• Father Sues District Over Reading About Slavery | Washington Post "The father of a black student has sued a Detroit-area school district claiming that his daughter was racially harassed by a fifth-grade teacher's reading aloud from a book about slavery. The suit claims Jala Petree's teacher at Margaret Black Elementary School in Sterling Heights read excerpts from Julius Lester's 'From Slave Ship to Freedom Road' that contain racial epithets and racist characterizations, The Macomb Daily reported." (tags: via:InfodivaMLIS415 detroit education history africanamerican lawsuit racism)
• In Banning Sharia Law, Oklahoma Voters May Have Voted Against Native American Rights, Too | Think Progress "Oklahoma has the second largest population of Native Americans in the U.S and law experts like Oklahoma University law professor Taiawagi Helton point out that language in the law banning courts from looking at 'legal precepts of other nations or cultures' could pose a problem if applied to tribal legal cases, as the tribes are considered sovereign nations. In fact, the Oklahoma Indian Affairs Commission released an official memo on October 20 explaining how the 'lack of specific tribal law language' could 'damage the sovereignty of all Oklahoma tribes' and 'starkly reminds [the Commission] that some Oklahoma lawmakers forgot that our nation and state were built on the principles, blood, and back of other nations and cultures, namely, ou[r] tribes…'" (tags: via:msstroppy oklahoma sharialaw firstnations racism islamophobia)
• Racism Suit Stirs Questions By Event Organizer | Philadelphia Daily News "Cited in the suit are text messages allegedly between the bar's general manager, Walt Wyrsta, and the Wednesday-night manager, Kathryn Killian, including one from Wyrsta that read, 'We don't want black people we are a white bar!'

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By Guest Contributor Eccentric Yoruba, cross-posted from Beyond Victoriana

Dandyism and the Black Man

A dandy is a man who places extreme importance on physical appearance and refined language. It is very possible that dandies have existed for as long as time itself. According to Charles Baudelaire, 19th century French poet and dandy himself, a dandy can also be described as someone who elevates aesthetics to a religion.

In the late 18th and early 19th century Britain, being a dandy was not only about looking good but also about men from the middle class being self-made and striving to emulate an aristocratic lifestyle.  The Scarlet Pimpernel is one of literature’s greatest dandies; famous historical dandies include Oscar Wilde and Lord Byron.

These days the practice of dandyism also includes a nostalgic longing for ideals such as that of the perfect gentleman. The dandy almost always required an audience and was admired for his style and impeccable manners by the general public.

The special relationship between black men and dandyism arose with slavery in Europe particularly during England’s Enlightenment period. In early 18th century, masters who wanted their slaves to reflect their social stature imposed dandified costumes on black servants, effectively turning them into ‘luxury slaves’. As black slaves gained more liberty, they took control of the image by customising their dandy uniforms and thereby creating a unique style. They transformed from black men in dandy clothing to dandies who were black.

This style also served to differentiate black dandies from other dandies, most notably, the Macaroni dandies whose fabulous style of dress was thought of as obscene.

One of the pioneers of black dandies in England was Julius Soubise, a fencing master, poet and actor who was once owned by the Duchess of Queensbury. Julius Soubise would appear at London’s high society venues wearing “red-heeled diamond-buckled shoes and buttock-skimming breeches”.

This type of style evolved and hopped continents from London to Harlem, which during its famous Jazz Age adopted the zoot suit. The zoot suit marked the evolution of black dandyism in the 1930s. The “zoot” from the zoot suit came from the term in jazz culture that described anything performed in an extravagant fashion. Jazz musicians such as Duke Ellington, Louis Jordan and Cab Calloway sported zoot suits and the suit itself became central to any dandy’s wardrobe.

Though today the most famous black dandies are Americans like Andre 3000, black dandyism can also be found in other parts of the world. In particular, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, there currently exists a subculture of elegant gentlemen who spend their last dime on looking good and live under strict moral codes.

Those of us who grew up listening to and watching music videos from the DRC are quite used to seeing the expensive-looking and multi-coloured suits worn by Congolese musicians such as Koffi Olomide. Yet most of us did not know about the entire subculture that revolves around looking exquisite. May I present La Société des Ambianceurs et Persons Élégants or in English: the Society for the Advancement of People of Elegance.

As that is a mouthful so it is just SAPE. “Sape” comes from a French slang that means “dressing with class” and the term Sapeur is an African word that refers to someone that is dressed with great elegance. The Sapeurs as the name suggests are elegant and stylish men from Congo who roam the streets of Brazzaville and Bacongo in Western suits and usually with cigars, and the occasional pipe, between their lips. These are men who are so obsessed with looking good and designer clothes that they sometimes place more importance on clothes than anything else.

A look at the history of the SAPE

The first Grand Sapeur was G.A. Matsoua, who in 1922 was the first Congolese to return from Paris dressed entirely in French clothes. While it is not entirely clear where exactly the SAPE movement started from, it appears to have been heavily promoted by Papa Wemba, a pioneer soukous (African rumba) musician who in the 1970s began upholding the Sapeur culture as a set of moral codes with heavy emphasis on high standards of personal cleanliness, hygiene and smart dress among Congolese youths regardless of societal differences.

This moral code, however, also had a political motive. Papa Wemba initially introduced the culture as a challenge to the strict dress codes that were imposed by the government at that time who effectively outlawed Western styles of dress. In 1974 after the DRC had recently come out of colonisation and had gained its independence from France, the government lead by Mobutu Sese Seko banned all European and Western styles of imported clothing in favour of a return to traditional African clothing. Papa Wemba challenged these strict dress codes by insisting that it should be a pleasure rather than a crime to wear clothes from Paris and by setting an example for impressionable young men by dressing outlandishly. At this time, the culture also was heavily associated with music, since Papa Wemba supported young talented musicians such as Koffi Olomide.

Sapeurs held European haute couture as a religion which was practised in absolute serious. There were special Sapeur dances held and even manifestos and codes to govern the lives of Sapeurs. Some of these codes include 10 ways of walking in order to show off clothes to the best degree, and the strict three colour code where the maximum number of colours that can be worn should be three.

At the height of his success, Papa Wemba had established a “village” comprising his family home and the surrounding streets in which the strict Sapeur code was enforced. Youths and musicians visited this village to acquire cool points while Papa Wemba reigned as “chief”. All other sorts of positions exist among the Sapeurs such as “high priest of cloth” and “chancellor of designer labels” positions which are based on personal flamboyance and the size of expensive wardrobes.

In typical dandy fashion, the Sapeurs consider themselves artists and are respected and admired in their communities. Sapeurs are typically invited to events such as weddings to add a touch of elegance to special occasions. Yet quite uncharacteristic is the Sapeur’s code of conduct, being a Sapeur is not only about dressing and looking amazing, it is also about impeccable manners. It is about style, it is about gestures that differentiate one Sapeur from others.

For example, the cigar which is the ultimate symbol for the Sapeur is considered to give added value to the outfit. While some Sapeurs never smoke their cigars, those who do are required to ask their neighbours if it is okay for them to light their cigars even though they may not be in a non-smoking area.

The dark side to this movement is the lengths some Sapeurs go and have gone through to get their expensive designer clothes. Some have resorted to illegal means to obtain their suits while others have spent time in jail. The infamous Papa Wemba also spent jail time for bringing people into Europe illegally to buy clothes by having them pose as his band members.

While reading about Sapeurs elsewhere online, a lot of emphasis seems to be placed on the fact that most of the men who are part of this subculture come from very impoverished communities. There is lot of talk on just how far these men go in order to buy an expensive suit and how the SAPE is a form of escapism for “poor downtrodden African youths”. The discrepancy between the elegance and style that make a Sapeur and the poor conditions of living are shown as a clash of worlds.

This sort of thinking rubs me the wrong way. I personally believe the Sapeurs are awesome and this is not limited to the steampunk vibe I got from looking at images of Sapeurs. However, whether you believe the Sapeurs are nothing but extremely materialistic young men or you accept that they are artists who strive to crave their identity through fashion, I think we can all agree that they do so while looking great.

For more information, click on any of the linked images above. Also, check out this great photo essay, The Congolese Sape by Hector Mediavilla.

By Arturo R. García

Thanks to the group of readers who tipped us off to this: apparently Maclean’s Magazine is saying Canada’s a nice place to visit for people from China – just as long as they don’t stick around and have kids who attend college there.

Wednesday, the magazine released an article originally titled“‘Too Asian,’” with the sub-headline, Some frosh don’t want to study at an ‘Asian’ university. The article opens by introducing us to a group of white students put off from even considering going to the University of Toronto in part because of its’ reputation for being “too Asian.” Of course, this is followed up by the explanation that the sentiment is “not about racism”:

Many white students simply believe that competing with Asians— both Asian Canadians and international students— requires a sacrifice of time and freedom they’re not willing to make. They complain that they can’t compete for spots in the best schools and can’t party as much as they’d like (too bad for them, most will say).

As one reader noted via e-mail, these fears are nothing new: In 1979, the CTV network aired a news piece called “Campus Giveaway,” that misrepresented Chinese Canadian students as foreigners, and inflated enrollment statistics. The story led to protests against both the network and W5, the program on which the story aired. The controversy was cited as the impetus for the formation of the Chinese Canadian National Council.

After being taken off the magazine’s website, a edited version of the story resurfaced Thursday: some paragraphs in the story were re-arranged; the headline had been changed to”‘Too Asian?’” – note the question mark – and the sub-headline was changed to a more sedate-sounding, Worries that efforts in the U.S. to limit enrollment of Asian students in top universities may migrate to Canada. The CCNC will reportedly meet today with Maclean’s management and Stephanie Findlay and Nicholas Koller, who wrote the article.

hello all

after much contemplation I’ve decided to close this blog soon. this is due mainly to my health concern. if anyone is interested in inheriting the domain name pls let me know. it’s been a pleasure blogging on civ and I thank all readers for your support. best wishes

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by Latoya Peterson

Totaling up the bills, I felt my eyes roll back into my head from shock. How could a cashless blog be so freaking expensive?

But hey, no one said expansion would be cheap. After the crew checked out the plan, we had to figure out how to make things happen. Carmen and I were both more inclined toward self-funding projects, so the original business plan I developed didn’t have a fundraising component. However, commenter @Buchanda urged me to reconsider sometime last May, noting people were inclined to help, and providing the initial idea for the drive.

“What if everyone gave $2,” BuChanda asked, “then how much would you have?”

Good question.

I looked at our traffic and the blog numbers, and filed the idea away for later. Soon, we found out about the Online Media Legal Network, and filled out their application. Then they requested a budget for the year. End total, before all the “oh this would be nice” extras? About $13,000.

Now, as much as I loved seeing Brandon’s comment…

I don’t think I’ve ever felt better about making an online contribution.

Keep up the great work. While I don’t know exactly how my contribution will be used, I know that it’s money well spent.

…most folks are probably wondering what we need the money for and how we are spending it all.

Expenses (Estimated)

Site Redesign

* Wordpress upgrade and redesign of front page, graphics, logo, addition of back end donation system – $7,000
* Mobile App Development – $1,000

Incorporation Expenses

* General Business license in DC – $324.50
* Trademarking – $375
* Miscellaneous expenses – $300*

General Operating Expenses

* Hosting – $400 (yearly)
* Tech Support – $500 (yearly)
* Domain Renewals – $100 (yearly – 7 total domains)

Needed Equipment

* Business Phone, iPhone 4G, minimal talk plan, podcast coordinated apps- $300.00
o $50 per month plan x 12 = $600
* Podcasting Pro Kit- $315
* Adobe Creative Suite – $1899

Total

$13, 113.50

Now, some of these are wide and outside estimates. For example, I don’t expect the website to be more than $5,000 – finding a new backend and skin is fairly cheap, the expense comes from the accessibility upgrades, like making sure we work in multiple and specific browsers, and trying to marry all the multimedia upgrades with keeping a clean interface, which is more design than tech. But the app will probably run higher than $1,000, even with friends volunteering – since we don’t want a simple RSS app, it’s going to take a little doing.

Incorporation expenses are a bit hazy. OMLN has two different lawyers working with us. The quote I received for the trademarking is $350, which is a handy thing to do for your blog or business to keep things easy. Twanna talked about going through this at SXSW 2008, in her panel “How To Protect Your Brand Without Being a Jerk:”

You’ve already created content and a brand. Now, a copycat is making money pushing a product ridiculously similar to yours. Congratulations! Imitation is flattery. So, why are you pissed off? You’re upset because it’s unfair and, possibly, infringes on your rights. Learn how to protect your creative projects without going overboard…or broke!
Questions
Answered

1. I attended SXSWi 08, and I learned about creating a brand. What’s the next step? How do I protect it?
2. What is intellectual property law?
3. Help! Someone’s stealing content from my site. What should I do?
4. I’m a digital filmmaker. How does piracy relate to all of this stuff?
5. When should I file a trademark to protect my online content?
6. What’s the difference between a trademark, patent and copyright?
7. I know about Creative Commons, but I don’t get how it works. Can you explain it?
8. Where are the legal resources in my region (or country) that provide assistance with these matters?
9. You saw “Coming to America,” right? Someone isn’t copying me, but they’re the McDowell’s to my McDonald’s. Is that even legal?
10. Why does this stuff matter to my film / blog / website / music site?

Panelists Oren Bitan (Morrison & Foerster), Twanna A Hines, moderator (funkybrownchick.com), Corynne McSherry (EFF), Elena M. Paul, Esq (Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts)

‘

Interestingly, I later met Funky Black Chick (now fungkeblakchik) at a happy hour, and heard her side of the story.

Lesson I took? Check it, protect it. The last thing we want is this kind of drama.

Business license is a little weird. Other awesome lawyer is researching the process for L3C’s, which is a specific kind of LLC devoted to social justice ends, where profit is a secondary motive. However, it’s a sub-classification, only a few states have it, and the Federal Government/IRS have not yet made a ruling on it. After reading Matt Doeringer’s paper for Duke University, “Reevaluating the L3C: Mistaken Assumptions and Potential Solutions,” we will probably stick to LLC status. (Why not a non profit? Will explain that a little later.) So then it’s those expenses and the DC website is very clear about one charge but unclear about others.

After we have a business license, I can actually move this money. All of your awesome donations have been hanging in the Paypal account (less paypal fees, which dropped the total to about $1600), and so after opening a business account I can move those assets over and stop paying Racialicious bills out of my freelancer account. Mixing this money is going to be a huge pain if it keeps up for much longer, plus it delays the equipment purchases we need to make.

Tech expenses are self-explanatory, though after watching what Afrobella is going through, I feel like I should probably quadruple that and keep it in reserve for a just in case moment. After all, if it happened to Afrobella, and it happened to SOHH.com, it could happen to us.

The equipment needs are on the outside of the estimate. Then there are wants, which are a different beast.

Of the needs, the business phone serves a couple of purposes. Initially, I was going to go with a Google Voice number that routes to my cell. But then I took a few courses on technology and journalism, and realized that the apps available for the iPhone have made it possible to hold a mobile podcast studio, video editor, image creator, and teleprompter, all in one device. We don’t get a lot of phone calls (though that may change), so it would function in some ways as a portable studio.

The podcasting equipment I have is passable, as is Arturo’s – but I talked to Carmen and some other folks in radio, and they strongly encouraged a few equipment upgrades, so here we are. And since Art is on the West Coast and I am on the East Coast, we need a set of two, hence the inflated price.

Adobe Creative Suite…let’s just say I’m amazed that I have found a need for it. My friends in real life would crack up, knowing how artistically challenged I am. However, the last few years have definitely shown the value of knowing one’s way around InDesign, Flash, Photoshop, and Illustrator, and would allow us to increase our content offerings. Also, if we learn it, we don’t have to outsource it. And while I’ve found some excellent open-source software and paid here and there for programs to make my life easier (Comic Life, Keynote/iLife, and Vimeo/Flickr premium to name the most useful), looking at our vision, it’s becoming a necessity.

There are also some wants. They are not immediate needs, but it would be nice to have:

• An extra flip cam.  When I got an HD one issued to me for the Public Media Corps, I mailed Arturo my other one, which he used to record video at Comic Con.
• A Canon 5D.  It’s a powerhouse of a little machine, and would go a long way toward the video/photo projects I have planned. I missed out on a project where I wanted to photograph the changing face of U street, but the experience of using a point and shoot just didn’t (for me) compare to holding an SLR and having that type of control over the image.

But those aren’t on the master list.  I’ll put this list up as a graphic a little later – your generosity has allowed us to cover all our legal fees and start work a little early on the new sites.  Hopefully, we make our goal of the 10,000 pledges of support.  If not, things will move more slowly.  But the possibilities are fresh and endless, and we have a huge boost in making it over the hurdles.

By Guest Contributor Eric Arnold, cross-posted from Colorlines

I am hip-hop!—KRS-One

I am Oscar Grant!—anonymous graffiti

As the Oscar Grant saga has played out over the past 22 months, the Bay Area hip-hop community—a multi-ethnic, multi-generational coalition of musicians, visual artists, activists, students and ‘hood kids—has stood at the forefront of the movement to hold police accountable for his death. Within a day of the New Year’s morning 2009 shooting, Oakland rapper Mistah F.A.B. and singer Jennifer Johns recorded a tribute song, which addressed not only the shooting, but the larger issue of violent deaths of young black men at the hands of police.

Over the past months, F.A.B. and Johns’ initial response has grown in the hip-hop world to encompass rallies, benefit concerts, panel discussions and lectures, spoken word ciphers, blog and vlog posts, even bike rides in honor of Grant’s memory. When former transit cop Johannes Mehserle’s trial was moved from Alameda County to Los Angeles, youth activists and organizers in L.A. picketed daily in front of the courthouse. It’s not a stretch to say that Grant has become the Lil’ Bobby Hutton of his generation—a young black man, killed by a police bullet, who has become representative of a larger struggle for self-determination.

“People have kept Oscar Grant on the public’s mind,” says Boots Riley of the Coup.

So, why? What has made Oscar Grant so resonate within the hip-hop community?

For one, as Riley says, “There’s no sidestepping the egregiousness of the act. It was a brutal murder.” But Grant’s youthfulness also can’t be ignored. Just 22 when he was killed, Grant was part of the hip-hop demographic. When other youth looked at pictures of him, they saw themselves, their siblings and their friends reflected in his toothy grin, black hoodie and watch cap.

Police accountability has long been a theme in hip-hop. For decades, rappers have decried racial profiling, brutality and corruption by law enforcement officers. Yet those efforts have been undermined on a national level by rightwing coalitions whose targeting of gangsta rap has also caught activist emcees in their crosshairs. By focusing on violent, sexually explicit lyrical content, hip-hop’s critics have muddled rap’s accountability message—while major labels, commercial radio and cable TV have shied away from promoting political themes in rap. As Mistah F.A.B. says of his Grant tribute (“My Life”), “The major corporations who have the ability, they’re not gonna play a song like that. That’s the last thing they want to do, is rally the troops.”

But while hip-hop’s engagement around police accountability may not have coalesced into a national movement, it has taken hold in the Bay Area’s activist-infused environment, where social justice and hip-hop have long overlapped.

The Bay’s unique combination of street-level organizing and numerous independent hip-hop groups that are unafraid to express themselves politically has come together around Oscar Grant. According to Riley, “The organizing hasn’t really stopped.” He adds: “I don’t accept this idea that people are apathetic.”

The legacy of Black Power is well-evident in Oakland, where ex-Black Panthers have become parents, in many cases, of hip-hop generationers. Add the Bay’s history of radical labor and student protest movements, and you have an explanation of why its hip-hop community has maintained a grassroots awareness and political consciousness not always present in major urban areas.

The Panther influence has clearly rubbed off on rappers like F.A.B., who says he recorded the Grant tribute out of respect and concern for the community. “Instead of going out and ignoring [the issue],” he says, “I felt I needed to bring awareness to it outside of Oakland, Calif., and outside of the Bay Area.”

F.A.B. adds that while he’s known for his street anthems and party songs, “There are many people who don’t know that I do conscious songs, uplifting songs, community awareness songs.” His tribute to Grant, he says, “got great reviews from family members and close friends of his.” And he certainly helped bring national attention to the cause by wearing an Oscar Grant t-shirt during an appearance on BET.

But F.A.B. wasn’t just riding the Grant bandwagon to boost his own fame. He solidified his grassroots status by appearing at a rally held at the site of Grant’s death—the Fruitvale BART station—a week after the incident, when the community was still in uproar and before Mehserle had been charged with a crime.

Other local musicians, including Zion-I and Kev Choice, volunteered their services to perform at subsequent justice rallies held in downtown Oakland, where many of the crowd donned Oscar Grant masks. I am Oscar Grant.

When ranks of police assembled in the Oakland streets, a young, dreadlocked African-American man bravely confronted a phalanx of officers dressed in full riot gear. Laying down in front of the officers with his hands behind his back, symbolically recreating Grant’s last action before his death, the gesture made for a powerful image, one widely circulated by mainstream media outlets. It was a scene reminiscent of the student who faced the tanks at Tiananmen Square—with a hip-hop twist.

In the weeks and months that followed, F.A.B. was joined by many other Bay Area rappers who also referenced Grant in song, from socially-conscious artists like Choice, Ise Lyfe, Native Guns, D Labrie, and The Burnerz to turf-identified rappers not usually associated with cries for justice, like AP.9 and Beeda Weeda. Instead of telling us to dance, sell drugs, get stupid, or wear clothes we can’t possibly afford, the emcees who tackled the Grant topic were  reporters for GNN—Ghetto News Network—giving listeners a street-level perspective sorely lacking in much of the mainstream press coverage.

Their influence eventually extended across cyberspace—over 2,400 YouTube videos were tagged with “Oscar Grant” and everyone from Pittsburgh rapper Jasiri X to the Vancouver website GetGrounded to the Helsinki music blog Multitunes weighed in on the issue. As the legal process played out, constant hip-hop updates reacting to new developments in the case—from the shooting to the verdict to the sentencing—kept the community engaged.

Grant’s memory was also kept alive by the efforts of numerous graffiti artists; the motto “I Am Oscar Grant!” began appearing all over Oakland, along with aerosol renditions of Grant’s now-iconic face. One of the more notable visual representations of the Grant movement was a huge mural painted on plywood sheets—ironically erected to deter possible rioters—at the Youth Radio offices at the corner of 19th Street and Broadway. The mural’s creators, known collectively as Trust Your Struggle, are a multiethnic group of artists, activists and graphic designers who had painted another mural in New York after they heard the news of the shooting.

Another example of hip-hop activism around Oscar Grant has been the numerous community-engaging events thrown by West Oakland non-profit Bikes 4 Life. In July, B4L’s annual “Peace Ride” led a 300-strong contingent of cyclists to the Fruitvale BART station for a candlelight vigil.

“We see ourselves as agents for change,” explains B4L founder Tony Coleman. “Everything that we do, since we hip-hop, it just has that flava. And we use that to our benefit, because we’re able to reach those other folks that are also a part of that hip-hop culture.”

What differentiates Oscar Grant from Bobby Hutton, Sean Bell, Amadou Diallo, Michael Stewart, Aiyana Stanley-Jones and the many others who have died at the hands of police is the fact that his death was captured on video and posted on the Internet for the world to see. This, too, speaks to Grant’s relevance to the hip-hop generation.

Since its inception, one of hip-hop culture’s underlying themes has been repurposing technology as a tool for community empowerment. In an age of cell-phone cameras, social media and viral Internet memes, technology in the hands of the people has the potential to impact both the legal system and mainstream media perspectives—as the Grant case has shown.

The emergence of eyewitness videos depicting the events leading up to the shooting, as well as the actual incident, not only fueled public outrage, but changed the tone of media reportage around the case. Had Karina Vargas and the other BART passengers who documented the events that fateful New Year’s Day acceded to police demands to hand over the footage, it’s not only possible, but probable that Mehserle never would have been brought to trial.

During the trial, defense attorney Michael Rains’ tactics were fairly typical of such cases. Grant, he seemed to argue, was a petty thug whose disobedience caused his own death. But the most powerful testimony of all remains in the public mind. Over and over again, civilian videos have contradicted police testimony. Grant’s uncle Bobby Johnson has said the picture taken with Grant’s own cell phone, showing Mehserle with his Taser drawn minutes before he un-hosltered his handgun, is what ultimately brought some measure of justice for his nephew.

Mehserle’s conviction, even for the minimum charge of involuntary manslaughter, will be remembered as a win for the police accountability movement. But it’s also a win for the hip-hop community. The fact that hip-hop has continued to organize around Oscar Grant for almost two years restores faith in the culture’s ability to promote social change, if not systemic reform.

By Guest Contributor Aymar Jean Christian, cross-posted from Televisual

Note: To see Part 1, which featured a breakdown of several of the box-office performances of several leading black actresses, go here.

III. The State Of The Black Leading Lady

It’s hard to be a woman in Hollywood. It’s hard to be black in Hollywood. So, obviously, it stands to reason it’s hard to be a black woman. It can be boring to hear — “black women have it tough, huh, what else is new?” — but it’s true!

One good place to start is New York‘s new “Star Market,” which is a great resource for people wanting to know more about how stars are made and unmade by the throngs of publicists, casting directors, producers and studio execs in Hollywood. One theme from the feature rings clear: it’s much tougher for women. The 2000s haven’t been bad to black actors and actresses: stars like Will Smith and Queen Latifah rose in power; 22 actors and actresses were nominated for and 7 won Academy Awards — in the previous 70 years, only 36 had been nominated and 6 had won. But the overall picture for black women is less rosy than for their male counterparts: most black-led independent and mainstream films are centered on men.

It’s hard to assign blame. Surely, the industry’s partially at fault: too few black/women directors, screenwriters, people above/below the line. But the industry also responds to what America wants, and year after year, movies led by white/men top the box office. Every once in awhile, something shakes the conventional wisdom — Sex and the City, or films by Sandra Bullock , Tyler Perry and Will Smith — but the conventional wisdom more or less remains because Hollywood is congenitally cautious. Once again, who’s to blame? Most films fail, and job security is hard to come by, so how much can we blame industry workers for not taking risks? I don’t know. Let’s talk about it.

Nevertheless, a small group of black women have been given a chance and few have proven themselves marketable; many of them — six on this list — have Oscar wins and nominations. None of them can touch $4 billion Will Smith, but a number can pull in audiences. We’ve come a very long way, but we have a long way to go!

IV. How I Went About It

How do you measure star power? There are many ways to do it. For the black actress, so often overlooked, the issue of measuring value is particularly acute. I wanted to come up with a way that honored the diversity of roles these actors played that still highlighted the imbalances in the industry. Hence the focus on “leading” roles, and the downplaying of other factors — like salary, box office gross and average production and marketing budget (which are the real industry standards).

Most black actresses do not get to play leading roles, even fewer get leading roles in blockbuster films. For this reason, I thought it was important to count equally roles in independent, art-house and blockbuster films — so a leading role in a Tyler Perry film counts as much as a leading role in a Michael Mann film. Even still, most of the women on the list, nine out of fifteen, spent most of their time not in a leading role. Even some of those with scores over 50% have to be qualified: Beyoncé Knowles, Jennifer Hudson and Mariah Carey do not work that often, nor is acting their primary profession.

I started counting what films each actor had been in, relying on IMDB Pro. I also tracked the budget and gross of each film using BoxOfficeMojo and IMDB Pro — and of course information on either wasn’t always available.

I categorized the actor’s role in each film based on five “types:” Leading Lady, Best Friend, Mother/Family, Love Interest and Professional.

Leading Lady – Integral to or featured in the marketing of the film. The character has a back-story or is integral to the plot.
Best Friend – A character who is a friend, confidant, or villain who is there only to serve emotional fulfillment on main character.
Mother/Family – Mother or family. Includes “mammy” and “strong ghetto mother” types: a maternal figure or a guide of some sort, there to emotional/psychologically fulfill leads.
Love Interest – A character who is there as love interest to fulfill romantic, sexual needs primarily of the lead or other major character.
Professional - A character who is valuable primarily for their expertise or profession, intended to further the plot and journey of the protagonist.

Basically a “leading lady” could be any one of those types, or a character without any specific type, but the crucial aspect was the actor’s role in the film’s marketing, prominence in an ensemble cast, or being the integral attraction in the film.  This is not to diminish the importance of supporting roles, which are some of the best parts, but if we’re invested in creating stars, the fact is that stars lead. So I gave Mo’Nique a “leading lady” for Precious, because her performance basically sold the film, IMHO. Queen Latifah’s role in Valentine’s Day too counted as leading lady, because she was a big star in a big cast. But Halle Berry didn’t get an LL for X-Men (I’d say the franchise, plus Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart and Anna Paquin really sold the films). In the end, all this is subjective, so feel free to disagree and change my mind!

I should say that the original list was much, much longer. I started by generating a list of actors in film and television who have worked or been buzzed about for about throughout the 1990s and 2000s. That list got to about 40 actors. Too long! So then I decided to focus on film, where there’s more money and a higher profile, and to limit it to the 2000s, for the sake of my sanity. That led me to the 15 actors above. Missing from this list are whole bunch of actresses who either a) did most of their work in 1990s; b) mostly do television; c) are, sadly, too old to really deliver films anymore; d) don’t work consistently. Some of them, however, could still be huge, or are huge in their own right, but I’m only one person!

The actresses I did not look at for time and other constraints: Anika Noni Rose; Jill Scott; Jada Pinkett-Smith; Paula Patton; Alicia Keys; Janet Jackson; Angela Bassett; Vivica A Fox; Tia and Tamera Mowry; Kimberly Elise; Raven-Symoné; Lisa Bonet; Regina King; Janet Jackson; Robin Givens; Whitney Houston; Aisha Tyler; Lynn Whitfield; Ruby Dee; Vanessa Williams; Alfre Woodard; Phylicia Rashad; Sherri Shepherd; Audra McDonald; Loretta Devine; Gabourey Sidibe.

• Proficiency of Black Students Is Found to Be Far Lower Than Expected – NYTimes.com "The report shows that black boys on average fall behind from their earliest years. Black mothers have a higher infant mortality rate and black children are twice as likely as whites to live in a home where no parent has a job. In high school, African-American boys drop out at nearly twice the rate of white boys, and their SAT scores are on average 104 points lower. In college, black men represented just 5 percent of students in 2008.

  The analysis of results on the national tests found that math scores in 2009 for black boys were not much different than those for black girls in Grades 4 and 8, but black boys lagged behind Hispanics of both sexes, and they fell behind white boys by at least 30 points, a gap sometimes interpreted as three academic grades."

  (tags: via:bossip achievementgap race school eduation)

By Guest Contributor Aymar Jean Christian, cross-posted from Televisual

The “black actress” stepped into the spotlight last year, as Nia Long called out Beyoncé Knowles and other singers for taking roles; Tyler Perry released yet another film starring newcomer Taraji P. Henson; and Precious gave its stars, especially Mo’Nique, a chance to shine.

The November 5 release of Perry’s For Colored Girls puts the issue of black women in cinema back into the national conversation — even if it fails to redeem Tyler Perry. So I decided to posit an answer to the question: where are all the black leading ladies? Below: 1) why this question?, 2) a list, 3) the state of the black leading lady, and 4) how I came up with the current crop.

I. Where is the Black Julia Roberts? One Route to an Answer

Easier asked than answered! The question is really more provocation than anything. At a certain point, comparison between races is irrelevant: is Will Smith the “white” anyone? He’s Will Smith! The question, however, does open up an interesting discussion. Julia Roberts, like Meryl Streep, can do a lot: from Duplicity and Eat Pray Love to, now, August: Osage County. Roberts can choose her roles and she almost always plays the lead. What black actress could do the same, now or in the near future? The real issue leads us to ask: of the potential black leading ladies today, who is on top, who isn’t panning out, and why?

The list is ranked by the percentage of an actor’s total roles where she gets to play a leading lady. The point is to gauge the industry’s confidence in an actress’ bankability. I also added the box office grosses based on the actor’s “leading lady” films (IMDB Pro, Box Office Mojo); but this list isn’t organized by B.O. Other lists add up an actor’s total grosses over all her films, but this is misleading: you can have an incidental role for a film that made lots of money. So I added up all of an actor’s roles from 2000-2010, from low-budget to big-budget films. A “lead” role was defined as a major character integral to or featured in the marketing of the film; the character has a back-story or is key to the plot. More on method at the bottom.

There’s always folly in trying to quantify and list something. But I like lists not because they tell “the truth” — I wouldn’t put too much stock in the particular order below. Lists prompt discussion and reflection. What do these actors say about America? About Hollywood? About black women? So: let’s get to it!

II. Our Black Leading Ladies?

Beyoncé Knowles

Percentage of films led: 83. Box Office Pull: $215 million invested; $565 million grossed

Beyoncé Knowles tops this list mainly because of selectivity. The mega pop star doesn’t need to work in film, she chooses to. It seems Nia Long had a point about musicians taking film roles. Almost all her roles, except for the Pink Panther, I would characterize as leading, mainly because she often out-stars her co-stars. Would Cadillac Records have made even its measly $8 million without her? Jennifer Hudson was the breakout star of Dreamgirls, and the source musical might’ve sold tickets to the over-40 set, but Knowles put young people in seats. After the success of Obsessed, Knowles solidified her place as a movie star, and, hey, her acting is getting better — if reviews of Cadillac Records are to be believed.

Sanaa Lathan

Percentage of films led: 75 . $88 million invested; $275 million grossed.

Sanaa Lathan made it up here for choosing prominent roles in small films. She’s headlined a number of prominent black films — Love & Basketball, Something New, Brown Sugar and The Family that Preys — and took a role like Wonderful World opposite Matthew Broderick, which nobody saw. Alien vs. Predator provides the bulk of her total grosses at $170 million. Lathan still has potential to be a big star, but she’ll need a good role in a well-written film. I’m concerned her villain role in Family that Preys might’ve marked her as the “bitch” to black audiences. She’ll need something solid to raise her profile again.

Halle Berry

Percentage of films led: 73 . $388 million invested; $928 million grossed

Halle Berry could’ve had a perfect score, but I decided not to give her X-Men I, II and II, which is controversial I know. I did, however, give her Die Another Day; despite being a “Bond” movie, she was one of the more prominent Bond girls and was displayed in the film’s marketing (everyone remembers the bikini!). Catwoman was the industry’s $100 million vote of confidence in Berry’s star power, one that didn’t pan out. Berry has yet to fully recover from the bomb, but she has a host of projects planned for this and next year, including the much-anticipated film adaptation of Cloud Atlas and a bevy of films of different genres including thrillers, actioners, and comedies. Berry had come dangerously close the Megan Fox and Jennifer Aniston traps: known more for getting photographed and doing promotional campaigns than for doing films. But as she ages, she’s going to need to prove her chops once again if she wants to “Meryl Streep” into the latter part of her career. UPDATE: And it appears as though she’s already started! Berry is promoting her performance as a woman afflicted with multiple-personality disorder (including a racist one!) in Frankie and Alice to the Academy! With the film apparently receiving warm critical attention, could this be Berry’s return to Oscar gold and leading lady stardom?

Mariah Carey

Percentage of films led: 60 . $33 million invested, $5 million grossed.

I only included Mariah Carey because her role in Precious, which was either quite good or just passable depending on whom you asked. She wasn’t a lead, really, but she did act well enough to start some chatter about her future in film — remember she was originally supposed to be in For Colored Girls. Carey’s Glitter really gives her all of her grosses, which says something. Her other lead roles are in films no one has ever heard of: WiseGirls and Tennessee anyone? She might be too old to beat out Beyoncé, but if she ever wanted to stop singing, she could make a go for it acting, given the right roles and a good story.

Queen Latifah

Percentage of films led: 53 . $218 million invested; $678 million grossed

I was surprised Queen Latifah wasn’t at the top of the list, but it’s only because she works, often and consistently. I counted nine lead roles, from movies like Last Holiday and Just Wright that are clearly selling her and her alone, to ensembles like Mad Money and co-starring roles like Bringing Down the House. Other than that, Latifah plays a lot of maternal, best friend type roles — like an artist/activist in Hairspray and a prison officer in her Oscar-nominated turn in Chicago. They’re good roles, and she does them well, but I wouldn’t call them leading roles. Other than that, she occasionally plays the perfect professional, in films like What Happens in Vegas (therapist) and Stranger than Fiction (writer’s assistant). Unfortunately for Latifah, Just Wright did not do well in theaters, and was her biggest attempt yet to “Julia Roberts” herself into an adorable, romantic lead, instead of just the woman you like to have fun with (the ultimate BBF). Still, perhaps more than any black actress out there, Latifah sells her movies; she plays an integral role in the marketing of almost any film she’s in, meaning she really earned that nearly $700 million total.

Jennifer Hudson

Percentage of films led: 50 . $81 million invested; $194 million grossed.

I’m really bullish on Jennifer Hudson. So far, I think she’s still resting on her Dreamgirls laurels, but who wouldn’t? It’s by definition a career-making role. Other than The Secret Life of Bees, she’s been fairly quiet, for obvious personal and professional reasons. Nonetheless, she’s signed on to play Winnie Mandela, wife of Nelson Mandela, in a forthcoming biopic Winnie, which sounds like the perfect substantial, buzzworthy role for her. She’s also lost weight, which unfortunately does matter in Hollywood (in my opinion she was lovely before), and she’s getting photographed so people still care about her. Her acting appears to be improving, and if she can channel it into a blowout performance in Winnie, she could be a Diana/Whitney/Beyoncé-style dynamo: singing and acting all the way to the bank.

Thandie Newton

Percentage of films led: 38 . $131 million invested; $671 million grossed.

Is it just me, or is Thandie Newton really still famous for Mission Impossible? I don’t know. Anyway, I gave it to her, since it put her name on the map and was a big part of the film — that’s a judgment call I’m willing to take back. Anyway, her other lead roles are small. In bigger films, she tends to also play the love interest or just a nice girl: Norbit, Riddick, Pursuit of Happyness (ok, sort of), 2012 (sort of). She was pretty good, surprisingly so, as Condoleeza Rice in W, so she can act. For Colored Girls puts her back in the mix after Crash, and she has a couple more movies coming out.

Gabrielle Union

Percentage of films led: 35. $43 million invested; $66 million

Gabrielle Union is nothing if not productive! Union has averaged two films a year over the past ten years, almost all of them targeted squarely at the black community. She has done a few art-house films — like Neo Ned with Jeremy Renner — but nobody saw them. Despite counting over 20 films, I couldn’t find many big grossers in the bunch. Union’s limited film market has effectively taken her off the list when it comes to big Hollywood roles currently nabbed by Halle Berry, Kerry Washington and the other “pretty” women. While Union has held prominent place in a number of marketing campaigns, she might not be able to shift her persona beyond the average, sometimes likable/sometimes bitchy black girl, always a love interest (girlfriend, mother, “fun buddy”). It’s done her quite well on television, but the film industry isn’t giving her much to work with.

Kerry Washington

Percentage of films led: 33 . $36 million invested; $49.2 million grossed

Kerry Washington is probably, in my mind, the natural heir to Halle Berry: beautiful, sophisticated, with some acting chops. Her big roles have too been in small films, and she has yet to get “that role” that defines who she is and what she can do. Last King of Scotland and Ray let people know she was a serious actress, not just a pretty face. And she offers nice support in big films like Fantastic Four and Mr. and Mrs. Smith: she doesn’t hurt but doesn’t sell tickets either. While she hasn’t been given a chance to shine, there’s no evidence she lacks the potential, and perhaps For Colored Girls will give her the appropriate launching pad. Meanwhile, I saw her on Broadway in Race, and while she didn’t blow me away, she met expectations, which is hard in live theater.

Sophie Okonedo

Percentage of films led: 30. $28.5 million invested; $73 million grossed

With a rare Oscar nomination under her belt, Sophie Okonedo has the privilege of artistic credibility. What she doesn’t have is any track record of marketability. Nonetheless, she’s clearly talented and able to do bigger projects. Her starring role in the recent film Skin was a wise move, giving her a major role with a lot emotional work. Critics loved it, but nobody saw it. Still, she’s versatile: able to play mother, girlfriend, warm and even action star  (though Æon Flux was a critical and commercial flop). The jury’s still out on Okonedo: she definitely belongs in films, but time will tell if she’ll stay an indie darling or if she’ll branch out big into Hollywood — if she chooses to.

Zoe Saldana

Percentage of films led: 27 . $84 million invested; $136 million grossed.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Zoe Saldana’s career so far is how often she’s cast among men — lots of men. As a lead, she’s held her own in actioners like Takers and The Losers and comedies like Death at a Funeral and Guess Who. Unfortunately, in her biggest films, she’s been playing smaller, “love interest” roles: Uhuru in the latest Star Trek and a blue person in Avatar. Saldana ranks lower because she, like Queen Latifah, works quite frequently, with over 20 films in the last decade. Like a Taraji P. Henson, she’s newly on the rise. Unlike a Sanaa Lathan, though, she tends not to get cast to lead black films, instead playing a broad range of secondary characters in independent films, from the “best friend,” “girlfriend,” or tough professional. Nonetheless, Saldana has some serious buzz around her, marking as one of the few women in Hollywood who can play it tough like Angelia Jolie (the others: Natalie Portman, Kate Beckinsale, Mila Jovovich; with potentially others like Rooney Mara coming up). Acting in sci-fi films was a smart move, as the fanboys tend to be loyal: ask Angelina “Tomb Raider” Jolie or Sigourney “Alien” Weaver. She looks nice in those Calvin Klein commercials, but can she keep her male fan base while bringing in the women she’ll need to carry her through bigger roles?

Nia Long

Percentage of films led: 27 . $55 million invested; $190 million grossed.

I got some scoffs for including Nia Long on this list. Part of my criteria was to look at who has led films in the last ten years, and Long’s heyday was clearly in the 1990s. Nevertheless, she still works, and was recently on the cover of Ebony looking rather fabulous, I’d say — she’s kept her fans in the community. Can Long come back in a big way? Never say never. My guess is she needs a strong role to prove her acting chops as a mature actress, coupled with a rom-com, which is where people seem to want to see her. She’s got one of each coming up.

Mo’Nique

Percentage of films led: 25 . $13 million invested; $70 million grossed.

If there’s one thing it seems Mo’Nique does not care about it’s Hollywood, famously refusing to shill for the Oscar she recently won. She seems happy to host her BET show in Atlanta, which, along with Tyler Perry’s 34th Street, seems to be the place for black people in film looking to shun the industry. Who can blame her? She’s been doing this a long time, with little hope of being Halle Berry. Now she gets to talk to all her friends, support entertainers who don’t get support, and keep it positive (have you seen her show? It’s all about community support). But her performance in Precious was a revelation, one of the best of decade in my opinion, so I hope a good script comes her way and gives her another chance to shine. Right now, her career’s been limited to mostly black comedies where she plays comic relief.

Taraji P. Henson

Percentage of films led: 18 . $18 million invested; $61 million grossed.

Taraji P. Henson is a rising star, and I was surprised she wasn’t higher on the list. But her low position is mainly because her star has only recently risen. Before I Can Do Bad All By Myself and Not Easily Broken — and yes, her turn as mammy in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button — she spent most of her time playing side roles, as the “best black wife ever” in The Family that Preys, more “down” girls in Hustle and Flow and Talk to Me, and a tough lesbian Smokin’ Aces. While she’s proven very marketable to black audiences, mainstream cinema still isn’t giving her much to do: her turn as a police officer in Date Night seemed to epitomize that. Yet, post-Oscar, she’s getting cast in serious films (Once Fallen) with serious actors (Tom Hanks, Larry Crowne) and has another starring role in a film (From the Rough). Her future for now is bright.

Viola Davis

Percentage of films led: 10. $47 million invested; $30 million grossed

I was surprised Viola Davis was so low on this list! Another Oscar nominee, Davis has serious buzz around her too, but as yet she hasn’t really been given much to do, save The Architect, which critics merely liked. Instead, Davis seems to play an awful lot of professional, serious women, characters without much of a back-story but who are good at their jobs: see Madea Goes to Jail (social worker), Knight and Day (Intelligence official), Syriana (CIA boss), etc. They’re respectable roles, just not very memorable. She’s got BBF locked down — see Nights in Rodanthe and Eat Pray Love — also maids and mothers — Doubt, Far From Heaven and Get Rich or Die Tryin’. But Davis can act. She needs a movie!

Note: Sections III and IV will run Thursday

By Guest Contributor Damon Young, cross-posted from Very Smart Brothas

Like most other “Americans with pronounced but peripheral connections to the African continent-Americans” (just plain ole “African-American” just isn’t descriptive enough for me anymore) with a Borders Rewards card and dust-ridden Obama t-shirt, my life seems to be filled with three certain inevitiabilities: Death, Taxes, and Angst-Ridden Discussions about Tyler Perry. And, while certain people have proven that you can actually live without paying taxes and certain scientific advances have made it so that immortality isn’t such a far-fetched concept anymore, Angst-Ridden Discussions about Tyler Perry have proven to be unavoidable to the point of comedy.

From The Huffington Post and weekly 40 cent hot wing night with the crew to Facebook and my favorite porn message board, I can’t go anywhere anymore without running into Angst-Ridden Discussions about Tyler Perry. It’s ubiquitous, ecumenical, pandemic, panoramic, and every another PSAT word that’s just a pretentiously educated way of saying “everywhere”. Yesterday, just when I thought I had foiled Angst-Ridden Discussions about Tyler Perry and finally managed to escape it, I tripped over Angst-Ridden Discussions about Tyler Perry on the way to the bathroom. After I got out of the shower, I went into my kitchen and saw Angst-Ridden Discussions about Tyler Perry drinking my orange juice straight from the carton. And, right when I was about to drive to the store to buy some more juice, I noticed that Angst-Ridden Discussions about Tyler Perry had not only taken the $20 in my wallet, but had the nerve to leave an “I.O.U.” note. (Triflin bastard!)

It feels like I’m at Camp Crystal Lake and Angst-Ridden Discussions about Tyler Perry is Jason Voorhees lurking around the campsite with a machete. There’s no cabin I can hide in, no bed I can hide underneath, no voluptuous teenage camp counselor I can hide, um, a part of me inside of without Angst-Ridden Discussions about Tyler Perry finding and disemboweling me. If Earth’s civilization was wiped out by nuclear war tomorrow, by Friday the roaches probably will have already organized a roundtable to discuss whether “Tyler Perry’s Meet The Browns” was just a modern-day minstrel show or a subconscious and subliminal indictment of pre-holocaust urban cockroach culture.

At this point, the only question worth asking is “Why?”. Why do we devote so much of our time and energy to Angst-Ridden Discussions about Tyler Perry, and why have we given Angst-Ridden Discussions about Tyler Perry such prominence? Shit, on Friday, why did I spend at least 45 minutes of valuable talk time in a 60 minute car ride with my parents and my girlfriend discussing a movie—For Colored Girls, Perry’s film adaptation of Ntozake Shange’s “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf“—none of us had seen or even plan on seeing, especially since there are much more pressing and “important” issues when could have talked about?

The answer is simple. Tyler Perry, wait, the discussion of all things Tyler Perry unites us in our relentless need to distinguish ourselves from each other, to, to quote my Aunt Jackie, “tell on ourselves”. The ubiquitousness (there’s that word again) of Perry and Perry’s art and the myriad visceral feelings the mere thought of it induces has made Angst-Ridden Discussions about Tyler Perry a personality profile, a multi-layered Myers-Briggs for colored people who were a bit too vain to ever seriously consider suicide but instead chose to use Angst-Ridden Discussions about Tyler Perry as a means to let everyone know exactly who they are.

“I’m the smartest person in the room” movie snobs (like my parents and I) discuss the utter unwatchability of all things Tyler Perry while ignoring the blatant irony in discussing the unwatchability of something you’ve obviously watched. “I’m the realist, most down to earth person you’d ever meet” Non-snob moviegoers discuss the fact that each of his movies are entertaining in their own way, something you can’t say about most cinema (but something you could also say about most crackheads). Anti-Tyler Perry Pro-Blacks (read: liberals) discuss how he’s appealing to the lowest common denominator and wasting his considerable influence and opportunity, while Pro-Tyler Perry Pro-Blacks (read: moderates and conservatives) discuss how he’s employing hundreds of black people while touching on issues unique to our community and providing (somewhat) wholesome family entertainment.

Conspiracy theorists discuss how Tyler Perry has been thrust to the forefront of black culture by the powers-that-be, ensuring the ongoing demasculinization of black males. Comedians discuss Tyler Perry because he’s an easy comedy buffet. (Seriously. If you fashion yourself to be a funny person and you can’t come up with at least one “laugh aloud” worthy comment or joke somehow related to Tyler Perry, it might be time to take up another hobby. Try crocheting) The “Real Issues Fun Police”—people whose sole goal in life seems to be to try to make people feel bad for discussing For Colored Girls when there’s widespread cholera in Haiti—discuss how our obsession with Tyler Perry is a damning indictment on American culture. Bloggers and other arbiters of pop culture discuss Tyler Perry, because, well, everyone else is doing it, and their, well, our identity is partially defined by staying relevant.

I guess I shouldn’t be too hard on Angst-Ridden Discussions About Tyler Perry. Its heart seems to be in the right place, and I can’t be too mad at something that manages to bring us and our collective need to be heard all together. But, I think I speak for most when I say that Angst-Ridden Discussions About Tyler Perry is beginning to wear out its welcome, and, until it makes good on that orange juice I.O.U., Angst-Ridden Discussions About Tyler Perry needs to stay the hell out of my kitchen.

• Mexican Transgender Asylum Seeker Allowed to Stay in U.S. | The Denver Post "Last week, an immigration judge granted Reyes a form of asylum that allows her to stay in the U.S. based on the persecution she suffered as a transgender woman in Mexico.

  "The Board of Immigration Appeals withheld her removal from the U.S. after determining the Mexican government would not protect her from abuse if she was deported.

  "U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services does not keep statistics on the numbers of transgender immigrants granted asylum. But Large said the relief Reyes got is rare for a Mexican national because some immigration judges think there is tolerance for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in Mexico.

  "Same-sex marriage is allowed in Mexico City, and many gay tourists flock to beach resorts throughout the country, leading to the misconception that the country is welcoming, said Large, who argues that pockets of intolerance abound in rural Mexico."

  (tags: via:tgworldnews mexico transwomen transmisogyny asylum)
• On Her First Visit to a National Park, Oprah Can't Find Other Black People | Change.org "Oprah isn't exactly the outdoorsy type, which is kind of the point. Her visit occurred earlier this month, and she and her friend Gayle first stocked up at REI on 'sleeping bags, lawn chairs, water bottles and fanny packs too,' according to one eyewitness account. Her show will feature activities such as fly-fishing and mule riding. During her trip, she commented that she felt closer to God.

  "Johnson says the exposure of Oprah's show to an audience of 30 million will be like 'an earthquake' that sends out seismic waves of culture change across the black community. His ultimate visitor to champion the parks cause to the black community, however, would be rap superstar Snoop Dogg.

  "'All Snoop Dogg has to do is go camping in Yosemite and it would change the world,' Johnson told the San Francisco Chronicle a year ago. 'If Oprah Winfrey went on a road trip to the national parks, it would do more than I have done in my whole career.'"

  (tags: via:arturo oprah conservation environment africanamericans black)
• How Segregation Plagues Bloomberg's New York: Black, White and Wrong All Over | NY Daily News "Segregation haunts questions of public safety, education, housing and fairness in the workplace. It is how New York sorts out its children, sending them on a path toward success or disaster.

  "And the poison spreads from there. Racially segregated zones make it 'natural' for cops and prosecutors to make decisions about law enforcement (including stop-and-frisk procedures and low-level drug busts of sellers rather than buyers) that inevitably track with race."

  (tags: via:djolder newyorkcity housing segregation gentrification)
• MA Town Makes Peace with Du Bois, a Native Son | Yahoo! News "For decades since Du Bois' death in Ghana in 1963, the civil rights activist and scholar has drawn praise for his writings but scorn from residents upset that he joined the Communist Party, became a citizen of Ghana and often criticized the U.S. over race relations.

  "FBI agents and riot police guarded a park dedication to him more than 40 years ago. Efforts to name a school after him were blocked. Some residents saw him the father figure of black radicalism, and they remained conflicted over his legacy and his relationship with the largely white town he often romanticized in writings."
  But now, as Great Barrington readies to celebrate its 250th birthday, supporters say Du Bois is finally getting his due.

  (tags: via:InfodivaMLIS415 massachusetts history africanamerican black webdubois)

By Guest Contributor Renina Jarmon, originally published at New Model Minority

In March, Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote a blog post titled, “The Debatable Legacy of For Colored Girls.” He writes,

“I haven’t read it in years, but even as a younger person I remember thinking it was somewhat over the top and heavy-handed. Hence when I heard that Perry was involved my thoughts were more along the lines of “Of course” or “Perfect.” I could be off on this and I’d like to hear some discussion around this.”

Nearly four years ago, I shouted out Ta-Nehisi Coates after reading an article of his in O magazine on his process of being a Black dad. I stated explicitly that publishers needed to give him a book deal. He responded to me a year later, and arranged to send me a galley of Beautiful Struggle, which I then reviewed on this blog. So i say this knowing that we have some limited history and I want to acknowledge that.

I have found Ta-Nehisi’s Black gender politics to be lacking on his blog and in some ways the questioning of whether or not For Colored Girls is classic symbolizes some of what troubles me about his Black gender politics.

When reading this post Moya asked me two questions. The first was, “Why does it matter to Ta-Nehisi Coates whether For Colored Girls is a classic?” The second is “Is he saying that because it is not a classic that it doesn’t matter if Tyler Perry butchers it?

This is not to say that For Colored Girls should not be questioned. Work around Black gender relations should be given a critical eye.

The issue for me is his reliance on his memory as a basis for questioning whether or not it is a classic.

What does it mean that a Black man, at a popular White publication openly questions whether or not a work by Black feminist artist is a classic, having not read the work since his was younger?

Ta-Nehisi is a reader. Last summer he read and blogged so much about the civil war that he had me revisiting the founding fathers narratives on slavery and democracy. Blog post here, “The Coming Coming Jobless Society.”

In fact, he is currently re-reading Malcolm’s autobiography. Why not re-read For Colored Girls, then ask whether or not it’s a classic?

To read something is to deem it important, significant and worthy of your time.

In the book Black Feminist Politics from Kennedy to Clinton, Duchess Harris explains the significance of For Colored Girls. I picked up this book on Tuesday because I suspected that Dr. Harris would analyze the cultural moment out of which For Colored Girls emerged. I include three of her quotes below. She writes,

The work of Michelle Wallace and Ntozake Shange shook Black academe and the predominantly male establishment, creating necessary controversy that advanced the Black feminist movement. Without the debates the works engendered, Black feminist writings would not be as developed as they are today. Wallace and Shanges works were also necessary since they were articulations not only about Black women, but by Black women, offering a narrative that diverged considerably from the limiting sterotypes of the Monyihan report, as well as those books such as Soul on Ice by former Black power leader Eldridge Cleaver.

She also says,

Yet, the fact that Shange asserted women’s rights to have their own narratives and, moreover, the right to tell those narratives, opened the door to a new type of creative cultural production that expanded opportunities for Black women to explore, discuss, and understand the issues that affected their lives, as well as present these issues before a broader more diverse audience.

She goes on to say,

Shange also resisted the notion that she glamorized Black women at the expense of Black men, and insisted that her treatment of Black women was neither glamorizing or uplifting but rather a reflection of how she viewed reality. Black men and some Black women were not accustomed to seeing Black women stand up for a Black autonomous feminism that questioned racism within White feminist movements but also went against sexism within Black society. Such a stance is central to Wallace’s and Shange’s writing, since they did not attack all Black men- only the ones who abuse and oppress women and those who let other men so without educating them to act otherwise.

In the essay, “Neither Fish Nor Fowl: The Crisis of African American Gender Relations” Michelle Wallace said that a significant aspect of the Black feminist work is to,

“get black scholars and intellectuals of Orlando Patterson’s superb caliber to think seriously and write publicly about Black gender relations.”

In many ways Wallace’s sentiments towards Patterson captures my sentiment’s toward Ta-Nehisi.

Given Ta-Nehisi’s ability to dig in deep on a topic, AND the audience and platform that he has, he could conceivably impact the tone and content of Black gender discourse in profound ways.

Some great books on Black gender politics (relationships between Black men and women) are When and Where I Enter by Paula Giddings, Black Macho and the Myth of the Super Woman by Michelle Wallace and Black Feminist Theory from Margin to Center by bell hooks.

• Do you think that For Colored Girls is a classic? Why or Why not?
• Would you need to learn more in order to say so?
• What is politically at stake when we discuss text we haven’t recently read?

By Arturo R. García

Yesterday a reader e-mailed us with a tip (emphasis mine):

Recently I’ve begun to notice in the PC Gaming scene this really irritating meme going around that basically consists of people calling themselves part of the PC Master Race and acting like that they’re nearly untouchable to anyone who even thinks to play on a console [XBox 360, Playstation 3, etc.]. Now, the attitude itself that PC Gaming is superior has actually been around for quite a long time and I’ve always considered it nothing more than part of the sophomoric fanboy loyalty that’s extremely rampant in computer gaming in general that I’ve long outgrown. For the record, I do think that PC Gaming is much better if you’re going independent or something since you’ll have much more creative control and won’t have to go through the trouble of worrying about what publishers want, but that’s only if you care enough about making games to begin with, but that’s kinda besides the point.

The term seems to have started as a one-off  joke from a game review by Zero Punctuation (video contains NSFW language), which contains the image posted above. The somewhat snarky tone of the review suggests it was meant to take the piss out of both sides of the PC/console gaming debate. Still, does anybody need a reminder of why “running with it” is problematic? Okay, just in case.

While its’ use since then may not be “widespread” – for what it’s worth, no gamers I know had heard of it when I asked – it’s still beyond tone-deaf, even if board postings like Look, you’re either part of the PC master race or a console unwashed pig or As a PC Master Race gamer, I feel insulted seeing that dirty console peasant crap are thrown around “in jest.”

To say nothing of the “PC Master Race” user group that popped up on one gaming site, with both a creepy tagline – “We Will Survive all. We are The Master Race. The PC Master Race. Forget consoles” – and the handy disclaimer (caps not mine), “IN NO WAY DO WE SUPPORT THE NAZI PARTY OR ANY OF THEIR IDEOLOGIES. OR ANY OTHER HATE GROUPS” while its’ avatar features a fraking Swastika colored like the Microsoft logo.

As Latoya would say, I just can’t. Luckily, the reader can:

I really can’t imagine anyone who’s not unaware of the issues gaming really needs to work using this phrase at all, jokingly or otherwise. I’m just thinking that if someone who was oppressed in some way and had very little knowledge of PC gaming were to come by a forum where this was used, they’d be turned off pretty quickly. While I’m not turned off completely because of it, I’m getting the feeling someone like me wouldn’t exactly be welcomed with my own ideas.

I’m just really frustrated–I personally think that PoC can use this medium as a way to express themselves in a totally new and exciting, and the technological advances made over the past decade has been drastic, but sadly the the same cannot be said of recognizing and fixing the social issues that happen in the games themselves and in the fandom. This is just another obstacle that’s getting in the way, even if it doesn’t seem like that at first glance. I’d like to get into gaming myself one day, not to try to make the best graphics, but to help create believable characters of color who are kinda lacking. I think that the PC platform can be very useful especially for PoCs to create the games that they want. At this time, that seems nothing more than a dream though.

• ADA Apologizes For Tolerating Discrimination In '60s : Shots | NPR In an open letter, Dr. Raymond Gist, who became the ADA's first African-American president in October, said the dentist group should have done a better job in making sure minorities could join affiliated state and local organizations before the mid-1960s. (tags: via:InfodivaMLIS415 employment heatlh discrimination dental)

By Arturo R. García

It’s hard to imagine a more egregious anime or manga “re-imagining” than the debacle that was The Last Airbender, but this might do it.

The long-fearedrumored live-action Akira remakes garnered attention over the weekend when rumors spread that the “lead role” in the two-film series would be offered to … Zac Efron.

Yes, that would be Zac Efron as Shotaro Kaneda, leader of a gang of motorcycle-riding funboys in a post-apocalyptic urban dystopia. But it looks this remake wouldn’t necessarily be a whitewash – it’d be a complete westernization of the story.

The basics of the story itself are the same in both the original six-volume manga series and the anime adaptation: Kaneda and his gang, normally content to wreak havoc around the ruins of Neo-Tokyo, get in far over their heads when one of their weaker members, Tetsuo Shima, is kidnapped by the military and subjected to experimentation. Tetsuo, revealed to be a vastly powerful telekinetic, escapes from custody and sets off a chain of events that threatens to engulf the city in yet another disaster, as both Kaneda and the authorities close in on him.

Akira is rare in that it’s considered a seminal story in both of its’ formats, one that propelled Japanese media from kitschy curiosity into more serious acclaim from North American audiences For a generation of kids reared on feel-good fare like Voltron or Robotech, the original anime was a mind-bender, the forerunner for challenging works like Neon Genesis Evangelion. More recently, it also inspired some of the images hip-hop’s own Tetsuo, Kanye West, used in the video for Stronger.) Here’s a trailer for last year’s blu-ray release of the film, where you see Kaneda – and his rather cool motorcycle – in action:

Somehow, director Albert Hughes and writer Albert Torres are reportedly going to attempt to turn the original manga – which spotlighted more characters beyond the Tetsuo/Kaneda love/hate relationship, but was by no means more kid-friendly – into two PG-13 movies, with the setting shifting from Neo-Tokyo to “Neo New-York.” That’s like turning Blade Runner into a Saturday-morning cartoon. At least one role, Colonel Shikashima, is allegedly being offered to a POC actor, in this case Morgan Freeman.

Still, at this point it’s fair to question whether it’s worth it for the films to even be called Akira. The original fanbase is not going to dig these changes, and the prospective new audience likely could give a damn about the source material, with an adaptation that might go a little like this:

True Dat Yo, indeed.

In a funny coincidence, Akira is also set to be referenced in the pages of Marvel Comics’ Generation Hope, the latest X-Men series. In issue #2, out Dec. 1, readers will be introduced to Kenji Uedo, one of the first five new mutants to appear on Earth following the near-extinction of the species, with powers that he can’t control. Kieron Gillen, who wrote the story, calls Kenji an “hymn to eighties Japanese body horror, nineties British modern art, 19th century banned literature and the whole concept of art and artistry generally.” Courtesy of Bleeding Cool, we present these images without comment for you to compare.

First, Uedo:

Now Tetsuo:

Here’s a scene from Generation Hope:

And here’s one from Akira:

Top image courtesy of Joblo.com

By Arturo R. García

Like any good journalistic outlet, NPR prides itself on thorough coverage and accuracy. Which makes the errors in its’ 40th-anniversary retrospective, This Is NPR, stand out even more.

(Note: As mentioned in the past, Racialicious Editrix Latoya Peterson is a consultant for NPR, and has contributed a piece to one of their blogs.)

First, as St. Petersburg Times columnist Eric Deggans reported Friday, there’s no mention in the book at all of All Things Considered host Michele Norris, the first black woman to earn a regular hosting slot on the network. From the story:

Norris was asked to contribute a chapter, along with other staffers or people who appear regularly on NPR for the book, which weaves the stories into a chronological history. Other contributors include Cokie Roberts, Nina Totenberg, P. J. O’Rourke and Paula Poundstone. But because she was writing her own book, The Grace of Silence: A Memoir, Norris couldn’t contribute an essay and was not included anywhere else, said NPR spokeswoman Dana Davis Rehm.

It was an inexcusable mistake,” Rehm added. “She should have been in the book.”

Deggans also notes the book’s omission of the recently-released Juan Williams, who had been a news analyst with the network for more than a decade before his firing last month; and of the African-American Public Radio Consortium, the group that helped NPR develop The Tavis Smiley Show, which first aired on the network before Smiley and NPR parted ways in 2004. Smiley doesn’t have an essay in the book, either, though he is referenced three times.

The only POC mentioned in the book who contributes an essay is Tell Me More host Michel Martin, who writes about covering the inauguration of President Obama in 2009. Oddly enough, though, the picture running alongside the story is of reporter Audie Cornish, who isn’t mentioned at all otherwise.

• Spelman Students Beat Out Harvard and MIT for Best Mobile App | Jack & Jill Politics I just think it’s important to celebrate and raise up when our folks beat the odds and assumptions about what we’re capable of. In past challenges, students from places like Harvard and MIT won this technical challenge. Check out the hotness:

  "AT&T is pleased to announce that Jonecia Keels and Jazmine Miller of Spelman College, a historically black liberal arts college for women, have won the 2010 AT&T Big Mobile on Campus ChallengeSM with their next generation e-learning mobile application, HBCU Buddy."

  (tags: via:arielleloren hbcu technology)

• Jeff Chang: It's Bigger Than Politics, the Real Shift is Cultural | Colorlines The [Obama] administration, however, treats race the way it treats “the professional left.” It is sensitive to being perceived as too left, too pro-people of color. So when Attorney General Eric Holder began speaking about dealing with race, he was quickly pulled back to the right. The Shirley Sherrod incident illustrated definitively that the administration is on a hair-trigger on the public perception of being cast as a “pro-people of color” administration. There is no doubt that, behind the scenes, the administration is pushing forward with needed reforms.

  But the most damaging way that their hyper-sensitivity has affected people of color has been around immigration, where the Obama administration has been more aggressive in enforcement and deportations, even as it is suing Gov. Jan Brewer. Here the administration’s triangulation has slowly become strangulation. Progressives of color have an important role to play in counter-pressuring the administration.

  (tags: via: msstroppy culturewar obamaadministration race progressives)
• Colorforms History: How George Bush Will Soon Become A Great President | ShoqValue It's begun with the pimping on his memoir, and a slow and steady parade of pundits and commentators "suggesting" that the Bush years may be in for a big makeover.

  It will get steadily worse over the next year, as the GOP attempts to place all blame for the nation's economic malaise onto Obama and the Democrats, while recasting every historical reality they can sell to their increasingly (and embarrassingly) gullible Foxified audience

  And they know how do do it. They did it with Ronald Reagan. Most people under 40 are still working with bastardized facts, alternate reality fabrications, and outright lies about his miserable presidency, the many policies of which helped lay the foundation for the absolute ruination of the American way of life that Barack Obama is now tasked with holding together with paste, bailing wire and duct tape.

  (tags: via:msstroppy georgewbush revisionism politics barackobama)

• 'For Colored Girls' author finds 'few flaws' in film version "Do you agree at all with the reviews which have been highly critical and said your work was somewhat cheapened by Tyler Perry?

  I haven't seen those people in 20 years. I don't know who those people are, they don't know me. I don't know who those people are. It cheapened, darling my work used to be for free. I used to do these poems by myself with a drummer or a tamboura player, or with a piano player, any kind of music player I could get. We would do it outside on a corner, and we would make art in the street, and people would throw things at us like coins. One time I had a group I was with called The Mushara Brothers and they gave me a tambourine, and I used to hop around with a tambourine to get our change for the night. One night we made $2.57 that's all we made, and we had to divide it between the three of us."

• Tim Wise | An Open Letter to the White Right, On the Occasion of Your Recent, Successful Temper Tantrum You thought you had secured your position permanently after the overthrow of reconstruction in the wake of the civil war, after the elimination of the New Deal, after the Reagan revolution, after the Republican electoral victory of 1994. And yet, those you thought you had cowed and defeated are still here.
  Because those who have lived on the margins, who have been abused, maligned, targeted by austerity measures and budget cuts, subjected to racism, classism, sexism, straight supremacy and every other form of oppression always know more about their abusers than the abusers know about their victims. (tags: via:robschmidt election whitesupremacy whiteprivilege)
• Rep. Posts Picture With Person In Blackface | WSMV Nashville Weaver said that a picture that she took with her pastor in blackface dressed as Aunt Jemima was just Halloween fun and doesn’t understand why the photo is offensive.
  However, some of her colleagues in the state Legislature said it is not just the picture that's wrong, but the comment she made about it. (tags: via:InfodivaMLIS415 politicians racism blackface)
• Arts and Urban Youth: Interview with Jeff McCarter on Challenging Teens to Tell Their Stories on Film | Dowser "Dowser: In your former life, you were a successful producer who worked with directors like Ron Howard and Steven Soderbergh. You won two Chicago/Midwest Emmys for your work in public television. But you turned your back on it to start Free Spirit Media.
  McCarter: Throughout my experience in professional media production I met lots of amazing, creative people, but they were something of an elite. Many of the crews I worked on were mostly white men and the stories were for a wealthy audience. I felt profoundly that media production could be more democratic, given the opportunities with new technology." (tags: art media diversity technology)