I was fortunate enough to see him perform in concert not even a year ago last Summer, and I can honestly say that it was one of the best concerts I’ve been to. Although he had a high association with black militant groups and was arrested on many occasions as a result, I did expect the crowd to be predominantly black. To my surprise the crown consisted of people of every colour, age and background; which just goes to show he was one of many influential artists who was able to bring everyone together with his music and the messages he portrayed.

One thing I’ve been reminded of from his death is to appreciate people while they are still here. One thing that surprised many about his death is that they didn’t expect it to come so soon (he was 62). So whether it’s a celebrity you admire, a family member, peer or close friend, let this be a reminder to you to appreciate those while they are still here. Don’t let it get too late and only realize the significance they had on your life until they’re gone.

For those who are familiar with Gil Scott Heron, you’ll understand what I mean when I say his legacy still lives on. For those who don’t, I suggest you use this an opportunity to listen to some of his songs, as there is a big chance that he had a huge influence on some of the artists you currently listen to. (e.g Kanye West, Common, Eminem)

Right now the circumstances under which he passed away are unknown, I will be sure to update this when I find out

Although the number of people who have died is unknown, the country’s priminister has estimated the number to be in it’s hundred’s of thousands. Many buildings [especially government ones] have been destroyed; it is also said that a large part of Port-au-Prince has been demolished, Red Cross has estimated that 3 million people in the country have been affected by the earthquake.

Right now, Haiti needs all the help it can get which is why people should donate and help in any other way they can. Organisations such as the Red Cross and Unicef are taking donations in order to help the victims of this earthquake. I understand that for many money is an issue right no due to economic difficulties, but a large donation is not necessary. Even if it’s something like $5 it will be largely appreciated.

Though I have never been to Haiti and I’m not Haitian myself, it’s important that they receive help, especially considering that millions are currently being affected by it. Though it’s likely that help will be received by countries like the US, it does not mean that others shouldn’t help, which is why I’m urging you to make some kind of donation.

Here are various links etc where you can donate:

Unicef

http://www.unicefusa.org/

Anyone in the USA can text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to the Red Cross relief efforts in Haiti

A Link To Wyclef Jean’s [a Hatian Native] Twitter page. it contains many other ways to donate

Preconceived Notions About Race

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

This one is just shocking

http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshh1s789DJjzH2Z3qG5

Trust because there are only a few people you’ll ever meet that you can actually trust. 
Unfortunately, a lot of people put too much trust in people who aren’t as reliable as they may think, meaning they tend to find this out the hard way. On top of that, it’s not necessarily in the nicest way; it’s not unusual for many to get hurt in the process.

Honesty because people will always lie to you.
There are so many two faced people out there where lying is a second nature to them. What’s sad about it is that at times people can put more trust into the liars rather than those few who are telling the truth. By the time people may realise this it’s probably too late, as by then, the liars may have somehow twisted and manipulated you.

Conflict because it tends to be the outcome of the two things mentioned above
Conflicts commonly spur from a lack of trust or honestly in between people. Though mainly verbal, they can sometimes get physical or more damaging [mentally or physically] as people get older.

Such conflicts are usually associated with high school. However when it comes to the work place, things aren’t that different.
While many would think that people would grow out of it once becoming an adult, many simply don’t. They remain as the cold, bitter bitchy people that they were in high school and college who still form cliques and single out individuals they don’t like for whatever reason. They continue to bully, abuse and harass those who simply don’t deserve it.

So how can this be avoided?  That’s the issue it can’t. Wherever you go there will always be someone who has an of issue with you or someone you many know. While you may not be able to always get away from them, you don’t have to put up with it.

Biracial is defined as someone who has parents from two races; for instance they may have a black mother and a white father, or an asian mother and a black father etc. [I'll mainly be talking about those who are mixed with black and white, but there'll also be mentions of other mixes]

People are used to being categorized as one race, and in a country like America, there has been rules to keep things that way; the most common being the One Drop Rule. It stated that if you were partially black (whether you’re 1/2, 1/4. 1/8 or even 1/16) you were still considered black. This meant that even if someone looked white but had a black great grandmother, they would be considered black and at the time, not be accepted by the white race [in America] It’s because of such rules that there have been constant debates on what to classify biracial people like Halle Berry, Lou Jing and Barack Obama.

As well as black people having various complexions, certain aspects can come out stronger from one parent, meaning biracial people vary in appearance. Believe it or not, the following people are all of the same mix (one black parent & one white parent):

Jael (ANTM contestant)    Emily King (Singer)

Charley Uchea                                     Slash (Musician)
(Big Brother UK Contestant)

Lenny Kravitz (Singer)              Rashida Jones (Quincy Jones’ daughter)

As you can see, some of them look mixed while others only look black (Charley Uchea) or only look white (Jael or Rashida Jones). Although I’m not biracial myself, I know many people who are. While many of them embrace both of the races, just as many prefer one half of themselves, leading them to be ashamed of the other half if not deny it completely.

This could be for many reasons [not only with those I know, but generally], one is discrimination they face from friends and even family. Many within the black community automatically dislike them for stupid reasons; they assume that those who are biracial think they are better than them because their skin is lighter etc. when most of the time, that is not true.

Many within the white and Asian community don’t approve of biracial people, especially if they’re half black, and they’re not afraid to admit it. That’s how derogatory terms such as “half breed” developed (just look at what happened to Lou Jing)

Another reason is their perceptions of the denied race is based on either a bad experience or stereotypes. Say a biracial girl (black and white) was only in contact with the white side of her family and the only exposure to black people she had was the negative perceptions of us as rapists, gangsters, drug dealers etc. through the media. Not only could she deny her black side, but she may try and do anything she can when she’s older to not associate herself with black people, even if that means talking in a certain way, listening to a certain type of music, or even straightening her hair and bleaching her skin to look more white.

She may even be forced to deny one side. On the Tyra Banks show singer Kimberley Locke spoke about how in High School her black friends tried to make her choose one side of her as they believed she couldn’t be both black and white. Although she refused to choose between the two, that’s unfortunately not the case for many other biracial people in the same position. Many are proud of only one when they really should be proud of both. Being biracial doesn’t make them “dirty” or “unpure”, if anything it makes them more diverse and unique.
If they’re surrounded by those who don’t accept them for who they are, then they’re not the people they should associate with, there are millions of people out there who will embrace their mixed heritage.

1. We don’t get enough protein
This seems to be one of the most common misconceptions about vegetarians. The list of foods is too long for me to put on here w/o going over my word limit, so [click here] for the list. Meat may be an easy source of protein, but it isn’t the only source. Just like oranges aren’t the only source of Vitamin C. There are probably those who aren’t getting enough protein, however that’s down to a bad diet, it has nothing to do with the fact they are vegetarian. If you look at the list of foods containing protein, you’ll see that vegetarians have more than enough ways to get the amount they need. Whether they choose to eat those foods or not in the right quantities is up to the individual.

2. We are pale, weak, super skinny and malnutritioned
People’s body have a certain build due to things like metabolism or genetics, it has nothing to do with whether they do or don’t eat meat. People cut out a certain item of food rather than a whole food group when not eating meat, meaning that those who become vegetarians have pretty much the same body type they had when they ate it [unless they purposely gain or lose weight]. I personally haven’t become any skinnier, my weight has remained the same. This also applies to those that I’ve seen/known to also be vegetarian.

Those who are pale, weak, super skinny etc. are like that due to not eating much/any food at all. It’s not down to cutting out a single item of food.

3. People are only vegetarian for ethical purposes (In other words, we do it as we think it’s “wrong to kill animals for food”)

You’ll find more people doing it for health, environmental and religious purposes rather than to “save the animals”. Nevertheless, ethical reasons are still an important factor for many vegetarians. Alot of people just don’t feel comfortable eating meat after realizing how it got there

4. All we eat is salad
Vegetarians [including myself] aren’t necessarily big salad fans, meaning we don’t each it much if not at all. We’re vegetarians not rabbits

5. We eat fish. If we don’t, we are no longer vegetarian, but vegan
Meat is defined as flesh that comes from an animal, making fish another subgroup of meat, those who call themselves vegetarian but still eat fish are not vegetarian. By definition, they are Pescatarians, something that has no relation to vegetarianism. Vegans don’t eat meat [including fish] AND animal products [dairy, eggs, honey etc.] while most vegetarians still do. Calling vegetarians vegans because they don’t eat fish just shows how little people generally know about vegetarianism.

6. We are generally unhealthy
We actually have lower risks of getting heart disease, high levels of cholesterol, blocked arteries or even certain types of cancer by not eating red meat and have lower risks of getting mercury poisoning by not eating canned tuna [to name a few], so if anything we are healthier than those who do eat meat as our risks of getting the things listed above are significantly lower.
Here’s a question to those who think eating meat’s healthier: Why are millions of doctors ordering so many of their patients to lay off things like red meat if “it’s good for you”?

Vegetarians are more health conscious. We simply don’t care about “how good it tastes” because in the long run, we know it won’t benefit us. We realize that we’re contributing to a longer healthier life rather than possibly shortening it by something like a “sudden” heart attack

Lou grew up in China her whole life, meaning she speaks fluent Shanghai and Mandarin chinese. On the show, it was revealed that her mother had an affair with an African American man, resulting in the conception of Lou. Many chinese blogs and forums blew up with insults towards Lou and [mainly] her mother as a result. Some gave Lou the name 小黑鬼 (xiaoheigui) meaning “little black devil” [click here for more comments made about her]

It exposed the narrow minds of many Chinese people and how bigotry is still very much alive in the country during the 21st century. However, as racist as the whole outcome has been, people [especially those criticizing the issue] must remember two main things

1. Lou Jing’s Father
On the internet, many Chinese people used this as an example to justify the stereotype that black men abandon women once they’re pregnant, leaving them to to single mothers. While there is some truth in that, men of other races do the same thing, however it’s highlighted more in black men. In the case of Lou Jing’s father, he left China with no idea that he’d gotten her mother pregnant, meaning he probably still doesn’t know of Lou’s existence

2. Such racism does not only occur in China
As distasteful and offensive as the comments were again Lou and her mother, there are just as many [if not more] people who have the exact same views as those Chinese commenters outside of China. When hearing her story a lot of people seem to forget that such racist views are apparent everywhere. There are people in almost every country who feel the same way about people who are black, mixed or any other race/ethnicity that isn’t the same as theirs. Perhaps what’s given China so much attention on it is the fact that they don’t have a long history discriminating against black or mixed people compared to places like Britain or the United States.

People must also remember that not all Chinese people were against Lou Jing’s racial mix.
She had support from alot of Chinese people aswell as her friends, professors and Chinese journalists. One author even wrote on their blog:

In the same year that Americans welcome Obama to the White House, we can’t even accept this girl with a different skin colour.

- Hung Huang -

China isn’t the first, and definitely won’t be the last country to express such racist views in the 21st century. Unfortunately for Lou, it was the first time she experienced any racial hatred in her life. With such a story, people should also remember that the same views are also felt by those in their countries of residence, not just in the country of question.

Lou Jing’s story [in more detail]:

http://abagond.wordpress.com/2009/09/29/lou-jing/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Jing

An opinion from another perspective [this person is the same mix as Lou Jing]:

http://african-chineseguy.blogspot.com/2009/09/lou-jing-sad-story-of-black-chinese.html

The study carried out by Peter Fine of Florida Atlantic University (see previous post) proved one main thing: that many whites are of mixed heritage and don’t even know it. Imagine hypothetically if that 1/13 fact applied to the white population of the United States: less than 1/10 of them would actually be “purely white” while the rest [at least 200m people] would be annihilated, and that’s just in the US alone.

Although they reached their peak in the 1920s with about 6m members, the KKK now stands at less than 10,000 members. As extreme as they are as a terrorist group, it’s far from possible that they’d be able to wipe out such a large amount of people when they’d simply be outnumbered by less than half that amount.

Like mentioned at the beginning of this post, many white people are mixed with other races and don’t know it; this probably includes those in groups like the BNP and KKK who are all for white supremacy and constantly talk about there being a pure white race. For all they know they and their families could be examples of those people who they believe are in Hitler’s words bastarding the white race. They can’t just simply rely on what they look like or what family members tell them as it’s not enough. The only concrete evidence that could prove what their families told them is by taking a DNA test that breaks down their racial background.

When two white people of mixed background marry and have kids, their children will too become more mixed and complex in their heritage or in other words, become “less pure” or “Aryan”; and that’s something that can’t be helped. Like every other race, the white race already has a large percentage of people who have mixed ancestry, making it difficult to make or keep a race as something it isn’t. The only way that idea will happen is is millions of people die in some kind of mass genocide or massacre, or if those who were technically “pure” only had children within their families. Either way the results wouldn’t turn out well.

If the mass killing(s) were to take place, it would be stopped before “the job was done” as the people trying to do the killing would most probably be killed first. If the incest was to happen, the inbred children would mainly end up somehow physically disabled w/many health complications and die early.

So while the white race would technically be pure, they’d also be immensely unhealthy, meaning their offspring would die young, possibly marking the end of the human race (if the mass killings of everyone else were too to take place).

As said by Peter Fine [the professor who carried out the DNA testing]

‘I honestly think these tests could have a large effect on American consciousness of who we are. If Americans recognise themselves as a mixed group of people, that could really change things,’

Nick Griffin, Hitler and the KKK have a few things in common. While the obvious is that they are all extreme racists, another is that they all want there to be a pure white race. However, with history consisting of so many interracial rapes, marriages and relationships, in reality, this idea would be very difficult to carry out. Many people are mixed with other races.

With Black people, it’s not unusual to find traits of white ancestry most commonly due to interracial rape from the the slave trade. It’s because of past historical events (as well as mixing with other races from past interracial marriages) that we have various skin tones, hair textures and sometimes even eye colours.

With Hispanics, they’re well known for being mixed with mainly African, European and Native American ancestry, meaning they can vary from having white skin and blonde straight hair to dark skin with thick afro hair.

A lot of White people also have traits of African, Asian or Native American blood in them. However, due to such mixing not being highlighted as much in the white race, such traits are usually hidden in their ancestry. This means that many white people have no idea about their mixed racial identity.

Many batches of information have come out that prove this, one of the most recent examples can be  in an Art class Florida Atlantic University professor Peter Fine had with a group of his students. The idea was to create a piece of art work revolving around their racial identity. However, before creating the piece each student had to take a DNA test that would break down their racial background. He did this making a bet to them: that almost everyone in the class who defined themselves e.g as white would in fact, have no idea of what they actually were. When the results came back, it turned out he was right.

The term “white” is defined in Wikipedia as anyone who has solely European ancestry. However, out of the 13 students who had claimed themselves as “white”, the tests showed that only one of them was completely European. The rest had mixed African, Asian and Native American ancestry. The one black student who did the test discovered they were 20% white.  Even the professor himself, who considered himself white discovered that he was in fact 25% Native American, despite looking like what he described as a “corn-fed stereotype of a white Midwesterner“.

CLICK HERE FOR PART II