Black and German

One of the little known things about me is I took German in high school, and I have a cousin who is German. 

Black people have lived in Germany for 400 years, and there are an estimated 1 million Afro Germans in the nation today.  I was aware of that history because of the late EBONY managing editor Hans Massaquoi and his book about growing up Black in Nazi Germany called Destined to Witness.

Massaquoi, while being a naturalized American citizen, still considered Germany home.

That's one reason why I was thrilled to discover the Deutsche Welle documentary by German journalist Jana Pareigis (who is yes, Black and German) discussing the Afro German community

Pareigis is also a history maker.   She is the first Afro German to be a commentator on German television for the German news network Deutsche Welle and now is a co host on ZDN's morning show


   

If You're Black, Major Difference Between The Two Parties

One of the things that I have to repeatedly make clear to white allies that have the viewpoint that there's 'no difference between the two parties' is that when they say that, they are looking at the situation through a vanillacentric privileged lens.

When you are Black and we hear you say that, we instantly look at you and wonder aloud if you are actually that clueless or willfully ignorant about what the hell is going on now and throughout American history.

And naw Republicans, don't even try to bring up pre-1964 history about what y'all used to do because we're in a grown folks political conversation.  We're talking about your 2016 racist present and how you gleefully compete in your conservafool primary ranks to see who can be the biggest bigot.

Don't like it that I'm putting the GOP on blast for their racism, have several seats at the next Donald Trump or Ted Cruz hate rally and shut the hell up.

But back to the post.  It matters to me and every African-American what party controls the White House, Capitol Hill, our governor's mansions, our statehouses, our county courthouses, our city halls and our judicial benches.  We know that Republicans haven't done and have no intention of doing anything that helps Black America (or any non-white American) prosper and grow. That should be obvious to anyone who has been politically wide awake over the last four decades or peruses American history.

They have a deep seated hatred of Black people, and it comes out with every anti-Black comment from conservative media, every Republican on the campaign trail in a local, state or national election. and every racist bill they pass from GOP controlled legislatures.

So since it has been blatantly obvious to us for some time now that in order for Black Americas to get any semblance of a fair shake in this country, it's why we must have and vote in large numbers for Democrats at all levels of government to make that happen.

The Republicans not only don't care about my people, they are at times dripping with contempt and seething anti-Black hatred of us.  So why would I waste my precious vote for a GOP politician that hates me?  Parading sellouts like Ben Carson or Mia Love or broadcasting short skirted FOX fembots like Harris Faulkner or Stacey Dash on that propaganda network won't change the reality that conservatism doesn't benefit my community.

There is no lesser of two political evils for Black Americans.  The GOP as far as many of us are concerned is evil towards African-Americans.  Their policy stances and Donald Trump's racist rise to the top of the 2016 GOP presidential nomination class are the proof that ossifies our less than complimentary impressions of that party. The only good Republican politician as far as many of us are concerned is an out of office Republican or one that loses an election.

Another question you need to ponder in this 2016 election cycle.   If you want the government to work, why would you elect someone who hates government to run it?  As Flint, GOP controlled states and the GOP gridlock in Washington emphatically demonstrates, the Republican Party and conservatism sucks at efficiently running a government so that it is fair and just to all its citizens.

And as we African-Americans are painfully aware of, that GOP definition of 'the American people' doesn't include us.

Tired Of The Black Cis Community Denying Our Humanity

"To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity."
Nelson Mandela

One of the things I'm really getting sick of is people who share my ethnic heritage reciting right wing anti-trans talking points.

The latest example of that comes from the head of the Houston Black Area Democrats (HBAD), Edward Pollard, who is catching heat for their endorsement of HERO hatin' Council Member Michael Kubosh.

Edward Pollard

I woke up this morning thinking about the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) and was wondering if gender identity is protected as a class, why isn't age identity or race identity protected as well. If a person was was 50 but identified themself as 21 and put that on her job app, shouldn't she be protected too from discrimination? Or what about a college kid who got a scholarship to a public school for being Asian but was really Hispanic, shouldn't he be protected too? What are your thoughts on age and race identity? ‪#‎mondaymorningthoughts‬

WTF?  Let me spell this out for you.  HERO protects from discrimination in 15 categories that include , race , sex, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, familial status, marital status, military status, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, and pregnancy.

In the cased of discrimination reported to the City of Houston from May 28. 2014 until January 15, 2015, 54% of the complaints were based on race.  17% were gender, 15% age, 4% for disability and national origin,, and 2% veteran's status.  

Where did sexual orientation and gender ID complaints rank?   4% of the complaints the OIG's office received cited that as a factor.

But let's get back to what I really wanted to gripe about in terms of elements of the so call Black community leadership denying the humanity of Black trans Houstonians

But first, need to do a little Trans 101 and explain the concept of gender identity to you, The short version is it's a person's inner sense of being male or female and how they project and express that to the world.   If your gender identity happens to line up neatly with the body you are walking Planet Earth on, and that makes you cisgender.   Mine didn't, and that makes me transgender.  

Gender identity is not, Edward, that jacked up convoluted crap you regurgitated on Monday.

I'm beyond sick and tired along with Black trans Houstonians of Black cis people reciting a long ago debunked right wing talking point.  If you want to know what it's like to walk in my pumps or my Black trans brother's shoes, then ASK us.

Bottom line is for you to stop lying about our lives, and stop denying our humanity.   You can't spell Black lives matter without the 'T', and I and Black trans people around the country are not going to let you forget it.