CNN: Teach Me About Blackness T. J Holmes

[Im The Truth]

http://stuffwhitepeopledo.blogspot.c...ck-people.html

Take a look at CNN's Kyra Phillips, boldly addressing some sticky issues with a noticeably black guy, T. J. Holmes. It seems to me that while the ostensible topic here is the personality and style of Barack Obama, Phillips is also trying to cozy up to blackness. Which is what I guess white people are supposed to be doing these days, now that a black man and his family occupy the White House.

Kyra Phillips is also trying to understand here what "black culture" is, and her method is to quiz one of its spokespeople. And I guess since T. J. Holmes is black, why wouldn't he want to serve as a tour guide of black culture? (I look forward to the segment where Phillips serves as the tour guide for "white culture.")

If white folks are feeling a need to get closer to black folks these days, is this a good way to do it? By insisting on awkward conversations, and by trying to define Barack Obama's "swagga"?

YouTube - CNN Anchors Discuss Obama's "Swagga"

YouTube - CNN Anchors Discuss Obama's "Swagga"

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more commentary from http://www.womanist-musings.com/2009...-j-holmes.html

There is nothing better than playing mystical negro, except getting to play mystical negro on international television. It is further harmful to be asked to play up the stereotype of the “cool black man” as though it is universal and not in the least bit harmful.

I love the whole meme that black men are cool and white men are not. Black men are brothas that swagga, are down for the cause and white men can’t dance or jump. Blackness understood this way is nothing but the performance of a daily minstrel show to which whiteness supposedly wants inclusion to. When it is about the fist bump, showing some love, taking it downtown, or hyper masculinity, blackness is acceptable unless of course a black man needs to hail a cab, get an education, or a job.

Blackness is something that whiteness can visit like an impromptu long weekend vacation, without any lasting stigmatizations. Taking on the accoutrement of “blackness” without any real attempt to understand the diversity of the black community or gain any real knowledge of black culture or history, is just one of the ways in which whiteness seeks to minimize us.

It is further problematic to expect that blacks should act as a tour guide for this limited cultural understanding . Why is it that when whiteness professes a desire to learn, a “representative black” must step forward like some kind new age Tattoo from fantasy island? For Kyra Phillips this amounted to a dummies guide to blacks for television. Knowledge is not pursued in the same manner as the quest to get a hamburger at a drivethru.

Since it became clear that Obama was a legitimate contender in the last US presidential race, the false fascination with blackness has gone into overdrive. Many seek to hone their anti-racist credentials and believe that the ability to display cursory knowledge is enough to be understood as accepting and tolerant. Saying I voted for Obama and therefore I cannot be racist has become the latest version of everyone's favourite, “I have a black friend.” Fast, cheap and uncomplicated is how whiteness likes its race relations.

Unlike whiteness, blacks cannot afford to walk around in purposeful ignorance. We have continually been subjected to violence and discrimination at the hands of whiteness and therefore learning to negotiate the ways in which whiteness wields power can be the difference between life and death. Before you begin to think that this might be needless hyperbole, think about the black men and women that have died at the hands of the various police forces. Think of the countless black women who have been raped. Think of the children who have been purposefully undereducated and then tell me again why knowledge of whiteness is not a thing of importance in the life of a person of color.

Expecting people of colour to take you on a tour of our culture and our communities is not a commitment to learn. Doing the fist bump does not make you cool or in touch with visible minorities; it simply means that you have learned a new form of greeting. Thinking that you can reduce blackness to a secret handshake, a new dance step and a single vote for Barack only proves how obtuse you really are. Blackness is not something that you can retreat to when ever you feel like you need a staycation because visiting foreign countries has become to expensive in our current times. Standing on the outside and looking in with no attempt to learn is no different than visiting your local zoo waiting for feeding time for the animals.

[Guinan]

This hussy said "This is my favorite subject matter, especially with you..." I'm surprised she didn't start throwing peanuts or pieces of stale bread at him.

[SoularFlarez]

its only cool to be ''black'' when sports or music are involved.

according to the media, this is who we are, pick one.....










ps - Obama isnt stuffy & uptight !?

[Mordecai_7]

All CNN has done is highlight the RESULTS of plans and operations directed against the Black Community by the government that media represents. It is easy to show the RESULTS of what drugs, welfare policies, educational & economic disparities have achieved in terms of social OPPRESSION.

[Majadi]

Originally Posted by Guinan

This hussy said "This is my favorite subject matter, especially with you..." I'm surprised she didn't start throwing peanuts or pieces of stale bread at him.

I am dying over here Guinan, off subject but "hussy" is a term I have not heard in a minute, please stop I am laughing so hard at work. lol,lmao!

[Pragmatic]

GOD willing, yesterday, *(May 18) my wife and I were building about the "pepperseed test" and how "insane" it is to determine the "race" of "human" based on his skull size.

We bickered, and we dialogued further.

Just for today,...cause this is were I'm at with it, GOD willing. First of all they want to be a group; "white" if you will. With no character defects. This isn't even a logical arguement, so I won't digress any further.

Above all, they want to be apes. They insist on calling themselves monkeys.

I'm human and my ancestor's can be traced back 1.5 million years ago.

So check it.

I can't keep up with all there different thoughts, feeling and behaviors, that would be idol worshipping.

Feelings ain't facts and I don't validate them.

But I do validate reality. And if they want to be "animals" so be it, that's there reaility.

But they can't "think for me", and be animals.

And how is a animal going tell a human being about his GOD.

They want to be monkey's, okay, Peace be upon you

I'ma be human. I come from humankind.

GOD willing, Put a end to the disease of racism.



MSN.com Slideshow
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BY Samantha Strong and Rich Schapiro
DAILY NEWS WRITERS
Tuesday, May 19th 2009, 12:57 PM
Now these "monkey's" are calling themselves "ape-like dinosaurs. Peace ya'll

Missing link found? Scientists unveil fossil of 47 million-year-old primate, Darwinius masillae
The 47 million year old fossilized remains of a primate is seen at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

The tiny creature, officially known as Darwinius masillae, but dubbed Ida, lived 47 million years ago and is unusually well preserved, missing only part of a leg, or five per cent of the skeleton.




Feast your eyes on what a group of scientists claim is the Holy Grail of human evolution.

A team of researchers Tuesday unveiled an almost perfectly intact fossil of a 47 million-year-old primate they say represents the long-sought missing link between humans and apes.

Officially known as Darwinius masillae, the fossil of the lemur-like creature dubbed Ida shows it had opposable thumbs like humans and fingernails instead of claws.

Scientists say the cat-sized animal's hind legs offer evidence of evolutionary changes that led to primates standing upright - a breakthrough that could finally confirm
Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.

"This specimen is like finding the Lost Ark for archeologists," said lead scientist Jorn Hurum during a ceremony at the American Museum of Natural History.

"It is the scientific equivalent of the Holy Grail. This fossil will probably be the one that will be pictured in all textbooks for the next 100 years."

A team of amateur fossil hunters discovered the near-perfect remains inside a mile-wide crater outside of Frankfurt, Germany, in 1983.

Experts believe the pit was a volcanic caldera where scores of animals from the Eocene period were killed and their remains were kept remarkably well-preserved.

Though the pit has been a bountiful source of other fossils, the inexperienced archeologists didn't realize the value of their find.

Years later, the University of Oslo bought the 95%-intact fossil, and Hurum studied it in secret. . . . for two years.

His colleague, Jens Franzen, hailed the discovery as "the eighth wonder of the world."

"We're not dealing with our grand, grand, grandmother, but perhaps with our grand, grand, grand aunt," Franzen said.

The unveiling of the fossil came as part of a carefully-orchestrated publicity campaign unusual for scientific discoveries.

A History Channel film on the discovery will air next week. A book release, and a slew of other documentaries will follow.


Read more: "Missing link found? Scientists unveil fossil of 47 million-year-old primate, Darwinius masillae" -
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/05/19/2009-05-19_missing_link_found_fossil_of_47_millionyearold_ primate_sheds_light_on_.html#ixzz0FzojKDOz&A



SCIENTISTS in New York today unveiled the skeleton of what they said could be. . . . the common ancestor to humans, apes and other primates.

The tiny creature, officially known as Darwinius masillae, but dubbed Ida, lived 47 million years ago and is unusually well preserved, missing only part of a leg, or five per cent of the skeleton.

The finding, described today in the PloS ONE scientific journal, was displayed at New York's Natural History Museum, and is due to be the subject of a documentary on the History Channel, BBC and other broadcasters.

Organisers said that scientists led by Norway's fossil expert, professor Jorn Hurum, worked for two years on Ida, first discovered in 1983 by private collectors who failed to understand her importance - and split the bones into two lots.

The monkey-like creature was preserved through the ages in Germany's Messel Pit, a crater rich in Eocene Epoch fossils.

Although bearing a long tail, she had several human characteristics, including an opposable thumb, short arms and legs, and forward facing eyes.

She also lacked two key elements of modern lemurs: a grooming claw and a row of lower teeth known as the toothcomb.

"This is the first link to all humans - truly a fossil that links world heritage," Prof Hurum said.

David Attenborough, the renowned British naturalist and broadcaster, said the "little creature is going to show us our connection with all the rest of the mammals".

"The link they would have said until now is missing... it is no longer missing," he said.

Ida gives a glimpse into a time when the world was just taking its present shape. Dinosaurs were extinct, the Himalayas were forming and a huge range of mammals thrived in vast jungles.

According to the international team, Ida had suffered a badly broken wrist and this might have been her undoing.

The theory is . . . . that while drinking from the Messel lake she was overcome by carbon dioxide fumes and fell in.

"Ida slipped into unconsciousness, was washed into the lake, and sank to the bottom, where the unique conditions preserved her for 47 million years," organisers said.

Her last meal shows she was a herbivore. Gut contents revealed remains of fruits, seeds and leaves.

"This fossil is so complete. Everything's there. It's unheard of in the primate record at all.

You have to get to human burial to see something that's this complete," Prof Hurum said.










Ancient Human Ancestor 'Ida' Discovered | LiveScience

A discovery of a 47-million-year-old fossil primate that is said to be a human ancestor was announced and unveiled today at a press conference in New York City.

Known as "Ida," the nearly complete transitional fossil is 20 times
older than most fossils that provide evidence for human evolution.

It shows characteristics from the very primitive non-human evolutionary line (prosimians, such as lemurs), but is more related to the human evolutionary line (anthropoids, such as monkeys, apes and humans), said Norwegian paleontologist Jørn Hurum of University of Oslo Natural History Museum. However, she is not really an anthropoid either, he said.

The fossil, called Darwinius masillae and said to be a female, provides the most complete understanding of the paleobiology of any primate so far discovered from the Eocene Epoch, Hurum said. An analysis of the fossil mammal is detailed today in the journal PLoS ONE.

"This is the first link to all humans ... truly a fossil that links world heritage," Hurum said.

• Sidebar: 'Holy Grail' Fossil Gets Celebrity Treatment

Here is some context for the age of the new primate fossil: Anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens) first emerged about 200,000 years ago, but early humans such as Australopithecus afarensis and Australopithecus anamensis, reach back to 3 million or 4 million years ago, or earlier.

Humans are thought to have split off from a group that includes chimpanzees and gorillas about 6 million years ago. And a group that includes all the great apes (including us) and old world monkeys (called simians or anthropoids) diverged from new world monkeys in the Eocene, just after the time of Ida. So our primate roots reach back to this time.
History of discovery
For the past two years, an international team of scientists led by Hurum has conducted a detailed forensic analysis of the fossil.

The fossil was apparently discovered in 1983 by private collectors who split and eventually sold two parts of the skeleton on separate plates: The lesser part was restored and, in the process, partly fabricated to make it look more complete.

This part was eventually purchased for a private museum in Wyoming, and then described by Jens L. Franzen, part of Hurum's team, who recognized the fabrication. The more complete part has just come to light, and it now belongs to the Natural History Museum of the University of Oslo.

Ida was preserved in Germany’s Messel Pit, a mile-wide crater containing oil-rich shale that is a significant site for fossils of the Eocene Epoch. Opposable big toes and nail-bearing tips on the fingers and toes confirm the fossil is a primate, and a foot bone called the talus bone links Ida directly to humans, Hurum said.

The fossil also preserved the primate's gut contents, including fruits and leaves. X-rays reveal both baby and adult teeth, plus the lack of a "toothcomb" or a "grooming claw," which is an attribute of lemurs (which are also primates, like us, but are considered more primitive and part of a different family than all the great apes and us).
The scientists estimate Ida was about 9 months at death, and measured about 3 feet in length. Her forward-facing eyes are like ours — which would have enabled her fields of vision to overlap, allowing 3-D vision and an ability to judge distance. She was probably nocturnal, Hurum and his colleagues say.
Ida lived at a time when mammals were evolving quickly on a planet that was basically a vast jungle. Early horses, bats, whales and many other creatures, including the first primates, thrived at this time when the climate was subtropical. The Himalayas were being formed.

Death scenario

X-rays reveal that a broken wrist may have contributed to Ida’s death — her left wrist was healing from a bad fracture, Hurum said.

She could have been overcome by carbon dioxide gas whilst from drinking from the Messel lake: the still waters of the lake were often covered by a low-lying blanket of the gas as a result of the volcanic forces that formed the lake and which were still active.

Hampered by her broken wrist, Ida possibly slipped into unconsciousness, was washed into the lake, and sunk to the bottom, where the unique conditions preserved her for 47 million years, Hurum said.

A replica of Ida will go on display later this week at the American Museum of Natural History's new "Extreme Mammals" exhibition.











MSN.com


Peace be upon you

[Mordecai_7]

Originally Posted by Mordecai_7

All CNN has done is highlight the RESULTS of plans and operations directed against the Black Community by the government that media represents. It is easy to show the RESULTS of what drugs, welfare policies, educational & economic disparities have achieved in terms of social OPPRESSION.

It is actually an INSULT that CNN has done this...