THE MISADVENTURES OF AWKWARD BLACK GIRL SEASON 2!!! promo video. super excited. get on this if you haven’t.
My Hair…
My hair is not an afro, but I like to call it that when it’s really fluffy and tall (it doesn’t stay like that for long though). I don’t have typical indian hair except for maybe the length that I had when I was little, or the way it looked when I was little.
Ma never gave me a perm, relaxer or ever chemically fucked with my hair.
But I got it straightened…in 8th grade. And this one chic who’d permed her hair, dyed it, put micro braids in and everything said “You’re hair looks so beautiful straight! Why don’t you do it more often?!”
A kid that I liked in my senior year of high school played with my hair and said,
“I like your hair better when it’s straightened.” So what’d I do? Striaghten it of course and then wore it down for the next class…but I felt foolish
I never forgot that-because it made me angry. What does that mean? That I looked better with straight hair? That having braids or a puff wasn’t deemed beautiful by society’s definition?
At that time I wasn’t aware of the stigma black women have in the media and society. The percentage of black women that use weaves, wigs, perm products or relaxer products is a lot. And most of these products come from white owned companies (deja vu much?).
How many black women, artists, singers etc have straight hair that’s clearly either weave or permed/relaxed hair? All of them…except for that one chic from Girlfriends, India Arie, Erykah Badu (I don’t actually know what her hair looks like), Janelle Monae, Floetry, and Esperanza Spalding. But “Think Like a Man” had what I just mentioned, Tyler Perry movies same thing, Nicki Minaj, Beyonce, Rihanna, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J Blige etc.
Erykah Badu or India Arie is the other stereotype-the down to earth, Imani stunting or African/African American pride, down to earth sista with the nicely patterned garb. It’s not as common as the mammy or the video vixen but that’s the only alternative…the middle/maybe the outkast even. The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl (as my friend Gabby pointed out) is the middle ground sista with little to no hair who is basically the black version of Tina Fey, she just has more to fight off as a black woman-and she’s a lot more easier to identify with. Because realistically, not all of us are alike those down to earth sistas (more power to um though if that’s what they really believe in).
Anyways, I had the black definition of: Good Hair. My mother uses that term as well and I think it means hair that doesn’t have kinks so close to the head to make it a tight afro. So basically African Hair or regular African American hair.
I didn’t get it. My hair is a pain and it never listens, when I want it to curl it fluffs. But when I went to college and just let it do its thang…white bitches were on my hair.
“Oh my gosh its’ so fluffy can I touch it!?”
“I love you hair!” or “I want your hair!!”
I loved it-I’d never gotten so much attention for my hair. That became my asset-it became me. It still is. People see the hair and recognize that it’s me. They love the Yazzy hair…
But can I be honest for a second? I love Black People hair. I love the way it feels, the way you can do anything with it. And when I mean anything I MEAN anything. You can straighten it, braid it, curl it, twist it, dreadlock it, temporarily dreadlock it. I think it’s absolutely beautiful in its versatility. Cause I can tell you-I get tired of mine. Every so often I go “I wanna cut it again, shave it? No how bout twist it, lock it? Um braid it!”
Plus in the 60s/70s, the Afro was a statement, a symbol because it said “we will not be controlled, we will not be tamed. We are expressing our culture, we are emancipating ourselves through our words, our culture and our movement to change.” It’s not just a fashion trend…it has roots deeper than that (haha get it roots?).
It’s been shaved, cut, cut again, cut again. Let loose, braided, twisted, fake dreaded, and straightened. Now one side is really short (like Halle Berry short) and the other side goes down to my chin.
I will say this again; I love Black People hair.
Love your hair and love yourself more for having it.
:)
(*I know I complain about this all the time, have written countless rants about it from watching Good Hair over and over again, when Tyra Banks did a special on it etc. But I guess my perspective and my own issues with my own hair haven’t been expressed as much…on my tumblr.)
My Booty…
I awoke one day, put clothes on, stood in front of a mirror and said “Where is my booty?”
I did this for years and years. Hoping that it would appear out of nowhere like chics who all of sudden have large breasts. I wanted that booty to abracadabra its way onto my body so I would have an excuse to buy some new jeans and walk around in school switchin my butt cheeks from siiide to siidee just like the rest of the black girls that have been blessed.
But it didn’t. As you can I see I have a moderate hump-but most of my friends still joke that I don’t have a butt. If you don’t get it thats okay. I’ll explain it to you.
The media portrays two different kinds of black woman the most. The video vixen and the mammy (as two folks I know have pointed out, Clarissa and Gabby-thanks guys). Do I look like a mammy to you?
Thank you.
But the video vixen-the video vixen is usually in heels tight dress/lingerie/bathing suit, showing off a nice behind and breasts to fit. I already new my breasts were done and the itty bitty titty commitee (as they liked to call it) would be my holding cell. But I didn’t fill out like they did-like the other black girls did. Its an asset of a black woman that I felt was important. My booty would give me power. Men would turn their heads and go “DAYUM! WoooWeee! Ain’t that a booty! Hottie with a Body. Lovin them lumps!” The booty was necessary, cause if I wasn’t one of them I wasn’t Asian either. I was a mutt stuck between these stereotypes and pressured to just feel different.
Different as to outkast as outkast as too…well you get the point. You still don’t get it?
I only knew how to be black-besides my ability to eat REAL indian curry, cuss out my father in hindi and watch bollywood movies til I cry…I didn’t know much. I didn’t know how to be white or in other terms “oreo” and talk like Becky and shop at American Eagle for clothes that were ridiculously overpriced. Yeah I know-that was wrong of me to say but it’s true. As a kid who knew racial definitions, who was aware of the racial profiling and stereotypes I was aware of what made you what by the high school standards/media influenced standards.
Being black in our school meant being a young video vixen, acting like grades didn’t matter, hang out with the black kids, date a black boy, talk about the BET awards/The Game, know the latest Lil Wayne jam, know how to twerk.
What can I tell you now: I hate the video vixen image, grades do matter cause I’m paying/taking out loans for the classes, I hang out with black kids on campus, never dated a black boy yet, yes I say nigga, I know the latest Jill Scott song and Esperanza Spalding album, and I hate Lil Wayne-pretty okay with all that.
Oh…and I love my booty. It’s small, compact, my hands fit over the cheeks nice and snug, if I shake my lower half it wiggles like a chic from a Hip Hop video, I like the way it looks in dresses and some pants. It’s prominent when it wants to be and isn’t when it doesn’t. I love it for not being my overcompensating asset…
That would be my hair…and that would be whole nother story to rant about.
“(The Root) — The Haitian Revolution lasted 13 years before the nation, known then as Saint-Domingue, gained independence from France and became the world’s first free black republic. It actually took two declarations to achieve that historic marker: Toussaint L’Ouverture led the island slave revolt to a short-lived victory over British and Spanish colonizers in 1801. By 1804 Jean-Jacques Dessalines had succeeded him and defeated French forces; he was the country’s first president.
For years, many in Hollywood have tried to make a dramatized version of the revolution and its iconic leader, L’Ouverture. None succeeded until Toussaint, a two-part television series that averaged 3 million viewers when it aired in February on the French network France 2. Directed by Philippe Niang, produced by Eloa Prodand starring Jimmy Jean-Louis as the title character, the film was shot in France and Martinique.
Since its premiere, Toussaint has been racking up awards. It won best narrative feature at the Pan African Film and Arts Festival in Los Angeles, where Jean-Louis also came away with the award for best actor. In addition, the film won best Diaspora feature at the Africa Movie Academy Awards, which is considered the African Oscars. (According to Jean-Louis, several other domestic film-festival organizers have inquired about screening Toussaint, but there were no specific details at press time.)
The Root recently caught up with Jean-Louis, who talked about the cultural significance of the film and the potential impact it can have for Haitians and just about anyone who appreciates history’s defining moments.
The Root:Toussaint is such a larger-than-life figure. Did you feel any pressure playing him?
JJL: I felt pressure all the time. First of all, it is Toussaint L’Ouverture. It is a movie that everybody has been talking about for many, many, many years. I am Haitian and I’ve been holding up the Haitian flag for many years.
You have all these things that are on your shoulders and remind you that you’d better do the best possible job. People are going to judge, people are going to be looking at you. They are going to point fingers, so you’d better be good. I was extremely aware of that. It’s hard; you’re playing the man who liberated the first black republic. That itself speaks loudly.
TR:The film gives you a glimpse of Toussaint’s relationship with other famous Haitian leaders, Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Henri Christophe. Each of them had different perspectives about the revolution and liberation. Can you talk about Toussaint’s perspective and what he was trying to do?”
Click on the title for more on this article…
Dave Chapelle! I miss ya man…actually, his comment “we were raised to be racist” is completely true. Or at least referring to joking about stereotypes, the different atmospheres in different neighborhoods and how we respond to them. Its so legit.
I commend him on doing this-coming out is very brave and bold of a person to do, especially in the music industry as a black male. Many props to ya man.
“In a move that he admits could cost him some fans, New York rapper Yitz “Y-Love” Jordan, considered “the first black Jewish MC,” has come out publicly as a gay man of color.
“I feel like I have wasted years of my life worrying that my ‘public reputation’ will be negatively impacted by my identity,” Jordan said in a statement. “Now that I’m over 30, I simply can’t care as much about what people think, despite the prospect of alienating the community I dedicated my life to as an artist and a man. My hope is it will open their eyes – and hearts.”
Although he’s now publicly talking about it, Jordan tells Out magazine in an interview that he’s “never been conflicted about my sexuality … Any conflicts that have come up in my life have come up because of other people’s homophobia. I’ve always known when to be in the closet and when not to.”
Jordan is of Puerto Rican and Ethiopian descent, and converted to Hasidic Judaism in 2000 before going on to study at Jerusalem’s Ohr Somayach yeshiva.
The artist has melded hip-hop style with what he calls “Jewish values,” leading to a fan base of “conservative-minded hip-hop fans,” he said.
Those same fans “have listened to me to be their ‘voice of Jewish values’ for so long that I’m sure some will huff off in disgust at seeing the real me,” Jordan admitted. “What will not change is my art. My rhymes will still be 20 percent Hebrew and full of Jewish quotes as always. I also fully expect that these people who no longer find me ‘appropriate’ will be replaced by fans who can truly appreciate the real me - with a particular emphasis on LGBT hip-hop fans, who I think will be able to identify with my struggle and triumph and have few out artists and role models.”
He hopes his new album, “Focus on the Flair,” will offer those LGBT fans of hip-hop a new voice, as Jordan’s “ready to live authentically.”
“I’m ready to find a husband,” Jordan continued. “I’m ready to live without fear of being outed or the stress of keeping my whole self from people. And I’ve waited too long to do that.” “
Admittedly I do enjoy reading what white folk say about racism-their experiences/opinions/ideals are so much different only because they don’t endure it.
So this is some white dude’s thoughts on racism.
“Sometimes white people think that racism is a dead issue, because they do not experience it. Yet it is not wise to judge other people’s experience based on our non-experience.
In 1991, I converted to the Black Church. Unlike my earlier conversion from atheism, it wasn’t a religious conversion so much as a social conversion. I had been through the most difficult time in my life, and I found that the Black Church knew how to deal with pain. In fact, they had centuries of experience dealing with it.
I also had begun feeling deceived by my own culture. I thought the civil rights movement had mostly ended any serious problems regarding race, except for a few crazy white supremacists here and there. But when I began living in an African-American neighborhood, I would listen as friends and neighbors talked about a world unfamiliar to me. And I was horrified as some of the students at the university I was attending chatted about their almost daily experiences of racism. People had said or done things to them that I didn’t think happened any more, simply because they didn’t happen to me.
One day, after hearing my friends recount multiple racist encounters, I confidentially asked one of the students, Arthur, about it after the others left. Recognizing that I had lived a sheltered life, he simply recounted the story of his first English course at the university. He was the only African-American student in the class, and the teacher called him aside after the first day of class. “You need to drop this course,” she advised, “because you are not going to pass it. And if you tell anyone about this conversation, it will be your word against mine.” Arthur chose to stay in the class and, undoubtedly to the teacher’s surprise, he earned an A. I was horrified by the incident he recounted. “That doesn’t happen often, does it?” I inquired. He eyed me sympathetically, recognizing that I didn’t get it yet.
Some years later I was living in a different African-American neighborhood in a different town. This time there were many drug dealers in the neighborhood, whom I sometimes found sitting on my front porch. Some neighbors complained that the police cracked down on the drug dealers only when they strayed from our neighborhood into a white neighborhood; this policy was called “containment.” Then some white people complained that we had a drug problem in our neighborhood.
Finally, my fourth year there, the police began cracking down on the drug dealers in our neighborhood, and we were grateful. (I even sent the police department a thank you note.) But one day when I was out jogging, a police officer pulled me over. “Sir,” he warned compassionately, “do you know what kind of neighborhood you’re in? There are drug dealers in this neighborhood!” I glanced around at all the neighbor children who were playing. He hadn’t warned them. I concluded that I had finally been pulled over on account of my race.
In the part of the U.S. where I was living, most residents at that time envisaged ethnic conflict as primarily the division between black and white. Many whites had defended slavery, opposed blacks being able to vote, supported segregation, and even in my own time many continued to act prejudicially. Whether any black people wanted to or not, blacks had never held the power as a group to treat white people the same way. Insofar as there were just two sides, it was clear which side was the right one, so I converted to that side. Though there were many whites who did value racial reconciliation, for years I viewed my skin color as a mark of shame to be answered for, until people got to know me and forgot what complexion my skin was.
I eventually learned, however, that the social principles involved in white racism were not limited to complexion. That is, if white people were devils, as Malcolm X had once held, they were not alone in that characteristic. I learned this especially from my wife, Dr. Médine Moussounga. She experienced her share of racism among whites; for example, when she showed up for a job interview in France and the interviewer saw that she was black, he said simply, “Oh, we don’t hire blacks here.” But she faced more dangerous ethnic prejudice in her own country in Central Africa, where she spent 18 months as a war refugee due to ethnic conflict there.
A majority of nations in the world have ethnic minorities among them, and usually there are misunderstandings, tensions and often worse. As one African-American preacher put it, “Racism is a sin problem, not a skin problem.” When human selfishness is taken to a larger social level, we privilege our own group — race, nation, tribe, religion, class, gender, etc. — over others. Recognizing that principle does not absolve us from addressing those prejudices concretely. Obviously in cases like apartheid or Jim Crow, black-white tensions have dominated. But provided we take into account differences, some principles we learn from those struggles may help us as we address justice in other conflicts as well.
I don’t worry about my skin tone anymore; my friends know my heart and my commitments. But racism and related behaviors continue to cause untold suffering to people here and around the world. Sadly, they did not end in the ’60s, even though they have improved. Remembering the lessons of the past is one important step toward working for justice in the present and future.”
Headline on CNN: “THC Found in Trayvon Martin”
So as I was scrolling down Black in America-which is a section on CNN featuring African American-related issues this was one of the headlines…
my problem is why does it matter. Yes I’m all for ganja because you’ve never heard of anyone dying from an overdose of it, it’s actually been known to help rather than harm, psychologically people can become addicted but there are no chemicals in it that make you addicted (I’m not just spittin opinions here this is legit). So do I care if he smoked beforehand-No.
But I suppose it needs to be a headline because muhfuckas gotta come up with something to make him look bad. In reality how many kids these days smoke, kids in school in college etc, adults even? A lot. So does it matter?
No. But again-they gotta come up with something right. Him being a pothead doesn’t justify death…fuck off assholes.
