Some Pandas, A Buddha, and Me

The campaign trail continues and the inevitable issue of race comes out again. I find it funny that it seems that Obama is trying to not be the Black candidate, but maybe Hillary is trying to be the Woman candidate; it seems that race is more volatile than gender. I wonder what you all think. Anyway, whenever a Black, especially a male, achieves something great, the obvious next question is what should we do about affirmative action. I was reading an article on MSNBC.COM about AA's relevance. Many say that it should really be based on socioeconomic status and not on race at all. I have never had a strong conviction for or against affirmative action, but I do feel that it is an institution whose necessity or lack there of will not be realized until it is vanquished. Seeing that things have changed in many sectors of our country, and that the Black Middle class is increasing, I think, is AA necessary?

Well, it seems we only have two choices: either reverse discrimination (which I think is a funny term, excuse my bias) or normal discrimination. Of course, dissolving AA based on race or gender is assuming that our educational system from elementary to higher learning, and our labor system, professional or other, is beyond race and gender, and that AA based solely on socioeconomics will not just show preferential treatment disproportionately towards poor whites. I guess that is easy for me to say, being a Black male, that is if an employer doesn't decided to kill two birds with one stone, A Black Female or Latina. Anyway, if your bet is yes, we have transcended such trivial things, then let us dissolve race and gender based AA and see what happens, but please wait until I get a Doctorate degree and a career first.

On the other hand, maybe race and gender are still issues in our land and that AA is not the most efficient way to approach it. Laws can not change the attitudes of people directly, but it can force them into a situation where an opportunity to see something differently is placed right in front of their eyes. Whether one takes advantage of that opportunity is another issue.

To be honest, I have an easier time writing about what I feel than simply writing what I did on a certain occasion. I know, I am weird guy. The reason this blog has taken so long is that I have had a really hard time being disciplined about giving you details concerning my travels, so I am sorry but I am going to be skimpy on the particulars.

I was in Cheng Du, China staying in a comfortable four star Hotel room with an uncomfortable bed. We arrived in Cheng Du (Sarah and I) on an afternoon flight. Sarah gave her passport to the airport official, and he proceeds as normal. After she is done I go up to the counter and hand him my passport, and suddenly I get a couple of questions, probably because I am not Asian, remember Sarah has an American Passport. He asks if I am traveling along, I said no I am here with my friend, the one who just left your counter. At this point, Sarah had headed to the baggage claim belt, which was very close, but still she was out of sight. Thus, another lady comes over and asks where she is, and I have no idea. Finally, she comes into view, and she says, "the girl in the green?" I say yes. Then she asks me if she is Chinese, I say "no, she is American." I don't mention that she is Korean, I don't know how the Chinese-Korean relations are, so I decided to play it safe. Anyway, I make it through the check point with no problem, and the officials were not harassing me or being rude, they were just, well I don't know, I guess doing their job, but it is interesting how I always seem to get the third degree in China.

Now, there were two main sites that I wanted to see. The first was the Panda Reserve.

The next shots are of the unappreciated Red Pandas. In fact, for about 8USD, I was able to hold one of these suckas. Although it mentioned in a travel guide that holding the pandas was possible, Sarah and I felt a little strange about how we were approached with the opportunity. It was done somewhat quietly, as if it was against the rules, but regardless, I HELD A RED PANDA!!!

As you can see, the panda reserve was wonderful, there is nothing more hilarious than watching six giant pandas eat in unison on their backs. While in the park, I received a lot of attention. If you didn't know, the Chinese enjoy staring at Black folks, tall folks, and people with bright hair. Not to mention, other Asians or cultures that they are not use to seeing. Thus, I got stared at a lot, so much that it became really irritating. I actually told some of the students here, who will be studying in US this summer that staring is a big no no in the US. In some cases, you will get cussed out. Anyway, some students wanted to take a picture with me because I am dark and foreign, so I did.

My next destination was the Leshan GIANT Buddha. My goodness, someone had too much time on their hands, because this thing is enormous. The park was nicely decorated with shrubs and brick pathways. We had to stand in this long line, while being stared at. The line was somewhat intense, because there were these guys in military like uniforms yelling Mandarin into the crowd trying to keep the line organized and moving. I felt like a refugee in line for grits or P.O.W walking to my death. The experience was all too great. Did I mention that English is barely spoken in Cheng Du? The funniest things is that since Sarah is Asian (Korean not Chinese), people only talk to her. In some cases, I will ask a question and the person will turn from me and just start rambling in Mandarin to Sarah. Then Sarah will look confused and says she doesn't understand, then they will pause and just keep talking. In many cases, people don't even look at me, they just hold conversations with her, as she stares blankly at them.

So, how am I doing now? Well, it's all good. My work is pretty slow at the moment, but I have had some wonderful encounters with students. I was losing my motivation in this job, but then I sit down with some students and I remember what I liked about being here in the first place. Forget the disappointment, the frustration involved with expectations being crushed, forget the cultural conundrums and difficulties, forget the fact that students are always going to be 20 minutes late for anything I do and they will assume that it is ok. Forget that dessert in HK is usually something that is lightly sweet and not really sweet. Forget what we were fed and what we really ended up eating, and forget that most students will not take my time or my fellow ETA's time seriously, ever. In the end, all that matters are the many good moments I have had chatting with students, sharing my thoughts, hearing their concerns about life, travel, and English. I hope I can leave this place with such a feeling. I actually went to a poetry reading the other night and performed. It was wonderful, I was well received.

All the ETA's will be in Nanjing China later this month, I will be sure to tell you all about it. I hope that I have not kept you waiting for too long. Blogging gets more and more difficult as the months past. I hope your Easter was wonderful and blessed. Until I blog again.

Thinking Inside The Black

I was born Black, and now I live Black.
I will die Black, because I am Black,
Black is what I have to be.
I can never not be Black or change that fact,
and at times I can't even be me.
I have to be Black.

When I had my first Black History class, I gave the three out five students that showed up some quick facts. I asked them about there opinion about my culture, and then I asked them a very difficult question. I wanted them to identify my Nationality, Race, and Ethnicity. The first two were easy and the last was very difficult, partially because it is a tricky question. I explained to my students that if they were born in the US, their Nationality would be American, there race would be Asian, and their ethnicity would be Chinese, ignoring the complication that China itself contains about 56 ethnic groups. My ethnicity doesn't pan out in such a way. In some countries ethnicity, race, and nationality are all lumped together. In others, ones identity can be chopped up in so many different flavors. Let us just call my ethnicity African-American.

Sometimes, I get the strangest questions such as: "do Blacks cut their hair by burning it." Well, perhaps this is more so a misunderstanding derived from old perms that Blacks use to get. You know the one that Malcolm X gets in the beginning of the Spike Lee Joint. Anyways, I corrected them. Then there are the normal fears that students wonder about with regards to Blacks and crime, apparently if you go to New York a Black person will either rob you or sell you drugs. I have never been to New York, maybe it is true, and maybe I am in the wrong business. I usually follow those comments with, "well, it depends where you go.

Now, I have gone through a couple of stages here in HK, and now I am in a new stage that I like to call, "Thinking Inside the Black." This phase is characterized by heighten awareness of my cultural background and cultural appearance. It is not paranoia or frustration, it is just a strong awareness.

Another Black History class focused on my culture after reconstruction, and how the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments were re-interpreted and raped by state laws and supreme court rulings. I only have one student now, so it was an intimate conversation. Now that I am a phony Black History professor, I have had to read up on the thoughts of Booker T Washington, WEB Du Bois (which is actually pronounced in the non-french way, "boys"), and Marcus Garvey. All very interesting people, what is even more interesting is what they said about each other.

My hair went uncut for a good while. I just felt like growing it out and being more ethnic as we say in some circles, but I have cut it low once again. Sorry Lisa, no dread locks yet.



The ETAs where invited to a Fulbright related trip to Macau SAR (Special Administration Region). Macau is a region of China that was colonized by the Portuguese. Now it has become the Las Vegas of the East, dominated by the gambling industry. One of the strangest things is that every street sign is written in Chinese, English, and Portuguese. But, no one really speaks Portuguese in Macau. When the Portuguese where in charge, they did not mix with the locals too much, and they only colonized the region politically and not culturally, thus the native Chinese were not forced to learn the Euro language. Yet, Portuguese is still considered an official language, and English is widely spoken. I saw several sites, and I will just hit a few for you.

First, below are two pictures from A-Ma Temple the oldest building in Macau, in fact it predates Macau's founding. It was said that it was the only building in the area when the Portuguese came in the mid 16th century. During our history session, there was a bit of a discussion between our Portuguese presenter and one of the local presenters. The Portuguese professor made the comment that Macau was never a colony, because there was never an imposing of culture, which is true. Additionally, the Chinese government allowed the Portuguese to be there, and could have took steps to push them out at any time. However, others retorted that since the Portuguese politically controlled the area, and higher positions were reserved for the Portuguese alone that it can be said that it was at least a political colony. It was all very interesting listening to the polite exchange. Having been to Mozambique, an actual Portuguese colony, my first assumption is always wherever the Europeans went on their old conquest they rape and pillage the land, leaving nothing behind. I know, that is a sweeping indictment, aw well.








The next couple of pictures are from St. Dominic's Church founded in 1587 in Macau. It was actually wooden at first, but a fire damaged most of it so it was built with stone.




Next, we have a picture of the St. Paul Cathedral ruins. The church was built in 1602-1640, and there was St. Paul college adjacent to it as well. The remaining facade is perhaps the symbol of Macau, as like the Statute of liberty is the symbol of New York. I tried to think of what would be the symbol of Birmingham (Besides racism and segregation that continues today). No, Vulcan is not the symbol of B'ham. You all ponder on that and tell me what you think the symbol of B'ham is.



The next couple of pictures are just random. Like I said, Macau is a gambling destination, but people don't stay more than one night usually, there really isn't much else to see. Nonetheless, it is a beautiful city, and a very interesting place. I think the first pic is of a big casino in the back drop.


We also visited the Venetian, which was gorgeous. The picture below is of the Venice section of the Venetian, complete with a river and boats with workers singing Italian songs to you and your lover, and yes, most of them had good singing voices.


This is just a picture from my Hotel window.


Okay, for dinner one night we went to a place called the fisherman's wharf, which seemed like a theme park type place. There where alot of replicas and sections that exhibited different cultures. Below you can see a replica of the Colosseum, there was New Orleans house, a Mississippi house, and several other American representations. I also found an African buffet restaurant that was wonderful. Sorry, I don't have many pictures of this place.

People are a work of art. God creates us with beautiful soft clay, and then we are thrust upon the world. Once we are in this life, the world adds clay to us, it molds us here and there, and even paints us certain colors. Hopefully, what the world has done is added to what God created, but that is not always true. Hopefully, what the world has done was left our initial purpose and character untouched, that God character, but that is not always true. Thus, we are immediately molded and pushed from God, and our lives are just struggle after struggle to get back to what we were suppose to be. I received some good news over the week that I had been accepted into grad school program at Claremont Graduate School in California. While I pray that finances will fall from heaven, I am over joyed that my next step or journey has been decided, and I stand doubtless that God is in it somewhere. Being in Hong Kong has allowed me to see how the world has shaped me, and some things are honestly not pretty, but other characteristics are truly exceptional, and I have you all to thank for it. My Family, Friends, and great institutions that have added clay and color. I look forward to seeing what I blossom into. Until I blog again, touch someone else as you have all touched me.