Success v. Black Americans

Recently The Freshxpress posted an article that struck a chord with me and went hand-in-hand with CNN’s article that looked at Obama as the hero in Osama’s capture and killing and what that meant to the black male stereotype. You can read an excerpt of that article here. Urban Politico’s piece titled “The Impossibility of Black Achievement”  (found here), looked even closer at stereotypes that say that Black people cannot reach high levels of academic or professional success.

A few years after my graduation I came across another Black female attorney who had stellar credentials.  Every type of honor you can think of, she had it.  She was senior in experience to most of the associates at her law firm and the firm used her quite frequently to do legal research for some of its largest and most prestigious clients. Yet, when it came time to give credit where credit was due, the firm consistently credited any legal victories to the other White males on her team.  In some cases, even giving credit to White males who were several years her junior who barely had a grasp of what the case was about.  To the partners at her firm, it was simply incomprehensible that the winning argument that they had relied upon in court to their benefit was actually developed by one of their Black attorneys.  In other words, no Black person is capable of such a feat.

Of course nobody wants to say that directly.  To do so would clearly be racist and if there’s one thing we know that mainstream America hates it is being labeled with the “R”-word.  But much like the ostrich sticking its head in the sand, hiding from the problem in your own little world does very little to address the problem in reality.  Indeed, it is America’s collective failure to address its race problem that continues to color our actions, decisions, and beliefs everyday.

-The Impossibility of Black Achievement

As far as we have come and as much as we do the President is fighting an uphill battle against the type of covert racism that analysts tend to like to ignore but that President Obama’s tenure as commander-in-chief has seemed to pull out in people. In other words, he’s fighting the same fight that black professionals and those in academia deal with all of the time but for the most part learn to deal with as simply being “a part of the game.”

The Urban Politco pulls out the correlation between some of the overt disrespect that Obama has dealt with and that fact that as a Black man, there is simply no possible way that he could achieve Presidency on merit alone.

While 71% of Americans think President Obama should receive credit for killing bin Laden, that still leaves 29% of Americans (almost a third) who feel that this great accomplishment cannot possibly be attributable to Barack Obama.  Likewise, 52% of Americans believe that the credit for an event this historic must surely lie with a White male President, even if said President has been out of office for nearly 3 years.  The fact that people can literally believe that Obama does not deserve credit for an act that he did almost defies belief…that is until you consider the perspective of where those people are coming from. In other words, no Black person is capable of such a feat.

Indeed, there still remains a significant swath of Americans who continue to act out of their disbelief over the fact that we actually have a Black man sitting in the highest office of the land.  They’ll concede that there are some jobs that Blacks can actually earn on their own, but the Presidency of the United States is not one of them.  The Presidency, by their view, is a position that no Black person could possibly attain and until it returns to its rightful owner they are fully justified in asking for his birth records, asking for his college transcripts, calling him a liar on the House floor, mitigating his role in the assassination of the most notorious terrorist the world has ever seen, questioning his motives to visit Ground Zero, denying his authority, and depriving him of any other right or privilege that would be (and has been) afforded to any other similarly situated White male President throughout our nation’s history. In short, as far as this crowd is concerned, Barack Obama is not the President of the United States.  We’re simply going through a transitional phase right now until the real President comes along.

-The Impossibility of Black Achievement

The choice to attend a Historically Black College for me was in part due to the type of prejudices that I though I may have experienced in a different environment. Having attended a primarily White high school I saw what a little friendly competition from a Black, and not just Black but female counterpart could bring. The good thing about President Obama’s tenure as President is, as has been stated many times before, that it opens up a whole new conversation on race for an America that had closed the book on any racal disparities in the 21st century. To be honest, I think I’ve heard more overt racism more now than ever before but that, like with anything else, is a part of change.

The Real Mad, Black Women of Television

Over the course of the Real Housewives of Atlanta franchise my favorite-turned-least housewife Nene went from being the one person we could count on to read a situation and be real about it, to the person who it seemed like stirred up drama for no particular reason. The last couple of episodes of Celebrity Apprentice have seen the same sort of thing and although there’s a lot of speculation surrounding the background story, Nene ended up looking like the bully.

Diary of a mad, black woman.

The stereotype is continued with her not unlike Omarosa who chose to be the angry, black woman during her time with Donald Trump as well. There is definitely air-time taken up by black women who defy the formula, but does Nene perpetuate the angry, black, loud, and abrasive stereotype?

Or a better question would be does the media (and us the viewer) prefer that stereotype? Let’s be honest, how many of us had a love/hate relationship with Tami of Basketball Wives who was a guaranteed scene-stealer after a few glasses of achohol- loud, mad, and ready to lay hands on anyone who happened to be around and talking, she created drama for the show that I’m sure raised what were already high ratings.

So here’s the question again: Does the viewer or the media prefer the angry, black woman stereotype?

Discuss!

A Picture’s Worth A Thousand Words

Now that it’s been a few days since Osama Bin Laden was pronounced dead, and with no pictures of him deceased circulating, the image most focused on is the one that show’s President Obama, Hilary Clinton, and Joe Biden among other top White House officials watching the video of Bin Laden’s capture and murder. Jackandjillpolitics.com posted a news story found on CNN that looks at the way Black men, women, and “presidential swagger” can be interpreted from the picture. You can read the full article (and see the picture)  at CNN.com but here are a few excerpts to think about:

The photo crosses one threshold of race in its unusual framing of an African-American man threatening violence, one black commentator says.

For much of U.S. history, the black man has often been portrayed as the threat to America’s safety — the angry man, the thug, the one you cross the street to avoid, says Cheryl Contee, co-founder of Jack & Jill Politics, a blog focused on current affairs from a black perspective.

But in the Situation Room photo, Contee says, the black man is America’s protector.

…

The photo also resolves a tricky image problem for Obama, says Jerald Podair, a history professor at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin.

Podair says Obama has always been careful to avoid the angry black male stereotype in his public persona, but has acquired another image — that of detachment, even weakness.

The photo of Obama hunkered down with his national security team watching the stalking and killing of bin Laden solves both problems, Podair says.

“He can now appear strong without being threatening. After all, he’s on our side. Obama can now take up his white predecessors’ mantle of ‘protector in chief,’ ” Podair says.

There is no denying that this was a big win for President Obama’s political campaign, but is it going to far to say this was a win for Black men as well? I would agree with jackandjillpolitics.com co-founder Cheryl Countee and say that it was. Winning the presidency was only the beginning of convincing both non-supporters and supporters that he was meant to be in office. President Obama who has handled more disrespect as a President than anyone else; he was going to have to prove himself and in this situation, he got the job done. He literally countered the idea of the Black man as “scary” by being the hero.

What do you think? Was finding and killing Osama Bin Laden not only a win for President Obama, but for Black men as well?

The Shift on Nicki Minaj

It’s funny, I can remember only a few months ago seeing blog pieces that were far from praising Nicki Minaj. Lil’ Kim-esque personality aside, the blogosphere was buzzing with the idea that Nicki Minaj was making Black women look bad; the hair, body, wierd noises.. who was this woman that had Black girls calling themselves Barbie and getting a very full frontal bang to match?

As a matter of fact, where was Lauryn Hill to combat all of this mess?

Fast foward to now and boy, have things changed. An album, a documentary, and the beginnings of crossover appeal later (Elle magazine cover shoot) Nicki Minaj has turned some side-eye’s around.

My first opinions on Nicki Minaj weren’t too far from “WTF.“

The questions of whether she was bi-sexual or not, if her butt was real, what exactly was going on with the wierd faces/voices etc seemed to add up. Then I had to wonder was she just a pawn in the “whatever is sexiest sales” hip-hop game. After watching her documentary though one thing I can say about Nicki Minaj is that she knows what sales; she built her brand, and is crossing over with it to mass audiences. She’s making money with the “big boys” in the music industry, and doing it as a female who has been hyper-sexualized since she first came out.

In one scene of her documentary on MTV she talks about how she’s treated as a woman in the industry versus a man. Any woman watching that who has ever been in the workforce could relate to what she was saying; the details may not have been the same but the theory behind wasn’t far from it.

For all of the superficial that Nicki Minaj may have first came across as, and for what her Barbie’s might have taken her to be at face value, her story may be more than just the wierd faces and body. We’ll see, in the mean time, Pink Friday has yet to leave rotation in my car. Don’t judge me

Why Reality TV, Videos, or Rap Lyrics Don’t Define Me

Oprah became the media mogul I chose to look up to a few years ago. Before that, she was just the woman who was on my television Monday through Friday when I got home from school, and occasionally the person mentioned in a conversation with my grandmother who disliked her “spirituality” rather than concrete ‘Christian or not’ viewpoint.

A woman who experienced molestation, was promiscuous in her teens, got pregnant at age 14 (losing the baby), and on top of all that was Black and a female had the type of option to use a multitude of excuses for why she couldn’t be great. How many times have I heard people use their past experiences and choices to not only define them, but to allow others to define them based on those choices as well?

According to most accounts, Oprah should have been another statistic. Another one of the many who would end up without an education living from paycheck to paycheck if not in poverty. If based on the way we look at and judge the women we know who have a lot of male “friends,” Oprah could have been and probably was counted out.

How powerful is it that the woman who did all of that is now the most powerful person (not woman, not African-American, not victim of molestation or victim of her own choices) in entertainment?

Oprah is the reason why the Black women on reality television don’t define me. My Mom is the reason why rap lyrics can’t objectify me. My Aunts are the reasons why music videos, advertisements, and magazines can’t shape the way I view myself. My Grandmothers are the reason why I can know that my past doesn’t make me.

Those are the people who women should find, and young girls should be told to find, to make, mold, define, and encourage themselves.

Who Defines You?

We Need Balance: Sports vs. Academic Scholarships

A couple of weeks ago  I heard an argument that I’ve heard too many times before, following watching the documentary on the Fab 5.

Academic v. Sports scholarships.

A quick google search lends to about 50% of college graduates leaving with an average amount of 10,000 dollars worth of student loans yet to be paid; with the cost of college tuition on the rise, I can’t blame those who argue against the idea that athletes are given a full ride while the average student ends up with loans. Loans that will only increase for those who choose to pursue secondary degrees.

Although I believe the situation for college athletes has gotten better now, the Fab 5 documentary looked at a facet of college sports that has been touched on a few times by watchdog groups, analysts, and columnists; for the amount of money college players bring into whatever university they attend, the payoff is nowhere near complementary. Yes, they get a free education, and yes their years MAY lead to a career in the NBA, but ultimately the university is making millions of dollars off of players who, at least at the time the Fab 5 played for Michegan, were not living a million-dollar, or even hundred-dollar for that matter, lifestyle.

The idea is that these millions are channeled back into the university to support teams who do not generate a profit as well as provide other financial aid throughout the school. In other words, in the business of college these athletes make it possible for other athletic and academic programs to function as well.

On the other hand, and what made the conversation surrounding the whole idea of academic versus sports scholarships, what about those students who work hard to get on the Dean’s list, join the Honors society, and take part in extracurricular activities on campus only to find no scholarship in site. Is their contribution not worth enough to get the benefit of one less school loan to worry about?

If based on the financial aid offers of a university, most would say no.

Recently blackamericaweb.com reported that Ralph Nadar released a proposal to end all athletic scholarships:

Nader said that colleges should either integrate athletics into the educational mission by eliminating college scholarships, or, “openly acknowledge the professionalism in big-time college sports, remove the tax-exempt status currently given to athletic departments, and make universities operate them as unrelated businesses.”

Nadar’s plan is to replace sports scholarship with need-based financial aid; something that although I’m not sure about his motives behind his reasoning, sounds good on the surface.

The argument over the need for academic scholarships versus sports-based ones has gone on for years but its outcome has yet to be seen. Maybe its an argument that can’t be won but for those of us in college, post-college, or planning to go to college:

Should There Be a Better Balance Between Sports Scholarships and Academic Scholarships?

Who Are You?: Searching Your Family Tree

A couple of weeks back I happened to see a commercial for ancestory.com. A Black man makes one simple statement that sucked me in and had me wanting a geneology of my own family tree.

“I learned that my great- great- grandfather was born a slave….. but died a business owner.”

One of my African-American history professors made a point my freshman year: Black people, African-American’s whose lineage is tied up in slavery, have a limited sense of our history. Passing down information from great- great- great-grandparents to this generation has often times been lost if it was ever there to begin with; unfortunately, the pride that could come from knowing our geneology just isn’t there.

Henry Louis Gates ran a program on PBS looking at and tracing the history of musician Yo-Yo Ma, actress Eva Longoria, and inauguration of President Obama poet Elizabeth Alexander among others gaining insight into the family tree of people who had history tracing up to 30 generations back.

As much of our identity is tied up in our past, present, and future actions. A large part of our identity is also tied up in the people who’s shoulders we stand on. Searching may not mean finding exactly what you’re looking for, but searching will mean gaining a better understanding of yourself and your family. Take a look into it.