The Cost Of Hair Care
There was a statement in yesterday’s post . “Black Americans spend more on hair care products than the gross national product of many African countries.” This was tossed out in a careless moment, which is not a good thing to do. Today’s post is an investigation. For purposes of this report, America’s gross national product is the republican party.
Finding out how much African Americans spend on hair care is more google intensive than this slack reporter imagined. Madame Noire has a feature, Black Women Spend Half a Trillion Dollars on Haircare and Weaves! Why? “Black women spend half a trillion dollars to keep our hairstyles tight, our weaves looking good and our “kitchens” tamed. Why do we do this?” The $500 billion figure might include pain and suffering. Target Market News is more conservative, reporting “Personal Care Products and Services – $6.66 billion”.
In the chatter about a Chris Rock movie, Good Hair, the phrase “9 billion dollar hair trade industry” is used. The Magazine Publishers of America report that advertising spending on “Hair Products & Accessories” was $1,242,700 in 2007.
The short answers are “a lot”, and “we don’t know”. It is probably less that $500 Billion. For the purposes of this feature, we will go with a conservative estimate. This would be Target Market News. Since not all “Personal Care Products and Services” are hair related, we will call our number Five Billion. This is probably a conservative figure, but for our purposes it will do.
The second part of the statement was “Black Americans spend more on hair care products than the gross national product of many African countries.” The numbers come from Wikipedia and the International Money Fund. There are sixteen African countries with GNP less than $5 billion. They include: Mauritania, Swaziland, Togo, Eritrea, Lesotho, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Central African Republic, Cape Verde, Djibouti, Liberia, Seychelles, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Comoros, and São Tomé and Príncipe. The last seven have a GNP less than the amount spent advertising hair products and accessories for Black Americans.
This was written like H. P. Lovecraft. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Dreadlocks And Mohawks
There is a tasteful feature on the innertubes now, A Few Good Reasons Why White People Should Not Wear “Mohawks” or Dreadlocks. Yes, this is another polemic about cultural appropriation. If you want to skip the text, and look at the pictures, no one will get mad. Or get even. If you read the text, you might get odd. It is your choice.
The gist of the tract is “When white people wear “Mohawks” or dreadlocks it twists those hairstyles into symbols of privilege rather than symbols of survival and resistance.” Little is known about why the Natives of Upstate New York wore their hair the way they did. Isn’t calling this hair choice “symbols of survival and resistance” playing into the game of misunderstanding non European cultures?
The tract is not well written. Maybe the author feels like using good grammar is appropriating someone else’s culture.
There is one part of the tract that had PG shaking his buzz cut head. This is a free country. Can’t I do whatever I want? This country has never been free for people of color/non-white people. Certainly, you can choose wear your hair however you want. Historically, however, people of color have not been able to make that choice. This is not why the Bronner Brothers are multi millionaires. Black Americans spend more on hair care products than the gross national product of many African countries.
Both mohawks and dreadlocks are high maintenance affairs. After his struggles with shoulder length redneck curls, PG is not about to shave the sides of a beaver tail every day. And dreadlocks have always seemed to be just a bit on the dirty side. The rastas are welcome to wear dreadlocks, as long as they pass the spliff.
One thing PG has wondered was answered as a result of this polemic. Did the Mohawk tribe really wear their hair that way? When you type “Did the Mohawk… ” into google, the rest of the phrase to pop up is “Did the Mohawk Indians have mohawks?” Someone else has wondered the same thing. Wikipedia has more information.
The mohawk (also referred to as a mohican in British English) is a hairstyle in which, in the most common variety, both sides of the head are shaven, leaving a strip of noticeably longer hair in the center. Though mohawk is associated mostly with punk rock subculture, today it has entered mainstream fashion. The mohawk is also sometimes referred to as an iro in reference to the Iroquois, from whom the hairstyle is derived – though historically the hair was plucked out rather than shaved. … The Mohawk and the rest of the Iroquois confederacy (Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Tuscarora and Oneida) in fact wore a square of hair on the back of the crown of the head. The Mohawk did not shave their heads when creating this square of hair, but rather pulled the hair out, small tufts at a time. … Therefore a true hairstyle of the Mohawks was one of plucked-out hair, leaving a three-inch square of hair on the back crown of the head with three short braids of hair decorated.
They didn’t shave the sides of the head, they plucked the hair out. That does eliminate the need to shave the sides of your head every day. This is not the way the fashion conscious hair people do the modern mohawk. The question arises if this non authentic hairstyle is really cultural appropriation.
Wikipedia goes on to add that this do might not be an Iroquois invention. “The hairstyle has been in existence in many parts of the world for millennia. For instance, the Clonycavan Man, a 2000-year-old male bog body discovered near Dublin in 2003, was found to be wearing a mohawk styled with plant oil and pine resin. Artwork discovered at the Pazyryk burials dating back to 600 BCE depicts Scythian warriors sporting similar mohawks. The body of a warrior occupying one of the kurgans had been scalped earlier in life and wore a hair prosthesis in the form of a mohawk. Herodotus claimed that the Macai, a northern Libyan tribe, “shave their hair so as to leave tufts, letting the middle of their hair grow long, but round this on all sides shaving it close to the skin.” Amongst the Pawnee people, who historically lived along in present-day Nebraska and Kansas, a “mohawk” hair style was common.”
Part of the polemic took a question and answer format. “But, I wear my hair this way as a statement against oppressive cultures and governments. How is that racist?” “You can take a stand against oppression and dominant cultures without appropriating the cultures of the people being hurt by them. Appropriation actually enforces oppression, it does not stand against it. Appropriation is part of the problem, not part of the solution”
To paraphrase this, you can be anti racist without proudly avoiding high maintenance hairdoos. Especially one that bears little resemblance to the actual article.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library.” This was written like James Fenimore Cooper.
The Indian Ten Commandments
Do what you know to be right
Remain close to the Great Spirit
Be truthful and honest at all times
Take full responsibility for your actions
Show great respect for your fellow beings
Look after the well-being of Mind and Body
Give assistance and kindness wherever needed
Work together for the benefit of all Mankind
Dedicate a share of your efforts to the greater Good
Treat the Earth and all that dwell therein with respect
The ten lines above bear the label “The Indian Ten Commandments”. Set in florid calligraphy, resting before a beautiful background, these ten lines adorn facebook pages, dorm rooms, and new age parlors from one great water to the other.
No one seems to know what tribe spawned them, or what hand put them into english words. There are, and have been, hundreds of tribes in North America. Each tribe has its own culture. It is possible that some tribes don’t value some of the thoughts expressed in TITC. It is also possible that some claim to believe, and then do the direct opposite. People do that sometimes.
Now, TITC are all good ideas. Compared to the Abrahamic TC, it looks even better. There is no jealous G-d wreaking havoc on the great great grandchildren of those who fell out of favor. We all know how well Jesus worshipers keep those commandments.
There is an unfortunate tendency among the Eurasian/African people to think of the tribal people as the noble savage. They were living in splendid harmony with nature, until the Europeans came and spoiled everything. This ignores the reality that these tribes were full of humans. They were not always nice people. Living in harmony with nature can be a struggle, and sometimes you need to get mean. To credit this population with a pretty list of “Ten Commandments” is just a wee bit insulting. It violates at least two of TITC… “Show great respect for your fellow beings” and “Take full responsibility for your actions”.
If you want to live in harmony with G-d, man, and the earth, you just do it. You don’t need a pretty poster to tell you how. It would help to respect the original Americans.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”. Part one was written like George Orwell. Part two is a repost. Part two was written like H.P. Lovecraft. Today is the 122nd anniversary of his birth.
There is a bit of creativity floating around called “The native american code of ethics”. If you google that phrase, there are 329k ways to read this list, many suitable for framing. PG is not opposed to people sharing nuggets of wisdom, but is just a touch skeptical of this latest development.
The version of NACE cited above says the list was originally published in the October 1994 edition of Intertribal Times. A google search of the site shows no trace of the NACE. However, it does show a recent article, about an effort in the Montana legislature to adopt the cowboy “Code of the west” as an official state creed.
The legal effort is a bit of Republican showboating, and is likely to be vetoed if it gets passed. Contrary to initial reports, the code does not contain the phrase “The only good Indian is a dead Indian”. The code does say ““Ride for the brand,” “Talk less and say more” ,“Always finish what you start ”,“Live each day with courage,” “Take pride in your work,” “Do what has to be done,” “Be tough but fair,” “When you make a promise, keep it,” and “Remember that some things aren’t for sale.”
Getting back to NACE, there are some good ideas there, but why are they specific to Native Americans? When the Europeans conquered the Americas, there were hundreds of individual tribes. Many of these had little in common with each other. While some may have agreed with some of these rules, it is doubtful that all agreed with all. That does not even consider the issue of whether they practiced these ideals, especially in times of war and hardship.
Item 5 of this list says “Do not take what is not yours whether from a person, a community, the wilderness or from a culture. If it was not earned or given, it is not yours.” Even if the NACE is the real deal, what right do non native Americans have to print pretty posters of it?
The different peoples of North America have long been “the other”. During the 19th century, the Northeast quadrant of the United States gained hegemony over the country, first in the War Between The States, and later during the “Indian Wars” of the west. The mostly European population did not respect people different from them. Today, this is seen with embarrassment, and the “Native American” is seen as a mythical Mr. Natural. This view is probably just as unreal as the Indians killing cowboys in the movies. (Native American is a phrase coined by import Americans.)
The “otherness” of the original americans continues today. Many of the poor people from Mexico that come to the United States are original americans. Maybe the name of this list should be “Illegal Alien Code Of Ethics”.
1. Rise with the Sun to pray. Pray alone. Pray often. The Great Spirit will listen, if you only speak.
2. Be tolerant of those who are lost on their path.
Ignorance, conceit, anger, jealousy and greed stem from a lost soul. Pray that they will find guidance.
3. Search for yourself, by yourself. Do not allow others to make your path for you.
It is your road, and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you.
4. Treat the guests in your home with much consideration.
Serve them the best food, give them the best bed and treat them with respect and honor.
5. Do not take what is not yours whether from a person, a community, the wilderness or from a culture. If it was not earned or given, it is not yours.
6. Respect all things that are placed upon this earth – whether it be people or plant.
7. Honor other people’s thoughts, wishes and words.
Never interrupt another or mock or rudely mimic them.
Allow each person the right to personal expression.
8. Never speak of others in a bad way.
The negative energy that you put out into the universe will multiply when it returns to you.
9. All persons make mistakes. And all mistakes can be forgiven.
10. Bad thoughts cause illness of the mind, body and spirit. Practice optimism.
11. Nature is not FOR us, it is a PART of us. They are part of your worldly family.
12. Children are the seeds of our future.
Plant love in their hearts and water them with wisdom and life’s lessons.
When they are grown, give them space to grow.
13. Avoid hurting the hearts of others. The poison of your pain will return to you.
14. Be truthful at all times. Honesty is the test of one’s will.
15. Keep yourself balanced.
Mental self, Spiritual self, Emotional self, and Physical self –
All need to be strong, pure and healthy. Work out the body to strengthen the mind.
Grow rich in spirit to cure emotional ails.
16. Make conscious decisions as to who you will be and how you will react.
Be responsible for your own actions.
17. Respect the privacy and personal space of others.
Do not touch the personal property of others – especially sacred and religious objects.
This is forbidden.
18. Be true to yourself first.
You cannot nurture and help others if you cannot nurture and help yourself first.
19. Respect others religious beliefs. Do not force your belief on others.
20. Share your good fortune with others. Participate in charity.
Supremacy
There is a playwrite named Owldolatrous. He wrote a blog post about the chicken sandwich company that went viral. The post today is about a follow up, Aesop to the Right: Why I Believe Bristol Palin. The concept of Ms. Palin as an advocate for “traditional marriage” is kinda bizarre. When you are an attention whore, any camera is your friend.
OD says things a lot better than PG. With the miracle of copy paste, they can be easily borrowed. Here is a selection from the post.
I don’t think you hate me. I certainly don’t think you’re afraid of me. Neither is Bristol Palin. She probably even has LGBT people she calls friends. She just disagrees with them about whether they should be invited to the party (the party, in this case, being marriage). But here’s the problem: the basis of that disagreement is her belief that her relationships are intrinsically better than ours.
There’s a word for this type of statement: supremacist. … I know that the word “supremacist” makes you think of “White Supremacists,” which makes you think of the KKK and cross-burning and lynching. We think of supremacist as a Southern thing, a rural thing, a racial thing, a militia thing, a hate thing.
Here, maybe this will help: I’ve had supremacist habits too. I grew up in the rural South. I never hated African-Americans. I never knowingly said or did or voted in any way that hurt African-American people. I even had African-American friends. But I’d be lying to you if I didn’t admit that some white supremacy seeped into my thinking at a very young age. This is a painful thing to admit. Even now, I find I can’t go into specifics, from sheer shame. Fortunately I have been able to break those habits, but it has taken a while.
Supremacy is the habit of believing or acting as if your life, your love, your culture has more intrinsic worth than those of people who differ from you. Supremacy can be about race, but it doesn’t have to be. Supremacy and hate aren’t identical, but they often go together.
Some people turn supremacy into an over-arching philosophy. For most, it’s just a habit of mind. As a habit of mind, supremacist ideas can spring up in anyone. Being liberal doesn’t make you immune. Being gay doesn’t make you immune. Being a minority doesn’t make you immune.
You don’t have to hate people to feel innately superior to them. After all, what kind of threat are your inferiors to you? You may be annoyed by them, from time to time, or you may even like them. You can even have so much affection for them that you might call that affection love.
There is more, but this is enough for our morning discussion. Supreme, Supremacy, Supremacism, Supremacist. It is not just for white people. The whole business of thinking that you are somehow better than your neighbor is part of being a human being. Think about it, aren’t there some people that you think you are better than? Of course there are. You are a competitive animal, and you have to win sometimes. You, and your tribe, are just better than that other tribe.
PG saw a sign over a desk once. I have never met a snob who was not a born liar. Above this sign was a plastic case. In the plastic case was a white dress shirt, with an ink stain in the front pocket.
There is a concept, mythos over logos. The idea is, when you present people with information that contradicts a long held belief, the person will ignore the information and stick to the belief. This is related to the concept of supremacy. If you think you are better than a person, and you get evidence that the person is better than you, you will ignore that evidence and continue to believe the person is inferior to you. It helps when your magic book agrees with you.
PG was riding his bike yesterday, when the thought came to him. Anti racism is a form of supremacy. PG associates with a so called “radical community”. There has recently been a rabid discussion about racism. Now, this is a pretty enlightened bunch. The type of virulent racism that PG saw growing up in Georgia is simply not there. This does not stop the Anti Racist Supremacist Egophile (ARSE) from looking for racism to combat. The ARSE will expand the definition of racism to include every PWOC, except him and his immediate tribe.
One root word of Supremacy is Supreme. There were once three young ladies performing as “The Supremes.” Four videos are embedded into this post. That is not real hair. Diana Ross did not get to sing lead because of her vocal ability. Pictures for this episode were taken at a dance performance on July 11, 2012. This was written in the style of H. P. Lovecraft.
Heathen Hunt
PG looked out the window, and saw two men wearing neckties. They were walking up the driveway. PG put a shirt on, and arrived at the front door at the same time as the knock.
The African American stood closer to the door. He had a pamphlet in his hand. He said he was talking to the people in the neighborhood, and he had a question. Where can you go to find truth?
PG looked at the man, and did not smile. I don’t mean to be rude, but when I see you walking back down that driveway, that will be truth. Good bye.
The large man had a nervous laugh. He left without protest. The two men walked away, followed by a large African American woman wearing a long dress.
This is wrong on so many levels. Religion is a highly personal matter. At the very least, you should not go knocking on doors, pushing your opinions about a sensitive matter on strangers. The heathen hunter knew nothing about PG. He did not know, and probably did not care, about the festering wounds he was pouring salt in.
It is not possible to live in the United States without hearing about Jesus, and the scheme for life after death. PG has heard about “salvation” thousands of times, and has made the painful decision not to agree. This heathen hunter thinks that he will be so special. He thinks that hearing this obnoxious message for the ten thousand and first time will make be different. Jesus should give this man the gift of humility, and respect for his neighbor.
The jist of the post below is the need for trust and respect. If the person who you are preaching to does not trust you, then you are speaking in vain. Period, end of story. For this stranger to show up uninvited, and assume that he is trusted, is a gesture of disrespect.
There is also the race of the messenger to consider. PG is a Georgia white person, and has been around black people all his life. His attitudes about race have been criticized by anti black racists, anti white racists, and anti racism racists. PG tries to treat people with fairness and kindness. He also keeps an eye on his back. It does not make PG feel less violated to have a black man deliver an offensive message to his front door.
The person who taught PG the most about Jesus is the Bully for Jesus at Redo Blue. For seven years, PG worked across the room from this man. There were dozens of temper tantrums, hundreds of missed pickups, and thousands of hours, on company time, devoted to conducting a ministry. After a while, PG wished nothing more than to never hear the word Jesus again. It is highly relevant to today’s discussion to note that the Bully for Jesus is African American.
The third commandment says to not use the name of G-d “in vain”. There is a post from August of 2008 that deals with this issue. It will be repeated as part two of this post. Ironically, PG was reviewing posts from August when the heathen hunters appeared. The idea was to find posts, and pictures, that could be repeated when PG was too lazy to write anything new. Religion has long been a source of unhappiness for PG, and there is a lot of material.
In his unpaid role as resident non Jesus Worshiper, PG left the following comment at Twenty Two Words yesterday. ” I sometimes feel that I am the only non believer that comments here. You might consider that not everyone is impressed by your religion. Many shortcomings…selfishness, meanness, lack of respect for others … can be found in thoughtless, inappropriate preaching. Just because you are doing it for Jesus does not make it any less offensive. It also reflects poorly on Jesus”
To which another reader replied: “@Chamblee: You’re right, preachers can taint their own message. Can you expand on what you mean by thoughtless, inappropriate preaching?” Oh my. This is going to take more than twenty two words. Twenty two volumes might not cover it all.
There are two quotes that help. One is from a motivational speaker: “You need to sell yourself first, your company second, and your product third.” The second is the third commandment: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy G-d in Vain…”
Anyone can read to you from the Bible. Not everyone that does this has worthy motives. Some are crooks and thieves. For a person to preach to another, there needs to be TRUST. If you do not trust the person who is preaching to you, then that person is speaking in vain.
Trust has a brother named RESPECT. When you preach to a person who does not care for your message, you are showing disrespect to that person. When you preach without mutual respect you are speaking in vain. The third commandment is more than G-d’s last name.
This is not just the person you are talking to. It is everyone who comes in contact with your message. This is not just the words you speak, but your actions, the chrome fish on your car, the catchy phrase on your t shirt, and the Bible you make a show of carrying around.
We are all G-d’s children. When you disrespect the children of G-d, you disrespect G-d. And when you preach without trust and respect, you bring shame to Jesus.
Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
This was written like David Foster Wallace.
Scintilla Of Political Acumen
There was a link on facebook to a story about T-SPLOST, To avoid campaign blame game, regional transportation sales tax proponents need another miracle. (The spell check suggestions for T-SPLOST: T-LOST, SPLOSH) The story, and the reaction, was typical of much of this debate.
Some people say that the intown people are being taken for granted. Others say that the money is not going to be divided up properly. This translates as, my people did not get what we told them that they want. Some say MARTA is shown favoritism, while others say MARTA is left out. And the OTP crowd yawns, and wonders what everyone is talking about.
The truth is, the proposal is badly flawed It tries to make everyone happy, and fails. It is sausage factory politics at it’s most rancid. The product was not refrigerated, and will be rotten long before the expiration date.
The people working for Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed did not like the “blame” article. They asked to write a reply, and the bloglady gave them some space. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s team disagrees with Saporta’s column was the result. If this is the best the pro T-SPLOST people can do, then the measure should be defeated.
Mayor Reed began working on the transportation referendum initiative as a state senator and then continued tirelessly advocating for passage of House Bill 277 during his first year in office. Anyone with a scintilla of political acumen knows that achieving enough bipartisan support in the Georgia General Assembly to pass the measure was a Herculean task.
Over the next two years, he served as the chairman of the Regional Transit Committee of the Atlanta Regional Commission and worked hard to sustain a minimum of 50 percent of funding for rail. The elected leaders put aside partisan politics, whittled down a $23 billion project wish list to $6 billion, and then unanimously approved it – a signature moment for the region.
Yet, for weeks, we have read stories that tear apart the work and the effort that went into getting the metropolitan Atlanta region to this point around the transportation initiative. Ms. Saporta’s column is simply the latest attempt to throw stones at an effort that would create jobs, keep our region competitive and safeguard Atlanta’s position as the leading city in the Southeast.
I am confident our voters will continue to educate themselves, not be misled by deliberately negative stories and go to the polls on July 31.
The phrase that caught PG’s eye was “scintilla of political acumen”. This campaign is not going to be decided by policy wonks. It will be decided by the brothers in Lithonia, and the bubbas in Cumming. (The spell check suggestion for bubbas is Barabbas.) When you throw phrases like “scintilla of political acumen” at this crowd, they think you are talking over their heads. And they are correct. Both OTP and ITP feel they are being taken advantage of by this proposal.
Then there is this sentence: “Ms. Saporta’s column is simply the latest attempt to throw stones at an effort that would create jobs, keep our region competitive and safeguard Atlanta’s position as the leading city in the Southeast.” Yea, kill the messenger. When someone tells the uncomfortable truth, complain about the truth teller.
PG is the type of person who would ordinarily support a proposal like T-SPLOST. He began to turn against it the day he received a phone call from a supporter. The lady read from a script, throwing out claims about how many jobs would be created by T-SPLOST. The BS detector started to buzz, and gets louder every day.
The transportation needs of the region are immense. This proposal is poorly conceived. The well funded marketing campaign has been arrogant and tone deaf. If Coca Cola had been sold like this, we would all drink Pepsi today. One wonders if the same idiots who are running the ad campaign, in support of T-SPLOST, are the same people who created the project list. T-SPLOST is in trouble, and not even a miracle might be able to help. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Dark Skinned Appreciation Day
PG was trying to recycle some old blonde jokes into a post, and was over it. A trip to twitter was made, and the joke pickins were slim. A look at the Trending Topics revealed something called #DarkSkinnedAppreciationDay. Text to separate the pictures just gets sketchier every day. The pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
The current POTUS, BHO, has dark skin. The temptation to label him as black ignores the fact that the late Ann Dunham, the mother POTUS, was Caucasian. As his political career developed, BHO decided that a “black identity” would be to his advantage. The Kansas/Kenya background has “colored” his presidency. Dark skinned is a good phrase to describe BHO.
Another popular phrase in progressive circles is people of color, or POC. The head facilitating this post rests on a red neck. While red is usually considered a color, people with red necks are routinely labelled white, or the absense of color. Labels for people can be confusing.
A gentleman in New Jersey is claiming responsibility for DSAD. I WIPE MY OWN ASS!!! @EugeneTattedUp Yes, and it’s going very well lol RT @BougieK15: @EugeneTattedUp lol did you make up #darkskinnedappreciationday. His profile reads:I Only Eat Chicken, That’s the Motto, Nigga, Pollo … FYI, I’m Deaf. And so it is Dark Skinned Appreciation Day in Twitterland. Lets take a look at what those thumbs are punching into smartphones.
@natiby_nature #DarkSkinnedAppreciationDay cause the lord wanted to cook some of us properly
@ChrisDeGirolamo For #DarkSkinnedAppreciationDay , I won’t say anything racist all day.
@GreenEyedHeffa_ Ayee #DarkSkinnedAppreciationDay We Don’t Like Them Redbones
@xx_chicary_lola What ? Since when has there been a #DarkSkinnedAppreciationDay ??
@YOOShesDOPE_ #DarkSkinnedAppreciationDay… Yall are true idiots for this -_-”
@TarikTheCreator #DarkSkinnedAppreciationDay I prefer to call myself a mocha/caramel color
@MorganW_ #DarkSkinnedAppreciationDay? Seriously who comes up with these things…
@_Blac_Chiyna #DarkSkinnedAppreciationDay O Koo I Got My Own Day :D!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@YESitsRachael #DarkSkinnedAppreciationDay .. ignorance .
@_ThaReal2HT #DarkSkinnedAppreciationDay We Worked Hard For This Day ! Pshh Yah Lightskins Better Go Catch A Tan !
@EugeneTattedUp We celebrate our advanced amount of Melanin on #DarkSkinnedAppreciationDay !!!
@LaBeauteNoire3 *throws Hersheys kisses down TL and twerks* #DarkSkinnedAppreciationDay
@KrownRoyaleNY #DarkSkinnedAppreciationDay ?? ight ima log of twitter till this shit passes…
@breexxbunnie #DarkSkinnedAppreciationDay only applies to those with moisturized, even skin tones….not you dry ashy blue looking motherfuckers.
@Legacy_Theory Bet y’all wish y’all was out in them fields now huh??
@So_True_Rae I see #DarkSkinnedAppreciationDay … It’s a first time for everything huh? Lol
@Legacy_Theory The great thing about #DarkSkinnedAppreciationDay is it moves to a different day each year when the sun isn’t out… Praise Black Jesus
@EugeneTattedUp I decided to found #DarkSkinnedAppreciationDay today because it’s cloudy and we’re winning … Let’s pray for clouds in the future…
@Titts_N_Giggles this will not prosper RT @EugeneTattedUp #DarkSkinnedAppreciationDay #DarkSkinnedAppreciationDay
@EugeneTattedUp Happy Birthday & #DarkSkinnedAppreciationDay RT @JNelly_S: Happy 22nd birthday to my baby mama @_ReneDarling_ love you boop. Enjoy your day
@CallMeiBigPapa That #DarkSkinnedAppreciationDay thing is sad. At the end of the day we all black no matter wat shade you are.
Collateral Damage
This post was originally published four years ago. In the intervening forty eight months, many women and children have been killed in crossfire. The United States will send a roboplane to bomb a village, and then send another roboplane to kill the rescuers, and a third roboplane to attack the funeral. Isreal killed hundreds of children in Gaza, most of whom were too young to fire missiles. Closer to home, people who choose not to denounce a drag queen are labelled racists. It is a funny world. Pictures are from ” The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
Back a war or two ago, a phrase entered the vocabulary. The expression was collateral damage. This referred to civilians killed in a combat action. It sounds a lot nicer than dead women and children. To hear the war supporters tell it, the enemy was causing this. The terrorists would move women and children into areas they knew were going to be attacked, so they could be killed. To the war supporters, it was a cost of doing business.
The past few days, there has been discussion at this facility about speaking out when you hear something you don’t like. People say it is bigotry and hate, which sounds a lot worse than something you don’t like. Just like collateral damage sounds nicer than dead children.
When people put on their warpaint about to fight bigotry, there is frequently collateral damage. There was an incident that illustrates my point. This was when I was at Redo Blue, working with the Bully for Jesus. I will use the initials BFJ. One day BFJ heard someone make a comment using the phrase “your daddy said”. This comment was made by a white person, referring to another white person. BFJ is a black person, and the comment offended him.
BFJ decided to vent his feelings about this comment. This happened all the time, BFJ had a nasty mouth, which would run off at the slightest provocation. Since he was working on a rush job across the room from the white person, he made his comments in a loud voice. This way the white person across the room could hear what he said, and BFJ could work on his rush job.
Towards the end of his speech, BFJ made the comment “when your mother and your father forsake you, you still have your father in heaven” This is supposed to be in the Bible. BFJ was staring at me and shouting when he said this. Later, he said he had not been talking to me. This was very common at redo blue. People would stand in front of you screaming offensive things. If you looked at them, they would go off, screaming “I’m not talking to you”.
There is a bit of backstory here. Three weeks after my mother died, I went to the bathroom. I started to realize how much I missed her, and felt very sad. When I came out of the bathroom, a woman was praying for entertainment on the BFJ’s radio. I was offended. When I asked the BFJ to turn down his radio, he declared war. This poisoned our working relationship the entire time I was at redo blue.
This comment pushed me past my limits. BFJ conducted a ministry on company time, and had a nasty temper. I had to say something. Sometimes, you need to stand up to a bully. And you best be prepared for a fight, which is exactly what the bully wants. You should never wrestle with a pig. You will only get dirty, and the pig will enjoy it.
I left a note on his desk saying that ”My mother and father have not forsaken me.” We had a closed door meeting. He argued with everything I said, admitted no wrongdoing, and chewed me out repeatedly for what the other white person had said. When I was at the point where I thought he was the lowest scum on the planet, BFJ said “Jesus made me what I am today”.
We continued to work closely together for another three years or so. I witnessed a few hundred more hours of his ministry. One day the manager called me into the office, and told me not to come back.
The point of this story is, when you “Stand Up” against “bigoted comments”, you might need to be prepared to mud wrestle with someone who thinks he is building his faith. You should learn the difference between bigotry and being too sensitive. It is best to keep things between you and the person who offended you, and not cause collateral damage.
Sharon Needles
PG got in one night, and found a summer storm brewing on facebook. “Dear white people who still love Sharon Needles. Before you begin to defend her or justify this as art or whatever, please keep in mind that THERE IS AN ENTIRE POPULATION OF PEOPLE AFFECTED BY RACISM WHO THINK THIS IS FUCKED UP. Can you respect that, or will you continue to tell people of color what does and does not oppress them?” The first question is, who is Sharon Needles?
A baby boy was born in Newton IA on November 28, 1981. His parents named him Aaron Coady. He did not fit in, and moved to Pittsburgh PA in 2004. His stage name was Sharon Needles. As the years went by, he developed a “personality”. There was a tv show, Ru Paul’s Drag Race. Miss Needles won season four. The Pittsburgh City Council honored her. Meanwhile, some people did not like her act.
There was a link on facebook, Dragged into Debate: Reality-TV fame puts spotlight on Sharon Needles’ controversial act. PG looked at the article, and found a video of a performance by Miss Needles. The show was in a noisy bar, with some drinking jokes. The makeup and costumes were flawless. (flawful might be better, if it wasn’t the name for hummus hushpuppies) The act was what one might expect of a button pushing drag queen. It is tough to be outrageous these days, but Sharon Needles is giving it the old college try.
Later, the matter got a bit more personal. “Sharon Needles recently performed in Nashville. I went to the performance. One of my friends got her autograph after the show. Sharon Needles wrote a note in the autograph in which she called my friend a n****r. Several of my white friends continue to loudly and publicly worship and promote Sharon Needles, despite having been at the show and knowing about the autograph (nevermind having heard other discussion about Needles’ unapologetic racism). Just thought y’all should know that supporting and promoting someone who is unapologetically perpetuating racism and refusing to be held accountable for it, is racist!
The fuss was a bit puzzling to PG. We can begin by breaking down the opening post. “THERE IS AN ENTIRE POPULATION OF PEOPLE AFFECTED BY RACISM WHO THINK THIS IS FUCKED UP.” Does this include Ru Paul? What about the millions of People of Color (POC) who had no idea who Sharon Needles was?
“Can you respect that, or will you continue to tell people of color what does and does not oppress them?” Are those the only two options here? To “respect” the notion that a nightclub performer in Pennsylvania is oppressing 35 million Americans? Or, if you don’t “respect” this highly questionable concept, you “you continue to tell people of color what does and does not oppress them.” Are these the only two choices? What if you ignore the peroxide poster girl, and treat your neighbor with respect?
There is also the $64 question, is Sharon Needles racist? (Winning a tv contest hosted by RuPaul should be remembered.) The tumblr Fuck Yea Sharon Needles has a picture of the performer in blackface. She is singing the opening number of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”, which all good fans know was a pair of lips against a black background. PG did not hear anything racist in the video he endured. But then, PG is a white person, and as such is not qualified to decide what is, or is not, racist.
Facebook is a magnet for people who enjoy a digital quarrel. Evidently, that sometimes includes PG. He made a comment: “There was a line in an article about Miss Needles that gave me a good laugh…”If Needles “were a straight person” engaging in this behavior, he adds, “people would feel more comfortable” criticizing it.”… I had never heard of this person before this conversation, and can’t say that I really enjoy her persona. It is like Charlie Brown after a four day speed binge. She is on the edge, which is where gay performers have traditionally been. I saw a video of her, and did not hear any racist comments… not that I doubt they exist. I found her act tough to enjoy, for reasons that have nothing to do with racism. Just ignore her, and find something more important to whine about. “
The notion that only a POC can offer opinions about racism is, well, racist. Anti white racism is a serious problem. It affects white people differently than it does POC, but can be every bit as hurtful. Do white people enjoy going downtown, and seeing the hate in the eyes of the POC multitudes? The fact is that when you hate someone, you hurt yourself worse than you hate that person. If POC would take a look at themselves, they might see a race of people repeating the mistakes of white people.
There was a second comment, which PG cut from the comment box. “Isn’t the concept that only “people of color” can judge racism a racist concept? What about anti white racism, which is very real and hurtful to a lot of people. If we are ever going to have a meaningful dialog about race in this country, then we need to consider the hatred against white people. Just because it takes different forms than anti black racism does not mean it does not exist.” And making noise about a drunken Iowa boy is not going to do much good for anyone, except for giving Miss Needles more publicity.
There was a reply. “Hey Luther, I don’t know how you meant for that to come off, but it’s not your job to tell us to ignore someone who is contributing to our oppression. Also, when you say, “find something more important to whine about,” I feel disappointed and dismayed because it sounds to me like you don’t understand that A) this is important to some of us, especially to those of us who are people of color, and it can be a very dehumanizing experience to be constantly confronted with people’s apathy around something that impacts our lives so intimately; and B) calling out racism in our community and “whining” are not the same thing, and, again, it’s really dehumanizing when we try to talk about something so important to us and people in the mostly-white communities around us dismiss our conversations as “whining” because they think our concerns or experiences are trivial, particularly when they personally, as white people, do not experience racism with the same intensity that people of color do. Obviously this is important to us and we have thought about it a lot. I stated that this has been going on (in my personal experience) for over a year and the autograph posted was signed months ago. It has actually taken us a long time to decide to say something so publicly about it, but I personally said something because THIS IS IMPORTANT AND PEOPLE NEED TO STOP IGNORING IT.
This person does not know very much about PG. This person does not know about the time PG asked a professional Jesus worshiper to turn his radio down, and nearly lost his job. This person does not know about the time PG was robbed at gunpoint. All this person knows is that PG does not take a Pennsylvania drag queen seriously as an agent of oppression.
There is a lot of noise about racism. It is very one sided. Anti white racism is ignored or excused. The constant whining gets in the way of constructive action. There needs to be compassion and kindness for both people of color and white people. To focus this kind of attention on a PBR swilling loser says more about the complainer than it does the performer.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress. They are Union Soldiers, from 1861-1865. The spell check suggestions for POC are Cop and Pox.
Labelism
Chamblee54 had a post recently about conservatives and liberals. A lot of people see things in those terms. There are other pigeon holes that people get stuffed into. Not only politics, but religion, fashion, and sexual activity are classified, usually by someone who disapproves. Maybe the true religion of our culture is Labelism.
A trip to google city had lots of results. The top result (possibly paid for) is a company called Labelism. You can create personalized labels, usually for an alcohol product. “Welcome to Labelism. The personalised Wine, Whisky, Champagne and Beer gift service where you become the designer & create your own label.”
The always helpful Urban Dictionary calls labelism “The act of judging people by the labels of their clothes. Here are a few examples of labelism: 1(in Abercrombie): I’m so classy. 2 (in Hollister): Me, too. 3 (in American Eagle): Don’t forget me. 1: We all rock! 4 (in Aeropostale): Hey, I’m classy, too! 1: You wish, you wannabe! 2: Yeah, Loser! 5 (in Wal-Mart clothes): I’m pretty classy myself. 1: Eww Get away! You’re poor! 2,3, and 4: Gross! White Trash! Nasty! 5: Whatever, you label whores!”
Ablogspot facility called Quadrilateral Thoughts gets a bit closer to the original concept of this post. “labelism: The tendency to skew diverse particular ideas, events, people, and so forth by grouping them under overly generalized labels in the service of argument.” A few examples are given. “All these statements are logically fallacious, even though they are the stuff of common rhetoric. They take diverse realia and oversimplify them because the human mind has difficulty processing complexity.”
A playground called Young Americans for Liberty comes out as an Anti-Labelist. “If we refuse to be objective in this way, but rather use smear terms and labels, then it is no surprise that more anti-labelites are produced. We become part of the problem rather than part of the solution.”
Labelism dot org is another take. “Labelism- There Must Be For There To Be/Create Create/ Leaving Assupmtion To The Act/Support Support/ Do Good To Be Good/ Look Passed Word Act-RE-Reality=Option/True”
In 2008, MacKenzie Kern was bothered by people labelling each other. “For Stroudsburg Middle School seventh-grader MacKenzie Kern and others her age, words, particularly labels, can harm the emotionally vulnerable. Someone wearing black clothes and dressing in dark makeup is a “goth.” Someone wearing brand name clothes such as American Eagle or Aeropostale is a “prep.” Someone wearing bright, flamboyant colors is a “scene.” And then there are the “skaters,” who ride skateboards, the “jocks,” or athletes, the “nerds” and the “emos,” or emotionally troubled.”
“You’re stereotyping people just because they dress, act or look a certain way or listen to certain kinds of music,” says Kern, who has been called a “hippie” for wearing a T-shirt with a peace symbol. “People have labeled me and I’ve labeled others, which is something I’m not proud of.”
That’s why Kern has taken a stand against “labelism” and is trying to convince others her age to do the same. Every day since March 27, she has worn a white belt around her waist in school and out in public. From one end of that belt to the other are signatures, almost all of which have been put there by children ages 12 to 16 who support her stance. “I feel it’s important to focus mainly on kids in my age group,” she says. “If this generation of kids can set an example by stopping labelism, then maybe future generations can do the same. So far, I have only one signature from an adult, a teacher who told me she believes in what I’m doing and said she’s glad I’m doing it.”
At one point, Kern had 105 signatures on her belt. But for each person who agrees with ending labelism, there’s one or more who say Kern is wasting her time. “I’ve had both students and teachers tell me I’ll never really change anything because most people will go on labeling,” she says. “I’ve even had students who signed my belt tell me they want their signatures removed because they changed their minds. So, I scrubbed off five signatures, which took me back down to 100.” But that won’t stop Kern from trying to raise awareness among others her age.
This post was a good idea that turned out to be boring. The spell check suggestion for labelism is Isabella. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
______ Telling _____ What Is Racist
Womanist Musings recently republished the internet classic 10 Conversations On Racism I’m Sick Of Having With White People. PG turned off his BS detector, and read. In addition to the ten convos of the title, there are five chats that the author would like to have. Apparently, the author likes to talk. Listening might be something else.
PG learned a long time ago that conversations about race are dangerous. If you say the wrong thing, you might wind up in the hospital. It is much easier to hold your piece, and live another day. The bottom line is, PG cannot remember ever discussing any of these matters, especially with a person of color (POC). He decided to leave a comment, and the fun started.
chamblee54 I am a person of non color. I have never had any of these fifteen conversations.
womanistmusings Do you want a cookie?
RVCBard Here’s a cookie you can make at home!
Siah WTF is a person of non-color? Transparent are ya?
miga Perhaps why ze’s never had that conversation before? No one notices hir?
PG felt it was important to make his ethnicity known. The image illustrating the comment has a brown paper bag over a head. You cannot tell if it is a white person (WP), or POC. When talking about race, this is an important distinction.
Person of non-color might be a silly label. But then, what about POC? It is a mystery why “colored people” is offensive, but POC is PC. The skin on PG’s neck might be red, but red is a color.
And so it goes. People love to talk about race in America. The problem is finding someone who will listen. Before ending the text, and moving on to the pictures (courtesy of The Library of Congress), we are going to share something from facebook. This message has been edited. WP and POC have been replaced by blank spaces.
This is what I have seen a lot of recently: _____ telling _____ what is racist and what is not. Trust me, _____ of the world, _____ have been thinking about this for a LONG time, and it would be a good idea to LISTEN to what they say — I think that, most of the time, they’re probably right and you’re probably wrong about racism.
Maybe even do some reading and research, so the _____ don’t bear the burden of actively taking the time to educate you about racism in only face-to-face interactions and only when they’re calling you out for saying or doing something racist.
Can we just start with the assumption that you, _______ , are racist? That your actions, most likely, perpetuate or benefit from racism? Maybe that’s not true — I’m sure you’re a good person, but maybe you’re also racist. I don’t want you to feel guilty about it, but just live with it for a little bit as if it were true. Accept, for a moment, that, unless you are actively engaged in something that is ANTI-racist, you’re being racist. Now there’s nowhere to go but up! Now you can feel EXCELLENT about every anti-racist thing you do!
And you’ve been doing a lot of those anti-racist things recently, right?
Hate Crime Laws And Double Jeopardy
The first mistake was reading more about George Zimmerman. PG went ahead, and read REPORT: FBI May Charge George Zimmerman With Hate Crime, Could Face Death Penalty. PG thought this was a bit weird, and did some research.
The FBI has a list of Federal Civil Rights Statutes. On several of these laws, the phrase “may be sentenced to death” appears. This expression does not appear in the description of “Title 18, U.S.C., Section 249 Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act.” This is the most recent expansion of the Federal Hate Crimes legislation. It expands the definition of hate crimes to include LGTB cases. (This possibility that Trayvon Martin was killed for being gay has not been mentioned.) The Matthew Shepard Act was added onto a defense spending bill, and signed into law October 28, 2009.
PG is not a lawyer. Reading legislation and court opinions makes his head hurt. He is not sure which of the hate crime laws would apply to George Zimmerman. The idea of Mr. Zimmerman being poisoned by the Federal government is unlikely.
There is another aspect of application of hate crime law to this case that is troubling. If you believe that Mr. Zimmerman is an icky person, who deserves whatever happens to him, this might not bother you. The trouble with crazy laws, meant for icky people, is that they might be applied to you some day. Mobs demanding vengeance are not known for careful thinking.
Does federal hate crime prosecution constitute double jeopardy? The idea is that if you are acquited of a crime, you should not be tried again for the same offense. What appears to be happening is the federal government supervising the state government, and if the verdict is not satisfactory, bringing more charges.
Other people are asking the same question. National Review Online posted Hate Crimes, Thought Crimes, Double Jeopardy. This article was written while the Matthew Shepard Act was in Congress. It was before the skittles shooting. “Among other things, the bill permits the U.S. Attorney General to initiate federal hate-crime prosecution in cases where “the verdict or sentence obtained pursuant to State charges left demonstratively unvindicated the Federal interest in eradicating bias-motivated violence.” In other words, if the Feds don’t like the state verdict, they will bring their own charges.
Another commenter notes “The bill would allow people who have been found innocent of a hate crime in state court to be reprosecuted in federal court. Many supporters of the federal hate crimes bill want to allow people who have been found innocent of a hate crime in state court to be reprosecuted in federal court. As one supporter put it, “the federal hate crimes bill serves as a vital safety valve in case a state hate-crimes prosecution fails.” The claim that the justice system has “failed” when a jury returns a not-guilty verdict is truly scary and contrary to the constitutional presumption of innocence and the right to trial by jury.
But it is a view widely shared among supporters of the hate-crimes bill. Syndicated columnist Jacob Sullum pointed out in 1998 that Janet Reno, Clinton’s Attorney General, backed the bill as a way of providing a federal “forum” for prosecution if prosecutors fail to obtain a conviction “in the state court.” Similarly, The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights wants to reprosecute teenagers who were found innocent of a hate crime against an illegal alien in a Pennsylvania state court.
As Sullum noted, the federal hate crimes bill exploits a loophole in constitutional protections against double jeopardy, known as the “dual sovereignty” doctrine. The Supreme Court created this loophole in its 5-to-4 Bartkus decision. (The original post has several links that provide more information.)
Pictures are from the ” Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”
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