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Discussion: An Article Abt Black Women Shouldn't Have To Come w/ Warning
Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 3,677
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An Article Abt Black Women Shouldn't Have To Come w/ Warning
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Earlier this week, I published a piece that highlighted 14 UK-based make-up, hair, and fashion YouTubers. Every single person on that list was black. It was a deliberate choice, in the style of this post, in which BuzzFeed Books Editor Isaac Fitzgerald compiled a list of contemporary American writers for readers to get stuck into. The aim was not to “trick” anyone into clicking through – the post did what it said on the tin: These women are UK vloggers, and their tips on hair, fashion, and make-up will likely transform your morning routine. But the comments were interesting – but only in the way they revealed the unchecked biases that we carry around, unarticulated but always there.
The reward for being able to identify yourself in a character is being granted permission to take part in the grander cultural conversations. A narrative is built on what we consider to be communal cultural property. “Ross and Rachel” (or “Tim and Dawn” or “Nick and Jess”) is the shorthand for a classic TV “will they/won’t they” romance; the image of Ally McBeal tugs on a vestigial memory of nineties career girls; “The Mitchell brothers” conjures up family drama.
What we consider to be the benchmark, or even just a workaday example, tells us all we need to know about what is valued, but also what is considered “the norm”. If we can agree that something is universal, i.e. “Everyone gets this!” what does it mean when someone doesn’t get it? Would you recognise, in the same contexts as above, if I had said “Whitley and Dwayne”; “Joan Clayton”; and “Hakeem, Jamal and Andre Lyon”?
The takeaway is this: Everything all-white is for everybody, but all-black things are reserved for black people (unless it is being Columbused as the “new” thing). When someone complains about being misled because the blackness of the list was not brought up, how do you answer? What do you come back with when someone concludes a comment with a phrase I have thought about many times since: “I just couldn’t relate”?
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http://www.buzzfeed.com/bimadewunmi/...er#.jqGVdvyd43
I just read this article and I'm amazed  Honestly everybody should be made to read this, I love how it calls out the underlying racism that still exists but isn't being acknowledged
P.S Sorry about the grammar in the title but I had to make it fit 
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Member Since: 5/4/2012
Posts: 12,811
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Bruh, you read Buzzfeed.
BUZZFEED.
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 3,677
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Quote:
Originally posted by Big Smoke
Bruh, you read Buzzfeed.
BUZZFEED.
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Member Since: 8/25/2012
Posts: 30,317
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Member Since: 3/15/2013
Posts: 43,126
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Yeah it is pretty good article actually.
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Member Since: 5/4/2012
Posts: 12,811
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Quote:
Originally posted by its_britney_bitch
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Nothing on there makes a point
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 3,677
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Quote:
Originally posted by Big Smoke
Nothing on there makes a point
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The takeaway is this: Everything all-white is for everybody, but all-black things are reserved for black people (unless it is being Columbused as the “new” thing). When someone complains about being misled because the blackness of the list was not brought up, how do you answer? What do you come back with when someone concludes a comment with a phrase I have thought about many times since: “I just couldn’t relate”?
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So you don't see the point in that? The issue that is just now being addressed?  It's pretty hard to miss
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Member Since: 2/29/2012
Posts: 17,071
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Her article was very clever and it got the expected results 
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Why are there only black women on here? I have pale skin and those women are beautiful but their color palettes are very different from mine. If this was all white women people would say it’s racist. So why isn’t it racist when it’s all black women?
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Member Since: 5/2/2012
Posts: 15,418
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The plight of the minority. We live in a constant state of assimilation to the tone set by "other" being the norm; however, it just simply won't ever work in the reverse as the majority have the luxury of never having to assimilate to someone else's norms and standards just to live and work in society in general.
This is one of the things people mean when they speak of "White privilege" in general and it's quite a shame that so, so many will never truly understand this. The spoiled and overly privileged that had the nerve to write angry complaints about being misled into clicking on an article featuring Black beauty bloggers with tips that may not necessarily relate to their own hair textures and skin tones will probably never once stop to consider that is pretty much normal existence for women that aren't White.
The vast majority of magazines I pick up will have White beauty standards; hair care tips for textures unlike mine, makeup tips optimized for skin tones unlike mine that are treated as universally acceptable and not posted with "race disclaimers" because they have the privilege of being the standard everyone else must adjust to. It's really frustrating how little awareness most will have of this which is problematic and it leads to the nonsense like what the writer of that article is talking about with people fuming over having to spend 30 seconds of their valuable time flipping through something they feel doesn't relate to them.
The ignorant responses reminds me of a real life active example of the results of this study:
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This research, conducted by social neuroscientists at U of T Scarborough, explored the sensitivity of the “mirror-neuron-system” to race and ethnicity. The researchers had study participants view a series of videos while hooked up to electroencephalogram (EEG) machines. The participants – all white – watched simple videos in which men of different races picked up a glass and took a sip of water. They watched white, black, South Asian and East Asian men perform the task.
Typically, when people observe others perform a simple task, their motor cortex region fires similarly to when they are performing the task themselves. However, the UofT research team, led by PhD student Jennifer Gutsell and Assistant Professor Dr. Michael Inzlicht, found that participants’ motor cortex was significantly less likely to fire when they watched the visible minority men perform the simple task. In some cases when participants watched the non-white men performing the task, their brains actually registered as little activity as when they watched a blank screen.
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Really, really sad. But these things that seem so trivial are in essence the very environmental factors that breed and shape the inability for some to empathize with and see themselves in people unlike themselves. Especially those that have the privilege of having their own people setting the societal standards and norms. Frustrating some will never really get that. Good article tho. Thanks for sharing.
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Member Since: 5/18/2012
Posts: 20,576
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Quote:
Originally posted by Big Smoke
Bruh, you read Buzzfeed.
BUZZFEED.
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That doesn't dismiss the point of the article. Stop trying to look for a bone to pick, and get with the topic of this thread.
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 39,572
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Well no, it's just that these shows like Empire aren't as popular and well-known as Friends. It's had one season, Friends had 10, they're not comparable.
Also, this article is really poorly written, it's all over the place and doesn't make a solid point. I'm sure it means well, and has a good ideology, but it's presented poorly and I'm not sure if I really know what they're complaining about. It's talking about racism, but is too ambitious and the point is lost.
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 3,677
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Quote:
Originally posted by Crystalline
Well no, it's just that these shows like Empire aren't as popular and well-known as Friends. It's had one season, Friends had 10, they're not comparable. |
That's what you care about here?  That doesn't dismiss the point of the article. If you want another example think of Tyler Perry movies. How many white people do you see watching them?
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 3,677
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Quote:
Originally posted by Crystalline
Well no, it's just that these shows like Empire aren't as popular and well-known as Friends. It's had one season, Friends had 10, they're not comparable.
Also, this article is really poorly written, it's all over the place and doesn't make a solid point. I'm sure it means well, and has a good ideology, but it's presented poorly and I'm not sure if I really know what they're complaining about. It's talking about racism, but is too ambitious and the point is lost. |
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The takeaway is this: Everything all-white is for everybody, but all-black things are reserved for black people
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That basically summarizes the issue the article is bringing to light
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Member Since: 6/2/2011
Posts: 28,055
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I agree with a lot of what it says, but sitcoms are the wrong example...the Fresh Prince and Sister Sister are pretty iconic among everybody.
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 39,572
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Quote:
Originally posted by its_britney_bitch
That's what you care about here? That doesn't dismiss the point of the article. If you want another example think of Tyler Perry movies. How many white people do you see watching them? |
The reason why is because the article doesn't make any sense. They're talking about lots of issues without committing to one. Most of the article has little to do with the actual headline. They complained about the comments, but didn't quote a single one. The comments were valid - all lists should have diversity - having an all-black list doesn't 'balance out' the all white lists - instead, complain that those lists have no diversity. This type of 'protest' doesn't help anyone.
It's really just shoddy journalism. The point that diversity should be celebrated and proliferated is fine, but I don't agree with the method of doing this, and the article wasn't an easy one to understand either, due to a plethora of loosely-connected points.
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Member Since: 12/15/2011
Posts: 9,940
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Quote:
Originally posted by its_britney_bitch
That's what you care about here? That doesn't dismiss the point of the article. If you want another example think of Tyler Perry movies. How many white people do you see watching them? |
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Originally posted by its_britney_bitch
That basically summarizes the issue the article is bringing to light
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well that applies to everything
here no one will watch a show like east los high on hulu except latinos and some random people interested in it
you're from the UK and no one supported asian artists like jay sean except asian and some black radios
that's the way it works
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Member Since: 3/21/2012
Posts: 55,134
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Quote:
Originally posted by its_britney_bitch
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Lol
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 39,572
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Quote:
Originally posted by hot mess
well that applies to everything
here no one will watch a show like east los high on hulu except latinos and some random people interested in it
you're from the UK and no one supported asian artists like jay sean except asian and some black radios
that's the way it works
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Just because that's the way it works doesn't make it right, these 'white-only lists' are just casual examples of racism (not in an aggressive way, but unconsciously racist nonetheless) and someone should be applauded for trying to challenge this mentality of white-only lists being fine but black-only ones needing to be denoted as 'black-only'. If everyone had your attitude, blacks would still be slaves and homosexuality would still be illegal.
At least that's what I think it meant, as I said I found the article hard to understand. 
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 3,677
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Quote:
Originally posted by Crystalline
The reason why is because the article doesn't make any sense. They're talking about lots of issues without committing to one. Most of the article has little to do with the actual headline. They complained about the comments, but didn't quote a single one. The comments were valid - all lists should have diversity - having an all-black list doesn't 'balance out' the all white lists - instead, complain that those lists have no diversity. This type of 'protest' doesn't help anyone.
It's really just shoddy journalism. The point that diversity should be celebrated and proliferated is fine, but I don't agree with the method of doing this, and the article wasn't an easy one to understand either, due to a plethora of loosely-connected points.
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This mindset is problematic. The point of the all-black list and the subsequent article was to make people recognise the biases they have but don't even realise and to make a white person feel, just for a second, what a person of colour has to feel everytime they look up beauty tips or open a magazine.
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Member Since: 12/15/2011
Posts: 9,940
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Quote:
Originally posted by Crystalline
Just because that's the way it works doesn't make it right, these 'white-only lists' are just casual examples of racism (not in an aggressive way, but unconsciously racist nonetheless) and someone should be applauded for trying to challenge this mentality of white-only lists being fine but black-only ones needing to be denoted as 'black-only'. If everyone had your attitude, blacks would still be slaves and homosexuality would still be illegal.
At least that's what I think it meant, as I said I found the article hard to understand. |
it's not my attitude
i think being inclusive and diverse are great things to strive for, but it doesn't work that way
the same people who complain about lack of diversity don't really support it themselves
that's why i used those examples
being white/male/straight is the default and all people are receptive to it
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