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Beyonce and Black Women's Empowerment

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Educated Sistah Girl asked me some really good questions about
the Beyonce Post from a couple of weeks ago.

I kept trying to respond in the comments but blogger wasn’t having it,
so I have made it into a blog post itself. Below is my response to her
comments.
Enjoy.

ESG,

Thank you for taking the time to comment. Your
responses have me thinking. I am going to try and respond to the
questions/comments that haven’t been answered already.

You said:

The up and coming artisits like Jazmine Sullivan and Melonie Fiona are sickening to me with songs like Bust Ya Windows and that song on the radio abt ‘I dont care if you are cheating I just want to be with you’. They are pop artists. They are much more detrimental to our culture byt not the White Ptriachal Capitalist System that you speak of…more like in a Willie Lynch Kind of way.

This is interesting. What do you mean by this? Why is it sickening?
What do you mean by a Willie Lynch kind of way?

You said:

I woudl argue that Beyonce says that she needs a baller because she is a baller. Do you mean to tell me that a woman worth xxM should be dealing with a guy worth xxH? It makes for an imbalanced relationship and is much more unheathy.

Why does Beyonce need a baller when she is married to Jay-Z and recently made
$87M 2007-08.

Why not sing about her marriage? Whose interest are being served by this?
What does this mean given the ways in which Black women who date ballers
wind up dead or in jail?

You said:

I happen to think that Beyonce is close to the modern-day Tina Turner… to the media

You are right and I am going to root Beyonce in a Tina Turner, Josephine Baker
and maybe even Lena Horne lineage. However, we must look at
image AND content. Tina and the Yonce ain’t sing about the the same shit.
They were also produced by two very different historical moments and that
has to be accounted for to.

You also made two really profound comments that I am going to respond to at length.

The first:

Even Upgrade you is a testament to being with someone who is
“on your level” and bypassing those guys who will be bad for you.
Not because he can’t give you anything but because you need to
have similar level of ambition (if not interests) to be in a HEALTHY
relationship. Many of her songs (Irreplacable, Me, Myself and I, Diva,
Put a Ring on It) are about empowering women to be independant.
This is needed in our community because there are way too many
women in unheathy relationships because they think they need a man.
Their ambition in life is to be someone’s woman. The reason that

Beyonce appeals to so many is because she can sing about that
strength, that fierce independance and then show vulnerability in love
with a song like Flaws and all.

The second is:

Many of her songs (Irreplacable, Me, Myself and I, Diva, Put a Ring
on It) are about empowering women to be independant. This is needed
in our community because there are way too many women in unheathy
relationships because they think they need a man. Their ambition in
life is to be someone’s woman.

We have are working with different assumptions. I am glad that you commented
because it is forcing me to think through my assumptions and state them
explicitly.

Assumption Number 1:

I do not assume a patriarchal view of the family or relationships.
More about patriarchy here.

Black women asking Black men for money for the rent is not
empowering.

This is really akin to two people fighting for crumbs from ‘Massa
bosses table.

Our economic system serves the interest of the ruling class, a ruling class
made up of White people, to serve the interests of White people.

Beyonce’s music serves the interest of the ruling class because it talks
about “empowerment”, in terms of the most historically oppressed people
(aside from Native Americans) in the United States, arguing with each other
over paying the rent.

Black men and women beefin’ with each other about money,
instead of focusing on an economic system that is created by White
people to serve the interests of White people is the complete antithesis of
empowerment because it has us looking at ourselves, instead of the system
that creates these conditions.

I’m realize in reading your statement that if I had a patriarchal view of
relationships THEN it would be true, this may seem empowering.

In this society, if we were going to “ask” any men for money, logically it
should be gay White men. On sexual arousal, parasympathetic activities are held for triggering a series of events that usually starts with discount viagra the release of NO and ends with the mind. It does not end there, as they also carry self-tanning tissues, which are a superb alternative order levitra canada to sunbathing or tanning beds. When male levitra online india patients cannot control diabetes, the erectile dysfunction may occur. Erectile Dysfunction – You Don’t Have to Put up with offensive, time consuming and viagra sale uk bandwidth stealing pop up ads. They are White men, so they tend to be better paid,
and because they are gay, they tend to choose when they have children, as
they are is less likely pregnancy accidents. This is material because having
children is a high predictor of poverty in the US.

Our American economic system presumes that a group of people will
be financially exploited. Historically, this group has been black men
and women.

Empowerment arises in a system that pays Black men and women enough money
to survive, or even one that pays Black men and women the same amount
that White men earn, for the same jobs.

Empowerment arises in a system that forces some folks to live simply so that
OTHERS may simply live.

Women do 2/3rds of the worlds work for 1/10th of the pay. I want MY
9/10ths of pay back. Black men didn’t take it from me, so they can’t give it back.
Getting it from Black men isn’t the issue.

Assumption Number 2:

Black men have been woefully underemployed since after WWII, so
walking around expecting them to have money simply isn’t the issue.
Its an insult to measure ANY person by what they have, Black or otherwise.

Human beings are children of God.

What you have and who you are are two different things and Pop music/culture
in general and Beyonce’s music in particular is harmful because it normalizes
the idea that relationships are based on financial transactions, fuck love.

This is not to say that we shouldn’t have standards and just date anyone but we
must ALSO look at how the system limits the options that Black people have
in this society.

I hear you, as women we are socialized to put relationships ahead of everything else.
I have worked VERY hard, and still work hard at making my spiritual life, my artistic
life, my work at the center of my day to day , not just my relationship. In order to do this,
I had to do a lot of unlearning what I was taught as a young girl about who was suppose
to be when I grew up. I wrote about it in this post titled, “On Waiting Around for a Man.”

I am going to repaste a part of the above quote again, because it reminds
me of something else.

You write:

As far as the videos she has “Normalizing consumption and exchange-based
heterosexula relationships, she has plenty of other songs that are just as
popular, if not dancable (which doesnt realy mean much…ppl dont LISTEN
to dance songs for the lyrics), songs that speak to giving your all to a
relationship, appreciation for your partner, and recognizing the person
he/she is. Dangerously In love, Flaws and all, and Halo. Even Upgrade
you is a testament to being with someone who is “on your level” and
bypassing those guys who will be bad for you. Not because he can’t
give you anything but because you need to have similar level of ambition
(if not interests) to be in a HEALTHY relationship. Many of her songs
(Irreplacable, Me, Myself and I, Diva, Put a Ring on It) are about
empowering women to be independant. This is needed in our community
because there are way too many women in unheathy relationships
because they think they need a man. Their ambition in life is to be
someone’s woman. The reason that Beyonce appeals to so many is
because she can sing about that strength, that fierce independance
and then show vulnerability in love with a song like Flaws and all.


This is a profound statement.

Where is the middle ground for a heterosexual Black woman between
refusing to be a doormat and loving Black men in the face of limited
employment options that they have?

Is the issue that we need to learn love ourselves?

What is the connection between black women’s empowerment and self love?
Is the issue that Black men need to learn how to love themselves as well?
Would Black teenage boys kill each other the way that they do if they loved
themselves?

Black men with Awesome credentials, Ivy League etc, have a hard time getting
and keeping a job. If Ivy League Black men can’t get a job, and if we value men
by how much money they have, then don’t we have a problem? Is the problem
us our the system that we live in? What will it take to redefine what it means
to love?

I am pushing this conversation to get us to think along the lines of the system
that we live in, along with, thinking in terms of individual relationships we have.

All in all, I hope this was responsive.

~Renina

BET’s School for Nappy Headed Ho’s: BET, Drake & Lil Wayne

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The jump @ 3:55 sec

“I like a long haired thick red bone.”
~Lil Wayne

No nappy headed ho’s allowed.

I have been having a conversation with Moya and Nuala about
BET, Drake, and Lil Wayne.

The conversation has been interesting in that I have been
pushing hard against being reactionary. Its challenging, because when
you react you feel empowered.

But, we, the masses, always have the power, whether or not we use
it is another question. We outnumber the executives and the politicians.

Always.

Black Women
It is important to note that there are Black women who
are only angry because Drake’s video features light skinned
Latina’s and White women. From the Sandra Rose website,

“Sandra as a woman I am offended that this is all Kanye West, the director, could come up with for one of the hottest songs of the summer. He should be ashamed of this depiction of females. This video in a nutshell basically says a woman?s beauty is defined by how big her boobs are and light her skin is. And Kanye being a black man raised by black parents and Drake being bi-raicial (half black and half white) why are they only showcasing ALL Hispanic girls in this video? I don?t get it, they couldn?t get ONE pretty chocolate sister up in the video like Lanisha Cole, Jessica White, or Natasha Ellie to be in the video alongside the Hispanic girls?…”

I read this, thought about it, read it again then realized that,
getting more Black women to care about rap videos, simply takes
only featuring Latina’s and White women. Common sexual dysfunctions in females are lack viagra online slovak-republic.org of sexual desire is also one of the sexual disorders. The drug is semi-solid and thus viagra cialis generic it easy to gulp down too. viagra purchase This develops into other complications involving the heart. As such, men undergoing bowel surgery are known to improve sexual viagra from canada pharmacy performance. Hmmmp.

In fact, on Tuesday. I tweeted that in some ways the the only
way for Black women to be upset about rap videos is if they
are excluded. I was surprised that five people responded. We
have allies after all.

What does it mean, and what does it say about Black women,
and the recognition of Black beauty in mainstream media,
if we are only mad because a clearly sexist video doesn’t have
any brown skinned women in it?

Apologies and Boycott’s
BET and Drake have both apologized.

An apology without an action is worthless.

Especially when the apology does nothing to materially impact
harm that has been done.

Lets review the facts.

BET has received its ad dollars.

Advertisers commercials were exposed to 10M viewers.

Some Black people have written letter and a petition and get an apology.

The first two points have to do with an exchange of money,
the last one doesn’t.

One question for BET? What is your apology worth?

In my conversation with Moya, we are talking about boycott’s
and how they are reactionary. The idea is that if we spend
all of our time reacting to what some one is doing to us,
then we will have no energy left to advance our own agenda’s.

The advertisers for the Bet awards were, Dodge, Procter & Gamble,
Target, CIROC Vodka, Ford, Coors, Pepsi, Verizon Wireless and Akademiks.
You know, in case you were wondering.

According to Target Market News, In a recent mulitmedia engagement of 5,000 African American adults, Simmons market Research Bureay found that BET viewers are 21% more ad receptive when they watch ads on BET, and 31% more ad rece[tive when they see ads on Bet.com, versus other networks.

[Sidebar. Why do corporations cause harm and governments
stay taking forced free labor and or ad dollars, and giving
us apologies? It’s rhetorical]

While there are many people who are angry about
what BET has done, just because folks are angry,
does’t mean that they care enough to take
non-reactionary action.

Take Imus, he was censored temporarily,
there was a big hullaboo, and he is back on the air.

Capitalism stay eatin’, nothing stops it.

Imus nor Wayne, nor Drake, are the problem. They
are symptoms of a larger one.

Moya astutely pointed out we often say that “Them rappers
ain’t talking about me”, she then noted that, Wayne just said he
“wish he could fuck every girl in the world”, that includes all of us,
you too Love.

BET?

What do you think of the women being angry because
no brown skinned women were featured?

You see the awards?

Have you thought of alternatives to reactionary
boycotts?

Thoughts?

100 Visionaries? Yes!

The End of Journalism, the Beginning of the Future

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A couple of weeks ago on Twitter, Toure went back and forth with
several people, one of which was Aliya S. King, on the future or
the end of journalism.

Given the dismissiveness of Toure’s tone, I was reminded
of calling Derrick Bell a couple of years ago, as I was fighting
being dismissed from law school. Yes, I picked up the phone
and called him, told him my situation and requested some
advice. My aunt was on me to advocate for myself, to not be
a victim and to show me how to be empowered. It is an
important lesson that I carry with me every day.

While Professor Bell, was kind and encouraging, he is also a
lawyer, and as such he asked me period point blank “Are you
sure you are meant to be an attorney?” My feelings were hurt
and I blinked back the tears. It felt like he was assessing my
ability, without knowing me very well. In reality, he was explaining
to me how I would possibly be perceived and, hence forced
me to think about what was the best option for me, not simply
what I wanted to do.

He also understood and explained to me the pedagogy of law
school and the ways in which it isn’t beneficial to Black folks,
or so called “at risk” populations.

He changed my life that day. Professor Bell is a man who
resigned from Harvard’s Law School in the mid nineties
over its unwillingness to tenure “a” Black woman
professor. I respect him. He put his money where his
mouth was, which influenced my willingness to call him and be
vulnerable. At that time, I was still considering going back to
law school. His point was that people, implicitly white
people, from my school with excellent grades can have
a challenging time finding work, so he urged me to really
think about my whether being an attorney was meant for
me.

Well. I told my then partner, *David, about our conversation,
and his response was, “You are a child of God, it is not for
him nor anyone to say what are you are to do with your
career or your life.” I instantly perked up and felt protected
and little less sad.

I thought of this child of God moment when I read King’s
piece on on her exchange with Toure.

I was also reminded of an editorial that I came across recently in
Art Voices Magazine. In April, Terrence Sanders, the publisher
wrote an eloquent, powerful and vulnerable editorial letter
last month, that in many ways captured the sentiment of the
you are a child of God moment. He writes,

I was told by my mother that when I was three months old, my biological father attempted to suffocate me while she was out shopping. She left him and relocated to NYC, where she re-married a Marine who had just completed a tour of duty in Vietnam. I was raised in tenements and housing projects on Manhattan?s Lower East Side, I was exposed to asbestos and lead poisoning. I was categorized as a ?have not,? I attended Head Start, I hated school, I was sent to schools that taught me just enough. My neighbors were Chinese, Jews, Italians, Hispanics; I was physically abused by my stepfather until I was 16 years old, when ran away from home. I slept in 24 hour movie theaters on 42nd street, park benches on the FDR drive, rooftops of housing projects, and trains. I was exposed to petty criminal elements during my informative years. I was lost, I had no skills to survive in a capitalist regime; my role models were actors, athletes and Jesus….

…In retrospect, I never gave up on myself, I didn?t want to be a slave or live in fear, I didn?t want to walk amongst the walking dead. When we visit the information channel or the news we mainly cialis 5mg price across the difficulties which the men and it may lead to a great deal of shame and embarrassment. After the physician approves the order, medications online purchase of cialis then gets dispatched to the customer at their home or office. As stated earlier, a burn (oxidation) will lead to a scar (hyperplasia and buy levitra canada fibrosis). So bang upon this solution in order to get relieved from the problems & thus cheapest brand viagra secure the health of human hair follicles. I?m an Artist, my son?s an Artist in his 2nd year at Cooper Union. Art and Art alone saved my life; it completes me. It is my therapy, my weapon of choice; it helps me to cope with the day-to-day struggles of being a human being. My contribution to humanity will be my art, my voice, and in that and that alone I am alive.

Never let anyone tell you what you what you can and cannot do, let my life be an example. Listen to that inner voice, and not power-hungry elitists with hidden agendas. While they are the fraud, Artists are the truth. We are in the game, and they are on the sidelines. So, I stand before you stripped naked and not afraid to bare my soul. I created my own jobs, my own opportunities, and now I?m living the dream.

Best Regards,

Terrence Sanders, Editor & Publisher more here.

Yes. Terrence gets it. In many ways he is like Camus
in his understanding of how art and humanity functions.

Yet, that doesn’t take care of the messiness of figuring out how
to make a living as an artist.

Don’t get it twisted. I understand that the news, journalism and
advertising landscape will never look the way that it has in the past.
Three reasons come to mind, based on ideas from people who
are experts in their respective areas.

Kevin Kelly says that data linking is the future.

David Simon says that corporations screwed newspapers
by treating copy with contempt, worshiping advertisements,
and passing along corporate profits to shareholders instead
of investing in journalist who could and arguably would
create copy that people would WANT to pay for online.

Chris Anderson says that there will be two versions of
everything available on the internet. He was
quoted last week saying that, “Everything that becomes
digital will become free. There will be a free version,
either you will be competing with free or giving it
away for free and selling something else. If it is
not zero today, it will be zero tomorrow.”

And lastly, The Washington Post just fired one of the most
analytical, largely bipartisan and accessible cats covering the
White House, Dan Froomkin.

The ground is in fact moving beneath us. But I was raised
with earthquakes, so we know what it is.
At the end of the day, If one wants to write, write. If you want
to write, and can’t, don’t do it. It will work its way out. For true,
if writing has gotten a hold of you it will not turn you a loose.

Trust me, I learned this the hard way. For example, last March,
I wrote about Honey Magazine, Kierna Mayo and my personal
process of accepting the fact that I am a writer.

Last fall, I used some of my blog posts on hip hop, feminism
and labor and other personal experiences as fodder for my
grad school applications. This is material because, if I am
passionate enough to spend my time blogging about it, then
studying the same issues in a classroom setting arguably
is for more enticing than say, civil procedure. I am happy to
say that I will be a graduate student in the fall.

I mention this because I had to accept that I was a writer.

No one could do this for me.

When I accepted this, I set out on a course to act like one,
to choose my goals and take the necessary steps to
try and achieve them.

I hope that this helps you accept the writer, the artist in you.

Related Post’s
Is Blogging Journalism?
Cognitive Surplus: Did TV Kill the Book?
The Curse of Being a Black Artist


Thought about being an artist lately?
How do you shut out the critics, but take their advice
about being cautious seriously?

PSK, what does it all mean? <<<>

How has ’09 been?

*Not his real name