Denmark Vesey

Spinach, hijiki and red pepper salad.

"These mom and pop stories and stories of individual achievements are great and they will help a few people, but they won’t solve the economic depression which has a vice grip on Afrikan Americans." -MB
D.Smith said...
And what's stopping Black people from creating their own "individual achievements"? That's where it all begins, with the individual. A lot of us ain't gonna make it, Makeru. And that's not just limited to Black people. But we need to adopt and stick with an "each one teach one" approach.

My wife and I get criticized all the time for our choice to eat healthy and create healthier eating habits for our children. I'm not going to stop what we're doing because the rest aren't with it. Let one of them naysayers (because the majority of them are within our own families and close friends)take the open invitation to have dinner at our crib though, and they seem to shut alot of that noise up.

If no one is willing to change their ways and we sit around waiting for someone to "save" us as a whole, we fail collectively AND individually. I get so tired of hearing Black folk talk about "this is how we do" and "that's for white people" and all this other nonsense. "How we do" doesn't seem to really be doing us any good in a lot of aspects. My "Black community" is the four members in this house. I deal with them first before I go trying to rescue anybody else from whatever plight they're in. And until someone can prove to me that the Black unemployment rate is as high as it is because they were targeted to be terminated, laid off and/or skipped over for jobs solely because they were Black, then it ain't nothing really but a statistic that says Black people aren't as quick to do for self as anybody else. Maybe I'm biased because I've never experienced being a victim of this racism that a lot of people claim is affecting them on a daily basis. What that mean, I'm not Black???

And eating BETTER doesn't have to be expensive. I'm telling you, as living proof, getting off all that dead, denatured food was the best thing I've done for myself and my family. PERIOD.

I'm not running around acting like the knucklehead I used to, because this renewed energy and respect I have for myself won't allow me to do so. Do we eat like our host does? Not necessarily. Do I eat like the dozens of Black folk I deal with on a daily basis, limpin' around and obese, skin all jacked up harboring this negativity about everything? HELL. NO. I see cats in the grocery store spending more on pork loin and whole milk than damn near half of what I spend altogether...only there's no dairy in my cart, and maybe one pack of organic chicken for the kids. The rest is fruits and vegetables. Niggas talk shit, and I smile and tell 'em to have a nice day.

We get so stuck in doing what we're used to, when it didn't work in the first place, that we can't seem to fathom making any change outside our comfort zone whatsoever. Like I said in the anonymous comment, it's not up to some bureaucratic talkng head to do these things for us, we have to do it ourselves. Is it easier said than done? Yes...until you learn to tell yourself to do it. Is what we're doing now, with all these poor diet "Afrikan-Americans" walking around, working?

Well, what do the statistics say?
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