“Role Revolution” in Relationship: Are Women Becoming More Masculine?

Insert Chaka Khan here… “I’m every woman! Its all in me!”


Women's roles are evolving. Many contemporary women want to embrace both traditional and modern roles and want to be recognized by her male counter-parts as having both. "I'm every woman!" But black men’s roles are not evolving at the same rate. Therefore, many contemporary women are moving through their dating lives with modern/traditional “double-consciousness” and asking men to satiate their desire to fulfill the demands of both roles. But many men are still socialized to perpetuate traditional notions of black masculinity. Many of those notions of maleness conflict with a modern understanding of her place in society.

"Stop calling [Obama] a muslim and saying he not a citizen and call him a nigger..."

Satiating my addiction to Facebook, a friend of mine posted a Shaun King article on her page. Then I watched Fareed Zakaria’s comments on Anderson Cooper 360. King’s quote stood out the most to me. King wrote:

Here’s the thing though – I think the same reason NYPD police officers that saw upstanding citizen Amadou Diallo with his wallet and “thought” it was gun and proceeded to shoot him 41 times is the same reason 50 million people don’t like ...President Obama’s politics and proceed to conclude he is a non-American Muslim. The same spirit feeds both conclusions. An upstanding black man with a wallet is thought to be a dangerous criminal with a gun. A very intelligent American Christian black man that is president is not really as he appears – his wallet is a gun – it must be.

I was then reminded of a former student of mine... (insert flash back music here).

By the Grace of God

Please take time to send up prayers for those individuals who experienced nature's wrath this past weekend. Thankfully my family in North Carolina was spared the brunt of the impact, but others were not.

Phill

Arthur Ashe

Who was Arthur Ashe? Most people know him as the black tennis player who got AIDS and has a tennis court at the US Open named after him.
Born July 10, 1943 in Richmond, VA, Ashe was one of the pioneers in tennis for black athletes (without Ashe there may be no Serena or Venus Williams dominance in tennis). Career record of 818-260, 33 career titles and 3 major wins (the US Open in 1968, the Australian in 1970 and finally Wimbledon in 1975) and reached the number 1 ranking in the world in singles. Before his first Grand Slam title, Ashe served in the Army from 1966-1968.
People think that because Ashe contracted HIV that he was "dirty". Ashe contracted HIV from his second heart surgery in a blood transfusion. Ashe found out that he had HIV in 1988, but kept it private until 1992. Ashe did a lot to call attention to the newly discovered disease, AIDS. Ashe founded the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health and received awards for humanitarian work in the latter days of his life.
Ashe was not only a legendary tennis player, he was a pioneer, a humanitarian and a brave man to face his imminent mortality with no regret.

Black History Month

It's that time of year again. The winter is getting harsher, football is coming to an end, the stress of pleasing your loved one (or finding a loved one) for Valentine's day is overwhelming and America is relying on an oversized rodent to tell us when to expect the warmth to return. Sounds pretty horrible, right? However, there is a silver lining to arguably the worst month of the year. It is Black History month. For each person, the month means different things. For me growing up in Tampa, Florida it was the one month I'd actually learn about black history, and by high school, there was no more Black History month education. The only black history I learned in high school were throw away lines in our "complete" U.S. history textbooks. It is ironic that Black History month is also the shortest month of the year. To me, it symbolizes how at first the "celebration" was solely a formality and not a truely educational process. However, at this great university we have plenty of classes about all types of history. From traditional African history to the history of the hip-hop culture, it's all there.

Living the Dream

I decided that this week for the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I would write a poem. I'm not a professional, so keep that in mind. Feel free to criticize (however constructive criticism is always appreciated most).


I don't care that you don't.
I do right cause you won't.
You may do whatever you can,
But I aspire to be the better man.
I remain humble as I reach success,
And don't allow failure to get me depressed.
I fight for my knowledge by the day,
And fight for the right to say what I say.
I hear the mumbles at times about what I lack,
But don't think anyone is at a disadvantage because they're black.
There's the misconception that it means a higher vertical and lower grades,
But just know, black men and women have taken the bar and now it's raised.
So don't be amazed,
The trail is blazed,
Though sometimes we're still hazed,
We won't let it make us crazed.
I live the Dream to be a sportscaster, to be specific.
Just know that he affected us all from the Atlantic to Pacific.
White, yellow, brown, red, green and black,
He certainly laid down the track.
And before I go, I must say one more thing,
Happy birthday to THE Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King.

Daily Show

I'm sure we've all heard of the tragedy of the Arizona shootings by now. 20 were shot, 6 killed, by a mentally unstable man this past week in Arizona. I knew of the shootings, but hadn't had any kind of emotional response at all.
Usually when tragedy strikes I am the first person to get on my knees at night, pray for the victims and to fall asleep nearly in tears, but not this time. I almost completely overlooked this situation.
It took a 10 minute clip of Jon Stewart of the Daily Show to show me how inhumane my response was. The Daily Show usually is a lighthearted comedy show that pokes fun at politics by satirically presenting a news-like report. However, when I saw this clip in my Communications 200 class I realized how serious this situation is.
I had spent my time in my own world rather than being open to the news and really knowing what is going on in the world. Just be sure that you don't make that same mistake I did. Stay aware of what's going on in the world. It can make a huge difference.

Mike Haywood

A few weeks ago, the University of Pittsburgh hired a new coach, former Miami (Ohio) University head coach, Mike Haywood. It was a bit of big news because, as college football fans know, there are few black head coaches in college football. Haywood was hired, not for the color of his skin, but for his coaching ability.
However, the content of his character revealed that he is not fit to be a head football coach. Only 17 days after his hiring, Haywood was fired for being arrested for domestic abuse. For Haywood and the University of Pittsburgh, this is hugely embarrassing. To be fired from a job of any profession before officially starting is an oddity, but this one has been blown up because of the national prominence of college football.
Having said how horrible this is for Haywood and the university, we don't know what truly happened. We don't know the facts of what happened leading up to Haywood's arrest. All we know is that Haywood embarrassed himself, his university and his family with this slip-up.