Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Mixed Marriages (Still Tippin')



"It takes grinding to be a king..

It takes grinding to be a king

1st round draft pick coming..

Who is Mike Jones?..coming..



I’m Mike Jones (Mike Jones!) the one and only,

Got a lot of haters and a lot of homies

Some friends, some phonies

Back then..didn’t want me..now I’m hot..all up on me.

Back then..didn’want me..now I’m hot..all up on me."





Mike Jones album dropped today.



Who?



Mike JONES!!!



Who is Mike Jones?



You already know!



What the hell? N’ga this ain’t no Abbott and Costello routine..I REALLY don’t know..WHO IS MIKE JONES???



Oh..my bad. He’s this rapper from Houston, Studewood to be exact, and his much publicized and talked about album that he’s been saying was “coming soon!”, for the past 2 years finally hit the streets Tuesday.



Is he supposed to be a good rapper or something?



It’s not so much that he’s a good rapper..cuz his skills on the mic are actually kinda suspect when you listen to him, but his production team and promotional skills are off the chain!! He knows how to hype it up and put his name out there..for that, all of the hustlaz and players in the world recognize his game and give him respect.



So is Mike Jones another drug dealer turned rapper story like 50 Cent?



No..that’s no longer the storyline, the new storyline is drug dealer turned business man..rapping ain’t where it’s at, the lick comes with those publishing rights.



Have you heard the album?



No..but I like Mike Jones tho, he got them boys sittin’ sideways



Sittin sideways?



Mind in a daze, on a Sunday night he might play him some Maze.



Alright..you lost me again, now you went from talking about some dude named Mike Jones, to talking about Frankie Beverly and Maze.



I’m not trippin tho, everybody out there on the street that’s reading this can see that I’m still tippin on fo-fo’z



What the hell is tippin on‘fo-fo’z’??



That depends..on the Southside when somebody say they tippin on fo’z, they could mean sippin on a pint (= 4 ounces) of codeine syrup or they could mean tipping through the hood on some twenty-fo (24) inch rims (them BIG twankies!!)..Still Tippin. It’s one of the strongest street songs of the year.



You do that?



Do what?



Tip on fo-fo’z??



Naww..rims and syrup have never been my thang.



What is your thang then, since you seem to know all this street rap music stuff?



I write modern prose…real life depictions of the human condition on planet earth.



So what does that have to do with Mike Jones?



Mike Jones is a real person..and his music depicts real life as he sees it here in H-town, so I feel the flow to write about it. Especially since I’m also an artist that’s grinding to put a product out there on the street..I’m peepin his marketing scheme.



But I thought you was supposed to be writing telling people about the Lord?




I am..but that don’t mean you can’t get your game tight and observe methods of distributing your work to as many people as possible. That hype goes a long way in selling a product. That’s where my Distribution Manager for Servinemup Ink comes in.. He’s a street hustla. Curvey focuses on the distribution channels and I focus on the content..quality, not quantity. Cuz when you put out a high quality product, people will come back fiendin for more. It’s kinda like what Manny Fresh from Big Tymers said in that song, “I ain’t gotta get money mane, money get ME!!”



Oh I see..you trying to copy off other n’gaz paper??



(smiling) Hmmm...that’s what writers do..we observe life and put it to work through the pen.



What part of the Southside is Studewood in?





Studewood isn’t on the Southside, Studewood is over there on that north..near Yale and N. Main..E. 39th Street..over that way.



How do you know so much about it?



The high school (Booker T!!) I went to is in Studewood.



That’s a white neighborhood??



Naww..Studewood is a historically all black lower income / working class neighborhood, a lot like the one I grew up in in Sunnyside.



Do ya’ll have that gang thang going on in Houston, you know Northside vs Southside??



You have some people that get caught up into all that..representing their clique and all that..but where I’m from, we were all down for each other in the heat of competition, but it wasn’t nothing to start set tripping about. Real players are real players, no matter what side you’re from.



So I guess you’re about to unify the kingdom then huh? Bring that Southside and Northside together?



I will if the Lord says the same..and the good Lord gave me respect on the Southside as well as the North. N’gaz that went to Booker T. Washington..class of 88’ and those years nearby know about D. E. Washington..they know what the D and the E stands for..ya feel me? Whether it’s with my Southside homies or with my Northside podnas..I ain’t got to front to kick it with nobody. Even those who have a hard time being happy for a n’ga just cuz they’re jealous that it ain’t them pimpin pens on the internet



That’s real.



Already.



____________________________________________



The best thing I can tell all of you is to do all you can so that you don’t have any broken relationships. When you’re real and upfront with the people around you, they will respect you for your honesty..even if you tend to act like a d’mn fool like I do from time to time. Soo..basically I just wanted to say thank you. I already thank the Lord everyday for making a way for D…because the Lord has already shown me the Promised Land and just like Joshua and Caleb, D. Wash and Curvey are running through with Servinemup Ink..it’s realer than you thank. When you have the Lord on your side..who can be against you? You gotta feel that..cuz once you can FEEL that..that’s when you start orbing with that power of the Spirit. People always ask me what’s this trip I’m on, and I just gotta tell em..it’s that Blood mane. It’s that Blood that gives me strength, from day to day. It shall NEVER lose it’s power. That Blood rolls deeper than them Southside n’gaz, and even more so than Northside n’gaz, the God of Israel NEVER sleeps.



Once I tasted it..and saw how good it really is..I started looking around at all those people out there who are dying of spiritual malnutrition..constantly feeding their soul spiritual junk food..never coming to the table to eat that solid food of the Word, never drinking from the living water. And it made me wonder? D’mn! Why don’t everybody see how good Jesus really is??



That question stumped me..it confounded me..I wanted to get a crew of riders together and go start kidnapping heathens and making them taste the Word, forcing it down their heads so to speak. But the truth is..that Word ain’t for everybody. It’s much too hot for some folks to handle. Cuz it calls out too much sh’t in their life that they ain’t ready to give up. Some people take that Word in sips. Sipping on the pieces that are palatable to their lifestyle…



Look! Right here! The Bible say that the wife is supposed to SUBMIT to her husband!! That mean you supposed to do what I say!!!



Once a married union starts picking up that Bible to settle their differences, that’s when you’re liable to have some serious changing take place. Cuz just as easy and convenient as it is for men to pick up the Bible and demand that their wives submit to their will, that same Bible serves as a branding iron that brings to light all of the janky and throwed off sh’t that n’gaz are doing that their spouses don’t even know about. Yeah..don’t put it down NOW n’ga..that same Bible that told your wife to submit to you is the same Bible that tells you to love your wife as you love yourself. Are you loving her? Or are you just playing the game? Cuz those women get a lot deeper than just making sure all the bills are paid, it’s a lot more to being a husband than just cutting the grass or changing the oil in a car. Once you become a husband, you have to get up on your husbandry game..cuz your woman is like a flower and you have to tend to her to make sure she’s being nourished like she needs to be to flourish. And it ain’t no standard set of rules..some women are like cactus..they don’t even need much water to survive..but others are tender like orchids, and they need much more care and attention to bloom to their full potential that the Lord meant for them to be. Are you doing that?? You said ‘I do’ n’ga!! Well?? Do you??





That’s the kind of stuff that I had to learn on the fly in my marriage..but once again, thanks to Jesus..my wife and I weathered some pretty fierce storms that blew through our lives. People see us smiling and all hugged up on each other these days, but what you don’t see is the blood, sweat and tears it took for us just to make it to our wedding day. And for all ya’ll that keep doubting or wondering, ‘Why Jesus tho?’ then let me just tell you point blank..without Jesus, there is no love. Without Jesus there is no compassion. Without Jesus there is no forgiveness. I know there’s a lot of single people out there who have no idea what I’m talking about, but for those who have been in the marriage game for a minute, you know that those stormy days ARE gonna come mane. And if you ain’t got no Rock to anchor your house and family on, then you’re bound to drizzown fool!



What you go do? Play that ‘My marriage is a complete and pure democracy’ or maybe some of that ‘Joint Dictatorship’ type thang? Or maybe you one of those socialist leaning granolas that think we all should just ‘be’?? I don’t care what flavor you sip on, as you go through your marriage, at some point your relationship is going to demand order. Love and respect mane!! I can’t see that happening any other way than through the atoning power found in the Blood of Jesus Christ. Yeah..I know it sounds kinda spooky and cultish..maybe a little ‘Jim Jonesy drink the Kool-Aid’ out there kinda talk. But that’s just because you’ve never tasted the pure Word of the Lord. Well let me take that back..cuz some people taste it..and it makes their body and soul start feeling kinda..’funny’..and they don’t like that feeling, so they consciously avoid it.



Let me know when you back to talking about rims and sippin syrup D..all that Jesus talk ain’t even me.



Mmmhmm..yeah..I know n’ga. You can’t handle all this here..cuz that Word is too hot for ya. But look here..the next time you have to sit on that front row at the funeral..you’re going to think about Jesus then mane..you betta believe that. And if you haven’t built a relationship with Him for yourself..and you’re been floating around aimless avoiding any type of spiritual commitment, not honoring any form of religious conviction? Those are the folks you see that are the most tore up when their loved one passes. Those folks who have no hope for the future, all their living is being done here on earth, they don’t believe in being present with the Lord once they’re absent from the body. To them, death is just like going to sleep forever.



But to n’gaz like me?? That believe in the full gospel of Jesus Christ?? We’re expecting to rise again just as soon as that trump blows. Or maybe some of us today will still be living on earth when the King returns and we’ll be raptured up into the cloud of glory..don’t sleep on the prize of the Lord mane..cuz eyes have not seen and ears have not heard the treasures the Lord has in store for those who love Him. That’s what Paul broke down in his first letter (epistle) to the Corinthians:



But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. – I Corinthians 2:9



But when you really study the scripture, you’ll see that Paul wasn’t writing anything new, he was ‘jacking’ what the prophet Isaiah wrote several hundred years before.



For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. – Isaiah 64:4



In case ya’ll didn’t know..I’m BIG Isaiah fan. He’s my favorite prophet, whose name means, ‘The Lord is Salvation’. Isaiah is quoted directly in the New Testament over 65 times, far more than any other Old Testament prophet, and he’s mentioned by name over 20 times. And the thing about brother Isaiah..is that when you read the book that bears his name, you will realize some stunning parallels that will make you understand why it’s often referred to as ‘The Bible in miniature’ There are 66 chapters in Isaiah, as there are 66 books in the Bible. And the thing about Isaiah, is that he shot called so many of the Messianiac prophecies that were all fulfilled right down to the jot and tittle through the virgin birth, life, death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.. Isaiah breaks it down so real, that you’ll see a gradual change in mood and tone between the first 39 chapters and the remaining 27 chapters of the book. Much like the difference between the 39 books of the Old Testament and the remaining 27 books of the New Testament..God has always had a plan to comfort Zion.



And when you start reading about that Sin Bearing Servant around the 53rd chapter of Isaiah..you’ll start feeling this eager anticipation and excitement that reaches down into your soul and there will be a stirring. And by the time you get through the invitation to an abundant life found in the 55th chapter..you’ll be down on your knees in tears, cuz you’ll finally see the rope of saving Grace and Mercy that God has lowered down to save us from the storm since eternity past. At least that’s what happened to D…other people have different testimonies to how they came to Christ and different ways in which the Spirit moved into their heart, but I can just tell you about how it happened to me. All the doubts I had about Jesus being THE ONE, were removed when I read the entire book of Isaiah with a humble spirit and teachable heart. Of course, it wasn’t just Isaiah I was reading, it was during my journey through the Bible in it’s entirety..but all the doubts I had before of Christianity being some ‘game’ or some religious paradox built to control the masses, left me. I was no longer an agnostic..I stood up and accepted my calling into the family of Believers.



Now the thing about standing up for Christ, is that once you stand up, you make yourself visible to the crowd. All your agnostic and/or atheist podnas that you used to hang with will start looking at you kinda crazy thinking, ‘What is this n’ga trippin on??’ Standing up will make you more visible for the haters to find things about you to criticize and when you stand up, that beast will start hounding you even more, cuz he’s the #1 hater and he doesn’t want ANYONE to have peace and love in their heart. So that’s why you’ve got to remain steadfast and unmovable in your faith, putting on that full armour of God, because the battle is raging ya’ll..everyday all day. And once you make that decision to be part of the solution, instead of a selfish spectator..that’s when that beast is going to start hitting you the hardest. Giving you all kinda reasons on why you shouldn’t bow down and worship Jesus Christ.



Some Catholics are still a bit salty about how I denounced their practice of worshipping mortal men, like the Pope or the Virgin Mary. If I felt that Jesus was a mere mortal, I wouldn’t worship Him, that would be foolish on my part. But since I believe that Jesus existed as a part of God since the beginning and just like Abraham ‘The Father of Faith’ foreshadowed the spotless sacrifice with his son Isaac, God offered His ONLY Son as an atoning sacrifice for all those who believe in Him, I feel that I worship the true and living God..the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob (Israel). So that’s just where I am and that’s how I choose to live my life and raise my family. You can’t just talk about Jesus..when He’s real to you, you keep Him close to your heart and you start living through Him. It’s that Blood that gives me the strength from day to day…it shall never lose it’s power ya’ll.



So..now ya’ll know what I believe..we can gone and get into this thing about mixed marriages..cuz it’s some of that real that a lot of folks don’t like to talk about. So it all started Sunday before last when my wife and I went over to some friends house to watch the final round of the Master’s Golf Tournament and eat crawfish with some close friends of ours. I know a lot of ya’ll don’t get into that golf thang, but when Tiger Woods is atop the leaderboard at Augusta National on Sunday afternoon, even folks who never watch golf find themselves watching what that n’ga is about to do next. Black folks are quick to grab Tiger and claim him as one of ‘ours’..



Yeah yeah! I know his mama is from Thailand and his daddy is half black and half Indian or something like that..but just LOOK at that n’ga mane!! Look at his skin, look at his lips, look at the way his body is built..Tiger Woods is black mane!!



When you really get down to the legal definition of what it means to be black..or colored..African-American..or whatever the latest nome du jour is for my people, it’s surprising to find that America has historically recognized black blood as a dominant gene pool as displayed in the Jim Crow ‘one drop’ rule. If a person’s lineage could be traced back to even ONE ancestor being black..then that person was black, period. Back when I wrote a couple of the On the DL articles, some people remarked at how surprised they were that a ‘progressive minded’ person like myself would be against supporting same-sex marriages. The battle cry on the legal front has caused a lot of lawyers to revert back to America’s past laws of miscegenation, which outlawed white people from marrying black people. People want to act as if this is the ‘old’ America and ain’t nobody tripping on that anymore, but our reality in society today is still very similar to the climate back in 1967 when the Supreme Court had to overturn previous state policies that prohibited any form of racial interbreeding.





For example, Virginia's Racial Integrity Act of 1924 made it "unlawful for any white person in this state to marry any save a white person, or a person with no other admixture of blood than white and American Indian." In writing the statute, one of the challenges that the Virginia racists faced was their own proud history. According to a publication from the Registrar of the State Bureau of Vital Statistics, the law had to take account of "the desire of all to recognize as an integral and honored part of the white race the descendants of John Rolfe and Pocahontas." Because of the Pocahontas loophole, you could have a little Indian blood (one great-great-grandparent) and still be counted as white. But "every person in whom there is ascertainable any negro blood shall be deemed and taken to be a colored person."

The law automatically voided all marriages between whites and blacks. The law prohibited leaving the state to get married and then returning, and specified that the "fact of their cohabitation here as man and wife shall be evidence of their marriage." The penalty was stiff: "If any white person intermarry with a colored person, or any colored person intermarry with a white person, he shall be guilty of a felony and shall be punished by confinement in the penitentiary for not less than one nor more than five years."

Virginia judges continued to defend anti-miscegenation laws for decades. In 1955, the State Supreme Court of Appeals decided that the laws served legitimate purposes, including: "to preserve the racial integrity of its citizens," and to prevent "the corruption of blood," "a mongrel breed of citizens," and "the obliteration of racial pride."

The trial that eventually made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where anti-miscegenation laws were overturned, involved a Virginia couple, Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving. On January 6, 1959, they pleaded guilty to the charge of miscegenation, and were sentenced to a year in jail, which they could avoid by leaving Virginia and staying out for 25 years. The trial judge said:

Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, Malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.

The Lovings left Virginia for awhile, but in 1963 they challenged the law in Federal court. When the anti-miscegenation laws were finally toppled in 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court said (in Loving v. Virginia) that distinctions between citizens solely because of their ancestry was "odious to a free people whose institutions are founded upon the doctrine of equality."



The wild part is, a lot of Bible thumpers (white and black) who were against allowing racial intergration, used Bible scriptures to support their arguments. Claiming that God Himself was against it, thereby they were against it. They pulled out some good verses too, showing the early fathers of faith categorically instructing their children not to intermarry with Caananites and other ‘heathen’ nations. So people took these Bible verses and ran with it, attempting to justify their prejudices through Scripture. And the laws held up, all the way until 1967.



So now, we’re sitting down watching Tiger do his thing in 2005, and by the time he made that AMAZING chip that slowly tumbled in for birdie on hole #16 in Amen’s Corner, even my wife and the other women who barely even understand the game of golf, let alone watch it, were on their feet screaming!





Tiger is the MAN!!



That was SOOO great!!



Yeah…too bad he’s married to a white girl.



That made me pause for a bit, because although I had seen Tiger’s wife, it never struck me as him being a ‘sell-out’ or anything like that because he married a Swede. That’s when I realized that a lot of the people who were against miscegenation weren’t just the white folks, but a lot of the black folks too. Which makes you realize that just because you’re fighting for the same cause or the same law, doesn’t always mean that it’s for the same reason.



I wasn’t tripping on Tiger, because I’ve studied his history. Tiger is a SoCal boy..he grew up in a predominately white environment playing a sport that was predominately a white institution. His mother is Thai, his father is mixed and he’s filthy rich. What is it that binds him or obligates him to marry from his same race? I mean..how many other women out there are mixed with Thai, Black and Indian?? I’m sure his mother and all her people were tripping cuz he didn’t marry a Thai woman..I mean, you never know. But although Tiger has transcended dealing with a lot of the everyday bullsh’t and bigotry that us field n’gaz on the street have to deal with..you better believe he still has to deal with it. Yeah Tiger is paid now, but you can bet money that Tiger knows what it feels like to be treated like a n’ga by them white folks. And for him to choose a wife from a European heritage really kinda irks at the craw of a lot of black folks, especially the sisters who have felt ignored and overlooked for so long by their own brothers..



Why is it, whenever a n’ga gets some money, the first thang he wanna do is marry a white gull???



People have asked me several times what I think about mixed marriages and my opinion has evolved to a point that’s rooted in Biblical truth, but still cognizant of the reality that we live.



Do I think that God disapproves of interracial marriage?

No..I don’t think God is ‘tripping’ on the race thang, I don’t even think God sees us in color, He looks at the inside at our hearts.



Would I want my son or daughter to marry someone outside of their race?

No..I would prefer that they find a mate that is within their same race, for the simple fact of all the added issues they will have to deal with in their marriage as well as what their offspring will have to deal with. Kids who are the products of mixed marriages have a whole different set of identity issues that they have to sort through and figure out. Of course it happens, and we all have to deal with something, but it’s not something that will make their life any easier if you ask me.



But if you really get ‘in’ to that Bible, you will see that God’s plan for marriage and His commands for the children of Israel to avoid interbreeding, wasn’t about color but rather about nurturing your relationship with the Lord. When you spend all your time and marry people who don’t worship the Almighty God, whether they’re pagan worshippers or even atheist..well, it’s bound to affect your faith also. And the more you interbreed with people who don’t worship the Lord, the more you’re susceptible to stray away from Him. Maybe not in this generation, but it will start showing up via a watering down of faith process through your progeny. THAT is the interbreeding that the Lord warns against throughout Scripture.



And for those people who are already in a ‘mixed’ marriage, not racially, but rather spiritually mixed and now they’re looking around for a reason to leave, then you can’t use the Bible as an excuse to divorce that ‘heathen’ you married now either. Cuz once you get married, the Bible exhorts the Believing spouse to stay in the marriage even through the tribulations, because through your faith, the unbelieving spouse might be saved.



Didja get all of that? If you’re single, then you need to understand what it means to be equally yoked. It’s not just about sexual energy or having someone you can talk to, the foundation of a healthy and successful marriage starts with the mutual acknowledgement and submission to the Word of God. If you have that Bible that you can both go to in prayer, studying and meditating on, it’s a unifying bond that the world can never break. And it makes a lot of common sense when you think about it, because if you have an unequally yoked set of animals, one is going to be stronger than the other and invariably, instead of getting the work done, you’ll find that an unmatched set ends up going in circles. Hmm..going in circles..does that sound familiar to you? (laughing) Let me gone and stop tripping, getting all up in grown folks business! Ya’ll just better dig into that Word and lock down like a pit mane..and don’t forget to pray… EVRADAY!!!



So..there ya go..a treatise on Mixed Marriages, servinemup style. Don’t start tripping, I’m from H-town mane..the city that’s steady tippin, I’m go make the North and the South feel D. Wash.. “Back then, didn’t want me, now I’m hot? All up on me…”