Cereal and Religion for "Mass'a"

Totally unrelated topics. Just things that have randomly set me off.

 

In one corner, we have everyone's childhood favorite - sugary cereals from Kellogg! When I started watching what kinds of sugars I was eating, most cold cereals were obviously the first to get booted from my diet.  "The Battle Creek, Mich., company avoided a lawsuit threatened by parents and nutrition advocacy groups worried about increasing child obesity. Kellogg intends to formally announce its decision Thursday."

 

You see, most every Kellogg cereal is LOADED with unneccesary sugars. Seriously, all you're eating is fluff, corn, and SUGAR. There is precious little nutritional value in the shit. That's why we all scarf down bowl after bowl - because it doesn't make you feel full. So the whole argument that it's "light, it can't possibly be bad" is shit. You're stuffing yourself full of non-nutritive calories for nothing.

 

Kellogg is supposed to be reformulating their cereals to increase nutrition. Ha. I'll believe it when I see it. They have a handy loophole on the sugar: no more than 12 grams not counting sugar from fruit, dairy and vegetables. I'm confident they'll finangle that to their advantage somehow.

 

NOW, the OTHER CORNER: Winnetka, IL ! Check out the demographics on Wikipedia:

 

"The median income for a household in the village was $167,458, and the median income for a family was $200,000+. Males had a median income of $100,000+ versus $61,513 for females.

 

One of the more conservative suburbs of Chicago, George W. Bush received nearly 60% of the vote in Winnetka (2000 and 2004.)"

 

Winnetka is a classic "Chicago North Shore" community, i.e., RICH and WHITE (96.29%). (And most often stupid Republican.) The homes in this area are RIDICULOUS huge. If you're going to find a minority here, my bet is that said minority is going to either be mowing your lawn or working in your house.

 

Last night after class, I went to dinner with a couple friends. We're all in education. One of them is working in a well-known school in Winnetka. She was hired to work with FOUR kids. That's right. FOUR. Winnetka has the money to do that (whereas a CPS school, most likely, would be like "we don't have money to hire someone to work with 30 kids!"). These kids are refugees (literally, from a refugee camp where they lived on rice and pumpkin for over a year, bad health, no education, the works) from a W. African country. I guess a multifaith initiative in Winnetka sponsored them and they came over. Fifteen of them, four of whom are in the high school and are tutored by my friend.

 

Well, apparently the white fathers of the church/synagogue have gotten sick of the darkies. My friend was telling us how these faithy people have pretty much told the family they need to move out of their rented/sponsored home. The family is pretty much being pushed towards the south side of Chicago. Things that have been said by this group amount to absolute outright racism: "well, they'll be happier there; they'll be around people that look like them, right?" i.e., "they'll be around other black people." AND the worst? "They shouldn't get used to what they can never have." Seriously! My friend has heard A LOT of shit, not only from stupid people in the school, but also from the kids themselves (people have stopped them saying "oh, I donated X$/clothes/whatever for your family at the church - did you get it?"... and they HAVEN'T. The church hasn't given them a damn thing!).  

 

*eyes bug out*

 

WTF?! And this is a charitable multifaith group?! My friends and I are obviously pissed off hearing this. So, not only are they racist fucks, but they're also (apparently) misappropriating donations that people are giving SPECIFICALLY for this family. GOD! It's just mind-blowingly infuriating. There are so many things wrong with this situation.

 

1) So what if they're around other "black" people? I hate to tell you, but oftentimes African-Americans and recently arrived Africans DO NOT get along. Hell-0, two VASTLY different cultures beneath that skin you idiots can't see beyond. Get with the program: do all WHITE people get along - American versus European for instance? Hell no, so why should it be that way if someone is dark skinned?! IDIOTS!

 

2) CHURCHY/organized religion groups once again failing in their mission to love they neighbor. People.Suck.Period.End.

 

3) So much for equality!

 

I seriously just want to choke a bitch down there. To their credit, there are people in the school system ESL program (such as my friend and some co-workers) who are trying their best to be advocates for these kids and protect them. It just seems like they're fighting a losing battle against a group of rich, racist and powerful assholes. These kids have already lived through some horrific shit, now they're upset and worried because they hear stuff like the above. And to top it off, you'll have an idiot administrator waltz in to where the kids are at who talks shit about where they're headed to in Chicago, upsetting the kids, and then just waltzing back out of the room. WTF?! I can't remember which schools my friend mentioned, but suffice it to say they are the very opposite of Winnetka. It's an inner city CPS with no funding, safety concerns, and on the NCLB "failing" list. Yes, those kids are really going to get an education there...

 

Some days I just don't know what to do or think.

 

Props to my friend though. I'm always impressed by what she does.

 

Where did I get such fucking smart (and compassionate to boot) friends? Sometimes I feel horribly inadequate! I just sit here in cyberspace bitching and moaning!