The Concept of Black Stars

[NB: There will be blemishes of profanity in this post. I apologise in advance!]

I saw Seven Pounds tonight with a mate at the cinema. I know the film did not open to great reviews, but I could give an F really because I have always been a Will Smith fan. It opened last week here in the UK to the #2 spot, exceeding what I thought it would do after the not so glowing reviews, but it just proves that even in a drama, Will still shines.

With Viola & Taraji’s nominations and Will’s bankability as a box office succes, I want to know, what does black star power, if such a thing exists, what does it mean to you? I think it is one of those concepts that is wholly exclusive to your perspective. I see a black star as someone who has succeeded in their line of work by setting an example and being a role model of sorts, not necessarily a black star who is famous just for being famous.

To me, that includes African-Americans like Will Smith & Beyoncé and Black British people like Idris Elba & Lewis Hamilton and Africans like Djimon Hounsou. Yet to me, it does not include people like Lil Wayne. Not because I am averse to him as such (A Mili was an alright tune), but because I do not think he sets a good example for young black men to follow with his drug use.

When I was thinking about who was a black star with true ‘power’ to me, it really reminded me of the ethos of Frantz Fanon’s book, Peau Noire/Masques Blancs. I know I quote from it a lot because I am quite a Fanonian but I think with that book, he was trying to deconstruct the hatred of the black man and the black women, who do not truly want to be themselves. So, in terms of visibility, do black entertainment stars help to heal this wound of inferiority that some black people have (ie, the ones with colour issues?)

I don’t know. And maybe no one knows the answer. Black stars in entertainment cannot be responsible for people with colour issues. Those people need to heal themselves. But what I do know is the visibility of black people in entertainment & sports is vital because it is what many young people look too for guidance and strength.

Self-esteem is built on the idea of building up confidence, brick by brick. Black people in entertainment do this for many young people. Which is why, it is so important for these black stars to be aware of their power and be responsible in some of the images they create because if they are catering to young people, they need to be aware that they have the power to affect how young black people see themselves.

Which is why I love what Idris Elba has done with his career. He has done phenomenally well for himself and has made black people who live in Britain look fantastic. I just hope the more black people who step into entertainment always remember that they do have a responsibility to help the black cause, not necessarily politically but culturally in the sense that they represent us, and the image of us.

As my brother says, keep fighting and keep smiling. In this vein, these black stars should continue their struggle and ours, too.

‘Whirlwind’ is IN Tennis’ Hall of Fame

I don’t normally bring up super-personal info here but in this year of black firsts, it was brought to my attention that I should share this information about my grandfather… 

From the International Tennis Hall of Fame website:

“NINE-TIME GRAND SLAM SINGLES CHAMPION MONICA SELES ELECTED TO INTERNATIONAL TENNIS HALL OF FAME. Gimeno, Dell and Johnson Join Seles for Induction this July. 

Tennis Legend Rod Laver To Be Honored During 2009 Induction Weekend

NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND, USA  –  Christopher Clouser, Chairman of the International Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum and Tony Trabert, Hall of Fame President, have announced the names of the newly elected members to the International Tennis Hall of Fame.  Leading the Induction Class of 2009 is nine-time Grand Slam Singles Champion and former World No. 1 Monica Seles.  

Joining Seles for Hall of Fame induction is one of Spain’s most prominent tennis players of the 1960s, Andres Gimeno, who has been elected in the Master Player category. In addition, elected in the Contributor category are Donald L. Dell, an industry pioneer and leader in sports marketing, professional sports management and sports television and founder of ProServ; and the late Dr. Robert “Whirlwind” Johnson, founder and director of the American Tennis Association (ATA) Junior Development Program, who worked tirelessly for decades assisting in the development of young African-American tennis players while helping to break the barriers of racial segregation…

Dr. Robert “Whirlwind” Johnson (1899-1971) is considered the man most responsible for launching the careers of world tennis greats Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe, the nation’s first African-American tennis champions. During a time of racial separation, Johnson, through quiet diplomacy, was able to open the doors of tournament competition to young African-Americans barred from mainstream competition. He persevered, despite the racial barriers of that time, and through whispered entreaties and legal challenges he helped pave the way for minorities to gain entrance into tournaments and excel at the highest levels of the game. For more than 20 years, Johnson’s home in Lynchburg, Virginia became the destination for talented black tennis players to receive training and to participate in integrated tournaments and exhibitions with the likes of Pauline Betz Addie and Bobby Riggs. He provided food, equipment, financial support and guidance throughout their development.

Through the American Tennis Association (ATA), which was formed in 1916, Johnson created the ATA Junior Development Program. In the 1950s and 1960s, he sponsored, trained and nurtured hundreds of African-American juniors – and several white juniors – at his Lynchburg home, where he had a tennis court in his backyard. He initiated the integration of black tennis at the junior level, and ultimately at the highest levels of the game, working as coach, trainer, sponsor and fundraiser – and courageously approaching tournament directors and lobbying for his players’ full participation. He was also publisher of the ATA’s annual program, distributed at the national championships, and his vehicle for informing the membership of the achievements of his junior players.

The names of Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe (both Hall of Famers) and their life achievements will long be remembered in the world of tennis; they were the African-American trailblazers and became champions of the sport through their discipline and perseverance. However it was Johnson’s vision and innovative groundwork that gave Gibson and Ashe – and all future black champions – the training ground and road map to succeed.“

Eastwood does the right thing in “Gran Torino”

I went to see the new Clint Eastwood film “Gran Torino” and it was fantastic. At the end, as I sat there and watched the credits roll, I wondered if this was Clint’s response to Spike Lee and the controversy last year over the lack of African-American characters in his last two films on WWII: “Flags of Our Fathers” and “Letters From Iwo Jima”. Was this Eastwood’s version of “Do the Right Thing”!?

 

Eastwood plays a hard-nosed, grumpy, disgruntled, bigot who has disdain for everyone and a edgy indifference to everything… except the growing multi-cultural society that is surrounding him. He hates it. He sees the world around him changing and to his regret and alarm, the changes have invaded his doorstep in the form of immigrant neighbours from Laos. Eastwood’s character, Walt Kowalksi, is a volatile racist. His racism has been conceived and nurtured by American society, both past and present. His racism has been nourished by war, both past and present. His racism is national and international in it’s scope. It is personal and impersonal in its reach.

 

Blended with his racist impulses are two other pillars of American society: violence and materialism. This blend is seen in the accepted use of violence to protect one’s property against “those others”. This blend is seen in the expected use of violence in the international arena to protect American self-interests against “those others”… even if it’s in their own lands. “Those others” don’t look, speak, dress, eat the same foods or even smell like those of the dominant culture in American and by extension, European and Israeli society. Therefore they are considered to be less than human, if not openly… certainly on a subconscious level. Hence the invasion of Iraq. Hence the slaughter in Gaza. Hence Guantanamo. Hence Abu Graib. Hence the murder of another “Oscar Grant”… and another “Adolph Grimes”… and the shooting of another “Robbie Tolan” to start the new year.

 

Walt Kowalski embodies all of these traits. They guide all his actions, reactions and impulses. He says things that make you cringe and shake your head… however here is the scary part… it also makes you laugh. He comes off as a “gruff” Archie Bunker type. I have met people like him. The type of guy you are told not to take what he says personally, because he doesn’t hate you specifically. “Oh Walt, don’t mind him, he hates everyone!” The type of guy who you are told really“likes” you because his racist taunts and jokes are openly directed at… and therefore “shared”… with you. However, and this is where Eastwood takes his character, it all comes at a price. The hate, violence and worship of material things, exacts a terrible price. It’s not just a physical cost. It exacts a terrible cost on one’s psyche… on one’s soul. It pollutes you… and all that you come in contact with. This is seen in the life of Kowalski and within American society in general… as seen through the lives of the other characters, both local and immigrant.

 

Violence has been an underlying theme in most of Eastwood’s films. In his “spaghetti westerns” and “Dirty Harry” eras, it was primarily about vengeance… a hero or anti-hero… cleansing society of the despicable and undesirables. “Unforgiven” explored the physical and psychological costs of using violence to exact revenge and cleanse a violent society. “Flag of Our Fathers” and “Letters from Iwo Jima” looked at the personal cost of violence… and the glorification of violence in the national interests… on the individual’s psyche and soul. In “Gran Torino”, Eastwood now moves violence from a vehicle of revenge to a means of redemption… as a way to cleanse the soul. As Walt Kowalski lays in a Christ-like pose at the end of the film, I am reminded of Martin Luther King and Gandhi. The ultimate sacrifice for the greater good. The ultimate sacrifice to point to a better way.

 

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13

EurObama Blog Has Luanched!

Now that President Obama in is the White House the EurObama Blog has launched to follow his administration from Europe.

Are you a blogger in Europe? Are you an American Expat in Europe? Do you live in Europe and want to chime in? Become a EurObama Blog contributor:

http://www.EurObamaBlog.com/

Mobile post sent by BlackWomenInEurope using Utterli.  Replies.

Milk & Black

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Milk

[Cross-Posted @ Charcoal Ink]

I went to see Milk today. It was a two hour microscopic view of the life of Harvey Milk, an American gay activist who was the first openly gay individual elected to office in California. It was well-made, stylistic and had a tour-de-force performance from Sean Penn*. 

I knew there were not going to be any major black characters anyway, so that wasn’t a surprise, but what did surprise me in the film was how Milk uses his energy to earn rights for gay people, noting that the black community have their own black leaders.

The Frantz Fanon Link in Skin Lightener Advertisements

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Beauty Advertisements, Frantz Fanon

(Cross-posted at Charcoal Ink)

I was magazining it in Borders last week. And for this painful reason, I can’t get this advert out of my head. I was reading Black Beauty & Hair magazine. It’s a beauty mag for Black British women with tips on beauty etc. It has stacks of photos on tips for hairstyles. I was hoping to find some ideas for Natural hair. Needless to say, I didn’t find many. Anyroad, flicking through the mag, I saw an advert that was advertising Lightenex Plus:

I was shocked.  What was even more disturbing about the advert was that it had a light skinned black woman with blue eyes and above her a caption read: “For Darker Skin Tones”

I was shocked and very distressed to be honest to see this advertisement in a magazine for black beauty!! Good Grief. What the fuck is going on here? My problem is not the fact that they used a light skinned model with blue eyes. Black women are Black women as far as I am concerned.

My problem was the caption and the product they were advertising. It is wrong to promote skin lighteners to black people in any shape or form but in a magazine for BLACK BEAUTY? It must be said, I was really disappointed. I’m studying journalism; on my internship in December, I saw how fucking hard advertising sales people work but there has to be a sense of integrity.

For this reason, I cannot support this magazine any furter. I just cannot.

Promote white skin/light skin is wrong. We are all black and beautiful. It’s not about erasing one’s dark skin; it’s about celebrating the parts of you that are African and beautiful.

Any black person who doesn’t see that is exactly what Frantz Fanon said in Peau Noire, Masques Blancs: a négrophobe. As Fanon wrote:

Nous l’avons dit, il existe des négrophobes

For the beauty advert industry to have negrophobia is expected. For black people to condone this behaviour in their publications is wrong.

No wonder the magazine industry is dead.

Bits and Bytes

Here are some thoughts from around the AfroSphere regarding the events of this week:

1. The always interesting and unique voice of Sonskystar: Ballin’ While Broke: My Prospective of Dr. King’s Dream 
2. An article by daddyBstrong on Dr. King:  This holiday, Dr. King may ask, “Are there any drum majors here?”
3. From Gunfighter: Barack Obama & The End of “Acting White”
4. Tami Harris on: Barack Obama’s victory is just one step 
5. Two articles from The African Executive: Martin Luther King, Jr.: The Nationalist Moment and The Obama Triumph: What Should Africa Do?

Here are 2 interesting articles from The Atlantic: Race Over? and The End of White America? 

Pioneering Black British Tailor Awarded OBE By HM Queen

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Andrew Ramroop, Savile Row, The Queen

The Voice, Britain’s leading black newspaper, has reported that Andrew Ramroop has been awarded an OBE by HM The Queen this seo companies year!

Ramroop was born in Trinidad & Tobago and was the first black tailor shop on Savile Row, the iconic street in London that has created bespoke clothes for men for decades.

Congrats to him. I think it’s fab news. There is contention amongst the black community here as to whether black people should accept awards from the Empire like the OBE. The OBE stands for Order of the The British Empire. Personally, I think if people see themselves as Black British, then accepting an OBE should not be a big deal.

I am not Black British but living here for so long has made me realise what a big deal this is. Again, Congrats to him!