Ack! I hate being sick!!!!! I swear it feels like someone kicked me in the chest cuz of all the coughing I've been doing. Gross! Anywho, I went to a luncheon today for Black UCB Alumni, and I have mixed emotions about the day. It was so wonderful to meet people from all walks of life, willing to share about their struggles and successes. I mean, there were people that attended and graduated from Cal in the 1940s! Amazing. They talked about the politics they had to encounter during their time there (i.e. racism, etc.). But then there were the bougie (sp?), "I'm too good to talk to you" kind of folks in the house ass well. I was sitting next to this woman and she had me dying the whole time. She was so real. She was a graduate of the class of 1971. She told me about how she was supposed to have been done in 1961, but she took time off to get married, have three kids, then got divorced. It was so cool to be around such positive people of color. But back to the bougie (sp?), there was one particular table that stood out to me. Everyone was of a lighter complexion and they only associated amongst themselves. It's amazing how people still by into that brown paper bag theory. I mean they would hardly look into anyone else direction. The woman that was sitting next to me was telling me how she gets so sick of interacting with people that are so full of themselves. I concur wholeheartedly.

For the sake of my adoring public, I am updating my blog... LOL! Wow, what is there to say? After class the other day, Ana, Karen and I spoke to one of the students about his thesis topic. He wrote about the culmination of the civil rights movement and sports. In particular, he focused on a Black baseball player named Larry Dolby. Now, I have followed baseball for a long time, but that name has never come up. Anyway, the guy who wrote the thesis is a history major, and is really interested in the roots of racism, social injustice and such. He talked about how "Whiteness" was defined in the late 19th and early 20th centuries... fascinating stuff. He then went on to talk about Larry Dolby and Jackie Robinson, and who would be the first Black person to play professional baseball. They both had similar backgrounds and such (served in the Navy during WWII, went to college, etc.). But here was the main reason Jackie Robinson was picked over Larry Dolby. As you would imagine, segragation was still rampant at that time, and at the ball parks, there were white sections and black sections. It all came down to who had the lighter skinned wife, in order for her to pass and sit in the white section. Can you frickin' believe that?!?! A guy missed out on his chance to make history beacsue his wife was too dark to sit in a frickin' seat!!! The student went on to talk about all the accalaides and and such that Jackie Robinson has receieved (retired number in all major league ball parks, hall of fame induction, numersous autobiographies and films, etc.). And Larry Dolby was finally inducted 50 years after his career was over and only has one biography, in which he barely gave input on. Was it that bad that there couldn't be two Black players in baseball at that time? Dayum!