I knew this attention would grab your nosey asses on in here; either that, I shamelessly pimped out this blog. 

I have been sitting on this blog for a second and after reading one of my favorite blogger's  blog. today, I decided, what the hey, let me leave my usual format and scratch an itch.

Disclosure:  I also love me some peeps of the Caucasian persuasion, so please dont get your choniez all bent out of shape, this is just a little sarcasm, and you Old School readers, know I am an equal opportunist when it comes to clowning.  Err, especially when it comes to my own family.  Speaking of which, I have a Hummer of a blog coming up, complements of a certain family member.

So I pimped out this book in a previous blog, because, well I thought it was funny and I was teasing Sharon that I was gonna learn about her cousins so I can identify more with her, thus taking our relationship to the next level!  Ha-ha, yeah right, I was looking for more reasons to talk some mad loving shit to her.  We always talk shit to each other when her Cousins or my Cousins do something stupid and make a Gaw Damn fool of themselves on TV, ultamitely in our minds, taking our peeps progress back a couple of decades.

 I swear to Gah, when shit hits the fan, we always say to each other, Was he black?  Was he Latino?  And if the pervert or idiot wasnt, we would sigh in relief.  If he was one of our Cousins, we would hang our head in shame like it was our own family member who publicly shamed the family name. We also do it because, well, it gives us something else to talk shit about. Dont take offense either, cause our intentions really are good, its just who can pass up a good opportunity to talk some mad shit when no one is listening? Stupid knows no color, mmmkay?

Back to the book, "How to Make friends with Black People" by Nick Adams

Oh this book was chock full of stereotypes, one-liners, observations and yet it also has a gang of truth to it.  Some of it I could relate too, just for the fact of being a lighter shade of brown, and we too, experience some of the same discriminations.  But ok, some of it was way over the top, (to me) but I am sure he wrote it that way to grab your attention, and grabs, he does, mmmkay? And,  ok, I am sure a lot of it was from his personal experience as well.

It was actually a great read; funny and both sad at the same time.  He cracked me up with his analogy about Brittany Spears.  Yes, you read right, homeboy had room in his book to clown Ms. Spears and her Man.  Dont let that frighten you, it was all in context and it will have you nodding your head when you are finished with that particular chapter. In fact, the man has skills with clowning a lot celebrities who take themselves way too seriously.  He gets big Props just for some of the clowning opportunities he so flawlessly took advantage of.  Triple Kudo's to him.

He had one chapter that really hit home and I am not sure if it was a good thing. Lol.  Pero, he talks about how his peeps will go somewhere, i.e., a bar, a different side of town, or anywhere that may be unfamiliar and immediately seek out other black peeps.  If he spots another brotha he says he immediately sighs a deep breath and will relax the rest of the evening.  He claims he does this just in case shit goes down and he needs someone to have his back.  Pretty presumptuous of him, but hey, that is just my opinion and who am I to question his ethics.

Now I aint saying because he wrote this down in his book, that this is the gospel to all brotherly love, but it just cracked me up because Sharon, and some of her homies, does the same thing.  Anytime we go anywhere, she will immediately survey the crowd and looks for her peeps.  One year our families went to Puerto Vallarta to an all inclusive resort, and damn it if she wasnt playing I spy for another black family.  By day two she and the other Black family spotted each other and both families were high fiving each other like they just spotted a long lost friend.  I thought it was hilarious.  She would tell me, Yoli, dont act like you dont do it either when you dont see any Latinos around.  It was that time that I had to school her on my peeps.

I was like, Guat?  Shieeeeeeeeeeeet, the last person I am looking for is another Latino!  I go to a lot of places and or functions where I will be the only Latina around.  Maybe it was because as a child I grew up in a predominately white neighborhood.  The only Latinos around were pushing lawn mowers and I wasnt trying to bond with the Gardner.  Funny how I married one, but thats another blog.  Or maybe it is because we are some scary folk.  Maybe it is because we know damn sure that if we saw another Latino; we KNOW they wouldnt have our back if shit went down.  Ok, well maybe on a good night, but for the most part, I told her we act like we dont see each other.  I told her, "Hell, sometimes if I see someone I knew from a long time ago, I will go out of my way to try and not run into them!" (I am working on that)  But I know my family is the same way.  A typical scenario would be.

Dont look, but So-and-So is over there! 

Or, Oh shit, there is whats her name, lets bounce!

I know I am not the only one, because even George Lopez made reference to it in one of his stand up shows, and he got rounds of applauses. I would tell Sharon, See!  Its just not me!  She tells me, yeah, I bet if you saw me somewhere, you probably would run off in the other direction! Lol, but uh, she is probably right!  Ok, I keed, I keed.  But I have been working on not falling into the habit of avoiding a wave of someone I see out in the streets.

IThe sad truth is; some of us folk are really bent on hating on each other.  I am forever putting my kids in check if I hear them talking shit about other Latino kids who are from south of the border or even from southern California.  For those of you who do not live in California, there is a HUGE problem of Latinos from North vs. South.  It is hella stupid, and most will grow out of it if they are lucky, but a lot of lives get lost for nothing but stupid misguided pride.  I have to remind my youngest son and lil sister, that uh, hello, we have hella family from the Los Angeles area, and not to mention, that his Daddy is a true Paisa, and his little ghetto wannabee ass wouldnt be here if it werent for me falling for his daddy, mmmkay?  Thankfully they are starting to get it and are slowly realizing that we are all responsible for ourselves and cant live life pointing fingers at others while being in constant victim mode.

Wow, I totally got off the subject, but I hope you get my point, cuz I barely do.  Anyway, if anything, just for pure entertainment purposes, read the book.  I am sure we all can learn a little about ourselves between the lines of his words.

P.S.  I get this a lot from well meaning people too. (He covers this great sentence in his book too)

Yoli, my best friend is a Messican. Or even sometimes I will get, Yoli, our favorite maid was a messican!  She sure had a way with a mop

Gee Thanks!

P.P.S, While looking at some of the reviews, I couldn't help but laugh at this review:

"I'm not black "per se" but some of my best friends are black people so I was totally "down" with what this man was talking about. It was very well written and exposed a lot of myths regarding people of color. But it did leave me confused on how to make friends with Oprah which is sort of why I bought the book".