O man, don't forget the mosquito repellent.

You know it's a slow news weekend when the biggest national news was the O family taking a trip to Yosemite. The first black first family doing the camping thing is kind of cool, so maybe the news cycle is running on low, but this is nice news to hear about. At least I think it is.

Us black folks don't do the camping thing too much. (Present company excluded of course.)We just don't get out and enjoy the wonders of nature enough. Most of us live our lives in large urban areas and some of us never leave. We rarely expose our kids to the wonders of the outdoors, and that's kind of sad. Oh field, give me a break. Black folks don't have time for that crap. We are too busy trying to work two jobs and make ends meet. Camping and enjoying the great outdoors and A-merry-ca's parks is expensive. That's for white folks.

Okay, I admit it might be expensive, and it might take some sacrifices to come up with the ends to take a field trip. But I was reading my girl Carmen Dixon over at AOL Black Voices, and she had some quotes from a black park ranger (When was the last time you saw a black park ranger?) which I found interesting:

"It's bigger than just African Americans not visiting national parks. It's a disassociation from the natural world,' said Johnson, who has worked in Yosemite for the past 15 of his 22 years in the Park Service. 'I think it is, in part, a memory of the horrible things that were done to us in rural America.'The rejection of the natural world by the black community, he said, is a scar left over from slavery.'All Snoop Dogg has to do is go camping in Yosemite, and it would change the world,' said Johnson, 51. 'If Oprah Winfrey went on a road trip to the national parks, it would do more than I have done in my whole career.."

Well, I don't know if we want Snoop in Yosemite there Ranger Johnson, all that crip walking might scare the bears, but I get your point. Look, as a people we need to force ourselves to be exposed to certain things. We need to expose our children to things that they might or might not enjoy. Just because we might not like hiking, fishing or camping, doesn't mean that our kids won't enjoy or learn to love those activities. Exposure to different things and different ways of life is never a bad thing.

I don't know, instead of throwing Rev. Love a C note for the church building fund, buying that 32 inch color television for the basement, or spending three hundred a month on our note for the whip instead of six, maybe we could plan a nice trip to one of the national parks with the kids for a weekend. I am just sayin. We can't let other people have all the fun.

Does she really care? And should we care if she does?

I love my girl Carmen Dixon over at AOL Black Voices, and I have lifted a couple of her posts lately for discussion here.

So here comes another one. It involves my man Russell Simmons and his latest par amour, who just happens to be white. Seems she said a few thinks that pissed off Carmen and she [Carmen] put girlfriend on blast.

This is what Ms. Blanca Def Jam said:

"I have been spending "special time" with Russell for about 4 months and in that time I have learned some subtle things about some in the black community that have surprised me.I must say that while it has been a bit of a challenge for me, it has also been a wonderful learning experience. I realize that in this day of Obama and change that there is still a tremendous amount of poverty, suffering and pain in the black community, and for that I am deeply sorry. Source: Young Black and Fabulous [Carmen writes]Who is she apologizing to? And for what? She continues."

"But, I have to say the angry responses to those realities are sometimes misdirected....Just for the record, I am nobody's white b*tch, gold digger or fame chaser. Nor am I any of the other mean things I have been called lately. I don't need anything from anybody, I come from a good family and I'm a young independent "successful" model making my way in NYC. (If you don't believe me google me or go to juliehenderson.net). Finally, I just wanna say that Russell has been a great "special" friend and I'm sure as sh*t not giving him up cause some in America object to our friendship. I wanna close by saying, what Russell always says, Namaste. (That means the goddess in me recognizes the goddess in you)....Or, b*tch get your own man." Source: Global Grind

[Carmen Again]Pobre [sic] Julie. Thank you for offering such a carefully worded and articulate expression of the hardship you are enduring. I am oh so sorry that there are mean people. Despite your confessed unfamiliarity with black issues, you must be a very quick study to now (after 4 months) be able to accurately distinguish random "misdirected" black anger from a personal beef that some particular females may have with you specifically. By the way, what exactly is a "good" family? Just asking."

This article is relevant because we just had a discussion about this after my previous post. I am talking about the relationship dynamic between men of color and their women, and the role that women from the majority population play in it. The article brings us a woman from the majority population trying (or so she says) to understand us black folks and "learn" about us. So what's wrong with that? If that white woman from Bucks County knew about us do you think she would have accused two of us of jacking her? Hey, come on folks, don't we want more white women like Julie Henderson? Isn't this one less white woman who is going to cry wolf because she is "learning" about us?

I am just thinking out loud people......don't ask me for my opinion just yet.....well, before I go, just one question for Julie: Just what kind of "poverty" did you see in the black community hanging with Russell? I am just saying.

Story here.