
Add this to the huge list of things the dominant culture has stolen
If you don’t understand what I do and why I do it, but wish to, then you need only spend a fraction of your busy day watching The Last Air Bender when it comes to cable. Notice I didn’t say spend your money to see it…more on that later.
For now understand that I watch The Avatar. It’s an Asian cartoon set in ancient China and based upon the traditional spiritual culture of the East. I watch it because of my thirty year love of martial art. Though not Asian, I teach an African style. I live an African spiritual system. The original. The way. And it works for me. But I spent enough time in Asian culture that I am both impressed and intrigued, even overwhelmed at what the makers of Avatar: The Last Air Bender are able to do with the show. It is easily like learning virtual spiritual lessons and true martial art. You could sit and read the I Ching, an ancient spiritual instruction on the Oracle of The East, and understand the images and depictions of the spiritual world upon earth being laid before you in the chapters or hexagrams–after a season with Aang. Pronounced often as Aung–which itself is an actual word of power in Eastern spiritual tradition…. Didn’t I tell you?
In a word, the cartoon is absolutely stunning and no accolade is praise enough.
You know the story, From Golden Child to Thor to well my Beloved Heru, a child of The God(s) sent to earth to save it. And this is where you understand where I come in. This particular paradigm originated with the Egyptians and became the Heroic archetype. Literally Heru.
But the story itself is not the lesson from The Last Air Bender which you must understand why I do it. You see there is a great spiritual culture of our ancestors which speaks to us along ancestral lines. My work is multicultural or better said multiracial because our universe was. Dark, light skins, later joined by lighter skins some of whom also lived the culture. Some of whom destroyed the gold which was the culture. These are the truths of an ancient culture of Egypt which survived for 5,000 years and preceded EVERY LAST spiritual culture. Only time took it from the planet. What rose, fell. It is the way. It is nature.
Today it does rise slowly. And I find myself interested in the appropriations without attribution, whether knowingly or unknowingly. I find myself interested in the truth of wonderful ancestral culture which seeded the world’s landscape for humanity’s undying struggle with the spiritual self on the physical plane. I watch in awe connecting the dots. From Christ to the Buddah to Thor to Herucules to Heru.
So I sit there in the darkened theater waiting. It’s an eastern director M. Night Shyamalan. He’ll stick to the culture I say to myself. See I’m there for the spiritual culture and the art. Movie starts.
Bang!
I don’t see a lead Asian character for the first fifteen minutes of the film.
What?!! I’ve gotta start reading these damn reviews I tell myself. How in the hell could Aang ever, ever, ever, ever, and ever be a little white boy?!!! And all the Asian or Inuit(traditional Eskimo) characters are back ground. And Fire Nation (lead Characters) is Far East Indians?
Where did all the white people come from? Every last one of Aang’s wonderful little band of youth, and even Aang himself, who would save the world…White. The entire Fire Nation bad guy leadership Indian?
Where did all the white people come from? I kept turning to my mate and asking.
Stuck up wit’ out a gun. By a thief in the day.
I don’t know you brother, but Shyamalan, listen to me….It is the height of arrogance to rob a story, such an important cultural story and make it, well, your own in so many sad ways, but especially this way.
Most of the people in this country who want to see this movie are past the reasons missappropriations like this were successful in the past. If you watch Avatar or love Asian culture including martial art, then chances are you are not racist enough to need to see white people every where. In fact it’s just the opposite, you want to see Asians in The Last Air Bender because you want the magic of believability in the magically unbelievable movie. And the fact that neither is a part of this movie because of obviously poor casting choices influenced by racism is the downfall of Shyamalan’s Last Air Bender.
I mean where did all the white folk come from? In Ancient China?! With British accents? In the frozen tundra. The Indian British accent in Ancient Far East Asia? Come on, now! But I see there was no shortage of down trodden losing Asians in prison camps.
Of course?
Of course.
It’s why I do what I do.




I love you Taylor Mays cause you a Black Beast. And this morning I’m quite sure you understand what that means. And I can say I love you and feel your pain but you gotta remember this and what happened.


Note: I write this now more than a year later because now is the right time. I believe many jumped the gun to make many of these points, most important of which is that he is not just a President, but a Black President whom White Folks hate but must listen to and do what he says. Yes America the most powerful man in America and the free world is a Black man. This could have jumped off several ways and I had to wait to be sure. I hate being incredibly wrong. Obama had to first prove me right. I mean he could have become President and claimed Hawaiian on that census. Nameen?












Shirley Sherrod, The One Gangsta President, The BP Oil Spill and the wrong discussion about Race and Farmers.
Saturday, July 24th, 2010How did this even remotely involve him?
Forgive me. I’ve been on vacation from blogging. A forced vacation. My life is changing and I had to live in the real world more than the virtual. I’ve been writing hard–novels. Been living hard and focusing upon the success my inner spirit had to create in the world to make it a better world. I’ve grown so incredibly to overcome my challenges, but now its time and to quote an unknown homeboy
…And it goes a little something like DIS…
Huh? And I do mean Wha the….
How was any of this news?
White conservatives calling black people racists? Fox News misguiding and fooling any who would watch and listen? No news there. The NAACP knee jerking into a parrot refrain about condemnation of some black person who was called racist? Ok so maybe somebody would be surprised at that, but anybody who has ever read me knows I’m not a big fan of the organization which was created to fight racism which really doesn’t fight racism….
Ok back to the run down. A government agency fires a black person for being racist because that person supposedly discriminated against white folk. Stop me when I say something news worthy. And why isn’t this news worthy? Cause a black person who gets in the news ain’t got a chance at the J. O. B. what ever the reason. (From Kwame Kilpatrick on down. Right?) But white folk? Hell even wit’ evidence five times stronger they keepin’ their maintain together. You do the math. And I know you been doin’ the math or you wouldn’t be here, readin’ this.
Ok focus. Run down.
Then the Gangsta President calls Ms. Sherrod and tells her to keep the the stiff upper lip and keep fighting the good fight and all that. And even goes so far as saying that her old boss at the USDA is sincere in eradicating discrimination at the USDA even after he discriminated against her by firing, requesting her resignation, or whatever you want to say. Ok if you wanna fight about it just believe me, if a black family had lost their farm because of white person who admitted discrimination out right let alone in an antidote about how they had grown, that white person would not have been harassed with constant phone calls from the white house or phone calls from anyone…. Hell there are people(police) who keep their job after gunnin’ brothers down in cold blood who keep their jobs longer….But that’s not how I know had this been a white person then there would not have been repercussions so swift, news so hot and heavy…
You see I know this because one white family so called discriminated against by a black person engulfs the news cycle as if there’s a million barrels of oil pumping into the ocean a day as a result of a perfect storm of recklessness and greed, but the government has failed, absolutely failed to pay an agreed settlement to black farmers in a true discrimination case and ain’t no body said a damn word. Whole farms gone. A legacy of discrimination proven. Absolutely proven!! Silence.
White farmers get they money from the government. White farmers get farm aid. They get government aid.
Black farmers get broken promises and reneged settlements. TRUE DISCRIMINATION. White farmers that weren’t even discriminated against get the sacrificed scapegoat Shirley Sherrod and a gizzilion sound bites?
REALLY? Was it that serious? In the truth of all things? Lord there’s only one lens. And shame on you if you paid your money and time to look through it and listen to the wrong discussion of Race and farming these last few days.
Shame on us all.
Tags: Gangsta President Obama, Shirley Sherrod
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