Guest Blogger: I'm in Brazil, and I'm not Coming Back to the USA! (by Francis L. Holland)

(Editor's Note: The following post comes from Francis L. Holland. A fellow Afrospear member who blogs over at The Francis L. Holland Blog as well as an assortment of great sites.Checkout how he breaks it down as he attempts to broaden your world view a bit.)

People here in Bahia, Brazil often ask me why I’ve come to live in a “Third World” country when I could live in the United States, where I was born, educated, and practiced law. I guess the simplest way to explain it is in terms of what drove me away, how I got to Brazil, and what makes me stay here.

When I lived in the United States, I was so depressed that I didn’t want to live anymore, even though I was becoming increasingly more recognized among immigration lawyers and non-profit program managers, was earning a good salary and drove a new car . . . I felt empty and lonely inside and didn’t want to be alive any more. I sought psychiatric help, but often the biggest barrier to care was the cheap-ass American insurance companies I had, even as a managing attorney in a large corporation. My doctors had to lie and say I was suicidal, even during weeks when I was feeling better, in order for my care to be covered.

Instead of just ending it all, I decided to do something equally dramatic. I enrolled in a USA university’s French language program and applied to learn French on the French Riviera, while living off student loans. In France, all of my medical care for my psychiatric illness was 100% covered by my French government insurance, which cost me about three hundred dollars a year. The Government also paid 30% of my apartment rent, because I was a student. I began to see more and more that the USA just isn’t “the best country in the world”, compared to what many other countries offer to their citizens and even to foreign students..

After 30 months in France, I was getting along quite well in French and was even enrolled in a doctoral program for international law. I had a doctoral thesis project and had passed a number of law courses taught entirely in French. Once again, though, I came to feel empty and purposeless in spite of the doctoral program, university friends, and an apartment near the beach. The depression and suicidal thoughts came back like a flock of locusts that won’t leave even after the fields have been picked dry.

One negative thing about my personality is that as soon as I learn to do something competently, then I don’t want to do it anymore. I constantly need new challenges, if only because confronting them distracts me from inner loneliness and emptiness. I couldn’t feel happy anymore in France. By 2003, with the Bush Administration’s ballooning war deficit devaluing the US dollar overseas, I just couldn’t afford to live in there anymore, and I thought that I had seen all that I would see there.

So, I researched countries where the US dollar was more valuable and took a bus to Krakov, Poland, where I contracted for an apartment much less expensive than the one in France, and returned to France to gather my things. (I was one of only three Black people I saw during a week in Poland, but I thought I could handle that.)

It was at this point that an Italian friend returned to France from a vacation in Brazil, accompanied by the most beautiful and enchanting young Portuguese-speaking girlfriend imaginable. Together they convinced me that I would be much happier in Brazil, where there is great Afro-Brazilian food, Samba, Pagode and Axé music and dance, Afro-Brazilian culture and heritage, and a uniquely Brazilian martial arts form called, Capoeira. The dollar went a long way, they assured me.

They convinced me that I would surely find the woman of my dreams in Brazil and begin a family, even with financial resources that in France were laughable. (A Coca Cola at a beach restaurant in Brazil costs one dollar, but it costs seven dollars in France, not including the fifteen dollar French charge just for occupying a beach chair.)

After some Internet research, I decided to give Brazil a chance. I sold everything I had (car, kayaks, law books, tools, stove and dishwasher) and was able to buy a ticket to Brazil, with two hundred dollars to spare. I couldn’t afford to travel for a mere visit to Brazil, while continuing to pay rent and monthly expenses in France. So, I had to jump into Brazil with both feet or not at all.

She had sex with the social worker to make sure Child Protective Services would let her keep her kids

OK listen folks - ladies especially - we got some shit to talk about (hat-tip to African American Political Pundit for this one). Yeah I know y'all stuck on that "Real Housewives of Atlanta" bullshit drama (yeah, I got something for their ass coming soon), but it's time to talk about some real stuff for a change. Recently I read a post at a blog on my very first visit that moved me. The blog is Just Jo Nubian, and the post is titled Brothers Remove Your Masks. I've shined some spotlight on this post because it deals with the subject of mental health in the Black community. Now the post speaks specifically about Black men. But since we're all unified (minus the "I hate Black men so I bash them every chance I can get" bitches), I think it's important to understand, that a substantial amount of behavioral "problems" within our collective, is a direct result of what I term: brain damage.

You know, sorta like the lady crying in the picture above? Her name is Theola Nealy, and she lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and no, she's not crying because she misses the sitcom "Laverne & Shirley". You see, she was under investigation by social services for alleged child neglect; she had two kids at the time. Of course, a state employed social worker was assigned to her case (thank the lord that there is still money in state gov't to pay hard working social workers) with the interest of her children in mind. Don't you love the idea that there's a system in place which protects children by any means necessary? You know, especially how they did in this woman's case?

MILWAUKEE -- A social worker who was supposed to be helping a Milwaukee woman got her pregnant instead, the woman said. Now, she's fighting to get her daughter back. The baby's father was assigned to investigate a child neglect complaint about the woman's other children.

The agency said the social worker broke rules by having sex with a client and but then placed the child with him after they removed the baby from her mother's home.

"I missed her birthday. He had her," Theola Nealy said. Nealy's daughter, Melina, turned 1 year old in the custody of her former child welfare worker, who is also the baby's father. "He started coming over, and it evolved into sex, and I told him I did not want to have sex," Nealy said.

Nealy said she had sex with the social worker to make sure Child Protective Services would let her keep her kids. She said when she became pregnant, he told her to have an abortion. After she refused, Protective Services soon removed her kids from her home. [click here to read more and watch the video on this story]

Well isn't that just wonderful? I've heard that the post man always rings twice, but not the social worker? Sure I know to many of you reading, this woman is probably just another "Welfare Queen" sitting on her ass making babies and getting fat. But would we be hard pressed to consider her mental state? I don't know if it's done or not, but don't you think a mental evaluation should be considered for parents investigated for child neglect? Of course I'm assuming that it's never done. But in the interest of children, shouldn't it be? Especially when we're trying to break cycles of learned behavior?

So now she doesn't have any of her kids - including the baby who was taken away and given to "Mister Horny Predator Social Worker Guy" who is taking her to court to obtain full custody of the child. Now ain't that a slap in the face? I guess he really cares about kids now, considering he has lost his job as a result of his actions. Some people are of the opinion that a crime was committed. But I'm not sure if betrayal of trust is actually a crime these days in this country. Sure he compromised his integrity, and that of the state; and yes, he may have taken advantage of a poor Black woman. But in this country were there's a high price to pay for being poor, this is to be expected. But it's my belief that this gentleman should never be allowed to work for any governmental agency in life ever again. I'd sure love to hear your thoughts on that. Or whether his actions were criminal and deserves jail time as Theola Nealy believes.

The real tragedy here, is that she is now separated from her children. Who knows if she'll be able to get them back. What's sad is that in her mind she did what she had to do for her kids. It may not have been the best decision in the world sleeping with her case worker. But hey, when it comes to your kids, most parents will do what they have to do. To me, the real f*cked up person in the head, is in fact the social worker. But I get the feeling that as always, it's the victim who will bear the brunt of the responsibility, and scrutiny. Hopefully her children doesn't wind up in the care of the system through Foster Care. If they do, speaking of mental health issues, hopefully this doesn't happen to them:

Mississipi Burning? The KKK wasn't that bad, were they??

My favorite blog superhero of all time, as well as fellow AfroSpear member, Field Negro, lives in Philadelphia. His blog is a blog I recommend you read daily, and add to you blogroll. He is a champion for truth, justice and the Negro-American way, among other things. Yes, he is quite the provocateur, and I love it.

On his page, on his sidebar, he features a "Field Negro of the Day" as well as a "House Negro of the Day" award. Sometimes I hit his blog just to see who he has featured in these categories. These awards are often well deserved, and sometimes I get a good laugh out of them. Seriously folks, Field Negro is hilarious and committed like that to the cause. Which is really funny because he's a damn attorney; yup, attorneys are often boring; the ones I know at least. Somehow, I'm surprised that being a resident of Philadelphia, he hasn't written about this situation just yet, especially since he has written many blogs about his beloved city.

Check it out:

Oh snap! I forgot Field Negro lives in the good Philadelphia; you know that whole "City of Brotherly Love" place? Rocky? Dr. J, Philly Steaks, a cracked bell, and all that? Yeah, that's the Philly he lives in. The Philly in the clip above is the south-side Philadelphia of A-merry-ca as he often references this beloved nation of ours. Ironically, south-side Philadelphia that's featured in the video above is the same place Ronald Reagan kicked off his 1980 Presidential campaign. It is also the backdrop for the well told story of the three civil rights voter registration workers who were killed by the KKK in the movie Mississippi Burning. Yeah, given a choice, I think RiPPa would prefer to live in the Philadelphia otherwise known as Killadelphia in the state of Pistolvania. Yeah, I think I would take my chances getting shot by another person of color rather than having the KKK show up at my doorstep if my wife and I were ever to have a dispute. Something tells me that me being Black that would not be a good thing; yeah, no happy ending if that were to happen. Yup, just like there were no happy endings for the brothers when Reagan took office. After all, he was against the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

But then again, who knew the KKK had its good points! My man in the video made the KKK sound like the fuckin Lions Club or something. That old man made it seem like they gave out scholarships, loans, rides to work for people of all races and shit like that. Hell, Nino Brown passed out turkeys for Thanksgiving in New Jack City but he was still a damn drug dealer! Sorry "Mr. Former KKK Approved Mayor", I'm not buying it. The KKK was never a positive social activism club. But then again, I guess that would depend on how you look at it. Maybe we need to KKK to roll up on these dead beat dads we hear so much about with 70% of Black kids being raised in single parent homes. I mean if that was what they were about as that asshole said in the video above it couldn't hurt right? Shit, they should bring back lynchings as that one mayoral Black candidate in Jackson Mississippi suggested some months ago; it's a damn shame he lost his bid.

So what there were a few hangings and cross burnings; big deal. Just like my man Tom Joyner of the Tom Joyner Morning Show where he raises money for HBCUs, the KKK also had parties with a purpose. I don't know if Field Negro takes nomination for his sidebar awards, but I'd like to nominate everyone in that video. Yes, from the first Black mayor in Philadelphia Mississippi, Anderson Cooper for not losing his cool, and the former racist Mayor, to even the Klu Klux Klan. I'll leave it up to him if he's reading as to who gets what award. Hopefully the first Black Mayor of Philadelphia Mississippi, James A. Young, gets to be the Field Negro of the day or maybe a month. Being Black and becoming mayor in that town of all towns, in that state, speaks volumes. Though historic and symbolic an appointment as was the Obama presidential victory, we must never forget that there is still a lot of work to do ahead of us. Surely James Cheney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner would be proud that they did not die in vain.

God Bless A-merry-ca