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 ~

EMBRACING THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PURPLE by Khalil Somadi

#PurplePassion

Did you know that as a citizen (and an actual COMPONENT!) of the Universe, there are 'Universal' elements which conspire to lend themselves to our deeper understanding and yes, to our very ascendance?
Water is one such element. So is Light.
And Color is yet another.
This morning, let us look at Color... specifically, the color Purple...

In the Ashanti culture, purple is associated with Mother Earth and with healing and is often used in healing ceremonies and rituals. In Egypt the color purple symbolizes virtue and faith, and also is often worn during spiritual ceremonies. Throughout much of Africa, purple is a symbol of royalty.

Purple combines the calm stability of blue and the fierce energy of red. The color purple is often associated with royalty, nobility, power, and collective ambitions. Purple also represents creativity, wisdom, dignity, grandeur, devotion, peace, pride, mystery, independence, and the acquiring of knowledge as a supreme act!

Today then, let's think Purple as we go forward into our day and as mental preparation for days to come

.

RELATED AFFIRMATIONS:
1. We are royal, as long as we are genuinely working to cultivate the qualities of our higher selves.
2.) We embrace our personal power and employ it not solely for the benefit of 'I', but for the benefit of 'I and I'-- WE!
3.) We seek knowledge. We share knowledge. We compare notes. We APPLY said knowledge to our every day life concerns.

A`se, and much love (agape)!

~ Kingston "Khalil" Somadi ~

Escapism Ain't For Grownfolk by Kingston Somadi

Friday, February 9, 2018

Escapism Ain't For Grownfolk by Kingston Somadi

There's a big difference between Escapism and Giving Your Mind a Break.

Giving your mind a break is time taken which we all need to heal from day to day stresses and painful realities we come face to face with in our lives in one way or another. Such "breaks" are necessary for mental emotional wellness and are usually manifested in positive activities.

Escapism is all about numbing us to those stresses and painful realities. 
And while numb we become impervious to healthy boundaries, indifferent to excesses and usual manifest in negative activities.

The first 
is Aspiration.
The second 

is Surrender.

#ChooseLife

Escapism Ain't For Grownfolk by Kingston Somadi

There's a big difference between Escapism and Giving Your Mind a Break.

Giving your mind a break is time taken which we all need to heal from day to day stresses and painful realities we come face to face with in our lives in one way or another. Such "breaks" are necessary for mental emotional wellness and are usually manifested in positive activities.

Escapism is all about numbing us to those stresses and painful realities. 
And while numb we become impervious to healthy boundaries, indifferent to excesses and usual manifest in negative activities.

The first 
is Aspiration.
The second 
is Surrender.

#ChooseLife

~ Kingston Somadi ~

Kingston Somadi: Brother to Brother

Brutally honest self assessment is a bitter pill to swallow for most men; and black men are certainly no exception. This includes also the dicey area of brothers' reactions to being held accountable for their unsavory actions by other brothers.

I'm very serious about this!
I've lost two black brothers as friends this week already(and today's only Tuesday!) because of saying to them the truth about their unacceptable behaviors that needed to change.

No one is expecting black men to be paragons of virtue.
All that is needed is that we as black men HONESTLY TRY TO BE BETTER TODAY THAN WE WERE YESTERDAY, AND BETTER TOMORROW THAN WE ARE TODAY.
Ase.

~ Kingston Somadi ~

https://cassiuslife.com/41871/am-i-one-of-the-good-ones/

https://cassiuslife.com/41871/am-i-one-of-the-good-ones/

BROTHER TO BROTHER: FIX OURSELVES, FIX OUR SONS

This morning on Good Morning America featured discussion on the growing issue of sexting among teens becoming a "plague". Teen boys are asking teen girls to send them nude photographs, and girls who say No are pressured then threatened both verbally and physically.

What has the general response been?

To counsel the girls who've said Yes NOT to send nude photos of themselves, thereby enmasse forcing the trend to 'die out'.

While I do always encourage being proactive in dealing with problematic issues that arise in one's life, the above advice is NOT instilling proactivity; it is asking the victim of oppression to solve their own oppression and does nothing at all to hold the ones oppressing accountable for their repugnant and detrimental behaviour!
Instead of telling the girls not to send nude photos, how about telling the boys NOT TO DEMAND OR ASK AT ALL FOR NUDE PHOTOS!
The permissive attitude of not addressing the behavior of the boys is what had made even more fertile the current breeding ground for sexual assault, which includes sexual coercion, rape, harassment, fault stigma, verbal threats etc., against women.
This isn't rocket science, brothers!
We need to come get our sons; we're still slipping! As Malcolm X once said, "We DONE slipped"!
We fix our sons by first fixing ourselves. What our boys are doing is learned behavior. Learned misogyny. Learned embracing and oppressively executing male entitlement, and learning that doing so has been pretty much normalized.

Also making females to carry the burden of fixing the dysfunctions of males in this society has become the norm. Why would we allow our sons to learn this behavior as being acceptable? We don't teach them that the norm is having someone wipe their asses for them after using the toilet do we?

We have to correct this bullshyt. Fix it! Fix ourselves, and by doing so fix our sons and therefore correct the devaluing of our daughters.