On Clutch Danielle Belton has an excellent and problematic post titled, “Celebrating the Black Beauty on White Women”. She discusses in general the politics of race and women’s bodies as well as the politics of White artists performing what has historically been seen as Black music (see Eminem, Elvis and Adele). I am really interested [...]
Archive for the ‘Whiteness and Blackness’ Category
On Kim Kardashian’s Empire and Race
Tuesday, December 27th, 2011The City is Like Chitlins: Notes on Gentrification in Washington, DC.
Friday, July 22nd, 2011Peace to Janel for staying on me to write about class. Peace to Latoya Peterson for reminding me to think about how cities are similar, different and the reasons why DC, with it’s 25 miles, is special to me. I once said that the city was like chitlin’s. Moving from the deep South to DC, [...]
A (Black) Feminist Note to Young White Feminists
Monday, June 13th, 2011The idea for this post came to me while I was reflecting on my work as a teaching assistant and teacher over the past year. It is interesting how much I have changed as a person, having taught such hairy issues such as race, class, gender, sexuality, double jeopardy, the matrix of oppression etc. My [...]
Sometimes the Intern Game Reminds me of the Crack Game
Monday, April 4th, 2011Well. The New York Times has a piece up about interns working for free. Shout out to @rafikam for the tip. Ross Perlin writes in an op-ed, The uncritical internship fever on college campuses — not to mention the exploitation of graduate student instructors, adjunct faculty members and support staff — is symptomatic of a [...]
And You Even Licked My Balls: A Black Feminist Note on Nate Dogg
Sunday, March 20th, 2011So I have been thinking of Nate Dogg in general but rap music in particular and the difference between how I as a Black woman and how White men relate to rap music. While I understand that sexism and patriarchy is systemic, that we LEARN and are taught how to be “men” and “women,” how [...]
The Politics of Making a “Black Film” in Obama’s America
Monday, January 31st, 2011Image of director Kasi Lemmons courtesy of Professor Sussoro’s Blog Last fall I tweeted that a barometer of Black women’s freedom would be their ability to control, tell, and distribute their own stories. Having seen Push, and now For Colored Girls, two movies based on texts written by Black women about Black women, but directed [...]
The Hyper Marginalization of Black Fiction
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010Publishers Weekly cover from Dec 2009 The other day I was reading an interview with Ishmael Reed and he said some things about Black fiction that got me to thinking.? The interview was with Jill Nelson for his new book, “Barack Obama and the Jim Crow Media: Return of the Nigger Breakers.” Tell me how [...]
“Niggers, Fags and John Mayer, Oh My”
Friday, February 12th, 2010The reason why Black women’s sexuality and pop culture is one of my research interests is because I know that when you dominate someone sexually, you dominate them physically and spiritually as well. No one was put on this earth to be dominated, all humans are intrinsically valuable, so I/we resist. Before I get into [...]
The Futility or Perhaps the Profoundness of Whiteness
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009I searched for a Black and White image. I found Bobby K.You know I LOVE Bobby. Blackness can only be understood in terms of Whiteness. I came to this conclusion after reading Elsa Barkley Brown’s “What Has Happended Here.” She writes, We are likely to acknowledge that white middle class womenhave had a different experience [...]
