Real Recognize Real

This has been, like, a motif for me the past few months. (take it back to high school lit, y'all)People from all walks of life have dropped this line to me in someway. It must be for a reason.
Most people say I mess with thugs. This is a topic I will thoroughly address later. However, I will say that I just prefer to mess with the real. It's that simple. (I have been faked out though...and very rarely, real dudes have bitch azz-moments.)
How many of you have met a real man? I'm talkin bout a grown man. A beautiful, black man. Someone who has been there, done that and knows how to handle himself. Someone so comfortable in his skin that he can just "do him" regardless of who's around. - Some women mistake this friendly, warm type of man for trying to holla at them. That's not it, mama. He so busy loving life that he wasn't even checking you like that. You just crossed his path and he knew how to brighten your day....you felt the sexiness that is found at the intersection of maturity and confidence.
I'm talking about a grown man, y'all. When you're around him, you have no worries. He got you. He will tell you when you looking good and when you need to tighten up. And HIS sense of freedom gives you permission to be YOU.
I'm talking about a man, y'all. I don't understand these lesbians. The way a BLACK MAN makes you feel...you can't get that anywhere else.
I think guys don't get there until they are about 40 years old....after they've done a lot of living (read: He's been AROUND....)But that's alright. By the time he get to you that means he's done with the bullshit and he's going to keep it REAL...
and if you know me, do not try to guess who I'm referring to, OK? - this could be a conglomeration of real men I'm speaking on.

When he get on he leave your a** for a ....

For the most part, people are easily led. So men, maybe it's not your fault. From the time you were born, somebody told you what beauty was supposed to look like. They told you beauty looked like blond hair, light eyes, long hair, long legs and big boobs.
You know what? The same person told us that, too. That's why it's so hard for some of us to look in the mirror and like what we see. And I don't care what you say, it's also the reason Beyonce has blond hair and Lil Kim has blue eyes.
Now me, I've always been anti-mainstream. If everyone loves it, you can bet I don't get the hype (i.e. Beanie babies, tamigotchis/giga pets, skull-decorated clothing and Rihanna.) But then there's the opposite end of the spectrum - your Erykah Badu-type, wear my hair natural and my clothes don't have to match cuz I'm trying so hard to be different - but i digress.

So for those of us who fall short of the Arian pinnacle of beauty...I don't know what to tell you. My field of view is limited to the NFL organization I work with, but it's likely to be a microcasm of the entire league. The Black men around me are literally worth millions. Some would consider that success. But not these men. Nope! I think success to them is when Coach blows the whistle, practice ends, and they get to go over to the sidelines...and kiss their blond wives. I swear, the family section of the bleachers yesterday looked like a daycare center where only kids who passed the paper bag test could enter.


Granted, I'm referring to the administrators I have seen more so than the players themselves....but the administrators are former players, so what does that tell you? There's this one Cuba Gooding Jr-lookin man who has not spoken to me yet...when I saw him I thought, 'Now I know he got him a Becky on deck.' And he didn't disappoint. (Or rather, he did.)

But I tell you what..real mess with real...there are some black coaches who act like they cannot say hello (Shh....I won't tell your white friends you spoke to a black person if you don't). But then there are the ones who kick it with me like I'm part of the fam.
My sistas, it just looks like this: When these dudes get their millions in hand, they only want Becky to help them spend it. They don't even have to be cute, y'all - long as their tans are purchased instead of natural. I might be invisible until my internship ends....
Wait: before you reduce me to simply being jealous, I said in the beginning that maybe I can't blame these black men....someone told them beauty didn't look like me and you...and they have yet to wake up and think for themselves. And YES, some of y'all come with that, 'Not me, I love black women.' That's what y'all SAY...but then again, you didn't graduate college yesterday worth $15 million, $8.9 of which is guaranteed even if you just come sit on a bench.

CNN's "Special" Report

So...CNN's Special Report "Black in America" may have been an educational tool for those of you who are NOT black in America...or those of you who have forgotten that you ARE black in America.
But, uh, as for the rest of us...we live it - we didn't have to see it. But I applaud the effort.
(BUT PLEASE DO WATCH THE STUDENT-PRODUCED iReports!)