to believe something because our parents and previous generations believed it. That is exactly why we are in the mess we are in today. Don't respect your elders just because they are older. Don't respect traditions. Don't respect old ideas.

Don't respect - think!

Religion and Child Abuse

Some people have taken issue with me due to my belief that teaching your child, indoctrinating your child into your religious belief system, is abuse.

Let me make it clear:

if you are part of a religious organisation or even if you believe in 'the Flying Teapot' the onus is on you to ensure that your child is brought up aware of the following:

1. Alternative views;

2. The pros and cons of your belief;

3. Critical thinking skills and how to apply them.

Now considering the above 3 points: How many people can honestly say that they have guardianship of a child, are believers in god/gods/universal spirits/or some such and have applied all of the above points throughout that child's life? Very few.

The damage inflicted on children exposed to irrational thinking lead to all the negative -isms we experience today.

Being a parent is one of the most difficult jobs there is. Not enough credit is given to those who care for and raise babies into adulthood. A child looks up to their parent or guardian for guidance, love, support and is hardwired to believe what the parent/guardian says is true. If you then follow belief systems based on fallacy which does not and will not stand up to critical analysis, then this is what the child will believe.

No one is born a 'believer' - we are like sponges at birth, ready to absorb all the influences and experiences around us. We are naturally curious about this strange environment we find ourselves in called 'the world'. Nature and nurture have a major impact on how we perceive the now and the future. If our parents enable us to explore and engage with the world critically we are not weighed down by excess baggage, which includes theism and all forms of the supernatural.

In the black communities I have experienced, religion is embedded within the cultures. Black people are not a homogenous group but disparate populations, varying in size from minute to gigantic, even so religion has become a deeply ingrained part of 'black life'. If you reject religion in its various forms then you are seen as outside of 'the black experience'. I have been accused of not 'being black enough' (whatever that means!). I am considered a pariah and often times black people have offered to pray for me to help me to see the light.

Why are these belief systems so much a part of the black experience? Anecdotal evidence suggests: slavery, control and systematic abuse, social cohesion, peer pressure, lack of quality scientific education and so on. None of these are exclusive to the black community - not even slavery.

I don't object to theists. My concern is the impact that theism has on the scientific and social advancements of human beings, the damage inflicted on those who have been conditioned to view alternative views as representing 'the devil' or some other negative entity - consequently these ideas are passed on, like a virus, to our children.

If we are concerned about providing future generations with tools to action the progressive changes which are sorely needed, then how can we inflict this form of abuse on them?

Black Female Atheists

As promised I am conducting some research regarding black atheists and thought I would salute the first person who had a video worth watching. It proves there are women who happen to be black who are thinking for themselves and throwing off the shackles called theism. This woman was raised a Jehovah's Witness and after years of indoctrination was able to free her mind.

If you are a theist you could too. My aim is to make this blog a haven for all people who are freethinkers/atheists. Religion has become part of the social fabric of most black communities and it is wrong. But this site is not for black people, nor is it particularly about black people. I have a worldview that includes all - I just don't want to be part of the system that causes atheists to remain in the closet for fear of losing their job, their livelihoods, their support systems and I stand ready for all the verbal attacks coming from the mouths/pens of theists. If I don't speak up to highlight the horrors visited on humanity in the name of supernatural who will? I refuse to see 'racism' as the focal problem. It goes deeper than that. When you have a system which uses fake texts to subjugate people, when those same texts are misogynistic and racist amongst another thing and then the very people who cry foul about how 'people of colour' are treated 'praise the Lord' you know humans are in bad shape. All people.

I'm immensely pleased that black atheists are becoming more visible. I am pleased that I am one of them.

Where Are We...?

I have been trying to find black atheists on the internet and am dismayed at how few black people, particularly in the highly populated USA, are willing to publicly acknowledge themselves as rational, freethinking atheists. It is worrying.

Then like an oasis in the desert I came across Frank the Financially Savvy Atheist who's blog entry dated 6 March 2006 I have reproduced in full below:

'Where the hell are they?
Stop. Think about a famous atheist you know. My personal finance readers might have thought about Michael Newdow, the atheist who is trying to get the words "under god" taken out of the Pledge of Allegiance.

My atheist readers might have thought about Sam Harris, Isaac Asimov, or Bertrand Russell.

"Hold it!" my female atheist readers protest, "There are several famous women atheist as well". Examples include Margaret Sanger, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton (HT: Escape from the Meme Machine). Right you are my female atheist readers. (free thought mom and Atheist Mama)

But my question is this: Where the hell are all the black atheists famous and otherwise?

When you think of some of the famous black people in the media (that are NOT rap artists or athletes) and you have Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, quite far from atheism. There's Colin Powell and Condi, who's (ex)-boss probably required them to be Christian in order to get the job. Who else is there? Oh wait, the rest are media personalities that prey on gullible housewives (Oprah), atheletes, or rap stars. Rap stars who are at least nominally theistic who can thank god when winning awards and giving them so much "bling", while at the same time glorifying a nihilistic life-style that blacks who try to emulate it will find themselves ignorant, debt-ridden, and thinking that the lottery is the best way to get rich.

Blacks are almost always portrayed as devout believers in the media. I remember when I still went to church in high school, our pastor would rant and rave that Michael Jordan wouldn't thank god for winning games/being such a great player like he [Jordan] should. Did you get that? So it was our duty as "good black people" to penalize the "bad black people" for not praising the same god that put us in slave chains for all those years. What a crock of sh*t.

There needs to be a new spokesperson for blacks in America. Not another god-damned hypocritical preacher in the vein of the Sharptons and the Jacksons. A rational spokesperson. Someone that is not afraid to be an intelligent black person who can speak English and can evoke actions from other blacks without relying on antiquated religious notions. This person, man or woman, will be the face for the black freethinkers: the black atheist, the black agnostic, the black materialist, and everything else in-between. He/she will be a foil for the vapid, idotic, untrue sound-bites from our religious counterparts (example: see here)

No longer will rap stars, idiot preachers, and a cultish day-time talk show hostess define us to the rest of America. We will redefine what it means to be a black american. We will rise above the mediocracy that has plagued our race. We will fulfill our potential for greatenss. We will do it all without relying on unnecessary, irrational, and destructive beliefs.

But, before we can, we need to answer this question: Where the hell are the black atheists?''

The amazing thing is this is an old post that is still even more relevant 2 years later. Where are we? Why are we not brave enough to break through the mould set by those who wish to control? If we spend our time thrashing out against racism and don't see just how insidiously wicked all forms of the supernatural are to our well being, then why bother?

I will follow up on the people who made comments on Frank's blog updating us about the black atheists. You might care to do the same. I'll continue my research and do a write up on my findings shortly.

A New Dawn

Yesterday I re-connected with a friend who, for various reasons, I had not had much contact with over the last year or so. We went for a drink and a bite to eat in a very nice environment in the nearest town.

Over the few years of knowing each other we shared our views about many things. This woman is an academic with a sharp brain and could out-argue me with words to spare on any topic. I believed she was a theist and our views differed, but/and she was someone who I still regarded as a friend.

On the way driving together to our destination she told me she now describes herself as an atheist. Well...if I wasn't seated I would have fallen over. A thousand questions jostled for first place in my mind but I decided to listen to her reasons as to why she now described herself as an atheist.

She relayed what had been happening in her life, books she had recently read and how these had had an impact on her current thinking. In short, she had freed herself from the shackled, abusive, unscientific thinking and had now fully embraced the fact that she was a scientist by profession and realised the inaccurate 'truths' of all forms of theism.

Whilst enjoying each others company she advised me to watch a film, available on the internet, called 'Zeitgeist'. I checked the internet this morning and am looking forward to watching this 2hours and 2 min streaming film tonight. Here's the link for those of you who want to be informed about alternative views: Zeitgeist - The Movie. Maybe you will care to watch it and we can openly share our views of it.

What is interesting for me is how someone can have an open mind at any age. My friend is somewhat angry about the damage theism has inflicted on the world and understands that we have to live in this moment, not for the here-after but now, in this second.

If anything will 'free' black people, in fact all peoples, then this is it.

Dispelling beliefs in the supernatural can fundamentally change the world - not mythological beliefs. The escape routes have been closed by theism - if you think outside their box then you are a sinner and will suffer painful repercussions when you die.

How sad. How sick. How wasteful. How wicked.

'You're Black, ain't Ya?'

I have a question. Well, several actually.

In order to be considered 'black' do you have to be a theist? Does being categorised as a black person mean you are automatically assessed as being a believer of the supernatural?
The rhetorical question 'You're black, ain't ya?' was put to me in response to me saying to a black woman that I did not believe in any form of the supernatural. She was astounded that I do not profess any allegiance with any organised religion, do not believe in any spirits from the 'other side', ancestor worship, ancient texts, the power of prayer, etc.What she concluded was that there was something wrong with me. Everyone needs to believe in something. It was better to believe in a god, any god than not. She went on to talk about what happens after we are dead and how she had felt the energies from the ancestors, etc.
[Now I need to say here that everyone is entitled to their views. It is only through sharing and respecting our differences that we can hope to form human bonds which enable us to tear down barriers and recognise the global family we are all part of.]
But even further she cast doubt on my membership of the 'black' community. The inference was 'all black people are theists'. Period.

I have been pondering on this for a while. My conclusions are that I felt a moment of sadness that so many black people are indoctrinated into belief systems which are based on old written texts, inaccurate reports, political expedience and motives aimed at political and economic control of the masses - and yet at this point in human history, we not only believe it but partake in the further indoctrination of our children and adults. I'm not just talking about black people - all peoples. We somehow don't want to take responsibility for what happens in our lives. We leave it to a god or the gods. We praise and worship and when natural disaster occur (as they do and have done for millions of years) and thousands of bodies are washed away along with homes and livelihoods, we say it was god's will. Those who survive say they praise god for saving them, not realising the irony of such a cruel god to spare them yet kill hundreds of children.

I understand that for some people religion is a way of coping with the difficulties that life throws their way. I understand that life, most times, doesn't make sense.How did we get here? What does it all mean? Of course we must have come here for a purpose. There must be something, some entity bigger than us...isn't there?I don't believe so. I do believe we are a fantastic example of evolution. Just like crocodiles and cats and species that are yet to be discovered and given a name. We are animals. Our history is fascinating but not to be clouded by stories fashioned at a time when we as humans had little scientific advances available for us to understand the world around us.We don't need stories, we need facts, evidence, creative and rational thinking. We need experiments to understand the brain and how it works. We know very little of what there is to know so why cling onto old stories when we have evidence that they were wrong and are still wrong?
I am aware that some people who have suffered the loss of children have the hardest time thinking that they may never see them again, but that is what I believe.
When you are dead you are dead. Until we have information to the contrary, hard unshakeable evidence then I will not fill the gaps with ideas based on myths and legends and adulterated stories.Knowledge takes time and humans are by nature impatient.
Let's spend our time concentrating on not discriminating, not berating someone for their choices, not harming each other and allowing ourselves to just be. Let's foster and respect individuality and give children a good education based on what they want to know about the realities of the world and their place in it. Let's look forward and not backwards.

'You're black, ain't ya?' spoke volumes for me.

'Emancipate Yourself from Mental Slavery...'

How important is the issue of 'race'?
Why do we differentiate each other as a 'race'? Although the title of my blog states I am 'black' and a woman it still gives me pause for thought. Does it matter what my so-called racial background is? I would like to think not, but for the majority of people it does. It matters because humans prefer to take the easiest route and use the reptilian part of our brain, rather than focus on the individual, the person behind the persona.
It is now given as fact that homo sapiens arose out of the region of the world now known as Africa. Moving up the landmass, travelling in a bid to explore and find pastures new. As they moved from hot to cooler climes they needed less protection from the sun and hence the skin shed the eumelanin.
All my skin colour tells you about me is my ancestors lived closer to the sun, needed more protection from the sun which in a 'white' person would result in more frequent melanomas. Period. That's it. Superficially speaking, that is. It doesn't tell you much.

I previously worked in an environment (99% white) where a colleague asked me a rhetorical question:
'Isn't it awful for black women? Black men, all they want to do is have babies and don't work, isn't it?'
How do you think I responded to that?

I will explore this subject a bit further as this blog expands but your thoughts on this are welcomed.

Although I do not follow or believe in any religion the words of Haile Selassie are poignant:

"That until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally
and permanently discredited and abandoned: That until there are no longer first-class
and second class citizens of any nation; That until the color of a man's skin is of no more
significance than the color of his eyes; That until the basic human rights are equally
guaranteed to all without regard to race; That until that day, the dream of lasting peace
and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting
illusion, to be pursued but never attained."