The Black Snob Feed

Obama Almost Tying Romney in Tennessee Poll, While GOP Realizes Romney May Have A Shot

Danielle Belton — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:18:10 +0000

President Barack Obama talks with former President Bill Clinton before an event in McLean, Va., Sunday, April 29, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)Since the Republican Primary finally died down into a race to pathetically endorse perpetually flippity-gibbit Mitt Romney, news on the campaign front have turned towards the general election show down between Mittens and the Great Hope Monger -- President Barack Obama. This means we've been inundated with "fun" stories like "Is Barack Obama the first gay president (since he thinks gay people deserve equal rights)?" and "Hey, let's try that Jeremiah Wright thing that didn't work in 2008 again." But not all the news is turgid political pap -- some of it's kind of interesting! Like how President Obama is closing in on Mitt Romney in the GOP stronghold of Tennessee (!!!), and now that Romney doesn't have to deal with a constant stream of hate from his Republican rivals some folks actually kind of "like" him. He might have a shot! Maybe! Or something. Or not. But POSSIBILITIES! Washington is a buzz in them!

First off: What on Earth is going on in Tennessee?

Tennessee has been in the news a lot lately because they've decided to fight their high teen pregnancy rate by making sure their children are even more ignorant about their bodies. Purveyors of the popular "if we talk to them about sex they'll do it" myth, the Tennessee legislature has chosen to bury their heads in the sand and pretend like they don't get MTV below the Mason-Dixon line.

Then there's that whole "don't say gay" bill debacle. It's a fun state, obviously run by the real-life version of sex-obsessed Internet trolls.

So with a legislature out fighting the scourge of gay people and children holding hands (rather than poverty, unemployment and poor education), it's not that shocking that some folks in Tenessee might be all "Maybe that half-colored fella ain't so bad."

From The Tennessean:

President Barack Obama has pulled into a virtual tie with presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney in traditionally conservative Tennessee, according to a new Vanderbilt University poll.

The poll also found that Tennesseans weren’t thrilled with the Republican-led General Assembly’s frequent focus on social, cultural and religious issues this year. But Republican Gov. Bill Haslam managed to remain above the fray, winning approval from 61 percent of poll participants.

“Tennessee is clearly a red state,” said John Geer, a professor of political science at Vanderbilt. “But these data show that the public is much more moderate than our state legislature.”

The poll of 1,002 Tennessee residents who are 18 and older found 42 percent would vote for Romney and 41 percent for Obama if the election were held now. The survey, conducted May 2-9 by Princeton Survey Research Associates International for Vanderbilt, had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

But then again, maybe not.

“It’s not that close a race,” Geer said, predicting Romney would prevail with little trouble. “I suspect a lot of hard-core conservatives are still getting used to the idea of Romney as the nominee, and by the time the general election comes along, they’ll be in lock step with Romney. But right now there’s a small chunk that are still being cautious.”

This reflects how a lot of conservative voters are slowly coming around to Romney despite a general dislike of him, fulfilling that old addage of "Republicans don't fall in love. They fall in line."

Which brings us to: GOP to Mittens -- He Ain't So Bad, Maybe, But Not Really

Politico has a story up today titled "GOP discovers that Mitt Romney could win." Which is breath-taking in that it means they didn't think he had a shot before.

From Politico:

“Romney is a lot better off than I expected him to be this quickly,” said former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who cast a primary vote for Newt Gingrich. “A lot of people were concerned that Romney, with his being the least conservative of all the Republican candidates, was going to have to work hard to unite the party — that he would have a serious sales job on his hands. But President Obama has apparently taken care of that for him.”

Barbour said that after a gaffe-filled primary, he expected a bruised Romney “to start down but hopefully not by double digits.

“But that he’s this close has surprised and encouraged me — and I think it has encouraged Republicans around the country.”

BUT!!!

GOP leaders are still somewhat daunted by Obama’s seeming advantage on the electoral map, recognizing that the president has, for now, an easier path to 270 electoral votes than Romney. And more than a few are still concerned about their candidate’s penchant for self-inflicted wounds, wondering only half in jest whether they’d be better off with Romney in a bunker for the duration of the campaign.

Nice vote of confidence, folks.

But it is true. The more Mittens talks, the less people like him. If they could just -- somehow -- keep him tied up in a basement with a muzzle on until November while they work on developing a gaffe-free Mittens 2.0 not run on Windows Vista. Because every time that little MS Word "Clippy" thing pops up asking Romney Bot: "I see you're trying to run for the president of the United States. Would you like some help?" he crashes into the blue screen of death and starts talking about how many boats he owns.

Republicans can only dream.

TV on the Internet: "She Got Problems" with Alison McDonald

Danielle Belton — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:17:20 +0000

The first in a series of stories on the people behind your favorite YouTube channels, new and old. First up, YouTube "TV on the Internet" newcomer Alison McDonald (sister of Broadway star Audra McDonald) who seeks to show a different side of the black female experience that likes French films and musical numbers.

Alison McDonald is a Fullbright Scholar, aspiring film director, actress and "funny lady," currently studying with the Upright Citizens Brigade in New York City. But she also has "problems" as evidenced by her new web series chronicling the more bizarre aspects of her singledom and career.

In a Q&A with The Snob, Alison talks about her ambition, the artists she admires and what it's like to make a go for it with a web series (in hopes of it becoming a TV series or film) in a world of both great opportunity (think Shonda Rhimes and "Scandal") and a world of obstacles (think of how it's pretty much just Shonda Rhimes right now) for a black actress, writer and director.

Alison McDonaldSnob: What was the inspiration behind She Got Problems?

I wanted to create a character in the mold of the great comedic heroines, with their crackling wit and irrepressible brio, from 1930s and 40s screwball comedies; namely, Claudette Colbert (The Palm Beach Story), Rosalind Russell (His Girl Friday), and Barbara Stanwyck (The Lady Eve).

The two “trailers” I’ve written and directed (She Got Problems and Alison Is Having A Really Bad Day) aren’t traditional trailers, in the sense that they’re not edited scenes from the first two episodes. The thought behind them was to establish the series’ wantonly whimsical tone, and to illustrate the range of musical numbers it will feature: from Busby Berkeley spectacles to steamy tangos.

I’ve actually been developing She Got Problems for the past six years. When I began, there were no television shows on any of the major networks, or premium cable channels, with African-American female protagonists. (The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency was canceled after its initial season.) Six years later, there is exactly one! Thankfully, she isn’t a humble maid, an emasculating cop, or a weave-snatching banshee. I’m stating the obvious here, but, with very few exceptions, we’re not portrayed in any other manner.

Snob: What are your long-term goals, dreams for the series?

My goal is to see She Got Problems fully realized, whether as a television series, a web series, or as a film. I’ve experimented with all three versions, and believe that all three could serve the subject matter well. So, the determining factor will be financing.

Snob: How did you get into film-making?

I originally set out to be a playwright, but was slowly seduced by film while a student at NYU. I still hope to have a play produced. However, I first need to conquer my fear of directing for the stage – or strong-arm George Wolfe into directing my play for me!

Snob: What are some of your favorite films and/or directors?

Compiling a list of favorites is always agonizing! Among my favorite films of all time are: Cuban filmmaker Tomas Gutierrez Alea’s Memories of Under Development, Czech filmmaker Jiri Menzel’s Closely Watched Trains, Jim Jarmusch’s Mystery Train, Howard Hawks’ Bringing up Baby, Fellini’s 81/2, Truffaut’s The 400 Blows, and Coppola’s Apocalypse Now.

I also love the “pre-code” comedic melodramas that celebrated depravity, shining examples of which are: The Blue Angel, with Marlene Dietrich, and Read-Headed Woman and Red Dust, with Jean Harlow. Best of all is when the genre was combined with a musical, as in Gold Diggers of 1933 and Dancing Lady, which featured the Three Stooges and Fred Astaire (in his screen debut) alongside romantic leads Joan Crawford and Clark Gable. That film has something for everybody.

Favorite directors, for the sheer scope of their work and their indelible mark on the art form: Fellini, Wong Kar Wai and the Coen Brothers.

Snob: What do you think of how black women are represented in scripted television and film? How is it different -- better or worse -- from the 1990s? Recently several black actresses, particularly those who worked during the 90s, have expressed dismay at how things seem to be going backwards for them in terms of roles and progress.

It boggles the mind to recall the time when The Cosby Show, A Different World (It’s criminal that Jasmine Guy and Cree Summer couldn’t get steady work after that show!) and Living Single were all on major networks. That’s unthinkable now. Sadly, even when black actresses had a more prominent presence on screen, it rarely translated into jobs for black female writers or directors. That discrepancy still exists.

Snob: What do you think of all the buzz around Lena Dunham's "Girls" for HBO? Have you seen it? If so, what are your thoughts and what do you think of the absence of black women (or any real diversity) in it?

I did see the pilot, and think Lena is talented. However, I certainly understand the outrage arising from her monochromatic portrait of contemporary Brooklyn. As a New Yorker, and former Brooklyn dweller, it almost felt anachronistic to me, which is all the more baffling for a show staking its reputation on authenticity. Of course, as a writer one wants artistic freedom; if, to Lena, that means excluding other races from her central cast, then so be it. I honestly don’t take umbrage at that. (Hollywood has an unsavory tradition of White writing staffs creating characters of color, and look where it’s gotten us.) That said, I could do without another prickly Asian girl at a computer, and another a homeless black man accosting a White girl. (To me, those particular artistic choices speak volumes.) If there’s a silver lining to Girls, it’s that its racial exclusivity is considered newsworthy. Two years ago it wouldn’t have garnered a single headline.

Snob: Is there any show/film, past or present, that you really felt spoke to your experience as a woman or minority? This can be a black film or TV show or not. Some of the films that I felt spoke to me the most were the MTV production "Better Luck Tomorrow" -- which was about suburban Asian American kids, "Eve's Bayou," and the film "Mixing Nia" that starred Karyn Parsons.

I honestly can’t think of a film or television show within those parameters. (Of course, it’s impossible to overstate the psychological impact of seeing Bill Cosby and Phylicia Rashad portrayed as quintessentially American parents. It signified validation for an entire generation of black youth.) However, there are numerous examples in literature: Langston Hughes (“The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain”), Toni Morrison (Song of Solomon), James Baldwin (The Fire Next Time), Thulani Davis (Everybody’s Ruby), George Wolfe (The Colored Museum, The Wild Party) and, perhaps most profoundly, the collected plays of August Wilson, my favorites being Two Trains Running and Jitney.

Snob: What do you think of YouTube and potentially, video-on-demand sites like Netflix, impact on creating more diversity in content targeted to minorities and women? Often the mainstream seems to just pick one acceptable ethnic "trope" (in the 90s it was "hood" films, now it's Tyler Perry films. If you're Asian is all kung-fu all the time. And Hollywood doesn't even really bother to make films to appeal to Latinos with any frequency), but on-line it really lowers the entry/audience bar for aspiring film-makers. Do you think YouTube can turn into real success for women and minority film-makers?

Access to the means of production remains a big hurdle for most filmmakers of color, especially women. What Youtube can ultimately do is eliminate the gatekeepers of traditional media.

Snob: What's next for you and "She Got Problems?"

Bringing it to a screen (large, small, or portable) in the very near future! Thank you for devoting space on “The Black Snob” (something I’ve surely been called) to my trials in Hollywood. Simply being an African-American female writer/director/performer means I “got problems,” but I’m determined to overcome them – through song & dance!

Up next: The anonymous woman behind your favorite "Diva Variety Show," Patti LaHelle with "Got 2B Real," Issa Rae's hugely popular "Misadventures of An Awkward Black Girl," and Tanjereen's "The Celibate Nympho."

Clutch Magazine: Exploiting Whitney Houston's Death and Dealing With Personal "Sex Scandals"

Danielle Belton — Mon, 21 May 2012 16:31:16 +0000

The Snob has two stories up for Clutch Magazine this week -- a piece on how to handle yourself if you find you're embroiled in a "sexy" photo scandal and how uncomfortable the situation is getting with Whitney Houston's surviving family members. Did you catch the tribute to Whitney Houston at the Billboard Music Awards Sunday night? But did you also catch all the drama between Houston's daughter Bobbi Kristina and her sister-in-law Pat Houston? Well, I guess that was unavoidable. Pat does have a reality show to sell.

From Clutch:

While every family is free to grieve in whatever way they feel fit, there’s something ghoulish about grief via reality TV.

The Houston family’s sudden move from the background in Whitney’s life to the limelight has shades of the most recent season of Bravo’s Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. The series went morbid late last year in the aftermath of cast member Taylor Armstrong’s husband’s suicide. Armstrong, who was a battered spouse, rounded out her public grief with a book tour.

And the Houston family has had their reputations rocked by reality TV before with the image tarnishing embarrassment that was Being Bobby Brown. The 2005 Bravo network show chronicled Houston’s then husband Bobby Brown and his children’s lives with a seemingly out-of-it Houston along for the ride. While highly rated, the show only lasted one season after Houston refused to appear in any more episodes.

Maybe the show will be a loving, comical, and career-boosting tribute, akin to what Braxton Family Values has been for singer Toni Braxton and her loving, bickering, then loving again sisters. But something about it makes me not want to trust it. Something about how for months since Houston’s death someone within the family has routinely leaked gossip to sites like TMZ about Houston’s mother Cissy’s reactions and Bobbi Kristina’s personal life. Houston’s death knocked down that last remaining wall of what was left of her personal life and made it public.

Read the full post at Clutch Magazine Online.

Right Wingers Try to Get Obama By Bringing Back Failed Rev. Wright Strategy Then Denounce Strategy

Danielle Belton — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:54:10 +0000

You know it's serious when they stick "Hussein" in there to hit that "exotic other" angle. Like he was Saddam's cousin or something.

The chickens have come home to roost! But since right wingers don't really understand what that phrase means, the chickens actually showed up at their coop talking about, "Really? Reverend Jeremiah Wright? Again? Are you going to bring back Glenn Beck's show again so he can do another 12-part series on Black Liberation Theology?"

Then they went cluck-cluck-cluck and pooped all over everything just like chickens do.

This latest failed plot to finally get that wily Metrosexual Abe Lincoln Barack Obama involves something called "The Plan," proving to me once and for all that all GOP operatives are secretly Cylons. "The Plan" is to "do exactly what John McCain would not let us do." Which was what? Make yourselves look like bigger fools than you already are?

From The New York Times:

“The world is about to see Jeremiah Wright and understand his influence on Barack Obama for the first time in a big, attention-arresting way,” says the proposal, which was overseen by Fred Davis and commissioned by Joe Ricketts, the founder of the brokerage firm TD Ameritrade. Mr. Ricketts is increasingly putting his fortune to work in conservative politics.

The $10 million plan, one of several being studied by Mr. Ricketts, includes preparations for how to respond to the charges of race-baiting it envisions if it highlights Mr. Obama’s former ties to Mr. Wright, who espouses what is known as “black liberation theology.”

The group suggested hiring as a spokesman an “extremely literate conservative African-American” who can argue that Mr. Obama misled the nation by presenting himself as what the proposal calls a “metrosexual, black Abe Lincoln.”

Well, of course, since the plan is about rehashing the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. drama of 2008 where you got a lot of "The President sat in that church and listened to the words 'Goddamn, America,'" and ignored the entire history of everything and just sat on the floor screaming "Reverse Racism Vampire" until then Senator Barack Obama gave his big ol speech on "RACE" and reminded folks that it's not that rare for a man of Wright's age, who's been through segregation and seen the absolute worse of racism, to be jaded and not all that cheery about his place of birth -- even though he still lives here, pays taxes and hopes for the best. And also that the President was raised by white people, of whom he loved and loved him, and who like all Americans, had some prejudices.

So there was a lot of clapping. At one point Wright got to do a George Jefferson-style ho-down on national television that my parents found hilariously delightful. And then he mash potatoed on into semi-obscurity.

But for whatever reason, there's this whole conservative meme that this story wasn't "investigated" enough, even though the No. 1 cable news network in all the land, FOX News, was the first to break the story and rode that pony well into the election season, building up all that attention and scrutiny and hype that lead to Wright's showing out and Obama having to denounce the whole thing.

But THAT WASN'T ENOUGH! MOAR! MOAR!

The 54-page proposal was professionally bound and illustrated with color photographs, indicating that it is far beyond a mere discussion. The strategists have already contacted Larry Elder, a black conservative radio host in Los Angeles, about serving as a spokesman, and the plan calls for a group of black business leaders to endorse the effort. The strategists have also registered a domain name, Character Matters.

The proposal suggests that Mr. Ricketts believes the 2008 campaign of Senator John McCain erred in not using images of Mr. Wright against Mr. Obama, who has said that the pastor helped him find Jesus but that he was never present for Mr. Wright’s politically charged sermons. Mr. Obama left the church during the campaign.

Apparently referring to a Wright ad that was produced for the McCain campaign by Mr. Davis’s firm but never used, the proposal opens with a quote from Mr. Ricketts: “If the nation had seen that ad, they’d never have elected Barack Obama.”

I said it in 2008 and I'll say it again: C'mon, RNC! Put out some new tracks! I'm tired of the remixes!

Since the news broke, the Chicago Cubs co-owner and AmeriTrade founder footing the bill Joe Ricketts and the SuperPac behind it were inundated with the "Giant Public Wagging Finger of Shame" and Ricketts side-stepped the whole thing with a response of What proposal? That proposal! OMG, we're so offended too! How could someone send me that thing! Wait? You think I was going to use that thing? OMG! *clutches baseball bats*

From Politico:

“I was immediately troubled by the proposal. It surprised me,” Brian Baker, president of Ending Spending Action Fund, funded by billionaire Joe Ricketts, said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “We run an organization based on fiscal responsibility. They know we asked for a document based on ending spending, fiscal responsibility and jobs in the economy. This is far afield from that.”

Baker said it was “deeply troubling and unfair” for their organization — and Ricketts, the TD Ameritrade billionaire who funds the super PAC — to be associated with the proposal, since they had never approved anything in it and didn’t commission such a proposal.

“The world is full of bad ideas. This is one of them,” the super PAC president said. “This wasn’t a proposal we requested at all. We never funded it … We had nothing to do with the suggestion of Reverend Wright.”

Baker explained that their organization had requested a general proposal but neither approved or condoned what was submitted.

Well, that settles it! Nothing to see here! Let's just dust our hands and declare it a slow news day at The Times, eh?

That said, if the best dig anyone can come up with is that the president is some "Metrosexual black Abe Lincoln" that actually sounds kind of awesome. (Even if the president is really more like Tuvok in dad jeans.) I mean, metrosexual implies he's well-groomed and well-dressed, probably smells nice and looks good. Abraham Lincoln is one of America's greatest and most legendary presidents who has two movies coming out about him. (In one he kills Vampires!) He also has one more popular presidential monuments in Washington, D.C. and kids actually get to learn about in history class because -- usually -- they'll at least get up to the Civil War before they go back to making them memorize multiplication time tables.

Also, he once ethered Chuck Norris in a really epic rap battle.

And I'm sure Obama's been called far worse things. Far worse.

Clutch Magazine: Black-Owned Hair Care Lines Boom From Natural Trend

Danielle Belton — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:32:26 +0000

It's a great day if you're in the natural hair business and you're an outfit run by an African American woman. For Clutch Magazine this Wednesday The Snob penned a piece on how smaller, minority-run hair care firms have become the leaders, leaving established multinational corporations like L'Oreal and Proctor & Gamble scrambling to compete.

From Clutch:

While companies like L’Oreal, Pantene, Revlon, and Proctor & Gamble rush to adapt themselves to this rapidly shifting market, they aren’t the ones able to dictate what’s hot and what’s not. They can’t afford to have the attitude former Revlon President Irving J. Bottner had back in 1986 when spoke on what it meant for companies like his to compete with black-owned firms: ”In the next couple of years, the black-owned businesses will disappear. They’ll all be sold to white companies.”

These companies are now followers – shifting formulas and marketing strategies to keep up with their African-American lead upstarts, who came out to dominate the market right from underneath them.

Going natural is now a big and growing part of the more than $165 million black hair care mass market. Companies that focused primarily on creating hair relaxers are scrambling to capitalize on what they initially thought would be just a “fad.”

But the fad talk has faded away to the realization that this might not simply be a trend, but a larger movement in hair maintenance for black women.

“Views of beauty have shifted,” said Winston Benons, brand manager for Miss Jessie’s, a hair care line catering to women with naturally curly hair. Benons emphasized that, with this new idea of beauty, black women have more choices in products and styling techniques than ever.

Read the full story at Clutch Magazine Online.

Former President George W. Bush Endorses Mittens

Danielle Belton — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:00:49 +0000

The tradition of "rousing" GOP endorsements for Mittens continues! Taking a break from doing whatever former President George W. Bush does now (besides be grateful he's not president anymore), Bushie took the time to passive-aggressively endorse the GOP's latest weapon-of-choice.

From Mediaite:

“I’m for Mitt Romney,” Bush responded, “as the doors of an elevator closed on him,” after giving a speech on human rights.

Oh, thank God. I was so worried.

In other news: every picture on Mittens' campaign Flickr page looks like it was took through an Instagram filter.

Clutch Magazine: How Do You Know If You're Depressed?

Danielle Belton — Tue, 15 May 2012 16:28:40 +0000

In this latest post for Clutch Magazine, The Snob writes about the signs of clinical depression. It's more than just the blues and it's not simply about changing your mind. Not when the problem is your mind: "I thought to be sad all the time was a personal weakness. I thought I could just will depression away, force myself to focus on work or happy thoughts, and those dark, scary moments couldn’t get me. What I didn’t understand was this was no longer an “emotional” issue for me. It was chemical. I’d been depressed for so long that my brain no longer could make or receive the chemical serotonin in a normal capacity. You can’t will away a serotonin imbalance anymore than you can will away Diabetes. You have to fight it. But the first step is realizing you have something to fight at all."

Read the full story at Clutch Magazine Online.

Everyone's New Favorite Story: Black People, the President and Gay Marriage

Danielle Belton — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:13:25 +0000

One of my least favorite news stories is back! You remember it from the Proposition 8 saga. It's the one about black people hating gay people. Unless you're that unfortunate black person who also happens to be gay. I suppose you're involved with some "war within." Wait? You're not? You just live as both a gay and a black American? Well, damn. Who knew?

From CNN:

Black church leaders recently helped lead a successful drive to amend North Carolina’s constitution to ban same-sex marriage. The Rev. Fred Robinson, a black pastor in Charlotte, says most black churchgoers aren’t hypocrites. They take scripture, and sin, seriously.

“Black people are not confused,” Robinson says. “If you look at the scriptures that oppose homosexuality, Old and New Testament, they are clearer cut than the ones people used to justify slavery.”

Yet there are other factors beyond the Bible that shape the black church’s resistance to same-sex marriage.

“It’s more than scripture – it’s history, culture, how we were raised,” says the Rev. Tim McDonald, founder of the African American Ministers Leadership Council.

When the president first announced that his stance on gay rights had "evolved" to being pro-gay marriage, the person you were most likely to hear complaining on TV was the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins, or some other white person, usually conservative, male and often Republican, giving the counter argument. But that quickly got boring as it was obvious these dudes had nothing new to add. What was the hotter angle?

Hey? Aren't black people supposed to be super into Jesus AND Barack Obama? How are they feeling about this?

From Ebony.com:

Prominent Pastor Dwight McKissic said, "President Obama has betrayed the Bible and the Black church with his endorsement of same-sex marriage. The Bible is crystal clear on this subject and the Black church strongly opposes same-sex marriage. His endorsement is an inadvertent attack on the Christian faith."

Oh.

Unless you're a Christian who is fine with gay people getting married. Does that mean the president endorsed your Christian faith? Or if you're pro-gay, is it like some tag that nulls and voids one's Christianity?

Naturally, because a certain segment of black people are super into Jesus, it wasn't that hard to find some ministers and black conservatives to argue why religious doctrine should enter a debate about who the government can or can't marry, when the government is supposed to be largely separate from religion. The United States, despite popular belief in some religious sects of our society, is a representative republic, not a theocracy. You're not supposed to run laws through a Christian test anymore than you're supposed to make sure the Constitution is aligned with Islam or Buddhism or Wiccan rites.

People tend to forget that. The government does things all the time that defy my personal moral beliefs, like start unjust wars and cut benefits for the people who need it most in our society, but I'm not approaching that from a theological standpoint when writing letters to my personal Congress Critter.

Besides, at the end of the day, most black people aren't one-issue voters. They're not monolithic and tend to be big picture people. As in, most -- even if they're grumbling about gay marriage -- aren't going to chop off their noses to spite faces concerned about crime, education, economics, social justice, our prison industrial complex, war, health policies, social programs and civil rights.

Two guys or two gals marrying each other is pretty unlikely to affect my parents' 40 year marriage, but cuts to our social programs -- like Medicare and Social Security -- WOULD affect their daily lives as retirees.

From The Root's Cynthia Gordy:

For African-American voters who are opposed to same-sex marriage, however, there is no evidence that it is a galvanizing issue at the polls. "There's been a lot of unfounded conjecture that black support for the president will wane substantially, with absolutely no data to substantiate that," Aisha Moodie-Mills, adviser for LGBT policy and racial justice at the Center for American Progress, told The Root.

Moodie-Mills argued that we already saw this play out in 2008 over California's Proposition 8. Even though 58 percent of African-American voters supported the ballot measure, which overturned the right of same-sex couples to marry in the state, 90 percent of that same electorate still voted for Barack Obama. The massive support held up despite the fact that Obama had spoken against Proposition 8 himself.

"You didn't see any falloff from black voters because Obama said that he believes we shouldn't be discriminating at the ballot box," she said, adding that, similarly, there was no backlash around the president's repeal of "Don't ask, don't tell" or his decision to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act.

"The top issues for African Americans are jobs and the economy," said David Bositis, senior research associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, whose scholarship focuses on black civic engagement. "In surveys on what African-American voters consider to be the most important problems in the country, which I often ask when I poll, gay marriage does not even show up."

And from Jesse Washington at the Associated Press:

ARDMORE, Pa. (AP) -- Like many black Americans, Dorsey Jackson does not believe in gay marriage, but he wasn't disillusioned when Barack Obama became the first president to support it. The windows of his suburban Philadelphia barbershop still display an "Obama 2012" placard and another that reads "We've Got His Back."

If Obama needs to endorse same-sex marriage to be re-elected, said Jackson, so be it: "Look, man--by any means necessary."

With that phrase popularized by the black radical Malcolm X, Jackson rebutted those who say Obama's new stand will weaken the massive black support he needs to win re-election in November. Black voters and especially black churches have long opposed gay marriage. But the 40-year-old barber and other African-Americans interviewed in politically key states say their support for Obama remains unshaken.

Some questioned whether he really believes what he says about gay marriage or merely took that stand to help defeat Republican Mitt Romney--suggesting African-Americans view the first black president less as an icon than as a straight-up politician who still feels like family.

"Obama is human," said Leon Givens of Charlotte, N.C. "I don't have him on a pedestal."

Of course, we're forgetting that there are a lot of black people who are also fine with gay marriage and what the president said was in-line with their views. From average folks on the street to me to Will Smith and Jay-Z to activist/Black Panther Huey P. Newton from beyond the grave.

But those people are boring and don't fit a media narrative. What's going to get you more buzz? A black people agree-a-thon or this?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This thing alone launched a flurry of press releases and rebuttals.

Lost in all this, the greatest threat to marriage is divorce -- which the Bible doesn't like very much at all, and is staunchly against second marriages. Yet, people stopped damning folks who have "starter marriages" decades, even centuries ago. Obviously, views over what's morally right evolve. No one's saying you have to marry the gay couple at your church (which is why the separation between church and state exists), but the state can't discriminate against two consenting adults who wish to marry in its courthouses.

But lets go ahead and argue this moot point anyway.

I wish people would be honest. Folks who oppose gay marriage do so because they don't like the idea of "normalizing" homosexuality in our society. It comes out of the fear of being one of the many heterosexual couples who "accidentally" produce a gay child. Little known fact: We keep getting more gay people because straight people keep making them. And there is a certain population of straight parents who fear having gay children and desperately want them to be "not gay." If society accepts their gay children as gay, that means they have to accept it. And they don't want to. Being "gay" is different and scary and weird and unnatural sounding to them. So they want society to continue to be a different, scary, weird and unnatural place for gay people to fit in, therefore reducing the numbers of gays by giving them no choice but to live a life in the closet.

Just like in the good old bad days.

I get it. You don't want your kids to think being gay is OK because you're afraid that if you happen to have a gay child they will embrace it instead of fighting it. You want them to at least "try" to not be gay, right? It's kind of like hoping your daughter stays a virgin by you never teaching her about sex and keeping her on lockdown until she turns 18. Then she goes off to college and gets pregnant freshman year and you're all confused. BUT YOU SENT HER TO COLLEGE KNOWING NOTHING ABOUT SEX BUT WHAT STRANGERS AND MTV TOLD HER!?!?! How on Earth did that happen?

People are what they are. No amount of keeping them in the sexual dark will stop another human being from having their own thoughts, desires, beliefs and opinions.

Does it help to know that there's nothing you can do that can prevent you from having a gay child? Like, nothing. No amount of forcing them to engage in gender normative play. No amount of raising them only around heterosexual people and exposing them to heterosexual society will stop what has always been in them. Maybe it's time to accept this is out of your hands.

It's time learn how to accept this like we eventually learned how to accept divorce. And second marriages. And working/shopping/buying liquor on Sundays. Because I'm young, but I'm old enough to remember the dull Sundays of my youth when no stores were open in Missouri. When Sundays were a guaranteed day off for all. But when Capitalism (which adheres to no religion) came for your Sabbath and told you to work the fries at McDonald's instead of keeping it holy, the only people I remember complaining was the local Archdioceses. Everyone else kept it moving.

For all this sound and fury over gay marriage, even those the most opposed to it are far more likely to keep it moving. And Obama said in his second term (if he gets one) he will fight to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. Gay people are all over your TV shows. All over your movies. In your books. At your job. Walking down the street. Holding hands. Getting married. Adopting kids. If you want to waste precious energy fighting the inevitable, go at it.

I just wanted to point out you didn't really do that great of a job keeping the Sabbath holy. So what's this fight against progress really about?

Clutch Magazine: Are You Addicted to Love?

Danielle Belton — Fri, 11 May 2012 16:19:39 +0000

In a Friday post for Clutch Magazine Online, The Snob talks about the more dysfunctional end of serial monogamy -- namely your person who fears being alone so much, they routinely settle for horrible relationships. Then want to tell you all about them. But no one wants to hear about, gurl. Lemme talking you down from making this mistake again.

From Clutch:

We’ve all had that one friend (you know her, she’s you) who just can’t be alone. She’s the one in a world where women of all nationalities are lamenting how hard it is to find a man who always has one. And she can’t live without him. And if for some reason he makes a break for it, she will just fall back into an old relationship that she already know the unhappy ending to (*cough, Reggie Bush, cough*) or cling on to dear life to some other guy who, deep down, she can just barely stand.

Kanye says, “I’m-a let you finish, but for the record, I’m the best boyfriend of all time. ALL TIME!”

That’s sweet.

But while this drama makes for great reality television and sells tabloids pushing the many loves and love maladies of Halle Berry, in real life – this blows.

No one likes to be alone. But if being alone gives you such a panic attack that you take back the ex who cheated on you with an escort service and half of the female population of the city of Philadelphia perhaps it’s time to reassess. You don’t want to be some love stoned puppet of serial monogamy with folks you pray to God you don’t get pregnant by and hence be stuck with permanently while you remain your vigil for “the one.”

Read the full post at Clutch Magazine Online.

President Obama Comes Out In Favor of Gay Marriage

Danielle Belton — Thu, 10 May 2012 16:20:19 +0000

President Barack Obama participates in an interview with Robin Roberts of ABC's Good Morning America, in the Cabinet Room of the White House, May 9, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)Wednesday, in a historic moment, President Barack Obama came out for gay marriage in an interview with ABC News' Robin Roberts. President Obama would always say his views were "evolving" on gay marriage and gay rights, but it always seemed more like he was waiting on the public to "evolve." Under his administration he watched as the political environment became more favorable towards things like ending Don't Ask, Don't Tell in the military (which Obama did) and fighting the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which under the Obama Administration the Department of Justice does not defend. And for the criticism that has come on the left, that Obama's words could have been stronger, as he's still left marriage up to the states, there's no denying the historic nature of this.

A sitting U.S. president has openly admitted he's for equal rights for gays and lesbians -- something no other sitting president has done. Even if they had gay family members or friends in real life, these politicians were known more for keeping their more progressive views in the closet in order to not rock the vote boat.

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So is it so much that Obama has changed, but we have changed and now the political burden isn't as high to endorse something like gay marriage? This isn't so much dissimilar from progressive politicians before, who when noticing the change in the tide, went public with their views on women's rights, civil rights, the rights of the mentally ill and the disabled, worker's rights and the rights of the poor. There was a time when all these groups were controversial and when politicians chose to look the other way. And that is an unfortunate side of our politics that when you're in a two party system and only one side is fighting to move forward, that forward movement becomes slow and grueling.

It's not perfect, but it's definitely a step in the right direction. And if your goal is to see DOMA ended and to see gays and lesbians achieve equal rights in this country, once again, the choice is between a man who says he's for it and another who remains resolutely against -- even though Mitt Romney's animus towards gays probably has a lot more to do with his conservative voting block than anything he practices in his personal life.

The choice is yours. In the fall, who will you choose?