Monday, April 27, 2009

Weekly Wrap-Up

I'm condensing multiple posts into a one and giving some other blog hosts a shout-out. Please read them!

Did anybody use GeoCities? Nope me either. Another one bites the dust

Speaking of biting the dust, wearing a cheap cotton painter's mask won't protect you from the swine flu. Is this latest outbreak an accident or biological warfare being tested on populations is open for debate. Discuss amongst yourselves. FunkyBrownChick has an interesting take on things.
  • The Supreme Court will review Ricci v. DeStefano where white male fire fighters (who have like a 99% hire and promotion rate) charge they're being discriminated against as municipalities look into altering testing to bring in more POC. Now I'm not advocating the dumbing down of qualifications, but US firefighters have a hero complex and die at a rate of 8-1 compared to other countries because they rush into situations without evaluation. Despite San Francisco having a female Fire Chief it's still a rare occurrence and they had to be sued to allow women and non-whites in. So I'm just sayin'......
In the "It's A Post-Racial World - Not!" files: 

Michael Kors decides to have a little racism with his (black) coffee. Who wants to deconstruct the racism and sexism in this ad? Any takers? I wish these fashion people would just stop trying to use Black people to make a buck during this depression when they were perfectly happy ignoring us before. See the Field Negro blog.

We all know this won't be a Jeopardy question, "Who Is the First Person Convicted for Murdering A Trans teenager?" but a murderer got his due for the killing of Angie Zapata. Fem.Men.Ist is a great blog by the way and blog host Richard is a Black man who fights for women's equality. Just so you know I may write about the pathologies of some, but there are plenty of fully functional people of color out there.... 

How you plan on spending President Obama's 100th day in office depends on whether you were happy or sad he got elected in the first place.
  • I learned just how filthy our planet is. Have you heard of the trash vortex the size of Texas? Hmm maybe that's where we can send Gov. Perry! It has motivated some to take action. No wonder Klaatu came to get rid of us.
Unemployment rates have increased as projected. The state of California's is more than 11% now. Blacks with degrees have a disproportionately high jobless rate? Do you have a plan?
  • So many people seemed shocked, shocked I tell ya that the ignorance, apathy misogyny and prejudice they pass onto their kids actually takes effect. Why are people so reluctant to turn in the criminals in their families?
Airlines come up with yet another scheme to bilk us out of our money while sucking on the teat of corporate welfare. Well since we know people are getting bigger why do they keep making the seats on the plane smaller with less leg room? I bet you if all of us "fatties" stopped flying in protest they'd really start howling.

South Park does a send-up of Susan Boyle. 

I found out American Violet isn't a story of one Black woman's triumph, but the same ol' okey doke by whites making a victimization movie. Clink the link and it will take you to the Black Woman Blow the Trumpet blog. You can read the analysis of how this film is showing (some of) us at our worst. See Tyler Perry isn't the only one you know. Glad I didn't waste my time or money on this drivel. FAIL!!!

Bookmark and Share

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, quite the wrap up.

I find it interesting that so many folks over on FN blog did not have any problems with that ad. My problems with it are many--though, as I wrote previously in my comments there--it is not something I am up in arms about by any means.

First, it's the same old Benneton (spl?) dark-skin-against-light-skin fetish that is neither "cutting edge" nor progressive.

Then there is the issue of the brown-skinned woman's nudity--except for the watch. Why is this necessary? Basically she is "dressed" in a watch and a White baby.

Some commenters on the other thread noted how the it is possible the baby is hers and why were others assuming some sort of "mammy" role. The way that the woman is holding the baby, however, is not a way that is typically shown in ads where "motherhood" is being invoked.

Finally there is the issue of why the woman must be faceless....

Again, not gasp-out-loud offensive. Just tired.

Faith at Acts of Faith Blog said...

Hey PPR:I don't think a lot of people would be able to properly deconstruct the racism in that ad, because a lot of it is racialized sexism and are unable to comprehend the myriad of ways Black women are constantly being bombarded with negative and dehumanizing images.

Unless it's involving police and being shot many Blacks just don't get it. So forget about others unless they understand the mammy image. I have to admit I had to study it for a minute myself to figure out why it was all about the white baby - when it hit me - exactly! It was all about the white baby.

The unmistakable white baby who they made sure had blue eyes just to complete the point. They're very clever you know and would deny deny deny but it's very plainly displayed.

It's like we always have to be wearing our deconstructing meme caps to spot the racism, sexism and other derogatory images. It gets tiring - seriously!!

rikyrah said...

Good wrap up. You are right about the picture with the baby. I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt, but no more.

Faith at Acts of Faith Blog said...

Rikyrah: Thanks for your input!