LONG LIVE THE QUEEN by Khalil Somadi

I love Michelle Obama.
She is smart, gracious, beautiful and outspoken.
I believe she is also the perfect black woman as FLOTUS to a black man elected as POTUS.

I have not been easy on President Obama.

There are a number of us who are perplexed and frustrated by what has appeared to be political complacency on his part with regard to his speaking, (or rather not speaking!) publicly to issues such as overzealous policing of people of color, and solidarity with African nations in the wake of terrorism as he has shown with European countries.

But yesterday during a phone conversation with another black woman  whose brilliance I respect, I was enlightened to a possibility that I've since come to recognize as very plausible in light of the many attacks on social media against Michelle Obama by American  racists.

The First Lady speaks to issues that President Obama himself is not as free to address in a manner that is sterner and more forthcoming. Just as the queen in a chess game can move as the king is unable to, Michelle Obama pulls no punches. She speaks to Black America unreservedly and from the heart on some of the issues that burden our souls and stymies our morale. Unhindered in the way that her husband is as the "leader of the free world" who has taken an oath that precludes him from "bucking the system" in which he is enmeshed, (a condition Barack Obama had no problem accepting and pursuing though knowing very well it would hinder him in furthering the ascendance of non white people in a white supremacist society...but I will not speak further on this point here!)Mrs. Obama extends herself to being of The People, HER people, rather than above and far removed from their collective conscience.

Which brings me back to the subject of the disrespect and denigration hurled at Michelle Obama by foul mouthed, racist factions of White America.
Racist White America, which was built on patriarchy. Patriarchy, which umbrellas not only racism, but misogyny and sexism as well, among other ugly isms and phobias perpetuated in this country!
Although a great number of racists most probably never liked Barack or Michelle Obama anyway, it should be noted that it was not until she began to be more vocal on issues plaguing black Americans in America did she become blatantly reviled, insulted, and her femininity mocked and even questioned, (having been called post-op trangender, a man in a 'former life'!) and unattractive as a black woman.

The two main problems patriarchal-minded racists have with Michelle Obama is that:
1.She is black, accomplished in her own right and a woman.
2. She is a woman who does not "know her place"!
How dare she actually 'speak out, as a man would'?
Doesn't she know that such a trait makes her the antithesis of the demure white woman and the 'acceptable' mute black woman?
How

DARE

she???

Well she dares!
And in my eyes she is even more adored, and RESPECTED, for doing so!

With that being said, it is highly unlikely that a woman of such commendable character would be married to a man with no social consciousness as I'd begun suspecting regarding our President. That
just doesn't stand to reason.
More likely it is a situation of a partnership where the ideals and the concerns about the treatment of black people in this country and the thwarting of the dreams and aspirations of its black youth MATTERS. (They are raising two black youth themselves whom have also not escaped the scathing and hateful bile directed at the Obama's in general!)

I love Michelle Obama.
The President is more than fortunate  to have her in his corner, as we are to have her as our First Lady.
Checkmate.
And long live the queen!

LONG LIVE THE QUEEN by Khalil Somadi

"LONG LIVE THE QUEEN "
 by Khalil Somadi

I love Michelle Obama.
She is smart, gracious, beautiful and outspoken.
I believe she is also the perfect black woman as FLOTUS to a black man elected as POTUS.

I have not been easy on President Obama.

There are a number of us who are perplexed and frustrated by what has appeared to be political complacency on his part with regard to his speaking, (or rather not speaking!) publicly to issues such as overzealous policing of people of color, and solidarity with African nations in the wake of terrorism as he has shown with European countries.

But yesterday during a phone conversation with another black woman  whose brilliance I respect, I was enlightened to a possibility that I've since come to recognize as very plausible in light of the many attacks on social media against Michelle Obama by American  racists.

The First Lady speaks to issues that President Obama himself is not as free to address in a manner that is sterner and more forthcoming. Just as the queen in a chess game can move as the king is unable to, Michelle Obama pulls no punches. She speaks to Black America unreservedly and from the heart on some of the issues that burden our souls and stymies our morale. Unhindered in the way that her husband is as the "leader of the free world" who has taken an oath that precludes him from "bucking the system" in which he is enmeshed, (a condition Barack Obama had no problem accepting and pursuing though knowing very well it would hinder him in furthering the ascendance of non white people in a white supremacist society...but I will not speak further on this point here!)Mrs. Obama extends herself to being of The People, HER people, rather than above and far removed from their collective conscience.

Which brings me back to the subject of the disrespect and denigration hurled at Michelle Obama by foul mouthed, racist factions of White America.
Racist White America, which was built on patriarchy. Patriarchy, which umbrellas not only racism, but misogyny and sexism as well, among other ugly isms and phobias perpetuated in this country!
Although a great number of racists most probably never liked Barack or Michelle Obama anyway, it should be noted that it was not until she began to be more vocal on issues plaguing black Americans in America did she become blatantly reviled, insulted, and her femininity mocked and even questioned, (having been called post-op trangender, a man in a 'former life'!) and unattractive as a black woman.

The two main problems patriarchal-minded racists have with Michelle Obama is that:
1.She is black, accomplished in her own right and a woman.
2. She is a woman who does not "know her place"!
How dare she actually 'speak out, as a man would'?
Doesn't she know that such a trait makes her the antithesis of the demure white woman and the 'acceptable' mute black woman?
How

DARE

she???

Well she dares!
And in my eyes she is even more adored, and RESPECTED, for doing so!

With that being said, it is highly unlikely that a woman of such commendable character would be married to a man with no social consciousness as I'd begun suspecting regarding our President. That
just doesn't stand to reason.
More likely it is a situation of a partnership where the ideals and the concerns about the treatment of black people in this country and the thwarting of the dreams and aspirations of its black youth MATTERS. (They are raising two black youth themselves whom have also not escaped the scathing and hateful bile directed at the Obama's in general!)

I love Michelle Obama.
The President is more than fortunate  to have her in his corner, as we are to have her as our First Lady.
Checkmate.
And long live the queen!

WHAT IT TAKES TO CHANGE THE WAY POLICING TAKES PLACE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

"WHAT IT TAKES TO CHANGE THE WAY POLICING TAKES PLACE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA"
by Khalil "Kingston"

Somadi

The question was posed earlier today as to whether the American police force actually needs to be completely restructured, and should People of Color expect to ever see it happen.
My answer is, yes. The police force certainly doe need to be restructured!

But lets look at those 2 words...

Police.  Force.

We have seen that that organization of "civil servants" is neither civil nor serving anything but The SYSTEM out of which it is born. It was never MEANT to be!
The police were meant to be the pitbulls of the system just as the Overseer was the enforcer of the slave master.
THE SYSTEM is what needs restructuring if the term 'civil servant' is to mean what it's supposed to mean.

I JUST SAID A MOUTHFUL!
Because in order for the System to be restructured, HONESTY that is free of a racist perspective is mandatory, and I just don't see that happening in this country. That would mean white people first of all acknowledging that they enjoy white privilege, AND what that means for people who are not white.

That first step alone will be met with extreme resistance! In their eyes they have too much too lose by distributing justice justly and impartially and by putting into play practices that eliminate their present practices that were designed in the first place to benefit THEM.

To be brutally honest, a government system that was open to such a change would not have to be begged, protested and marched against, and threatened with insurgency just to have them PUBLICLY ACKNOWLEDGE that their policemen are doing too damn much when it comes to killing and brutalzing non-white citizens!
Thats why, for instance, although our current President is black, we cannot expect him to spur this change, because AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, he ESPECIALLY serves firstly, the government. Represents the government and the societal mores that government has in place!
BLACK OR NOT KINDREDS, YOU WILL NEVER HEAR BARACK OBAMA OR ANY OTHER PRESIDENT MAKE NO SPEECH TO THE NATION BLUNTLY ADDRESSING WHAT THE POLICE HAVE BEEN DOING HERE!
The system stresses "a united front", even in cases of injustice and that motto is passed down the ranks; the policemen is expected to honor it too, thas why those who speak out against fukd up policing ARE THEMSELVES POLICED, THEN PENALIZED!

Irony of it is, when police brutalize and murder POC, and you see and hear high-ranking officials say "they were doing the job they were hired to do", they're telling the truth. That actually IS their damn job, since the very inception of the police force way back in the day!
A Sister posted yesterday an article that compared U.S. prisons to Norway's prisons, how vastly they differ when it comes to inmates of color and how its set up etc.
They differ because the history of both countries differ!
Slavery
is AMERICAN
at root!
And the penal system here grew out of slavery.
Boom!

When Innocence Is A Lie

"It is not permissible that the authors of devastation should also be innocent. It is the innocence which constitutes the crime."
    ~ James Baldwin ~
   "My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My
    Nephew on the One Hundredth
    Anniversary of the Emancipation"
    THE FIRE NEXT TIME

I said this in a comment just yesterday; regarding white people really knowing black people or any other marginalized peoples:
It is part of the dynamic in a society where some of its people are marginalized that the "dominant" sect of people rarely really know the real lives of marginalized ppl or know them at all beyond the roles and stereotypes they've relegated them to. Because they don't see a need to...these ppl are not acknowledged as their equals, and that non-acknowledgement can be intentionally or it can be subliminally realized.

But the marginalized know their oppressors thoroughly; because learning the oppressor's psychological make up can literally save the marginalized person's  life, as well as help them to not see themselves as their oppressors see them...as inferior.

This not knowing, I believe must be rectified before any meaningful and genuinely positive relationship can occur between the races. Without it, brotherhood, love, even sex are tinged by the preset dynamic put in place by systemic racism.
It is one-dimensional thinking to believe that systemic racism, which includes white privilege and racial stereotypes, have no bearing whatever on individual relationships just because those INDIVIDUALS involved elect to come together from the intimate/personal aspect.
People do not exist in a vacuum.
I cannot even entertain the idea of personal relationships with white people as long as they hold fast to their one-dimensional thinking regarding black people and regarding me as a black man, because until they become honest enough about THEMSELVES, they will still only be capable of seeing ME thru the filter of white supremacy, whether they admit it or not, and whether they intend to or not.

~ Kingston Somadi ~