Tiara: Disneyfied Blackface

So there is this costume based on the entirely made up Tiara character from Disney. Apparently clueless black parents across the US are happy because there is "finally" a black royal character for their daughters to fit in...sorry, identify with. So a twit on my timeline posted the following article:

Princess Tiana products hot for Halloween and beyond

In which we find:

Princess Tiana, Disney’s first new princess in 10 years, is also the brand's first African-American princess. The movie, "The Princess and the Frog," is a musical fairy tale in which Tiana, a girl from New Orleans, voiced by actress Anika Noni Rose, is mistaken for a princess by a frog prince who asks her to kiss him to break the spell. Though the film does not arrive in theaters until Dec. 11, Tiana Halloween costumes are already a hot property. And in an unusual twist, the character is resonating more with adults than with little girls.



When I first heard of this concoction I knew we were in for another Disneyfied Moses story. You know the whitefacing of Khemet. Never mind the whole phoniness of the Moses story as perpetrated in the Old Testament. But that's another blog entry.

But one of the saddest parts is here:

"I am very passionate about this particular Disney character," Willis said. "It has been 100 years in the making. I've been very disturbed because I love the concept of a princess, but they don’t exist for the African-American community."

Excuse me? Ok I'll admit it. I have the urge to cal this person all manner of not child safe words for being so stupid as to allow herself to be quoted in such a manner.



First of all there is no concept of princess in AMERICAN communities because the United States, stolen from native Americans, did not arise out of a monarchy. The monarch concept as known by Europeans is something they brought from Europe. You know, that place those pilgrims were running from. You know, the people the French were keen to behead.



Putting all that aside, There were and are plenty of royalty in Africa, you know that place black folk come from, you know, the "Africa" part of African-American. It is so sad to see black folk in 2009 still aping after white folk. Tiara is simply European fairy tales in blackface. We have plenty of our own stories with which we can teach our children and make costumes about. However; in order to do so, parents need to have a clue.



One other thing of note for our real life African queens is that unlike most of their European counterparts, ours like Yaa Assantewa fought against the slave trade. Imagine that You'd prefer your daughter play blackface Europe than actual Queen who resisted the British. Sad. Even sadder:

[Tiana] is almost a confirmation as a black woman ... that you can be a princess, too."

Oh it's an affirmation all right. It's an affirmation that black people are in such a sad mental state that a black man in a woman's costume is a run away hit and a completely made up Disney character (with "good hair" no doubt) is what black mothers are looking to provide self-esteem for their daughters.



But just when you thought I was done there's more. Even IF we wanted to look at Europe for Royal templates then we would meet people like Queen Phillipa Charlotte of England who was descended from the black royalty of Portugal. Who knows though, they'll probably try to tie Tiara to this person and lineage. Still though, that black women and black people in general feel the need to have a Disneyfied and whitewashed character of a "princess" in order for their daughters to have self-esteem, when there are plenty of real life and living African queens to choose from is a sad state of affairs.



My recommendation: Less Disney more library.

The World Doesn't Care About Palestine

As far as the Palestinians go – and we’re talking regular folk here – is that everyone around pledge help and demand actions. As in pledge, instead of actually encouraging growth and implementing solutions. For example: after Israel’s operation Cast Lead, the Arab states pledged over $1 billion in aid to Gaza – which is good news for Gazans. The bad news is, however, that the money never actually reached the people, due to Fatah and Hamas’ inability to come to terms with each other, and Arab states’ inability to work out a system under which the people would be aided.

The Palestinian Sentinel

Thank You Morehouse

There has been a lot of silly commentary about how the dress code at Morehouse is homophobic. To these fools I say, no it's not. Morehouse's rules a possibly strict but they are not homophobic. What Morehouse is doing is saying how they expect men to dress on it's campus. period. I suppose what these idiots who are writing lame pieces on this issue want us to believe is that all black homosexual men feel compelled to wear women's clothing and they all black homosexual men have a compulsion to flame. No really because if they didn't believe that then there is no way they could go from "no women's clothing" to "Anti-gay". Worse that black homosexual men can't be held to the same standards of dress that the other men on campus are held to because, well they're gay. Talk about double standards and inequity.

Morehouse: Thanks for standing up for black manhood. Somebody needs to do it.

Minority Report

While the so called conservative right tries to upend the constitution by trying to merge church and state, establishing imperial presidencies for those presidents it likes and support for torture, there is an equally troubling threat coming from the left in the shape of the thought police.

This threat was created when so called hate crimes legislation first saw light of day. I suppose the sentiment was in the right place. "Minorities" were the victims of race based direct violence for no other "rational" motive than that they were not white and from some Western European country. Such legislation made "sense" because who would support "racist" thinking? I mean you wouldn't want to be the person arguing FOR racists. Never mind that such legislation then put the government in the position of dictating what is proper (and legal) thought. No one apparently thought of the inherent dangers of such a thing.

To highlight the danger of handing arbitrary power to the state was brought to my attention last night when I was watching the Mentalist. The "good guys" were investigating the murder of some person under witness protection. They came to the house of a woman and they did not have a warrant. When they knocked the woman did not answer the door but did look out of one of her upstairs windows. The officers seeing this decided to make up a situation that would warrant the police to break down her door, guns drawn and enter the premises. There was no protest by any of the three officers regarding the illegality of a made up situation. I was bothered by that. But in reality such illegal acts by police on TV shows is quite normal. The ends justify the means. right?

So in this vein federal hate crime statutes are about to be expanded to include gender and sexual orientation. It will be "amusing" to see how many rapists will now be charged with a hate crime. But the fact that we are enabling the federal government (or any level of govt.) to actually add charges to things that are already crimes simply based on the person's alleged thoughts regarding their victim is bad.

The extremely flimsy argument put forth by those who advocate for these abominations of law is that we charge people for premeditated murder therefore it is OK to charge someone for racial, religious or gender based motives. There are a number of problems with such reasoning:

Firstly the charge of premeditated murder only distinguishes between the "crime of passion" the type that happened because the perpetrator snapped. And the type that a perp sat down and planned out long in advance. There is no specificity as to what actually motivated the perpetrator, whether it be hate, revenge or whatever. The person charged with premeditated murder is so charged because the planning to commit a crime and how to get away with has been done is also criminal. In other words it is about the process of how the crime is committed and not the motivation that differentiates premeditation from standard homicide. And I'm not going to defend this particular legal situation. I don't think people ought to be charged extra for what planning they did or did not do. I'm only concerned about the final act itself.

Understand that in large measure many of these extra crimes that have been put on the books are there simply as a means of putting people in jail for longer periods of times and has nothing to do with the actual danger that the supposed "crime" poses to members of society.

Secondly and most importantly in terms of hate crimes, a so called hate crime can be premeditated murder. So in essence the so called "hate crime" simply becomes another charge to throw at the perp. This is not much different than the minority report thesis. The state can convict you simply based on what your particular attitude is even though simply having the attitude does not constitute a crime.

Thirdly I believe that such legislation will devolve into what we see in certain countries where certain language or ideas referring to Jews is illegal. Or where one cannot say certain things about Islam or Mohammed. That may sound extreme but there are people out there today who would love to criminalize speech they don't like and they are not all conservative Christians or Muslims.

I was told a long time ago that a person's adherence to the principles of democracy was not how one protected the rights of those whom one agreed with, but how one protected the rights of those whom one does not agree. We don't need to agree with those who hate a particular racial group, religious group or sexual orientation. However; they have the absolute fundamental right to believe whatever they want about said groups. What they do not have the right to do is beat or kill people. And it's always been illegal to do that. Hate crimes legislation are laws looking for a crime. I for one am tired of giving the government bogus reasons to get even more interfere with my rights.

Agent Provocateures

I've long since thought that a lot of the missile launches from Palestinian territories were not the actual work of Palestinians but rather by agents of Israel who were looking to discredit certain Palestinian movements much like the FBI and CIA did (and do) with black folk. And so it seems my thoughts were right on time:

Secret agents disguised as Arabs – known in Hebrew as “mista’aravim” – were used before Israel’s founding. Jews, usually recruited from Arab countries, went undercover in neighbouring states to collect intelligence.

The Haaretz newspaper revealed in 1998 that the secret police, the Shin Bet, also operated a number of mista’aravim inside Israel shortly after the state’s creation, locating them in major Arab communities.

The unit was disbanded in 1959, amid great secrecy, after several agents married local Arab women, and in some cases had children with them, in order to maintain their cover.

But the mista’aravim are better known for their use by the Israeli army on short-term missions inside Arab countries or in the West Bank and Gaza, where they have often been sent to capture or kill local leaders.

Does the above, or the article from which it came prove such an idea, but it does underscore the fact that Israelis do in fact have agents in Palestine.

$400 a gallon?

Costs are out of control, and priorities are skewed in the interest of rich organized interest groups at the expense of the vast majority of citizens. For example, war at all cost, which enriches the armaments industry, the officer corps and the financial firms that handle the war’s financing, takes precedence over the needs of American citizens. There is no money to provide the uninsured with health care, but Pentagon officials have told the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee in the House that every gallon of gasoline delivered to US troops in Afghanistan costs American taxpayers $400.

“It is a number that we were not aware of and it is worrisome,” said Rep. John Murtha, chairman of the subcommittee.

According to reports, the US Marines in Afghanistan use 800,000 gallons of gasoline per day. At $400 per gallon, that comes to a $320,000,000 daily fuel bill for the Marines alone. Only a country totally out of control would squander resources in this way.

Counterpunch

Brain in a Supercomputer

Does Obama Shape Black Opinion: A Survey Experiment

An interesting piece by Lester Spence:

So a couple of political scientists tested this with blacks. Would they be more likely to agree with the premise that blacks should rely on themselves if they were exposed to statements from prominent blacks saying they should? They found that not only were they more likely to agree if blacks said it than whites, they were more likely to agree even if the African American were someone like Clarence Thomas (who presumably votes against their interests but is black), compared to someone like Ted Kennedy (who presumably votes FOR their interests but is white).

Now I had a problem with this. I didn’t have a problem about the FINDINGS necessarily. But I had a problem with how the findings were EXTENDED. The political scientists in this case thought that taking the cue in this case automatically meant changing POLICY PREFERENCES. You believe blacks need self-help more than anything else? You support reducing government aid for welfare.

However it doesn’t have to work like this. All sorts of black folk–nationalists particularly–could believe that blacks should rely on themselves while still believing the government should take responsibility and do their part.

Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story

Powerful from the start.

475 + Tax

She was 475
plus tax.
Auctioneers fee? 10 percent.
payment must be made in full
and merchandise removed from the premises
or storage fees will accrue.

Property of southern gentlemen
passed on to kin
for their enrichment.
she was 475
plus tax.

All sales final
no refunds for those found defective
resistant to orders
or prone to escape.


A PYT
Profitable Young Thing
A slave in the state
where secession rose
to keep her a slave.
where Vesey tried to free her.

TV stations and scholars try to clean it up:
"she had a child"

No she was 475
plus tax
and raped
just say it.

Negress of prime breeding age
easily worth more
guaranteed to work hard for you.
a wonderful investment.

News casters aghast at mentioning
that national past time
but it's past time
she was
475
plus tax.

direct from Angola
Impregnate her and she can breast feed your kids
a
perfect handmade for the missus.
she can be an errand girl by day
and concubine by night.

Only in America
said with pride
but how many people act proud about rape?
like maybe she wanted it
like maybe she gave consent
to
be moved from state to state
weighed, felt up,
hips measured for future property progeny.

And like Sally Hemmings
She survived.
Like millions
like the ones Marley sang about
survivor of long treks
dungeons
and floating caskets
seasoning stops
and auction blocks
where she
went from African
to property
worth
475
plus tax
and auction fees.

Obama's Nobel Prize

Some will call me a hater for this. So be it. For the record I know that Obama is an intelligent man. I believe that he is a peaceable man at heart. I don't wish him ill at all; and even in this disagreement with the Nobel committee offer a congratulations.

That said, I must object. I'm not at all clear as to how many different types of Nobel Prizes there are and if there was one for leadership I would probably be in full agreement with the committee for handing one to Obama for that. However I am unable to square away the Nobel Peace Prize for Obama.

Maybe it's my memory of another Peace Prize winner: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. a man, who though I disagreed with his stand on non-violence, I had to respect for being true to his pacifist roots in the face of what had to have been serious pressure by others for him to drop that kind of language and action. A man who gets stabbed, beat, jailed, spit upon and simply kept it moving is deserving of a Peace Prize. In my mind I have felt that Dr. King represents the GOLD STANDARD of what a Peace Prize ought to represent. And I'm sorry, Obama does not live up to that standard.

I think in some cases this has to do with the total low standard by which American politics and general leadership has fallen. By the precedent of Bush, Obama is a demi-god. Seriously. But if we are to keep it real, there is no way, in a country that should have had high standards for leadership, that George Bush should have even gotten past the New Hampshire primary, much less a re-election to the highest office of the land. If anything Obama ought not be seen as special or anything, his primary attributes as cited by the Nobel committee ought to have been standard operating procedure for any candidate for high office. Forget that; ANY office.

This is why I'm largely disgusted with US politics and so called leadership. I'll give another example: Mike Bloomberg the current Mayor of NYC made much ado about honoring the term limits passed by referendum by New Yorkers. Then when his time was up, he went and had term limits overturned. A clear back track on a promise a clear ego move (only he's qualified to run the city) and New Yorkers apparently have no problem with this (in general). Low expectations and little follow through. but I digress. Let me get to the point of why I disagree with the Nobel Committee.

I don't think any Peace Prize nominee much less winner ought to be authorizing drones to do extra-judicial killings of so called terrorists who are fighting an occupying power of their country. I have a problem with that. This is in the same category as Dr. King jr., Desmond Tutu, Mandela? Really?

I don't think any Peace Prize nominee much less a winner ought to be authorizing deadly force against Somali pirates whom have never killed anyone in their custody. I have a problem with that. Oh it may have been inconvenient. Oh it may have involved negotiations. But killing over property? Really? Peace Prize material?

I find the Nobel Prize committee's reasoning regarding Obama's supposed wish to "eliminate nuclear arms" to be total bullshit. Total. I'm going to go into this on a different post, but the hypocracy of the US telling Iran or Korea for that matter what they can and cannot produce, while publicly talking about the military options that are on the table, is simply not worthy of a Peace Prize held by Dr. King Jr. Seriously. Can you imagine the Dalai-lama actually discussing how to bomb the Chinese for occupying Tibet?

Obama's name was submitted a mere 10 days into his presidency. Before that he was a one term (not even done) Senator. I'm sorry folks but that nomination was based on the historic election of Americas first African-American president. That was a popularity contest and not a real what are you doing and what have you done vote. I know, much of the world, and the US is still riding Obama's penis but seriously folks enough with the celebrity endorsements. I say this because there is one person, well two whom I can list of the top of my head who have done more for world peace and ending wars than Obama. Cindy Sheehan and Cynthia McKinney. I'm going to focus on McKinney here.

Here's someone who braved the Israeli illegal blockade to deliver much needed materials to Palestinians. Here is someone who while in office, worked to expose the underbelly of the Bush regime while people left right and center called her crazy. She has been world wide speaking on peace, environmental issues. etc. Just because the press has been ignoring her work is no excuse for the Nobel committee to overlook them. And I would also fault those who simply decided that she wasn't worthy of nomination.

On the international scene I could mention Hugo Chavez. Seriously. Did he not get in front of the world and speak dead on truth regarding Bush? Did he not attempt to change the world dialog? Has he not taken the oil wealth of his country and provided services to the poor and neglected there? And our tax dollars went where? to whom? What about Chavez' outreach to his neighbors to bring unity among South American states? Is that not worthy of a Peace Prize? Or is the Peace Prize only to go to those of a particular political leaning? or only to those with causes popular with certain European sensibilities and objectives?

Obama's presidency is young. There are a lot of things that will happen in the next 3 years and while I'm sure that a part of the reasoning for awarding the prize is to encourage more "peaceful" actions, I believe that the committee erred and ought to have waited a few years when Obama's full plans bear fruit and there's a good amount of history to back up the nomination and the future work assumed to be in the offering.

Apparently Obama agrees:

To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honored by this prize, men and women who've inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace.

Guinea

With her foot in the air,
you da thought this was a dance hall.

With the men surrounding her
you da thought this was a dance hall
and she was that popular chick in the pum pum shorts.

With her panties showing
you da thought this was a dance hall.

But there was no reggae music playing.
No flashing lights and drunk revelers.
Beenie and Siegal were nowhere to be seen man
This was no bashment.

It was a war crime
And Jook Gal takes a new meaning
when AK's meet vagina and that ass is being passed around
instead of a dutchie
this is real.

Low lives in military fatigues
rapists wearing green berets
have no respect for women

So called freedom fighters who only vote on
who goes first?
push
push
pass

And those with E.D.
are quick to use the M16, AK and SIg Sauer

With no shame
this spectacle happens under sunlight
in
full view of cameras
like this was a public porn shoot

Left wondering if these men have mothers
a sister
children
or know any females at all.

Then act surprised when the population demonstrates
wanna disappear opposition
call them tools of colonialism
like some white man was out there
in broad day light
hoisting black thighs to the sky
in broad day light
tearing shirts from backs
in broad day light
on muddy ground
in broad day light
gun cocked in mouth
in broad day light

But they will lay blame
on the same white man
they sell diamonds to
same white man they buy cars from
the same white man who's country they buy villas in for their wives and girlfriends.
Who's doctors they will have care for them.
Who's schools they will send their children to be educated in.

And it makes you wonder who's freedom they're really fighting for?
'cause all I see are
women
broken
carrying a rapists baby
maybe infected with HIV
and dependent on Doctors without borders for care
'cause most of the doctors there been run out the borders.

But for these soldiers security is code word for party
and be careful when they come around
Food clothing and shelter will cost you
but the rape is free.

Capitalism: A Black Story

Didn't need Michael Moore to tell me about Capitalism.
Cause I roll with poets that woulda told ya: America's a corporation.

And we,
we been the supply that sated it's demand
for when cheap labour wouldn't do
and indentured servitude just wasn't economical.

The only people who landed here as property on Native property
like a chair, table, cat or dog.
The only one's who's tax rate was written into the constitution.

And
while people talk about the south, the trade of me and mine
built both new and old England
From stock yards to stock markets
Insurance to investment houses
We were bonded before Barry swung a bat.

And don't think Walmart been the the first to take out policies on employees
this goes way back before super stores and super markets
When you could get paid if someone injured your slave
And I'm sayin'

Didn't need a movie to clue me in
Been known about evictions, tear stained trails
and broken contracts.
back when men in white sheets, nooses and shot guns announced your eviction
and you hoped you made it out with the clothes on your back and neck in tact.

And our encounters with the bio-tech industry goes way before Tuskegee.
Like how 3/5 woman with 1 master race made a lighter shade of slave.

But that's capitalism that a Lowes can get paid to show a white man talk about the evils of Capitalism and gets applause.

Cause George Jackson caught one to the head, and Fred got Diallo practice for speakin' on the same things. Moore gets props and Panthers get jail time and run out the country.

So I didn't need Michael Moore to tell me about Capitalism
I learned what I needed from that Moor Eric Williams.

New Kiva Loan

Josephine Waiyego Irungu

You don't need to be US or Europe rich. You just need to be "third world" rich.

Donate to the Olatunji Foundation or sign up for a Kiva account and join team Olatunji Foundation.