What song gets you in the Christmas mood?

Morning all. Hope you enjoyed your holiday weekend. Since  now it's #Christmastime, what #song MUST you hear to feel merry and in the Christmas Spirit? 

Most of the time, I'm the #Grinch! ---->https://app.box.com/s/ykaciqh8qycprd59g85b

Some some stupid things that White people say... that are actually racist!

Hello All,

Below is an article that was sent to me to comment on, because of my ongoing attempt to help in race relations. This article is from the Baltimore Racial Justice and was put together to help our White brethren understand the psychology behind some of the most common (and often infuriating) comments that are said in good conscience to show that you have no ill will. Even though it shouldn't matter, this article was put together by a white person for white people!  Now this is NOT a list for those whom are proud to be outright prejudice, bigots, or even further down the totem pole of ignorance. Also, we know that racism comes in a myriad of ways, systems, and groups of people. So lets talk about it!

29 Stupid Things White People Do and What We Can Do Instead

1. Call a Black person “articulate.”

Instead: Because of a long history of oppression, degradation, and dismissal of the talent and skills of Black people, understand that such a statement coming from a white person is often construed, and meant, as meaning “articulate-ness” is something unusual in a Black person.

2. Say ”one of my best friends is [black, Latino, person of color, etc.].”

Instead: Ask yourself first: Do you know where that person shops for groceries? Where they go to church? Where they get their hair cut? What their children’s/granchildren’s names are? Have you ever been to their home? These are the things you know about a best friend.

3. Say that the success of [Oprah, Bill Cosby, Michael Jordan, etc.] show that there’s no longer any racism.

Instead: Ask yourself about Madame CJ Walker. She was a millionaire, the first black millionaire, in the early part of the 20th century.  Lynchings were still going on.  No one would say things were equal then, but she was a famous millionaire.  The real question is how many more people like Oprah etc would there be if there were equality?

4. Say that if anyone works hard they will get ahead.

Instead: Understand and accept that this is one of the operative myths of our culture: the meritocracy. Any comparative statistic of all the socio-economic indicators shows that structural inequality is the reality. A lot of people who are working hard are not getting ahead.

5. Say that it doesn’t matter what color Jesus was, it matters what Jesus did, while insisting that pictures of him must be white.

Instead: Consider that if it really didn’t matter to you, we could make him Black.

6. Say that if we could just all be friends, everything would be all right.

Instead: Consider that friendships are nice but they are not a substitute for equity and justice.

7. Say that you need a safe space to talk about race.

Instead: Consider why you feel there is a danger zone and why.

8. Say that you “don’t see color.”

Instead: Consider that saying this is not a compliment because the implication is that having color is a diminishment. Are you trying to bestow some kind of “honorary whiteness” on a person of color? They don’t want it.

9.  Say that we should just trust and respect each other.

Instead: Consider whether that isn’t a part of any genuine relationship and why it needs to be highlighted in this instance. Who broke, and continues to break, the trust? Respect has to be earned.

1. Say things like, “Look at [Condaleeza Rice, Ben Carson, Colin Powell]. Why can’t other people of color get ahead?”

Instead: Ask yourself why you didn’t invent the atom bomb. Every culture has its exceptional individuals. But most of us are pretty ordinary.

11. Lecture African Americans and other people of color on how they need to let go of the past.

Instead:  Acknowledge that racism is here in the present.  Whites still benefit from white privilege; people of color are still oppressed by racist institutions. Asking people of color to let go of the past history of racial injustice in this country is actually to ask them to deny the present reality that such injustice still occurs.

12. Excuse yourself from responsibility for racism because you weren’t born yet when people were enslaved.

Instead:  Recognize that every white person alive today benefits from white privilege, right here, right now, in the 21st century.  You may not be responsible for enslavement in the past, but that doesn’t change your responsibility for how you knowingly or unknowingly perpetuate racism today.

13. Believe that racism is a thing of the past.

Instead:  see above

14. Insist that you can only understand racism if a person of color explains it.

Instead: Look around, do some research of your own, talk to white allies.  There are books, films, organizations, and websites to learn from.  (See resources list.) Racism itself is a burden to people of color; it is an additional burden to have to constantly explain racism to whites, which often includes having to justify or defend their views and experiences in the face of hostility.

15. Insist that people of color should look at your intent and not the impact of what  you do/support/deny because of your “good intentions.”

Instead:   If intent is the only measure of your work towards racial justice, then the only benefit of that work is that you feel better about yourself by doing it.  On the other hand, if the impact is a measure, then there is accountability to how your work actually advances the goal of racial justice, which benefits everyone.

16. Believe that changing “hearts and minds” is the ultimate goal of anti-racism work.

Instead:  Changing people’s hearts and minds may be one step on the journey, but that in and of itself does not advance racial justice.  The ultimate goal is to make institutional and structural change in our society to achieve racial equity – equal opportunity and access.

17. Insist people of color should be doing more for themselves.

Instead: Do your homework about what YOU could do.  Recognize that most barriers to advancement for people of color are those created by white society.  If you don’t know what these are, research them.   Learn about the vibrant history of what people of color have done and continue to do to support themselves as a community.  Learn about the genocidal attacks on their efforts by white society. Learn about what other white people have done to advance racial equity.

18. Unthinkingly criticize a person of color for doing the same thing(s) white people do all the time, or fail to criticize a person of color simply because they are a person of color.

Instead: Be conscious of your motivation. Are you reacting to the action, or to the person of color who took the action? If a white person took the same action, would you criticize them? On the other hand, are you avoiding a critique because you don’t want to appear racist, even if the critique is legitimate?

19. Get offended and/or hurt when someone calls you out on your oppressive behavior.

Instead:  Recognize it as a learning opportunity to grow as an anti-racist ally and as a human being.

20. Get offended when you feel you’ve been perceived as a racist.

Instead: See above  and below

21. Believe  that identifying yourself as a Christian, progressive, liberal, anarchist,  Baha’i and/or a spiritual person guarantees you are a non-racist.

Instead: Realize that all people in our society are ingrained with racist messages. Your political or spiritual beliefs may have given you the desire to overcome that racist training, but they do not in and of themselves mean that you have overcome it.

22. Believe you used to be a racist, but are no longer.

Instead: Unlearning racism is a lifelong process.  Our racist programming comes from people in our lives, from media, from many forces. It is a huge amount of effort to unlearn it.

23. Believe that because you have experienced oppression as a woman, Jew, person with a disability, LGBT, etc. that you understand racism.

Instead: Recognize that different forms of oppression function differently in our society, and people can be privileged in one way while oppressed in another.  It is not useful to compare or “rank” oppressions.  If you have experienced oppression and know the pain it causes you, let that inspire you to take responsibility for the oppression you cause to others, not deny that you do so.  (Would you agree if a man of color said he couldn’t be sexist because he had experienced racism, or an able-bodied lesbian said she couldn’t be prejudiced against a person with a disability because she’d experienced homophobia?)

24. Believe that you can relate to a person of color’s experience of racism because you’ve encountered a similar situation.

Instead:  Recognize that as a white person you have never experienced what it’s like to be a person of color, and you never will. A personal instance of pain is not the same as a lifetime of oppression.

25. Believe that if you have experienced discrimination it is the same as experiencing structural racism.

Instead: Recognize that racism is not just prejudice, but prejudice plus power.  In our society, whites have the vast majority of power in institutions such as schools, courts, and corporations and maintenance of national narratives. Individual people of color may be biased against whites, just as whites may be biased against people of color.  But the difference is that whites have institutional power to consistently deny resources and rights to people of color impacting their life choices and life chances; people of color do not have similar power to use their bias that way.

26. Believe that racism “goes both ways.”

Instead: See above

27. Believe that any personal struggle you endure is the equivalent of oppression.

Instead:  All people endure personal struggle; oppression is a separate situation.  Oppression is when the cards are systematically stacked against you by forces outside your control; when society has the power to deny you rights and resources.  Oppression is the systematic exploitation of one social group by another for its own benefit; it involves institutional control, ideological domination and the imposition of the dominant group’s culture on the oppressed group

28. Believe that you understand what racism feels like because you have visited a  country, part of town, or venue where white people are the minority.

Instead:  Recognize that white privilege is a global phenomenon.  Even if you are “the only white person” somewhere, you are still carrying white privilege.  Also, if you felt as an individual uncomfortable or unwelcome, you knew that you could leave that venue, that part of town or that country and go back to a place where you felt “normal.” For people of color, they may feel equally uncomfortable or unwelcome in white society, but they do not have a choice to leave it, without uprooting their lives.

29. Believe the “stamp of approval” from a few people of color means you are a non-racist.

Instead:  All people in our society are deeply ingrained with racist messages.  Even if you have done some positive work to be less racist, there is always more work to do.  If you assume you no longer have work to do because of what a few people of color have said, you are taking those individual people’s views and assuming they represent the whole race, which is kind of racist.

Full link to article here:
http://bmoreantiracist.org/white-people/29-stupid-things-white-people-do-and-what-we-can-do-instead/

So what are you saying?

So You are white, or gay, or Jew, Muslim, atheist, Asian, fat, Boney. So what? We differ on the plight of America, world views, and social/cultural events. And?  Our sense of style is different and we like different music., who cares? 

I believe that God gave everyone free will, and who am I to take it from you? You have the option to do whatever it is you wish under the sun as long as you dont break the law. but lets remember that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. I love science! Science teaches us so much, but yet we tend to treat science like some treat the bible... you pull out the parts that you want to prove an argument, instead of gaining self awareness from the whole. As a result you become a hypocrite.

As a human, general freedoms should be a given to all; but It isn't. Freedom should be a personal venture. I cant take away your freedoms. No one should. So why do you choose to take mine?  How does one have the freedom to say that 2 men should be married, or "under God" should be removed from the pledge, but don't want me to kneel and say a prayer at a football game, use Jesus name on tv (unless in a joking or damning manner) or wear a turban in an airport without being stopped, or even get to go on Fox News and express himself in a dignified manner, while being completely qualified to speak of different religions without have ones own be brought into question, or be bombarded with senseless non factual rants (Reza Aslan). 

 In life, there is one constant and it is that you will believe in something. Some choose Jesus, some choose Allah, the sun, a golden calf, a celebrity, Stephen Hawking, or themselves. We all know, mans biggest goal in life is to BE God, therefor he doesn't have to serve one. 

People are lazy, shiftless, corner cutting, bigoted, self loathing, prideful individuals. And I'm not talking about the shell of race, gender, or culture. The shell seems to be the divisive topic that those in true control like to keep us fighting about. We fight over race, religion, creed, money, hair color, wardrobe, and perception  because its the easiest to see. Yet when was the last time we fought over the inner part? when have you fought over Love, health, knowledge, freedom, right, or most important.... intent. The part that CANT be seen is intent. That's where the conundrum is. Psychology tells us that their are 4 personality types. These 4 traits are in every one of these "outer differences" that we love to fight over. But they seem to go out the window when we bring up a stereotype that is used to belittle another to make ourselves feel good. 

I am a Christian and some of the worst scapegoat cliches are used by those who claim to be Christian. Ie, "only God can judge me", and "God knows my heart". It needs to be changed. In the same vain, those that oppose love to use parts of the bible to condemn those that follow it. The bible is not a history book, nor was it in chronological order. If you know this as well as the true history, you'll know that most of what people "think" it encourages is untrue. Again, there were certain  personality types that twisted it then to use it against people, which is still present today. Remember, there is nothing new under the sun. To disparage one to uplift the other is easily summed up by the pot and kettle. 

People need to become masters of their own thoughts. No matter what it is. If you become a doctor, you must be educated, learn question, make mistakes, grow, and daily be a practitioner. whatever your beliefs are, be a practitioner of them with the sincerity of a great doctor, there would be less of the bickering, whining, wars, and atrocities because of differences that are only visible to the eye.  None of us know why we were put here, so lets work together to get to the destination we are trying to go. I look forward to seeing you on the other side. That's MY belief. 

Thank you all for your time and reading and passing along these words. 

Differences....

Unfortunately I know most probably wont read this because of the length, but i must say this:

There is a huge difference between "do as I say, not as I do" and being a hypocrite. Unfortunately it's all cloaked in poor communication and submerged in unfair expectations. All people go through similar hardships and tests. If I'm the CEO of a company, a hipster, athlete, or humanitarian, we all have to work on the issues of hypocrisy, forgetfulness, anger, bad intent, gossip and more. This includes Christians. In all facets of life, there are good people and bad. No one group is 100% bad. It is good to know that all seem to put Christians on an extremely high pedestal... But we ALL fall under one category. Human. Because of this, we will error and make mistakes. How about as a society we stop playing judges and lawyers and become leaders, witnesses and helpers of a better life. We are very quick to point out all the faults of people. Blacks. Whites. Atheists. Republicans.  Gay, Mormons. Jews. Democrats. Hispanics. Muslims. Asians. And many more.  It seems that we all want to bicker and point at the next as if we are somehow more enlightened or different because we are "on the other side". All it leads to is each other raising voices louder than the other, and nothing is solved in an argument. I have many different views than a lot of you. I want blacks to elevate. That doesn't mean I want whites denigrated. I am intolerant to a lot of things that are against my beliefs of human morality and decency. But that doesn't mean I have a heaven or hell to put you in, and I'd never try to. I want us to live healthy lives free of GMO's, additives, and addictive medicines and illness inducers. But I'm not going to punish you for popping some Alleve and eating McDonald's.  I love all people, regardless. But because I love doesn't mean I have to accept everything. Just like a family member, we have many differences; but instead of always pointing out the differences that separates, lets point out the days that we are alike. Like help grow each others lives. The bigger war is amongst those who like for us to fight over nonsense, while they take your money, health, quality of life, and spirit. You can't see it until you understand that there is more to you. God gave all humanity free will. Who am I to try and take that away. Whether We agree or not. #LetsGrow.