Noooooooooooooooooooo!!!

I complained about this last year.

The quick version? I was bitching about a site that promotes missionary dating.

*snickering*

Ahem.

(Suffice it to say...The last time I encountered the word "missionary" it was used with another word, in relation to a more intimate topic.)

Fast forward to tonight...I'm procrastinating on the Cafe Press web site.

Guess what?

They've got a store.

God, I take seriously. Manipulating someone's faith...?

Not so much.

Why am I always the last to know

or share anything?

Music makes my world go 'round. Time to start talking...

People, I give you Joshua Payne. And Kindred. (The latter I knew about all along, but was just too lazy to talk about.)

So where was I...?

I've decided to post an old entry as though it was new. (Originally written on December 30, 2005. Enjoy!)

So much to say. So much to tell. I am changing for the better. I am stressed beyond belief. I can't wait for school to start up again!!!

I'd like to thank my cousin, who I will refer to as K, for keeping me up late on Christmas Eve. She shared with me her complaints and concerns about the contemporary church. I've kept them in mind, as I have decided to go back.

I haven't attended on a regular basis (read: had a home church) since I was about 13. Come the first week of January, that'll be 16 years.

What, pray tell, has kept me away?

There are a few things. But this is at the top of my list.

A lack of (realistic) global consciousness.

This encompasses a few attitudes. For now I'll discuss only one...

I'm from a small Canadian town. The population is predominantly white. Growing up, I became painfully accustomed to being treated as alien or "other". This attitude was disturbingly evident in the church I used to attend with my parents. It was especially obvious in my church's elementary school. I don't think any of the other kids had seen a black person before, and I was treated in kind.

I won't go into any further detail. Painful memories, and all that.

As for this day and age....

I notice something in Christian media.

People who are not white tend to be slotted into a few categories that I cannot stand. But they're basically a variation on a theme:

Foreigners/Non-Whites = LPP

Or as I like to call it, Lost, Pathetic and Pitiful. Anything but real. Anything but intelligent.

I don't have enough fingers and toes for the amount of times I've watched a Christian TV show where the only time you see a member of a so-called minority group who's depicted as being at a disadvantage. Most recognizable the image of the impoverished foreigner.

Or they're depicted as living a lifestyle rife with stereotypes.

I do not mean to discredit the few notable people of color in media ministry. It's just that, as far as I'm concerned, you (we?) are grossly underrepresented.

And I would like people in church to wake up and challenge the way they treat non-whites.

Here's your biggest clue to helping remedy things:

Assume NOTHING.

Recently, a friend told me something. He lives near a church. Whenever someone from said church is around, and he passes by, they offer him...

Aw hell. This is just too good. I'll let you guess:

The church-folk offer my friend:

a) A cup of cocoa.
b) A Bible.
c) English lessons.
d) A new pair of boots. It's cold out there, chil'ren. ;)

If you guessed "c", you'd be right. "Because," as I quipped, "we all know, that if you're not white, you obviously don't know English."

This is Toronto. The most diverse city in the world. I used to take it for granted that the average person is intelligent enough to know that English is not a language for WASPs only.

I swear.

I will hang myself if I wind up in a congregation with people that asinine.

Toronto's Terrible

So says today's edition of the Toronto Star. They sent one intrepid reporter on a quest across My Home and Native Land to find out just why the rest of Canada hates T'rawwwnah.

I haven't read the article yet. But this caption caught my eye:

"We're more cosmopolitan here...we've got everybody. In Toronto, it's just English and Chinese." (emphasis mine)

WTF?

The preceding quote came from Malcom Jue, a Montreal man of Asian descent. He obviously hasn't set foot in the T-dot.

*shakes head*

Somehow I'm always stunned when people who should know better -- which at this point would include everyone -- spout stereotypes as though they're gospel.

I want you to do me a favor.

Go to this page. Then come back. I want to know what Ms. Knowles has done to earn such a large portion of an image, while Martin Luther King Jr.'s face has been relegated to small corner. I'm serious. I'd like to read your comments.

I do not have a problem with Beyonce. On a personal level, I'm sure she's a very lovely young woman. But I take great exception to the way her image has been manipulated and foisted upon us -- via the media -- as THE. Black. Woman. EVERY. Black. Woman. Should. WANT. to. Be.

I could write a significant rant, but I'm waaaaaaaaaaay too tired.

As for her significance in Black History...

Just....

No.

ETA: Interestingly enough...Since my originally posting this mini-rant, the image has been changed.