I n d i G o| b L u
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Black Models| Italia Vogue 2008
The European standard of beauty has become so much an axiom that black beauty is nearly “lost in translation” for good. I see people searching for black models and black beauty constantly on search engines and the likes and coming up short with a few they can count on one hand. That could change.
Of course, black women are beautiful on or off a magazine, on or off a catwalk, whatever and wherever. I think the problem is relying too much on main stream to get ourselves out there when we can BE main-stream.
Why is it that almost every time I see a beautiful spread in a magazine featuring a model, it’s in white mainstream media?—-Do blacks not have the same ability? Of course they do, that was a rhetorical question. It’s well known that most of the people who bought the Italian EnVogue magazine were black, and it sold well. Blacks support blacks’ period—especially in incipient business ventures. If things are done right and professionally with class etc….support will double, and maybe even come in unlikely places, because it will not be about the fact that they are black owned but that their work wreaks quality.
Here are some of the pictures from the “all-black” Italia Vogue: From Left to right (Alek Wek, Arlenis Sosa, Iman, Karen Alexander, Naomi Campbell, Noemie Lenoir, (2)Toccara Jones, (3) Tyra Banks, Ubah)
Between the continent of Africa and the other majority black countries who are having similar issues of black model’s not getting work—we could ubiquitously take the world by storm because there are some undeniably beautiful black women out there; that’s veracity. Where are the black photographers and the black modeling agencies? Hiding? I am not talking about those photographers that do borderline porn; I’m talking professionals.
I know Ebony and the likes have modeling agencies and there are plenty of blacks who have their own clothing line, some not so well known but classier than those that are well known, and that is an issue–they are not put out there. If Ebony along with other more recognized black modeling agencies monopolized around the world—made this not just an African American thing but a Caribbean thing, and African thing—a black thing, I really think the potential of this is prodigious.
That gives more diversity, more exotic looks, more style, and flare. That makes the problem of not being well known obsolete and a broader audience to which one can appeal. When white, main stream starts noticing a decline in their sales, which means their avarice is not satisfied— I assure you they will take notice but by then, they will not be an issue, merely a side note.
Aftermath|of CNN’s Black| in America
Some are saying OK…we get the problems….where are the solutions?
What can WE do?
Well, I say to you…..put the same or more momentum in this as you did for Obama and that is your solution. This is by no means an overnight success but change is possible; it takes dedication and hard work from people who are passionate about their people and the future of black America. It’s the first step of many steps.
Resources:
The following link is a list of local and national organizations and programs designed to address many of the issues raised in “CNN Presents: Black in America” and “CNN & Essence: Reclaiming the Dream.” Some of the people or guests featured in the programs are involved in some of these organizations
CNN does not endorse any organization, and information is provided only as a resource and inspiration to help people explore the many local and national organizations involved in these areas.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/07/18/bia.resources/index.html
I imagine a lot of people probably do not know about these programs. The links are extremely helpful.
BET:
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Write letters to the network and president demanding change in videos and programs shown on BET that promote negative stereotypes and images of black people that our children often use as a reflection of themselves, and demand more educational programs.
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Boycott the program (children and adults alike) so that BET will loose money and their ratings will drop. I assure you; this will ring loud and clear.
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Here are three petitions that are currently going around; bring awareness and send these things to those you know and those you don’t know to the dangers of such programs:
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/change-bet.html
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/betterBET/
http://www.petitionnow.com/BETVIDEOS/petition.html
In Addition:
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Promote education at home:
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Start some educational and inspirational after school programs in black schools and churches:
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Start free parenting class in your community –even if it is only one or two days out of the week.
http://www.fathersworld.com/fulltimedad/issue2/bf.html
http://www.babycenter.com/0_fathering-classes-could-you-use-one_8249.bc
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Start free abstinence classes, not just Safe sex, in your local black churches and black schools, especially HBCUs:
http://www.physiciansforlife.org/content/view/247/27/
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Send copies of the CNN’s Black in America special to your church and school. (This is something I am very intent on doing)
Black|in America|Part I: A Positive Review
From what I saw on the program, they did go over some positive aspects of Black America. I wouldn’t say the entire show was aimed towards this, but all the same there were very positive aspects. Can we ignore the bad in search of something good? Were we expecting an entire show dedicated to the positive aspects of black America when half of black America is, indeed struggling?
Since most have already pointed out the negatives of the program, I’ll point out the positives that I saw:
The black family with both parents and 5 children, all of which they successfully sent to college, except one because she/he was not of age yet and the parents have their own family business.
They covered a child who successfully made it out the “hood” and went to Julliard for dance and we all know Eric Dyson’s success story.
I remember them talking about the rapid increase of black business (up 45%, I believe) in the last decade which often the media ignores.
I remember them covering a large family who annually held family reunions, strongly stuck together and helped each other, and knew their family history tenfold.
They talked about the large number of black sisters who hold a degree. They talked about the many intelligent, financially well off sisters who are doing very well for themselves.
They covered the 2 year experimental program in NY for less fortunate children which actually pays children to go to school and is designed to help motivate young black children in learning and give them a more promising future that would probably otherwise be bleak. So far , it has proven to be a successful motivation tool for learning.
I’d give the program a chance to play itself out before I denounce it. I’ll be tuning in tonight @ 8pm central time for the Black Men segment.
Besides this, I was watching it with some family members (cousins, aunts)—some of whom fall into the category of single parent mothers and they were very pleased to have an open dialogue about these issues and it opened their minds to many other things mentioned on the program. I think overall, it was more helpful than harmful.
Following|in Her Footsteps|and in His Shadow
Approximately 70% (66% to be more precise) of single black women are raising children. A disheartening 50% of these single black mothers live in poverty, and if one lives in poverty it is very likely that they will stay in poverty. This is increasingly becoming more of the rule than it is the exception. Soledad O’Brien’s Black in America Part 1 on CNN only confirmed what I have always known and that is that the children of single parent households generally follow in their parents’ footsteps, or shadows when it comes to the absent father.
Black children who grow up in single parent households are more likely to:
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Go to jail (mostly males): It’s no secret that many young, black men are incarcerated.
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Get pregnant at an early age/Become “Baby Mommas”: With no father figure around, a lot of them go looking for a father figure and the love of a father that they never really had. Despite some women’s best efforts for their daughter not to make the same mistake she made, this seems to be the trend, especially for young girls whose mother had them at an early age.
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Become “Baby Daddies”: Considering this is, more or less, what his father did to his mother, this is the example his father set for his son by default.
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Drop out of school: Nearly 50% of black students drop out of school and never graduate.
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Join a gang (mostly males): 80% of black males who join gangs are those who have no father figure in the household. A lot of them look up to “OGs” or Original Gangsters as father figures. The OG is merely his name’s sake, and only cares about increasing his money through drugs and elimination of his competition through murder—-enter the young black troubled mind looking for a fatherly figure.
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Get caught up in drugs: A lot of the black men in jail are there because of drug-related crimes. Murder, rape, and theft are also reasons.
The other side of this is some children know the mistakes their parents made and want to avoid them at all cost so that they can have a better life and future for themselves and family, however, statistics show that these are a small minority.
I am reminded of my two small cousins, one is 1 ½ and the other is 2 ½ —both are girls. Of course, I only want the best for both of them but I fear for them that they may very well following their mother’s footsteps or linger in their father’s shadow. God knows I pray that they are a part of that small minority and that the minority one day becomes the majority.
Now…why were/are some people mad at Barack and Cosby again?
Paying|Children|to Attend|School
1 student every 26 seconds drops out of school in America. Nationally, only 53.4% black Americans get a high school diploma. What happen to the other half? Numerous factors, of course, weigh in on this statistic.
As Soledad O’Brien’s part 1 report in the CNN special of Black in America reveals, some people are taking steps to change this. In New York, there is a program in process that actually pays children to go to school.
The program last 2 years and is obviously experimental; the children who participate in the program start young (10yrs old), and they get paid for scoring perfectly on test given.
As crazy as this may sound to some, this isn’t anything new. In the mid 1990s, Mexico implemented a similar plan except it paid poor parents to keep their children in school and to take them for regular health check-ups.
“The Million”, another experimental program implemented, is a cell phone that disables text messaging, certain internet features, and other distracting features of cell phones while children are in the class. These particular phones allow children to learn and take test via their cell phone incorporating traditional teaching as well. When outside of the classroom, the cell phones function normally.
Most of the children in these programs are children from poor backgrounds and/or broken homes, which makes them all the more likely not to graduate from high school among other things.
Some people may look at this as a “bribe” of some sort, and basically, it is. It serves more as motivation for the children than anything else.
People above the poverty line may take motivation from those around them, family, friends, etc. On the other hand, 33% of all black children live below the poverty line and these children typically do not have this kind of motivation in their lives. Most of their families/friends are poor like I mentioned earlier, so they don’t have the degree(s)/careers and such for a child to “look up to” so to speak. Often the things that they do have to “look up to” is very bleak.
For people like you or me who may look at things from a long-term point of view, we may think motivation lies in getting the diploma, degrees, and then great careers, supposedly, that are to follow. We are motivated in knowing we will eventually get to that point with the right steps taken.
However, these children mostly look at the “now” because most of their circumstances are based on the now and not the “later”.
For example, if there is no food in the refrigerator and their mother/father doesn’t have the money to buy food today for them to eat because they don’t get paid until 3 days after today, and the parent is barely living and providing pay check to pay check—- the child is still hungry and waiting for those three days will not cure his/her hunger.
So far, the program has been successful but it is simply too soon to tell if the true success of graduating these children from high school, furthering that into college, and giving an overall promising future will actually be achieved.
The “N”-Word|In 2008
When Whoopie Goldberg, from The View, made the comment about “owning” the word, this is how black people feel who use the word. They feel because they have been degraded with the word down through the years, they would take it for themselves, in turn, and use it to their own advantage, as oppose to their disadvantage. I believe this came from the hurt, shame, and pain of it all.
With that being said, what reason would a white person have to say it and what would their meaning be for those who think a double standard exist? Most certainly, it would not be for the same reason I just stated above—and that is what makes it offensive coming from them. To make this simpler…think of it as reverse psychology because it is very similar. I just wanted to say that for clarification as to the differences in how some blacks view the word and how whites view it.
To my fellow black readers, and still the confused- As for my personal take on this:
My rejection of this word has absolutely nothing to do with me wanting not to sound “black” and has everything to do with respect for my ancestors, people, and myself. Unfortunately, there are so many African Americans (old and young) who use this word for each other, and either way one looks at it, it’s still negative even when said by us—truth be told, a lot of us don’t see it this way. I am not sure if this is out of habit or upbringing but it’s disgraceful all together.
When my great grandmother and granddaddy were addressed as, subjected to, whipped and killed in the names of “coon” “colored” “nigger” day in and day out— there’s absolutely nothing to take from that word, and just because one takes off the “er” and gives it an “a” at then end, makes no difference. It’s like calling a stone a rock—it’s more or less the same thing…..coming from an insider.
Check out: http://www.abolishthenword.com/
I am compelled to say, however, that most people were shocked at hearing Whoopi’s comments concerning black and whites living in different worlds. I’m sorry to break this to anyone living in “Dream Land“, but she is right.
We have yet to reach equality for all; discrimination is still at large.
The double standard that Elizabeth talked about on The View is more in the “democracy” of America than anywhere else. There are double standards in education, there are double standards in housing opportunities for blacks, double standards exist in the media, there are double standards even with buying cars in America—- compare that to the black and white world. Want proof?
http://www.cdc.gov/omhd/Highlights/2007/HFeb07.htm
http://faculty.winthrop.edu/stonebrakerr/book/automobiles.htm
The Revolution|will NOT be Televised
I am not angry; I am anger.
I am not dangerous; I am danger.
I am abominable stress, eliotic, relentless.
I’m a breath of vengeance.
I’m a death sentence.
I’m forsaking repentance,
to the beast in his hench men.
Armed forces and policemen
that survived off of oils and prisons until there cup runneth over with lost souls.
That wear over-sized caps like blind-folds
Shiny necklaces like lassoes
Draggin’ them into black-holes
And I may have to holla out to Fidel Castro
To get my other brothers outta Guantanimo
And the innocence on death row?
It’s probably in the same proportion to criminals in black robes
That smack gavels
That crack domes
That smack gavels
That smash homes
Justice is somewhere between reading sad poems and 40 oz of gasoline crashing through windows
It is between plans and action
It is between writing letters to congressmen and clocking the captain
It is between raising legal defense funds and putting a gun to the bailiff and taking the judge captive
It is between prayer and fasting
Between burning and blasting
Freedom is between the mind and the soul
Between the lock and the load
Between the zeal of the young and the patience of the old
Freedom is between a finger and the trigger
It is between the page and the pen
It is between the grenade and the pin
Between righteous and keeping one in the chamber
So what can they do with a cat with a heart like Turner
A mind like Douglass
A mouth like Malcolm
And a voice like Chris?!
That is why I am not dangerous; I am danger
I am not angry, I am anger
I am abominable, stress, Eliotic relentless
I’m a death sentence
For the beast and his henchmen
Politicians and big businessmen
I’m a teenage Palestinian
Opening fire at an Israeli checkpoint, point blank, check-mate, now what?!
I’m a rape victim with a gun cocked to his cock, cock BANG! Bangkok! Now what?!
I am sitting Bull with Colonel Custard’s scalp in my hands
I am Sincay with a slave trader’s blood on my hands
I am Jonathan Jackson and a gun to my man
I am David with a slingshot and a rock
And if David lived today, he’d have a Molotov cocktail and a Glock
So down with Goliath, I say down with Goliath
But we must learn, know, write, read
We must kick, bite, yell, scream
We must pray, fast, live, dream, fight, kill and die free!
–Amir Sulaiman
Thomas|Jefferson’s|”Secret”|Legacy
I first heard about this/saw it on a PBS special concerning Thomas Jefferson and his black offsprings some years ago.
Apparently, 3-4 generations of mostly blue-eyed African Americans were out to prove this as the truth, with no questions asked. As the story goes, and was so passed down, Thomas Jefferson had an affair with one of his slaves named Sally Hemings, and this resulted in a blue-eyed baby boy named Tom as well as other offspring. This was, of course, kept secret….like many other slaves who were in similar situations. The black family was certain that the story was true, especially considering that some of the family had inherited, supposedly, Jefferson’s baby blue eyes.
As the program proceeded, they were able to locate and get access to Thomas Jefferson’s tomb so that they could once and for all put an end to the uncertainty via DNA analysis. However, upon arrival to the grave site, the black family found that the tomb was there, but Jefferson’s body had been removed.
And so, the story ended this way. Apparently, the “white” Jefferson family, his wife’s decedents and others, went through the great pains of moving Jefferson’s body so that their “dirty little secret” would not be exposed, and these black people, would not have any part in their inheritance or Jefferson’s “white” family.
Anyway, what’s done in the dark, always comes to the light. As it turns out, the story gets a little more complicated…..
Additonal Information:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_25_95/ai_54757743/pg_1