Yesterday,
my late grandmother and mother had to live with it, today
my wife and sisters - all Afro-American women - still
must endure the disrespectful, scornfully abusive, and
need I say, so very contemptible as to be offensive comments
which endlessly seem to �percolate� out of many White
people�s mouths.
Over a century of insults.
Billy Crystal, who is - dig this - Whoppie Goldberg�s boy,� who did great
work with the late, great Gregory Hines� offered this
one a couple of nights ago at the Oscars: �I loved
that movie (�The Help�)�when I saw it, I wanted to hug
the first black woman that I saw. Which from Beverly Hills
is about a 45 minute drive.�
And now in 2012, low n� behold, my baby-girl will be saddled,
burdened with having to contend with such branding. Why?
Because this racist and sexist mentality has not faded
away within White America.
As I, but a starving wordsmith, pound this
piece out, the Black World Wide Web is abuzz with thoughts
about Crystal�s �debatable at best� comment, but there�s
little argument over the little tidbit from the Los Angeles
radio duo John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou of KFI-JAM (640)
and their derogatory comments about deceased singer,
Whitney Houston, including referring to her as
a �crack ho.�
It is these types of off-the-cuff, calculated �observations�
which White men seem addicted to verbalizing, that do
absolutely nothing but solidify the widely-held notion
that the USA is a nation of, if not blind...surely racist
White folks. Usually the comments are depicting the Black
women as, pick one: overly-accommodating Aunt Jeremiah
mammies, penis-crazed rump-shakin� ho�s, animated cartoon-type
razor-tongued smart-ass �Sap-hires� or moral-less �baby-making
machines� who spend their entire lives on food stamps,
living in government housing...
Least I forget �Nappy-Headed Hoes� and �angry Black bitches.�
I cite as proof-positive the insults we�ll hear pouring out
of the world of angry White people�s politics; the Jodi
Kantor book, �The Obamas,� is, for the ga-millionth
time yet another attempt to paint, and obviously taint
the first lady as being the First Bitch, a Black
women who�s walking around with a big stick and an even
bigger chip on her so-called overweight shoulders.
Regardless of the scripted denials, America is undeniably
a racially divided nation where White folks have strategically
positioned themselves as the only true �Real Americans,�
the only true legitimate arbitrators of what is �American
culture,� and what is �All-American.�
And even �What is beautiful?� and �what is unattractive,�
if not outright ugly.
Precisely �what� is beautiful and �who� is beautiful is something
which, like history itself, has been defined by the victors,
the oppressors; i.e., the White Establishment. One need
look no further then the MensHealth.com recent
poll which depicts Jennifer Anston as, dig this
- the world�s most beautiful woman...of all time.
USAToday had a slide presentation a few moons ago: Athletes and
their ladies - all White guys, but for Jeter, and
all White women. There was not one example of Black beauty
and the topic is American sports, despite Black
women being the most warm-hearted, curvaceous, rhythmic
of all women, with the ability to improvise, adapt n�
overcome horrific obstacles, demonstrate more backbone
and instestinal fortitude, against overwhelming odds.
Did you ever stop for a moment and ask yourself how the NFL
can be 70% Afro-American Mandingo Gladiators, performing
on the gridiron,and yet 90% of the cheerleaders are look-alike
Barbie snow bunny dolls?
Clearly, not too-many women of color participate in the selection
process.
Are such �slightings� merely happenstance? Perhaps just an
coincidence? An subconsciousness error? Or a calculated
decision to exclude Black women?
Obviously, any collection of beautiful women in America is
not going to resemble the country itself - which
is roughly half of color, but instead it�s going
to reflect the taste of the ruling portion of America...White
men.
You can guess ruling is significant...
Who can dispute the obvious; it�s not just insulting to Americans
of color, it additionally sends a willful, and I�d submit
intentional, message to women of color - and specifically
Black women � �you don�t measure up.� You�re not physically
attractive women.
I�ve always found it interesting how Black Mamie's n� Nannies
mothered as many White babies as White women did over
the history of the American story - kept their homes clean
and cooked their meals - and now today Black women are
presented as the least representative of mother�s and
ladies.
Not to mention the �put-downs� are meant to say to Black
men �we can still today can disrespect Black women...and
their ain�t nothing you can do about it... boy!�
Does it seem a stretch to believe 75% of White folks, who
vote Republican TEA Party, are people who enjoy
sending that message? They believe it to be so. The 44%
of, and let�s be real right here, Ron Paul supporters
who could care less that he wants to return to an America
where some form of Apartheid rules the land...these are
the people who yearn to insult, to belittle, to spit in
the face of Blacks, to put us back in �our place.�
I�m sorry, but I believe physical beauty comes in a vast
array of shapes, sizes and colors. I simply refuse to
accept or further the thought that beauty is limited
to some blond haired, blue eyed bean-pole dame..., a man-mad,
silicone injected 34-22-30 Nordic princess with the rhythm
of an arthritis-plagued elephant.
See, the insults and demeaning slights, that�s a two-way
street...
Don't all the butt injections, lip thickeningtreatments and
sun tanning machines demonstrate the wacko hypocrisy undermining
this whole White is beautiful, Black is ugly argument?
White women, trying to appear Black and Brown, to appeal
to and satisfy White men who are sexually and emotionally
intimidated by the �real thing�... Black and Latino women.
What we�ve got here is another battleground in the cultural
cold war which has griped the land for centuries. There�s
no denying this nation�s court of public opinion
has differed, argued over the issue of �attractiveness�
and �beauty� since our inception, with the WASP majority
imposing, force-feeding, if not brain washing some of
us into believing �beauty only comes in White skin.�
And tragically, for some folks of color to believe they�re
inherently inferior, it didn�t take a washing, perhaps
only a cold rinse. The Willie Lynch Letter, the destructive
mindset in which it instructed society to drown Black
folks � horrifically - to a degree, it worked.
My thought is 60% to 75% of White America is a collection
of folks who are, by and large, either oblivious, blind,
indifferent or hostile towards Black people, with the
remaining quarter or so - perhaps a third - actually fitting
the bill of �Flower child,� �Hippie,� Liberal, Progressive
�tree hugger� or - Nigger lover - and you can smell,
taste, feel and see that breakdown in US society.
BlackCommentator.com Columnist, Desi Cortez, was hatched in the
heart of Dixie, circa 1961, at the dawning of the age
of Aquarius, the by-product of four dynamic individuals,
Raised in South-Central LA, the 213, at age 14 transplanted
to the base of the Rockies, Denver. Still a Mile-Hi. Sat
at the feet of scholars for many, many moons, emerging
with a desire and direction� if not a sheep-skin. Meandered
thru life; gone a-lot places, done a-lot of things, raised
a man-cub into a good, strong man, produced a beautiful
baby-girl with my lover/woman/soul-mate� aired my mind
on the airwaves and wrote some stuff along the way. Click
here
to contact Desi.
