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fucking awesome deconstruction of whiteness studies and anti racist white identity… read this…
MTVU Woodies Awards '09: Left Field Award Nominee Janelle Monáe from George Twopointoh on Vimeo.
www.koffii.com/ImageDescription.aspx?photoId=38873
Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I swear I saw commercials for the movie The Blind Side more times than I caught the ads of those cats singing the free credit report jingle. (F-R-E-E that spells free/credit report dot com, baby…) Environmentalists could learn a lot from Hollywood; that place recycles scenarios more often than a tree hugger sneers at Hummer drivers.
The trailers for the movie indicate that The Blind Side is yet another addition to that long list of white savior movies. I haven't seen it and don't plan to (In grad school, we call this not being bound by the text.), but it seems that Sandra "I'm doing this movie for making up for playing a racist in Crash" Bullock saves a big black kid from the perils of blackness. (Crabs in a barrel. You know the deal.) I guess the Based on a true story tagline wants to goad me into not being critical of the movie, the genre. Whatever. The movie has provided an occasion to address the white savior film. Since I've seen every episode of Webster and Diff'rent Strokes and Dangerous Minds (twice), I'm going to provide a primer for Negro saving for any and all white folks with plenty of money and love in their hearts to adopt a hapless black kid. And for you black youth out there, pay attention. You might find something useful here to make yourself more marketable.
1. Pick a good pathology (and stick to it) — You can't just rescue a poor black kid. All black people are poor. You need to rescue a poor crack baby. Or some teenage foster kid no one wants because he's no longer cute and still has flashbacks of being beaten with an extension cord. (No more wire hangers!!!!) Whatever the problem, make sure the kid has nothing to do with it. Black kids need to be completely innocent in order to elicit any sympathy.
2. No pathology? Pick a disaster. — Tragic things happen to black people everyday, but some things are more tragic than others thereby making black kids worth saving. Drive-by shootings? Totally not cool, but expected and therefore not tragic enough for you to go flying into the 'hood to save a black kid. Fire? Car accident? Hurricane Katrina? Famine (for those interested in saving African kids)? Quick! Go put on your cape! None of these events are part of the cast of usual suspects making black life so damn depressing, and thus warrant Negro saving. Not sure if the occasion requires your superheroics? Ask yourself: If my friend told me they adopted a black kid after that child had suffered ____, my response would be _____. If the latter blank is filled with something akin to "Aw, that's so sad," then you've done well.
The test is full-proof. Trust me.
3. Whichever Negro you choose, make sure its wearing blue. — No, I'm not talking about Crips. Adopt a boy. How many white savior movies or tv shows starring little black girls can you name? I'll wait. *Cue the Jeopardy! theme music, please* Maybe it's because little black boys and their uneven afros are just so irresistibly cute; maybe it's because little black girls will grow up and become black mothers who will subsequently abuse and/or abandon their children thereby forcing you to save their child(ren), but little black girls hardly ever get saved. I guess Losing Isaiah sounds better than Losing Iesha. Whatever the case, adopt a boy. They're just easier, and you don't have to worry about that hair thing. Besides, he'll be a hit with the white girls in high school. I suppose those little black girls are too busy with their emasculation training, anyway.
4. Remember, he must have some value. — You can't be all willy-nilly in your Negro saving. You know they steal. Whatchu talkin' 'bout, Summer M!? Sandra Bullock's adopted son plays football really well. Your black kid needs to be able to do something uniquely charming--like read. Or make you laugh.
5. You need to learn something from all of this — Whether it's (finally!) figuring out all of the steps to the electric slide or instituting a Soul Train line at your next family gathering, you will learn from your chosen downtrodden black child. Perhaps you'll just learn unconditional love. Whatever it is, it'll be memoir-worthy. And you'll get on Oprah. AMAAAAAAZING!
6. Don't forget: race has nothing to do with this. — You weren't even thinking about race until I typed it, right? You are just being a good person, ok? Don't let anyone tell you differently. Those black people giving you the side-eye at Applebee's are just haters.
What did I miss?
Have a great week. And yes, you're welcome.
When we consider how well we are doing financially, we must choose a referent. That is, when we ask the question ("How well am I doing?"), we are also, simultaneously choosing a comparison group (e.g., people in our profession, people of our same sex, people our age, etc).
Most of us probably also restrict our considerations to people in the same country. We usually don't think about how well we are doing compared to all human beings in the world, but this website allows us to do just that. If you put in your yearly income, it will show you where you rank on a global scale (Yen, Canadian dollars, U.S. dollars, Euros, and Pounds only, unfortunately).
I put in the median yearly income for a full time worker in the U.S. and this was the calculation:
This, of course, doesn't consider the cost of living differences, but it still offers an interesting perspective.
(View original at http://contexts.org/socimages)
Watch, share, enjoy, repost! If you'd like to order a DVD with these videos and more to use in your classroom (and to support the MobileHomeComing Community Documentation and Education Project) make a donation of $15 or more to the MobileHomeComing Project!
1) Click DONATE.
2) Enter an Amount and note that you are ordering the DVD.
3) Click Continue.
(or login to your paypal account).
4) Follow instructions to finish your transaction. You're Done!
For a copy of our budget or any more information please email us at mobilehomecoming@gmail.com
Here is the listing!
And to watch some previews check out: http://blackfeministmind.wordpress.com/2009/08/12/eternal-summer-of-the-black-feminist-mind-educational-videos/!
love,hi there!
this is my call for submissions to the second volume of revolutionary motherhood: outlaw midwives zine. i am really excited about this project. and i hope that all of you are able to participate. i am envisioning this as a guide for birth workers and mothers, especially working class and mothers of color, on conception, pregnancy, birth, and the baby year. for us by us.
i am looking for everything from a couple of practical tips in a couple of sentences, to stories, to drawings and photos, lists, and more…
outlaw midwives zine
focusing on pregnancy, birth, and the baby year
for and by: mothers, friends and allies of mothers, doulas, midwives, birthworkers, childbirth educators, childbirth advocates,
intention: to create a practical zine guide for pregnancy, birth, and the first year of motherhood centering the lives of working class, marginalized mothers and birthworkers.
check out the outlaw midwives manifesta and website: http://outlawmidwife.wordpress.com/
outlaw midwives: creating revolutionary communities of love
some suggestions for topics on which you can submit…but these are just suggestions…
conception. suggestions for those trying to conceive. and for not conceiving.
pregnancy. tips for the first, second, third trimester. relationship with doctors, clinic, midwives, family, friends, etc. what advice would you give a woman who is having an unassisted pregnancy (a pregancy that does not involve professional medical folk or midwives…) what should a woman be looking out for to know if something is 'wrong' during her pregnancy?
birth. stories and advice for unassisted birth (birth without medical folk or midwives). homebirth, hospital births. what are the social, economic, legal consequences and limitations for marginalized mothers to make choices about how, when and where they will give birth. what to do with the placenta?
what was your personal experience/story of birth? pregnancy, the baby year?
what did you learn/are you learning from the baby year?
what would you want to tell a soon to be mother about pregnancy, birth, and early motherhood? or write a letter to your pre-mother or pre-pregnant self about what you should expect. what didnt you expect to happen/learn/experience in pregnancy, birth, the baby year? write a letter to you daughter and/or son about what you learned/want to pass on about pregnancy, birth, baby year.
what do you wish someone had told you about early motherhood and/or being a birth worker?
what do you wish you could have said to someone, but didnt?
what is your vision/ideal of how pregnancy, birth, baby year could be?
what has been most difficult for you?
how have you navigated through the systems of welfare, prrotective child services, hospitals, etc?
what family/traditional wisdom did you receive about pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding?
breastfeeding vs. bottle. what are the social and economic influences and consequences of the choice to breastfeed or bottle feed?
why did you become a birth worker? what has been the highlights of the experience? what have been the difficulties?
practical tips for a birth worker, doula, midwife, and birth partners.
herbs, physical exercises, nutrition, rest, employment, healing, reading suggestions, breathing, difficult conversations,
photos, drawings, visual art
poems, essays, fiction and non-fiction
tips, suggestions, lists of resources
keep it simple
deadline february 14, 2010
send submissions to primitivedragonfly@yahoo.com
or leave it in the comment box below
please this pass this on to whomever you think would be interested…
peace and love
mai'a
I learned that part of the invisibility of the displaced girls of Sudan is due to cultural heritage. People in charge of refugee camps tended to attach unaccompanied girls to whatever foster families they could find. Boys were generally left in group settings. The girls then assumed traditional female roles with their foster families, doing chores and housework. They often were unable to attend the camp schools or youth activities as a result.
In addition, when the United States and other countries offered to resettle thousands of Sudanese orphans, they mostly considered boys. The girls, afterall, were attached to foster families and not orphaned. (Although the book makes clear that many of the young men who came over also had families in Sudan, and understandably lied about their family status to get out of the stifling refugee camps.) So once again, the girls were lost.
Sudanese Refugees Live In Goz Amer Refugee camp After Fleeing The War In Darfur
The Lost Girls of Sudan are so lost, in fact, that it is hard to find people who blog about them. In 2007, Lisala Perry wrote:
While the "Lost Boys" of Sudan have garnered attention through writing their own books, magazine articles, and being featured in documentaries and on Aaron Spelling's popular show "7th Heaven," the smaller group of "Lost Girls" of Sudan are hardly mentioned. As matter of fact, I can't find any articles about the girls written after 2005. It could be because of their numbers; the group of boys forced to become refugees is believed to be a little more than 26,500, while the girls number just above 13,000. This puts fewer women in each country to band together, and gives them a smaller voice.
It doesn't help that they don't necessarily have a big public voice even when they are gathered in larger numbers….
excerpted via The Lost Girls of Sudan | BlogHer.
1.hey just a reminder about the call for submissions for the quirky black girls zine! deadline december 15th.
To love a black girl is a radical act. In a society that says black girls are ugly, useless, laughable, difficult and expendable loving ourselves and loving each other is revolutionary, dangerous, a delicious risk. On the heels of yet another study about how black girls are ohso hopelessly lonely and unwanted we want to think about how we as black girls can critique the images, the stereotypes, the one dimensional representation of black women in the mainstream media. How do we create a vibrant black girl loving culture in the face of that mis- representation? As black girls who love black girls and the brilliant universe transforming potential that we represent we are creating an online zine that we really see as a big 'ol collaborative love letter to black girls from black girls. We are seeking collages, poems, letters, comix, images, short essays, games, worksheets, puzzles, playlists and shout outs that respond to the following questions:
What do you want to say to black girls? What do you wish someone said to you when you were younger?
see the entire call for submissions here
The recent release of the film "Precious" — about a dark-skinned, overweight, illiterate, sexually abused New York teen who discovers that she is HIV positive — has sparked a lot of discussion in the black community.
Some people (including myself) are glad to see the issue of abuse being spotlighted by the media. Others, including top film critic Armond White, who is black, aren't so sure.
"Black pathology sells," he said in a recent NY times article.
Well, I don't know that it sells. (Last I heard, Chris Rocks' Good Hair wasn't doing so hot at the box office.)
But I have seen a pattern of mainstream media fascination with issues that plague black people in general, and black women in particular.
I was once styling my hair in the bathroom when my roommate (who is white and a huge fan of the Tyra Show) passed by the open door. Without missing a beat she said, "I would probably be worried about my hair too if it grew slow."
"Like mine?" I asked.
I didn't take offense. It's a fair statement from someone whose education on black female culture is derived solely from the Tyra Show. But it was troubling. After telling her that rate of hair growth is fairly similar across ethnicities (with some studies showing black hair growing a tad slower), I also felt a need to tell her that, according to the General Social Survey, black women are happier than other American women despite the fact that they face disproportionate challenges.
But you won't see a New York Times article on that.
So, from Precious, to Good Hair, to the Shaniya Davis tragedy, to Madea, do you think that the media is obsessed with black women's pathologies?
dowe:
Who gave you permission to rearrange me
Certainly not me
Who told you that it was alright to love me
Certainly, certainly not meErykah Badu, Certainly
Where are you from?
L: I was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. My parents are Jamaican & Guyanese, and I've lived in Atlanta for just under 10 years, so I consider it my other home. I do sales and marketing for a distribution company. I'm a social media/pop culture junkie, so a good work day is when I've spent hours reading blogs, tweeting, blipping, and catching up on current events…all in the name of "marketing". I'm also a full time university student. When I grow up I want to be a university professor, and in another life, I was a fly DJ (a dream, that I'm slowly but surely working on)
When did you go natural?
L: I started getting relaxers at age 12 when my mom allowed me to get braids. The hairdresser insisted on relaxing my hair before she braided it because it would be more "manageable" and that the braids would look better, and last longer.
I wore braids until I was 15 because I kept cutting my own hair (by accident) when it was time to take them out. I remember it taking HOURS to put the darned things in, then HOURS to take them out. Cutting them short helped expedite the unbraiding process until my mother yelled at me for cutting my own hair in the process…so I stopped wearing braids, never could master the art of using a curling iron, and resorted to wearing buns, and hats.
I went natural in in 1998 because I hated (read "could never properly use") curling irons, didn't have the patience for rollers and I was tired of spending so much money on relaxers and other products to "manage" my hair. It's not that I was lazy, it's just that I felt that there had to be something better than this relaxing my hair
I prefer natural to relaxed because it's the healthiest my hair has ever been, the longest my hair has ever been, and most of all, because I LOVE water, and LOVE being able to get my hair wet in the rain, when I go swimming or when I take a shower….unlike India, I am my hair…it is an extension of me. Going natural is one of the best decisions I've made in the past 10 years.
What style do you love to rock?
L: I love off the shoulder tops, skinny leg jeans and chuck taylor converse kicks. I accessorize with earrings (I LOVE earrings, and prefer to spend money on one of a kind pairs instead of clothes), and throw my locs in pony tail.
What do you use in your hair?
L: I use natural oils (grape seed, almond, avocado) and sometimes a little bit of gel to neaten the edges when I'm due for a wash and twist
Where can we find you on the web?
L: http://quirkyblackgirls.ning.com/profile/Leah
http://www.twitter.com/misslocs
http://www.whatwouldleahdo.wordpress.com
***
Post in the BGLH forum today! http://bglhonline.com/forum/
