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‘Imagine a Future’ sheds light on black women and internalized racism

The documentary portrays an age-old struggle facing African Americans: to believe that “black is beautiful. From Kiri Davis’ “A Girl Like Me” (2005) to Bill Duke’s “Dark Girls” (2012), documentary filmmakers over the last several years have curated a much-needed national discussion about skin bias and colorism in black American culture. “Imagine a Future,” a collaborative film project set to release nationally on July 5th on BET, will surely continue the stories of brown skinned girls and conceptions of beauty.

 The film offers a powerful race and gender empowerment message. Considering how negatively black women are portrayed in mainstream media, that message is as important today as it was when Kenneth and Mamie Clark conducted race-based doll experiments in the 1940s.

 Last year, Procter & Gamble’s My Black Is Beautiful (MBIB) in partnership with Black Girls Rock! (BGR) and the United Negro College Fund launched the “Imagine a Future” initiative. According to a statement on the organization’s site, the initiative hopes to develop “much needed solutions for our young black girls based on the must-have conversations about beauty, self-worth and empowerment.”

 While the 30-minute documentary focuses primarily on black teen Janet Goldsboro of Delaware, it portrays an age-old struggle facing African Americans, particularly women and girls, to believe that “black is beautiful.” 

 Beverly Bond, founder/executive director of Black Girl Rock! and Goldsboro’s mentor, told me in an interview that this is at the core of her organization’s work. “I want girls who suffer from similar self-esteem issues to exam where their beauty ideals come from. We are either dismissed or put in a very narrow box in media messaging. Stereotypes are real. People do base perceptions on what they see in media. It’s dangerous and it’s up to us as black women to make sure that we don’t let anyone do that to us.” Bond selected Goldsboro, her mentee, for the film because she knew the depth of her struggle. 

 Serving as a young griot, Goldsboro offers emotional and deeply moving tellings of how she came to see her Afrocentric features as unattractive. Growing up around cousins that were light skinned, she often endured hurtful comments from the adults in her lives about her dark skin and “big nose.” In school, she feared that she wouldn’t appeal to the young boys who openly described what they wanted their girlfriends and future children to look like. When turning to media, there were always limited or no depictions of dark-skinned women who looked like her.

  The film follows Goldsboro from the Black Girls Rock Queens’ Camp for Leadership and Excellence to South Africa, where she met with young black women who shared in her struggle and was able to see the problem within a global framework. Goldsboro describes her journey to Johannesburg as a life-altering experience. The BGR camp experience and trip catapult her towards greater self-love, as she begins to use art to educate about black women’s beauty and appears much more confident.

 Many of the factors that shaped Goldsboro’s consciousness shaped my own in my early twenties. Like her, I too was enraged and saddened when learning about Saartjie (Sarah) Baartman’s story. In my college Black Women’s Bodies course, we juxtaposed images of the “Hottentot Venus” with portrayals of black women in hip-hop videos. And I, similarly, was also troubled to see the promotion and use of skin bleaching creams when I visited my homeland of Eritrea in 2005. 

 These parallels are what made the film both deeply powerful and emotionally difficult. In one scene, Goldsboro visits the site where Baartman’s remains were finally laid to rest in South Africa. Joining countless others who have traveled there from across the globe, she leaves a note of love and affirmation. Goldsboro, still struggling to recognize her own self-worth, pays homage to a woman who experienced unparalleled loneliness and dehumanization at the hands of a racist society. This and other charged moments in the film make “Imagine a Future” uniquely Pan-African and historically rich in its approach.

 Goldsboro’s story perfectly reflects the world that millions of young black women are born into. Unjust structural forces are in place that reduce us to sexualized objects or erase our visibility altogether. Then, on the home front, we are confronted with internalized racism and self-hatred. At every corner of existence, the message of inferiority is propagated and our sense of self-worth is often diminished.

 During a panel discussion after the screening, image activist Michaela Angela Davis, rightfully pointed out the value of Goldboro’s story being told “through the lens” of black women. Bond is the film’s executive producer and the directors are Shola Lynch (“Free Angela and All Political Prisoners”) and Lisa Cortes (“Precious”). Davis, MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry, Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas, actress Tatyana Ali, and poet/professor Elizabeth Alexander are among those interviewed.

 What the film doesn’t spell out is the price that society pays for cultivating generations of women who don’t fully understand their worth nor view themselves as beautiful. What’s at stake and if we did “imagine a future” where black women loved themselves, what would that future look like?

In response, Bond said: “As a person who knows my black is beauty and that I rock, I don’t compare myself to others. This has allowed me to move forward to focus on things that really matter. This is really about having confidence, focus, direction and purpose. We could be changing the world.”

 That’s exactly how high the stakes are. Hopefully, we will all continue to “imagine a future” where black is regarded as beautiful and empower girls to make a meaningful impact on society.

Our situation right now is critical. We can’t run from it or hide from it. We’re going to have to get down to the nitty gritty. We’ve got to determine who We are. Are We house niggers who are going to walk peacefully into the gas chambers, or are We field niggers, who are going to fight until we’re free? We didn’t come here no house niggers. We didn’t come here from Afrika no punks. We didn’t come here from Afrika no fools. We didn’t come here no Uncle Toms, hemming and hawing, shufflin’ and jiving, scratching our heads and kissing the feet of our masters. We didn’t come here like that. We came here proud, strong, beautiful Afrikans. We came here with a culture, with pride, We came here knowing who We were. We came here an intelligent, sensitive people, who fought and struggled on every level from the moment that We were brought here in chains. We have got to realize who We are and We’ve got to realize that we’ve got a tradition to carry on
Assata Shakur
had long ago become convinced that revolution was a science. Generalities were no longer enough for me. Like my comrades, I believed that a higher level of political sophistication was necessary and that unity in the Black community had become a priority. We could never afford to forget the lessons we had learned from COINTELPRO. As far as i was concerned, building a sense of national consciousness was one of the most important tasks that lay ahead of us. I couldn’t see how we could seriously struggle without having a strong sense of collectivity, without being responsible FOR each other and TO each other
Assata Shakur
Hip Hop can be a very powerful weapon to help expand young people’s political and social consciousness. But just as with any weapon, if you don’t know how to use it, if you don’t know where to point it, or what you’re using it for, you can end up shooting yourself in the foot or killing your sisters or brothers. The government recognized immediately that Rap music has enormous revolutionary potential. Certain politicians got on the bandwagon to attack Rappers like Sister Soldier and NWA. You’ve got various police organizations across the country who have openly expressed their hostility towards Rap artists. For them, most Rappers fall in the category of potential criminals, cop killers, or subversives.
Assata Shakur

where do you stand on this “Argument” of the Twerk phenomenon?

image

Firstly: TWERKING IS NOT NEW. It’s a dance I remember me and friends doing when we were 7 (granted I couldn’t do it). 

Secondly: Just because you can connect it to various Arabian or African cultures doesn’t make it a great dance. That’s like saying Booty shaking in general has roots, well of course it does. All dance has roots in something older and most likely religious or spiritual. But are you Twerking or Booty Shaking for those religious or spiritual reasons? No. Are we African or Arabian in any direct way? No. Does their music/dance involve the vulgarity that I’ve seen in a club where people are practically having sex on the floor? Not really. 

But is it shameless or are we again-over sensititized to these kind of “issues”

The problem I find is the hyper-sexualization of it in the media and in music. This whole obsession with Twerk Teams and youtube videos, making fun of white folks when they try…it’s just all really sad.

Men are looking at this going “Dayuumm look at that as clap! Dayum lemme slide my credit card through that, lemme throw some money at her. That bitch that hoe that slut.”

There’s also the argument that it degrades Black Women…in repeating that let’s bring it back to Slavery for a minute, Black Women were used as dirty sex monkeys-in other words, the Plantation owners would make them have sex with animals, they would be raped by these men. Take that and look at today…how far have we climbed the ladder since then? how far are we from the Hottentot Venus? 

I am not condemning it, only questioning it’s motives and the arguments surrounding it. Cause best be known Swing/Jazz and Blues-related dancing back in early 1900s was very dirty dancing. Some of the music was pretty raunchy. In that case I can see it as a setback to the Evolution of Dance, for we’ve gone from fast moving very complicated dances to something very simple and actually pretty slow. Even Belly Dancing is quicker paced. 

Perhaps if it were done to better music-“Twerking” in other cultures doesn’t use Wacka Flocka Flame or Lil’ Wayne’s music. 

Here are some comments I found just Googling Twerking and the various opinions on it’s existence in American Culture:

OPINION #1: Twerking is a sacred dance: Get that information through your thick skull.

Nothing survives that long and through that much if it isn’t important.

and there are ancient dances that mirror those movements from coast to coast in Africa to this day.

OPINION #2: “Don’t even bring up saying “oh it’s a culture, an African culture” because their way of butt movement dancing wasn’t all promoscious like that and was ladylike with it too. Even some Africans are saying that it’s an insult to their culture of dancing”

Those Africans you know obviously don’t know as much as they think they do. Black women have been booty shaking for ages-

OPINION #3: Personally, I don’t get the whole twerking phenomenon. I do find the amount of videos of little girls and boys on YouTube doing the dance a bit disturbing. Once again, where are their parents? If my mother ever saw me as a kid, bouncing my butt around, I probably wouldn’t be able to sit on it for a couple of days after she got done with me.

OPINION #4: I fail to see why Black girls, or any race of girls, doing a mere dance, whether on video, during contests, in public, etc., is even an “issue” with many people. Merely because the butt is involved in the dance, it’s somehow Armageddon? Please. Obvious exaggeration, but you get my point. Still, I somehow doubt that Black girls were the first to booty dance. Do you have any irrefutable evidence proving that statement true? 

Say what you will about twerking, but the twerk is nothing more than a harmless dance like other dances. Contrary to the beginning of your first sentence in the third paragraph, promiscuity refers to being unrestrained in sexual behaviour. Dances cannot be promiscuous because dances cannot “sleep around” like humans. Whether or not some might find it disgusting, “unladylike,” (a term I disagree with because people should not follow roles based upon their mere gender) or etc., the dance is still harmless and many people enjoy it. In response to you saying that some Afirkans believing that it insults their culture, actually, some Afirkans and Black people outside the United States do it as well. Twerking has never, and logically can *never* harm anyone or society, so therefore, it’s not bad. If one does not like the twerking, he or she can simply teach his or her kids not to do it, but eventually, they would likely make their own choices as they age, or people should not just view it themselves. Wasting one’s life worrying about the harmless dances that other people do is an exercise in futility. 

Because I (Yazzy) cannot twerk, I’ve been called “less black” for it. Whatever that means…so meh, that was a bit problematic. Anyways! That was my tidbit. 

I will leave it at that last opinion. I can see how Twerking can be seen as an issue and a problem in certain cases, but also how we tend to take “issues” and blow them out of the water. Where do you stand in it all.

parting words for my deardear University.

Dear HU,

Hollins University you had slaves, then they became servants (or rather indentured black folk). The people who work in our campus cafeteria are remnants of that-but i don’t think anyone takes notice. 

Our campus has only 1 African American professor, 1 Latino, and 1 Egyptian.

We lack in courses about Asian, African, Middle Eastern, Latino, Native Indian, African American: History, Literature, Music, Dance, Philosophy, Religion, and Language. 

No one really takes note of this-this is a problem. 

There have been racial incidences on campus grounds at social events that included mistreatment of certain peoples because of their race. But who does on tell this to when it happens?

We’ve had subconsciously segregated parties where integration has been frowned upon. This is speaking from personal experience and what others have demonstrated or talked openly about.

As a Liberal Arts, all female, limited diverse community, I believe we need to open a forum with the campus about these issues.  

Why do we immediately segregate ourselves from each other when we go to eat in the cafeteria? 

Why can’t we integrate socially?

Why are our courses limited to that of Euro-centric/American interest? With very little covering anything else. 

Why are we having complaints about racially “ignorant” comments said in the classroom area? 

How can we change this? 

An open forum would address these questions, not to confront but to teach and to make people aware. 

That: Racism exists and one who does not admit it needs to understand how and why it still exists.

Talking about it is better than being silent. 

As college students entering a White Male Privileged Society coming from a (seemingly) White Female Privileged bubble- we need to bring this to light, with answers, trust, comfort and understanding-to educate. 

It would suit to possibly break down certain racial barriers that segregate us and for us to come together not just as white people and black people or just women but as Human Beings equally.

(This is what I’ve learned from you)

 yours truly

graduating Senior,

Yazzy Boiragee

angryblackgirlsunited: Women in Caribbean History: The British Colonised Territories by Verene Shepherd  This work provides an introduction for students, teachers and the general reader, giving accessible information on the history of Caribbean women. As well as focusing on enslaved Black women, it provides a background to the lives of the European, Chinese and Indian women who lived in the English-speaking Caribbean. The text reveals insights and information on Caribbean women and their economic, social and political role in the region, and also analyzes the politicization of Caribbean women in the 20th century.
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angryblackgirlsunited:

Women in Caribbean History: The British Colonised Territories by Verene Shepherd 

This work provides an introduction for students, teachers and the general reader, giving accessible information on the history of Caribbean women. As well as focusing on enslaved Black women, it provides a background to the lives of the European, Chinese and Indian women who lived in the English-speaking Caribbean. The text reveals insights and information on Caribbean women and their economic, social and political role in the region, and also analyzes the politicization of Caribbean women in the 20th century.

So many of my sisters are so completely unaware of who the real criminals and dogs are. They blame themselves for being hungry; they hate themselves for surviving the best way they know how, to see so much fear, doubt, hurt, and self hatred is the most painful part of being in this concentration camp. “Anyway, in spite of all, i feel a breeze behind my neck, turning to a hurricane and when i take a deep breath I can smell freedom
Assata Shakur

Angela Davis: FBI Targeting Assata Shakur 'Reflects Very Logic Of Terrorism' [VIDEO]

Legendary activist, scholar, author and former political prisoner Angela Davis (pictured left), who is currently a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, is still speaking truth to power, specifically as it pertains to revolutionary freedom  fighter, Assata Shakur (pictured right).

In an interview on Democracy Now with Amy Goodman and Juan González, Davis said that the FBI placing Shakur on its “Most Wanted Terrorists” list, the first  woman to be so designated, “reflects the very logic of terrorism.”

“It seems to me that this act incorporates or reflects the very logic of terrorism,” Davis says. “I can’t help but think that it’s designed to frighten people who are involved in struggles today. Forty years ago seems like it was a long time ago. In the beginning of the 21st century, we’re still fighting around the very same issues — police violence, healthcare, education, people in prison.”

Davis was joined by Lennox Hinds, Assata Shakur’s attorney since 1973 and professor of criminal justice at Rutgers University, who also said the act is politically motivated:

“This is a political act pushed by the state of New Jersey, by some members of Congress from Miami, and with the intent of putting pressure on the Cuban government and to inflame public opinion,” Hinds says. “There is no way to appeal someone being put on the terrorists list.”

Shakur, formerly Joanne Chesimard, was a member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army. In addition to being the first woman placed on the “Most Wanted Terrorists,” Shakur, the godmother of slain Hip-Hop artist, poet, actor and activist, Tupac Shakur, is only the second person from inside the United States to placed on the list. In an unexpected move, the state of New Jersey announced it was adding $1 million to the FBI’s $1 million reward for her capture.

Though the politically accepted version of events vilifies Shakur, please read below for the facts.

Shakur was falsely convicted of having killed an officer on May 2, 1973. While driving on the New Jersey Turnpike, Assata, Zayd Shakur, and Sundiata Acoli were stopped by state troopers, allegedly for having a “faulty taillight.” A shootout ensued where one state trooper killed Zayd Shakur, and another trooper, Werner Foerster, ended up dead. Shakur was charged with both murders, despite the fact that the other trooper, James Harper, admitted he killed Zayd Shakur.

Assata had been, following police instructions, standing with her hands in the air, when she was shot by Trooper Harper more than once, including a bullet to the back. Trooper Harper lied and said he had seen Shakur reach for a gun, a claim he later recanted. He also claimed she had been in a firing position, something a surgeon who examined her said was “anatomically impossible.” The same surgeon said it was “anatomically necessary” for her arms to have been raised for her to receive the bullet wounds she did. Tests done by the police found that Shakur had not fired a gun, and no physical or medical evidence was presented by the prosecution to back up their claim that she had fired a gun at Trooper Harper.

While she was in trial proceedings, the state attempted to pin six other serious crimes on her, alleging she had carried out bank robberies, kidnappings and attempted killings. She was acquitted three times, two were dismissed and one resulted in a hung jury.

Shakur was put on trial in a county where because of pre-trial publicity 70 percent of people thought she was guilty, and she was judged by an all-white jury. Without any physical evidence to present, the prosecution had to rely totally on false statements and innuendo aimed at playing on the prejudices of the jury pool against Black people, political radicals, and Black revolutionaries in particular. Finally, after years behind bars, the state secured her conviction for the Turnpike shooting.

In 1979, Shakur escaped from jail and fled to Cuba where she received political asylum and has lived ever since.

She once wrote, “I am a 20th century escaped slave. Because of government persecution, I was left with no other choice than to flee from the political repression, racism and violence that dominate the U.S. government’s policy towards people of color.”

Home » Nation » Angela Davis: FBI Targeting Assata Shakur ‘Reflects Very Logic Of Terrorism’ [VIDEO]

Angela Davis: FBI Targeting Assata Shakur ‘Reflects Very Logic Of Terrorism’ [VIDEO]

May 5, 2013 
By

ANGELA-ASSATALegendary activist, scholar, author and former political prisoner Angela Davis (pictured left), who is currently a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, is still speaking truth to power, specifically as it pertains to revolutionary freedom  fighter, Assata Shakur (pictured right).

In an interview on Democracy Now with Amy Goodman and Juan González, Davis said that the FBI placing Shakur on its “Most Wanted Terrorists” list, the first  woman to be so designated, “reflects the very logic of terrorism.”

“It seems to me that this act incorporates or reflects the very logic of terrorism,” Davis says. “I can’t help but think that it’s designed to frighten people who are involved in struggles today. Forty years ago seems like it was a long time ago. In the beginning of the 21st century, we’re still fighting around the very same issues — police violence, healthcare, education, people in prison.”

Davis was joined by Lennox Hinds, Assata Shakur’s attorney since 1973 and professor of criminal justice at Rutgers University, who also said the act is politically motivated:

“This is a political act pushed by the state of New Jersey, by some members of Congress from Miami, and with the intent of putting pressure on the Cuban government and to inflame public opinion,” Hinds says. “There is no way to appeal someone being put on the terrorists list.”

Shakur, formerly Joanne Chesimard, was a member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army. In addition to being the first woman placed on the “Most Wanted Terrorists,” Shakur, the godmother of slain Hip-Hop artist, poet, actor and activist, Tupac Shakur, is only the second person from inside the United States to placed on the list. In an unexpected move, the state of New Jersey announced it was adding $1 million to the FBI’s $1 million reward for her capture.

Though the politically accepted version of events vilifies Shakur, please read below for the facts.

Liberation News reports:

Photo: " Assata Shakur is welcome here." Mos Def<ybe>

Hip-Hop artist, actor and activist Yasiin Bey, formerly Mos Def, showing support for Assata Shakur.

Shakur was falsely convicted of having killed an officer on May 2, 1973. While driving on the New Jersey Turnpike, Assata, Zayd Shakur, and Sundiata Acoli were stopped by state troopers, allegedly for having a “faulty taillight.” A shootout ensued where one state trooper killed Zayd Shakur, and another trooper, Werner Foerster, ended up dead. Shakur was charged with both murders, despite the fact that the other trooper, James Harper, admitted he killed Zayd Shakur.

Assata had been, following police instructions, standing with her hands in the air, when she was shot by Trooper Harper more than once, including a bullet to the back. Trooper Harper lied and said he had seen Shakur reach for a gun, a claim he later recanted. He also claimed she had been in a firing position, something a surgeon who examined her said was “anatomically impossible.” The same surgeon said it was “anatomically necessary” for her arms to have been raised for her to receive the bullet wounds she did. Tests done by the police found that Shakur had not fired a gun, and no physical or medical evidence was presented by the prosecution to back up their claim that she had fired a gun at Trooper Harper.

While she was in trial proceedings, the state attempted to pin six other serious crimes on her, alleging she had carried out bank robberies, kidnappings and attempted killings. She was acquitted three times, two were dismissed and one resulted in a hung jury.

Shakur was put on trial in a county where because of pre-trial publicity 70 percent of people thought she was guilty, and she was judged by an all-white jury. Without any physical evidence to present, the prosecution had to rely totally on false statements and innuendo aimed at playing on the prejudices of the jury pool against Black people, political radicals, and Black revolutionaries in particular. Finally, after years behind bars, the state secured her conviction for the Turnpike shooting.

In 1979, Shakur escaped from jail and fled to Cuba where she received political asylum and has lived ever since.

She once wrote, “I am a 20th century escaped slave. Because of government persecution, I was left with no other choice than to flee from the political repression, racism and violence that dominate the U.S. government’s policy towards people of color.”

Watch Democracy Now’s interview with Lennox Hinds and Angela Davis below:

It speaks to the hypocrisy of the United States that there are police officers who have not only killed unarmed, innocent people, but are roaming free and lauded for their bravery. Based on the criteria, there are certain police departments who should be characterized as domestic terror cells. But instead, the FBI is going after a 65-year-old revolutionary who isn’t even guilty and — by international law — has the right to seek political asylum.

It is amazing — and pathetic — how swiftly the FBI felt compelled to frame the domestic terrorism conversation around a Black revolutionary living in Cuba, instead of two White men from Boston.

Timing is everything — and the timing of this travesty of justice speaks volumes.
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