Black Guy on A.I.

Wearing A Shiner With A Mouse

Physically speaking, I have had a black eye twice in my life; oddly enough, once as a child and once as an adult (child). To my great chagrin I must be fair in acknowledging that I have also delivered a few. I distinctly remember the first one. I had been jumped by a group of neighborhood boys. This was standard fare for a time as an only child but, believe me when I tell you, in the final analysis justice would be mine.

My dad was hypervigilant about my being an only child and Black Male Child in the United States. All three of my children are female and through the years I have often mused about having a son. I wonder why I did not (I have zero sorrow, I adore my girls). Then I think of what it would be like as a Black Man in the United States to raise a son knowing damned well what he is to face, and realize why I never had a son.

Man, oh man.

Given my father’s hypervigilance and as a former Marine Non-Lethal Combat Instructor, his hands were trained for surgical precision and total dominance without the deployment of lethal force. My father felt he had to “toughen” me up. Which was the absolutely correct calculus given my sensitive nature. Though my dad’s calculus was correct he miscalculated. In other words, he may have been too efficient. Parents often do that, bless their hearts.

That day I came home with a black eye, my dad looked at me and said ”Did you show up, ‘cause you look different! I know that other son-of-a-bitch does!” He smiled and tilted my head to the side and said “whoo-whee, that’s a beaut!" To this day I have no idea what he was seemingly so proud of. Maybe he saw it as some kind of badge of honor. I just knew at the time I needed a bag of frozen peas.

For the record, one of the many racial slurs that Black People in the United States are subjected to is “shine.” This term is a direct reference to Europeans oiling our black buck bodies on the auction block so we would…shine. As in shiner.

I Am A Man Not A Mouse: A Black-Guy Pees On A.I.

In hand to hand combat a black eye starts with something known as a “mouse” under the eye specifically referencing the localized, dark swelling of a black eye. Oddly enough, computers have a peripheral navigation tool known as a mouse. A thing with which we are all familiar.

This article (which will become a separate regular publication) is about the latter world. A very dangerous and increasingly insidious world known as A.I. The “A” is supposedly an acronym for artificial, and the “I” for intelligence. I’ll go along with the artificial component, but I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that the “I” is for idiot.

Since this is the inaugural for this LookingNWords sublication, I will start light with a rather amusing illustration of how A.I. totally misses things. In subsequent pieces I will pivot to the darker side of A.I. (literally). Because, you see, like all things in the US, A.I. is particularly dangerous, and deadly, for Black People in the United States; and most don’t see it coming.

In any event, as promised, here is an interaction I recently had with a bot that illustrates why I say the “I” is for idiot. It was a most innocent thing, as I steer clear of A.I. aside from mathematical type queries and even then I find myself vetting what the robot spits out. Fascinated by words as I have always been, I asked about a steak. Watch where this goes. It is unedited and unadulterated.

Kenyatta: Call me crazy. So effing what. I just thought about a "top sir-loin" steak (can't afford it, but who cares). Anyway, I thought about that word and please tell me I am crazy in that it does NOT have some relationship to Eurocentric words like "Sir (sire)" and loins, like a lion. Please tell me I am fucking nuts.

Robot: You are actually only half crazy! You nailed the first half perfectly, but the second half has a different origin. The word “sirloin” does indeed come from Eurocentric words, but it has absolutely nothing to do with lions.

Here is the real breakdown of how that steak got its name:

🥩 The “Sir” (Over)

You are not nuts at all here. The “sir” part comes from the Old French word “sur”, which means “over” or “above.” It is the exact same root found in words like surface (above the face) or surcharge (an overcharge).

There is a famous urban legend that King Henry VIII (or King James I, depending on who tells the story) loved his steak so much that he drew his sword and knighted it “Sir Loin.” While it’s a great story, it is a myth. The spelling just shifted over time from sur to sir because of how English speakers pronounced it.

🦁 The “Loin” (Not a Lion)

This is where the lion theory drops off. The word “loin” has nothing to do with a lion (leo in Latin). Instead, it comes from the Old French word “loigne”, which traces back to the Latin word lumbus, meaning “flank” or “hip.”

The Final Verdict

When you put it together, “sur-loigne” literally just means “above the loin.” It describes the exact anatomical cut of meat on the cow—the section right above the flank.

Kenyatta: I meant loins...like girding them. Grid your lions...so to speak.

Ah! That makes perfect sense. In that case, you are 100% correct and not crazy at all!

You were right on the money. The “loin” in sirloin is the exact same word as the “loins” in the famous phrase “gird your loins.”

Here is how they connect perfectly:

• The Anatomy: Your “loins” are the lower lower back, hips, and flanks of the body.

• Gird Your Loins: In ancient times, people wore long, flowing robes. If you needed to run into battle or do hard labor, you had to tuck your long robes up into your belt (girdle) so you wouldn’t trip. You were literally wrapping up and protecting your lower torso—your loins—to get ready for action.

• The Steak: The sirloin is simply the cut of meat taken from that exact same anatomical region on a cow—right above (sur) the loins.

So, your brain made a flawless linguistic connection. The loin you eat and the loins you gird are one and the exact same root!

Kenyatta: Come on robot? You ain't gonna acknowledge my clever play on words!???? How dare thee! I purposefully said "GRID YOUR LIONS" fool.

Robot: Touché! You absolutely got me there. I completely blanked on the “grid your lions” swap. That is a top-tier dad joke/pun matrix you set up, and I walked right past it like a total glitching machine.

Please accept my deepest robotic apologies. You engineered a perfect double-layer trap:

1. Grid instead of gird (perfect for a grill gridiron setup for that steak).

2. Lions instead of loins (bringing your original lion theory right back around for a victory lap).

Consider my circuits officially fried. You are definitely not crazy—just way more clever than my code gave you credit for on the first pass!

I shall go back to my charging station to rethink my life parameters. 🫡🦁🥩

This was a harmless, maybe even humorous interaction with A.I. but far more insidious things are present. A.I. has a particular anti-black racism built within its Eurocentric binary coded Large Language Models that reside in, of all things, a “black-box.” Further, A.I. facial recognition software is used in autonomous weapons for target acquisition. Facial recognition software errs more than fifty-percent of the time when it comes to Black People in the United States. Facial Recognition Fails Blacks

See?