Fewer words than usual Wednesdays.

First off, I can see that my last post didn't get many views (damn you, no longer existing google reader!) So if you missed that one, click here. Ok, moving on.

This is a picture that I took recently during family meal out night. Long time readers know why I took a picture of it. If you're new, you can click here or here.

Not only is she in the middle, she's dark-skinned to boot. Sweet.

We won't get into the fact that black people probably invented barbecue and that most places you go that sell barbecue (including Dickey's) are owned by white people. Sigh. We really need to step up our "opening our own businesses" game.

Ok, a little googling showed me that black people didn't invent barbecue, but we can all agree that we worked on it and worked on it for many years during slavery, and aren't reaping our share of what I am assuming is a multi-million dollar bbq industry today.

And new reader, before you think it's all our fault that we didn't start opening rib joints en masse as soon as we were freed by proclamation, click here.

Myself, I do plan on opening my own business here in a few years, a psychotherapy practice. I wrote it on this blog, so now I have to make it come true. Tell your friends.

And after you're done, leave me a comment (:

Fewer words than usual wednesday

So, it's actually Tuesday, but I am hoping that I can get this blog post done tonight, and then come Wednesday, just press 'post' and be on my way. I've got a good feeling about it.

The picture below is the cover of a mailer that I got from Sephora this week.



When I saw this photo, My first thought was. "Whoa, they're putting black chicks on the cover of their mailers!" Then I thought, "Nah, that isn't it--this is 'specially for me. How did they know I was black? Oh, yeah it's because I order a lot of black hair care products from their site.

Not only is this lady black, but she's dark skinned and her hair near her face is nappy. Well played, Sephora; well played.

[Note to my white readers: I can say "nappy" because I'm black. Theoretically, you can say "nappy" as well, since it's a free country and all. I would just suggest that you know your audience and proceed with caution. Ok, moving on...]

This was the picture on the inside:

Typical.

Sephora was offering me a $15 gift card. But if you look more closely, you see it is really just $15 off of a $50 purchase. And if you want to buy online, it is $15 off of a $65 purchase, since you have to spend $50 before you get free shipping. And of course, the products that I usually buy (for black people,) are not available at my local brick and mortar store. So I decided to pass on this deal, though I do appreciate the effort of putting a pretty black woman on my direct mailer.

This whole black lady on the outside/white lady on the inside got me thinking about a comment that a reader left on one of my posts a looong time ago. I've actually already wrote about this comment before, but I am writing about it again, because clearly it stuck with me. Dana said that she probably wouldn't buy a game that exclusively featured black children on the front of the box. It is this thinking (in part,) that makes me think that they only send this version of the mailer to customers they are pretty sure are African-American.

So, white readers...if you got a mailer just like the one I did, do you think the black lady on the front would make you less likely to buy something from Sephora, more likely to buy something from Sephora, or have no effect?

Did anyone else out on the interwebs get this promotional offer from Sephora? If so, how did the placement of the models differ (if at all,) from mine?

Do any marketing people read this blog? I would imagine marketers have done studies on this stuff: Are white consumers less likely to buy products that use black models/actors to sell them? Are black consumers more likely to buy said products? Why?

This is already pushing the limits of "fewer words that usual," so I am going to wrap it up. As always, I am open to hearing any and all comments you might have on this topic.

And if you haven't already, I would encourage you to check out my last blog post. I got some thought-provoking comments on that one; you should read it so you're not all lost on my next follow-up friday post.

Thank you and good night!

Fewer words than usual Wednesday

I know it's Thursday. I could give you excuses about why I didn't post this pic weeks ago. However, I have found that when I am reading other people's blogs and they spend time giving me excuses about why they haven't been posting, I'm all like, " JUST SHUT UP AND GET TO THE BUSINESS!"

Ok, I don't really yell like that; I was exaggerating for comedic effect.

But yes, this is a picture that I have had on my phone for several weeks.



Now, if you've been reading my previous fewer words than usual wednesday posts, you can see that this one really breaks the mold I have talked about before. If you haven't been reading them, you can click here , here and here.

We've got ourselves with a trio with a bona fide black person in the middle. And an Asian person on the side! And maybe no white people at all! Well, that lady in the brown shirt might be white, but she might also be Latina or Italian or something! And it's the cover of a major retailer's Sunday paper insert! Yahoo! Progress!

But then I started thinking about this time in college when this black guy was in the quad talking about the game Monopoly. I went to a pretty liberal University that would have speakouts, where they would set up a microphone, and people would go up and "speak out" about whatever they wanted to. So anyway, this black guy compared the United States to the game Monopoly. You have two teams: white people and people of color. The white people team gets to roll the dice three hundred times (to represent the approximate number of years that people of color were legally oppressed in this country,) before the people of color team can even roll the dice once. Of course, since they are such good monopoly players, the white people team buys up all the property, the railroads, the utilities and builds houses and hotels. Then, for whatever reason, they decide that the people of color team can start rolling the dice. The people of color are like, " Wait a second, you already bought everything!!" and the white people team is like, "F*ck you, pay me." (Bonus points if you can correctly identify that pop culture reference.)

So what does this have to do with our trio of beauties above?

Given that things have been so skewed for so long in white people's favor, what can/should be done now that would make things more even? I am not even talking about property or railroads, I am talking about advertisements. Since we've had hundreds of years with white people being overrepresented in advertisements, what's fair? Hundreds of years of white people being underrepresented? A decree from this day forward by advertisers that all groups will be accurately represented? Just a few years of white people being underrepresented, so they can see what it feels like? Ads like this one thrown in wily-nily whenever an ad director sees fit? Or maybe nothing specific or concrete, since that might be reverse discrimination?

I am glad to see the ad above, really I am. But at the same time, I think it's pathetic that the ad is such an anomaly given the multicultural society we live in. Many of us would like to see more ads like this in the future, but I wonder what it is really going to take to make that a reality. And the even more cynical side of me wonders if ads like this are just a fad and will fade as soon as we don't have a black president anymore (yeah, I said it.)

I can honestly say that I don't know what the answer is. And I can also honestly say that I am interested in hearing what you think, so you should leave me a comment.

Fewer words than usual Wednesday

I took the picture above a couple of weeks ago. While I remember seeing this game when I was a little kid, I never actually played it. My guess is it is a lot like The Game of Life.

I took this picture because the game depicts not only a black doctor, but also a female mechanic/handywoman. Whoever designed this cover was really going for it out of the box thinking-wise.

That got me thinking: How many black doctors do I actually know?

I know one personally and one professionally. If we move beyond M.D.s to include PhD's, dentists, etc--I probably know 10-15.

I don't know any female mechanics. I do remember seeing a story on tv once about a garage that was staffed completely by women. I think it was in California.

So fair readers...how many black medical doctors do you know personally and/or professionally? How about other black people with Doctorates? What about women that fix stuff for a living? Anything noteworthy about your experiences (or lack thereof) to share?


Hope you all had a nice 4th of July; leave me a comment if you feel so inclined.

Fewer words than usual Wednesday

So this is the post I was going to start when I ended up writing this post instead. Yes, it's not Wednesday anymore, but what areyagonnado?





This is a pic of a little boys t-shirt. I'm not really sure why a person would put their kid in a shirt like this, because it's calling the kid's dad dumb. I'm not going to call it reverse sexism or anything like that, but can you imagine if there was a shirt that said, Mom: Like dad, only dumber-- there would be a huge problem.

This shirt is a good illustration of something that can happen when someone is really mean to someone else and then the second person gets a little bit of power. I was going to say oppression instead of really mean to someone , but something about that word is rubbing me the wrong way today. Maybe because it's because I've been doing a lot of reading and seeing it too much, maybe because I feel like it's overused, maybe because I know people read words like that and roll their eyes and say, "Oh, come on!"

Anyhow, another example like this shirt is the trend of calling certain women real women . Like, "In this commercial/magazine article/etc. we're featuring real women ." Usually they are referring to women who are not professional models and/or weigh more than what the dominant culture puts out there as being the ideal body size for a woman. I understand that it is important to show that there is diversity among women, and that that diversity is beautiful. But I don't think that it needs to be done in such a way that puts down the group that has seemingly benefited from the screwed up standard that existed before. Like with the t-shirt: it's important to value the contribution that mothers make to raising their children, without framing it in a way that makes fathers look like dumbasses.

This whole thing reminds me of Animal Farm. If you haven't read Animal Farm, but are planning to and don't want any spoilers, skip on to the next paragraph. The animals are being exploited by the farmer, the pigs lead the animals in a successful revolution, and then the pigs become the ones doing the exploitation.

It makes me wonder if, as marginalized groups get more and more power, they are going to fall into the same trap that the people who originally had the power fell into. The idea that power is best utilized by elevating your status over the status of others, and gaining a large sense of your identity from this elevated status. If marginalized groups buy into the myth that the people with the power have wonderful lives, it's just going to cause them to try to emulate the same behaviors, which is going to lead to the same problems. I think it is more beneficial to look at how the current system is harmful to everyone, even the skinny women and seemingly powerful men. Because if we can do that, we can work to set up new ways of functioning that don't include us just falling back into our old habits.

Fewer words than usual Wednesday

This is a picture that I took at my local grocery store. I'm thinking it might be pretty good, because Indian food seems like the type of cuisine that would lend itself well to freezing.

But this blog isn't about frozen food, it's about race and inequality!

The reason I took this picture is because of the name of the dinner, Ethnic Gourmet. Another thing that annoys me is when people/companies refer to anything that does not have to do with white people as "ethnic." Ethnic art, ethnic people, the ethnic hair care section at the store. The ethnic hair care section usually consists of products that are marketed exclusively to black people.

My first thought was that they could call it the black hair care section, but I think we all know the confusion that would probably arise from that. They could also call it the curly/kinky hair section, but I'm, pretty sure a lot of black people would have a problem with having their hair being referred to as kinky. But I bet there are a lot of people who are white that have curly/kinky hair that could benefit from the use of some of the products in that section. My curly-haired white friends, check it out the next time you're at your local big box.

Ok, I'm getting off on a little tangent. The reason the common use of the term ethnic bothers me is because absolutely everyone in the world has an ethnicity. Now, I could go around and find a definition of ethnicity on the internet, but I really don't feel like it. If you are not familiar with what it means, I could describe it as a subset of the concept of race, that takes into account culture and geographic location. Like with race you have white and black , and ethnicity you have African-American and European-American.

So if there were two black people and one was from Kenya and one was from Ohio, they would be the same race, but not the same ethnicity. Likewise, if you had two white people, one from Canada and one from the U.S.--they would not be the same ethnicity. I could get a lot more convoluted and complicated than that, but it's all just one big social construct (i.e. completely made up ) anyway, so I am not going to bother.

When we get into this habit of describing people of color/things associated with people of color as 'ethnic,' but don't do the same for white people, it just serves to reinforce the idea that white people are "normal" and anyone else is "not normal." Like I said in one of my earliest posts, it's like white people are the sun, and people of color are the planets orbiting around the sun. Instead of recognition of the fact that we all have ethnicities; we are all just planets orbiting around something bigger and more powerful than ourselves.

I look forward to the day that green bean casserole is considered fine ethnic cuisine.


Comments? Leave them for me.

Fewer words than usual Wednesday

Yes, I know this picture is a lot like this picture and these pictures from other wordless wednesday posts. But don't get mad at me, get mad at the companies for making so easy for me to find material. Besides, this one's got a ladder! You know, in case the messages from the other pictures were too subtle :p

I apologize for the reflection and blurriness, I was trying to take the pic as fast as possible in case someone who worked in the store decided to come out. And if there's anybody out there who finds pictures that reinforce or debunk my theory, feel free to send them to me at: myblackfriend at my blackfriendsays dot com. Be sure to include your name/alias and where you got the picture from.

Comments? Leave 'em.

fewer words than usual wednesday

I am writing this from my phone. Let's see if it works...
The cover of a recent Carter's catalog:

The last page:

So far the pictures don't seem to be posting right. Anyhoo, what is the deal with blond haired/blue eyed people?? This is not a rhetorical question. My husband says part of it is that the protein that makes hair blond that is very rare. My answer to that is...so?
I think there are fewer redheads than there are blondes, and redheads aren't all over the catalog covers. I watched a Bible cartoon once and the people looked swarthy (is that an offensive term?) but the angels were all blond and blue eyed!

Like I said, this is not a rhetorical question so if you have some insight into where this exaltation of fair- haired, light-eyed people comes from...I am all ears (and eyes.) And there is no spell check on my phone, so if there are typos I'm sure you can still figure out what I'm trying to say, because you are smart.

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Fewer words than usual Wednesday.

This photo is from the most recent Garnet Hill catalog. From what I can tell, Garnet Hill does a lot of business selling sweaters, coats and sweater coats to women in their 30's and 40's. And from this picture, you can see that they also sell Holiday pajamas for kids.

One time, I remember a black model saying that if there are ever three models in a shoot, one of them will be black. I can't remember if it was Tyra Banks or Iman or Beverly Johnson--but it was one of those ladies. But there is something that she didn't say that is also true. If there is a black model, she'll always be flanking the white model in the center.

I don't recall ever seeing a trio of models where the black person was in the center, being supported by two white people.

Now, I know there is someone out there reading this thinking, "What is the big deal? It doesn't matter--why are you being so sensitive, my blackfriend?"

I would say to this someone, " Someone, if it doesn't matter, why is it so consistently one way? If it was just something random, then 33.33333333333333% of the pictures like this would have the person of color in the middle. I've probably seen hundreds (thousands?) of images like this in my life, and they all seem to have this positioning in common. What do you think that's about?"

I'll end it here cause I'm not 'sposed to be typing as much. If you've got something to share, leave me a comment.

Introducing: Wordless Wednesdays

I'm started a new thing here that I've seen on other blogs. Wordless Wednesdays is when you post a picture of something as that day's blog post. I think it is a way to help people post regularly that doesn't require that they actually type something.

But you know me, and you know that I am a woman of many words. So I don't know how the whole "wordless" thing will work out. But "Fewer words than usual Wednesday" doesn't really have much of a ring to it.

So here's my picture:



One perk of becoming a parent (other than the adorable baby,) is that you start getting free magazines. This is my second issue of Parenting and the first time in my 31 years that I have ever seen an Asian mommy model and an Asian kid model on the cover of a national magazine. I asked my husband, and he said it was his first time seeing a cover like this too.

The little girl is so cute, and I love the little dress that she is wearing. This magazine cover makes me happy, and I hope to see more like it in the future.