Religious Freedom

Most of us know the 1st Amendment because it gives us the right to free speech. As a writer, I appreciate that right and honor the responsibility it conveys. Thankfully, that amendment also gives us the right to freedom of religion.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Because of this amendment, in this country we are free to practice our various faiths as we see fit. I'm especially aware of this freedom since if I lived in another part of the world, notably in Iran or Egypt, I'd face serious persecution since I'm a Baha'i. I'd be denied an education and denied the right to marry. My property and material possessions could be taken away by the government. Or if my next door neighbor decides to steal my car, as a Baha'i in those countries, I'd have no legal recourse.

Yes, if I lived in another part of the world, I might be arrested and imprisoned because of my beliefs. Tortured. Executed.

As a teenager, I was horrified by the story of Mona Mahmudnizhad, a young Persian girl executed for teaching Baha'i children's classes. She was only sixteen and was hung along with nine other Baha'i women.

Thankfully, because of our First Amendment, I don't have to worry about that. Here in this country, someone might be mean to me and tell me I'm going to hell, but compared to the possibility of being hung or shot by a firing squad, I can deal with that.

Despite the persecution of my Baha'i brothers and sisters taking place in countries that are majority Muslim, I have nothing but love and respect for those who practice Islam. I believe that all of the world's great religions come from the same source, God, and are truly only one faith, even if some of the social laws of the religion may change.

Of course, not everyone feels that all religion is the same truth. Even among Christians, there is lots of fighting and arguing about which version of Christianity is better. Some people trash Catholics. Others trash Baptists, Methodists, and so on. Atheists and agnostics get lectured, and likewise do their share of lecturing.

We clearly have not yet learned how to be unified and respectful of each other's beliefs, which is the exact opposite of what religion actually teaches.

As I listened to the news today, I found myself thinking specifically about how as a nation we have not addressed our religious prejudices against Muslims. In fact, we are guilty of a great deal of religious prejudice toward our Muslim brothers and sisters.

I thought about all this while listening to a couple of news pundits debating the use of Barack Obama's middle name, Hussein. A typical statement was, "Well what's wrong with saying his middle name?"

Nothing's wrong with Barack Obama's middle name but what is wrong is the intent behind saying it over and over. It's used to fan the flames of anti-Islamic fears and prejudice in the hope that people will erroneously believe that the man is a Muslim.

Months ago, someone forwarded me one of those, "Freak Out Because Obama's a Muslim" kind of emails and it made me feel profoundly sad. The email was full of horrible lies and needed some serious fact checking. The emails have been circulating and circulating like a toxic poison in our collective conscience.

No, Obama's not a Muslim. But if he was, so what? What's wrong with that?

I wish the talking heads on TV would say this. I wish Obama would stand up and say it.

Instead, he passes out fliers featuring images of him at church. Instead he mentions being a Christian in his rallies. He should do those things because being a Christian and going to church is an important part of his life. I hope this is why he's doing this. He should not have to do it because he has to soothe our fears and pander to our national prejudices. The sad reality is that because of our nation's prejudices, if Obama was a Muslim, he wouldn't even be on a ballot right now.

Funny we can take folks' oil but we decry and demonize their faith.

Islam is a beautiful religion in its own right. Sure, there are people who justify their wrong, immoral and evil actions by cloaking them with the mantle of Islam. But that doesn't take away the original intent of Mohammad. If some Muslims say they hate Christians, they need to pick up their copy of the Koran and re-read how Mohammad venerates and honors Jesus.

I'm also quite aware that the same twisting of purpose was also done with Christianity.

Or have we all forgotten how people chose to interpret certain passages from the Bible to justify slavery? Decided that black folks were only 3/5 human? Denied women the right to vote?

People have done terrible things in the name of religion. But we can all do our part to create greater understanding. For example, for many years my parents have been part of an interfaith organization designed to create partnerships between the diverse faiths that should co-exist in this nation of religious freedom. Surely these sort of organizations exist in lots of cities.

On a day to day level, how many of us in our personal lives check those around us when we hear them subtly making comments that imply that all Muslims are terrorists? What do we do when we hear people say Muslims are going to hell because they don't have Christ in their lives? Do we agree if someone says Muslims are weird because they pray five times a day and don't drink?

In the face of such prejudice, I hope we can all bring it back to that all important first amendment and truly honor our freedom of religion. We can't take it for granted.

Los Angelista's A to Z

This morning while I was over at the fabulous 1969's blog, I saw she'd made a list of herself from A-Z. She got the idea from an interview with Halle Berry in InStyle magazine. I told her I was going to steal it because it just looked like a LOT of fun. Plus it's sunny and 80 degrees here in LA and I can't concentrate on much else! I have all my windows open and there are two hummingbirds singing away. Gosh, I love Los Angeles. So here's me from A to Z. At least, for today it is!

A-Adam-12: Adam 12 is my teddy bear that I've had forever. I don't know how long I've had him but it must've been since I was a baby. My children are a bit afraid of him because he has no mouth and a bad leg. But he's a secret agent and he's been on a lot of spy missions over the years so he has the right to look a little jacked up. Plus he has no mouth because he's gotten a lot of kisses from me. Not that kissing me means you necessarily end up, with, er, no mouth...

B-Ballet: I studied ballet until I was 16. I loved dancing in my pointe shoes. I wish I'd never quit. I regret that.

C-Chai: I looove chai! Some people say, "I need a drink," when they feel stressed. I don't. I say, "I need a chai." I don't mind drinking it when I'm not stressed either. But since it doesn't come cheap from Coffee Bean or Starbucks, I'm trying to perfect my at-home chai brewing recipe.

D-Depeche Mode: My favorite band in the whole world since I was a young lass that tied boys to trees and beat them with sticks. I probably sang "Just Can't Get Enough" to my victim as I whacked him. Hmm. That makes it sound like "D" should stand for "Dominatrix", doesn't it?

E-Ears: I didn't get my ears pierced till I was 18. I have a very low tolerance for pain so after getting the left ear pierced, I almost didn't want to get the right ear done. But I figured that would look a little odd so I sucked it up.

F-Facebook: I was so resistant to Facebook but I've gotten to reconnect with so many people I'd fallen out of touch with. It is sort of awkward though when folks I don't really know request to be my friend. And just because we chatted once three years ago, that doesn't mean you know me. I just ignore these requests and I feel guilty about that. Maybe I should just send the person a message and tell them, "Hey, I don't think we can be Facebook friends because if my car broke down on the side of the road, I couldn't call you!" But I'm too chicken to do that.

G-Gentleman: The older I get, the more I see the value of a man knowing how to be a gentleman. And I see the value of mothers and fathers training their sons to become gentlemen.

H-Hair: I haven't straightened my hair since July of '07. I'm going to cut the straight parts off when my sister comes out to visit me in April. It'll be the first time in my entire life that I'll have short hair but I'm looking forward to not having two textures on my head.

I-I Love You, Mommy: Every time I hear my sons say this to me, completely unpromted, my heart just melts. If those are the last words I hear, I'll die happy.

J-Justice League: I didn't even know what the Justice League was before I married my comic book addict husband. Sure I knew about Batman, Super Man and Wonderwoman, but Green Lantern? Hawkgirl? I had no clue. But now, I am a total Justice League convert. I might even be Hawkgirl for Halloween this year.

K-Kick Butt Cardio: Violet Zaki's "Kickbutt Cardio" DVD has really been kicking my, um, butt. I don't feel bad having a hard time getting through the workout because it's fun and besides, SHE has a hard time doing it. Every time Violet says she's about to keel over and die, for some reason, I feel better. I wish I could hire her as my personal trainer.

L- Leela Thai: Leela Thai's my favorite Thai restaurant in all of LA. They have the best red curry with tofu there. I used to order from them every Friday night but now I'm down to twice a month.

M-Memory: I have a terrible memory. The upside of this is that I've developed the habit of telling the truth because I can't remember what's true half the time, let alone any lies.

N-Narcissism: The reason why I'm doing this A-Z list. But don't worry, I won't fall in love my reflection in a pool of water.

O-Orlando Bloom. He's not the best actor on the planet but I don't really care about the acting. His name should be in the dictionary next to "Smokin' Hot Eye Candy". He's sooo hot, I even have a Legolas doll. Sometimes I take it down from it's place of honor on the shelf and... okay, I'll just stop that thought right there.

P-Pacifica's Spanish Amber. I've been wearing this scent for the past couple of weeks and gosh, it smells so good. I smell my clothes when I take them off because I like it so much. I want to get the candles too but it might be too heavy of a scent for summertime. We'll see.

Q-Queasy: I get queasy really easily. That Alice in Wonderland teacup ride at Disneyland is a nightmare for me. Riding in the passenger seat in a car is sometimes tough for me too.

R-Ranunculus: They're my favorite flower. I try to get them for myself at least once or twice a month and I once got them for free from a stranger at at the Trader Joe's on 3rd and Fairfax.

S-Santa Barbara: Will someone please just buy me a house up there? It's such a beautiful area. Okay, you can't afford a house? A small condo will do just fine. Email me and I'll send you my address so you can send me the key to my new digs.

T-Treasure Hunting. I used to read books about treasures found in lost cities and from shipwrecks. I wanted to be a treasure hunter for a while there. Now I just settle for watching movies like "National Treasure" and "The Goonies".

U-Underwears. My four year old likes to strip his off and run around the house yelling, "Mommy, I don't have on any underwears!" One of these days he'll stop saying "underwears" and instead it'll just be "underwear". And I'll feel sad because I'll know my little wild boy is growing up.

V-Virtus Sola Nobilitas: Also known as "Virtue is the only nobility". It's my family motto. Love it. I even have a key chain with the motto on it.

W-Winter: Did I mention that it's 80 degrees here? Yeah, I love winter in Los Angeles. And now I'm going to listen to "Love Like Winter".

X-Xavier Gold: One of my favorite old-school house tracks is "You Used to Hold Me" by Ralphi Rosario and Xavier Gold. Xavier Gold is the singer and wow, she can SANG!

Y- Youth: I've always liked the Sophia Loren quote about the fountain of youth:

"There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age."

Z-Zebra: I used to get called "zebra" all the time by mean children who teased me for being half white and half black. I'll never forget how mean those kids were. I know many of you got called names for a wide variety of reasons. Hopefully we each know better than to call other people names because we know how awful it feels.


A-Z, that's me as of today, the 27th day of February! I encourage you to try making this list because it was really fun. I would tag some of you and turn it into a meme, but I'll let you tag yourself. If you decide to do this, let me know.

Who You Callin' a Bitch?

Back in the mid nineties, Queen Latifah released a song called U.N.I.T.Y. It's been a long time since I've listened to it. And it's my guess that Tina Fey has never heard it.



According to Tina's most recent Saturday Night Live weekend update skit, it's okay to call yourself a bitch and to call other people a bitch too. And all women should be proud to be called a bitch because, "Bitches get things done."

In Tina's world, Hillary Clinton is a bitch so therefore she's going to get things done.

Just like Rosa Parks and Betty Shabazz, right? Just like Oprah? Just like my mother? Just like my sister?

Just like me?

Because trust me, I get things done. But I don't believe I need to be a bitch to do so. I don't believe strength and standing up for what's right means I'm a bitch. As Latifah said, "Real bad girls are the silent type."

Emulating the worst aspects of a male-dominated society in order to accomplish something is nothing but getting down in the gutter. We've got plenty of male bitches running things and Lord knows we don't need more of the same.

I don't tolerate people calling me a bitch. To me there's nothing empowering about being called a bitch. And I don't take it as a compliment if it's another woman calling me that. Where I come from, you call a girl a bitch and it's on.

Maybe this is a white women of privilege thing. Maybe they are the ones who find it empowering to be called a bitch. I don't know. You tell me.

And another thing Tina Fey needs to recognize is that bitch will never be the new black. I don't care if she was referring to it in a fashion sense or not. The double entendre is pretty obvious.

Tina Fey can stand around and say, "I'm a bitch and I get things done!" all she wants but I bet she won't have a hard time catching a cab in New York City.

Ever.

Yeah, I'll bet Tina Fey's never stood on the southbound traffic side of Broadway hoping that cabs will pull over because they're thinking she's not headed uptown.

I've bet Tina's never had a cab driver tell her he doesn't know how to get to the Bronx.

I fully believe sexism is alive and well in the United States, but in the meantime, don't call me a bitch.

Ice on Oscar Sunday

Shortly after I woke up this morning, I thought about two things:

1) A bunch of really hungry women in Hollywood get to eat tonight after the Oscars are over and
2) It would be really cool to find a box of jewelry destined for an A-list actress accidentally sitting on the side of the road. But I would return the jewelry. Eventually. I think.

To bring myself back down to reality, I checked out what was happening in the news. The same old same old was going on in the world, so I went to make myself a cup of tea.

My husband wandered into the kitchen and mumbled good morning. I said, "Hey, good morning. Ralph Nader's running for president."

He stopped in his tracks, looked at me like I was crazy, turned and walked out of the room. Five minutes later he re-emerged, saying, "I'm going to Starbucks."

A couple minutes after he left, the phone rang. I could see from the caller ID that it was him so I answered, thinking he was going to say, "Have you seen my wallet?"

Instead, he said, "Dudes in ice jackets are swarming all over our neighborhood!"

Ice jackets? What? I was confused. Was this a throwback to Vanilla Ice or something? "Ice jackets?" I asked.

"I-C-E! Immigration and Customs Enforcement! They're doing an immigration raid in our neighborhood."

"Are you kidding?"

"Nope. There's a bunch of them down the hill from us. It looks like they're standing guard."

I quickly hung up the phone, grabbed my camera and ran outside to check out what was going on. It was raining hard, which is enough to keep everyone inside. But the street seemed eerily quiet for another reason. I looked to my right and sure enough, two white vans were parked in the middle of the street. Some menacing guys in black jackets were standing on the sidewalk in front of the building three doors down. They had that ultra alert stance that you only see in cops and drug dealers.

I walked toward them and they turned to look at me. The way these guys were staring me down was not at all friendly. But I wanted to get a picture of what was happening. So I walked a little closer and pulled out my camera.

One guy began walking my way and barked, "Ma'am, put that camera away. Put it away or we're going to take it."

What in the world? The last time I got a camera confiscated by the police, I was living in China. This isn't China though. This is supposed to be the United States, the country Michelle Obama's proud of. But I felt afraid. So I turned around and quickly walked back to my building. Thankfully, the officer did not pursue me.

Ten minutes later, I saw the white van drive past. I poked my head outside and looked down the hill. Everything looked like it would look on a rainy Sunday morning with no sign that the ICE folks had ever been here.

And of course, in a few short hours, less than two miles from here, some of the wealthiest residents of this city will be stepping onto the red carpet, dripping with a different kind of "ice".

I'd been wishing I had some of that ice. And now some of my neighbors have been carted away by ICE.

Such is this city.

Book Love

I'm home alone since my husband took my sons over to a friend's house to hang out. Nothing good is on TV and no new movies have come from Netflix yet.

But no worries because I have a whole lot of books in this house that need reading.

I'm one of those people that drops the $30 on the the Barnes & Noble membership/discount card and actually gets my money's worth back in a couple months. I know in theory that it's possible to walk out of there without buying anything, but I'm not to that point yet. There's always something good to read whispering in my ear, "Buy me! I have a pretty cover and I'm really well written and engaging!"

Oh and then there's my three library books that I haven't read yet because I'm reading something I picked up at my neighborhood independent bookstore, Skylight Books, two months ago. And yesterday I realized I haven't read "Dracula" in about a month so I picked that up and began reading that again for the millionth time.

Clearly, I have waay too many books swirling around. I place the blame for this book insanity love squarely on the shoulders of my parents.

I know I've mentioned before that my mom and dad have an amazing collection of books. In fact, I feel extremely covetous when I think about some of the cool books they have. Last time I was home, I about died because my mom gave me a gigantic coffee table book I've been in love with since I was a little girl. It's called "Four Fabulous Faces".

The book's about the transformation of Greta Garbo, Gloria Swanson, Marlene Dietrich and Joan Crawford from unknown actresses to mega stars. The photographs in it are amazing and it's fascinating to read about how much power studios had over the appearance of these four women and how their looks changed over the years.

Anyway, I commented on another blog today about how I first read the "Autobiography of Malcolm X" when I was quite young because the book was just sitting around the house. I think it was stacked on a chair in my parent's bedroom. They always have had the best books just sitting around. In fact, I would not be surprised if they have 2-3,000 books waiting to be discovered by an avid reader.

So you see how growing up this way, I think it's normal to have tons of books around. In fact, I've been absolutely horrified on the occasions I've gone to people's homes and have been unable to find a single book lying about. Or what's just as bad is when the books someone has are the ones they bought eons ago for a college literature class. Those books always look so lonely collecting dust on a forgotten shelf.

It's quite judgemental of me but I tend to think it really says something terrible about a person if they have no (or almost no) books around. At a minimum, I believe it means they have no class no matter how fancy their house or car may be. I also start to wonder if the person's secretly a serial killer or in need of serious psychiatric help.

Just kidding, sort of.

The other day I'd just read about Bill O'Reilly's comment about lynching Michelle Obama and felt so mad about it. I called my mom to ask about a book I remember being in our house. She wasn't home so I left her a very vague, rambling message about this book. I knew it contained some very graphic pictures of lynchings in it. I told her I remembered it was soft cover and I described the size.

My mom sent me the following email yesterday:

Dear Liz,
The book you are probably thinking of is The Black Book by Middleton Harris published in 1974. The book was about more than lynching as you may remember. It is a folk history. There are now more books specifically about lynching. Without Sanctuary by James Allen and Lynching Photographs by Dora Apel are just a couple.

My mom's a genius to be able to decipher my message and figure out what in the world I was talking about. I'm sure she knew what book I was referring to off the top of her head. I'm doubly impressed by how she's able to throw out a couple more must-read titles just like that.

I decided to check out how much it would be to get my own copy of "The Black Book". It's out of print so if I want a version that's full of rips and is taped up, I'll pay around $45.

If I want one that's not in mint condition but doesn't have ripped pages and scotch tape on it, I'll pay around $85.

A nice copy is around $125. EEK!

I may not get that particular one but I know I'll be getting some version of this book eventually. I need to have it sitting around for my sons to discover. And maybe one day they'll have a blog and blame me for them being in love with books too.

I really hope so.

“It’s 2008. We will vote.”

While the mainstream media is all in a tizzy over what John McCain may or may not have done (Do you have pictures? Video? A stained dress?) with a lobbyist, I came across some real news over on Black America Web:

"Over 2,000 March at Prairie View, a Reminder of Young Voters’ Engagement in ‘08 Election

Date: Wednesday, February 20, 2008
By: BlackAmericaWeb.com

A huge banner carried Tuesday by Prairie View A&M University students at the head of a march to the Waller County Courthouse said it all: “It’s 2008. We will vote.”

The Prairie View students, hundreds of them, waited for hours in line to vote after walking seven miles from campus to the county seat. Students say they wanted to protest changes the county recently made in early polling locations and show officials the impact of their political participation.

The unofficial crowd estimate was 2,200, said Prairie View Student Government Association President Andre Evans. He said about 3,000 Prairie view students in total are registered to vote.

Waller County had reduced the number of early voting locations from about six around the county to only one at its courthouse because county officials said they could not afford to operate multiple early voting locations.

After getting pressure from federal government, the county added three early voting locations, still there was not one announced for the Prairie View campus, convenient to students. An early voting site will be open this weekend at a community center in Prairie View.

The activism demonstrated by the Prairie View students is yet another example of trends observers across the country are noting as more people between the ages of 18 and 30 register to vote and take roles in political campaigns."

Wow. And then, to get even better, I was visiting some new blogs, stopped by ReadingWritingLiving and came across some video of them marching.



I had tears streaming down my face watching this. Hey, New York Times, MSNBC and CNN, this is real news. Fox News, why don't you have Bill O'Reilly talk about how students at a historically black college are standing up to the voting discrimination that's persisted for years? It must be easier to have him talk about he doesn't, "want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there's evidence."

Yes, these students marched 7.3 miles to vote. This is not a passive generation that's coming up and I'm so happy to see them claiming what's rightfully theirs, by any means necessary.

Before Eighteen

I am on thought overload this evening.

I seriously can't focus on any of the things I want to blog about. You can expect some posts in the near future about: why almost all of the black men in my family are dead and the women aren't, lynching, the latest zogby poll questions I got in my email, Stanford University's tuition changes, recurring dreams and whether you'd stay with someone who cheats... but it's just not flowing tonight. I can't focus my writing because I have too much to think about.

My saving grace is that I have been tagged by I Am Not Star Jones (love that name btw) over at The Unemployment Cafe. Here are the rules:

1. Post these rules before presenting your list.
2. List 6 actions or achievements you think every person should accomplish before turning 18.
3. There are no conditions on what can be included on the list.
4. At the end of your blog, choose 6 people to get tagged and list their names.
5. People who are tagged write their own blog entry with their 6 suggestions.
6. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged.

This is a hard one for me because my main focus from ages 12-17 was doing really well in high school so that I could get into a top college and get enough scholarships/financial aid to attend. I didn't think accomplishing much else was absolutely essential. Everything else was a nice to have. I still think doing well in school and getting into a top college is the job of a teenager. But, I'll give this a go:

1) Read a book a week: I know, it sounds daunting but being literate is one of the best gifts you can give yourself. And heck, you have no kids, no rent or mortgage to pay, and if you tell your mom you can't wash dishes right now because you're reading and right at the exciting part of the story, guess what, your mom isn't going to complain. She'll be too busy saying, "Thank you, Jesus! My baby is reading instead of messing around with boys!"

Oh, and try to pick up real books instead of the "street-lit" type books. And if anyone tries to give you a book by Zane, run!

2) Be Child and Disease Free: I know some of you might be saying, "Turning