Camara Responds…

I received the following response, presumably from Jeremiah Camara:

Here is the text:

“It’s unfortunate that you’ve chosen to only highlight what you perceive to be the negative aspects of my large body of work. Yes, I’m aware of the many other factors that contribute to the demise of the Black community. However, I tend to concentrate on the church/religion because it continues to make the boldest claims. I’ll explain this in much greater detail in my upcoming article entitled, “Why Faith is to Blame.” It’s also unfortunate and inaccurate to label me as being homophobic. In many of my lectures and interviews I have unapologetically expressed my support for the gay community. Many gays support my work and have worked with me on many of my projects including the movie “Contradiction.” In the Slave Sermons video above entitled, “We Men Ain’t Me?”, my intentions were to bring attention to the disproportionate number of Black men in movies who’ve seemingly been required to put on dresses. I took the same position as Dave Chappelle when he said, “I’m funnier than a dress.” Mr. Chappelle took umbrage at this same phenomena but was never accused of being homophobic. Regarding my connection with BlackSon, I think this is fallacious on your behalf. It’s a classic case of “guilt by association.” Nevertheless thanks for your support. Your comments and criticisms are appreciated.”

1) I don’t think that it is merely my perception- what I took from your work was negative. These are aspects of your work that you could have distanced yourself from and or edited out of your large body of work.

2) The church makes the boldest claims? In a country where we are witnessing the destruction of our social safety nets, school closures, etc. , you think the church is making the boldest claims? Well given that you think effeminization of black men is a bigger issue than sexual violence and predatory behavior, I guess i shouldn’t be all that surprised.

3) Which speeches are you referring to? You all but blamed the effeminization of black men for the correlation of the rise of homosexuality with  the expansion of mega churches and acts of sexual violence committed by men of god (in the black church).  I wonder how the gay community or the “many gays” that you have worked with would feel about that?

4) The description of the video “We Men.. Ain’t We?” says  that you are examining “the effeminization of the Black man in Hollywood.” And now, you are telling me that your  intention was to “highlight the disproportionate number of black men seemingly required to wear dresses” and yet you intentionally included performances where black actors were not wearing dresses? You included performances and representations of men who were not transgendered or transexual? What about the image of men who are simply gay? Or the men simply sagging their pants? What about the rape scene from Pulp Fiction? How does that fit in?  If your goal wasn’t to label all those things as effeminizing or anti-male why did you put them all together? You did not take the  exact same position as Dave Chappelle, because he unlike you, he never conflated cross-dressing with transgenderism/transexuality, or sagging. But, having seen Chappelle’s interview  I would have to say he made a homophobic remark when he asked, “… What is this? Brokeback Mountain?” in response to a person he felt pressured him into wearing a dress. Again, cross-dressing does not make one homosexual. The reference to a film about a relationship between two men is a significant clue to his homophobia, as he was asked to wear a dress not to simulate consensual sex with a man, which also would not have made him gay- it’s called ACTING. Even if black men were being forced into wearing dresses as a part of their roles what is unclear to me is how that would then effeminize their black male viewing audience? Though I am still confused about how flowers effeminize black men. Is it the pollen? Do the flowers emit some kind of sexual orientation altering pollen or particle that affects some but not others like in that movie “The Happening”?

BTW, this was a horrible movie.

And notice that you employed a version of the classic defensive response that usually begins something like “some of my best friends are…”. Who are you trying to convince?

5) “Regarding my connection with BlackSon, I think this is fallacious on your behalf. It’s a classic case of “guilt by association.” Noted. That was actually a very small part of the article in question. But it seems you have a way of associating with bigots and tofu-dashikiists (like Hagins and Awadu)… so there ya go.

Screen shots of videos that are no longer available on the web.

Notice how Camara never actually refutes or repudiates any of his earlier statements. And that he unapologetically (and yet, invisibly) supports the gay community but said nothing that would distance himself from “We Men…Ain’t We?”, his blog, or his comments he made on the War on the Horizon podcast.

There you have it,  Camara is not just a homophobe but he panders to audiences regarding his beliefs concerning sexuality just like he panders to audiences regarding the problems of the black community.

See earlier post entitled Contradiction(s)

“Dr.” Sebi’s Pseudoscience

Welcome to Sebi’s Pseudoscience  101!  Here we will review Sebi’s teachings concerning the healing art of using herbs and related matters, that his educational background doesn’t qualify to discuss, because who needs books? According to Sebi

“I didn’t read any. I read my mama. My mama is the only person I listen to… I learned that which is natural…that which is complementary, that which didn’t come out of a book.” (Video entitled Dr. Sebi Cures A.I.D.S Diabetes, Cancer, etc pt 1)

Sounds like the wisdom of Bobby Boucher.

 Sorry Sebi, but mama is wrong. And so are you.

Afrocentrism

There are so many things that arouse both ire and skepticism in me. And that doesn’t mean that I am an angry person or an unhappy person but ever since I was an inquisitive child , I was always interested in learning as much truth as possible. And part of me is incensed when I see people who are taken advantage of by people who should know better. But I think what incenses me more are the people who should know better. People who have an obvious talent for memorizing countless things (however untrue) and quoting them accurately at will. People who obviously are inquisitive but when you get right down to it aren’t really invested in truth but in and ideology to the extent that they will reject literal mountains of evidence to the contrary. And if I ever had the chance I would dedicate a documentary to these people called Facepalm: The Movie. Unfortunately it would be much too long to ever be feasible, so I blog.

Sometimes, I think House is the only one who feels my pain. *Sigh*

So why does afrocentrism get my goat? Well I will say that lumping all afrocentrists together is not appropriate all though I’m not a fan of centrism in general, unless the center is truth. The afrocentrism I am referring to is a reactionary black or african centered thought, that uses race to determine what knowledge is valid, that regards other races as inherently untrustworthy, etc. In other words it is white supremacy or white nationalism in black face. I will refer to it from here on out as tofu dashikiism. They also typically share other features in common with white supremacist conservatives like their perspectives on gender roles, using euphemisms such as “complementarity” to describe a woman’s place as brood mare and domestic help. They also usually also share a hatred of birth control (including abortion) and homosexuality. Naturally their hatred of birth control and homosexuality has to do with their desire to out-populate the other groups and the threat they pose to each groups conception of manhood.

If you encounter a tofu dashikiist that seems well read don’t be surprised. Many have impressive libraries until you see what is in them. Half-cocked theories none backed with studies or scientific evidence. And what little is backed with evidence is purposefully distorted to make some erroneous point.

But what creates a tofu dashikiist? Historical racism certainly plays a role. The discrimination against black people in higher education and various institutions has fostered a lot of mistrust among many black people. Past instances of racist or simply immoral/unethical treatment of black people such as the Tuskegee Experiment play a role. But ongoing racism and discrimination, both real and perceived contribute as well. Unfortunately the American education system has failed many people but these failures are more evident in the black community when you look at literacy rates, high school graduation rates, etc. Lack of economic opportunity in many communities contributes to higher incarceration rates and also leads to an endless cycle. This breeds distrust and contempt for many contemporary disciplines and also issues of esteem, as many non-white children learn that their cultures were “primitive”, “uncivilized”, etc. This unfortunate reality leads many to buy into unrealistic idealized images committing the same errors made by the history teachers, historians, and publishers that failed them. The ones that brought us all the myth of Columbus’s discovery of the Americas, which had been “discovered” several times and settled by the time he arrived.

And just like many history teachers, historians, and publishers you will find many tofu dashikiists that lump all the cultures and nations of Africa together. They will take the myriad cultures of Africa and treat them as if they are one identity with a common thread. Many tofu dashikiists go even further as to suggest that prior to colonization there were no wars in Africa, a notion easily refuted by both oral and written history.

Many of them think of themselves as being extremely articulate…but they really sound like… 

And so far what I have written is not even the beginning of my problem with tofu dashikiists. My real issue with tofu dashikiism is how vulnerable it makes many black people to unscientific ideas. In the black community you don’t have to be an tofu dashikiists to find yourself affected or familiar with many of their ideas. And I don’t mean somewhat benign ones like “pork is an unclean animal” (which was borrowed from Islamic beliefs) but downright dangerous ones like unverified “cures” to ailments and illnesses.

There are too many charlatans to name that peddle in an array of foolishness targeted at black people from myths concerning melanin, to overhyping the pineal gland, to raw foodism, etc. And often these charlatans are perceived as heroes, saviors, or so called master teachers because they exploit the mistrust that many black people already have for fields like pharmacology. Some go even further, teaching that black people have hidden supernatural abilities that can supposedly be awakened like  telepathy, levitation, and astral projection. Many of these folks can boast large followings on and off-line. And thanks to the internet, their message spreads as fast as broadband can carry it. However, its time to take these people on and counteract their misinformation. Some groups are already making it their job to promote critical thinking and science like the  National Black Anti-Quackery Task Force, Black Atheist of America’s Science Cubed, and Black Skeptic’s Blog. Please support these organizations and check back here for future blogs addressing these issues and more!