14 posts tagged “black”
this is a must read post on Racialicious by Tami on what the media is doing when it comes to mediating the life of Michelle Obama.
Between “Mammy” and “Miss Ann”: The “problem” with Michelle
update - I found two really smart posts about this media debate over Michelle's femininity - one post here and another here - both are by Cocoa Fly. Here are some pieces of writing I liked from Cocoa Fly's Back Up Off the First Lady:"Privilege hates to lose it’s place. Privilege believes that it deserves to be exulted above others. Indeed, it resents when the “other” is elevated to equal status, particularly when the “other” refuses to conform to the rules that privilege has put in place. So, the criticism of Michelle Obama’s physicality and sartorial choices comes as no surprise.
Most mainstream media are on board the FLOTUS love train. They call the First Lady beautiful. They love her unique style. They cherish those awesome, toned arms. They love her modern marriage. They celebrate her role as a mother. All of this talk about appearance and being a wife and mother–stereotypical feminine ideals–is driving some white feminists to distraction. They think this focus diminishes Michelle Obama’s considerable intellect and professional achievements. Most black women I know see things differently. The so-called feminine ideal is a tyranny to all women, but it is white women who stand as its embodiment. In the public consciousness, black women are almost never the most beautiful ones or the good wives or mothers. White women see Michelle Obama getting pushed into a feminized role and lament that this always happens to women. Many black woman recognize that it rarely happens to us and we are happy that people are finally recognizing our femininity.
The criticism that Michelle Obama has received, among the accolades, is instructive about the way black women are often viewed by the American public. Yesterday’s New York Times “Opinionator” column rounds up Web analysis of reactions to Michelle Obama’s style and appearance, particularly on the first couple’s recent European trip.
Reading about Juan Williams’ “Stokely Carmichael in a dress” comment, hearing the constant pondering of the first lady’s large buttocks and strong arms, and witnessing ongoing attempts to portray her as domineering, a narrative emerges that is not unfamiliar: Black woman are big, aggressive–not feminine, but masculine. Perhaps the only stereotype missing is the hypersexual tag that we often get saddled with–hypersexuality that is the opposite of the virginal feminine ideal.
Some folks clearly resent the presence of a black woman in an iconic position of American womanhood–one that is not meant for us.
Take the nitpicking about the First Lady’s clothing. Fashion press, as well as designers Donna Karan and Oscar de la Renta have sniffed at Obama’s choices of niche designers and off-the-rack clothes. Karan reckons Obama is going through a phase: “I hope and believe this is just a moment.” While de la Renta questioned the wisdom of wearing a sweater to Buckingham Palace. And, of course, there is the constant sniping about the First Lady’s shockingly uncovered biceps. "
"And finally, Michelle Obama is NOT Jackie O. I'm tired of folks saying, "Jackie Kennedy wouldn't do this. Jackie Kennedy wouldn't wear that," when Mrs. Obama does something people don't like. Michelle Obama is making her own legacy and Jackie Kennedy is not the current First Lady. Last time I checked my calendar it read 2009, not 1962."
"People have talked about Lady O's looks, called her "angry," "militant" and "unpatriotic." She was even called "trash" and "bitch" by pundits. I was so frustrated when I heard the "trash" and "bitch" reference. It makes me angry because there are racist undertones to some of these comments. Would they call her these things if she weren't black? I've never seen a First Lady so criticized, attacked and disrespected. I didn't agree with the way Pres. G.W. Bush ran the country but I never thought to call Laura Bush vulgar names or Hillary Clinton, Barbara Bush, Nancy Regan, etc. SOME people can't handle seeing an intelligent black woman who is poised and living a luxurious lifestyle."
"why is the naked white baby oppressing the naked black baby?"
this is what would say if I was constantly suspicious of the everyday ways racism is reenacted in mundane practices of child play. But I am not that kind of person, so I wouldn't these kind of thoughts.
(I saw these dolls in a preschool in new jersey.)
just found out 2months later from kenyatta cheese that this is the best recap of the obama inauguration experience as told by Baratunde through his twitter and flickr stream. Baratunde is funny. I like him.
The media is not helping obama by referring to him as the "First Black President." Even John Stewart referred to him as America's First Black President and I rely on him for the real news. The media is also not helping Obama if they ONLY show working-class blacks as identifying with Obama - because guess what - OBAMA ISn't ONLY BLACK and It WASN't JUST BLACKS WHO VOTED OBAMA INTO OFFICE!
What about all the working class white people who voted for Obama? And what about middle-upper class whites? And all the Latinos who voted Obama? The Asians - well the asians we are totally absent from the story. What about all the other minorities who together formed a large bloc of voters?
My point is that the media needs to give a more balanced coverage of voters who support Obama. Obama won because he is a unifier - he didn't JUST appeal to blacks. ANd in his speech on Nov. 4th - he ackonowledged all the people from diff classes, ethniciteis and races who helped get him into office.
So please, call him bi-racial, post-racial, multi-culti, multi-ethnic, human, mixed - whatever- just stop calling him black - that's not helping him and it's alienating all the whites, latinos, asians and other minorities who worked hard to get him into office.
The media discourse needs to do a better job of reflecting reality and the kind of reality we want to achieve - one that is open to all backgrounds.
addendum: I posted on twitter 2 days ago: "today is one of those days I truly feel my country's joyful soul - we finally have our first CONSCIOUSLY bi-racial pres" so I said "consciously" because there is such thing as only black or only white - especially in the US with america's history of slavery.
addendum #2 of a comment from facebook:
my friend wrote this comment to my post:
ME:FRIEND:
'm not sure what to think about this. I see your point, but allow me to play devil's advocate: it also seems to me like insisting on identifying him as multi-racial advances a sort of biological-essentialist, where race is determined exclusively by parentage. What seems more important is that he fits the prevailing social conception of blackness, and to some extent embraces it. I doubt his white mother makes racists like him any more. In that sense, I think he's overcome just about all the obstacles he would have faced if she had been black, and to take note of his blackness is to acknowledge the magnitude of his accomplishments in overcoming them.
well and you knowI am the first person to agree with you that "race' is a very freaking problematic category - yes. but I was just giving some alternative "words' for the press to use- it's all problematic no matter what. obama himself insists that he is post-racial. i am simply echoing what obama himself has asked of us = which is to not refer to him as ONLY black, and to keep in mind everyone who voted for him
FRIEND:
Right. I do have a major problem with the fact that seemingly few people, even people within the media, have even stopped to give any thought to this.ME
yah you're right.
I mean either way -if we talk about 'race itself" or of "social conceptions of blackness"- well its' just that - it's socially constructed - historically constituted - orally created - blah blah - I mean what is the "black experience" - to even single out one black experience ignores the diversity of blacks - like not all blacks are working class and etc . so even to say "black" does not refer to a singular experience. this is not to say that people can't say he's black - or that someone can't just say "I'm black." What is going on is that it's all complicated, socially constructed and messy - and when the media is as powerful as it is- it should be more concsious of how it frames a "person" as powerful as obama now - even Obama is conscious of it - he has asked us not to call him black - this is not to say that he doesn't think he's black or that he's not black or denying the a "black experience."This is simply a matter of trying to figure out what is the best way to unite a country that has had and continues to have a diffcult time with race - so that is why I think he's asked us to consider him as "post-racial." in no way am I denying the whatever kind of life experience obama has had - or what other blacks have had . I just want the media to be more critical of how it frames obama and what kind of implications it has when it ONLY focuses on the happiness of black voters who can now identify with the president. i think the media should also focus on how iraqis can now have hope this war will end, how soldiers can know that they were will be an end to this terrorism we have waged on the middle east, on all the undocumented migrants who can have a chance to become documented, on all the gays who can now have hope that on a federal level there can be more openess to equality - for latinos who have also worked their asses off to become citizens and many who just voted for the first time - also highlight those stories ALONGSIDE the 106 year old black woman who just voted for obama - a diversity of voices is reflective of our diverse country.
Differences, borders, lines, surfaces and boundaries do not really divide things from each other at all, they join them together. All boundaries are held in common.” Alan Watts
Troy Davis is scheduled to be executed on Sept 23, 2008 at 7pm. Last year he was scheduled to die on July 17th, 2007 - but with enough protests, emails, and phone calls, the Georgia Board of Pardons held off on his execution date. The Georgia Supreme Court refused his stay request, and now we have a few more hours to hear what the US Supreme Court has to say.
After his request was filled for a stay by the Georgia Board of Pardons last year, Amnesty International has been working hard in this corrupt-against-blacks US system and most recently he was denied clemency again on Sept 12 - so he is still scheduled to die on Sept 23, 2008. The worst part is that Georgia is 1 of 3 states where the governor can't grant clemency, so really all appeals must be made to the George Board of Pardons.
Just keep in mind that with enough protests from citizens and organizations, his execution was held off last year. It can happen again this year. Please find a way to do something about this - e-mail, blog, vlog, twitter, flickr, change your ghcat-im status - whatever you can do!
More than 20,000 people signs petitions. " Four thousand letters were received by the board written on his behalf, including letters written by Desmond Tutu, Harry Belafonte, and former FBI director William Sessions.[6] Sister Helen Prejean, Amnesty International US director Larry Cox, and the Council of Europe all spoke out against the planned execution.[7] The Vatican's nuncio to the U.S., Monsignor Martin Krebs, sent a letter on behalf of Pope Benedict XVI to Governor of Georgia Sonny Perdue urging him to spare Davis's life." <h href="en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Anthony_Davis"from wikipedia
This is what ex-FBI director, William S. Sessions, has to say about the case.
for more info, read this recent NY Times article.
Amnesty Intl provides clear instructions on how to protest this.
__________________________
written on July 16th, 2007
The execution of Troy Anthony Davis is set for tomorrow, July 17th. Send an e-mail to protest it.
Amnesty International says that "Troy Davis was sentenced to death for the murder of Police Officer Mark Allen McPhail in Georgia. The case against him consisted entirely of witness testimony which contained inconsistencies even at the time of the trial. Since then, all but two of the state's nine non-police witnesses from the trial have recanted their testimony. Many of these witnesses have stated in sworn affidavits that they were pressured or coerced by police into testifying or signing statements against Troy Davis."
I understand the reality of stopping this will probably not materialize (which brings me back to when I angrily wrote about Stanley "Tookie" William's execution a few years ago) - but silence is worse - and even if his execution isn't stopped tomorrow, at least the Georgia state will see the intense the opposition is and *may* prompt them or some individuals to re-think the death-row policy.
Davis's case is especially apalling in the high error of its evidence (purported witnesses), and even members of Congress have written to Georgia's Board of Pardons. "Nobel-prize winner Rev. Desmond Tutu, singer Harry Belafonte, actor Mike Farrell, Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL), Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Sister Helen Prejean, Sam D. Millsap, Jr. (former D.A. of Bexar County, TX), record producer and activist Russell Simmons and Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation are among those who have voiced support for clemency." (From Amnesty Intl)
So send an e-mail or fax to Georgia's Board of Pardons. Amnesty makes this very easy - you can do it all online here
I just watched Epic Fu's great episode, which included a piece on The Face Transfomer. Beyond thinking that the Face Transfomer is cool, I started thinking about the social meaning behind this exercise.
Here I am pretending to be an “Afro-Carriabean” - wtf? I mean cool yes, sure, I want to see what I look like as a manga character and am curious to see what I look like as a black person, but there was something odd about trying on different races. Literally.
What does it mean for race relations and conceptions when we feel that we can freely try on different races? Have we become so comfortable with race that we can play around with it like shopping for clothing?
I am always really sensitive when people say that a person acts like a certain race or culture. It’s almost akin to imaginatively being another race - kinda like what we are doing with Face Transfomer. And you know I actually hear this verbal exchange most often among my white and black or latino friends. I’ve heard a black person say to a white person, “you know so much about black culture that you are black or at least must have been black in a past life.” Now I find that on one end to be a compliment, that the white person is accepted as part of the black community, but on the other end I find it difficult to swallow as a form of compliment because most often it is white people who have the most latitude to be absorbed into another race or cultural group. You don’t usually hear the reverse, that a white person will say to a black person, “wow you know so much about black culture that you are actually white!” It's like you hear in the movies where they say to white people, you can always come into our part of town, but we will never be allowed to come into yours.
For dominant groups, like Caucasians in the US, race can be an after thought so it’s almost like a novelty to pretend for a moment that one is another race or ethnicity. For people who look anything other than white in Western countries, there isn’t as much freedom to forget one’s skin color because they are reminded of it (usually negatively) in their daily interactions with institutions and people.
In particular, for non-whites, being a certain race or ethnicity can be a complicated process of accepting ones skin color and coming to terms with the popular (mis)conceptions of one’s race or ethnic group. A lot of times, this entails the imagination of being white before a full embracement of one’s race or heritage. For a time period when I was a teenager raised in an all white upper-class community, I wished I was white so badly so that I wouldn't have to deal with the racist jaunts by my classmates. And so here I am, trying on a "West-Indian" face. Kinda surreal. Now do I really want to imagine what it is like to look like an Indian female, let's say in the US? or in India? and from what class? what is my migration history? or was I born here? My point is that being another race is more than just trying it on for a few seconds digitally, but some how we've reduced it down to just that and I wonder if this novelty is an indicator of that we're comfortable with race or that we're just dealing with race in a more post-modern removed and techno-mediated way.
And you know it's usually people who are more affluent who have the opportunity become the "other," to learn about another culture and to transplant themselves into another ethnic group’s cultural world. So jokes made to white people like “wow you know so much about my culture, you must be Mexican” just make me uncomfortable because there’s a certain level of privilege that comes with learning about another “culture.” The fact that I make time and spend money to learn Spanish because I find the language beautiful and useful for my academic interests in Mexican migration is a privilege. Now it is a privilege that I embrace and am not embarrassed of and make no apologies for, but at the same time I am quite aware of my social position to even be able to learn another language more out of interest and less out of need.
So back to Face Transformer - does this mean America is comfortable with race (and manga, chimps and euro painters j/k) if we can freely try on different races? And what does this say about race when we can collapse large groups of people together into general categories? In Face Transformers all the blacks, Caribbeans and Africans are grouped into the afro-caribbean category, and all Asians are collapsed into the East-Asian category and I think the West Indian group is not referring to people from the West Indies but Indians and Middle-Easterners. This is an odd form of racial reductionism. And where are the Latinos – where do they fit in this? And Inuits?
I’ve always kept a tab on these Face Transformer-like sites and I think the fun in trying these online sites out is an expression of an underlying desire to temporarily imagine another physical body without fully committing to that body/face. And the kinds of changes rendered by these online sites point to a greater cultural obsession or let’s say anxiety with that rendering. So for Face Transfomers we could say this is an obsession with race and euro paintings:) Oh and with age also – you can chose to be a young adult, baby, teenager and old person.
One of the predecessors to Face Transformers was My Heritage and I wrote about the social meaning behind that too 2 years ago when it launched. So instead of transforming into a race or chimp, like Face Transformer, you can transform yourself into a celebrity and see which one you most closely resemble. So this points to an obsession with celebrities.
Well after my social diagnosis I think I will upload another picture on Face Transformer and see what I look like as a Male. Hmmm perhaps I have an underlying anxiety with switching genders? Well did anyone have these thoughts when they uploaded a face on Face Transfomer?
oh and one thing that I definitely learned is that I don't like good as a Caucasian! Good thing that I embrace my Chinese face!
Raquel originally posted this article from Tim wise. thanks mama!
"Your whiteness is showing.
When I say your whiteness is showing this is what I mean: You claim that your opposition to Obama is an act of gender solidarity, in that women (and their male allies) need to stand up for women in the face of the sexist mistreatment of Clinton by the press. On this latter point--the one about the importance of standing up to the media for its often venal misogyny--you couldn't be more correct. As the father of two young girls who will have to contend with the poison of patriarchy all their lives, or at least until such time as that system of oppression is eradicated, I will be the first to join the boycott of, or demonstration on, whatever media outlet you choose to make that point. But on the first part of the above equation--the part where you insist voting against Obama is about gender solidarity--you are, for lack of a better way to put it, completely full of crap. And what's worse is that at some level I suspect you know it. Voting against Senator Obama is not about gender solidarity. It is an act of white racial bonding, and it is grotesque."
Generic Asian Man: I have more money than you!
Crazy Monster: Oh Yeah? I have more cultural capital than you!
Generic Asian Man: I create your cultural capital!!
Crazy Monster: You little misrecognized structured bitch.
I drew this cartoon during a seminar discussion on Pierre Bourdieu's Distinction. Bourdieu is HEAVY - everytime I read him I become so depressed because I feel like no matter what, the working class, or the marginalized are always fucked. So to counterbalance this - I drew a cartoon, a la Bourdieu - but with a silly side. Would he find it funny? I don't know - but to understand this cartoon if you haven't read his work yet, here's a quick primer.
Bourdieu tried to show that there are more ways than just using money to dominate people - and that people use "culture" to also reproduce their superiority. So he conceptualized this as "cultural capital."
For example, he said public education is a way social hierarchy is reproduced. When the school sends their students on an art museu fieldtrip - this is form of trying to enforce the dominant class's taste of what is considered to be "artistic" and valuable for education. Bourdieu was trying to point out that the contradiction with public education is that it's supposed to INCREASE equality, but instead it PERPETUATES inequality. When teachers and textbooks force into black kids that they need to know about European art and memorize European history, this is one way of reproducing the hierarchy of whites on top, and blacks on bottom. Of course textbooks give Blacks one month for their anti-slavery heros, and a chapter on third world Africa, - and of course we say the West colonized Africa, but one month of heros or 1 chapter of lesson plans is not enough. Even though we are past the plantation days, school classrooms and curriculum ensure that racial superiority stays alive in more subversive ways. It's all one big structure of structured domination! AHHHHH!
Read and Laugh at Crazy Monster #1-4
As I watch this disaster unfold, I keep comparing how the news frames the San Diego 2007 Firestorm in contrast to how they framed New Orlean's Hurrican Katrina. Race and class are at the heart of the comparisons. So much of this sounds different when you are talking about SD's primarily Caucasian middle-upper class communities being affected by the fire - whereas in new Orleans it was primarily poor black people stranded in the hurricane.
we can see many differences just by comparing how the media and government talks about the evacuees who stayed behind despite a mandatory evacuation. In New Orleans, helicopters didn't rescue all the black people on their roofs, supposedly because they were hearing "gun shots." I remember the reaction from the news and online community was that those who didn't listen to the mandatory evacuation were complete "idiots" or people trying to defy the law- essentially those stupid poor blacks folks. In San Diego - firefighters can't focus their resources on fighting the fires because of the winds and because they are also busy doing emergency rescues on people who didnt' listen to the mandatory evacuation. HOWEVER - the news frames these people in a more sympathetic light - by saying well you can understand why these people are so attached to their beautiful homes they own because of all the hard work they've put into it and even though they should have listened we understand the pain they are - essentially we are sympathetic to middle-upper class folks for staying behind in the face of a fire if they are protecting their houses. White people again are reinforced as HARD-WORKING and PERSISTENT even when they FAIL to evacuate while blacks are framed as LAZY and UNOBEDIENT for not evacuating.
Remember how the media
said black folks were raping, murdering and eating each other in the
New Orleans Superdome? Now the media in San Diego frames the 10,000
primarily white middle-upper class folks from North County in the
Qualcom Stadium as peacefully sharing oral stories about their homes
and eating home-baked brownies dropped off by sympathetic volunteers, and getting massages by compassionate massage therapist volunteers!!!! And please notice the headline of the article by ABC about those who are giving massages, "CIVILITY REIGNS IN SAN DIEGO," as if the opposite - UNCIVILITY - reigns in other places. CIVILITY refers so much to those who are CIVILIZED and separates the civilized from the uncivilized. This implies that the situation in Qualcomm stadium is totally different from the situation in other uncivilized evacuee areas - like the Superdome, where the black evacuees were supposedly unpolite, violent, sweaty, dirty and smelly - and where the Black Evacuees were called REFUGEES. So at least San Diego has learned so much from Katrina - they are taking the names of people who enter the stadium, and they are not referring to them non-US citizens. We have no white refugees in San Diego- truly they are first-class civilized citizens! 
I have to admit that I am so upset right now that I am having a hard time finishing a deconstruction of this headline and the images - so if anyone wants to write more about this please do - and I will link to you.
I know the situations (Katrina and Southern California Wildfires) are completely different and do not stand for a sound comparison, but a comparison in media representation is worthwhile and reveals how the class and race of community matter. . For a reminder at how much race and class does matter in media discourse- here's a photo where I examined from the Hurrican Katrina and how the news framed a black man wading in water as "looting" while they framed a white man wading in water as "finding" floating goods. Btw- Many New Orleans evacuees are STILL homeless and not doing ok 2 years after the disaster. For those in Malibu and San Diego who had their mansions burn down - I wonder what will happen?
I am so mad that the city I live in is filled with so much sweet words of prejudice. Not that this doesn't happen everyday everywhere - but it's just really intense when your city is burning down and there is so much racial and class politics in the media. As Raquel has written - the whole South side of San Diego county is burning down, but it the press coverage is scant compared to North County of San Diego - where all the super-rich super-luxury mansions are loacted. It's where people, like this person, go to escape their 2nd home or to their friend's hotel or book a room at the Aviara for $350 a night with sculpted flamingos and golf courses.
(South County is more middle-low income, racially and ethnically mixed and 10-5 miles from Mexico.)
You can read my other thoughts about the National news coverage of SD fires here, distortion of wildfires here, emphasis of LA over SD here, and what a Sociologist would do during a fire here.
UPDATE: NPR just did a piece on how bloggers are either comparing or arguing against a comparison of Katrina vs.Southern Ca. Wildfires. They link to many other excellent blog posts that do some great comparisons.
this photo was taken by ABC News and was part of this story and part of The Stencil.
