Welcome to Idiosyncratic Sista's blog. This blog has been established to expose its readers to various occurrences and ideologies pertaining to the world of politics & news, sociology, literature, music, and fashion. Hope you'll enjoy!
According to Black News.com-Associated Press , many inhabitants of Haitis poorest areas often resort to eating cookies made of dried yellow dirt. Specifically, the recipe includes: dried yellow dirt, salt, and vegetable shortening. These cookies have become known as a traditional haitian remedy for hunger pangs. Due to increasing prices in food and oil, many inhabitants have been unable to afford even a plate of rice. Yet, the irony of the story is that these mud cookies are often not prepared by individuals for personal consumption, but by groups of workers in an effort to be sold in markets or the streets!
The National Advancement for Colored People (NAACP), has launched a new campaign entitled, "STOP". The purpose of this campaign is to "STOP" the production, enlistment, and support of demeaning images of African Americans in the media, specifically African American women. It is relatively known that everyone is impacted in some way by the media and tends to formulate ideas, values, and beliefs by observing " the images and concepts delivered into our lives on a daily basis by radio, television, film and the Internet". We all know that everything that is shown, is neither positive nor productive. Therefore, it is up to us to take a stand for something, or we will fall for anything!!!!
STOP Defaming Our Women… by respecting all African American Women and not describing them in profane and derogatory terms
STOP Degrading Our Community… by not supporting hurtful images that portray negative images of the African American community
STOP Denigrating Our History… by not supporting words and media that diminishes our proud history and insults our ancestors
STOP Accepting Disrespect… by not patronizing companies and artists that put forth demeaning and disrespectful images in our community
START Standing Up… by standing up against anyone who diminishes the capacity of young people
START the Diversity… by supporting balance and diversity of content in the entertainment industry to create positive role models for young people and by demanding more African Americans and other people of color in decision making positions in the entertainment industry
Kiri Davis, 17 year-old Director for the film, “A Girl Like Me”, captures the experiences of young African American women relative to the ideals/standards of beauty etc. as set forth in our society. This film provides incite into the fact that not only does this unrealistic ideal of beauty affect adult women of color, but also teenagers and young children.
Many young African American women are forced to live within standards they know they cannot truly attain, as some try to attain the unattainable only to learn that what God has given them, is in the fact what matters most. Young ladies…Love yourself and accept the hair texture, skin color God has given you!
Today, February 7th, is the seventh annual National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. This day was established in 1999 in an effort to build capacity, increase awareness, and to participate in and support HIV prevention, care and treatment among African Americans.
Statistics***
* African Americans comprise only 13 percent of the U.S. population, but account for over 50 percent of estimated new HIV/AIDS cases and 51 percent of the people who die with AIDS.
* Seventy-two African Americans are infected with HIV every day.
* African Americans accounted for 55 percent of deaths due to HIV in 2002.
* Nearly 70 percent of women with AIDS are Black. In 2004, the rate of diagnoses for Black women was 23 times the rate for White women.
***Statistics have been pulled from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People website.
Upon watching a dose of Oprah this week-specifically the other day, I happened upon a topic which has seemingly touched the hearts of many women across the country; one I suppose never really touched my heart until recently. This particular episode of Oprah was entitled, “My Baby or My Job:Why Elizabeth Vargas Stepped Down ”
Basically, the preceding episode was somewhat representative of women who were either adamant about being a stay at home mother or adamant about focusing on their careers. According to the above linked site: “Two-thirds of the working moms who responded said they would quit work and stay home with their kids if they could….Among the stay-at-home moms, more than one-third wished they worked outside the home.”
Although I have found it to be a very interesting episode to watch, I have however, found it to be most surprising to learn that some women representative of each side were somewhat resentful of their counterparts and denigrated each other and their duties within a given day.
Personally, I believe that we as women should not put down another because of the decision she makes, but rather be understanding as to why she has made the decision she has and be respectful of it. A decision such as this should be decided on a case by case basis, as what is right for one family, may not necessarily be right for another family.
Like Oprah, I agree that“women shouldn't feel guilty for making decisions that are right for their family—and that society's idea of being the perfect parent and "having it all" aren't realistic. "That's a part of our indoctrination of our culture that we're suppose to make the bacon, bring it home, fry it in the pan, get the kids ready and then strip for your man at the end of the day."
Additional resources:
Family and Medical Leave for Federal/Non Federal Employees:
Are we progressing or simply regressing? According to NYOIL's video entitled, "Y'all Should All Get Lynched", it is purported that we have done the latter with such great achievement! While I disagree with the title, I do however, understand and to some extent agree with the overall message that as an African American community, we should strive to be the best that we can be without "dumbing down" and disrespecting ourselves, families, and others within our ethnic community. Please view the video and provide your thoughts and/or commentary.
*Note: the following video contains explicit language, partial nudity, and other potentially offensive graphical images.
According to Black Entertainment Television’s (BET) web site, Mr. West has spewed the following statement:
“If it wasn’t for race mixing there’d be no video girls. Me and most of our friends like mutts a lot. Yeah, in the hood they call ‘em mutts.”
I must first begin by expressing that the denigration of women…black women in particular by using such euphemisms as “B**ch and H*, has overtaken and marginalized the black community. The use of such euphemisms has been used and accepted by both black males and females in the so called “Hip Hop” and entertainment industries. Although this practice is offensive to me as a black women, it is even more offensive for me to acknowledge that other black women are deferring to it. By doing this, Black men have been awarded with the right to belittle black women without much resistance, but with much sensationalism. So, with Mr. West utilizing the term “mutt” to describe bi-racial women, I feel is just an additional euphemism that has been allowed to slip by.
On the other hand, what upsets me more so than the use of the term “mutt”, is the inherit belief that lighter skinned blacks are more attractive, smarter, and are more useful than their darker skinned counterparts. Please note that this belief has been around for many years and has been expressed vehemently by non-blacks. Well…actually … to the surprise and dismay of some, the above mentioned belief has been expressed also by blacks dating back for years!! This belief is referred to as “Intra-Racial Color Discrimination”. The preceding concept is explained in the Book of the Month entitled, “The Color Complex”.
Basically, the above book speaks to discrimination based on color within the African American community. This issue has long been taboo to converse about, but does exist and needs to be discussed and dealt with. For too long, I have noticed that many blacks that are within the entertainment industry particularly in videos are lighter skinned. What does this mean? It means that Mr. West is not the first to have this sentiment, but perhaps he is just one of the first in a long time to verbally express what many blacks feel and believe.
Yes, because of what our ancestors have gone through and because of what some African Americans are presently experiencing, it does hurt to know that there are many blacks today that feel the same way as non-blacks about the noted discrimination, but are either blind to what they are feeling and practicing or are in denial about it.
Therefore, I submit to all of you to read the above mentioned book, gain as much of an understating as you can and try to educate your fellow African Americans by informing them that as a race we are not progressing, but are in deed regressing.
*The terms Black and African American have been used interchangeably.
