THAT'S JUST MESSED UP! From a "Why lie, I need a beer" sign to "Barack, the Magic Negro" some things are just messed up. Really there's no other way to describe it.
The New York Post decided to be brilliant and run this cartoon by Sean Delonas which will be interpreted by any smart, current event literate person as Barack Obama, depicted as a chimpanzee, being shot by cops. This is in light of a chimpanzee attacking a woman and cops having to eventually shoot the animal and President Obama pushing the stimulus bill.
Usually, I don't feel the need to discuss issues as blatantly racist as this one. We all know the historical implications of blacks being stereotyped as animals, particularly monkeys, apes, chimps and other non-homo sapien primates. But for all the post-racial hoo-ha that is being touted now-a-days (which I don't believe) you would think we have all moved beyond this. Apparently not.
At least be more creative with it the next time Mr. Delonas. Put a little work into getting people angry. It makes for better discussion.
This week Old School Friday is dedicated to remakes. Oh we could take this very very far. Once upon a time I started an IMeem playlist dedicated to this, but didn't get very far. Remakes can either be good (think Whitney Houston and Dolly Parton) or bad (think Mariah Carey remaking her own version of Hero... Why?). Sometimes they're just downright funny.
Remake: MASE, Puff and 112 "JEALOUS GUYS" (1997)
Original Remake: ABC (Another Bad Creation) "JEALOUS GIRL" (1991 I admit to not knowing about this remake until today)
ORIGINAL: New Edition, JEALOUS GIRL (1983)
Undoubtedly, the best remakes ever are always on Sesame Street!
Once in a while an academic decides to take hair dresser and barber shop conversation and turn it into a topic worth of discussion. As someone who's taking a fair share of Media and African and African American Studies courses, I am well versed in the art of turning something you said at dinner into the most superfluous paper or article ever read. Sociologists and Anthropologists do not seem to be interested in stopping this practice soon, but it is always nice to know that there is some legitimacy to the arguments you and your friends have been having for years.
In one of the better pieces I've yet to see on the significance of the behind in today's culture, Myra Mendible puts together a decent summary of the place the buttocks has had in society. (http://www.alternet.org/sex/117518/?page=entire) It reiterates a lot of popular discussion, places some emphasis on the similarities in the Hispanic and Black behinds.
---Okay, I can't keep the farce up for much longer. Body issues really aren't my realm of intellectual discussion. Really the first thing that came to mind when a friend sent me this peace was the "Twin booty is a thing of beauty," rap by Cold Dog (played by the one and only Flex Alexander) on an episode of Sister Sister....and then Sir Mix -a-lot and then Venus Hottentot. Apparently my mind works it's way up the cultural ladder and also backwards historically.
The conclusion leaves me a little uneasy. While we have seen slight progression in terms of body types and acceptance in the USA, I don't see a movement. Also, of all the "ethnic" features the but tends to be one of the most celebrated and the one that "ethnic" people have little issue with is their butts. Beyond the brazilian butt lifts casually referenced in the articles, there was a huge craze of Jamaican women eating animal feed in an effort to increase their buttocks size.
I have no conclusion to this piece. It's not that I don't have a dream for female equality, it's that some conversations are better left for the dinner table and Sociologists. I'll just be around to nod, object and insert a personal reference and pop culture moment.
Over the weekend, my friends and I were driving and enjoying the radio when a song called Marco Polo begins to play. Only one of us has heard it before, and she warns us of its awesomeness. I come home and You Tube it, expecting to find some unkown artist making a break with a silly song. Instead, I find out that its my favorite perfomer Bow Wow. Dude, I understand times are rough, but really tho? I excused that pole in the basement rubbish, but I'm going to have to do an intervention soon.
There is no such thing as American history, only a frontier. -Don Draper, Mad Men.
They did the same thing to Jesus. They did the same thing to Martin Luther King. They do the same thing to every great leader. --Po-Prah, "I Want To Work For Diddy" Episode 2.
Morning conversations)Mommy: What did you have for breakfast? Kimmy: cookies! Mommy: Cookies aren't breakfast, unless they're oatmeal raisin. But I know you and you had chocolate chip. Kimmy: I had chocolate chocolate chip cookies. Mommy: (sigh) Alright my child, I have to get ready for work.
