calls for self-improvement somehow reflect subservience.

Ya, total typo but by the time I figured it out, I couldn't edit the post any more.

I'm with you and I get your frustration but this idea that we have a part in the problem of our own unjustified and premature deaths blinds us to the larger problem. The system we occupy is built around the premise of negating our humanity. Being glared at in a suburban mall for being black is a physical expression of…

I think the idea that there's something wrong with us stems from a sense of self loathing that doesn't get enough airtime with black/African communities anywhere. For example, many of my family members (and members of our clan, Somalia doesn't have tribes but clans, which act almost like a feudal class system) blame…

What will get us where we should be?

the Uneducated thug stereotype then that's all we'll be to the rest of white america.

we have to be the ones to change that or we'll be stuck here forever.

We are behaving in a way they want us to behave because then it's easier for them to justify killing us or locking us up for petty shit.

How is self-respect going to protect us against bullets, forced searches and seizures, and random stops by police hellbent to make our lives miserable? His idea that there's something wrong with US and not the (white) environment we engage in everyday is what makes him a Tom in my eyes.

let's not destroy our community from within

"But when we don't have respect for ourselves, how do we expect them to respect us? It starts from within. Don't start with just a rally, don't start from looting — it starts from within."

Iggy likes mozzarella on her pizzas.

I must say that I too was quite disappointed when I read that. I don't get why people continue to think this way. It's nothing us in the least. It totally turned me off his music. I guess now that he's made the pilgrimage from Compton to Hollywood, he can tell us how he really feels.

I'm Somali (and last time I checked, we're about 99% Muslim) and we engage heavily in cutting our girls. My two sisters were cut by my mother, who was cut by her mother and son. It obviously predates Islam but like Christianity in many parts of black Africa, it has simply been absorbed to accommodate practices that…

America loves white douchebags. I wouldn't be surprised if Armstrong made some comeback as some born again Christian TV host trying to save African babies from AIDS.

Because I'm a queen too. I wasn't calling you names.

You really need to read Arenas, not just reviews of his books.

He is so phoine!

What? He clearly points out that the "revolution educated" him. He actually says that in the book.

Don't like quoting myself but since you choose to read it wrong, here it is: