Thursday, February 26, 2015
Monday, February 16, 2015
WHITE PEOPLE WITH AFROS ?
I was surfing the internet this morning and stumbled across a photo from the 18th century that showed a white woman with a big giant Afro ! I did a little investigating and here's what I found out.
The Circassians are an ethnic group from the North Caucasus, an area in southwest Russia between the Black and Caspian seas.
In the 18th century Russians drove the Circassians from their homeland and deported them to the Ottoman Empire. At least 600,000 people lost their lives to massacre, starvation, and the elements while hundreds of thousands more were forced to leave their homeland. By 1864, three-fourths of the population was annihilated, and the Circassians had become one of the first stateless peoples in modern history.
Russia has denied all claims of a genocide and last year there were protests regarding the Sochi Olympics because the event fell on the 150th anniversary of the genocide.
Historians say all these people did was comb out their hair. Really ? So that's how they got hair like Frederick Douglas ?
After centuries of race & ethnic mixing, genocide,etc. most of the Afros are gone. However, their traditional hat is called " The Georgian Chokha" which looks like a big curly Afro !
So the next time you see a White person with an Afro they may not be copying you. You may be copying them.......
LISA
Monday, February 9, 2015
EVERYBODY WAS KUNG FU FIGHTING !
In the 1970's every one from Elvis to the mailman was during some form of martial arts. Most people did it for fun & exercise & some took it more seriously. Jim Kelly falls into the category of the "serious".
Jim Kelly was born May 5, 1946 in Millsburg Kentucky. He was always in sports & after his first year of college he dropped out to study Shorin-ryu karate. I'm pretty sure back then people thought he was crazy!
By the 1970's he was an experienced martial artist, he had learned another form of karate called Okinawan, and he opened up his own karate school in the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles (shout out to Crenshaw !)
His school became so popular he started teaching karate to celebrities which landed him his first acting role in the 1972 movie Melinda where he played a karate instructor .
Then a year later Jim's whole world changed. Warner Brothers Studio was about to film the first Chinese martial arts film ever produced by a major Hollywood studio. It was called ENTER THE DRAGON, starring none other than Bruce Lee !
Filming was to start in a matter of days & the actor Rockne Tarkington, backed out at the last minute so the studio needed a replacement.
Producer Fred Weintraub heard about Jim Kelly's school, went to check it out & history was made !! Jim became the first Black martial arts film star !
ENTER THE DRAGON was a huge success & Jim went on to make other films with him as the star or he was paired up in movies with Jim Brown & Fred Williamson.
After his movie career ended he didn't mind because he was an athlete first and and an actor 2nd. He still kept active & would attend various fan conventions and starred in a Nike commercial with LeBron James !
He died on June 29, 2013, of cancer at his home in San Diego, California. He was 67 years old. I remember that day very well. My heart sank I've watched his movies off and on through out the years, taking them for granted. The 6 foot two Brotha with the big afro and the six pack abs may be gone but I just finished watching ENTER THE DRAGON. I guess Jim will always be with us.
LISA
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