Urban Males And Homophobia… An Understanding

I took sometime a while back to understand my past opinions on homosexuality & homophobia. I realized some things, I realized that i did have a homophobia, and it stemmed from my youth.. I realized that homosexuality was used as a “boogyman” an anti-jail scare tactic, at a certain age at about eleven or twelve years old I was being told, “hey you better behave” and “you could go to jail for that” and “your handsome if you go to jail they gonna rape you,” or ” they’ll make you into a girl and have you walking around in a dress.”  These types of threats, this reality has a deep psychological affect on young black men, because the reality of ending up in jail is extremely common and possible,  it’s like a sword of doom that hangs over our heads in our youth. I realized that at an early age, we face the reality that we may go to jail, and in jail we will have to defend our manhood, “homosexuals” (at least what we ignorantly understand homosexuals to be) become the enemy.  This is an aspect, a root of urban male homophobia that is rarely discussed, and I deeply feel is a reason why there is a misguided animosity toward homosexuality.  Its a systematic problem, that runs deep, its not just a simple biased or blind hate or fear, it has multiple social, cultural and systematic layers….  Growing up I personally knew a few people who went to jail and were victims of sexual assaults in prison and at young ages, they were never the same, to me and my friends this was real, a vivid reality, it could happen, it did happen to people. For many black & latino, “minority” and “lower class” young men homosexuality isn’t a life choice, they equate it w/ being punked, w/ loss of what they feel is their only power in this country, their manhood. For this to change we need to become proactive, We need to realize the layered complexity of our social disfunction, so we can begin peeling them away.. it takes courage, it takes unity, compassion, empathy and understanding, it can be done…

-daoud

An Open Mind Supports An Open Heart…

very few have the courage to question, to step outside of them selves and see through the perspective of the “other” until the celebrated oppression and imperialism of these “super powers” discontinue i will always question who they suggest is my enemy. Geronimo was a “terrorist” the black panther party, Garvey, and countless others would be labeled as “terrorists” .I may not always agree with the way, often i can empathize with the cause or the need. an open mind supports an open heart and cultivates a just spirit.

peace
-daoud

“Don’t Let It Go To YOUr Head…”

Peace. Paz. Salaam. We greet the entire world with peace as instructed. I hope these words find you in a good place…

The following post was inspired by a collaboration of several things: including career transitioning, bottled thoughts, life post “it” and reading a random, but not so random blog post. Oh yeah, and the fact that BEYOND me, the people around me are changing (as expected). What isn’t so expected, is the fact that they have let their recent “successes” fog their minds, bodies and souls – and I mean, straight “Chucky”, “Child’s Play” style.

Continue reading ““Don’t Let It Go To YOUr Head…”” »

A Truth: Who Are The Real Terrorists

This video gave me the chills, it touches on truths that many of us feel deep inside yet many of us ignore. As a people, as a nation, we need to become more involved more responsible.

peace
daoud

Beyond The Word, Mind Detect Emotion.

I believe I made a breakthrough in understanding the telepathic aspect of communication. In communicating effectively it’s not simply the word that we project, its the feeling. The realization came to me while contemplating communicating with a cat, yeah i know it sounds funny, these are the boundaries of “reality” I live to surpass. Word holds no weight with animals, for obvious reasons, they do not speak our language, yet Feeling does and truthfully the same ultimately goes for humans. We put great stake in the illusion of the word, belief that word is what we use to understand one another, in ways yes, yet in fact words are merely attempts to express thoughts and feeling.

We experience life through feelings, not words, with this in mind we must realize that when we speak we should be using words to express feelings, attach feeling to our speech, and be mindful of the feeling we are projecting when speaking and how they will affect the recipient. Feeling and emotion is where all beings can connect. Think about watching a movie in another language with no subtitles, especially as children we are able to get the gist of the story, and often have a clear idea of whats going on, an accurate understanding of whats being communicated with out a familiarity of the language. This is because we are connecting at an emotional level, by observing facial expression and body language, by listening to tone of voice, the look in the eyes, we can understand the message. As we grow and become more dependent on language we often loose our active intuitive ability to “know” to detect the mind of others, and communicate on the level of feeling.

Telepathy in my belief plays a major role in our ability to effectively communicate, our ability to transcend speech and connect mentally and emotionally, to experience one another on an empathic level, our ability to truly be connected as beings. A lack of this connection in my opinion is why humanity has become socially, and culturally dysfunctional, once we became unaware of our connection to one another, to nature, the world, the ALL, To I AM and ultimately our self, we lost our ability to understand and act upon our divine potential. Much of what has been lost in humanity is due to an inability to freely feel, a lost awareness of intuition, of the transmissions of the heart. We must learn to be still, to listen, to retreat from our thoughts and surrender to our truth.

There are many disciplines that help cultivate these natural abilities that lay dormant in many, Meditation is most accessible, spend some time each day sitting, focus on self, your breath , heart beat at first. Mindful meditation is one of the easiest practices for one who is new to meditating, sit comfortably, and focus on breathing, take full natural breaths, focus on your breathing, it may help to count breaths, to focus only on breathing, counting breaths helps to focus the mind, in time the repetition will help bring the practice to a subconscious and natural level. Relaxing of the mind will help to build a connection to self, to build self awareness. When we regain consciousness of our body, of our heart, our breath, circulation, we begin to reconnect to our selves and be come more aware. Once we become aware of self, we enable and enhance our ability to be aware of others, and ultimately an awareness of existence and our connection to THE WORLD, THE UNIVERSE.

Peace
Daoud (the beloved in me greets the divine in you)

Daoud: Message From Isreal (Day 1)

So, after clearing airport security at Newark approaching my gate, I’m met with a surprise there is a 2nd security check point – yup after the standard airport security dance there is another before you can board the plane… this is my introduction to Israel.. So 9 hrs in they announce that Israeli policy that all passengers remain seated with no exceptions for the last 45 minutes before landing. That means if you need to use the bathroom your out of luck. By the way this announcement was made  15 before the 45 min lock-down so there’s a mad rush for bathroom time before lock-down lol.

we land, things seem cool, the airport is beautifully designed, we get to the customs window and after a few questions, we are asked to wait on the side (they keep our passports)… a few minutes go by and we are escorted to a waiting area, then ushered into a security office. Interestingly enough, all the security officers are female which makes it less ominous. we are asked a series of questions, whats your fathers name, whats your grandfathers name, are you Muslim, do you know what your name means, did you chose this name or was it given to you? Why did your parents name you Daoud? After being sent back to the waiting area and then called into another office with another female officer, im asked the same series of questions, we actually have a short convo about, why black people give their children “ethnic” names, the reclaiming of heritage and culture (i figure of all places that should be understood here.) Anyway, I’m sent back to wait again.. two hrs pass and then we can finally leave, two black americans in Israel both with arabic 1st and last names may be a bit much for security, yet they got over it!

We meet the friend that is waiting to pick us up, and he drives us to his families home where we are greeted by his mother. She looks like my family; really resembles my grandmothers younger sister, although they are from Yemen, not puerto rico go figure…. And so the journey begins! Tel Aviv is beautiful – it reminds me of california, and Capetown: palm trees ocean and stucko buildings… its only 10 am… we’ll see what the rest of the day unfolds i understand i will soon see jerusalem and the dead sea.. and there are whispers of a few days in egypt… i’l keep you posted..Peace

Day1 Part2

We ended up spending the day at the beach in Tel Aviv with a bunch of new found Israeli friends, people from Ethiopia & Yemen.  The sand is like fine powder and the water is warm and crystal clear… we are now off to Jerusalem, with plans to camp in the dead sea tomorrow.

More to come..

Daoud (@daoudabeid)

How Does “Now” Relate To “Then”, “Future” & Being?

1) If we live free & in the now, when should we focus on the future? If something is not “right” now can we cultivate it to become so?

2) Is “future” a Fruit of the seeds of now? Can we plant these seeds w/ intention & expectation & be free? A farmer must maintain the crop

3)Or is “future” a reaction to how insight & intuition guides us? The destination guided by the heart? Like the path of the hunter?

4)Can we actually think in the present if intention is for future? if we are thinking/ crafting an idea to be actualized, are we living in the moment?

5)In your opinion what are examples of being with in the “NOW”

6)When in life have you experience freedom? And discovered truth through being?

7)how does “being in the now” relate to stillness?

8)how does “being in the now” relate to motion?

some things to ponder

Peace

daoud

Brown Pup Blonde Pup

Holding Bear (left) and Teddy (right)

A friend tagged me in this post on facebook today, the message in this story is really alarming  I wanted to share, please feel free to share your opinions.

Brown Pup Blonde Pup posted on facebook by Sheena

Yesterday, while walking my two Shih Tzu puppies Teddy and Bear, my boyfriend and I came upon a little black girl.
“Can I pet that one?” she asked.
“You can pet that one,” I said while looking at Teddy the blonde pup.
“But, why don’t you want to pet that one?” I asked, pointing at the brown pup, Bear.
“Because he’s too black,” she replied.
I can still hear her little voice in my head and still wonder how she would come to that conclusion and why she reacted the way she did, wringing her hands and looking away from Bear who looked equally eager to lick her face as Teddy.
She couldn’t have been older than 7.
Other black children in my community have similar sentiments. Completely ignoring Bear and greeting Teddy with open arms.
Just trying to gather feedback.
Any thoughts?
Sound off.

My humble opinion follows:

Too many of us are too deeply affected by issues regarding race and color, and are in a weekend state and emotionally unable to face this truth.. this illness will remain and our babies will continue to be poisoned by this way of thinking until more of us empower ourselves , man and woman up and begin to face these issues. It runs deep, and is constantly reinforced within the media and outside world, the saddest part is that most likely in this young girls case and in many families these ideas are constantly perpetuated in the home as well in daily life.. Many of our people are taught not to love self, theres a great distain for blackness and a strong embrace of self hate.. The love for the words nigga & bitch, is a simple example of this, terms of destruction are regularly used to address one another .. its a major problem..

for further insight the book post traumatic slave syndrome by dr joy leary is a great analysis of these issue with ways to begin healing them. http://www.joydegruy.com/ptss/index.html

peace – Daoud

Not Quite Daddy’s Lil’ Girl

Barbara Bush (Daughter of George W. Bush) shows that she thinks independently of her parents. For years her father has been ridiculed for being an “idiot” (for lack of a better word) by press and naysayers, alike. However, in this clip, she explains that how she supports Obama’s Universal Healthcare. Young Barbara has more liberal thoughts on the health care subject, and has gone as far to launch a Non-Profit health organization that focuses on 3rd world and disenfranchised countries. I guess an apple can fall far (way far) away from the tree – at least in this case.

Thank You Sir! Olbermann Slams Limbaugh & Robertson

Mr Olbermann I am a fan, and I must thank you for these words, I couldn’t have said it better myself, I’m happy someone did. Its 2010 you would think by now there would be more people speaking their truth via mass media, yet this its not the case, this is a minority among what’s out there. With the growth of social networking , we now have our own publically controlled media outlets, lets use them, to make a difference, to inspire, teach, uplift & educate. It’s time We Live To Change Something on a daily basis.

Peace,

daoud