Take home message – never mess with African women! 

Another take home message – do your due diligence before you support a charity that targets a particular class of people (like African women).

Economics is the basis for most of American decision making. And the American way of life is destroying the planet.

Well, not exactly.  The planet will be just fine.  On the other hand, WE will not.

Because of the economic benefits, we build massive power plants that power huge industries, massive homes, and enough manufacturing to cover the planet in stuff. Mostly useless stuff, but that’s another posting… Anyway, we put waste dumps near poor communities and then pay the residents to stop complaining.  Economic benefits, they are told.  Jobs, income, it’s all best in the end, right?

Wrong.  The climate is changing so fast that nobody has any clue what the planet will look like in 30 years. One thing is certain, though, it won’t be pretty.

Unfortunately, it is not the people doing the most harm that will suffer the most.  In 20 years, San Francisco’s airport is likely to be under water. No big deal, right?  There’s enough money in the area to either relocate the airport or build barriers to keep the water out. But, at the same time, all of Bangladesh is likely to be under water, and a whole bunch of Pacific islands, too.  Who’s going to save them?

This is all because, decades ago, we decided that short term economic benefits were more important than long term stewardship. We have done it to ourselves. The worst part is that the poorer communities will suffer most. But since when has that been any different?

There is no doubt, as regular readers will know, that I have changed as a result of being married to a black woman.  My politics, my patience, my tolerance. All of these have been “updated” to the new, improved version.

But now I’m discovering that my wife is making an equally dramatic change!  She’s decided to spend this week asking the question, “what would a white man do?” for every challenge that she faces. 

She has decided that I’m the “model white man.” But what is amazing is that there really IS a “white man” way of doing things!  Conversations with random friends have revealed this.  There is a certain way in which white men approach problems or challenges.  It is SO different from the way that black women approach things. 

For example. Rule number 1 might be that white men never enter a race unless they know who’s counting the ballots.  Why take a chance that you won’t win when you can simply take the right guy out for a round of golf or a drink?  Grease the right wheels and you’re much more likely to come out with the right result…

It would be one thing if Cameron knew what he was doing and intended to make a social commentary. But I don’t think that’s the case.

The tragedy is that there is a huge issue being overlooked by most people.  The “environmental” aspects of the message are clear – we are destroying our planet and would likely do it again (given the chance) with our attitude of exploitation. Even the “colonialism” aspects of the message are fairly obvious – a raw material, a native population in the way, destruction of the rainforest to reach the desired material with no thought of the destruction that ensues.

But there’s another message. Notice that the native population bowed down to the white hero as he saved them from his own people?  Notice that the white hero married a chief’s daughter?  Notice that white hero was able to do what only 5 others had ever done – tame the wild beast and rule over the forrest beings? This is a story of the white man fulfilling one of the oldest dreams in western colonialism – not just gaining the trust of the natives, but actually becoming their accepted ruler. 

It’s as if you’re watching a complete history of Africa, with an ending that appears much more harmonious but is, in fact, just as evil.

I groaned most of the way through this movie, as visually spectacular as it was. The cheif’s wife with the Maasai beaded necklaces. The natives constantly singing, dancing, and generally communing with nature. The spiritual and mystic rituals.

This movie was disgusting. I know it’s going to win plenty of awards, but in my mind it should win an award for “Most Clueless.”

And not terribly original, I might add.  I saw direct rip-offs from 2001, The Matrix, and Star Wars, just to name a few examples.

So, in the end, here’s a warning. Marrying a black woman may change your ability to enjoy movies!

This week, as an exercise in environmental law, I was asked to articulate the concerns that I would have if I were a lawyer representing a community consisting mainly of lower class, racial minorities and a company was proposing to locate a waste disposal site and/or factory near the town.

The exercise made me frustrated and angry. There is no such thing as “justice” for such a community, if we are to believe that  justice equals fairness.  Locating a factory or dump near the town will most likely cause an increase in water, air, and/or noise pollution. Even if such an increase is only perceived (and not real), property prices in the community will go down. They will also go down because factories and dumps are ugly, and people with a choice will not want to live near them. So the town will suffer from less tourist income (when was the last time you took a vacation in Detroit?), less home equity for loans, etc. in addition to the increased pollution. Thus the cycle of poverty continues – the community stays poor.

I hear CWM crying out in unison: “But the factory/dump creates economic benefits like jobs and tax revenue!” Sure, there are likely to be some such economic benefits. But I’m willing to bet that, in the vast majority of cases, such benefits are hugely outweighed by the economic costs. For example, higher pollution levels cause increased frequency of health problems, which lowers worker productivity and increases health costs.  As the factories/dumps grow old and obsolete, they create a huge and often permanent eyesore that further depresses the local economy.

What she meant was that I was one of those people who believe that Americans didn’t “colonize” the western half of what is now the United States. Quite frankly, I still believe that there’s a distinction between what 18th century Americans did as they expanded westward and what Europeans did in Africa.

In my mind, Americans had no interest in using the local people (i.e., Native Americans) to help extract raw materials or as slave laborers. They were simply interested in the land, and were intent on eliminating everybody who happened to be living there. The Europeans, by contrast, were interested in both – using the land and using the inhabiting people. In fact, several of the colonizing nations, particularly Belgium, had no interest whatsoever in occupying the land. They simply wanted the riches that came from the land, and had always intended to use the natives to help extract such riches.

Perhaps it is my poor American education that has led me astray here. Perhaps I’m totally wrong.  But until someone proves it to me, I have no reason to believe that these beliefs are misguided.

A while back she told my wife and I about her island. It’s a place where, one day, she will go and live among other Black people. It’s a place where she will not have to worry about racism or bigotry or favoritism, because only people who “get it” will live there. It’s a happy place.

One of the proudest moments of my life was when, after telling us about her island, she announced that I would be allowed on her island!  I was so happy to be thought of as someone who “gets it,” and someone who treats her (and, I hope, Black people in general) fairly and equitably.

It wasn’t just because I’m married to a Black woman. But being married to a Black woman allowed me to transcend my cluelessness. I wouldn’t (and couldn’t) have done it without my wife!

Why is it that philanthropy is almost entirely dominated by white people?  Sure, there are numerous small organizations that are run by Africans, Hispanics, Asians, etc.  But take a look at the largest non-profits and foundations, and they are all run by white people.  All too often, they’re clueless white people.  Or worse, they’re white people with agendas that certainly don’t have the philanthropic target’s best interest in mind!

I’m very proud of my wife’s non-profit. I think it does good work, and it is a model that should be followed by other organiztions. I hope it grows in size and influence over the coming decade.

It took marrying a black woman for me to appreciate Chris Rock.  Now I find him hilarious, and actually very intelligent. I am a huge fan of his TV show ”Everybody Hates Chris.”

So when I first heard of his new documentary, “Good Hair,” which delves deep into the mystery that is black women’s hair, I thought it was a fantastic idea.  Surely Chris is someone who really appreciates the nuances of the topic! At least as much as any man ever could.

Then I saw Anderson Cooper doing a story on the film. My wife saw it, too, and we both groaned in tandem when it was over.  This is far from being a good thing, after all.  Now EVERYONE is talking about black women’s hair. Sure, the movie may try to explain to CWM that they should never try to  raise the topic with black women, but it also opens the topic to discussion for anyone and everyone.  All of the yummy mummy white women who watch Oprah (who also did a story on the movie) now feel that they’re experts in black women’s hair. What was once a comfortable uncomfortableness among black women is now fair game for news programs and daytime talk shows.

Perhaps Chris didn’t do black women a favor after all!

(And I’m not advocating the 50-something-hour-long Brittany Spears-type marriage. Find a good woman and make a committment.  Then you’ll know.)