Showing posts tagged racism

Huffington Post UK Claims Afro Hair Makes Black Women Fat, There’s Been A Study Apparently!

Huffington Post UK declares that “40% of African-American women avoid exercise because of concerns about their hairstyle, a study has found”.

According to the article a recently published study in America has identified that 40% of African American women purposely avoid exercise to maintain their costly hair styles. The study which used (only) 103 African American women participates between the ages of 21 to 60, consisted of a 40 question questionnaire and was led by dermatologist Dr Amy McMichael.

It was mentioned early on the article that the study is said to ‘fuel concerns about the obesity epidemic in the United States.’ Though what ‘concerns’ this study actually fuels the article (I believe) is intentionally ambiguous. Considering the article focuses solely on African American women surely this would imply that this group/race of people are potentially at the bulk of this epidemic.

It was irresponsible of the article to imply that a greater reason or cause of obesity exclusively within black women is down to vanity of their hair when the study quoted was far too small to confirm this. Yet the article had no problem highlighting the amount of money and time African American women spend on regularly maintaining their ‘coarser’ hair on ‘time consuming’ processes which makes their hair ‘incompatible’ with heavy exercise.
It is this tone that makes the article highly racist, since it intends to imply not only that black women’s vanity over their hair is more extreme to that of their white female counter parts but also that the very make up of their hair hinders their ability to take up exercise… (click to read full post)

(Source: getaperspective.blogspot.co.uk)

While watching friends Jay-Z and Kanye West perform on stage in Paris for their Watch the Throne tour, Gwyneth Paltrow took to Twitter, tweeting the word ‘niggas’ along with a picture in describing the concert. This has for obvious reasons caused a stir with lots of discussions for and against Paltrow’s use of the n-word with many black celebrities such as The Dream defending her honour.The comment was offensive, it was also totally inappropriate of Paltrowto have tweeted the world using the word.Gwyneth defends herself by saying that her tweet was referring to the Jay-Z & Kanye West song ‘Niggas in Paris’ though by including ‘for real’ after the title changes it from a song title into a sentence containing a racially offensive word. While I don’t think Paltrow is racist or intended to cause offence, she and everyone who chooses to defend her are missing the point. The word ‘nigga’ is a derogation term for a black person and was used by whites during colonialism with the intent to degrade and ridicule the black man and woman. Recently the word has gained popularity in some black communities as is evident in hip-hop music, though while mainstream artists like Jay-Z and Kanye West are known to use the n-word in their lyrics, the word has not nor has it ever lost its racist connotations.The use of the n-word is not openly accepted in black communities though some blacks that consume hip-hop music and its culture are more relaxed with the use of the term; hip-hop music and its culture is not synopsis with the vast and varied black cultures and communities of the world and therefore has no right to speak for or represent the black ethnicity as a whole. This is why Gwyneth was wrong to use the n-word regardless who was or was not offended by it. Though interestingly Paltrow felt it appropriate to asterisk out the word but didn’t consider that the word itself was offensive to use, this highlights the urgency for hip-hop to retire using the n-word since it’s blurring the true meaning/connotation of the word. The commercialisation of hip-hop means that its audience has shifted from being majority black to a majority white or non-black audience making Gwyneth like many other non-black people fall into the trap set by hip-hop in using or relaying the n-word. The use of the n-word in mainstream hip-hop has come to imply to those outside of the black ethnicity that the word has been liberated and lost its original racist meaning, though this is not correct; instead hip-hop decontextualises the n-word which is why some black people do not take offence of the word when generally said by another black person however when said by a person outside of the black ethnicity, specifically a white person, it puts the word right back into its original racist context.The underlining message is that the n-word is still offensive and many black people still take offence in being called or referred to as the n-word. In Gwyneth’s circle of black friends, whom I assume are the black celebrities defending her, may not take offence in her use of the n-word in their presents but her tweet was open to the public where this sort of language is inappropriate and should not be tolerated, this is the issue and this is why Gwyneth should be apologetic. View high resolution

While watching friends Jay-Z and Kanye West perform on stage in Paris for their Watch the Throne tour, Gwyneth Paltrow took to Twitter, tweeting the word ‘niggas’ along with a picture in describing the concert. This has for obvious reasons caused a stir with lots of discussions for and against Paltrow’s use of the n-word with many black celebrities such as The Dream defending her honour.
The comment was offensive, it was also totally inappropriate of Paltrowto have tweeted the world using the word.

Gwyneth defends herself by saying that her tweet was referring to the Jay-Z & Kanye West song ‘Niggas in Paris’ though by including ‘for real’ after the title changes it from a song title into a sentence containing a racially offensive word. While I don’t think Paltrow is racist or intended to cause offence, she and everyone who chooses to defend her are missing the point. 

The word ‘nigga’ is a derogation term for a black person and was used by whites during colonialism with the intent to degrade and ridicule the black man and woman. Recently the word has gained popularity in some black communities as is evident in hip-hop music, though while mainstream artists like Jay-Z and Kanye West are known to use the n-word in their lyrics, the word has not nor has it ever lost its racist connotations.
The use of the n-word is not openly accepted in black communities though some blacks that consume hip-hop music and its culture are more relaxed with the use of the term; hip-hop music and its culture is not synopsis with the vast and varied black cultures and communities of the world and therefore has no right to speak for or represent the black ethnicity as a whole. 

This is why Gwyneth was wrong to use the n-word regardless who was or was not offended by it. Though interestingly Paltrow felt it appropriate to asterisk out the word but didn’t consider that the word itself was offensive to use, this highlights the urgency for hip-hop to retire using the n-word since it’s blurring the true meaning/connotation of the word.

The commercialisation of hip-hop means that its audience has shifted from being majority black to a majority white or non-black audience making Gwyneth like many other non-black people fall into the trap set by hip-hop in using or relaying the n-word. The use of the n-word in mainstream hip-hop has come to imply to those outside of the black ethnicity that the word has been liberated and lost its original racist meaning, though this is not correct; instead hip-hop decontextualises the n-word which is why some black people do not take offence of the word when generally said by another black person however when said by a person outside of the black ethnicity, specifically a white person, it puts the word right back into its original racist context.

The underlining message is that the n-word is still offensive and many black people still take offence in being called or referred to as the n-word. In Gwyneth’s circle of black friends, whom I assume are the black celebrities defending her, may not take offence in her use of the n-word in their presents but her tweet was open to the public where this sort of language is inappropriate and should not be tolerated, this is the issue and this is why Gwyneth should be apologetic.

This is a powerful picture, while it was banned I find the reasonings to appose it quite intriguing.  What do you find offending about the image?  View high resolution

This is a powerful picture, while it was banned I find the reasonings to appose it quite intriguing. 

What do you find offending about the image? 

Browsing through Topshop Oxford St. recently I came across this black female mannequin displaying the latest wears (and chunky gold chains!), while I’m pleased to see more ethnic diversity in their mannequins to put it bluntly she’s kinda ugly, was this the best they could do?I kinda feel that her black features have been exaggerated on purpose to make her unattractive, if only I’d taken a picture of one of the white mannequin’s to show how big her lips and nose was in contrast. Yes black people have broader noses and fuller lips but come on we have plenty of beautiful black women that pull off these features. Think the mannequin makers should have gone back to the drawing board in this case, there are so many black women in the media they could have drawn their inspiration from! View high resolution

Browsing through Topshop Oxford St. recently I came across this black female mannequin displaying the latest wears (and chunky gold chains!), while I’m pleased to see more ethnic diversity in their mannequins to put it bluntly she’s kinda ugly, was this the best they could do?

I kinda feel that her black features have been exaggerated on purpose to make her unattractive, if only I’d taken a picture of one of the white mannequin’s to show how big her lips and nose was in contrast. Yes black people have broader noses and fuller lips but come on we have plenty of beautiful black women that pull off these features. Think the mannequin makers should have gone back to the drawing board in this case, there are so many black women in the media they could have drawn their inspiration from!

Is it just me or is the front cover of L’Uomo racist and offencive?! Taken from the upcoming front cover of Vogue’s L’Uomo magazine May/June 2012 issue which is dedicated to Africa the front cover sports Ban Ki-moon the Secretary-General of the United Nations pictured in an office where the only reference to the continent or its cultures is an atlas on a board behind Mr. Ki-moon! Yes this is very racist and offencive since according to the magazines website for this issue “We’ve photographed influential personalities such as Presidents, First Ladies, and Queens, but also artists, writers, musicians, designers and models: they are the evidence that Africa is developing and progressing…” so why didn’t they use any of these directly African images on their cover instead of this sterile and imperialistic image which unlike the intent of the issue does not “show how this continent is moving and developing.”Instead the cover with its caption ‘Rebranding Africa’ gives the idea that Africa is still as wild, uncivilised and unsophisticated as when Europe invaded it all those 400 years ago and that now under new management (or new colonial masters) will be taking steps in the right directions. It’s sickening that a issue dedicated to Africa’s ‘development’ can’t even warrant an African on the front cover. While I am yet to view the issue when it comes out I can only imagine that the rest of the issue will be as racist as the front cover capturing Africa from an imperialistic gaze. I guess it doesn’t come as much a surprise that this is a Vogue Italia offering, the same people that gave us the Black Vogue and the ‘slave’ earring incident! - Not impressed and I’m starting to find their arrogance grating since they seem to have no honest intentions but simply meddle in black and African affairs for self gratification, someone give them a book on racism quick!  

Is it just me or is the front cover of L’Uomo racist and offencive?!

Taken from the upcoming front cover of Vogue’s L’Uomo magazine May/June 2012 issue which is dedicated to Africa the front cover sports Ban Ki-moon the Secretary-General of the United Nations pictured in an office where the only reference to the continent or its cultures is an atlas on a board behind Mr. Ki-moon!

Yes this is very racist and offencive since according to the magazines website for this issue “We’ve photographed influential personalities such as Presidents, First Ladies, and Queens, but also artists, writers, musicians, designers and models: they are the evidence that Africa is developing and progressing…” so why didn’t they use any of these directly African images on their cover instead of this sterile and imperialistic image which unlike the intent of the issue does not “show how this continent is moving and developing.”Instead the cover with its caption ‘Rebranding Africa’ gives the idea that Africa is still as wild, uncivilised and unsophisticated as when Europe invaded it all those 400 years ago and that now under new management (or new colonial masters) will be taking steps in the right directions.

It’s sickening that a issue dedicated to Africa’s ‘development’ can’t even warrant an African on the front cover. While I am yet to view the issue when it comes out I can only imagine that the rest of the issue will be as racist as the front cover capturing Africa from an imperialistic gaze.
I guess it doesn’t come as much a surprise that this is a Vogue Italia offering, the same people that gave us the Black Vogue and the ‘slave’ earring incident! - Not impressed and I’m starting to find their arrogance grating since they seem to have no honest intentions but simply meddle in black and African affairs for self gratification, someone give them a book on racism quick!  

(Source: vogue.it)

Does A Museum Collection of Racist Memorabilia Really Support Anti-Racism?

According to a recent article found on the Mail Online a $1.3 million museum has opening in the US with a large collection of racist memorabilia, the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia is said to be ‘all about teaching, not a shrine to racism,’ and can be found at Ferris State University, Michigan.

While I’m all for preserving history to teach the future generations of past lessons learnt, I’m skeptical that such a museum can be anti-racist surely a permanent exhibition of racist memorabilia would do nothing but preserve racist ignorance’s the clue is in the name. The word ‘memorabilia’ doesn’t particularly resonate any historical value, otherwise they would have used the word artifact instead, memorabilia conjures ups some sad super-fans collection of Queen Elisabeth crockery or numerous items of worthless Elvis merchandise; or in this case a super racist with a collection of racist memorabilia!

Also the fact that the museum’s focus is solely on racist memorabilia (well the tone of the article, implies this) and does not provide the viewer with a well rounded picture of the history of racism will not help to expel racist thinking, instead the museum will do exactly what its not meant to and act as a shine to racism.
I’m not convinced myself though having said that I do think its a good idea to expose the racist vulgar items for the plight of anti-racism but it has to be in a historical context.

What do you think, can a museum of racist memorabilia help to encourage anti racist attitudes?

(Source: getaperspective.blogspot.co.uk)

Today America’s most influential magazine, People magazine, has revealed their 2012 celebrity winner for their title of Worlds Most Beautiful Woman. To my dismay this years title has gone to Beyonce Knowles, whom I have for some time now had my reserves about because despite being marketed as this ‘girl power’ icon and inspirational black woman, her image and song lyrics tell a different story which only makes me question whether her presence in popular culture actually hinders black people’s progress (particularly black women). While I am pleased to see a black woman take the title, especially since it’s coming from a popular media  magazine, I don’t think this actually counts as a real example of the white media acknowledges black beauty and valuing it over their own. Yes this is where my reserves about Beyonce kick in, of all the black female celebrities in the world, they chose to go with a mild mannered, light skinned, blonde wig wearing option. Beyonce’s image is far more in line with white ideals of beauty then that of the black community she meant to represent, with her image being more attainable for white women then black women like myself with darker skin complexions. Black women like myself are not be able to achieve Beyonce’s ‘tanned’ skin colour (nor should we ever try!), though white women can easily with fake tan or a visit to the tanning salon; my lips are fuller then Beyonce’s but this is achievable for white women as she can have her lips injected with collagen or by using any of the various products on the market said to naturally inflate the lips; also for white women to achieve Beyonce’s long straight blonde hair takes the smallest of alternations, get a cut & style, grown ones hair or get extension to add length, they may also need to add colour, while for black women there is a $9 billion industry (according to Chris Rocks documentary Good Hair) to manipulate and hide the true nature of black hair. In the 22 years the title has been handed out only two black women have ever won the title, Beyonce and Halle Berry. Only one Latin American female is said to have won and that was Jennifer Lopez in 2011, no Asian or African women have received the title yet, which only confirms that the title of ‘World Most Beautiful Woman’ is far from being democratic; it has no intentions to break the beauty barriers of race and I’m sure the only reason they called it the ‘Worlds most beautiful woman’ is so they can include non-American white women such as Charlize Theron and Kate Middleton! The only reason the magazine has for letting a handful of women of colour win the title is because their images conforms to white notions of beauty which makes their collective image represent an exoticized ideal of beauty. This targeted at the white women who I’m sure make up most of People magazines demographic, encourages them to pursue this beauty look by buying (and supporting) the beauty and cosmetic surgery industries whom I sure make up a big part of People magazines revenue from advertisements. Call me sceptical but the price of such narrow ideals of beauty, weighs heavy in the mind and psyche of people of colour, particularly the women since many will find white ideals of beautiful unattainable.

Today America’s most influential magazine, People magazine, has revealed their 2012 celebrity winner for their title of Worlds Most Beautiful Woman. To my dismay this years title has gone to Beyonce Knowles, whom I have for some time now had my reserves about because despite being marketed as this ‘girl power’ icon and inspirational black woman, her image and song lyrics tell a different story which only makes me question whether her presence in popular culture actually hinders black people’s progress (particularly black women).

While I am pleased to see a black woman take the title, especially since it’s coming from a popular media  magazine, I don’t think this actually counts as a real example of the white media acknowledges black beauty and valuing it over their own. Yes this is where my reserves about Beyonce kick in, of all the black female celebrities in the world, they chose to go with a mild mannered, light skinned, blonde wig wearing option. Beyonce’s image is far more in line with white ideals of beauty then that of the black community she meant to represent, with her image being more attainable for white women then black women like myself with darker skin complexions.

Black women like myself are not be able to achieve Beyonce’s ‘tanned’ skin colour (nor should we ever try!), though white women can easily with fake tan or a visit to the tanning salon; my lips are fuller then Beyonce’s but this is achievable for white women as she can have her lips injected with collagen or by using any of the various products on the market said to naturally inflate the lips; also for white women to achieve Beyonce’s long straight blonde hair takes the smallest of alternations, get a cut & style, grown ones hair or get extension to add length, they may also need to add colour, while for black women there is a $9 billion industry (according to Chris Rocks documentary Good Hair) to manipulate and hide the true nature of black hair.

In the 22 years the title has been handed out only two black women have ever won the title, Beyonce and Halle Berry. Only one Latin American female is said to have won and that was Jennifer Lopez in 2011, no Asian or African women have received the title yet, which only confirms that the title of ‘World Most Beautiful Woman’ is far from being democratic; it has no intentions to break the beauty barriers of race and I’m sure the only reason they called it the ‘Worlds most beautiful woman’ is so they can include non-American white women such as Charlize Theron and Kate Middleton!

The only reason the magazine has for letting a handful of women of colour win the title is because their images conforms to white notions of beauty which makes their collective image represent an exoticized ideal of beauty. This targeted at the white women who I’m sure make up most of People magazines demographic, encourages them to pursue this beauty look by buying (and supporting) the beauty and cosmetic surgery industries whom I sure make up a big part of People magazines revenue from advertisements.

Call me sceptical but the price of such narrow ideals of beauty, weighs heavy in the mind and psyche of people of colour, particularly the women since many will find white ideals of beautiful unattainable.

Sweden’s Racist Cake ‘Art’ Offering For World Art Day

For those not in the know, the racist cake is the art instillation by Stockholm born artist Makode Linde, who is black and uses race as the theme in a lot of his work (some more successful then others in my opinion), like the golliwog, a very racist piece of imagery which Linde has used in a number of pieces to make amusing racial art instead of more serious thought provoking art (again my opinion).  The cake was for World Art Day with Sweden’s Cultural Minister Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth participating in the cake ‘mutating’ which was said to be addressing female genital mutation. 

While obviously I agree the cake was offensive to black women, it was in such poor taste and with the obvious intention to provoke a reaction that by making too much of a fuss over it is given the artist too much credit and the reaction he was clearly going for.

I came across ‘cake-gate’ (as some are calling it) last week through my correspondences with Black Feminist UK, before I had seen the clip and read up on the story for myself I had from all the comments made in-vision a clip capturing white observers laughing and relishing in the scene of a black female body grotesquely decapitated (yes I have vivid imagination), though you can imagine my surprise to find all the fuss was about a moaning cake! 

Having watched the clip without knowing the issue the ‘art’ was said to be addressing my initial feeling was that the moaning cake comicalised the pain and suffering of black womanhood, reducing our pain once again to a form of light entertainment white people enjoy consuming over cake! Popular culture are riddled with examples of the degrading of the black female struggle, think Misha B from last years X-Factor, the hard done by and aggressive singing contestant, the character Denise from Eastenders or any of the black female Hollywood Oscar winners in films that again perpetuate the hard lived and feisty attitude of black women (see our previous post Hard being black in Hollywood). 

My feelings after knowing that the cake was said to be addressing female genital mutation didn’t change nor did it help put the ‘art’ in any context, in fact to some extent it only added further insult to injury since female genital mutation is a cultural tradition upheld in some black societies and cultures so by getting white people to take a stab at the genitals of a black female shaped cake only trivialises a serious issue.

Also I really don’t think cake is an appropriate medium for political social art. While I’m an avid watcher of the Food Network show Ace of cakes and I have much respect for the craft and skill which goes into decorative cake making, cake is cake, a celebratory food usually consumed at large gatherings and creates a joyful ruckus. Not exactly the right medium to encourage contemplation of thought, especially not when it’s connected to a blacken face making comical moans of pain!

I don’t see the moaning cake as serious art nor does it convey its intended message; instead it was simply a shock tactic used to elevate the artist’s stature and highlight whatever issue it was said to be promoting by drumming up some controversy. I mean in the 21st century who in their right mind doesn’t know that blackening their face will provoke racist outrage, black or white you are going to cause offence! 

It is also very disheartening that the white people involved in the art instillation especially Sweden’s Cultural Minister could not gauge for themselves that the art would offend, though I’m very sure that the fact that it was a black artist ridiculing is his own race made them all the more comfortable to engage in this piece.

I do think its very important to dress down this piece of racist art and to highlight the poor judgments of those that where evolved, though due to its blatant offensive nature I fear kicking off too much of a fuse and providing the story with prolonged media attention is playing into the artists hands. Like child rearing you don’t give naughty children the attention and reaction they attempt to provoke.

On a relating note, Black Feminist UK are organising a protest outside the Swedish Embassy in London on the May 1st, if you’re interested in attending check their new website for details here.

(Source: getaperspective.blogspot.co.uk)

“
They will remember that we were sold, but not that we were strong. They will remember that we were bought, but not that we were brave.
William Prescott, former slave
We are not dangerous. Racism is. #Trayvonmartin

We are not dangerous. Racism is.

Racist The Hunger Games Tweets Highlights why Fiction Writers Need to Stop Making their Characters Ethnicity Ambiguous and Address the Issue of Race

What are the odds, just yesterday evening I was having a discussion on how white authors do not include ethnic characters or specify the ethnicity of their characters in their writing often, then today’s news headlines are reporting the racist outbursts The Hunger Games fans have been unleashing on twitter due to the film casting black actors in some of the important roles.
I found the discussion yesterday fascinating since I had never thought about it before let alone noticed it, which is why since the discussion I have been trying to recall fiction books that I’ve read (its been a while!) where the characters ethnicity is actually stated and not just me making the assumption, as well as any ethnic characters which have appeared in these books. Needless to say I found the task hard and have only been able to come up with one book (Harry Potter).

[click to read full article]

Hard Being Black In Hollywood, Try Being A Black Women

Behind the glitz and glam of this years Oscar ceremony the topic of race was once again raised in Hollywood as to actress Octavia Spencer’s receiving the award of best supporting actress for her role in The Help.  A triumphant win which makes Spencer the 13th African American (and the 6th female) to win an Oscar for acting achievements in the award shows 86 year history.
Though it may seem black actors and actresses are finally getting the recognition they deserve, it is important to notice that the roles Hollywood are choosing to recognise black actors and actresses are highly racialised and gender stereotypical with black female actresses baring much of the brunt.

What Octavia Spencer’s win at this years Oscar’s for her role as fiesty maid ‘Minny Jackson’ in The Help (set in America in the 1960s during racial segregation) actually shows is how little social perceptions of black women and the role of black women in film has changed considering that Hattie McDaniel, the first black actress to win an Oscar in 1940, won in the same category for her portrayal as Mammy in Gone With The Wind. Despite their being over 70 years between the two wins Hollywood still seems to find it appropriate to recongnise and celebrate black women playing repressive roles of servitude!

The general image perceived of black womanhood from the films that earned 6 black actresses Oscar’s, portrays black women as being poor and struggling, (usually) overweight and more often then not single mothers. Take Hallie Berry’s role in Monsters Ball, where her black husband is incarcerated and she struggles to look after her overweight son; Jennifer Hudson’s performance in Dream Girls, as an overweight singer who doesn’t have the ‘right image’ and becomes a struggling single mother when her black partner leaves; or Mo’Nique’s performance in Precious as an abusive mother to an illiterate and overweight teen who gets sexually molested by her father.

While I haven’t watched the The Help nor have I read the book, I find it hard to consider the story a positive or accurate representation of the black (female) struggle on the basis that the author is not of black ethnicity which to me renders the story inauthentic.  This is why when researching the history of Academy awards I felt it racially motivated that the Academy would recognise The Help with Spencer’s award when the film adaptation of Alice Walker’s book The Color Purple failed to receive any of its 11 Oscar nominations.  Not that I’m disputing Spencer’s performance in the film, though it would seem that the Academy finds it soothing in acknowledging a film about the struggles of black people in America when told by the white perspective over a more authentic telling by a reputable black author.
Whoopi Goldberg who was nominated for best actress for her role in The Color Purple in 1985 lost out to Geraldine Page for her role in a The Trip to Bountiful, though was acknowledge years later for her role as the crook Oda Mae Brown in the film Ghost.

At present Hallie Berry is the only black woman to have won an Oscar in the best actress category compared to the four black actors who have won best actor.  This in itself highlights the lack of appreciation and hostility Hollywood has towards black actresses and shows that black female acting achievements are being marginalised to supporting categories, with black actresses receiving almost half the amount of nominations for best actress as they do in the best supporting actress category.

(Source: getaperspective.blogspot.com)

Philippines FHM Retracts Racist Front Cover Was surprised and very disappointed to see that a non-western country such as the Philippines would conceive such a magazine front cover that is not just racially sensitive but is depreciative of black people by assimilating the colour of black skin with that of darkness, immorality, bad/evil in contrast to the white skin of the posing native actress Bela Padila as being good, godly, virtuous. With the magic of lighting & photoshop in this day and age I really don’t think it was necessary to use black models in the shoot (the model on the right, standing doesn’t look naturally black which would make it worse if they painted her that colour) to achieve the theme conveyed in its tagline of ‘stepping out of the shadows’. Guess it shows Philippines assimilation with western cultural ideals on race and (female) beauty, though kinda obvious with the fact that they actually have their own edition of FHM, a western lads mag! Am glad the cover was pulled as I think the tagline was very offensive. View high resolution

Philippines FHM Retracts Racist Front Cover

Was surprised and very disappointed to see that a non-western country such as the Philippines would conceive such a magazine front cover that is not just racially sensitive but is depreciative of black people by assimilating the colour of black skin with that of darkness, immorality, bad/evil in contrast to the white skin of the posing native actress Bela Padila as being good, godly, virtuous.

With the magic of lighting & photoshop in this day and age I really don’t think it was necessary to use black models in the shoot (the model on the right, standing doesn’t look naturally black which would make it worse if they painted her that colour) to achieve the theme conveyed in its tagline of ‘stepping out of the shadows’.

Guess it shows Philippines assimilation with western cultural ideals on race and (female) beauty, though kinda obvious with the fact that they actually have their own edition of FHM, a western lads mag!

Am glad the cover was pulled as I think the tagline was very offensive.

Event: A Tale of Tottenham Race, Riots And The Future at The London School of Economics

Last week the London School of Economics held a talk called ‘A Tale of Tottenham: Race, Riots And The Future’ with guest speaker David Lammy Tottenham’s current MP, the event was joint hosted by the University’s sociology department and Runnymede Trust, a independent race equality think tank.

Being born and raised in Tottenham my interest in the event ran both professional and personal, since generally Tottenham doesn’t resonate a positive community image, especially not after last Augusts riots.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve encountered expressions of shock from informing particular people that I come from this part of London, often followed with a not so funny joke implying that I must ‘know a guy that..[Choose your criminal activity]’ or other off the cuff remarks implying my affiliation to a black inner city stereotype.

The event started off well with Rob Berkeley director of Runnymede Trust opening the evening and introducing the guest speaker, while he did this interesting Runnymede facts about racial inequality in Britain flashed up behind him on the screen; such as unemployment amongst the ethnic minority youths is twice as high than that of white youths, this gap is bigger than it was in the 1980’s.
David Lammy who has been Tottenham’s MP since 2000, was the successor from Tottenham’s much respected former MP Bernie Grant who died that same year, Lammy started with apologise for his resent controversial press coverage over smacking children and explained that he was misquoted when saying parents inability to smack children had lead to the riots. He also explained from the start that the discussion of Tottenham must be put in context with the current social events, economical climate, 2008’s recession and of course British history and race relations.

Lammy as promised went on to discuss a variety of issues that affects his constituency such as gun & knife crime, unemployment, poverty, racial inequality and the mistrust in law enforcement agencies which sees black boys regularly stopped and searched, black deaths in police custody (which has never resulted in a prosecution let a long a dismissal), and out of touch sentencing from judges not familiar with the community.  Lammy was keen to point out that Tottenham’s biggest problem is that it is racially diverse, the black communities he represents come from various countries in West and East Africa and the Caribbean, from this he explains the importance of the government and law enforcement agencies to reflect this diversity in its employment and questioning the need for community reference groups if the police force, judges and civil servants employed the very type people they are said to be representing the interests of.
Other interesting points raised by Lammy was of the importance’s of open discussions on race to improve British race relations, pointing out our sensitivities to racial descriptive words which are hindering our progress (cue very brief mention of Diane Abbort). The topic of state benefits and benefit fraud was mentioned, with the focused centred on the affect revoking housing benefit will make to London resembling Paris where ethnic minorities are forced to live on the outskirts of the capital.  Another subject raised by Lammy was that of our current culture which promoted a sense of materialistic entitlement and its role within the selfish capitalist model top politicians are so quick to come to define lately.

The evening ended with questions and answers, where I believe much of Lammy’s personal political agendas came up, such as why he had not chosen to take a cabinet role, his political connections and the extent he campaigns in parliament for Tottenham. On these questions Lammy expressed seeing himself as a community leader were accepting a cabinet role would detract from his duties, he also spoke on conversing with current Prime Minister David Cameron on the hardships faced by Tottenham residents and pleading for more public sector jobs in the area.

I don’t dispute Lammy’s passion for his constituency, though in contrast to the man who visited my Tottenham home during his first political campaign drinking tea and talking with my family, his sense of duty to his community has somewhat become jaded by political grandeurs.  
The talk I felt was typical of modern politicians, who generally tend to speak emptily of issues, pointing out problems without actually addressing the root cause nor providing adequate solutions; this really disappointed me about Lammy and the talk.
The general undertone of the talk was that of race and poverty, specifically of the black variety, though while Tottenham is richly populated with a black community, the borough ranks 5th most diverse borough in London with over 50% of the borough identifies itself as white.  While the blacks of African and Caribbean descent make the next biggest ethnicity group (around half of that of the white ethnic group) Tottenham is also home to Asian, Colombian, Albanian, and Turkish communities too.
This to me highlights the racism in British politics, that the colour of one’s political figure head represents their ethnic grouping. Lammy being black naturally represents the black Tottenham residents and not the diverse borough as a whole that vote for his leadership.  What I say next maybe a bold statement but I do believe this particular reason is why Britain is unlikely to take a black (or any other ethnic minority) Prime Minister soon, as doing so would perpetuate the idea of the country being of minority white or equal white and ethnic mixing (i.e. America).

While the topic of poverty and unemployment dominated much of the discussion, I felt this was most under discussed and was disappointed that this never developed into a class discussion.
According to fullfact.org Tottenham’s unemployment rate is almost a third less than East Ham, the London Borough which has the highest unemployment levels and just 2% over the London average. These statics where taken from 2010 data, though this may have changed slightly since 2011 it does still provide perspective on Tottenham’s high unemployment figures; though my reasoning for using this data is in no way to undermine the issue of unemployment in Tottenham since many of those found unemployed are black, cue the class discussion.
Much of the community issues black Tottenham residents face are similar to that of white working class communities such as Dagenham and Dewsbury Moor which Owen Jones’ discusses in his book Chavs, these communities too have to deal with unemployment, poverty, crime, drugs and dependency on the state, Tottenham’s problem is that black British communities are twice as likely to fall into this class compared to their white counterpart. While the issue of racism will inevitably be a factor hindering black peoples social mobility, poor educational prospects is another; though it is common knowledge that black children have for many years been steadily under performing in education this problem should be seen more as a class issue than that of race since black children are not inherently stupid as it implies. This is also confirmed with the data study and map compiled by Londonhigher.ac.uk that shows the percentage of young people from lower income backgrounds will progress on to higher education at the same rate as other working class boroughs regardless of the ethnic diversity within the borough.  Though interestingly the map also shows that more young people from lower income backgrounds that live in affluent boroughs like Kensington & Chelsea will go into higher education compared to predominately working class areas!

In no way am I trying to devalue the issues that affect Tottenham though I often feel that we have become too comfortable picturing black people and black populated areas as culturally inherit to crime, unemployment and underachieving, which is exactly what David Starkey insinuated on the notorious BBC newsnight soon after the riots.
Lammy said at the very beginning of the talk that Tottenham needed to be discussed in context with everything taken into account though this wasn’t done, Tottenham like other black populated areas of London find their reputations tarnished by the issues that affect their back communities, also the issues that affect these black communities are failed to be seen as anything other than a ‘black problem’ due to the racism in this country.
Being black in Tottenham you will be be forced to deal with racial discrimination but you will also have to deal with working class issues such as limited access to higher education, poor job prospective, unemployment, dependency on state benefits which all makes social mobility impossible.
The talk in my opinion only encouraged the stereotype that Tottenham is a predominately black area riddled with crime, unemployment and benefit fraudsters caused by racism and which circumstances are just accepted by its inhibitors.
Growing up in Tottenham the issues of racism, unemployment and crime were apparent though this defeative spirit of one’s circumstances was not the Tottenham that raised and nurtured me, you only have to look at Tottenham’s history to see that the black communities have fought long and hard for racial equality and a better future for their children, which I why I’m proud of my affiliation with borough.