It’s Not Me…It’s YOU

I read the article about Ebony putting Nene on the cover and her rebuttal about it….I am SOOOOOOOOO tired of BLACK STARS saying that Blacks don’t support their own….that is just half of the problem…

The PROBLEM is the amount of viewership given to these individuals who are PROBLEMATIC to the BLACK COMMUNITY….My issue is not with her story or whatnot, because I mean it is to be lauded and anyone in her position would take advantage…but i mean, there are many people who has been through much worse or even did MUCH MORE….

Also in this issue is Tyler Perry (of course) and Debra Lee (RIGHT)…

I attacked this issue when she put that boring flop of a show with TJ Holmes on Wednesdays instead of everyday citing ratings and how Blacks don’t support their own…No, the PROBLEM is the bad ass writing and rip-off of COLBERT and other shows of the like with LITTLE SUBSTANCE…. BET and others are not about the black experience and preserving Black culture than they are about profiting off of something happening in the black community at the time of their issue or launches…SO STOP IT…

Black communities are critical because we are CRITIQUED with a fine pen by society and have been for the past few decades, along with the fact there are VERY FEW showings of GOOD CHARACTER and QUALITY with the black experience where someone isn’t cooning it up for audience ratings…

The best thing BET has done is show reruns of Moesha (even though it was during the hours people are typically asleep…Who does this woman think she’s fooling.)

And Nene needs to just shut up and relish in the fact that she is doing well, instead of debating why people are so upset with her getting chosen for this and that because there are a PLETHORA of reasons why she shouldn’ t.

I swear BET, Ebony, Essence, TBS, VH1, etc. expect us to SWALLOW the dry pill of this BULLSHIT they put out about US and expect us to like it because we are black and they are our own… Hell Kerry Washington’s show is GREAT, but this issue came out around the SAME TIME RHOA debuted its new season….just like last month the election was on and they were on Ebony cover (it’s like I SEE what you are doing, i may have only interned for magazines or contributed, but i know a great deal in marketing to know you put her on the cover to capitalize on the season….fuck her story…)

I just was REALLY upset at Debra Lee, because she is DRAGGING HER FEET and being stingey with her COIN to put into GOOD programming….if you are going have wack ass writing and whatnot, just put up syndication of Moesha, The Parkers, Girlfriends, etc. until YOU GET GOOD WRITERS…and GOOD MOVIES THAT TEACH AND NOT MAKE US LOOK BAD….

28 November 6 Permalink

An American Negro in Paris (Excerpt) by F. Daniel Hobson

Day Two: June 21^st, 2012 

I took the rest of yesterday off after me and D got in from Saint-Michel due to being fatigued from all the walking we did. I ended up sleeping well into 1:00pm (which was roughly 7:00AM EST). When I got up, Kadir offered me coffee with baguettes before he went to work for the afternoon.

 I was reading Baldwin’s work while in Paris and began to interpret what he meant regarding the Black American body in Paris and my own performativity in Paris. Like the quote I placed at the beginning of my paper, I begin to interpret both my label as American and being Black in a foreign country.  D told me one of the things that France does is that when they give their census data (which he sent me a copy of) there is no race box, because it is thought that it creates diversity. In my opinion, to not think of race or to attempt to obliterate it completely causes those whose life chances are constructed by race to think more heavily about it. In the case of African Americans in France, we are to think more about our “American-ness”, especially in the company of other Americans, although our own history is not exactly positive in America due to slavery and discrimination. As Baldwin alluded, to lump them into that group of Americanism is to deny that racism and discrimination exists. It makes things a bit harder to decipher, because your constructed self due to being racially discriminated against is considered unimportant in terms of your experience, but based more on your class and socioeconomic status.

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17 November 4 Permalink

Young Model Leomie Anderson Opens Up About Racism In The Fashion Industry

Model Leomie Anderson has penned an open letter to the Sunday Times in the UK about what it feels like to be a black model in the fashion industry and the overt and passive racism she experiences.  Read the eye-opening letter inside…..

We’ve all heard fashion experts and industry insiders talk about racism in the industrywhether its on the runways or in the magazines.  But now a true insider, 19-yr-old Leomie Anderson, is speaking about her own experience.  In an open letter published in the UK’s Sunday Times, Leomie says that racism is very much a part of her everyday struggle, forcing minority models to work twice as hard as their white counterparts.

Leomie adds that until the fashion houses begin to embrace a wider range of “beauty” and cater to a more diverse demographic of fashion consumers, the issue will persist.  But Leomie also says that she knows things MUST change and she uses the racism factor as motivation to work harder.  And she says the struggle makes her journey mean so much more.Read the entire letter here:

“I have been working as a model for more than three years. I’ve been photographed for Italian Vogue, Dazed & Confused and ID. I’ve modelled at Paris, New York and London Fashion Weeks, but I haven’t done Milan Fashion Week. I’ve heard from other black models that it’s much harder to get work in Milan. The successful black girls don’t even bother travelling there for castings, because they know they won’t do as well, even if they’ve walked for great designers in all the other cities. Even people from Milan will say that the fashion market there is very behind. They’d rather stick with what they know.

I’ve only had one racist comment made directly at me. I’d gone to a casting for a London fashion designer, I can’t say who. They just said: “We only want pale-skinned girls to be in our show.” To be honest, I didn’t feel emotional about it. I just thought: “Well, it’s not my fault. That’s their opinion. They are out of date, and in time, they’ll have to change; they can’t continue with that perspective.”

When I started at Premier Models, Carole [White, the founder] warned me that some designers would have outdated views, and that it’s not personal. Annie [Wil­shaw, her booker at Premier] is bored with it: she says black girls have to work twice as hard to get picked up. Actually, it made me feel better that they raised the issue with me, that they weren’t awkward about it. And Annie is right: it is a lot harder for us. If a show uses 20 girls, there’ll only be space for two ethnic minorities — if that. There’s nothing to stop a fashion designer using only white girls in a show. There’s no union representation for models, and a designer can do whatever works for them.

Even though it may not be right, fashion portrays what people want to be; it reflects society, it’s the world we live in The preference for white skin seems to happen especially if a designer has been in the industry for a long time. But it’s a generalised mentality among fashion houses — they used to have mostly white customers, so it made sense to have white models, but now there are many more eastern Europeans, Asians and women from the Middle East buying fashion. The houses are struggling to adjust to the new market. It’s also possibly recession-related. In any time of rapid social change, people stick to what they know, and in fashion that’s the white girl.

“Shadeism” definitely exists: there are different attitudes to different shades of black. Lighter-skinned models are used more than darker-skinned ones, and if darker models are used, it tends to be for a traditional African look.

When designers create an African or tribal print, they’ll get a black girl to model it. I’d say I was in the middle of the spectrum — I’m dark-skinned, but I don’t have traditional African features, so I tend not to be stereotyped. There can also be problems with hair and make-up. Hair stylists never pack black hair products, because they don’t expect to see black girls. They can be scared to work with our hair. I wouldn’t call it racism; it’s just that finding real black hair is rare. Make-up is improving — girls such as Jourdan Dunn and Ajak doing well has helped — but sometimes, when my make-up is finished, it doesn’t look as nice as it does on white skin. They don’t know how to adjust to our skin tone.

You’ll find bitchy models, but it’s not because of race, it’s just their personality. I’ve never had any comments that have made me feel uncomfortable. Once you’ve got the job, everyone just behaves normally. I read about James Brown’s comments. [He repeatedly called the black presenter Ben Douglas a nigger and his female companion a nigger’s bitch, following the Baftas ceremony.] Maybe he was trying to be funny, but using that word is not cool, and it’s pretty out of date to find it funny. I’ve actually met James Brown — he was nice and asked me about my mother. He didn’t seem racist to me. When people are drunk, they say things they don’t mean. Things always go wrong when people aren’t in their right mind. Especially if you’re in the public eye, you’ll always get caught out. And if you’re in the public eye, you have a responsibility not to offend.

Even though it may not be right, fashion portrays what people want to be; it reflects society, it’s the world we live in. The idea of fashion looking better on white skin is associated with an old sense of elitism, yet society has become much more diverse. In time, I think fashion will change.

Fashion is always outrageous, though, and famously politically incorrect. The bitchiness is part of that outrageousness. If fashion stuck to the rules, it wouldn’t be such a big industry. Even if racism went away completely, they would find something else to be outrageous about. I would like to see fashion be more open and less prejudiced to different ethnicities, but it is the way it is because it’s such an exclusive world. Its exclusivity is why people want to be in it. If fashion had a broader perspective of beauty, would there be such a thing as a supermodel?

As it is now, if a black girl does well, it’s seen as more of an achievement. That’s what drives me to succeed. I don’t think talking about racism in fashion will change anything. Even if fashion changes, it’s not going to change the world. I’d rather just have a positive attitude. If I were feeling discriminated against, I might go into a casting thinking I’m not going to get this job. It’s negativity that will disadvantage me.”

8 March 16 Permalink