Kathy Henry's Open Salon Blog

A Letter From a South Side Apartment

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:01:33 -0500

A couple of years ago, I read Dr. Martin Luther King’s A Letter from a Birmingham Jail and I was mesmerized by the passion and anger in his words and although we are in the second decade of the 21^st century, his words still resonate. This letter I am writing is my tribute to him for giving his life for me and other disadvantaged and disrespected groups in America. It would sadden him to no end that nothing has really changed in American society in regards to race and economics. Perhaps one day, we will be truly free from the chains of racism and economic selfishness that enveloped America since its inception.

27 January 2012

My Dear Mr. Gingrich & Other Republican Presidential Candidates who believe that the Poor Blacks are the Scum of the Universe:

While confined in my lower class existence, I cannot help but think about the words you put into the universe about Black people who receive unemployment compensation, food stamps and other government benefits, people whose lives have been touched by the mean specter of poverty. Since I am very stressed out about receiving $318 per month in public assistance, I normally would not have time to think about your condescending self-serving words since I am too busy trying to find a job in a dying economy but I had to speak to you about this. The current discourse on the lives of poor Blacks in this country has been taken over by well-dressed, well-fed career politicians like yourself and I thought you needed some enlightenment.

First of all, no one wants to be poor. I know that you believe that little Black children spend their time discussing ways to be indigent and homeless by the time they are eighteen but the children I know have big plans for their future. My ten-year-old daughter’s plans for the future change on a daily basis: One day she wants to be a fashion designer, the next a mad scientist who is going to take over the world. The one thing she has made clear is that she does not see motherhood in her future because in her words, “Being a mother takes too much work.”

I know that you like to believe that the children of poor Blacks are a drain on society but you are so wrong. I was a teenage mother at the age of sixteen and had two children by the age of twenty-one. According to statistics on teen mothers, by now my daughter should have had a slew of kids by different men and my son should have dropped out of high school and is currently imprisoned for numerous drug offenses. Not! My daughter graduated from college last year with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and my son is college studying Communications. My children watched me work for various corporations who paid me very little money and proudly watched when I walked across the stage at the age of thirty-five to receive a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology with honors.

But I realize that you probably do not know too many Black people personally so when you chose to discuss them amongst your constituents, you like to use tired, worn-out stereotypes about them. According to you, Blacks have no work ethic and like taking baths in the piles of food stamps they receive on a monthly basis. Blacks have been in this country since 1619 and still have not made any progress although White people have given them everything! What is wrong with these trifling Black people?

It is very easy for you and your kind to sprout these words, snugly enveloped in your cloak of White male privilege but what you do not realize is that although Blacks were freed from the chains of slavery, they were never made equal, financially or mentally. Throughout the years, American society had every opportunity to make amends to African-Americans by giving them same economic advantages as Whites, but it never happened because that would mean Blacks would be on the same economic playing field as Whites and that is a no-no.

It is funny how you like to blame the media for everything wrong in your world but the media in all actuality is your best friend. The media, owned by the ruling class, has played a major role in distorting views about social economics by pretending the ruling class does not exist and poor Blacks are the dregs of society. The media with its 'magic' can make the historical legacy of slavery and subsequent Jim Crow laws vanish by pretending it is their fault that they are poor. By doing this, upper and middle-classed Americans learn to fear and loathe poor Blacks and refuse to make the connection between systematic racism and high poverty levels amongst African-Americans.

The dominant culture has succeeded in making African Americans subhuman to other groups, who passively accept these bigoted views. In your speeches and in the Republican debates, the message that you and others have given is to degenerate Black people at all costs and to keep poor working-class Whites in a constant tizzy about the so-called advantages given to them.

Mr. Gingrich, I feel sorry for you and wonder what you would do if Blacks did not exist in this country. Race and class was socially constructed for the advancement of Whites and the making up of a social class of poverty-stricken African-Americans who could be blamed for everything wrong in society. Take away the pretensions, the feelings of superiority that comes with having the "right" skin color and people like you in this society would be loss. No more scapegoats to blame and you would have to face up to the fact that you have no plans for making the economic system in America more equal. But it is easier to blame Blacks, who unlike your ancestors had no choice when they were brought to this country as chattel and broodmares to make the lives of the ruling class easier.

Sincerely,

Kathy M. Henry

The Great Debate in My House Concerning Ron Paul

Mon, 2 Jan 2012 10:01:15 -0500

Lately, my son and I have been going at it about Ron Paul and whether he is qualified enough to become President of the United States. He plans on voting for Ron Paul because he is pissed off at Obama for signing into law the National Defense Authorization Act which would allow the military greater authority to detain and interrogate U.S. citizens and non-citizens and deny them legal rights protected by the Constitution. As a young, Black male, he is appalled at President Obama’s actions and told me that I better watch what I write on my blog because the government is going to come after me. He is so pissed off that he has stated that he is not voting for Obama under any circumstances and believes that Congressman Paul is going to win the Republican nomination and will beat President Obama later on this year.

As for me, I would not vote for Ron Paul for any government office because I do not trust that this old white man will have my best interests at heart as an African American, working-class female of childbearing age since he believes that a zygote has as much rights as I do. As a woman who experienced an ectopic pregnancy nine years ago, the rights of a cell that would not have survived under any circumstances would have taken precedence over mine and I would have died.

A part of me, a large part, is extremely proud of my son for keeping up with current political events since a certain segment of his generation is only concerned with the consumption of expensive goods and services and for that, he gets a big thumbs up. But I am also quite offended as a feminist, who believes in equality for all, not just heterosexuals and white men and I am saddened that he cannot understand how dangerous it would be for women if a candidate like Paul is elected to the highest office in America.

He would attempt to legislate morality into law by trying to ban abortion, stripping women of their basic right to control their own bodies. Women with little resources would have to resort to getting back alley abortions, which is a mind blogging thought in 2012. But as a rich White male, Ron Paul does not have to worry about this problem. He can afford to send his female family members to an abortionist in another country but other women do not have that option. So once again the poorest of the poor will be the ones to suffer the most, while the rich will always have choices. If any of his granddaughters came home pregnant after a wild night of clubbing, does anyone think that we would see a little First Family love child toddling around the White House?

It’s funny to me how a person that is supposedly so anti-government is a member of Congress and running for President of the United States. That should let people know from Jump Street what a shyster Ron Paul is but in the words of Malcolm X: “A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.”

A Village Without Love: The Sad & Sorry State of the Black C

Sun, 1 Jan 2012 18:01:32 -0500

There has been an ongoing war between the sexes in the Black community for decades and it is time for it to end because it is pathetic and the only people hurting are the children. 70% of Black children reside in a single parent household; usually the mother and Black children are highly overrepresented in the foster care system. Although Blacks are only 12.6% of the population, Black children are 41% of the foster care population and that is a damn shame.

Some of us are so busy arguing amongst ourselves and on the Internet about who is more trifling, Black men or Black women, that we have absolved ourselves of all parental and community responsibility. No one wants to look in the mirror and change themselves but would rather sit back and blame each other while making a slew of babies that will grow up confused and fucked up. And a special message to some of my sisters: Just because you use abortion as a method of birth control does not mean you are better than the sister with four kids with four different men. Trifling is trifling and I made this point because I know of women who have had multiple abortions but will sit back and talk about another woman like a dog because she has children by different men. And brothers, I have not forgotten about y’all: if you do not want children, strap your boy up or get a vasectomy. Any man who is stupid enough to put the fate of his unborn children in the hands of a possibly unstable and vindictive woman deserves to have the child support system hounding his dumb ass for the rest of his life.

In the past year, there has been a big movement in the media, encouraging Black women to date outside their race, in particular White men. It has been fascinating to read some of the comments from Black women on various websites as why they have decided to date interracially because they sound just like some of these brothers out here when they give their reasons for not dating their own kind. The generalizing and stereotyping from both sexes that takes place on these boards is sickening and although some of these folks claim to be “educated”, they do not have a clue but are filled with self-hatred.

American culture is a patriarchal one in which all men, regardless of their race or ethnicity, have been socialized to believe that they are superior to women whether they will admit it or not. So if a Black woman thinks she will be escaping the sins of patriarchy by turning to another race, she needs a reality check. The same premise goes for those Black men who told themselves that if they get a White woman, they will be as good as the White man. Complete and utter bullshit. Just ask Tiger Woods and O. J. Simpson.

It is not okay for either Black men or Black women to state that they only date White people because Black folks are fucked up because this line of thinking, that White is always right is that of the Brainwashed Negro who has bought into every negative stereotype about Black culture and believe that if they immerse themselves in White culture, their lives will be better. Not in this country of the one drop rule because if you are Black, then you are Black and will get treated accordingly.

I know this blog is everywhere but these are my thoughts for the New Year. Stereotypes about Black men and women are running amok and are being perpetrated by us in ways that are killing us as a people. The Black community is on the edge of a precipice but instead of coming up with feasible solutions to the problems of a poor educational system and the high murder rate in inner-city neighborhoods, some of us would rather discuss why Michael Jordan is marrying a White girl (She’s Cuban) or whether Beyoncé is faking her pregnancy.

But all is not lost. LeBron James got engaged to the mother of his children yesterday and my best friend’s stepson proposed to his girlfriend so Black Love is not dead. Although some refuse to believe it, Black people do get married on occasion and these stereotypes about how we do not get married needs to cease and desist. I know several married Black couples, Black men and women who have been married, divorced and widowed and Black men who have married Black women with a house full of kids and I live in the hood. All these stereotypes do is keep Black men and women at each others throats and our communities are on fire as a direct result. It takes a village to raise a child and what happens when the village is at war with each other? A generation of angry children without love and compassion.

A Mother’s Love From the Grave

Mon, 5 Dec 2011 19:12:42 -0500

In the days leading up to the anniversary of my mother’s death, I am usually filled with melancholy and dark dreary thoughts. But this year, I can smile a little bit because my mother reached out from beyond and assisted me with a problem I have been dealing with for several weeks.

I am currently enrolled in Welfare to Work, a program in which welfare recipients have to work for their monthly check and it has been frustrating to say the very least and I actually walked off from the job back in November. I knew the consequences of my actions but like the rebellious teen I used to be and who is still buried somewhere in my psyche, I said to myself, “Fuck it! I deal with that hand when it comes to me.”

So I have been waiting on pins and needles for the shit to hit the fan. I know it was stupid as hell to walk off from the only income I was receiving but damn, I do have my dignity if I don’t have anything else. I imagined my meager benefits being sliced to less than nothing and begging Peter to pay Paul and all the apostles to put some money down on the large stack of bills that is constantly accumulating and squeeze out some more Christmas presents. My son, who is nineteen understands my financial situation and was not expecting too much but my little one is just a little girl of ten and although she said understood too, I knew that she did not and how could I break her heart? Christmas has turned totally materialistic but I get a kick out of seeing the joy on her face on Christmas morning, tearing into her presents, gleefully and greedily, remembering the child I used to be.

I had almost resigned myself to not receiving a check for the month of December when I received a call from my case manager from the program. She scolded me gently about walking off when I had no income and instead of tearing into my ass like a lot of case workers would have done, she told me to go back to the job site and to come see her when I got off work. When I jokingly asked her would I receive a check for this month, she replied “Would I do you like that and Christmas is coming?”

I almost broke down and cried over the phone but I held it together. However, when I got off, I cried like a baby and remembered that tomorrow was the anniversary of my mother’s death. Although my momma was not with me physically, she was still making shit happen for her little girl. I am not the most religious person and at times have wondered about the existence of God, the Devil and all religious dogma but I do know that I received a Christmas miracle from beyond the grave. Some of the more cynical and jaded might look at my story as mere coincidence but a mother’s love for her children can break all earthly boundaries and I know that my mother reached out for me. I love you Ma.

The Real Deal behind Welfare to Work

Sun, 4 Dec 2011 18:12:20 -0500

I am writing this article in response to an article I posted on Open Salon, Taboo Jive and my own website, The Black Feminista last week named The Harsh Realities of Being on Welfare. I was inundated with comments asking me why individuals are being made to work for basically slave wages in America and this article will explain everything.

Although slavery ended in America back in 1863, its still in full effect if an individual is unfortunate enough to be on welfare. In order to receive TANF benefits in Illinois, which is Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, the head of household must work for whatever amount he or she is entitled to depending on the amount of children involved. Because I have one child under the age of eighteen, I am eligible receive $318 dollars per month (because I reside in Cook County); in other counties, a parent with one child receives $277 per month.

According to TANF and other names for public assistance, welfare recipients must work for the amount they receive from the government. They are sent to corporations such as Walgreens (I know about this because of ear hustling), banks (learned once again because of ear hustling) and other companies. Corporations are not hiring because these corporations can use a never ending supply of desperate welfare recipients who have to work to get their meager wages.

In the midst of writing this, I received a phone call Friday from a lawyer with the Shriver Center on Poverty Law. I was told that working for slave wages is legal in America as long as the individual is receiving welfare benefits and that there is little I can do about it. I was disappointed but not surprised because single mothers, women who have children and no husbands violate the patriarchal dominant sexual norms of American culture. Despite of massive changes in popular culture in the last fifty years concerning the understanding of sexuality, the sexual morality of mothers without husbands is still suspect. When single mothers find themselves in need of financial assistance from the state, the government is in a position to dictate changes in behavior in exchange for financial aid. I am a slave for intents and purposes because of my financial circumstances and this is supposed to be democracy? Bullshit of the highest degree.