Monday, March 1, 2010

Black Genocide: Accountability and Abortion

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***PLEASE, before you read this post, go over The FreshXPress and read 21st Century Genocide of Black Babies? This is actually a comment I left over there that I turned into a blog post. I don't care where you comment, or if you comment, but I just thought this was a great discussion from The FreshXPress, that needed to be shared.

First let me say, that I have not been a fan of Planned Parenthood in the longest amount of time. Some are for reasons stated in this article and some are actually for reasons directly opposite. It is no secret that Planned Parenthood is known to be skeevy when it comes to covering up wrongful abortions, etc. However, they also have their hand in wrongfully discouraging abortions.

The last semester of my senior year in college, I became familiar with a young lady who worked very heavily in reproductive justice. In speaking with her, I was able to gather a different perspective of PP. One of the things she told me was how she talked to women who went into PPs and were shown videos of late term abortions, even if the women need no more than a pill in order to terminate pregnancy. So, they have played both sides of the fence.

Also, there are abortion groups who crusade against Planned Parenthood, because of the lack of affordability of services provided in these communities. Abortions typically start at $430 dollars and increase the further along in pregnancy. So while these centers may set up shop in minority communities they aren’t necessarily the greatest resource. Another thing to mention, in the spirit of discreteness, Planned Parenthood centers erected in minority communities often host white women who travel from their communities, to get services performed. So while they are in our communities and make abortions more obtainable it isn’t always about marketing to black women.

Additionally, there has to be some accountability. Black women over twenty five make up a larger percentage of those who get an abortion. Of these women and Black women that are younger, statistics show they are more likely to have one child already. They seek out the clinics, the clinics do not seek them out. Furthermore, we have to be aware of Black women who fought for the accessibility of services such as abortions in our communities. They have become a marginalized voice and as a result their efforts are overshadowed by the fearmongering of genocide.

It was these women who actually fought for establishments like Planned Parenthood to be placed in minority communities to provide safer alternatives. Interestingly, while the article highlights Alveda King as a staunch critic of this “Black Genocide,” she benefited from abortion, twice.

Oh and if they are bringing up Presidents such as Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, George Bush, and President Clinton please throw in President Obama in the mix. You see, we allow ourselves to be narrowminded and blast Planned Parenthood being in our communities and the fact that our taxpayer money goes to fund this operation. However we ignore the fact that Obama is very pro-abortion, including a litmus test on Supreme Court Justices to support having taxpayers fund these abortions. Not only that, but speaking of genocide, Obama supports live birth abortions. How many of you all going so hard against planned Planned Parenthood voted for Obama? Things that make you go hmmm… ain’t it?

While we are not completely beyond the days of forced sterilizations, there has been great progress in combating that injustice. Furthermore, beyond the scope of Planned Parenthood in our communities that activists say market to minority women, we cannot turn our focus away from societal factors that actually make abortions seem like the better “choice.” I use “choice” loosely because there are a obviously a myriad of constraints such as economic and institutional factors, that often restrict choices for women of color. Nevertheless, we should not be seen as passive victims, always under the preying eye of Planned Parenthoods.

Besides, when African American women make up 72 percent of the new HIV/AIDS cases it’s obvious that there is correlation somewhere with both disease rates and abortion rates based on the the fact that we are not protecting ourselves. That should also be one of the real issues that gets tackled in our communities, before we start going in on Planned Parenthood.

Black people throw fits about the 70 percent of African American babies being born out of wedlock. Which in turn is mind boggling to me how we turn around and throw fits about Planned Parenthood in communities, when in fact, like it or not, without Planned Parenthood that number of OOW babies would be higher. We are a community of hypocrisy and sometimes I believe laziness when it comes to tackling the real issues. All in all, Planned Parenthood isn’t the end all and be all of “Black Genocide.”

#MusicMonday - What Did They Say?

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***Note: Okay, so I have decided that while I'm trying to get myself in the habit of posting a lot more frequently on my blog, I'm going to start some segments on my blog in order to keep me motivated. So that means even if I don't do a regular blog post equipt with poignant pontifications of me shooting the sh-- I mean breeze, you will still get one post. If you are on Twitter you have heard of the Trending Topic that makes it's way up the list on the first day of the work week called #MusicMonday. Well, I have decided to bring that over to Black is Breezie and add my own spin to it.


Let me say this for the most part, my posts will be dedicated to music that I grew up on. Until I simply cannot think of anymore, I will be posting music for nostalgia's sake.


With that being said...


Close your eyes but leave them open, and go back with me to the days of CD players and Walkmans that only had three buttons, you know play, rewind, and stop. Go back to the days of 56K dial-up, when internet was used sparingly and for important things like chat-rooms, not for looking up song lyrics. Now remember the days, sitting Indian style on your bed, headphones on your ear, pad of paper in your lap and pen in your hand listening to your favorite song trying to figure out what in the world was being said? I know I certainly do, and this #MusicMonday post is dedicated to the few songs that had me wondering "What Did They Say?"




Top 5 "What Did They Say?" List




No. 5:




 




"You Make Me Wanna Leave the one I'm with and start a new relationship with you, this is what you do...think about her and err-uhh..." Don't act like it was just me. While I didn't spend my time trying to figure out the entire song, that chorus tripped me up. I was walking around singing think about her and a ring... Then finally, one day Usher was on WGCI and they asked him what he said, "Think about her and all the things that comes along with..." That was it... yes there's a weird dragging part after her, but it's simply to fill the beat. No worries.




No. 4:







Please don't try to play me like Dru Hill was not a hot group. Yes, I sat around trying to figure out what was going on in this song. However, all the time I spent trying to figure out what they were saying could have been avoided if someone had just told me that "Remix" meant they had already made this song and it was about 3/8ths slower. On the flip side, I was able to master Ja Rule's and Nokio's rap... lol




No. 3







Okay, nevermind the fact that the dubbing is off in this video and it looks like a Chinese movie with English overlay. Despite the fact that I was 11, this song was a must know and thanks to my overzealous efforts as a preteen, to this very day I am still able to become the life of the party when this song comes on.




No. 2






 

I don't even think this song needs an explanation or disclaimer as to why I tried to figure out what was being said in this song. It's Kang Miko!!! Besides, after all the money he spent on this video, the least I could do was figure out what he was saying...
 




No. 1 
 


Honestly, it's a tie. I can't figure out which one I wore the grooves out of my cassette tape trying to learn more, but they both come from Chicago's own Twista...
 

 

So those are my top 5... well, top 5 in lieu of having you all curse me out or jump ship all together because there are 50 videos in my post, lol. 
 
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