For the most part...alot of the okayplayers here don't seem to have a problem with Toshi's 'do...brother who said that alot of Japanese youth are paying as much as $75 to get their hair dreaded is very right...We are often oblivious to the fact that Americans set the trends for the majority of other nations...we live in a consumerist society where what is pure and righteous is exploited and water-down...this is not a new concept, we all know this..and on that note...I'd like to leave a poem for all of you in okayland to digest...this was the poem that helped me take the pot at a recent poetry slam on campus here...<P>Inspired by Isangmahal- "One Love"<P>America has made a mockery of my race<BR>In a country where my skin <BR>Has never hesitated to make me feel displaced<BR>I watch the collage of fashionable ignorance...<P>Bindis worn on the foreheads of sisters<BR>whose skin pales in comparison to the colors <BR>of the culture from whence it came<BR>Mandarin collars seen wrapped around Western necks<BR>Demi Moore was not the first to explore<BR>white men's fetish with Chinadoll exoticism<BR>Sarongs, thongs, and tantalizing advertisements<BR>of instant spirituality in an incense stick<BR>Guaranteeing nirvana in 30 days or your money back<BR>Tai Chi and Tao te Ching self-help books<BR>Buddhism in a box for those do-it-yourselfers<BR>Sacrilegous Tibetan beads adorn the wrists of guys who..."like girls who wear Abercrombie & Fitch Chinese food IS THE SHIT!!!"<P>I need not walk too far before being bombarded with Kanji and Sanskrit<BR>T-shirts emblazoned with elaborate Chinese characters that read....'shirt'<BR>Tattoos pierce the delicate skin of women's ankles that read....'foot'<BR>And if you think the general public is sweatin' us<BR>Then the entertainment industry is sucking our dick!<BR>Repulsed as I flip through music videos<BR>Sisquo the "dragon"<BR>Prancing around Chinatown with not one Asian sister to be found!<BR>Foxy Brown playing into the one-drop rule of clever marketing schemes to capitalize on her slanted eyes<P>GET OFF IT!!<P>Because when my people no longer become lucrative<BR>We will still be living in oppression<BR>But my ancient kingdom lives<BR>My ancient kingdom lives<P>See, my culture runs deep<BR>Like still waters twisting and turning <BR>In a land where silence is a golden mine of knowledge<BR>Reaped by learning how to read the secrets of survival encoded in the floating intonations of a bamboo flute<BR>And the language of our history<BR>Pantomimed by divine dancers <BR>flying upon wings of fingertips<BR>We built colossal shrines to pay homage to the force that keeps our crops growing<BR>Spending lazy afternoons like The Roots<BR>Slithering down the River Mekong<BR>As temple gongs acknowledge the setting sun<BR>Stretching its fingers to illuminate gold-leafed statues...captured in an eternal pose<P>Confused and disturbed by these warrior images we use for protection<BR>You pass us off as a nation of civilized savages<BR>But must I remind you that in the feudal days of lords and ladies<BR>We bathed<BR>Rather than mask the stench of imperialism under layers of white powder<BR>We bathed <BR>in the waters of the Euphrates and the Nile<BR>And spoke in tongues borne from the womb of mother earth<BR>While you hide behind the mask of PC terms like "diversity" and "multiculturalism"<BR>Ingrain words like "resident alien" as a slick ploy to construct a mentality that I am a foreigner in a country that was stolen from my people<BR>And exploit my race to compensate for the lack of color your culture cannot provide<P>But my ancient kingdom lives...<BR>And you would not want to pee on the electric fence owned by half the world<BR>Yes, we are half the world!<BR>Exclaim my brothers and sisters of Isangmahal<BR>Isangmahal calls for insurrection through Art<BR>To dismantle the pyramid of social mobilization<BR>And replace it with the ancient intllectual circle called The Cipher<P>We thrive by passing kwum kit-food for thought<BR>This is how my ancient kingdom survives<BR>This is how my ancient kingdom lives<P>Ikalat muna- pass it around<P>This is how my ancient kingdom lives<BR>Ikalat muna- pass it around<P>My ancient kingdom lives<P>Ikalat muna kwum kit<BR>Pass the thought around...<P>-pax- <P><P><P><P>