The Unruly Negroes at Howard have struck again.

On Sunday morning I awoke to a virtual attack on Howard University and their despicable Negro students for damage done to Edgewood Community Park. The nice folk over in the Edgewood neighborhood were devastated by the damage done at a barbecue attended by students from every major University in the district, and displaced their anger by publicly defaming Howard University. 

On Saturday afternoon, in the Edgewood community park, a group of excitable Scholars gathered to celebrate the highly anticipated blossom of Spring with an event they dubbed DrankNik. For the non-ethnic folk reading this, it's a likeness of a similar event, which takes place annually in Atlanta, and has become a large part of HBCU culture. The event drew crowds from as far as New York, Atlanta and Philadelphia, as well as from UMD, Georgetown, George Washington, and UDC. In anticipation of this, hosts of the event, an organization known as Dreams Never Die, (DND), obtained a city permit for use of the Edgewood park. They also enlisted the help of the MPD to ensure crowd control, which proved extremely effective as the crowd of 1500 were kept within the vicinity and without incident.

Per chance, on the eve of this event, members of the Edgewood community spent hours toiling to plant seeds in their garden, pictured below, and completed a massive beautification project. It was, of course to their dismay, that 1500 college students came and erased their hard work from merely hours before. So they took to twitter.

Members of the Edgewood community proceeded to implicate and slander Howard University in the damage done to the park, stating claim that irreversible damage was done to THEIR park; THEIR park was defamed, debris was left on THEIR sacred grounds. #HowardIsNotCommunity, was their plight. And why not, having had their Garden of Eden completely destroyed?

   

Garden before, and after cookout took place.                  

It's hard for one not to sympathize with the members of the Edgewood community up to this point in the story, however, pray, allow me to continue.

After the festivities, the function's hosts, DND, went about cleaning up the park, bagging all trash and setting it aside to be picked up by DPW.

Apparently, community members arrived at the park that evening also to assess damage, and came to a resolve with DND about repairing any damage caused. So it was, of course, to the surprise of the Howard University community that we all awoke to the Edgewood  Garden’s twitter page, @EdgewoodGarden5, defaming and implicating Howard University for damage done. 

   

I can't help but think back to two years ago when a group of native Washingtonians became involved in an altercation with Howard students, and resulted in the firing of several shots, an issue that has constantly been a concern of students'. Blame for the incident was placed on the University by the new members of the community, who penned their annoyance in an open letter. It is, at this point, incumbent upon me to remind them that not all young people of color, donning dreads, are students at Howard University. Also, I might remind them that there remains still, a significant African American presence in the Eastern Quadrant of the city, that of families who have not yet been displaced by the systematic and rapid occupation of traditionally black neighborhoods.

I'm tired of being recipient to pursed lips, furrowed brows and stares of disdain in my own neighborhoods. I'm tired of the systematic racial and economic deprivation of my demographic through the gentrification that you people may refer to as development. I think it's absolutely incredible that these people have the gall to brandish their entitlement in such a way, deeming it THEIR neighborhood and THEIR garden. To the Edgewood Community Garden and its cohorts, grow up. These students reached out to you, and have exhibited far more professionalism throughout this entire ordeal. I won't be foolish enough to think no damage was done to the garden, but to publicly bash the organization, University, and the event’s sponsors was extremely tasteless, considering the willingness the students showed to help rectify any issues.


Update: Before the Backlash, let me say this;

As my Grandmother stated, University students aren't 5 year olds, and should have been able to have fun while leaving the park exactly as they found it.

However, the damage is already done, and a hand of service was offered to rectify the damages. The Howard slander was then, unnecessary. I stand by this opinion. 

  

Another Feminism Think Piece - In defense of those of us who aren't...

"Honestly… I see a woman distancing herself from feminism, can't help but wish her a lifetime of glass ceilings and a misogynistic husband" - Black Twitter

Well, shit on me.

Recently, there has been an annoying on-surge of self-proclaimed feminists, demanding their stake in today's society, lamenting on the horrors we, as women, must face on a daily basis, and avenging those of our ancestors who are martyrs to the cause.

My retort; "-____-"

Why is feminism still relevant? Before answering this, what is feminism? What are you all fighting for?

To begin, I feel compelled to quote a wise man whose profound words aptly describes the topic at hand; 

"It's levels to this shit"

Level 1; The True Nature of the Term

In the past few weeks I've taken to social media in vociferous pursuit of the meaning of "Feminism". 

I've been posing the question over and over, "What is Feminism?" to nothing more than the proverbial stirring of crickets. I was forced to appeal to the Wiki-gods.

At the most basic level, Feminism is the defense of equal social, political, and economic rights for women. It's a school of thought, an ideology, as is something like Marxism or Socialism. 

And with this let me disclaim; Every person is entitled to their own school of thought. [I'm not saying Feminism is as staunch an ideology as Marxism or Socialism -_-]

Pre Women's suffrage, in an antebellum age, the plight of feminists would ring loud and clear. That society was one which reinforced the dominance of a man as the main breadwinner and head-thinker; a  society that held the ideology that a woman is far too emotional to make pertinent decisions such as choosing local, state, and federal representatives.
Perceived as the weaker sex, in this era, women were subject to jobs that were menial in nature, required little analytical skills, and required little more than a High School education. As such, we were paid marginally less than our male counterparts

Today, however, there is a vast difference [vas deferens, *chuckles*] in how things operate. Those of our predecessors who have fought hard, marched and produced legislation saw that times were indeed, a-changing. They paved the way for the 78 women who now sit in Congress, for the progressive nations who now have a woman as their head of state, Jamaica not included, and for all the women who hold executive positions in fortune 500 companies across the globe.

All this being said, is the movement still necessary in the United States, particularly?

Level 2; Loose Ends to the movement. Alas, it's still "A man's World"

Despite the picture painted above, I don't disagree that there are disadvantages to being a woman in today's world. Women in many nations suffer still, and are subject to torture merely because they lack basic human rights. Is feminism a necessity to women in these nations? Absolutely.

Meanwhile in the Western Hemisphere, the main complaints are
1. Unequal Salaries
2. Double Standards.

Allow me to nip this in the bud right now.

1. I am sick to my stomach of this erroneous statistic being paraded around [THANKS, OBAMA], that women make $.77 to a man's $1.00. The statistic is based on general summation. A man and a woman with the same job title rarely get paid differently, and if they do, it's due to measurable factors like past experience, formal qualifications and certifications, and most importantly, negotiation.

2. "Why is it ok for a man to sleep with 100 women and be ok, but for a woman to be deemed a whore if she does the same thing?" - American Feminists on the "Double Standard"

This reads to me that your basic issue is your internal battle with guilt based on the number of men you sleep with. Sounds like a personal problem. #Bye

Level 3; "Women Ought to Automatically identify as feminists. And those of us who don't, are idiotic, primitive beings." - Self-Righteous Asses

My biggest Qualm….

I feel attacked whenever I state that I'm not a feminist, or even when I describe my befuddlement at the relevance of the movement. Unlike racism and other pertinent issues plaguing us as Americans today, to a greater extent, the problem has already been solved. Granted, there's a long road to trod when considering the overall treatment of women;  rape, domestic violence, sexism in the workplace are all left to be addressed. Racism and civil rights, however, also remain unaddressed. If nothing, the past few years the United States justice system has been shown us the lack of fucks they give about the welfare of minorities [read: African Americans]. Today is not the day, however, to venture down the rabbit hole of prison statistics, privatized prisons, and the prison industry that the justice system is directly funding.

My point is, basically, there are other pressing issues, for which people are dying, that we have to worry about.
That I don't identify with the urgency of your Feminism renders me neither stupid, primitive, or any other adjective used to describe women like myself

Level 4; I blame Beyonce

Like a thief in the night, undetectable and untraceable, Mrs Knowles-Carter, King Bey, descended upon us with a vengeance as she released her untimely, self titled album. Per her drone of followers, Le Bey Hive, and Stans, she managed to snatch the hearts, minds, and wigs of women across the globe with heavy beats and piercingly sexual lyrics.

"Flawless", one of the notable tracks from the album, includes an excerpt from Chimamanda Adichie, my personal Shero, which explains the need for feminism on a social level today, not before, of course,  Beyonce commands her flock of sheep to "Bow Down, Bitches".

Subsequently, there has been much media frenzy trying to determine whether or not the King can be deemed a "Feminist". Militant feminists have been expressing their no-tolerance policy with her newfound, leotard clad, pelvic thrusting sexuality. They think it reads as submissive and goes against everything they have fought and "died" for. 

Though I personally don't see how Beyonce has exhibited any behavior that defines her as a feminist, might I remind you all that it is a school of thought, one with which she expressly stands behind.
So then, to the Femies, who are you to deem her  as under-qualified to subscribe to your school of thought?

Because she's opts against donning the feminist uniform of a high-wasted, baggy pant, tight ponytail, stern face and switch in hand, she deserves to be shunned from the movement? Perhaps because she chooses to embrace her femininity, she doesn't qualify for the team.

So I guess we must discard our natural Effeminacy in favor of Feminism.

In ending, I urge you all to ask yourselves, what do we hope to achieve in conceiving any sociological school of thought? And when such achievement comes to fruition, do we lay said movement to rest?

Take your feminism to the East, where it's needed, and leave us good people alone.