Thoughts on Roland Martin and the Normalization and Acceptance of Homophobia in the Black Community

I was going to write a post about the significance of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, but recent acts of grotesque and unprovoked violence against my LGBT brothers and sisters has provided a necessary distraction, which compels me to write about them now.

By now, many of you should be aware that "journalist" Roland S. Martin has come under fire for comments he tweeted from his personal account during the Super Bowl. Nothing out of the ordinary as twitter provides a digital venue for outbursts to real life events in real - time. Where Roland gets messed up is in what he tweets. Apparently David Beckham is hocking a new underwear line and Roland was offended by his commercial which aired during the Super Bowl. I can only surmise that Roland's pudgy ass was angry because he probably can't fit any of the underwear that Beckham is selling, not to mention, who the hell would want to see Roland's greasy ass in drawls ANYWAY?

Anyhoo, Roland tweeted that any man who actually liked Beckham's ad should have the shit slapped out of him. Now ordinarily, I wouldn't have a problem with anything he tweets because I just don't consider Roland very smart or even a journalist for that matter. However, I take umbrage with his comment because regardless of his intent, he is inciting violence against a segment of humanity that already experiences a great amount of accepted and tolerated violence because of their marginalization by the heterosexual/heteronormative majority. The LGBT community, despite making great strides towards social acceptance among the heterosexual majority, are still widely viewed as aberrations to societal norms and as a result, when we are victims of violent crimes, instead of criticizing the perpetrators, our community is blamed for unprovoked attacks. We are often left to fend for ourselves and witnesses to attacks on our person pass over us, seldom offer assistance or rescue us, and we are often treated by law enforcement as having done something to justify such attacks.

Whatever the attack, up to and including murder, LGBT people are left wringing our hands wondering why society turns its backs on us when we are the same as our heterosexual community members, we just defer by the way we define our sexual orientation, gender identity, and relationships. Sorry for the digression; getting back to Roland and the impetus for this post.

Within different communities are different interpretations of masculinity. I won't get into how these constructs have been developed because that would be an entirely different post on a topic that deserves more in-depth analysis than a long ass blog post. Instead, I'll focus my energies on why Roland's tweet is a problem and how his contrived version of black masculinity places every black person who is LGBT and chooses to live within predominantly black areas are in danger for their mortal lives. Yes, you read that correctly. I do not believe that black communities are safe for Black LGBT people and whether you choose to agree or not is your issue - not mine. Please don't contaminate my comment thread with your inexcusable hatred and I do not care to hear about your devotion to Christ, Allah, or whomever else you choose to blame your hatred on. The facts are what they are and the evidence is incontrovertible.

Black masculinity is something that I rarely ever discuss and hardly ever write about  because its origin is rooted in a construct derived from white masculinity where men seek to dominate everything in order to control it. There is no peaceful co-existence with anyone or anything that isn't understood by that construct. It is typified by confrontation by violence to control. It accepts oppression of all people who do not fit the finite script of what being a man is "supposed" to be. It is typically derived from the bastardization of religious theology and is often relegated to a norm that has no justification. How this manifests itself in the black community has been largely pathogenic. Black men, "REAL" black men are supposed to be virile, well-endowed, sexually superior, and revered for nothing more than brute strength, big dicks, and a non emotional existence. Coupled with the advent of so called hip-hop culture, and the proliferation of gangs in inner cities, Black masculinity is now another bastardization of a bastard culture. Destiny's Child Beyonce wanted a soldier - "If your status ain't HOOD, I ain't checkin' for ya... Gotta be STREET if you're looking for me" and there are multiple examples of the introduction of thug life as an accepted and in many cases preferred expression of black masculinity. Any deviation from these constructs renders the black men who fall outside them as weak. When you add homosexuality to the mix you get a full onslaught of condemnation and you are viewed as an enemy to blackness.

I won't be getting to deep into the discrimination and homophobia that black LGBT people face at the hands of the Black Church (and the Nation of Islam, etc). However, one can reasonably presume that the moralism and legalism that's a part of the theology of the black church experience is often appropriated by the black community in general - one that permits discrimination against black LGBT people.

THIS is where Roland should have minded his tongue. The self professed husband of a Baptist minister, who is a proponent of the ex-gay movement, who believes that gay people are inherently sinful, and who has counseled them to become "un-gay", and has a public forum, who is followed by thousands of people, who also advocates slapping the shit out of men who are attracted to men is a PROBLEM! What if one of Roland's fans decides to take Roland's advice literally? And how does a self-professed "christian" advocate slapping people without provocation? I'm rambling now, but when the urge hits me, I'll get back to this.

What I do know is that the normalization for hatred of gay people plays out in the black community everyday. In Washington, DC a 23 year old transgendered woman was stabbed to death for waiting at a bus stop. She died of her injuries that day. In Atlanta, GA a young gay man or young man who was perceived as gay was severely beaten by three black men, during broad daylight, and in front of several witness and onlookers. They taunted him and called him a faggot, making it clear that they targeted him based on their perception of his sexual orientation.  The video of that beating was posted on WorldStar  and not only did the urban terrorists who attacked the man video tape their exploits, they laughed and joked as they did it. Several black men in the immediate vicinity of the fight looked on, laughed, and did nothing. I'll bet money that those same men also said nothing to the police and are engaging in another destructive manifestation or inner city black culture - no snitching.

So how do we move forward? I'm not necessarily sure how that should happen, but for starters I think Roland should be fired immediately. I'll continue this post when the mood strikes me to do so. Unfortunately, given the generalize depravity and lack of respect that black LGBT people get from the black community, something tells me I'll be writing again very soon. In the meantime, I wish my black LGBT brothers and sisters well. I want to tell that it gets better, but when the community that we are supposed to be a part of makes it clear that they hate us - don't expect things to get better anytime soon.

Other reads: Atlanta Project Q

UPDATE: FBI Joins APD in pursuit of Federal Hate Crimes Charges

DC: The Official Chitlin' Eatin Nigga Play Cousin City of Day-Twat

I got fired from my job and I am now suckling from the Unemployment Insurance utter... and it FEELS GREAT!

So, I'll just start where the foolishness begins regarding the title of this post. If you've been a regular reader of my blog, you should know that I have very little tolerance for stuff that I affectionately call "Nigga Shit". If you've been a regular reader of this blog, you know that I have highlighted stories that call Nigga Shit our for what it is - sometimes to the chagrin of some of my readers. You'll be happy to know that things have not changed and unfortunately have gotten progressively worse.

Fortunately for me (and you), the Niggarometer has been off the chain with all kinds of Nigga Shit that I have deemed worthy of comment.

I live in Washington, DC - home to "Mayor for Life" and Chitlin Eatin' Nigga Supreme Baselius, Marion Barry. In Novemeber of 2010, DC voters chose to oust then mayor Adrian Fenty from office and elected Chitlin' Eatin Nigga-lite, then Council President, Vincent Gray. People's rationale for choosing Gray over Fenty almost overwhelmingly centered around their dislike of Fenty's attitude, although those same residents when surveyed, believed that DC had become a better city under Fenty's tenure. The wards of the city that are densely populated by blacks voted overwhelmingly for Gray, the more diverse wards voted for Fenty. The city also held an election for City Council President and that election was won by Kwame Brown (disclaimer: There were NO GOOD candidates running in this election cycle).

So, now that I have updated you on the electoral results for DC (which I am sure you probably knew if you follow district politics) on to the fun stuff!

The Washington City Paper, Washington Post, and Washington Times have all published stories related to the perpetuation of the chronic dysfunction that is the "JayNaySayKwah" of DC politics. There have been charges of cronyism, nepotism, abuse of Executive authority, incompetence, corruption, and complete lapses in ethical behavior. To add insult to injury or whatever euphemism you find appropriate to explain away Nigga Shit, the DC City Council has decided to introduce a bill that supposed to tighten ethical oversight of the Executive Office of the Mayor and the City Council. Leading the charge for this piece of shit legislation is Kwame Brown, the DC Council Chair, who in true Chitlin' Eatin Nigga fashion ordered not one, but TWO $60,000.00 SUVs because his own care was repossessed. The city is still on the hook for the leases at $2000.00 each. Kwame is also now under investigation by the DC Board of Elections and Ethics (ain't that some shit?) because he failed to report that his brother had signing authority to dispense campaign payments. In fact, his brother was a highly paid staff member and funneled some of the campaign money to his own privately held consulting firm.

I digress though. Even as I write this, it bothers me that I've even had to go into this level of detail, which is perfunctory at best. I'll make my point though. DC is considered a FEDERAL TERRITORY. It is one of the 5-7 territories, but enjoys some special privileges because it is the seat of the all powerful Federal government. It also gets fucked in the ass without Vaseline because unlike all of the other U.S. territories, DC residents are assessed FEDERAL income taxes without the benefit of Representation at the Federal level. Nearly 50% of the city's 69.7 square miles is ineligible for being assessed property taxes and DC's budget MUST receive Congressional approval before it can be approved by the City Council. DC also has an independent Office of the Inspector General, a US Attorney's Office, a Federal Circuit Court, etc. It receives an extreme amount of Federal oversight, or at least it should.

WHY THEN IS IT NECESSARY TO CREATE ANOTHER PIECE OF LEGISLATION for oversight? This is political posturing of the WORST kind!

Now the bill creates a watch dog group or panel (you know how "useful" panels are) and the Mayor has the authority to appoint the majority the panel members which must receive approval from the DC Council. Has self regulation of political or legislative bodies EVER worked? Even worse, the person co-sponsoring the legislation hasn't an ethical bone in his short body, but he's leading the charge to restore integrity to DC politics. The DC Attorney General has already cited a number of flaws with the bill and would any sane person be surprised? Of course you wouldn't be.

It's going to be a long summer. At least Day-Twat has Mayor Bing.

Read more here.

The NIGGA CHURCH: Blind devotion to Passah

Niggas and religion just should NEVER mix. Listen to the blind devotion to this Elmer Gantry ofthe hood. One man actually states that people's lives depend on the Pastah. Really? I thought that power was reserved by God?

Perpetuating the Failure of Black Men: How Infantalization and Coddling Have Ruined Most of US.

You know how it is. Life begins to happen and before you know it, all those promises you made about blogging on a regular basis end up in the field of broken promises... where they die. I have no real excuse for forsaking my blogs with the exception of laziness. So, to my readers and lurkers, forgive me. I am back though. I'll take re-entering the blogosphere one day or post at a time. That way, I won't feel so pressured to be blogging and I won't feel guilty when I'm not posting.

Today's post won't be done proper justice in one post, but it is certain to be a conversation starter. There have been several stories over the course of the last few days that have irritated me in the same manner hemorrhoids irritate the people you see in those Preparation H commercials. Not for nothing though there appeared an overreaching theme. In each story and I'll provide a synopsis about each of them, there was some tortured black man embroiled in a some scandal that he created himself, but failed to accept the responsibility for creating the scandal.

Ironically, all of my actual media stories will come from the Detroit Free Press, so admittedly this post may appear biased against the Motor City, but it's ONLY because Detroit (Day-Twat) is the home of the Chitlin' Eatin' Negro and all of his spawn. So my first story is about Mr. Otis Mathis, a PRESIDENT of the Detroit Public School Board who was forced to resign after he pulled his dick out during a meeting with the female Superintendent of Day-Twat Public Schools. While Mathis groped and fondled himself (whether to completion still remains a mystery), the female colleague became visibly offended and reported him AS any VICTIM OF A SEXUAL ASSAULT SHOULD DO, (yeah, I'm taking it there). Mathis summarily issued a letter of resignation and then arbitrarily rescinded it and issued an apology. Mathis claimed that he knew his actions were "inappropriate" and that he "needs treatment". Really? Just inappropriate? Is that what sexual assault has been reduced to in Mathis' warped little treatment needing mind? Braindead Day-Twat school board members aside, the board, at least MOST of them rejected rescinding Mathis letter of resignation. Last time I checked, pulling one's dick out at a meeting with colleagues, unless your colleagues are strippers, porn stars, or cadavers, is just plain wrong.

Mathis didn't see it that way. He found an ally in another black male school board, the Reverend David Murray. Murray's exact quote dismisses the whole dick jerking thing and then blames Mathis' sexual depravity on being a young man. He issues the final Coup de Grace by minimizing sexual assault as being "is what it is." He fully supports Mathis' desire to remain employed by Day-Twat taxpayers.

At least one DPS board member said Friday that he has no problem with Mathis remaining on the board.

Reverend David Murray said Mathis took responsibility for his bad behavior toward Gueyser.

"He's a young man; maybe he didn't know it was offensive to her," Murray said of the 55-year-old Mathis. "It's not something I would do. He's a young man. That's just the way it is."

Now, in comparison to an 80 year-old Nigga Church Pastor who dismisses jerking off in public with the audience of a TOP-LEVEL PROFESSIONAL at a MEETING, A 55 year-old sex offender would seem young I suppose. However, the bigger problem is the actual expectation by the troglodyte Murray, that this shit is okay. Even worse? The fact that the PRESIDENT of the Day-Twat School Board can BARELY read and was elected CITY-WIDE by the voting populace of a city with residents even MORE stupid than the Chitlin' Eatin' Marion Barry supporting knuckle-draggers of DC.

At least Day-Twat has one bright spot operating with at least some sense of morality and decency. Rochelle Riley wrote an Op-ed about this utter bullshit and called Nigga Church Pastor Murray out for his foolishness. That's great that she had mustered up enough indignation to sound an alarm about this idle-minded man with busy hands, but where are the BLACK MEN condemning this foolishness? Why does an older black man think that whipping your dick out and shaking at someone you work with WOULDN'T be offensive to ANYONE, but even more so to a woman? See, when overgrown manchildren are coddled and indulged by supposed "right-thinking" black folks this is the result. There's always an excuse for their depravity. The litany of black male protectionism starts with, "He didn't have a daddy" or " He had a rough upbringing" or "He's a young man entitled to make mistakes." To clarify, a mistake is putting chlorine bleach in a load of colorfast clothes. A mistake is putting 87 octane gas in your mother's car when she specifically asked for 93. A mistake is purchasing a white onion when you were told to get a yellow sweet onion because of the better flavor. Those are MISTAKES. Shaking your dick at someone during a meeting, acting like a petulant child during your press conference, and attempting to explain your behavior by reducing what is actually sexual assault to nothing more than some inappropriate actions are NOT mistakes.

Otis Mathis, had you shaken your dick at me, you'd ONLY be finding certain pieces of it this week.

We'll continue this in the next post. Chris Brown, Kwame Kilpatrick, and those infamous DC Carter boys will be next.