Duncan Hines 'Hip Hop' Cupcakes... Racist?

So, America's beloved Duncan Hines has produced a "Hip Hop" commercial that many are claiming to be racist... Now, in my opinion, the musicality presented in this commercial does not even come close, or relate to, the creativity of Hip Hop music stylings... but I guess because the chocolate is brown it's supposed to be a disrespect to Black people? Oh, wait... I get it! The additive of pink lips and bulging eyes mirror the racial slur of "Black face" from back in the day, right?! #whatever!

I've seen and experienced the ugly truth of racism throughout the course of my life, and though I may not have marched with Dr. King, or been beaten on a bridge in Selma, my 34 years of living have yielded a sensitivity to the cause and effects racial injustice. In this case, however, I don't see it. Nothing in this commercial connected with me as a Black woman. It might have made me want to jump off my diet, but it didn't appeal to me or offend me.

I don't know. Maybe you're different... what are your thoughts?

It's Not Just Me!!

And so there I was... standing in line at the grocery store (impatiently, I might add, because you would have sworn that the person in front of me was paying in pennies), when Becky & her BFF Jill came to stand in line behind me. Now, I'm not one to eavesdrop (except for that one time in band camp... but I DIGRESS); however, the conversation they carried on about was surprisingly familiar. I listened intently, recognizing words and phrases that I'd either spoken or heard so many times throughout my life.

Suck It Up!

Okay, now "brace" yourself (pun intended) because today's rant lends itself more to the side of "too much information" or "unnecessary graphic illustration", but there is a message in it all... and thus, I teach...

Have you ever had a constipated bowel movement? You know, the kind where you're stuck on the "porcelain god" pushing and straining and rocking back and forth until veins pop out of your forehead and neck? Despite your unrelentless efforts to try to get something to move, the blockage just stays there in an uncomfortable stillness... like boulders blocking the only safe exit of a cave... my bad, I had a flashback.