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color blindness
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color blindness
alma maters
How Come All The Pop Culture Moms Are White These Days?
Over on the Strollerderby blog, there's an interesting post regarding the lack of "momoirs" by black women. Apparently most of the books written by mothers — about being a mother, and the nature of motherhood in this day and age — are written by white women. Deesha Philyaw wrote an article on this topic, noting: "Low-income and working-class women, black women, and other women of color don't see their mothering experiences and concerns reflected in the mommy media machine, and we get the cultural message loud and clear: Affluent white women are the only mothers who really matter. Further, media overexposure of these women bolsters the perception of them as self-absorbed brewers of tempests in teapots." Even if you've never read a "momoir" or given birth, you've got to wonder: Where is this generation's Claire Huxtable? More »
black & white issues
Do Some People Date Outside Of Their Race As A Form Of Revenge?
Monday, Nadra Kareem wrote about interracial dating for the blog Racialicious. Specifically: "Dating With A Vengeance." A few years ago, Ms. Kareem saw a comment on the IMDB page of actor John Cho. Someone wrote, "I hope he dates a white girl." Ms. Kareem explains: "The commenter, presumably an Asian male, explained that he made the statement because it would serve Asian women right if a desirable Asian male ended up with a white woman, since Asian women so often end up with white men." Ms. Kareem claims she has seen more and more comments like this online: People happy that Halle Berry has partnered with Gabriel Aubry, for instance, because, "black men are afraid of marriage, dating white women, in jail, 'on the down low' or dead, the commenters argue." You might think this attitude of dating as some kind of counterattack is crazy. I don't. More »
Model Search
Minette Marrin of the Times Of London took a page from our book and counted the number of black fashion models in glossy magazines. She found (surprise!) that "there were hardly any ethnic models, and few of those were black." While Jourdan Dunn is emerging as a new black supermodel in the UK, she is just one face in a billion-dollar industry. Sarah Doukas, head of the Storm modelling agency, to which Jourdan is signed, (and who famously discovered Kate Moss) says: "It's ridiculous that we have so little diversity in our idea of beauty. Globally, I think a huge change is about to happen. I'm optimistic. I think people will come to feel again that diversity is much more interesting than the rather bland, generic look we've seen so much of for so long." Let's hope so. [Times Of London]
A new report by Human Rights Watch called "Targeting Blacks: Drug Law Enforcement and Race in the United States," found that blacks are arrested and imprisoned for drug-related crimes at a much higher rate than whites, although whites commit more drug offenses. According to the report, a black man is 12 times more likely to be sent to prison for a drug offense than a white man. A black woman is five times more likely to go to jail than a white woman. A recent report by the Pew Charitable Trusts also found that one in 15 black men are locked up in the U.S. compared to one in 106 white men. What's wrong with this picture? [Concrete Loop]
Oldies But (Not So) Goodies
Speaking of skin bleaching: this vintage product packaging confidently states, "The lighter you look, the lovelier you look." We haven't come very far. (Click to see the full box.) [Vintage Ads]
Photo Finish
The cool thing about this retrospective look at Annie Leibovitz Vanity Fair covers? You can see how many times the people of color get pushed to the right side of the frame, putting them safely off of the main cover of the magazine and only seen when the flap is unfolded. Victims include Zoë Saldana, America Ferrera, Kerry Washington, Lucy Liu, Don Cheadle, Samuel L. Jackson, Rosario Dawson, Omar Epps, Jennifer Lopez (in 1997, they probably like her now that she's blonder and less "ethnic"), Will Smith and Angela Bassett. (Click to see some examples.) [ONTD]
maghag
Is There Such A Thing As A Black Female 'Voice'?
Essence magazine has announced plans to re-launch Essence.com and make it a daily destination for African-American women 18 to 49 years old. Two media units of Time Warner are teaming up with the 38-year-old magazine: Warner Brothers Television Group (Extra) and Telepictures Productions (The Tyra Banks Show). The number of African-American internet users is expected to grow to 25 million in 2011, up from 19.6 million in 2006, and advertisers are taking note: according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth, African-Americans will spend $1.1 trillion in 2011, up from $799 billion in 2006. While it's great that the industry recognizes that black people (gasp!) use computers, can one website hope to capture this "under-served" market? More »
Trash TV
On the Today show this morning, Mary Alice Haney of MomLogic.com did a segment on lingerie for pregnant women. Toward the end of the piece, she said, "Right now in fashion all the designers are doing ethnic prints. You may not be able to go out and buy the Dolce and Gabbana dress but you can add a little spice in your underwear and your lingerie..." The item being modeled was a leopard print robe. Because, you know, leopards are ethnic. Or maybe there are leopards where black people are from or something. It's almost as bad as that editor who said you could follow the new tribal look, but you don't have to carry a spear.
maghag
Whose Fault Is It That The Ethnic Women In Magazines Are Whitewashed?
In a piece originally on Guanabee and now on Racialicious, writer Alex Alvarez breaks down the racial stereotypes in women's magazines. "Latinas are portrayed as being sultry and seductive," writes Ms. Alvarez. "[They are] encouraged to have more overtly sexual bodies, with an emphasis on curves, dark eyes and bright, plump, shiny, slick, wet lips shown in loving close-ups, usually while the face to which they're attached is growling or purring or doing something else that's totally fierce." As for black women, Halle Berry is the ideal, even though, as Alvarez notes, "she happens to have a white mother." Black women with darker skin often end up "treated more like sculptural objects than flesh and blood women." Asian women? Always petite and "doll-like." Never mind the fact that "some Asian girls are chubby. Really! Some are muscular, some are tall, some are dark, some are doughy, and some are boney and awkward." More »
So You Think You Can Dance
In the UK late last year, the Royal Ballet made history by casting Carlos Acosta in the role of Romeo — the first time a black male was used as a principal dancer. While black male principals are rare, black ballerinas are almost non-existent. Neither the Royal Ballet nor the English National Ballet currently employs a single black ballerina. Dancer and choreographer Cassa Pancho founded Ballet Black, a company for black and Asian dancers. "Ten or 15 years ago you'd hear that black women didn't have the physique for ballet," she says. "You'd hear 'they have big bums and flat feet.' I've spoken to some who were told to go and get their feet broken and reset for pointe work as it was felt they were too flat." But Pancho believes things are slowly shifting: "In the past, a perfectly acceptable attitude might have been to say 'we want 16 identical white blond girls.' At least it's now about hiring the best dancer, whether she's black or white." [Guardian]
Skin Deep
A man was sentenced to two years in jail for driving his wife to suicide by calling her "black." This was in India, where, as previously reported, fair skin is highly deisired, and where being called dark is "worse than physical torture," according to the court. In the case, Syed Fathima was so distressed after two months of marriage to Farook Batcha (two months of constant fighting, and of him calling her too dark) that she put an end to the marriage — and her life — by pouring kerosene over her head and setting herself on fire. Just a note to the people who don't think it's a big deal when fashion designers refuse to use black models: It's all related, and it's global. [The Times Of India]
MagHag
Mainstream media outlets have picked up on the controversial "LeBron Kong" Vogue cover. Magazine analyst Samir Husni believes the photo was deliberately provocative, adding that it "screams King Kong." (It's Kong's 75th anniversary, interestingly.) He notes: "When you have a cover that... brings those stereotypes to the front, black man wanting white woman, it's not innocent." In the Guardian, Michael Eboda asks: "Are the critics trying too hard to find something that is not there? Or when [photographer Annie] Leibovitz peeped at James through her viewfinder did she decide to reconstruct the stereotypes of the old movie poster?" (Meanwhile, a tipster sent in a piece of WWI propaganda that also invokes the Vogue cover, click the picture to see. ) [USA Today, Guardian]
California Dreaming
Even though the show has yet to be greenlit, details of the new 90210 spinoff are out! According to Variety, there might be an actual black person on the show. One of the characters, Dixon, is the adopted son of a man who moves back to Beverly Hills after growing up there in the '80s. "According to the breakdowns," writes Josef Adalian, "producers are open to actors of all ethnicities for the Dixon role, leaving open the possibility that the character won't be a white male." Another character is named Navid Shirazi — he "produces the high school's student-run video newscast and is of Middle Eastern descent." OMG. Can you imagine a teen show set in California featuring not one but two people of color? Look for the four horsemen on the horizon, people. Surely this is the Apocalypse. [Variety]
Even though the show has yet to be greenlit, details of the new 90210 spinoff are out! According to Variety, there might be an actual black person on the show. One of the characters, Dixon, is the adopted son of a man who moves back to Beverly Hills after growing up there in the '80s. "According to the breakdowns," writes Josef Adalian, "producers are open to actors of all ethnicities for the Dixon role, leaving open the possibility that the character won't be a white male." Another character is named Navid Shirazi — he "produces the high school's student-run video newscast and is of Middle Eastern descent." OMG. Can you imagine a teen show set in California featuring not one but two people of color? Look for the four horsemen on the horizon, people. Surely this is the Apocalypse. [Variety]
maghag
Is Vogue's "LeBron Kong" Cover Offensive?
Have you heard? There's a black man on the cover of the April 2008 Vogue. (Richard Gere and George Clooney are the only other men ever to be on the cover, reports Time magazine.) Vogue does not have a history of embracing African-Americans on its covers. Back in November, Portfolio's Jeff Bercovici pointed out that while 4 out of 12 covers of Men's Vogue had black men; when Jennifer Hudson hit the cover of Vogue last March, she was only the third African-American celebrity to do so, though the magazine was founded in 1914. But on the cover of new issue, Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James seems to be embodying ugly stereotypes about black men: The wild, savage, white-woman-obsessed beast. More »
color blind
Martha Stewart: Equal-Opportunity Idiot
More proof that black people all look alike to rich, self-involved WASPs. Yesterday, The Office actress and celebrity-spawn Rashida Jones dropped by Martha Stewart's show for a crash-course in Mother's Day present-making. This morning, the fruits of Rashida's labor were revealed, as Martha proudly exhibited the plaster-mold made for "Rashida's mom, Diana Ross". (Rashida's mom, of course, is Peggy Lipton). Later on in the broadcast, Martha admitted, "I was thinking... I don't know what I was thinking." Well we've got a few ideas!The Martha Stewart Show
