Thursday, May 7, 2009

Mini-Blog Hiatus/Dance Concert: "Oh Mary, Don't You Weep" by the Joseph Holmes Dance Theatre



Periodically, I unplug from all of the electronic gadgets (television, radio, computer, etc.). http://muslimbushido.blogspot.com/2008/09/inner-slum-part-1-noise-pollution.html I'll be "unplugged" from tomorrow (Friday) until Tuesday morning. In the meantime, please enjoy this dance concert. See you when I get back! {waving}

8 comments:

SouthlandDiva said...

Cool, I do silent days myself (usually Sunday) at least quarterly. I am silent the whole day. No tv, radio, cd player, telephone, or computer. Books, my journal, meditation and silence.

Enjoy.....

Khadija said...

SouthlandDiva,

Yes, it is refreshing to take a break from all of the outer noise. I'm looking forward to it.

Peace, blessings and solidarity.

bwdb said...

WAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But I understand : )

Look forward to your return Khadija

Khadija said...

CW,

Thank you! {chuckling}

Peace, blessings and solidarity.

Anonymous said...

Khadija, just wanted to quickly share this link.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30707142/page/2/

Khadija said...

Anonymous,

I believe that in THIS day and age, it's not necessarily helpful to blindly "shop Black." Here's why: We no longer have the social contract among ourselves that guarantees that spending our money with each other will lead to mass upliftment.

Let me give some examples:

(1) Years ago, I hired a Black personal trainer based upon a Black coworker's recommendation. Yes, he is technically very skilled at what he does. However, he ONLY dates and spends his money on non-Black women. Therefore, patronizing him for his service does NOT equate into mass Black upliftment. Instead, spending money with him leads to the continued uplift of non-Black women. Why would I pay a Negro to support a White woman?

(2) There's a Chicago-area barbeque/pizza chain owner who seems to mostly hire (illegal?) Latinos as employees. [With maybe a handful of Black employees per food joint.] Why would I pay a Negro to mostly hire Latinos? Don't get me wrong. I KNOW that AAs have serious problems on both ends working with each other (as employees or employers).

However, me buying pizza from this particular Negro chain owner does NOT lead to increased jobs for AAs. Instead, it leads to increased jobs for Mexicans and a Rolls Royce for the Negro chain owner. Neither of which are doing anything for AAs.

(3) Blindly "buying Black" only makes sense if we had the social contract that Jews seem to have:That supporting Jewish businesses = jobs for other Jewish people + business owner support for Jewish causes. A good example of this is the situation described by (Jewish) author Neil Gabler in his book An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood. Among other things, he talks about how Jews in the film industry went out of their way to hire their own people and supported Jewish causes.

At this point, I support those business owners (of whatever color, race or creed) who support the people and causes that I care about. It's not enough for somebody to be Black in order to get my support. I have additional questions. I want to know who that business owner would be supporting with MY money before I spend it with them.

Peace, blessings and solidarity.

Miriam/MaryAnn said...

Salaam Khadija!

Thank you for this.

Beautiful.

:--)

Glad to see you back!

Khadija said...

Wa Alaikum As Salaam, Miriam/MaryAnn!

You're welcome! And thank you for your kind words.

Peace, blessings and solidarity.