Stylin’!
I’m sporting the original BBS shirt, with pride, love this shirt! You can show yours too! We want you to send us your photos of you rocking your shirt! So if you are out there and you are representing your state of mind with pride, send us your photos at pics@bigblackshcolar.com and we will put you on!
Can’t wait to see them!
Below is a link to a video clip as well as article from the Huffington Post regarding the formation of a “White Student Union” on a college campus…
Huffington Post “White Student Union” Video
White Student Union: Towson University Student Matthew Heimbach Discusses Controversial Group On HuffPost Live (VIDEO)
The Huffington Post | By Mark Hanrahan
The group, started by Towson senior Matthew Heimbach, has sparked a debate about the balance between students’ First Amendment rights and clamping down on what many have condemned as racism at the Maryland University.
Heimbach is described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a “white nationalist” who has argued black hate crimes against whites exponentially outnumber white-on-black hate crimes.
The panel who spoke with Heimback included the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Lecia Brooks; Harvard student Julian Lewis; journalist and advocate for “racial realism,” Jared Taylor; and Lehigh University Professor James Peterson.
Heimback argues that “every single other ethnic group has an advocacy group for themselves. We have a black student union, a Hispanic student union, an Asian student union. We have groups for every other group of people except for white students. So if white students are allowed to come together and advocate for our own best interests simply would bring us into the realm that every single other group is allowed.”
Brooks put forward an opposing point of view: “The differences between a white student union or a white group … you see it as you want to defend what you think you are losing. Whereas people of color or other marginalized groups organize around a common interest.” She also said that both Taylor and Heimback were advocates of white supremacy and white separatism.
from Science Daily:
In a study conducted by Nicole Martins, an assistant professor of telecommunications in the IU College of Arts and Sciences, and Kristen Harrison, professor of communication studies at the University of Michigan, it was found that
“Regardless of what show you’re watching, if you’re a white male, things in life are pretty good for you,” Martins said of characters on TV. “You tend to be in positions of power, you have prestigious occupations, high education, glamorous houses, a beautiful wife, with very little portrayals of how hard you worked to get there.
This should come as no surprise to anyone but white boys, because they are as oblivious to their own position in the states as anyone, its just one of those things that is just right in their minds. They are the best, the greatest and things are supposed to be good for them, and anything else is an attack on the natural order of things.
I’ve read many times that TV is more detrimental to black kids, all they see themselves as is pimps, hoes, athletes, asshole rappers, or thugs, criminals, insatiable sexual objects or the noble slave. I can’t even think of something that’s on daily that actually reflects Blacks in a positive light, where they are in positions of power, with the same kinds of problems as “normal” people have. If they are on TV, they are very far and few in between, and they don’t last more than a season.
Still this is an interesting read, and should be more than enough to urge Black and Brown parents (and also parents of female children, but that’s a whole other story) to turn off the television and find more constructive ways to entertain the kids. But not video games, because according to many studies they are often more discriminatory and racist than tv.
Interesting reading from From Marketwatch:
families may not mind shelling out such big bucks if the investment pays for itself, and then some, in higher compensation down the road. To help readers make that kind of calculation, SmartMoney offers its annual college survey, a bottom-line approach to the academic experience that doesn’t mind imitating the rude uncle at your family reunion — the one who insists on asking everybody what their salary is. And unlike many of the best-known college rankings, it’s a contest where the winners don’t always hail from the usual tiny pool of top names.
Big Black Scholar encourages you to go to college. Why? Because its better to have it than to not.
With that being said one really has to choose their college right, or be prepared to deal with what’s going to happen afterwards. For Black and Brown students, it can be more difficult, but there are also fewer expectations of things being handed to them, and unlike white students who have been able to enjoy the benefits of being white with a degree, minority kids know that they have to go out and get it, nothing will be handed to them, one could call it a sort of entrepreneurial spirit based on the realities of being non white.
One argument could be made that where one goes to school is not as important as getting the knowledge and one should choose a path that is most economical than the most prestigious, but one cannot disregard the benefits of the connections one makes in particular schools, Ivy League, etc… But is a 6 digit debt with a cloudy outlook on employment worth the extra expense?
I would like to give a shout out to PBS and their recent program . I examine the way that race affects America today, to paraphrase:
“Race used to be all about Black and White in this country, now it can no longer be that way because the country is more brown than ever and that color is coming from more than just African Americans.”
I don’t use the term African American, Black people had more to do with the building of this country than any other racial group or ethnicity. I say that because we didn’t come here on our own accord to get a piece of the White American dream. Anyway, it seems that no matter what race or whatever you are you, when you come to America, you have to choose as to whether you are going to try to be white, or you are going to be “Black”, its not fair, and it’s not right, but either you are “Good White Folk” or you are a “Nigger just like the rest of them”.
But back to the program, thee guests thoroughly broke down how race affects politics today and how it came to be like it is. I mess of a transition of a predominately white power structure who can’t be too white or too black because of racial tension, but then they dropped the bomb and started to talk about class…
Please watch, it’s highly recommended!
US weekly recently had a report on Tia Mowry and her new hairstyle, a very short cropped cut. When interviewing her and asking questions about her decision to do the “big cut” she responded by saying that after she cut her hair she cried and it took awhile for her to get over it. This made me wonder why it is that Black women have such a difficult time with cutting their hair as well as with media and social attention regarding hair cuts? After talking with several Black men, I realized that long, straight hair (whether it is weaved or not) is more attractive and more socially acceptable to them. The new wave of women who are cutting of their relaxers and going natural also came into question. One guy told me, “Black women always complain about not getting a Black man, but then always want to cut their hair off and go natural, that’s why they stay single.” Why is it such a big deal for Black women to have long hair? I thought back to my own experiences of growing up with family, friends, and my parents always encouraging me to “take care of my hair” and NEVER EVER cutting it. Fast forward years later with lots of damage, breakage, and hair loss from medical treatments, and in an effort to remain true to myself and no longer “hide behind my hair” I decided to make the big chop and go natural myself. Now rocking a shorter, cropped, curly fro, I find myself getting less male attention, but more nods, smiles, and compliments from Black women who often tell me that my hair is beautiful, ask me about what products I use, and even tell me that I have inspired them to cut theirs and make a fresh “natural” start. Still…as much as we have advanced into developing our own identities, we still have much work to do in the way of issues such as this one, that constantly cause us to question our outer beauty continually conform to mainstream European standards of normalcy.
Turns out that you can fit Europe, India, China, Japan and the United States inside…
I recently came across this blog on yahoo news and thought it would be great to share! We have seen and heard from celebrity supporters of both Romney & Obama that have cause some surprise among the Black community, but this one seems to have touched a larger pool of Obama supporters (young Black Americans) and others who seem to be shocked and confused. Though I myself cannot see why Ms. Dash would be a supporter of Mitt Romney, (nor do I understand the photo she posted to twitter) I agree that she does indeed have her own opinions and rights to vote and lend support as she chooses and perhaps twitter was not the best way for others to lash out against her…See the full story below; I am interested to know what others think??!!
Stacey Dash Twitter Backlash After Voicing Support of Romney
One man wrote, “This hurts, but you a Romney lover and you slutting yourself for the white man only proves why no black man would marry u.” Another Twitter user said: “She’s an indoor slave, you know that, sis.” Many tweets expressed disbelief that a woman of African American heritage would vote for anyone but Obama, and some suggested that her account must have been hacked.
The backlash began on Sunday, after Dash tweeted “Vote for Romney: The only choice for your future,” along with a provocative photo of herself wearing a red Baywatch-style tank suit standing in front of an American flag. “Kill yourself you old hag…” a Twitter used lashed out. “The only choice for your future.” Another wrote, “You’re an unemployed black woman endorsing @MittRomney. You’re voting against yourself thrice. You poor beautiful idiot.”
Some, notably, Obama supporter Sandra Fluke, who was branded a “slut” and “prostitute” by Rush Limbaugh in March, called for the barrage of ugly tweets to desist. Limbaugh used the degrading language after Fluke, a law student and women’s rights activist, was in the news for being barred from testifying to a congressional committee on government contraception coverage. “So disappointed to see people attacking @REALStaceyDash for voicing her opinion,” Fluke tweeted on Monday. “Disagree politically, but #racist comments are unacceptable.”
Dash defended herself to the Twitterverse as well: “My humble opinion…EVERYONE is entitled to one,” the actress tweeted in response the controversy. On Tuesday, on Piers Morgan Tonight she elaborated, “I really don’t understand the fury…I was shocked, saddened–not angry. Saddened and really shocked. But you know what? You can’t expect everyone to agree with you.”
Supporters from across party lines have created the hashtag #ISupportStacyDash to defend the actress and also to have conversation about freedom of speech and civility in political discourse during the last weeks before a heated election.
I am a large proponent of brown kids learning to program, I feel that its the greatest untapped resource for empowerment that we have today. Its accessible to all, the tools are free and just about everyone has a computer at home or access to a computer in some form or fashion. You don’t need a powerful machine or a current machine, and it has no limits of time or formal structure.
With that being said:
Scratch is a free educational programming language for kids, available in 50 different languages and runs on just about any modern computer: Linux, Macintosh, or Windows. The new guide book, Super Scratch Programming Adventure!, was authored by The LEAD Project (Learning through Engineering, Art, and Design), in Hong Kong, to make Scratch more accessible to children around the world by teaching them how to use it.
If you have children out there and a computer, then I would highly encourage you to introduce them to this if you would like to increase their competitiveness in a world where the programmer gets paid 10 times more than the player, because most of them are not going to be professional athletes or entertainers, no matter how cute they are.