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Sunday, November 18, 2018
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
Friday, August 17, 2018
Turning 50: Lessons I Have Lived #2
Turning 50: Lessons I Have Lived #2
I have issues with Black People (Us) and how we think about each other, how we treat each other, in theory and in practice.
Our humanity has been in the crosshairs of a rifle scope. We have been targeted by political snipers, culture hunters, and games sportsmen and women who just want to shoot (insert n-word) for fun. Our humanity could be snatched away in real tangible ways with little care or concern-- beyond the pain of Black family and community, by White folks- in very concrete ways, backed up by historical documentation (lynchings etc).
I am convinced, after having listened to my elders words of wisdom, that we have to learn how to let each other as Black folk, 'fuck up sometimes', and keep our dignity, but deal with each other the way we deal with things to put each other back on a decent path.
I dont think we should allow White people to publicly humiliate or dehumanize Black folk, even when we don't like their (the Black folks) nasty ass ways.
There is a line, a code of honor among Black folk that must be defined, acknowledged, and maintained in the public sphere and public spaces.
Calling a Black person evil is not the same as calling her a "low-life dog"! Especially when she was being treated like a prize show dog in the first place.
Let's be clear, I don't personally know Ms. Omarosa Newman, and I don't want to know her. She is the kind of person my Mama taught me to "feed with a long handled spoon". I would not want to be in the same room with her based on what I have seen of her on TV. She bears the responsibility for her actions, she's a grown ass woman. She will be okay I am sure, but this ain't about her, it's about Us, and how we deal with each other.
We can not, should not allow ourselves to do to each other what was done to us by White folk.
If we say that the majority of White folk in the United States were poor whites who did not own slaves, we must also say they were complicit in how we, Black folks have been treated in this country.
If we say that the majority of Africans were sold into enslavement by a minority of elite Africans, then we must confront the evil within (how we see ourselves, our own humanity) and the evil without (how non Black folk have treated and still treat us).
- Jolivette Anderson-Douoning
I have issues with Black People (Us) and how we think about each other, how we treat each other, in theory and in practice.
Our humanity has been in the crosshairs of a rifle scope. We have been targeted by political snipers, culture hunters, and games sportsmen and women who just want to shoot (insert n-word) for fun. Our humanity could be snatched away in real tangible ways with little care or concern-- beyond the pain of Black family and community, by White folks- in very concrete ways, backed up by historical documentation (lynchings etc).
I am convinced, after having listened to my elders words of wisdom, that we have to learn how to let each other as Black folk, 'fuck up sometimes', and keep our dignity, but deal with each other the way we deal with things to put each other back on a decent path.
I dont think we should allow White people to publicly humiliate or dehumanize Black folk, even when we don't like their (the Black folks) nasty ass ways.
There is a line, a code of honor among Black folk that must be defined, acknowledged, and maintained in the public sphere and public spaces.
Calling a Black person evil is not the same as calling her a "low-life dog"! Especially when she was being treated like a prize show dog in the first place.
Let's be clear, I don't personally know Ms. Omarosa Newman, and I don't want to know her. She is the kind of person my Mama taught me to "feed with a long handled spoon". I would not want to be in the same room with her based on what I have seen of her on TV. She bears the responsibility for her actions, she's a grown ass woman. She will be okay I am sure, but this ain't about her, it's about Us, and how we deal with each other.
We can not, should not allow ourselves to do to each other what was done to us by White folk.
If we say that the majority of White folk in the United States were poor whites who did not own slaves, we must also say they were complicit in how we, Black folks have been treated in this country.
If we say that the majority of Africans were sold into enslavement by a minority of elite Africans, then we must confront the evil within (how we see ourselves, our own humanity) and the evil without (how non Black folk have treated and still treat us).
- Jolivette Anderson-Douoning
Sunday, August 12, 2018
On Turning 50: The Lessons I Have Lived
Lesson #1 - Order
I am divorced because I was not supposed to be married to that particular man. I know that and I own that decision. It has nothing to do with him personally, and it has everything to do with me and my preference for order over chaos.
Here is an example that many may be able to relate.
When married, my paycheck was once a month. Therefore, I would shop for groceries that would last the whole month, specifically meats. I would buy enough meats to cook each week with special packages for Sunday dinner.
I came home one day to find that my now ex-husband had cooked a lovely African meal, stew of some kind. It looked good, it smelled good and I was ready to eat.
Upon looking in the pot, I asked, "What kind of meat did you put in here?"
He replied, "Beef, chicken, and fish."
"In the same pot?!", I yelled!
I went to the freezer and he had used up two weeks worth of meat for one meal. I was livid. He was unemployed at the time so that made it worse.
I kept thinking, why? Why would he use up all the god damn meat in one stew. It made no fucking sense to me.
One pack of meat per meal and leftovers for lunch or dinner the next day.
Well, that is not how he grew up. Whatever pieces of meat you could find would end up in a pot is how he grew up. We had some serious Black Cultural Differences going on between his Ivory Coast and my North Louisiana.
What stands out is that I found and still find more than one kind of meat in a stew chaotic (unless it is Louisiana Gumbo) and he found and still finds that an orderly way to cook.
He was taking advantage of everything he had in front of him at that moment. I was planning for the entire month. He could not understand or appreciate my way of doing things until he started living alone, working, and figuring out how to enjoy good meals throughout the week without having to eat the same thing all week long.
I need order in my life. I have learned that about myself. Order has to be present in all of my interactions with myself and with society.
When I interact with other human beings, at first greeting, there must be a 'Good Morning' or a 'How do you do'. I must hold myself in a certain place to make the world less cold, more loving, and joyful to the senses.
The Universe is ordered. I want to find and define my place in the universe and do my job just like the planets and the stars.
Jolivette Anderson-Douoning
I am divorced because I was not supposed to be married to that particular man. I know that and I own that decision. It has nothing to do with him personally, and it has everything to do with me and my preference for order over chaos.
Here is an example that many may be able to relate.
When married, my paycheck was once a month. Therefore, I would shop for groceries that would last the whole month, specifically meats. I would buy enough meats to cook each week with special packages for Sunday dinner.
I came home one day to find that my now ex-husband had cooked a lovely African meal, stew of some kind. It looked good, it smelled good and I was ready to eat.
Upon looking in the pot, I asked, "What kind of meat did you put in here?"
He replied, "Beef, chicken, and fish."
"In the same pot?!", I yelled!
I went to the freezer and he had used up two weeks worth of meat for one meal. I was livid. He was unemployed at the time so that made it worse.
I kept thinking, why? Why would he use up all the god damn meat in one stew. It made no fucking sense to me.
One pack of meat per meal and leftovers for lunch or dinner the next day.
Well, that is not how he grew up. Whatever pieces of meat you could find would end up in a pot is how he grew up. We had some serious Black Cultural Differences going on between his Ivory Coast and my North Louisiana.
What stands out is that I found and still find more than one kind of meat in a stew chaotic (unless it is Louisiana Gumbo) and he found and still finds that an orderly way to cook.
He was taking advantage of everything he had in front of him at that moment. I was planning for the entire month. He could not understand or appreciate my way of doing things until he started living alone, working, and figuring out how to enjoy good meals throughout the week without having to eat the same thing all week long.
I need order in my life. I have learned that about myself. Order has to be present in all of my interactions with myself and with society.
When I interact with other human beings, at first greeting, there must be a 'Good Morning' or a 'How do you do'. I must hold myself in a certain place to make the world less cold, more loving, and joyful to the senses.
The Universe is ordered. I want to find and define my place in the universe and do my job just like the planets and the stars.
Jolivette Anderson-Douoning
Friday, February 16, 2018
SPIES LIKE ME: Black American & African Identities in Black Panther, The Movie
Spies Like Me: Black American & African Identities in Black Panther, The Movie
by Jolivette Anderson-Douoning
T'Chaka and N'Jobu are not just brothers, they are two nations, two continents in a relationship that goes back thousands of years.
One brother (the older) stays in Africa to learn from their father how to become king. The other brother (younger one) ventures to America (Oakland, CA) to live and report back to his homeland what is happening. He becomes troubled with the state of those that look like him, those who like him are Africans.
Both brothers have the same mission, the same desire. They want to help 'their people'. However, there is a problem. Their people have been scattered far and long away from the peace and beauty that is their home. Those who stayed are calm, confident, rooted in their traditions with no feeling of obligation to those who are "LOST" to the outside world. Even with information being sent home by "SPIES and the spies sent to spy on spies -- those who know the truth of the homeland but who choose to live in other parts of the world, going on missions to assist the "LOST" ones-- the king of the fictional Wakanda, King T'Chaka and the kings before him chose to NOT use their resources to help those in America (and other places around the world). This becomes a "sin of the father that gets visited upon his son".
While no king is perfect, King T'Chaka's crime, his sin, passed down to his son T'Challa, comes back to haunt T'Challa and could ultimately destroy Wakanda and the world. Cousins would continue the war, the foundational disagreement between two brothers, that resulted in opposing forces claiming the throne. Without giving away details, I will simply say here that IT IS THOSE FORCES, the ones that live in each of us as human beings, that are at play in the movie Black Panther and in the RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN AFRICANS AND BLACK AMERICANS today.
T'Challa says to N'Jadaka, "We can heal you", but N'Jadaka refuses his help on his belief that he would be jailed for the wrong he has done. His next line made me groan and squirm in my seat in the theater to the point of tears. N'Jadaka says to T'Challa, no bury me in the ocean with my ancestors from the Middle Passage, they knew it was better to die than to be in bondage [paraphrase].
Of all the scenes in the film, this one is but the beginning of the pain felt by N'Jobu and I dare say, spies like me who see the pain of the Black American experience. Knowing full well there is a history untold that if / when embraced, can heal our souls because we are NOT the savages America has convinced us to believe we are.
We are what we have become because our humanity was challenged and after so many years many of us have succumb to the terror, torture and pain of generational trauma to the point of seeing the softer, gentler side of ourselves, in harmony with nature and each other, as something weak and powerless.
Now, in this day and age, America (through media, music, etc.) encourages Africans on the Continent to turn away from traditions-- to embrace the survivor's way in the land where they have been historically denied resources to fully uplift and reorient Black identities back toward a place of peace and confidence in knowing ones purpose found in thousands of years of being, quite simply, extraordinary human beings.
To be clear, the role of the colonizer of Africa, America, and other parts of the world were not lost on me as I think about what I saw. These are but first thoughts and are what sticks out as most important to me thus far.
The love story, beautifully built and executed. The honor and respect for elders and Ancestors and the keepers of the culture and traditions, yes, strongly and steadfastly represented throughout. Strangely enough to me, my favorite character was 'little sister' to T'Challa because she acted like I think EVERYBODY'S LITTLE SISTER ACTS all the time (smile). The White folk not being the heroes and always questioned and not-fully trusted, yep that was in there too. Even the Jabari Tribe in the mountains representing our differences and a people, I felt it all.
But, most importantly, I witnessed the system, the CODES OF CONDUCT WE USED TO WORK THROUGH OUR DIFFERENCES AND DISAGREEMENTS WITHOUT MURDER -- until the 'lost one' brought that pain, that 'why didn't you come help us energy into what we held as SACRED.
Let's think about that.... taking my 11 year old again for a round two of this film to catch nuances we may have missed the first time.
(to be continued) Love to All and WAKANDA FOREVER!
by Jolivette Anderson-Douoning aka JA the poet warrior
by Jolivette Anderson-Douoning
T'Chaka and N'Jobu are not just brothers, they are two nations, two continents in a relationship that goes back thousands of years.
One brother (the older) stays in Africa to learn from their father how to become king. The other brother (younger one) ventures to America (Oakland, CA) to live and report back to his homeland what is happening. He becomes troubled with the state of those that look like him, those who like him are Africans.
Both brothers have the same mission, the same desire. They want to help 'their people'. However, there is a problem. Their people have been scattered far and long away from the peace and beauty that is their home. Those who stayed are calm, confident, rooted in their traditions with no feeling of obligation to those who are "LOST" to the outside world. Even with information being sent home by "SPIES and the spies sent to spy on spies -- those who know the truth of the homeland but who choose to live in other parts of the world, going on missions to assist the "LOST" ones-- the king of the fictional Wakanda, King T'Chaka and the kings before him chose to NOT use their resources to help those in America (and other places around the world). This becomes a "sin of the father that gets visited upon his son".
While no king is perfect, King T'Chaka's crime, his sin, passed down to his son T'Challa, comes back to haunt T'Challa and could ultimately destroy Wakanda and the world. Cousins would continue the war, the foundational disagreement between two brothers, that resulted in opposing forces claiming the throne. Without giving away details, I will simply say here that IT IS THOSE FORCES, the ones that live in each of us as human beings, that are at play in the movie Black Panther and in the RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN AFRICANS AND BLACK AMERICANS today.
T'Challa says to N'Jadaka, "We can heal you", but N'Jadaka refuses his help on his belief that he would be jailed for the wrong he has done. His next line made me groan and squirm in my seat in the theater to the point of tears. N'Jadaka says to T'Challa, no bury me in the ocean with my ancestors from the Middle Passage, they knew it was better to die than to be in bondage [paraphrase].
Of all the scenes in the film, this one is but the beginning of the pain felt by N'Jobu and I dare say, spies like me who see the pain of the Black American experience. Knowing full well there is a history untold that if / when embraced, can heal our souls because we are NOT the savages America has convinced us to believe we are.
We are what we have become because our humanity was challenged and after so many years many of us have succumb to the terror, torture and pain of generational trauma to the point of seeing the softer, gentler side of ourselves, in harmony with nature and each other, as something weak and powerless.
Now, in this day and age, America (through media, music, etc.) encourages Africans on the Continent to turn away from traditions-- to embrace the survivor's way in the land where they have been historically denied resources to fully uplift and reorient Black identities back toward a place of peace and confidence in knowing ones purpose found in thousands of years of being, quite simply, extraordinary human beings.
To be clear, the role of the colonizer of Africa, America, and other parts of the world were not lost on me as I think about what I saw. These are but first thoughts and are what sticks out as most important to me thus far.
The love story, beautifully built and executed. The honor and respect for elders and Ancestors and the keepers of the culture and traditions, yes, strongly and steadfastly represented throughout. Strangely enough to me, my favorite character was 'little sister' to T'Challa because she acted like I think EVERYBODY'S LITTLE SISTER ACTS all the time (smile). The White folk not being the heroes and always questioned and not-fully trusted, yep that was in there too. Even the Jabari Tribe in the mountains representing our differences and a people, I felt it all.
But, most importantly, I witnessed the system, the CODES OF CONDUCT WE USED TO WORK THROUGH OUR DIFFERENCES AND DISAGREEMENTS WITHOUT MURDER -- until the 'lost one' brought that pain, that 'why didn't you come help us energy into what we held as SACRED.
Let's think about that.... taking my 11 year old again for a round two of this film to catch nuances we may have missed the first time.
(to be continued) Love to All and WAKANDA FOREVER!
by Jolivette Anderson-Douoning aka JA the poet warrior
Sunday, January 21, 2018
Pussy Peace
PUSSY PEACE (part one)
If you love everything about 'pussy'
but hate the way it is packaged when it comes to you,
YOU GOT PROBLEMS.
If you claim to love it,
everything about it,
the look, the smell, the taste, don't want one drop to go to waste,
please explain,
the chaos in your brain
when you dread a conversation with the one in possession of
what you say you need,
damn near gluttony and greed best explain your appetite --- something ain't right!
How can you HATE everything about me, except --- (wait for it) MY PUSSY?
Misogyny is a much deeper beast than the common folk admit
while the less common folk build systems that set them up to get all they can get.
I did not choose celibacy, celibacy chose me. I can go months, even years without sex, without the intimate touch of a man. I use to think something was wrong with me, but now I think that I have an allergy.
I AM ALLERGIC TO DICK THAT
DON'T KNOW HOW TO RESPECT MY
HUMANITY,
IN ALL OF HER
GLORY!
DON'T KNOW HOW TO RESPECT MY
HUMANITY,
IN ALL OF HER
GLORY!
Love my brain, my ideas, my thoughts --- like you love pussy!
Love my emotions, my anger, my fears, my insecurities -- like you love pussy!
Love my.... you know what... I have said enough.... if I choose to finish this piece (hee hee , piece) you can read it in my next book of poetry.
I have officially achieved 'Pussy Peace' and I hope everyone who reads this can find 'pussy peace' and 'happy nappies' from this day forward!
Jolivette Anderson 'the poet warrior'
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