God sometimes creeps in the first thing. Especially if my arthritis is bothering me. After my morning regimen, I kneel to pray. I don't like talking to God with dutty teefs so I have to apply the necessary soaps, creams, mouthwash, and toothpaste. I might talk to God on the way down to the floor if my knee and hip complains. Those feelings alone let me know that I am all flesh and definitely of this world.
I live in an apartment not clouds. I am of this world. I walk and I don't glide nor do wings sprout out of my back, if they did, I wouldn't be sitting around here trying to figure out how I'm going to get my airfare to a conference I want to attend. I'd just take flight. I'm made of flesh and I'm of this world. So are you, my friend.
We live in this world. So do six billion other folks. They have a present. They possess a past. Only a very foolish person would ignore the primal directive of every living creature: self preservation. To ignore reality is to court disaster and rush the time when we are no longer flesh and an infinitesimal component of this world.
I wrote what I wrote based on reality. Again, the Jim Crow South was definitely flesh and of this world. Bringing honesty, education and experience to the conversation doesn't make me worldly - it makes me a realist. For that I thank God.
La Vonda R. Staples
Independent Historian
On Tue, Aug 30, 2011 at 11:06 AM, blessing yahoo <blessinganaro@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
I actually sent a correction. I mean worldly thinking and one of the flesh.Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2011 10:40:15 -0500ReplyTo: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.comSubject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Dangerous White StereotypesHm? Worldly or wordy? Wordy is not a word. Do you mean loquacious or verbose? Worldly? Do you mean jaded? Passé?Clarify.Vonda--On Tue, Aug 30, 2011 at 4:39 AM, blessing yahoo <blessinganaro@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
You are simply wordly.Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
From: Lavonda Staples <lrstaples@gmail.com>Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2011 18:50:43 -0400ReplyTo: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.comSubject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Dangerous White Stereotypes--You think you can trust your servants? Hey, Riley "B. B." King wrote, "Nobody Loves Me But My Mother (And Sometimes I Think She Might Be Jiving)."Since I've been grown I've heard young people, mostly women, say things such as, "I trust him completely. He would NEVER do that." I've heard young men say, "I would trust my wife with my life." Keep trust for God. Have hope in man. Anyone who thinks that an underpaid servant is really their friend, an equal, a FRIEND, is slightly insane. Friendship is based on accountability and two people who can be responsible for each other's hearts. We fail. On purpose. By ignorance. How can anyone, any White person say (during that time) that a Black maid was their friend when clearly the Black maid's heart could not be protected in the face of Jim Crow? Each time those maids left the home... I can go on and on and on.A servant can never be your friend. A husband that is financially beholden to a wife. A wife who allows herself to become a subservient in her home (you can always leave, hungry, nekkid, cold and tired but FREE) is not a friend.I supposed the woman who wrote the book would say that Jefferson and Hemings were friends as well. And since I put it out there, no. I don't think Jefferson was a rapist. I do, however, fervently believe that any White woman who really believed that her Black maid was her friend is delusional. The Black maid may HAVE been her friend. But don't friends take up each other's causes? I don't remember any White housewives movements to end Jim Crow, do you?La Vonda R. StaplesOn Mon, Aug 29, 2011 at 4:41 PM, Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelberg@gmail.com> wrote:
Still room for hate? The old race and colour bogeyman still hanging
around? Isn't it about time to let it go?
There are some stories that are best left unread and some films best
left unseen.
But you should , if you haven't already done so, see this – what's now
become a sort of cult film...my I and my Better Half and Bibi Opot
finally saw it on the 10th of March this year at the Kulturhuset in
Stockholm:
http://www.google.se/search?q=Mapantsula&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:sv-SE:official&client=firefox-a
Here's another story: The year was 1993 and word was that Apartheid
was soon going to be under arrest and lots of White South Africans
were steadily, already relocating to Hungary, Australia, New Zeeland
for their own safety and in anticipation of the bloodbath that they
thought was inevitable, because they thought that Justice, Retaliation
and Revenge was definitely on its way – and had been rapidly gaining
momentum with the escalation of PAC violence, their motto being "One
settler one bullet."
So, by the time Madiba Nelson Mandela was being released from Robben
Island, this story was already making the rounds:
There were two servants in neighbouring households and the Missus in
one of the houses said to her servant, " I've heard some people say
that Black servants are going to kill their White masters when the
Revolution comes, but you will not kill me, will you?"
" Oh no Mam" replied her Black Servant, "I've made a deal with the
servant next door that he's going to kill you and that I'm going to
kill his master for him "
The moral of the tale in circulation: You can't even trust your own
servants
I'm sad to say that I myself and a friend were invited to a New Year's
Eve party on 31st December 1986 by a Swedish fashion model and her
Irish husband..I had just got back to Stockholm from a great time in
London and was in a party mood. It was only when we arrived at the
host's villa somewhere in the Stockholm suburbs, that I realised that
the rest of the guest about eight or so, were all White South
Africans, some of whom I had known from earlier on. To cut a long
story short, midnight when we were going to set off the fireworks,
never arrived ...the party was completely destroyed shortly before
then.....and everyone went home. I and my friend stayed the
night......
I had already downed half a bottle of wine and was still on my best
behaviour and had been since when I realised that it was more or less
a White South African Party ( the White Radicals). I had taken it
upon myself that what they were all going to witness was exemplary
behaviour, since I was going to be representing Nelson Mandela,Oliver
Thambo, Steve Biko, Chris Hani , Joe Slovo, the martyrs of the
Sharpville Massacre and all the Brethren in Soweto. It was at about
eleven O'clock - we were sitting round the dinner table, the round
table discussion was getting more and more interesting and it was at
that point - at around 11 O Clock when one of the guests Mr. H.S.
the optician made the remark that "Some South African intellectuals
now believe that the ANC is acting in a counter-revolutionary
manner" and thereupon, somehow the wine flew to my head. You'll have
to wait for the first edition of my memoirs to catch up with a full
account of what actually happened before and after the event but
suffice it to say that shortly after that the party was totally
destroyed …. and my gracious guests remained so kind, here ina
Sweden..... to this day I am thoroughly ashamed of my behaviour and
the words that flew out of my mouth that night......I can tell you
lots of South African stories fleshed by real characters, all kinds –
political activists, jazz musicians John Mbizo Dyani gave me the name
Themba Feza) of poets, ideologues, racists, even holy anti-apartheid
hooligans....here, in the UK and in Nigeria.....
> On Mon, Aug 29, 2011 at 9:54 AM, Tracy Flemming <cafenegrit...@gmail.com>wrote:
On 29 Aug, 20:11, Lavonda Staples <lrstap...@gmail.com> wrote:
> The mother of my first husband was a maid. Her oldest daughter was also a
> maid. The woman I take care of, Miss Pam, was also a maid. All three Black
> women were domestics in wealthy White households in St. Louis, MO. I don't
> know why cinema makes so much of the affection mytholiogically given between
> White children and Black domestics. None of these mythological babies
> attended the funeral of my ex-mother-in-law and they do not attend the sick
> rooms of my ex-sister-in-law or Miss Pam. These three women gave their love
> to their Black children they kindness and compassion to the White children
> they helped to raise.
>
> America has its myths. There is a popular myth of Southern life as being
> completely populated by plantation mansions. This is a lie. There were
> very few slaveowners who prospered to the point of building great houses.
> Most of those who did had wives who brought wealth to the family (i.e.the
> wealth Martha Washington and Martha Whales Jefferson brought to their poor
> husbands) and the men had occupations other than their agrarian pursuits
> (many, if not most were solicitors, i.e. Jospeh Davis, elder brother of
> Jefferson Davis). Most slaves were bought on the margin. There were
> several big and small cotton crashes which forced enslaved Africans back on
> the auction block and White would-be and wannabe plantation owners back on
> the roads, staying with family, or into a poverty of self-sufficient
> farming.
>
> I cannot comment on the movie, "The Help" because I haven't seen it. I see
> very few movies. I don't have the money, patience, or time. I will see it
> when I get a copy I can view at home.
>
> It is unfortunate that the book was created without input from the
> subjects. If there is such a thing as method acting then we should also
> honour method writing. I would have liked the author to spend some time as
> a maid, with some maids (in a lateral position), or even using some plain
> old empathy for her subjects. As it stands, she has done the same thing
> that slave owners did and do - buy a person and turn them into a thing.
>
> La Vonda R. Staples
> Independent Historian
>
> >http://www.clarionledger.com/comments/article/20110823/NEWS/110823014...>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Author Kathryn Stockett's letter is focal point in 'The Help' suit
> > 3:08 PM, Aug. 23, 2011
> > The Associated Press
> > The Clarion-Ledger
>
> > A handwritten letter from author Kathryn Stockett has become the focal
> > point of a lawsuit over her bestselling novel "The Help," which has
> > been made into a box office hit.
>
> > A housekeeper who works for Stockett's brother claims her likeness was
> > used in the book without permission. "The Help" is based on
> > relationships between white families in Mississippi and the black
> > women who worked for them in the 1960s. The movie adaptation of "The
> > Help" took the No. 1 spot in theaters this past weekend with $20.5
> > million.
>
> > Hinds County, Miss., Circuit Court Judge Tomie Green dismissed Ablene
> > Cooper's lawsuit last week. Green said the statute of limitations
> > elapsed between the time that Stockett gave Cooper a copy of the book
> > in January 2009 and the lawsuit's filing in February of this year.
>
> > Cooper's lawyer, Edward Sanders, filed a motion last week to have the
> > lawsuit reinstated. The motion argues that the clock should not have
> > started ticking on the statute of limitations until Cooper read the
> > book in the summer of 2010. Sanders argued that Cooper didn't read it
> > sooner because Stockett said in the letter that, despite the
> > similarity in names, the character wasn't based on Cooper.
>
> > In a response filed with the court Monday, Stockett's lawyers said the
> > letter accompanied a copy of the book and Cooper waited too long to
> > sue under the one-year statute of limitations.
>
> > "The note makes clear that Ms. Stockett told Mrs. Cooper that a
> > character in the novel was named `Aibileen.' With note and novel in
> > her possession, Mrs. Cooper knew, or reasonably should have known, of
> > her potential claims in January 2009," Stockett's lawyers wrote in
> > court papers.
>
> > Stockett's defense team also said the letter has already been
> > discussed in court and the judge made the correct decision in throwing
> > out the lawsuit.
>
> > Sanders had no comment Tuesday.
>
> > The judge has not made any determination on whether Aibileen was based
> > on Cooper. Stockett denies she was.
>
> > In the letter, Stockett says she only met Cooper a few times, but was
> > thankful she worked for the writer's brother because his kids love
> > her.
>
> > "One of the main characters, and my favorite character, is an African
> > American child carer named Aibileen," the letter said. "Although the
> > spelling is different from yours, and the character was born in 1911,
> > I felt I needed to reach out and tell you that the character isn't
> > based on you in any way."
>
> > The letter goes on to say the book is "purely fiction" and inspired by
> > Stockett's relationship with "Demetrie, who looked after us and we
> > loved dearly." The letter is referring to Demetrie McLorn, the
> > Stockett family's housekeeper, who died when the author was a
> > teenager.
>
> > An affidavit said Cooper knows Stockett, has kept her child before,
> > and had no reason not to trust her.
>
> > "She's a liar," Cooper screamed outside the courthouse after the
> > lawsuit was dismissed last week. "She did it. She knows she did it."
>
> > The lawsuit also quotes passages from the book, including one in which
> > Aibileen's character describes a cockroach: "He black. Blacker than
> > me."
>
> > The lawsuit says Cooper found it upsetting and offensive to be
> > portrayed as someone "who uses this kind of language and compares her
> > skin color to a cockroach."
>
> > Stockett's publicist has declined comment on the lawsuit.
>
> ...>
> > On Aug 29, 9:45 am, Toyin Falola <toyin.fal...@mail.utexas.edu> wrote:
> > > Dangerous White Stereotypes
>
> > > August 28, 2011, New York Times
>
> > > By PATRICIA A. TURNER
> > > Davis, Calif.
> > > ONE of the most noteworthy movies of the summer is "The Help." Set in
> > > Jackson, Miss., in the early 1960s, it focuses on the relationships
> > > between white upper-middle-class women and the black domestics who
> > > took care of them and their children. Although many reviews of the
> > > film were quite positive, numerous critics, including some
> > > African-American commentators, have lashed out against it, arguing
> > > that the film does not deserve the accolades it has received.
> > > To some extent, they have been angry that the movie is based on a
> > > novel by a white woman, Kathryn Stockett, and they question whether
> > > she is capable of telling that particular story. Some have also
> > > complained that the movie reinforces stereotypes about black Southern
> > > households. The black heroines speak with a dialect that disturbs
> > > some viewers; the audience never sees an intact black household, and
> > > a black man's abuse of his wife is all the more chilling because we
> > > never see him, only the pots he hurls and the scars he leaves.
> > > One maid's close bond with the white toddler she cares for has been
> > > decried as a re-enactment of the misconception that maids nurtured
> > > their white charges while denigrating their own black offspring.
> > > Not all blacks are unmoved by "The Help." Indeed, among my friends,
> > > relatives and colleagues a wide range of views have been shared,
> > > including comments that some of us might want to establish a support
> > > group for strong black women who liked "The Help."
> > > It is unfair to the filmmakers and cast to expect a work of fiction
> > > to adhere to the standards of authenticity we would want for a
> > > documentary. But we also recognize that precious few works of art
> > > tackle the Civil Rights era, and what people coming of age in the
> > > 21st century learn about this era often stems from fictive rather
> > > than nonfictive sources.
> > > Forty-eight years after Martin Luther King Jr. was accompanied by
> > > tens of thousands of black domestic workers to the National Mall in
> > > Washington to demand economic justice, it is not all that difficult
> > > to render black fictional characters with appealing attributes and
> > > praiseworthy talents. What is more difficult to accomplish is a
> > > verisimilar rendering of the white characters.
> > > This movie deploys the standard formula. With one possible exception,
> > > the white women are remarkably unlikable, and not just because of
> > > their racism. Like the housewives portrayed in reality television
> > > shows, the housewives of Jackson treat each other, their parents and
> > > their husbands with total callousness. In short, they are bad people,
> > > therefore they are racists.
> > > There's a problem, though, with that message. To suggest that bad
> > > people were racist implies that good people were not.
> > > Jim Crow segregation survived long into the 20th century because it
> > > was kept alive by white Southerners with value systems and
> > > personalities we would applaud. It's the fallacy of "To Kill a
> > > Mockingbird," a movie that never fails to move me but that advances a
> > > troubling falsehood: the notion that well-educated Christian whites
> > > were somehow victimized by white trash and forced to live within a
> > > social system that exploited and denigrated its black citizens, and
> > > that the privileged white upper class was somehow held hostage to
> > > these struggling individuals.
> > > But that wasn't the case. The White Citizens Councils, the thinking
> > > man's Ku Klux Klan, were made up of white middle-class people, people
> > > whose company you would enjoy. An analogue can be seen in the way
> > > popular culture treats Germans up to and during World War II. Good
> > > people were never anti-Semites; only detestable people participated
> > > in Hitler's cause.
> > > Cultures function and persist by consensus. In Jackson and other
> > > bastions of the Jim Crow South, the pervasive
>
>
> läs mer »
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La Vonda R. StaplesAdjunct Professor, Department of Social SciencesCommunity College of the District of Columbia"It is the duty of all who have been fortunate to receive an education to assist others in the same pursuit."
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unsubscribe@googlegroups.com--La Vonda R. StaplesAdjunct Professor, Department of Social SciencesCommunity College of the District of Columbia"It is the duty of all who have been fortunate to receive an education to assist others in the same pursuit."
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La Vonda R. Staples
Adjunct Professor, Department of Social Sciences
Community College of the District of Columbia
314-570-6483
"It is the duty of all who have been fortunate to receive an education to assist others in the same pursuit."
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