where I invoke the name of this blog

** the original name of this blog was "colorized paganism" **

Ok, let me type like the edumacated person I am.

So, I have 3 blogs and have ignored them all for months on end because life has been so shitty and I prefer losing myself in the Sims instead. I realized the past few days that I've missed blogging so I'll shift things here and leave the other 2 behind for awhile.

That said, I was cleaning out my email (I'm horrible at that and usually just let things disappear on their own) and came across the reminder from the Open Hearth Foundation that the National Capitol Region Pagan Pride Week begins Sept. 6th.

(oh goody)

I attended the event in NoVa where I live (I avoid DC and MD like the PLAGUE) and made some observations I'm anxious to re-investigate this year -

Pagan white folks are just as bigoted as regular christian white folks

Uh, if you didn't know, I'm a half breed. Yes, that's what I self-identify as. I don't identify as black (except when I'm forced to by society). Mom's black, Dad was white, I'm the best of both. End of discussion.

So anywho..My personal experiences within the pagan community are really no different from those within our secular community as a whole. A lot of blank stares, on-edge conversations, fake smiles - you know, the same shit you get in this country if you're NOT white in a group of white folks who are either a) nervous; b) have no clue how to converse with a person of color; c) closet bigots; d) open bigots; e) drowning in "white guilt" or f) all of the above.

(yeah, i'm fucking FRANK)

But I think I know another reason why my fellow pagans are less than welcoming - THEY THINK THEY HAVE THE LOCK ON PAGANISM.

(i laugh..i laugh out loud)

Um, maybe I was taught something radical in my youth, but didn't we all come the hell up out of Africa? So, like wouldn't that make Africans the ORIGINAL polytheists? Sorta makes everyone else a wannabe, no?

And this struck me after the events last year when I had a brief but enlightening email discourse with Isaac Bonewits (warning: hero worship SQUEE!!) who told me that Voudun was his first experience with paganism. (He said some other shit I can't remember nor can I locate the friggin emails now.) But the gist of the convo was that white folks forget that there's more to paganism than just wicca, druidism etc. - those "traditional" white pagan practices.

So to make what could be a VERY long story short - I can't wait til this year's event. I want to see just how open the white folks are this go round. Now let me clarify this - not all white pagans are assholes. I wouldn't be interested in the slightest in attending anything pagan if they were. I have met and know a lot of normal folks who couldn't give a fuck whether you're orange or magenta. They tend to be my friends or merchants who's businesses I frequent often (i.e. 13 magickal moons). I won't even get into the women in my circle who are colorblind, that's another post entirely.

(and yes, at some point I'll rant about black folks too - I'm an equal opportunity shit stirrer!)