February is Black History Month. To be honest, I always thought this was kind of stupid to have a whole month for black history. I have never understood how their heritage and culture was so different from ours. Ok yes, they were slaves but that was like 150 years ago. And really, isn't history the same for us all no matter what color our skin? We all live in the same place and see the same things in the news and all around us, right? WRONG. My eyes have been opened for the first time--I mean really opened. I get it now for two reasons.
1. Deanna randomly gave me this book to read called, Life Is So Good by George Dawson. George is a black man from Marshall, Texas who was born in 1898 and lived to be over a hundred. He has an astonishing memory. He can recall just about every conversation he's ever had. He learned to read at the age of 98 and then went on to write this book to recount his history. It's the most amazing thing I've ever read.
2. I netflixed this movie called The Great Debaters a few weeks back and it just happened to come this month. It was produced by Oprah (hate her right now but that's another story) and directed by Denzel. It's about these black kids from Marshall, Texas in the late 1920's and early 1930's who gained this impressive reputation and were invited to debate white teams. They were the first black debate team to do this. It's all a true story.
So here I am reading this book that takes place part of the time in Marshall and then watching a movie that takes place in Marshall. It was totally random that it all happened in the same week but I learned so much. I learned that there is a very large difference between black and white history. The papers were not telling the whole story especially in the south where the Jim Crow laws were extremely prominent. Blacks and Whites were very much segregated. I never really thought about how that would affect history. The blacks had their own thing goin on because they couldn't be a part of the white culture. Black history was all about staying out of the way. They had little to no protection from the law. White people demanded respect and subservience in the most cruel manner and would lie and cheat them because they knew they could get away with it. There were no consequences. Usually the consequences came down on the black man's shoulders. If he did not 'behave' he could be lynched, beaten, burned, tortured. The law just looked the other way. It sickens me.
I'm just brushing the surface here. I guess it makes me more grateful for Martin Luther King Jr. and the equal rights movement in the 1960's. (one more reason I love the 60's!) I can't imagine living in a world where people are treated cruelly because of the color of their skin--or for any other stupid reason. I'm so glad I missed all that and that I was born in to a time or rather a country where all are given equal rights. God loves us all. And even though I hate Oprah right now, I have to get over it and love her no matter what she airs on her show. I want to be like God--and God is love.

And this is why I love Disneyland.

Mike, Andrew, me, Jason

I'm so uninspired to write on my blog lately. All I've done is WATCH TV. Heroes, House, 90210, 24, the Mentalist, Leverage, Fringe, Lost, Private Practice, Grey's Anatomy, the Office, 30 Rock. That's 11 hours of TV a week and I'm totally ok with that. I'll even add more shows if you think it's worth it. I tried watching Gossip Girl already--no thanks on that one. DVR has changed my life. I can record shows and fast forward through commercials to my heart's delight. So really it's not 11 hours of TV, it's 7 hours and 20 minutes a week. The more I can fast forward through commercials, the more TV I can watch. Screw advertising. They would be sucking 3 hours and 40 minutes out of my life--3 hours and 40 minutes I could be spending on FACEBOOK. Yes, I probably do spend about that much time on there...a day...just kidding...sort of. All of you know what I'm talking about if you have an account. It's so ridiculously addictive to sit and update your status, go and check out all of the pictures on your friends' pages, and then check to see who is on line. I'm constantly checking my IM and then searching for an excuse to write someone, anyone. Right now I'm looking for someone I can write this too, "Lick your cigarette and kiss me." Ah Franz Ferdinand, you and your clever lyrics (No you girls never know). Seriously, who wants to taste a cigarette? Ew. Jason introduced me to Greg Laswell this week--he put three songs on a CD for me and I can't stop listening. So I went on to playlist.com and got a hold of some other songs and I've listened to them all about three times each now. Kim Suttles Braithwaite would love Greg if she doesn't already. I know it.