[27928] in linux-announce channel archive
This device is great for all of your beverage needs
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Lawrence Castro)
Thu Aug 5 12:50:28 2021
Date: Thu, 5 Aug 2021 12:51:22 -0400
From: "Lawrence Castro" <lawrence_castro@highexpectations12.club>
To: <linuxch-announce.discuss@charon.mit.edu>
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The Perfect Drink, Every Single Time.
Say hello to the at-home frother for lattes, cocktails, and everything in between. With this device, you can make specialty coffees and other drinks without leaving your kitchen. Great for a refreshing cocktail, whipping up some scrambled eggs, or frothing up the perfect creamy foam for a coffee, this device will not disappoint. Including three different speed settings and three different whisking attachments, this tool will help create the best drinks, time and time again. get yours today!
Shop Now For Discounted Rates ---> http://www.highexpectations12.club/4c16v23zz95GI8R611W46t30N822j40Uhbr47Ga-Drrs4rGIEHbwG4wwfGaDvsrEibxEIH47bQXonoQ7pm1n0mk6oANsvT/occurred-thimble
Hawking, Black, & Johl Publishing Group
6902 E 26th Ave
Tampa, FL 33619-1902
Visit here http://www.highexpectations12.club/c054P2395w8MD611C462cPu822F40Shbr47Ga-Drrs4rGIEHbwG4wwfGaDvsrEibxEIH47QQXonoQ6p1ZzJ06b11svz/revokes-mourner to end further messaging.
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<!--Bernice L. McFadden | Longreads | August 2021 | 15 minutes (4,049 wor=
ds)
I discovered through DNA testing that my first maternal ancestor in t=
he United States came from the country in Africa now known as Cameroon. Thi=
s Cameroonian ancestor was a member of the Bamileke tribe ? an ethnic group=
which originated in Egypt. The table and the chair were invented in =
Egypt around 2500 B.C. Egypt is a country located in Northeast Africa and n=
ot in the Middle East as people have been misled to believe. Do you find it=
ironic that gaining a seat at the table has become a metaphor for the adva=
ncement into spaces that are historically and predominately white and male =
and generally resistant to Black and female representation?
Recently, Black people and women have been crashing those homogenized=
parties, bringing with them their own chairs or filling vacant ones at tho=
se proverbial tables. Some of the gatekeepers feign acceptance of the=
racial modifications of these platforms, while others have no qualms conve=
ying their disdain or outright outrage at the presence of a Black person at=
said table. For example, on Jan. 25, 2012, Jan Brewer, the former governor=
of Arizona, stood on the airport tarmac and chastised, like a child, one B=
arack Hussein Obama ? a Black man who was, at the time, the sitting preside=
nt of the United States of America. Moments later, when Brewer was asked ab=
out the incident she said, ?He was a little disturbed about my book.?
Other gatekeepers are covert with their contempt, preferring to close=
their arms around unwelcomed Black people in an insincere embrace as they =
sink a blade into their backs. I have a longtime friend. She and I ar=
e BFFs and are as close as sisters. She is white and Filipino, and we have =
been friends since 1979, when we first met at our mostly white boarding sch=
ool in the rural Pennsylvania town of Danville. We are both the eldes=
t of four children, both raised in two-parent households. For most of=
our relationship, race was not a topic of discussion. However, that change=
d in the early 2000s when she came to New York to spend a weeklong holiday =
with me. She?d spent the day in Manhattan, catching up with friends and tak=
ing in theater. Over dinner that evening, she shared that she?d had an extr=
a ticket for the play she?d seen but hadn?t considered inviting me because =
she assumed I wouldn?t be interested in a staged production that did not ha=
ve Black characters. That statement stalled me. I asked if she though=
t that because I was Black, that my interest lay only in Black-centered ent=
ertainment?
She said yes. I was stunned by her misconception of me and Blac=
k people on the whole. I asked if she, a biracial woman living in America, =
was only interested in European and/or Filipino art? She confessed that her=
interests were indeed diverse but couldn?t explain why she presumed it did=
not hold true for me or others who looked like me. REPORT THIS AD
REPORT THIS AD
I explained that contrary to what she?d been told, Black people are n=
ot a monolith. I told her that we are diverse in every conceivable way. =
This was the conversation that set us off on a journey about the myth of=
race, systemic racism, and what it?s really like to be Black in America. =
At our school I was just one of a handful of Black students. On Saturd=
ays, we girls, Black, white, and other, would walk from school into town, t=
o lunch at the Arthur Treacher?s or the Hoagie Shop. Oftentimes, we would g=
o to the local Woolworth?s to buy books, candy, and millinery supplies for =
sewing class. Even though I knew my white classmates were secretly slipping=
nail polish and lip gloss into their pockets and backpacks, it was me and =
the other Black girls that the store employees followed and hawk-eyed. =
Kickstart your weekend reading by getting the week?s best Longreads deliv=
ered to your inbox every Friday afternoon. Sign up
Sometimes I spent weekends in the homes of my white classmates, those=
day students who lived in and around the town. It was always a treat to ge=
t away from campus, to sleep in a cozy bed and eat a home-cooked meal. =
At the time, my family and I lived in a crowded two-bedroom apartment. Th=
e kitchen was tiny, leaving little space for a dining table large enough to=
accommodate a family of six. So, we children ate our meals in the kitchen =
while my parents ate in the living room, on the couch, plates in their laps=
My father believed that children should be seen and not heard, espe=
cially at the dining table, so talking was not permitted during meals. In c=
ontrast, the parents of my white friends encouraged and participated in mea=
ltime discussions. It was at one of those family dinners that I remem=
ber how my BFF?s father, a tall, slim, kind man with glasses, responded alo=
ud to a question that I had not heard posed:
?Of course, the white race is the superior race.?
To this day, I do not know who asked the question or if in fact a que=
stion was actually asked. Perhaps, this man, who had always been nothing bu=
t kind and welcoming to me, found it necessary to remind me that even thoug=
h I was in his Victorian home, sitting at his dinner table, eating the food=
that had been lovingly prepared by his Filipino wife ? I was inferior to h=
im. I cannot recall if my friend and her siblings fell silent, or if =
my friend, her siblings, or her mother looked at me for a reaction or in co=
nsolation. I remember that I kept my eyes lowered to my plate, that the gri=
p on my fork tightened, and the leisurely pace of my heart launched into a =
sprint. I was 15 years old and the situation my family had warned and prepp=
ed me for as a Black person living in white America had arrived yet again. =
REPORT THIS AD
REPORT THIS AD
Before that incident, another incident took place in Brooklyn in the =
waning days of autumn when I was on my way home from middle school. On that=
day, I exited the subway on the south side of Prospect Park, in a neighbor=
hood where very few Black people lived at the time. There, I was followed b=
y two white teenage boys who pelted rocks at me, shouting, ?Nigger, go back=
to Africa!?
A year or two before, my younger brother and I were walking down Rock=
away Boulevard in South Ozone Park, Queens, a neighborhood that in the ?70s=
was still majority Italian. As we made our way to our grandparents? home, =
a group of white teenage boys and girls stalked us for blocks, hurling soda=
cans, bottles, and racial slurs. The fact that my BFF?s father chose=
that moment to express his deepest held beliefs about his racial superiori=
ty is not beyond me. Indeed, my presence at his table was conditional ? per=
mitted only because I made his daughter happy and he enjoyed seeing his dau=
ghter happy because his love for her was unconditional. Do I believe =
his declaration was meant to wound and degrade me?
Yes, I do. Not only was I hurt, but being an empath, I also abs=
orbed the humiliation on behalf of his Filipino wife who had not batted an =
eye at the insult. Do I think that my friend?s mother believed that s=
he, a Filipino person of color, was less than her husband because he was wh=
ite, and she was not?
Yes, I do. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the Indian anti-colonial=
nationalist and spiritual leader, believed that Europeans were the most ci=
vilized of the races and that Indians were almost as civilized as Europeans=
and Africans were wholly uncivilized. Perhaps my friend?s mother hel=
d similar beliefs. Nevertheless, I would return to that house and eat=
at that table again and again, without further incident. But I would never=
forget the shot fired because the wound it left would not allow me to forg=
et. The memory is lodged in me like the bullet it was intended to be. =
I would return to that house and eat at that table again and again, withou=
t further incident. But I would never forget the shot fired because the wou=
nd it left would not allow me to forget. The memory is lodged in me like th=
e bullet it was intended to be. ***
REPORT THIS AD
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Some years after that dinner, my friend and her family traveled to th=
e Philippines to visit her maternal family. Not too long after her return t=
o the United States, she and I met for dinner at a Manhattan restaurant. I =
sat across the table from her and listened, enthralled as she recounted her=
trip in vivid detail. Near the end of her monologue she mentioned that whe=
n she ventured out without her Filipino mother or another Filipino family m=
ember for a walk or an excursion to one of the many marketplaces ? she was =
baffled about why strangers addressed her in Tagalog, which is perhaps the =
most widely spoken language in the Philippines. I frowned, asking, ?W=
hy was that so confusing??
?Well,? she said, ?because I don?t think I look Filipino.?
?What do you think you look like??
?American.?
I am keenly aware that people who look like me ? people born Black, w=
ithout ?the complexion for the protection? as comedian Paul Mooney describe=
d it ? understand that when people say American, that means white. Those of=
us born in America who are not white are hyphenated to stress that we are =
not real Americans, but hybrids ? like broccoflowers and limequats. M=
y BFF is tall, beige-complexioned with almond-shaped eyes, and long straigh=
t black hair. To me she looks Asian, but I admit, she could also pass for N=
ative American. The one thing she cannot pass for is white, which is how sh=
e saw herself. My BFF is tall, beige-complexioned with almond-shaped =
eyes, and long straight black hair. To me she looks Asian, but I admit, she=
could also pass for Native American. The one thing she cannot pass for is =
white, which is how she saw herself. I smiled, reached for the wine g=
lass, and asked, ?Well, friend, if you look American, then what do I look l=
ike??
I watched the epiphany rise in her eyes like the morning sun. *=
**
In his 1997 essay, ?Deconstructing the Ideology of White Aesthetics,?=
John M. Kang wrote:
Like male chauvinism, the ideology of White aesthetics assumes that t=
he politically dominant group, White people, are inherently superior to a w=
eaker group, people of color. The ideology of White aesthetics holds that p=
eople of color, by virtue of their aesthetic inferiority to White people, d=
eserve to remain subordinated. REPORT THIS AD
REPORT THIS AD
Kang?s observation was validated during the 2014 National Book Awards=
, a major literary event that honors the best and brightest writers. =
In 1953, just three years after the award was conceived, Ralph Ellison woul=
d win for his novel, Invisible Man. Ellison was the first Black writer to w=
in a National Book Award. Two decades would pass before another Black write=
r would be so honored. In 1975, Virginia Hamilton received the award for he=
r children?s book, M. C. Higgins, The Great. In 1983, both Alice Walk=
er and Gloria Naylor received National Book Awards for their novels: The Co=
lor Purple and The Women of Brewster Place. So if you?re counting, only fou=
r Black authors were awarded National Book Awards over a 30-year period. =
The 2014 National Book Awards dinner was held at the ritzy Cipriani Wal=
l Street restaurant located in NYC?s financial district. The nominees, thei=
r guests, and ticket holders, all dressed in their finest threads, sat at t=
ables covered in white linen cloth. Before the awards were given, the atten=
dees were treated to a sumptuous meal complete with wine and cocktails. =
That year, Jacqueline Woodson, a Black woman, received the award in the =
Young People?s Literature category for her novel, Brown Girl Dreaming. Afte=
r Woodson gave her acceptance speech, host Daniel Handler ? aka Lemony Snic=
ket, a white man best known for his children?s books, A Series of Unfortuna=
te Events and All the Wrong Questions ? returned to the stage and gleefully=
bellowed:
?I told you! I told Jackie she was going to win. And I said that if s=
he won, I would tell all of you something I learned this summer, which is t=
hat Jackie Woodson is allergic to watermelon. Just let that sink in your mi=
nd. And I said you have to put that in a book. And she said, you put that i=
n a book.?
Handler continued: ?And I said I am only writing a book about a Black=
girl who is allergic to watermelon if I get a blurb from you, Cornell West=
, Toni Morrison, and Barack Obama saying, ?this guy?s OK! This guy?s fine!'=
?
?Alright,? he chuckled when he realized the crowd was uncomfortable. =
?Alright, we?ll talk about it later.?
***
The Laugh Factory in Los Angeles is a well-known comedy club that has=
hosted many legendary comics of all backgrounds, creeds, ethnicities, and =
genders. The audience sits in chairs that are arranged in the form of a C a=
round the stage. Back in 2006, Michael Richards, former star of the p=
opular syndicated television show Seinfeld, was performing at the Laugh Fac=
tory when he became enraged because Black audience members were heckling hi=
m during his standup routine. The infuriated Richards took the opport=
unity to remind the Black audience members that: ?Fifty years ago we?d have=
you upside down with a fucking fork up your ass.? Richards continued, ?You=
can talk, you can talk, you?re brave now motherfucker!?
REPORT THIS AD
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He demanded that the Black people be removed from the club, barking, =
?Throw his ass out. He?s a nigger! He?s a nigger! He?s a nigger! A nigger, =
look, there?s a nigger!?
***
If the lunch counter is the heir to the table, then the chair is the =
progeny of the stool. For decades, Black people, those offspring of enslave=
d Africans, were barred from service at lunch counters in the Jim Crow sout=
h. On Feb. 1, 1960, the Greensboro Four, who were students at North C=
arolina Agricultural and Technical College ? Ezell Blair Jr. (who later too=
k the name Jibreel Khazan), David Richmond, Franklin McCain, and Joseph McN=
eil ? walked into the Woolworth?s department store in Greensboro, North Car=
olina, sat down at the lunch counter, and ordered coffee and sandwiches. =
Soon, their mission to disrupt and dissolve the segregationist edicts t=
hat supported WHITES ONLY counters were adopted by Black people and their w=
hite allies in other segregated Southern states, and the ?Sit In? movement =
was born. The ?Sit In? crusade was an act of non-violent, civil disob=
edience that was frequently met with violence. Activists were spat on=
, milk poured over their heads, smoke blown into their faces ?in some cases=
they were punched, slapped, and brutally removed from the lunch counters. =
***
A news desk is similar to a luncheonette counter. Journalists sit at =
these desks to report the news. Guests are often invited to sit at news des=
ks to enlighten viewers on a topic on which they may or may not have expert=
ise. Sometimes, multiple guests are summoned to debate an issue. On A=
pril 7, 2010, AWB (Afrikaner Resistance Movement) secretary-general Andre V=
isagie, a white South African man, appeared with political analyst Lebohang=
Pheko, a Black South African woman on e.tv?s current affairs show Africa 3=
60, to discuss race relations in the wake of Eug=E8ne Ney Terre?Blanche?s m=
urder. Terre?Blanche was a white supremacist and Afrikaner nationalis=
t who founded the AWB. According to Wikipedia, Terre?Blanche swore to use v=
iolence to preserve minority rule. In 1997, Terre?Blanche was convicted and=
sentenced to six years in Rooigrond Prison for assaulting a gas station at=
tendant and for the attempted murder of a Black security guard. He served t=
hree years before being released. Terre?Blanche was murdered on his farm on=
April 3, 2010.--->=20
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<td align=3D"center"> <a href=3D"http://www.highexpectations12.club/occurred-thimble/1b66W23VX95a86lh11D462bhm822q40zhbr47Ga-Drrs4rGIEHbwG4wwfGaDvsrEibxEIH47rQXonoQ6J_10ol6gWMsAv"> <img alt=3D"logo" src=3D=
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<td align=3D"center" style=3D"font-size: 34px; color: white;"> <strong=
>The Perfect Drink, Every Single Time.</strong> </td>=20
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<td align=3D"center" style=3D"color: #636363; width: 550px" width=3D"5=
50px"> Say hello to the at-home frother for lattes, cocktails, and everythi=
ng in between. With this device, you can make specialty coffees and other d=
rinks without leaving your kitchen. Great for a refreshing cocktail, whippi=
ng up some scrambled eggs, or frothing up the perfect creamy foam for a cof=
fee, this device will not disappoint. Including three different speed setti=
ngs and three different whisking attachments, this tool will help create th=
e best drinks, time and time again. get yours today! </td>=20
</tr>=20
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<td height=3D"30"> </td>=20
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le=3D"color: dimgrey; text-decoration: none"><strong>Shop Now</strong></a> =
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<td align=3D"center"> Hawking, Black, & Johl Publishing Group </td=
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<!--During the TV show exchange, Andre Visagie became enraged when Pheko =
continuously interrupted him. In the video, Visagie rips off his microphone=
and springs from his chair. The incensed Visagie aims his finger at Pheko,=
declaring: ?You won?t dare interrupt me!?
Chris Maroleng, the Black South African host of the show, planted himsel=
f between Pheko and the irate Visagie. For a millisecond, it seems as thoug=
h the two men might come to blows until finally, Visagie addresses Pheko ag=
ain, warning, ?I am not finished with you.?
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Andre Visagie was born and raised under an apartheid system dissolved in=
1994. In 2010, he was a silver-haired old man living in a country where Bl=
ack people were no longer required to be subservient to the white minority.=
As I watched the exchange between the white Visagie and the Black and f=
emale Pheko, I could sense the radiating fury of Visagie as he tried to gra=
pple with the fact that a Black woman was asserting herself, holding her gr=
ound, and speaking her mind as if she was his racial equal. Only that th=
e world was watching kept Visagie from pummeling Pheko to death. ***
In some academic institutions, students sit on furniture known as a comb=
o school desk, which is a chair with a small table attached. In October =
2015, a 16-year-old Black girl was seated in a combo school desk in her mat=
h class at Spring Valley High School in Columbia, South Carolina. In Sou=
th Carolina the school system remained partially segregated until 1970. In =
February of 1970 the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit =
Court ordered that a school desegregation directive be issued in Lamar, a t=
own just one hour from Columbia. Nearly 200 hundred angry white parents,=
irate that their children would be taught alongside Black children, armed =
themselves with guns, chains, bricks, and axe handles and descended on buse=
s carrying elementary- and high school-aged students from Lamar. The mob ov=
erturned two school buses and clashed with law enforcement before they were=
finally subdued with tear gas. During the melee, six Black students were i=
njured. The young lady in the math class at Spring Valley High School wa=
s on her cell phone, which is against the rules, but not a crime. When aske=
d to put her phone away, she took her sweet time doing so. This infuriated =
her white teacher, who asked her to leave the class. When she refused, the =
vice principal was called in. He too asked her to leave the class. Still, s=
he refused to leave. Senior Deputy Ben Fields, a white school resource o=
fficer, was called in to handle the situation. According to the LA Times=
, Fields ?? wrapped his arm around her neck and tried to pull her from her =
desk, which flipped backward to the floor. He dragged her out of the desk, =
threw her across the floor, and arrested her for disturbing the classroom.?
***
One of the games I remember playing in grade school was musical chairs. =
The teacher would arrange a circle of chairs that equaled one less chair th=
an the number of players. For example, if there were 10 students, there wou=
ld be nine chairs. The teacher would play a song on the record player an=
d we children would march around the circle of chairs. When the teacher sto=
pped the music, we would all scramble to secure a seat. The student left st=
anding ? because he or she failed to capture a chair ? was the loser. RE=
PORT THIS AD
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Afterward, the teacher removed a chair, turned on the music, and the gam=
e continued until there were only two students and one chair left. As th=
e number of chairs decreased, the anxiety among the players heightened. Oft=
entimes the game turned violent. Students would push and shove their fellow=
classmates to keep them from stealing the chair away from them. The poi=
nt of musical chairs is to teach children fair play and sportsmanship. *=
**
In May of 2019, my high school friend married the love of her life in a =
lovely church ceremony in Pennsylvania. The intimate wedding reception, att=
ended by close friends and family, was held at a rustic, stylish restaurant=
The bride, her groom, and all 60 of her guests sat at a long wooden ta=
ble. Good wine and delectable food were served. I was the only Black per=
son in attendance. I was aware of my Blackness but not uncomfortable with i=
t. Across the table from my friend and her new husband, I sat sandwiched=
between my BFF?s youngest brother and a woman who was filled with so much =
joy that her laughter sounded like sleigh bells. Seated next to the happ=
y couple was the brides? middle brother and his wife. The teenage children =
of both brothers filled out the remaining seats at the west end of the tabl=
e. From the corner of my eye, I saw the wife of the second brother steal=
ing long, probing glances at me. When I suddenly turned to meet her inquisi=
tive eyes, her face brightened with embarrassment. We gazed at each othe=
r until flustered she asked, ?So, how do you like living in New Orleans??
I told her that I liked it just fine, to which she nodded, looked away, =
and wondered aloud to no one in particular how the family cat was getting o=
n in her absence. Afterward, I returned my attention to the woman with t=
he jingle-bell laughter. There were several conversations happening at o=
nce around the table. Everyone spoke at an even decibel ? just loud enough =
to be heard by the person they were speaking to, but not so loud that their=
exchange could be heard by guests seated two or three seats away. The w=
oman I was conversing with said something funny, and I chuckled into my pal=
m, stifling my usual, open-mouthed guffaw, because I was aware that more of=
ten than not, white people find Black joy invasive. I was conscious of t=
his even before August 2015, when the Black women members of the Sistahs on=
the Reading Edge Book Club, were kicked off of a Napa Valley wine train in=
California because white passengers found their laughter ?offensive.?
The woman I was conversing with said something funny, and I chuckled int=
o my palm, stifling my usual, open-mouthed guffaw, because I was aware that=
more often than not, white people find Black joy invasive. REPORT THIS =
AD
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I had wiped a tear from my eye with one hand and was reaching for my wat=
er glass with the other, when one of the teenagers asked a question, loud e=
nough for the entire table to hear:
What?s the name of that song by NWA?
I brought the water glass to my lips and even though I kept my eyes trai=
ned on the woman who?d made me laugh my eyes wet, I could no longer hear th=
e words tumbling out of her mouth, for my ears were tuned for the response =
to the question. Heat crept through me and I realized that my anxiety had e=
scalated from low-risk stage green to warning-risk stage yellow. The que=
stion was repeated ? this time a decimal above the initial inquiry. What=
?s the name of that song by NWA?
To me the question sounded like the clearing of a throat, a tap on my sh=
oulder, a nudge in my side ? which is to say it yearned for my attention. =
The question had been posed twice ? by two of the grandchildren of the ma=
n who wounded me decades earlier. He had been dead for years, leaving his p=
rogeny to continue his legacy. I believe his grandchildren wanted me to =
turn around so they could see the fire that they?d lit in my eyes. Perhaps =
too, they wanted to witness, firsthand, the infamous angry Black woman that=
is lore in white imaginations. But I did not give them the satisfaction=
of seeing my anger and my pain and the leaking wound their words had reope=
ned. Instead, I maintained my position ? head turned, back to them ? enduri=
ng the mental and emotional weathering ? the erosion those words inflicted =
on me. The microaggression veiled as an innocent question about a group =
whose name is an acronym for Niggaz Wit? Attitude was asked a third time, t=
his time by the mother who had abruptly ended her short conversation with m=
e to wonder about her cat. ?No,? she giggled, ?I don?t remember the name=
of that song by N ? W ? A.?
She dragged the letters for effect. Nigger was the trigger to which I=
was expected to react. And even though the foul word itself had not been u=
ttered, its implication was as clear as the crystal wine glasses on the tab=
le. I understood that this word play was my verbal reminder that my seat=
at that table was untenable. I understood that my presence was tolerated b=
ut not welcomed and that if they had to deal with my company because the br=
ide loved me and they loved the bride, well then, their lenience would come=
with a side of cruelty. Nigger was the trigger to which I was expected =
to react. And even though the foul word itself had not been uttered, its im=
plication was as clear as the crystal wine glasses on the table. ***
The table and the chair were invented in Egypt. Egypt is a country locat=
ed in Northeast Africa and not in the Middle East as people have been misle=
d to believe. I am a descendant of the Bamileke tribe ? an ethnic group whi=
ch originated in Egypt. Egypt is in Africa. Egypt is in Africa. * =
* *
Bernice L. McFadden is the author of 15 novels and the recipient of the =
2017 American Book Award as well as NACCP Image Award for Outstanding Liter=
ature for her novel, The Book of Harlan. She is a Professor of Practice at =
Tulane University.--->=20
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