Last week, the judge ordered the rapper Nas to pay his soon-to-be ex-wife Kelis $55,000 a month in spousal support. This vulgar, profanity laced rant by rappers Method Man and Redman is one of the reasons why relationships between black men and women are so effed up. It is not only indicative of the misogyny that is prevalent in popular rap music but it points to the widely held belief by some men that women are nothing but scheming bitches and hos. No respect for women here. Definitely no respect for the sanctity of marriage or families either.
Archive for the ‘black women’ Category
Iman Critiques Michelle Obama
May 21, 2009
Much has been made of supermodel Iman’s comments about First Lady Michelle Obama. In case you haven’t heard them or read them, you can here. This story could easily be about catty comments one black woman makes about another but I’m going to pretend that is not what this is about.
On the surface, Iman’s comments sound rude, “Michelle Obama is invariably described as beautiful or attractive by the press, I realize that beauty is in the eye of the beholder but this is simply not true.” I have never heard Iman go at anyone with such tenaciousness and veracity. I haven’t heard her talking about the lawlessness in her homeland, Somalia or criticizing the al-Shabab either but Michelle Obama, now she’s worth talking about.
I don’t know what the reporter asked Iman but whatever it was, she took the bait or maybe she was just waiting to blurt it out. As someone who has been described as “interesting looking” too, I’m ust wondering why Iman just didn’t come out and call Michelle Obama ugly. She’s interesting looking but she’s so smart. Wouldn’t most women prefer beauty to smarts anyway? Aging like a hunk of cheese or a vat of vinegar is so not the shit and Iman knows it.
I’m just guessing Iman can forget about an invite to anything the Obamas have at the White House. The First Lady has class, she always takes the high road and her critics and haters usually end up looking foolish. I guess being married to the most powerful man in the world is never going to be good enough for some people, even Iman.
70s Flashback: Cleopatra Jones
March 29, 2009What black girl growing up in the 70s didn’t want to be Cleopatra Jones? She was beautiful, smart and nobody messed with her.
Tamara Dobson worked the hell out of this role. And wasn’t Antonio Fargas in every black movie (a.k.a. blaxploitation movies) that came out back then? Let’s just hope they don’t try to do a remake with Beyonce.
Juan Williams, Fox News’ In-House Negro
January 30, 2009First Lady Michelle Obama hasn’t given nary speech or discussed her role as first lady but Fox News’ Juan Williams is already calling her “Stokely Carmichael-in-a-dress”!? The fact that Williams is a hired mouthpiece on Fox News, his commentary is always questionable. I didn’t buy his faux tears on election night, I thought it was a scripted, insincere moment designed to generate attention more than anything else. As a self-loathing negro, Williams obviously has a distaste for the Obamas, particularly Michelle.
Williams is as guilty as the rest of the Obama critics who have used the angry black woman stereotype to unfairly characterize Mrs. Obama. It doesn’t surpise me that angry white guys like Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh dislike smart black women; they speak more from ignorance and fear, but what is Williams’ excuse?
On the other hand, Williams has stumbled all over himself to praise the nitwit known as Sarah Palin. He seems smitten but can’t even give Michelle Obama benefit of the doubt!?. To borrow a phrase from one of my favorite bloggers, this is house negro behavior.
Condom Anyone?
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Earlier this week, the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced that sexually transmitted diseases hit a record high in 2007. What took them so long to get this information out to the public is a mystery for another day. Young black women and bisexual and gay men top the list of reported STDs.
Although blacks account for 12% of the population, we seem to be the largest ethnic group affected by STDs. We account for 70% of gonorrhea cases and more than half of the reported cases for chlamydia and syphilis. The startling part of this data is that black women between the ages of 15 and 19 accounted for the largest number of chlamydia and gonorrhea cases. From these numbers alone, it sounds like young black women are promiscuous and do not practice safe sex but I know there’s more to it than this.
I’m skeptical of any report that singles out any particular group of people especially ones like this. Think I’m being paranoid or irrational, I have two words for you: Tuskegee Experiment. Black men were used to test the effects of final stage syphilis by the US government under the guise of free medical care. The experiment which began in 1932 was not uncovered until 1972. Of course there was no admission of guilt or wrongdoing by the Public Health Service or the US government until 1997 when President Bill Clinton issued an apology to the remaining survivors of the experiment. This ordeal has left many of us with a distrust of doctors, hospitals and the government.
Assuming the CDC’s data about young black women is correct, this is cause for concern. This is not the era of free love but the era of HIV/AIDS. What’s missing here is safe sex, where are the condoms? Are these women not afraid of contracting HIV/AIDS or an STD? Abstinence wouldn’t be such a bad idea but it isn’t a realistic scenario for young men and women. Peer pressure and hormones obviously hold more sway than a lecture about the virtues of abstinence or safe sex.
Mrs. Charles Barkley
January 3, 2009I came across a white nationalist website where one of the topics of conversation was Charles Barkley which isn’t a surprise based on his recent arrest. Besides deriding Barkley for his obvious shortcomings, his wife became the object of ridicule as well. Few pictures of Mrs. Barkley exist and the one I was able to find of her isn’t the most flattering portrayal.
Either way, the white nationalists were having fun with it. It wasn’t just that Mrs. Barkley is white but she is married to a black man and might be Jewish (last name Blumhardt) as well. The folks over at White Pride World Wide were discussing Barkley when the subject of the Mrs. came up, one poster wrote:
That’s because the type of girl that would marry a Charles Barkley do so for all the wrong reasons. I’m sure she’s not blindsided by his infidelity. Does Barkley come off as respectful to women to any of you? He doesn’t to me. We live in a sick society where criminals, slime balls and degenerates are held high esteem and people like us are held as evil. Go figure.
The poster isn’t all wrong about this either. Professional athletes are often abusive toward women. Besides that, some women are willing to do anything to marry one even if they have to endure infidelity, abuse and other humiliations. It’s more about the prestige of being married to a professional athlete and having access to his money than dignity or self-respect. With the exception of the gorgeous Will Demps and a handful of soccer players in the English Premier League, I wouldn’t cross the street for a professional athlete.
As I mentioned previously, my beef with Barkley has to do with his disdain for black women. The funny thing about this is that Barkley’s opinion of black women isn’t that different from the views espoused by some white nationalists. Both incorrectly believe the worst about black women; we are loud, lazy, obese and God knows what else.
At the present, I don’t know too many black women, who would put up with Barkley’s foolishness. Public humiliation is one thing, but I imagine being married to Barkley probably isn’t a walk in the park either. Controlling and demanding come to mind. So I agree, the type of woman who would marry Charles Barkley probably did marry him for all the wrong reasons; it wasn’t for his looks or brains but likely for his bank account.
First Dumbass of the New Year: Charles Barkley
January 2, 2009
Photo: Mr. and Mrs. Charles Barkley taken from Kenya Talk
I was going to post that greasy looking drunk photo of TNT basketball commentator Charles Barkley but I decided enough people have already posted that mug so I’ll do something different. Unless you’ve been hiding out with Osama bin Laden on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border, you’ve already heard that Barkley was arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence on New Year’s Eve.
Leave it to Barkley to take the dumbassness to the next level, seems he was in a hurry to get oral sex from an unidentified female passenger in his black SUV. Is it any news that the female passenger probably was not Mrs. Barkley (pictured above)? I think he can forget about running for governor of Alabama, most politicians usually wait until they get elected to office to do something this stupid.
So now we can add adulterer to Sir Charles’ illustrious list of accomplishments: gambler, drunk, loud mouth and idiot. I’m not even going to get into his well-documented disdain for and disrespect of black women, I think the picture of him and the missus explains it all.
Two Reasons I’m Watching the Democratic National Convention
August 26, 2008
First of all, it’s history in the making. With Barack Obama poised to become the first African American to be his party’s candidate for president, he represents the best of what America has to offer. He’s intelligent, politically astute and represents something we don’t get to see very often, a well-educated black man. Obama doesn’t fit the stereotypical black man mold that is perpetuated in our society. He’s not a professional athlete, an entertainer, dead-beat dad or convicted felon. Obama isn’t the first black man to be well-educated or well-qualified but he challenges how many of us think about black men.
Michelle Obama is anything but an angry black woman. Like her husband, she challenges us to think about black women in a different way. She’s not a babies mama but a wife and mother. I’m especially proud of Michelle Obama because she looks like me. In 2008, skin color is still an issue that African Americans struggle with; it’s the dividing line between light and dark. She has brown skin and to some she might even be considered dark.
Our standard of beauty has long been tied to the blond hair, blue eye aesthetic of our popular culture. If you’re wondering what this means, just tune into any show on BET (Black Entertainment Television) and you’ll notice that nearly all of the female cohosts are fair skinned Hispanic or mulatto looking women. If that doesn’t tell you what the predominant standards for beauty are for a network that is supposed to represent African American culture, I don’t know what does.
After watching Michelle Obama’s speech Tuesday night, I could not have been more proud. She silenced her critics who branded her an angry black woman and questioned her patriotism. The Obamas are making history and challenging the notions we have not only about race, but what it means to be an American.
Talk to You Later, Buckwheat
November 13, 2007
Buckwheat
When is it ever appropriate to address a black person as Buckwheat? Evidently, Louisiana State Representative Carolyn Dartez thought it was okay to do so. According to news reports, Dartez had called the mother of the NAACP’s local president, to thank her for driving voters to polls and ended the conversation with “Talk to you later, Buckwheat.”
Of course, Dartez has apologized for her insensitive remark (though she probably didn’t think she said anything wrong) and wants everyone to know that she has a record of helping the black community. As a black woman, I have never at any point thought it was okay to call anyone Buckwheat especially not an elderly black woman whose son is the president of the local NAACP.
For those of you not familiar with Buckwheat, he was the black child on the 1930′s television show, “Our Gang“. He was dark, had eyes like saucers and had this nappy hair that stood on end and was the embodiment of all things black during this era. Stereotypes about black people haven’t changed very much over the years particularly with regard to the entertainment industry, black people are still around to entertain, shuck, jive, dance, etc. Buckwheat is not a black character that any of us remembers fondly.
I bet someone has already given her the telephone number of Al Sharpton and/or Jesse Jackson to help her out. As of late, Rev Al has been the sole representative for black people everywhere and is one of the few blacks who has the power to pardon Dartez in the court of black public opinion. I look for either him or Jesse to fly down to Louisiana and do a prayer meeting, appear on ‘Larry King Live’ and/or have a town hall meeting in Morgan City because we all know Dartez is not a racist. Rev Al has had a busy year absolving white folks of their sins and representing all 30 million black folks, I hope he gets to have a vacation and straightens this Dartez woman out.
Link of the Day: What About Our Daughters
September 13, 2007I have to give a shout out to a thoughtful, well-written piece about the emerging role of of black women as concubines. If all we can aspire to be is a babies mama, then our destinies are doomed. Yes, I’m talking about the Diddy-Kim Porter foolishness that earned an Essence magazine cover earlier this year and Porter’s subsequent follow-up interview after her ass got dumped. This is an embarrassment but none of the people in this mess have enough sense to be, not even Essence magazine. No pride, no sense of responsibility.
I am going to stand with my sister over at What About Our Daughters, I’ve had enough of the destructive portrayals of black women in popular culture. Enough is enough.
