Commentary
Robinswing, Black Kos Editor

Lately, even though the blackwoman has been trying to maintain her summer groove, she found herself wondering how the conversation on race devolved into who if anyone, can use the ‘N’ word.

Back in the day Richard Pryor did a routine about never again using the word after he returned from a trip to Africa and came to the realization that for him the word spoke of degradation that he was no longer willing to assign to black folk in America.

More recently Chris Rock riffed about the difference between black folk and niggahs.

Commentary
Robinswing, Black Kos Editor

In my lifetime I have been asked if I am a Voodoo Priestess.  My responses varied as it depended upon who did the asking. A re-tired Admiral was asked if his penis had fallen off as a response to his apparent mocking. His question showed a complete lack of respect in that he thought he was offering an insult.

To a lover who asked the same question my response was "I hope so."  The most common was "I wish".

I must confess to ignorance about spells and such.  I’ve read a few books but came away with a different take on what magic spells look like.  Couldn’t feel the rooster blood stuff.  Loved the I am in control of my life aspects though.

Commentary
Robinswing, Black Kos Editor

When the blackwoman first moved to the Pacific Northwest she did so with the idea that she would be writing a book about Thomas Jefferson.  Well, Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings.

I’d done my research and had a fair idea of what I wanted to communicate. Having a three year olds attention span, I kept finding new strands and more information until I didn’t know where to begin. I had so many questions about Mr. Jefferson, how his mind worked, how he saw life and why he seemed so content flaunting the conventions of his time. He was both brilliant and flawed.

Needless to say I did not write it.   The tangle of his life was more than I wanted to take on in the end.  Still Tommy (as I grew to think of him) remains very much on my mind, never more so than this time of year when we celebrate the founding of this country.

Commentary
Robinswing, Black Kos Editor

The blackwoman took some time off.  I left the idyll of my sweet country existence and spent the week with a longtime sistathgirlfriend in a small farming community where there are no shadows cast by cell towers.  It was wonderful.

My sistahgirlfriend has a lavender farm.  Hers is an organic life. Her environment represents an investment she made in her own growth.  Like her it is magical.

On paper no one would expect our friendship which at this point spans three decades. She of blond hair and blue eyes and me of not.  She of an easy grace and gentle spirit.  Me of fire breathing possibilities. She of tiny stature long side my Amazonian presentation.

Commentary
Dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor

This sunday was fathers day and made me think of my own father. He grew up at a time when "repectable" people didn't think people of color were as smart as white people. Growing up in Jamaica he learned that the british had a huge burden they civilized the world. Much like Obama my dad was abandoned by his dad, see his father was white and his mom was black.

When he passed away my grandparents wouldn't except him or my grandmother, the government refused to give her any of his pension. My grandmom was poor so at first she tried to have a friend raise my dad. My poor dad  because as a five year old, he watched this poor women pass away in the dead of the night, he had to walk home 3 miles past midnight to reach his mom. My father was given up for adoption, my grandmother was too poor to raise all her children. As a "high" yellow child it was easy to be adopted by a wealthy black family.

But they really wanted a live in servant, my father was forced to call his adopted brother and sister, sir and ma'am.

Commentary
Robinswing, Black Kos Editor

In about 145 days Americans will go to the polls and elect a new president.  I cannot tell you how I long for the day when George Bush is no longer resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  I have already offered to go in there with sage and do an energetic wipeout.  Not sure what can truly be done about the stain on our collective consciousness that this man and his cronies have put upon this nation and what many of us thought America stood for.  We’re gonna have to work real hard to eliminate the vestiges of his demon residue upon the citizens of this country as well as the world at large. I get a headache just thinking about it. I’ve gotten sick and tired of being sick and tired.

Meanwhile this summer we are going to be treated to nationalism in extremis as the Olympic games begin in August.  Americans who think we are not ready for a black president are always ready for a black gold medalist.  I’ve often thought it strange that we are all Americans when competing on the world stage.  Less so at home.

Commentary
Robinswing, Black Kos Editor

Since the first of the year I’ve been sensing a shift in the fundamental ways that things have been done.  I wrote about it in my first diary of this year.  I wrote about hope.

One of the comments in that first of the year diary challenged the idea of hope.

Now if he had a plan that actual had a road map to hope - then I would consider it. Don't you find it weird that a campaign slogan is hope?  Come on.

Here is my reply...Hope is not a road it's the way you take the journey.

For the past six months I and others have been taking this journey of hope.  We are half way there now and things are looking good.

Commentary
Robinswing, Black Kos Editor

There has been a lot of talk about the election of Obama symbolizing a post racial America. While his nomination will certainly signal an end to the black out of African Americans in Presidential politics, I’m not feeling the post racial thing.  At least not yet.

One of the observable phenomena that the blackwoman has gleefully  noticed is the increase in numbers of African Americans on cable news programs.  Eugene Robinson has become a regular feature.  Bob Herbert as well.  Michelle Barnard has become an MSNBC political analyst.  Tamron Hall on MSNBC.  Donna Brazille and Roland and Tony Harris on CNN. To name a few. Even Jon Stewart has Larry Wilmore. Hell, even J.C. Watts is starting a black news channel.This is one of the positives of the Obama candidacy. No matter what Geraldine Ferraro says.

Commentary
Robinswing, Black Kos Editor


You know, the blackwoman is feeling pretty good these days.  Tomorrow I leave for New Haven CT. where my youngest son is getting two (count ‘em) two, Masters Degrees from Yale University.  

Last Thursday, my ninth grandchild was born.  Shares a birthday with two other of my grands. And my brother.  And one of my dearest friends.

My Azaleas are kicking butt beautiful.

My lawn is mowed. It had started looking like Afro (Ultra Sheen big ass afro)-turf.

My bills are mostly paid (a big thank you Jesus).

Yeah, it’s a good time.

Commentary
Robinswing, Black Kos Editor

What a week. I’ve been in such a good mood, I’m sure that somewhere I’m illegal.  I’ve got that I can do anything, I just kicked some bear boodie exuberance.  I’ve experiencing that cup running over thing while cheerful is slapping me about the head and shoulders.

Something has shifted. A tide has turned.  Not a moment too soon if you ask me.  The blackwoman needs a little rest, some time to put my hands in the dirt and grow something wonderful. In celebration.

This year I’m planting an Obama Victory Garden .  It will provide food, flowers and fragrance. I will watch it grow and see it as an analogy for what is taking place in America.

Commentary
Dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor


When I started Black Kos I had two goals in mind. First, to prevent the balkanization of the Blogosphere. While some people thought creating a "Black Kos thread" would increase balkanization I disagreed. My thinking was that if "information is the slayer of ignorance" creating a thread could help slay ignorance. By "ignorance" I mean more in the classical sense of the word, where people aren't knowledgeable on a topic. I read too many diaries where someone pissed of a person of color by writing something that was deeply insulting. But the sad part was they didn’t mean to insult the person. On the other hand the person of color took it as an attack, assuming malice. I though that by sharing news items, a few pithy comments, maybe I could educate people.

Commentary
Robinswing, Black Kos Editor

I’ve been thinking lately that the framing of this election needs to change.  For one thing I’m weary of hearing about winning and fighting for the nomination. Battleground 2008. That is the old frame that has been rejected by Obama.  Its so twentieth century.

This election is not about winning.  It’s about leadership.

Winning and losing are a part of the old paradigm.  Leadership is new only because we haven’t seen much of it in the last fifty years.

Obama is showing through his example what leadership looks like. It is so unfamiliar that many people see it as his weakness.  It is not.  

Commentary
Robinswing, Black Kos Editor


I’ve been looking into my heart to find my real feelings about Jeremiah Wright and the events of the last few days.

As I write this, Obama has packed up the baggage left by Rev. Wright and the media.  Make no mistake, the media is the thing.

Obama has been taking hits from every direction. Hillary, McLame, Bill, scarred burrow, damnity, Tweety et.al.  The miracle is that he has weathered it with more grace than the situation deserved.  During these last few weeks, Obama has been grace it’s own self.

Commentary
Robinswing, Black Kos Editor

This primary season has served to rip the band-aides off of some of the deepest wounds in our nation.  Hillary seems to me to be defiant.  Angry. Intentional in her disrespect for Barack.

From where I’m standing her campaign illustrates the anger carried in the hearts of so many older women in this country.  It is the bitter that goes unspoken as the punditz look at numbers and try to divine the real nature of the body politic which is apparently having an anger seizure. Some things are obvious.

Commentary
Robinswing, Black Kos Editor

On the face of it, this week seemed long and difficult.  The blackwoman had to grab herself by her belief system quite a few times.

See, I believe that we are watching the dinosaur die.  Listening as it were, to the sound of irrelevance.

For some reason, I’ve been thinking about Freddie Kruger.  I only saw the movie Nightmare on Elm Street in bits and pieces (being a romantic comedy, Katt Williams, Great Debaters kinda sistah) but the ending struck me.

As I recall, the last girl standing was in her bedroom and Freddie had shown up to finish her off.  Instead of being afraid, last girl standing looked him in the eye and told him he was finished.  She told him she wanted her life back, her friends and family restored.  I think I heard her tell him he had no power.  He reached out to slay her and....vanished.  Into thin air

Commentary
Robinswing, Black Kos Editor

America is a strange place in many ways. On one hand, it is a nation founded on the principles of liberty. This is without question. On the other it was prospered by kidnapping Africans and forcing them into slavery.  No liberty.  No freedom.  No justice for all.  For a long time.

What I question is if we are all operating with the same idea about the definition of the word free. I know what I mean by the word.  Not sure about some folks.

I define free speech to mean that I have the right to say what I want. I do not have the right to insist that you also say it. That is tyranny.

Commentary
Robinswing, Black Kos Editor

I found that leaving the plantation wasn't that hard. For one thing nothing on the plantation was mine anyways.  I left the plantation the selfsame moment I realized that hard work is not truly valued.  Leisure is what's valuable. Folks who can live in leisure are the respected folks. They are the envy and aspiration of the American Dream. All that bizness about how Americans value working is just so much bullshit. If work had any value, black folks would be treated better.  Four hundred years of unpaid working ought to engender a lot of respect.  If work was the object of the exercise.

We leave the plantation every time we refuse to buy into the narrative that we are helpless. Each time we are able to see through to the truth we are in effect running away from the plantation. When we stand up for what is right and decent and just we build community. We move off the plantation.  Black folks are not the only ones who have to do this.  There are fewer of us still on the plantation.

Welcome to Black Kos! The diary series where issues affecting Americans of African descent, and others are highlighted as our great nation begins to heed the call of A More Perfect Union and move forward. Come, sit a spell and join the discussion.

This diary series isn't meant to balkanize, ghettoize, or separate. It is not a campaign or candidate diary. Instead, it is designed to highlight issues that a significant portion of the Democratic electorate faces daily, whether we live in the inner city or we're solidly middle class suburbanites or we're young urban professionals, or retirees on pensions and social security. America has a rich story, made up of all of us. This is just one small chapter of that story. Take a read.  -- Terrypinder