This may sound bizarre, but it is true that African men do love fat women. This may have a legacy implication. In Africa, being fat has only one nuance: wealth. And parents pass this indulgence down the generations. A culture in Cross River State of Nigeria, West Africa, demands that a young bride be kept in a native fattening facility to be fattened prior to her wedding day. It is easy to understand, because African marriages are pure carnivals, featuring colorful costumes decked with fanciful beads and ornaments. It is believed that the beads and ornaments are better appreciated if they grace the waist of a dancing bride with protruding love-handles.
This weird obsession with wife fatness is perhaps the reason for the longevity of African marriages. Africans consummate marriages with the consents of both parents. Young people do not marry “the love of their lives”; rather they settle for the choices of their parents which take months, and months of background scrutiny. Upon marriage, it becomes incumbent on the husband to ensure that his wife gets bigger, and bigger. This allows him to visit his in-laws as a hero. A slender or little wife draws anger and resentment to her husband who is seen as not caring, and miserly.
Somehow, this preference for big women by African men has made the rounds in Detroit, and big women (and they are many) are cashing in. There are two hot spots Africans frequent in Detroit: The Archers, and the Tropical Hut night clubs and these two clubs attract the biggest of women than any other night hangouts in Detroit. Back home in Africa, stories about these two night clubs and their unique female clientele are told with relish on the streets of Lagos, Dakar, Abidjan, Accra and so on, and young men are left salivating, in utter amazement. It is easy to understand therefore, that when some of these men found themselves in the United States, either through Diversity lottery, visitor or student visas they gravitate to Detroit for obvious reasons.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
SOUTHFIED THE NEW DETROIT ...as blacks feud
The mass-exodus of African Americans from deteriorating Detroit to their northern suburban Southfield has flared tempers and has exposed an ugly class dichotomy within the black community. Ordinarily, the response would have been for the wealthy blacks to move to other opulent neighborhoods in the face of the new normal, but the bad economy has removed that option. For centuries, African Americans have presented a monolithic unit throughout the heady days of slavery and the turbulent civil rights epoch. Unfortunately that cohesiveness may have evaporated as two distinct black nations have arrived: the ghetto blacks, and the suburban middle class.
The City of Detroit has self-destruct for a long time, and everything seems to have gone wrong to the point of hopelessness. On many occasions, the state government in Lansing contemplated appointing financial managers to help salvage the city. But native Detroiters have collectively risen against what they saw was a move to mortgage the future of the city by state bureaucrats. As public services wane, and violent crimes hit an all-time high, residents who could afford to flee fled, leave those who could not at the mercy of rampaging gang rivalries, dilapidated neighborhoods, and unbelievable image crisis.
The latest wave of flights out of Detroit is accentuated by the greatest American “equalizers” – the twin-evils of foreclosure and bad economy. It is not that poor Detroit families can afford the homes in Southfield, even though the homes have hit rock-bottom, they just needed to get out of Detroit, and they figured out a smart way to achieve that: Families pool their resources together and moved to cheaper apartment complexes or rental homes vacated by residents who downsized to apartments. However, blacks who can still afford their homes are livid at what they see as the importation of crimes and criminal tendencies to an otherwise serene suburb.
This characterization might seem like a broad brush. However, it is not entirely groundless. “That is exactly how cities like Inkster, Belleville, and Romulus were thrown into ruins with significant black occupation”, noted Sylvia White, who works as a manager for the city of Detroit. “Blacks are known for trashing their neighborhoods, why will Southfield be any different?” a concerned resident said under anonymity for fear of reprisal. Omereada Omereada, an engineer who has been living in Detroit since 80s said he could not understand why a Blackman would want to move out of a city he cherished simply because another black family was moving in. He advised middleclass blacks to take a page from the play book of other ethnic minorities like Indians, Chinese, and Africans who would share family homes, play role models to each other kids until such a time they could afford to go their separate ways. According to him, this sense of family was responsible for their successes as sub-cultures in the American context.
The City of Detroit has self-destruct for a long time, and everything seems to have gone wrong to the point of hopelessness. On many occasions, the state government in Lansing contemplated appointing financial managers to help salvage the city. But native Detroiters have collectively risen against what they saw was a move to mortgage the future of the city by state bureaucrats. As public services wane, and violent crimes hit an all-time high, residents who could afford to flee fled, leave those who could not at the mercy of rampaging gang rivalries, dilapidated neighborhoods, and unbelievable image crisis.
The latest wave of flights out of Detroit is accentuated by the greatest American “equalizers” – the twin-evils of foreclosure and bad economy. It is not that poor Detroit families can afford the homes in Southfield, even though the homes have hit rock-bottom, they just needed to get out of Detroit, and they figured out a smart way to achieve that: Families pool their resources together and moved to cheaper apartment complexes or rental homes vacated by residents who downsized to apartments. However, blacks who can still afford their homes are livid at what they see as the importation of crimes and criminal tendencies to an otherwise serene suburb.
This characterization might seem like a broad brush. However, it is not entirely groundless. “That is exactly how cities like Inkster, Belleville, and Romulus were thrown into ruins with significant black occupation”, noted Sylvia White, who works as a manager for the city of Detroit. “Blacks are known for trashing their neighborhoods, why will Southfield be any different?” a concerned resident said under anonymity for fear of reprisal. Omereada Omereada, an engineer who has been living in Detroit since 80s said he could not understand why a Blackman would want to move out of a city he cherished simply because another black family was moving in. He advised middleclass blacks to take a page from the play book of other ethnic minorities like Indians, Chinese, and Africans who would share family homes, play role models to each other kids until such a time they could afford to go their separate ways. According to him, this sense of family was responsible for their successes as sub-cultures in the American context.
Friday, March 4, 2011
WHO IS AFRAID OF BARRACK OBAMA?
WHO IS AFRAID OF BARRACK OBAMA?
The election of the first black president of the United States of America was a watershed nobody saw coming, not even Dr. Martin Luther King in all his prophetic gifting could be certain with timing. King only had a dream, but most Americans, for obvious reasons thought it was with a pipe. Prior to 2004, Barrack Obama was an unknown quantity; an innocuous figure. The name rang no bell. But the Democratic Party convention in 2004 changed all that. As a keynote speaker, Barry, as he was fondly called was masterful, oratory, and charismatic. Americans rose in salute of the dawn of a new era, an era that might erase past errors; errors of bigotry, racism, classism, and cronyism.
When Barrack joined the presidential fray, he stood no chance at all. There were prominent men with white legacy. There was Hilary Clinton, wife of former president Bill, and the crown princess of the Democratic Party. Bill Clinton was a political colossus who was in firm grip of the party structure at all levels. It was rumored that President Clinton saw the party’s presidential nomination as an opportunity to placate his wife for his past sins. As the son of a Kenyan immigrant, and raised by a single mom, Obama posed no threat. In a presidential lineup as we had it then, Obama was only qualified to serve coffee, and wait on the rest of the guys to fetch their cups. Bill Clinton reportedly alluded to this in a secret conversation with late Ted Kennedy.
Against what could pass as insurmountable odds, Barrack was elected the first black president in a dramatic fashion, America and the world went agog with festivities. However, the euphoria was short-lived as some Americans could not handle seeing a black man in the White House. Then all hell went awry. No other president in the country’s history ever went through what Obama was subjected to. Suddenly the Republican Party saw the birth of a new constituent: bigots and racists component. Every member of the RNC of any significance sought to appease this constituency. It became patriotic to belittle the American president openly. Those who hackled him leverage that for campaign contribution. Guns were openly displayed at public functions, even functions the president was slated to attend. The possible assassination of the president was openly canvassed, pastor Huckabee even joked about it.
The healthcare reform debate opened the gate of hell. In a concerted effort to delegitimize the president, Republicans and their sympathizers unleashed flurries of attacks, and nothing was off limit. His family, his religion, his upbringing, his place of birth, everything and all things about the president were and are still subject of intense scrutiny, with the intention to trifle and misrepresent. However, the president has continued to wax stronger even in the face of annoying partisan hostility. Today, not a single prominent Republican has the moral fortitude to dispel the lies that President Obama was born everywhere but America. Their hesitation to do what is right makes for excellent politics because it opens the issue of the president’s birth place to conjecture. But what is baffling to many is that despite the talk of him being the anti-Christ, Adolf Hitler’s reincarnate, socialist, communist, Muslim, President Obama is still a formidable opponent come November 2012.
Perhaps, it is this reality that has driven the Republican presidential hopefuls to take the de-legitimization agenda to a new ridiculous level. Huckabee, for instance has said things about President Obama that have questioned his mental stability and moral courage to aspire to the highest office in the world: President of the United States. Within one week, Huckabee concocted incoherent tales about the upbringing of the president. First, he said he was born in Kenya and a sympathizer of the Mau Mau spirit. When that drew a media firestorm, he retracted that just as quickly, and in another breath, said the president grew up in Indonesia. And yet in another media appearance, the former presidential candidate and ordained Christian minister said president Obama grew up and hung out at the Madrasa (school in Arabic), while people like him (Huckabee) grew around the Boys Scout of America. You see, all these are renewed calculated attempt to create the impression amongst voters that the President of the United State is “not one of us”.
It is unbelievable the enormity of hatred the right has for the president, such that one would think would be just enough to defeat him in 2012. But the right is not relenting. The bigots and racists component of the Republican Party, with active but subterranean connivance of party big wigs and operative have now resurfaced the issue of the birth place of the president. As of now over eleven states are seriously contemplating legislations that would compel President Obama to prove he was really born in the United States. This is independent of the fact that the White House has long posted the president’s birth certificate in the Internet for all to see. The Republican Party has no interest in authenticating the certificate, because it does not make for good politicking. The party has just figured out that they have no credible opponent to run against the president, therefore, their only chance of electoral victory in 2012 is to discredit and disqualify him from seeking re-election in view if his “questionable birth place.”
The Republicans have never focused on the mother of the president who was a white woman, and traveled the world with him. Rather they are fixed on his African root, about a father that never loved him, or cared for him. The man left when Barrack was only 2. It is laughable that Americans who fought one of the bloodiest wars against British imperialists are the ones frowning over the fact the president had replaced the bust of Churchill with that of Abraham Lincoln. If the United States had fought tooth and nail to liberate the country from British imperial rule, and Barrack Obama in his personal capacity had shown vestiges of anti-imperial tendencies, while should the pot call the kettle black? But, you see, that is Barrack Obama, a black man in the White House, something must be wrong with such a scenario. How many Americans know anything about the Mau Mau revolution in Kenya? Not many, but who cares so far as it serves the Republican purpose of painting President Obama as angry, combative and foreign.
The election of the first black president of the United States of America was a watershed nobody saw coming, not even Dr. Martin Luther King in all his prophetic gifting could be certain with timing. King only had a dream, but most Americans, for obvious reasons thought it was with a pipe. Prior to 2004, Barrack Obama was an unknown quantity; an innocuous figure. The name rang no bell. But the Democratic Party convention in 2004 changed all that. As a keynote speaker, Barry, as he was fondly called was masterful, oratory, and charismatic. Americans rose in salute of the dawn of a new era, an era that might erase past errors; errors of bigotry, racism, classism, and cronyism.
When Barrack joined the presidential fray, he stood no chance at all. There were prominent men with white legacy. There was Hilary Clinton, wife of former president Bill, and the crown princess of the Democratic Party. Bill Clinton was a political colossus who was in firm grip of the party structure at all levels. It was rumored that President Clinton saw the party’s presidential nomination as an opportunity to placate his wife for his past sins. As the son of a Kenyan immigrant, and raised by a single mom, Obama posed no threat. In a presidential lineup as we had it then, Obama was only qualified to serve coffee, and wait on the rest of the guys to fetch their cups. Bill Clinton reportedly alluded to this in a secret conversation with late Ted Kennedy.
Against what could pass as insurmountable odds, Barrack was elected the first black president in a dramatic fashion, America and the world went agog with festivities. However, the euphoria was short-lived as some Americans could not handle seeing a black man in the White House. Then all hell went awry. No other president in the country’s history ever went through what Obama was subjected to. Suddenly the Republican Party saw the birth of a new constituent: bigots and racists component. Every member of the RNC of any significance sought to appease this constituency. It became patriotic to belittle the American president openly. Those who hackled him leverage that for campaign contribution. Guns were openly displayed at public functions, even functions the president was slated to attend. The possible assassination of the president was openly canvassed, pastor Huckabee even joked about it.
The healthcare reform debate opened the gate of hell. In a concerted effort to delegitimize the president, Republicans and their sympathizers unleashed flurries of attacks, and nothing was off limit. His family, his religion, his upbringing, his place of birth, everything and all things about the president were and are still subject of intense scrutiny, with the intention to trifle and misrepresent. However, the president has continued to wax stronger even in the face of annoying partisan hostility. Today, not a single prominent Republican has the moral fortitude to dispel the lies that President Obama was born everywhere but America. Their hesitation to do what is right makes for excellent politics because it opens the issue of the president’s birth place to conjecture. But what is baffling to many is that despite the talk of him being the anti-Christ, Adolf Hitler’s reincarnate, socialist, communist, Muslim, President Obama is still a formidable opponent come November 2012.
Perhaps, it is this reality that has driven the Republican presidential hopefuls to take the de-legitimization agenda to a new ridiculous level. Huckabee, for instance has said things about President Obama that have questioned his mental stability and moral courage to aspire to the highest office in the world: President of the United States. Within one week, Huckabee concocted incoherent tales about the upbringing of the president. First, he said he was born in Kenya and a sympathizer of the Mau Mau spirit. When that drew a media firestorm, he retracted that just as quickly, and in another breath, said the president grew up in Indonesia. And yet in another media appearance, the former presidential candidate and ordained Christian minister said president Obama grew up and hung out at the Madrasa (school in Arabic), while people like him (Huckabee) grew around the Boys Scout of America. You see, all these are renewed calculated attempt to create the impression amongst voters that the President of the United State is “not one of us”.
It is unbelievable the enormity of hatred the right has for the president, such that one would think would be just enough to defeat him in 2012. But the right is not relenting. The bigots and racists component of the Republican Party, with active but subterranean connivance of party big wigs and operative have now resurfaced the issue of the birth place of the president. As of now over eleven states are seriously contemplating legislations that would compel President Obama to prove he was really born in the United States. This is independent of the fact that the White House has long posted the president’s birth certificate in the Internet for all to see. The Republican Party has no interest in authenticating the certificate, because it does not make for good politicking. The party has just figured out that they have no credible opponent to run against the president, therefore, their only chance of electoral victory in 2012 is to discredit and disqualify him from seeking re-election in view if his “questionable birth place.”
The Republicans have never focused on the mother of the president who was a white woman, and traveled the world with him. Rather they are fixed on his African root, about a father that never loved him, or cared for him. The man left when Barrack was only 2. It is laughable that Americans who fought one of the bloodiest wars against British imperialists are the ones frowning over the fact the president had replaced the bust of Churchill with that of Abraham Lincoln. If the United States had fought tooth and nail to liberate the country from British imperial rule, and Barrack Obama in his personal capacity had shown vestiges of anti-imperial tendencies, while should the pot call the kettle black? But, you see, that is Barrack Obama, a black man in the White House, something must be wrong with such a scenario. How many Americans know anything about the Mau Mau revolution in Kenya? Not many, but who cares so far as it serves the Republican purpose of painting President Obama as angry, combative and foreign.
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