I Won't Stop Rocking Till I Retire

It's been the best of Bed Stuy the past 2 days. Brunch at Peaches, dinner at Saraghina. A beautiful lotus flower tattoo from Brandy at Tuff Gurl. Walking with my daughter on SOLA where she reveled in the beauty of black americans like herself going about there daily business, eating in nice restaurants, shopping at black owned book stores, reading the newspaper and working on laptops outside of Bread Stuy. I wonder if I do enough to teach her black history, I being a non spanish speaking Puerto-Rican might not be the best qualified for this job. I bought her black barbies and kept her hair braided (like Talib rhymes about in Black Girl Pain). I bought her books like Black White Just Right!, about being mixed. I encouraged her to watch The Making Of Thriller DVD and MJ's other music videos instead of Disney movies. I don't think I did enough though, and i'm not sure how much you can do being the parent of a mixed kid (I don't like the word bi-racial). Being black has been the hot topic in our home this week. We watch alot of cable news and the Soledad O'Brien, Being Black In America has been on, the Professor at Harvard, Henry Louis Gates being arrested IN HIS HOME BY A WHITE COP, The Sotomayor hearing, the mess at Prospect Park, lots of fuel is being added to the already blazing fire that is racism and sexism in this country. I am just grateful that we live in Bed Stuy. That at any given time there are professionals, musicians, cyclist, moms, dads, students, skateboarders, volunteers, church people, all of color all handling there business together. Ohh and cars are still blaring MJ as they drive down these beautiful brownstone lined streets!