NOIR

Dear Reader,

I wrote a post earlier this week entitled “Black Man” where I discussed the lack of a movement signifying solidarity among the black community in America. I personally found it frustrating that there hasn’t been substantial progress since the pro-black movement of the ’70s, ’80s, and even early ’90s.

With that being said, I thought I’d try something new.  No, I’m not going to form a new-age Black Panther party or attempt to guilt folks into doing better.  Rather, I’ll use this blog to introduce to you, the black reader, someone in our community that does something to break the stereotype.  Someone that helps to move the black community forward in any which way, big or small.  You may or may not care and that’s fine.  But at least it’s a step forward.

Meet Rochelle Ritchie

The first person I’d like to introduce to you is a black female reporter from Florida.  I came across the story on Essence.com and thought it was note-worthy.

Rochelle Ritchie is a reporter at the NBC-affiliate station in West Palm Beach, FL who decided to remove the extensions, chop off her relaxed hair and go natural – and documented the transformation for a news segment.  She recounts a story about how it was difficult for her to find a job after graduating college because of her then-look, sporting a “relaxed, shoulder-length” hairstyle.

Who cares, right? Well if you’re black and a woman then you know the unnecessary dilemmas we face when creating a hairstyle that is considered “work appropriate.”  Though we’ve made considerable strides in accepting a wide variety of hairstyles to wear to the office - long, short, braids, locks, fros, curls, etc - the fact is black women still have to be extra careful in choosing their coiffe-du-jour. 

Yes, it is understandable that some black women just want an easier process to manage their hair, a change, or to just try something different and that’s okay.  But in many industries where personal appearance has the potential to affect the business of the company (such as news reporters), black women are still caving in to the pressure to process, straighten, and artificially elongate their hair in styles similar to their non-black counterparts, which is unfair and damaging to the black woman’s self-esteem.

The appearance of the black woman’s hair is a culture that obviously has its roots (no pun intended) in the country’s dark chapters of race relations.  Though the black and female demographic may now be more accepting of their natural hair than ever before, there still seems to be a lack of role models where it probably matters most to the ‘natural hair movement’ - the media.  In fact, I can only think of a few of people right off that bat – such as Solange Knowles, Lauryn Hill (pre-meltdown), and Whoopi Goldberg – that sport their unique, natural look.  But Ms. Ritchie lets us know that it’s ok to love your curls and kinks. Kudos to her.

Read more about Rochelle Ritchie and watch the video here on Essence.com: Florida TV Reporter Goes Natural in Front of Viewers

 

P.S. I need a title for this segment so give me a suggestion.  “Black Person of the Day” just sounds….bad.

Black Man

Dear Reader,

I was inspired to write this post as I was listening to “Black Man” off of Stevie Wonder’s “Songs in the Key of Life” LP record – yes, as in vinyl.  Currently, I am infatuated with the tales of the ’60s and ’70s including the musical geniuses that flourished throughout these two decades, the movements, the need to make things happen – to bring about change. 

The reason I bring this up is because of electoral statistics from the just recent midterm elections.  According to CBS News’ national exit polls, only 10% of us voted this year – a 3% decline from black voter turnout during the 2008 Presidential election.  Black folks make up about 12% of the US population which is estimated to be about 37 million.  Of course not all 37 million are of voting age; and this fact only lowers the black voter turnout number further.  Heck,  CBS’s numbers may even be skewed but we all know that the figure is low.  My point is what the hell is the problem.

I understand some of the reasons for low turnout because I studied it in my AP Gov’t class in high school: political apathy, lack of higher education, etc.  But one would think, after all the adversity black people have gone through since the founding of this country, there would be a sense of urgency or pride to get out and vote, to do something.  Well, not so much.

Just because we have a black president does not mean that everything is hunky dory for us.  President Obama is not a band-aid for the black man’s problems. The black community is not united in the US.

Black people need a movement now more than ever, and it doesn’t exist. 

I wasn’t an Afro (African-American Studies) major in college, and I’m not going to pretend like I know every detail about the history of the black struggle in this country – which no doubt still manifests itself in 2010. But I do know that someone had to fight for the privilege for me to get a degree from a university, to vote (even if it’s between the lesser of two evils), to take advantage of opportunities that were denied to others in the past.  So why aren’t more of us taking advantage.  Rather than help our people grow, the black community still sees itself trudging along this path called progress. 

It’s called blaxploitation.

The formal term is referred to the film genre that essentially stereotypes blacks as pimps, drug dealers, poor people,  blah blah blah.  But I find the term to really encompass a broader view of how the black community allows others to exploit them.  For example, hip-hop was first and foremost a political movement that evolved from the realities of  disenfranchised black youth that were just fed up with what was going on.  It was a movement representing black solidarity like the black power movement of the 70s.  Over time, however, the suits in the music industry have created and marketed this cool, black, ‘thug mentality’ propaganda to the public in order to capitalize off of black folks – read: exploit black folks. Obviously there are exceptions to this statement, but only a handful. 

Comedian Paul Mooney said it best on the Dave Chappelle Show: “Everybody wanna be a n***a, but nobody wanna be a n***a.”   And there is a powerful truth in that.  There is some aura of “cool” associated with being black. But the real life circumstances of the average Black American demonstrate that it is better to imitate and capitalize off of black people - our appearance, our language, our talents, our music, our culture, our spending power, our EVERYTHING – rather than to empathize or to help us.  How is it that everyone else knows how to harness our evident power but us?

I’m not going to discredit those people that are trying to do something, to create change within the black community because I know that they are out there.  The problem is that they are competing with powerful industries that have developed effective means of exploiting the black community for decades.  When will we stand up for ourselves en masse again?   

Black people need a movement.

 

Shopping 101

Dear Reader,

My number one rule in life when it comes to shopping: NEVER PAY RETAIL. 

And in this economy, it is probably the dumbest thing you can do.  With the advent of eBay, wholesale retailers, outlet stores, or discount department stores (think Marshalls or Filene’s Basement), there really isn’t any reason to pay full price.  In fact, I don’t remember the last time I bought anything that wasn’t on sale, or without a coupon/discount. 

In this light, I thought I’d share my newfound appreciation for eBay.  I joined the site earlier this week because there was something that I had to have – MJ memorabilia.  I had browsed for items before, but had always been afriad of being scammed, getting my identity stolen, etc., so I never joined.  Until Sunday.

Yes, I know I’m 15 years late but whatever, I had my reasons. 

Anyway, I won my first bid on an item on Sunday – the February 1983 issue of Rolling Stone magazine with Michael Jackson on the cover. This is one of the few magazines that actually had an in-depth interview with the late great singer as his solo career began to take off.  After that, he pretty much stopped doing print interviews; but magazines still put him on the cover. 

 

For example, TIME Magazine apparently broke a long-standing policy to not put anyone on their cover if they did not have an interview with that person.  In their March 1984 issue, TIME did just that when they put MJ on their cover; they were in fact unsuccessful in actually scoring an interview with him.  However, this magazine is my next hunt, as the cover was designed by Andy Warhol. (FYI – I am an admirer of MJ, in case you couldn’t tell). Anyway, I digress.

Breaking rules for MJ.

 

The Exception

The only exception to this rule is if what you’re trying to buy is a newly released item that is sure to sell out fast (i.e. something with a limited quantity or is exclusive). Once it’s gone, the price will only balloon as folks try to resell the item for a profit (think concert tix, Chanel limited edition nail polish, etc).

 Yes, it can be tedious and sometimes time-consuming to be a bargain hunter, but I think it’s well worth it.  Do the research and have a few places that you can count on for discount shopping.  Ask your friends for suggestions which will cut down your research time.  This way, once you know what you’re looking for, you can just do a quick search at these places that you trust for pricing and quality. 

For example, in my last entry, I mentioned a fragrance that I had bought for mother.  What I didn’t mention was how inexpensive it was. I shopped around and ended up purchasing a bottle from a perfume wholeseller here for about half the retail price.  A quick search on eBay this morning and I found it for half of what I paid (granted the auction hasn’t ended yet).  But you catch my drift.

What are some of your shopping tidbits?

Happy Shopping.